Claire Pelletreau is a Facebook ads and conversion optimization expert. She’s been playing with Facebook ads since 2011 and sharpened her skills running paid campaigns for Laura Roeder’s five and six-figure launches. Now she applies her arsenal of knowledge to help other small businesses bring in more subscribers and sales than they ever imagined. She’s also the host of the addictive and informative, Get Paid Podcast.
She’s invited us in for a behind the scenes look at how understanding her Fire Frequency has impacted her bottom line.
TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS – HOW DO YOU PRIMARILY MAKE YOUR MONEY?
I’m a Facebook ads consultant who trains other business owners on how to use Facebook ads in their businesses. A large chunk of my income used to come from managing other people’s campaigns, but I’ve pivoted and now focus almost entirely on teaching. I work with people via Skype to show them around the Power Editor (Facebook’s complex advertising tool), help them improve their copy, and walk them through the tough decisions involved in choosing a strategy.
Just over 50% of my income comes from these consulting sessions (which I’ve recently repositioned as coaching packages), and the rest comes from a combination of courses and group programs. My main product is an evergreen self-study product that people can use to teach themselves the very same concepts, and my group program is a 6-week “incubator” where I train people to run ads for for their clients.
FIRE FREQUENCY BUSINESS OWNERS TEND TO DO REALLY WELL IN THE SPOTLIGHT, HOW DID YOUR BUSINESS CHANGE WHEN YOU LAUNCHED YOUR PODCAST?
The “external” effects were an increase in my audience size and my influence. It’s difficult to measure exactly, but my traffic has continued to rise steadily and I see a lot more engagement on social media from people who have listened to episodes and reached out to me on those channels.
The “internal” effects were actually somewhat negative on my business. I had to stop blogging in order to make time for the podcast, which slowed down my list building and SEO growth (which I rely heavily on for traffic). I was also spending money on the podcast without making enough of it back to account for all my time.
But on the plus side, I’ve connected with entrepreneurs I really respect and gotten to know more about other types of businesses, which was my original goal. I would say the good definitely outweighs the bad.
LET’S TALK ABOUT BOUNDARIES, FIRE FREQUENCY BUSINESS OWNERS TEND TO STRUGGLE WITH THESE. WHAT HAVE YOU DISCOVERED THAT HELPS YOU MAINTAIN YOURS? WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU HAVE NONE?
Hiring an assistant who handles my customer service email inbox has been the one thing that has allowed me to put firm boundaries in place. Not having clear boundaries is exhausting; not only do you end up giving more time or energy than you owe, but simply making the decision about how to respond to all kinds of requests can totally drain you.
When people who I know are a bad fit for my services get in touch, I don’t need to stress over the right way to respond to them. My assistant is brilliant at turning my “sorry, can’t” into an eloquent response that respects the inquirer.
The other thing I’ve seriously struggled with is whether or not I should offer more hands-on services. I’ve had many former clients return because they’d like me to run more campaigns for them, and I almost always stop to consider it. Every time I say no, I’m leaving “easy” money on the table, and some months that easy money is extremely appealing!
But when I check in with my body about whether or not that kind of work feels good for me, I always get a screaming “NO!” It’s hard to explain why, but running other people’s campaigns simply doesn’t feel expansive. And if it doesn’t feel expansive, it’s a no.
HOW ARE YOU DEALING WITH WANTING TO DO ALL THE THINGS? HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHAT TO PUT YOUR FIRE ENERGY TOWARDS?
I use data, both hard numbers from Google Analytics and anecdotal evidence, to tell me what’s actually working. I like Twitter a lot more than Facebook, but guess what? No matter how much time I put into my Twitter strategy, I’m just not getting a lot of traffic from there. In fact, social media simply isn’t a huge traffic source from me, so I decided to save some money and stop outsourcing my social media management.
I’m fortunate that, from the beginning of my business, I’ve always been clear on exactly what works for me. When I stopped blogging to produce my podcast, I didn’t want to admit that I was actually hurting my business, but the numbers told the truth. So in order to keep doing something that I enjoyed, I had to find a way to make sure podcasting actually got me paid.
HOW DID UNDERSTANDING YOUR FIRE FREQUENCY IMPACT YOUR BUSINESS ACTIONS AND GROWTH?
When the Frequency Quiz came back with Fire and I learned what that meant, I got more than a little uncomfortable. Why? Because it was DEAD ON! Ellen seemed to be reading my mind, and I was face-to-face with some serious truths that I had been actively avoiding. Here’s the thing, though; these were the very things that have been seriously holding be back in my business, and now I have a step-by-step plan for applying what Ellen’s taught me to breaking down a ton of obstacles.
One of my biggest struggles is with boundaries; I get all worked up and constantly feel guilty if I can’t help everyone who gets in touch about my services. But now I’ve tweaked my intake process, ditched an entire revenue stream, and suddenly I went from working with people who weren’t a good fit to landing my absolute dream clients who keep on referring me to other great prospects!
WHAT’S NEXT ON YOUR LIST?
Learning to follow through more on all the different things I want to start. Thank you so much, Ellen! I wish I knew what it meant to be a Fire five years ago.