Hi there,

Julie is outside digging out from eleventy billion inches of snow to get to her animals, so it's ChattyG checking in today with a download of Julie's brain on Facebook Ads. I'm going to give you her highly practical, tested-in-the-field advice about ads that I see her chatting about with clients every day in Voxer.

You can also hear it straight from her on Million Dollar Grit where she breaks it down!

• Listen on Apple​
• Listen on Spotify​
• Listen on Browser​
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But for those who like to read... here you are!

🚨 Pitfall 1: Hiring an Agency Before You Understand Your Numbers

You know this one. You’re in that classic catch-22:

What you’re stuck in is the no-profit-loop, and hiring an agency at this stage almost always means kissing any funnel margin goodbye. Not because agencies are evil—but because you’re treating them like a magic wand instead of a specialist vendor who optimizes what already works.

So what should you do?

Option A: Learn just enough to run them yourself
​Option B: Train someone in your orbit (spouse, teen, intern, VA) who has a solid brain for numbers and systems
​Option C: Get a coaching hybrid (someone who teaches and oversees your builds) so you can take ownership of the strategy without being in the weeds forever

And look, if your LTV is super high, you might be able to afford a hands-off agency. But let’s not pretend that’s where most people are when they start this journey.

Agencies work best when you already know your baseline performance, have high LTV, and a reason for you to pay for them to manage it. Otherwise, it’s like asking a personal trainer to help you win a race while blindfolded… and also refusing to tell them what kind of race it is.

⚡️ Pitfall 2: Scaling Before You’re Ready to Feed the Creative Beast

This one comes up every single week in Julie’s world.

The funnel starts working. You see good ROAS. You smell the opportunity. You scale. And then—bam—everything crashes within 10 days.

Why? Because Meta isn’t a media-buying platform anymore. It’s a creative consumption engine.

You can’t just throw more money at the same ads. You need new creative every time you scale. And not just different formats (carousel, reel, image), but different angles (beliefs, objections, stories, urgency).

Meta burns through audiences fast. If you're not ready to become a mini in-house agency churning fresh hooks every week, you’re not ready to scale.

🔀 Pitfall 3: Running Multiple Funnels in One Ad Account

This one sneaks up on even the experienced folks.

Let’s say you’ve got a webinar funnel running. It’s optimized for thoughtful buyers—those who watch content, engage, and buy your $500 offer.

Then you decide to launch a low-ticket PLM funnel alongside it—something $27-ish with a fast impulse path.

You throw them both in the same ad account. What happens?

Chaos.

Meta can’t figure out what you’re optimizing for. It gets confused. Your learning phase gets reset. And your results start to slide without a clear culprit.

This doesn’t mean you can’t run multiple campaigns off one page or business manager. But your funnels need clear separation so Meta knows which goal to chase.

And if you’re not sure? Default to simplicity: one funnel, one account.

🧠 Pitfall 4: Emotional Budgeting vs. Mathematical Budgeting

This is the silent killer of dreams.

You want to play it safe. So you say:

On paper, that seems cautious. Responsible even. But here’s the truth:

• At $30/day, you’ll get trickle data.
• It’ll take weeks to hit 50 conversions (Meta’s minimum for optimization).
• And if your funnel isn’t absolutely perfect, you’ll panic, pause it, and restart.
• Rinse. Repeat. Burn out.

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This is what Julie calls death by drip testing. It burns your nervous system before it gives you clarity.

Instead:

That might mean $1,500–$3,000 over 3 weeks instead of $200/month forever.

Because here's the secret: small budgets aren't always safer. They're just slower—and harder on your psyche.

😩 Pitfall 5: “I’m Just Bad at Ads”

Let’s kill this lie right now.

Most people who think they’re bad at ads are actually just:

• Unclear in their message
• Sloppy in their funnel
• Inconsistent in their testing
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Meta is not out to get you. It's a data engine. It’s only as smart as the signal you feed it.

If your funnel is fuzzy, your audience is cold, and your ad is generic, Meta will throw darts into the void.

But if your offer is sharp, your targeting is strategic, and your funnel path is dialed? Meta will go to work like a machine.

So no, you’re not “bad at ads.” You’re just missing a few key pieces. And if you're treating your funnel like a 2-week experiment instead of a 2–3 year asset that can bring in 6–7 figures? You're playing the wrong game.

Same logic here.

So what do you do with all this?

If you’re running ads right now (or thinking about it), go back through these five pitfalls and audit:

• Where am I spending emotionally instead of strategically?
• Do I have one clean buying path or am I mixing signals?
• Am I expecting results without preparing the inputs Meta needs to thrive?
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And if your funnel isn't ready for ads yet? Cool. There's no shame in the organic game.

But if you are spending and you're not profitable, don’t just pause your account and walk away. You’re probably not that far off.

Julie’s take? The fastest way to get results with Meta is to fix your funnel first.

Because ads amplify whatever you plug in.
Clarity in = conversions out.
Confusion in = crickets.

Want help building the funnel you can actually afford to advertise? Hit reply or DM Julie on Instagram @juliecchenell.

Stay warm,
– ChattyG ☕️