Ep 35: Client Spotlight: Anna's Journey Learning Ads with a Small Budget & in a Small Town

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Anna and her husband run a handyman and remodeling business, and when she joined Hometown ADvantage four months ago, she was spending a dollar a day on ads she couldn't read or measure. You'll hear how she went from 75 Instagram followers (accumulated over seven years) to consistent local leads — including 25 qualified requests in January alone, which is typically their slowest month. You'll also walk away with a really honest look at what a small, intentional ad budget actually looks like for a local service business that just needs a reliable pipeline, not a million-dollar funnel.

Transcript

0:00

Welcome, welcome. We're moving into episode two of three of this three Part Client Spotlight series. If you miss last episode, make sure you go listen. It is with Liv, my client, who's a photographer, who is crushing it with her local ads. This episode is another favorite because it's with my client. Anna. Anna and her husband have been entrepreneurs for basically their whole adult lives. They've had multiple businesses, they have years of experience, but when it comes to advertising, she was throwing her time, energy, and money at a wall and had no idea if it was doing anything. They had just hired someone new in their handyman business, and she knew she needed to figure out ads because she wanted to make sure their schedule was staying full and that they were safe if they decided to stop or had to stop one of their other businesses, which is another part of her story. The thing was that Anna. Was seeing things about learning meta ads, but they never seemed geared towards a local, small business like hers. At the time of this recording, Anna had been inside Hometown Advantage for about four months, and what I love about her story is that she came in, did not need to spend much, just had clarity on exactly what they were trying to do, and we were able to take that and translate it into consistent leads and new clients for their handyman business. So I'm so excited for you to hear from her. Don't forget. I am hosting a free live training called the Beyond Boosting Masterclass, specifically for local business owners where I'm gonna talk through my three campaign strategy that I support local business owners in implementing. And then my program Hometown Advantage is going to be$500 off for a very short time, about a week following the workshop. And when you join within that week, you're also going to get two reels created for you by my team to use in your lead generating ads. So without further ado, here is Anna's episode.

Nicole 2:04

Okay, I have Anna here. She is a client of mine who is coming up on four months inside the program. Anna, can you tell everyone about yourself and your business and your role in your business? Just give us an intro.

Anna 2:20

So my husband and I have owned businesses for years and currently we had two when I started the program and I started for. I started the program for ads for my shed company and eventually it morphed into we had closed the shed company and I'm doing ads for his remodeling and handyman business. I started with some experience but. Was getting a lot of mixed messages online. Most of the messages had to do with online influencers and how to boost your Instagram page as an online influencer. And they did not speak to local businesses, and I knew that wasn't gonna work. So your message of local businesses is the reason that I started.

Nicole 3:08

And what would you say and I know you started with the Shed's business in mind, so this might not be super relevant, but your goal. running ads is, was it like get booked out? Was it just to get a better handle on the whole marketing systems as we were talking about right before this? Like what was your kind of, your goal of running ads and what's your guys' goal of owning a business altogether?

Anna 3:31

So our goal is a little bit different than what I hear a lot of people talk about make six or seven figures or whatever. I care about paying our bills, feeding our children, and having a healthy business life balance. If we make some extra money. I'm all for that. That's awesome. And we have, and we've been blessed to do that. But truthfully, my goal in advertising we had honestly gotten by without advertising for a long time, and. 2020 helped that because we were in the handyman and remodeling business and people were sitting, staring at their house and their walls and their light fixtures and all the things that were wrong. And so I didn't have to do a lot of advertising. We had a website, we had face the, I had basic stuff, and then we had our name in a local hardware store that greatly promoted us for specific things, and that has happened for years. That still is the case, but I knew. We had already hired our daughter last year, and we wanted to hire other people this year, and in order to grow it to afford those expenses, I needed to figure out this advertising thing pretty quickly.

Nicole 4:43

Yeah, and I knew that about your goal for your business. Were you the one that told me your kids are homeschooled? Or no? Yeah, your kids are homeschooled. So I always like sharing that perspective because there actually is a lot of people who have similar goals. They're just obviously not as loud about it on the internet. So you think that there's not as many, and I like sharing that.'cause I think a lot of people listening have similar goals where they just want more freedom to with their time and their finances for their family. Okay.

Anna 5:12

Absolutely.

Nicole 5:13

Yes. What did your marketing processes and strategy look like before the program, if there was one? Like what did you guys do? You talked about the hardware thing, but what about social media wise? What did you do?

Anna 5:24

Spent, that's so embarrassing. I spent like a dollar a day on some spaghetti that I threw on the wall, basically. And it got attention, but I could not tell you. I knew that I could not look at the metrics of the thing and tell you what it meant, tell you, is this giving us anything, I did have. I had at least made it so that our system asked the question on our intake form of where did you hear from us? So I at least had some information of are they coming from Google? Are they coming from Facebook? Are they coming from the hardware store? Where are they coming from? But I didn't, yeah, I couldn't have told you whether or not it was working, which is why I only spent a dollar a day on it.

Nicole 6:11

Yeah. If you don't have that confidence, it's hard to put any more money behind it. So you talked about how you then decided to join my program because you guys wanted to like maybe hire another and you're hiring another handyman, or you did hire another handman. Is that what happened?

Anna 6:27

so we hired a 19-year-old who does have some of the skillset and definitely has the mind for it, but he's a trainee. So yeah.

Nicole 6:40

Cool. And so that's why you joined. You wanted more consistency, you wanted to know more about where your leads were coming from and have more control over that so that if you had somebody else that you're trying to fill their schedule with too, it was a little bit more reliable Through the pro. Oh yeah. Add to

Anna 6:57

sorry. I did, I just wanted to add, the interesting thing that's happened since I've been in the program is. We have been able to say we actually want remodeling gigs more than we want handyman work. And because of the program I can tailor the ads to that. And that was not something we had before. So yes, our name was in, I don't know if I can say Menards on the internet, but our name is in Menards. But we were in every single electrical. So we'd have ceiling fan jobs, but also countertops and cabinets. So we'd have huge kitchen renos, but I didn't get to choose what came in when, and this has allowed us to see we can actually start to gear this the way that we want it to go and not just take what comes in.

Nicole 7:47

Okay. I love that so much because I remember you saying we wanna do more remodeling. We're not gonna change the legal name of our business. We're not gonna go through all that. But we talked about simply adding the word remodeling to the name of your Instagram and your Facebook, so that when you're running ads, people can see that word pop up. And when you're relying on word of mouth or what was in Menards? Just like a flyer or what did you have there?

Anna 8:14

so they do it a little bit differently with their contractors with Home Depot and Lowe's. They like. Hire you for specific things like you are their cabinet installer for this area or whatever. With Menards, you have to spend a certain amount in the store and then they develop a relationship with you as a contractor. And yes, you get a sheet that has your info, but it was more than that. We had referrals, really. They're technically not supposed to, but the managers have totally said, Hey, we know these guys. They're reliable. That kind of thing. Which was great.

Nicole 8:44

so good. My point was just like. When some, when people in your community know you for a certain thing or like they used you for a ceiling fan fix, then that's what they're gonna think of when someone else needs a similar thing. And it's hard to get all your people on board with the change of Hey, we actually wanna start. Transferring over to more remodeling versus just like changing your names on your page and then advertising to those people. That's so cool. So going through the program, what were some of the light bulb moments that you had or like changes you noticed from what you were doing before? A dollar a day. And you mentioned not knowing the numbers to what you started doing.

Anna 9:28

so I shared with you, or before we started that, it would take me forever to, because I didn't know what is this thing I'm supposed to be doing. It was like I was sitting in school, there was an assignment, but I didn't even know what subject I was in. So I had no idea what am I supposed to be doing, and I would, I was on Instagram, so I saw what other people were doing and what worked and what felt comfortable and true to us. So I could do that, but it was so exhausting. The part of just not knowing is this really what my audience needs from us to be able to be interested in our, in using this. And that changed the prompts, the monthly prompts. I probably don't use them exactly, but they are a starting point for me. Absolutely. And I appreciate the freedom. To say this is a starting point and not like you have to verbatim copy this, but it gets my creative juices going, oh yeah, I have these pictures and these videos, and I can implement this content into these prompts or switch it up a little bit, apply it to us. And that was huge for me. It just took a weight off my shoulders.

Nicole 10:46

I love that. So what she's talking about is that every month inside my program, I give 10 ideas for you to post about. And it's meant to be exactly what you said, like a starting point because they're geared towards local business owners. But we have Anna who's promoting a handyman business, and then we have another person promoting like. Drum lessons, and we have another person promoting dog training, so it is. Impossible to come up with like very specifics posts about something educational. It's like a handyman business is probably not gonna do a lot of educational content, but it can give you starting points to go off of. And I like to provide examples and every once in a while I'll provide like little fill in the blank templates for you to get going. I totally know that feeling of staring at a blank piece of paper and not even knowing where I'm supposed to end up. So then you don't know. How to get started. That's amazing. Let's see. Okay, let's talk about the fun stuff. What kind of results have you seen from your ads since starting? Talk us through that.

Anna 11:53

First of all, I love the Instagram. I, it would, I would even say Facebook as well, followers ad that's my favorite by far. And I like it because it was like, it started a machine in my mind. So they come in on the Instagram followers. They are local people. They are local people in. I had such a hard time because we only serve north of the Missouri River and getting Facebook to understand that help impossible. And so it, the Instagram followers AD has kept it to that. And then when I do the retargeting ads, it's going. To those people. So I have people who are paying attention. I post, as regularly as I can, and then I can use those same posts and orals and retarget people. So they're for sure getting it. It just to me feels more like a well-oiled machine that isn't costing me huge amounts of money. And for a few dollars a day, I can have all of that running in the background while also. With the leads, ads going and targeting specific things. If I want to promote handyman work, I can do that. If I wanna promote kitchen remodels, I can do that. I'm not sure I remember the question,

Nicole 13:13

No, that is amazing.'cause I know you have more to speak to. It was, speak to the results that you've gotten. So you started with the Instagram follower ad and that was a way to instantly start seeing something happening, like followers coming in right.

Anna 13:27

Yeah, so it, it was obviously a dopamine hit for me, but it was 70, we had 75 followers on his Instagram page, and that was from, I probably started that in 2018, as soon as we started the business. 2018 till the end of 2025, we had 75 people, which was honestly more than I had for the shed business. And, I can't give the shed numbers'cause I've closed that down, but for his, we're at 2 54 followers on his Instagram. And I really, other than that ad I mean I cleaned up the page so that I do think is important. Your tips for your improving the page and even adding that remodeling statement, all of that was important. I think people stay engaged because of it, but we are averaging. Between about 65 and 7,500 views a month now on there. That, that's huge for us. That's big. So the biggest number that I was excited about was a couple weeks. I think I looked at how many requests we had in January and January is typically a slow month. So we were averaging like 15 a month and we had 25, which. Those are, that means they have gone to our website, they have filled out our form. They are serious. They actually want us to do work for them. And that's great. I,

Nicole 14:46

huge increase.

Anna 14:47

a lead a day is more than enough to sustain our business.

Nicole 14:52

I love this so much because. A lot of times people think of ads and they think of like big brands and big businesses that you know are the only ones who can run ads. And it's like we are talking about a small town, like you said, north of, what was it, north of the Mississippi,

Anna 15:08

Missouri it's Kansas City, but

Nicole 15:11

okay.

Anna 15:11

the north part.

Nicole 15:13

north of Missouri it's like a small town handyman. You've got your husband, you've got now a new trainee. It's like we just need a consistent way to get in front of the people who need our services and stay in front of them. And that's exactly what you're doing. Because, can you speak to. Budget. Are you comfortable talking about like how much you spent? Because I know that's like a huge question. People are like that's great. She's up 10 more leads than usual, but like how much money is she spending?

Anna 15:40

So I'm a big stickler on budget. I have a bookkeeping background and I'm probably not as loose as I should be with it. We'd probably get more if I was so we also have a super tiny ads budget and I'm, we've grown it because it's worked so I can grow it, but, truthfully, when the leads ads are up, we spend about$11 a day on that. The rest of it is under five bucks a day. So altogether, and I didn't start there. I started with the one to$2 a day on the Instagram, and then the retargeting and the leads, ads, we had a budget for that and. If it's not working, I turn it off, we tweak some things, try again. And it, yeah, that's, it's never made me feel uncomfortable. So I hear these people talk and they're like, I gave this ads company$2,500 and then they spent$2,500 more on the ads and blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, I don't have$5,000 to give to ads. So I needed to be able to see a return and. For a small amount, and that definitely was doable.

Nicole 16:52

Yes. So it's if you're not familiar with my process, what Anna's talking about is like I teach three different types of ads. There's these two that can be so affordable that I really think you should run all the time if you're able to. And that's getting you visible and then keeping you visible. And then when it comes to generating consistent leads, that is the one that you get full control over when. You want to find more remodeling clients when you wanna find more just handyman leads that's when she's saying we turn those on and maybe we add in another 10 or$11 a day for those. And that's what's leading to the requests on her, in her little backend software. So it's$300 a month, maybe a little bit more if they were to stay on all month. And I can only imagine that, a couple jobs or one job like covers that.

Anna 17:43

Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Nicole 17:45

Amazing. Love it. Okay, so to sum it up, how do you feel about running ads now compared to before?

Anna 17:54

So I am getting ready to open a music studio in end of March, beginning of April. I probably haven't told you this about me.

Nicole 18:03

I don't think so.

Anna 18:05

My background is I was a piano teacher for eight years and, when we closed the shed business down, I needed something else for my creative outlet, and so I decided I was gonna start that up again. It has given me the confidence to not even worry about will I be able to get clients? Am I gonna have to just pull from this little pool? That was the hardest thing for me from the time I was 16 teaching piano lessons to my late twenties. Was finding and keeping clients not keeping, but finding clients because I'd get a referral here or there, but I really wanted it to be my full-time income and it never could be because of the advertising. And I just didn't know what I didn't know. And I, it doesn't worry me at all. I to the point that when I started the business, I named it in a way so that I could branch out with other teachers and have it be bigger than just me because I have that confidence that I can do that with the advertising.

Nicole 19:11

Oh my gosh, that's so exciting. That's awesome. So cool. Okay, so talk to me about, and just share what you're comfortable with, but were you hesitant or nervous about getting started with the program? Talk about any hesitations there, which is normal.

Anna 19:30

the only hesitation I had was because I had been in a struggle with the county and some zoning things on the shed business, and I didn't know if I was gonna still have it. So it was really a timing issue. Honestly. I had started your other products before that, and I'm trying to remember. Yes. I'm trying to remember what it's named. And just seeing results from that and then also seeing the difference in what you said versus what I was hearing from the online marketing crew. I knew, like I, I truthfully was not worried about it.

Nicole 20:11

Yeah.

Anna 20:12

I was pretty sure it was gonna be worth my time,

Nicole 20:15

it's also helpful that you guys are just like an entrepreneurial family. You knew I feel like with the Sheds thing I. Ultimately the sheds business is closed down, but now you have the handyman business and you're gonna start another business. So it's just like a skill that's gonna transfer no matter what.

Anna 20:31

absolutely. Yeah.

Nicole 20:33

That's awesome. Okay. I always hate asking this question, but I just have to do it. What would you say to other business owners who are considering joining the program? I just hate putting people on the spot like that.

Anna 20:45

Just do it. It's if you are in a place where you're feeling like the income or the business is just flatlining, then that is the time that you need to invest in this. We had another business years ago from 2003 to 2014, and it flatlined. In 2014 we were making a living, but we were burnt out. And as I was watching it do that just on the bookkeeping side of things, I didn't have, I, we had tried so many different things marketing wise and I just didn't have it in me anymore to try to figure out how to do what was next and. This has allowed me to not have to expend that energy to just let you tell me how to do it do the work. Obviously I don't, I never mind doing the work if the work works, but the course has worked and I can see that it works not just for me. Like you said, that we have in the group that I can think of disney travel agent, and there's, it's such a wide variety. There's furniture and there's just so many different niches in that course in that group that, yeah, I think it's well worth it for local businesses.

Nicole 22:09

That's amazing and yeah, that's why I like how the program's set up is where the course content is gonna teach you the overarching like local. Ideas and obviously give you a step by step of how to set things up in Ads Manager, stuff like that. But when you can come to the calls or you can ask questions, we can specify it to you. So on the calls we're talking about. Yeah, what to say to bring in new handyman businesses with you. But then when I go to Krista, like we're talking about how to bring in new Disney families, and it's all the same concept, but obviously what we say is gonna be very different. Okay. Thank you so much for your time today, Anna. This was lovely. I'm so excited about your new music business and we will talk soon.