Female emPOWERED: Winning in Business & Life

Episode 320: How to Use Google + Meta Ads to Grow Your Local Studio with Paid Ads Expert Ashley Brock

• Christa Gurka

Share episode

How to Use Google + Meta Ads to Grow Your Local Studio with Paid Ads Expert Ashley Brock

Welcome back to another episode of Female emPOWERED — and Happy New Year, friends! We’re kicking off 2026 with an episode that every Pilates, PT, yoga, or boutique wellness studio owner needs to hear.

Today, I’m joined by the brilliant Ashley Brock, founder of the Paid Ads Academy, bestselling author of How to Win with Paid Ads, and a strategist who has managed over $200 million in ad spend. She built a nearly 8-figure company in under three years, has had million-dollar days, and leads an incredible team supporting entrepreneurs in becoming findable, profitable, and known for more.

I’m also a client inside her mastermind — and I can confidently say it’s one of the few programs that truly delivers on what it promises.

If you’ve ever wondered which ads to run, where to spend your marketing dollars, or why your Google or Meta ads aren’t working, this episode breaks it all down.

What We Cover in This Episode

✔ Why Google Ads should be the FIRST step for local brick-and-mortar studios

Ashley shares why Google captures “problem aware” and “solution aware” clients — the people already searching for Pilates near me, yoga studio nearby, physical therapist Miami, etc.
These are high-intent leads ready to buy today.

✔ The two-part strategy all local service businesses need

Ashley explains why you must pair:

  • Prospecting with Google → be findable
  • Retargeting with Meta (Facebook + Instagram) → stay top of mind

This combo creates the “everywhere effect” that keeps you in front of potential clients until they convert.

✔ The most common Google Ads mistakes business owners (and agencies!) make

Including:

  • Using broad match keywords that send your ads to the wrong people
  • Targeting entire states or countries by accident
  • Optimizing for low-intent conversions (like contact page views)
  • Not understanding the difference between manual bidding and smart bidding
  • Focusing on the wrong metrics

Ashley simplifies this so you know exactly what matters.

✔ The ONLY 3 Google metrics Ashley cares about

If you’re running ads for a local studio, these are your north stars:

  1. Leads
  2. Cost per lead
  3. Click-through rate (CTR) — ideally 5–10% or more

She opens up about:

  • Leaving her job in 2022
  • Investing in high-level coaching (including a $50K program while pregnant!)
  • Her first six-figure day
  • Scaling from a team of 2 → a thriving team of 12+
  • How investing in herself and her team multiplied her results

Her story is a powerful reminder that skills stack, courage compounds, and clarity accelerates growth.

Both Ashley and I share candid insights about:

  • Setting boundaries as a female founder
  • Managing rapid team growth
  • Avoiding people-pleasing in business
  • Saying “no” more often to protect your energy and impact

Join Ashley’s Win With Paid Ads Challenge

This is exactly how I found Ashley — and let me tell you, I had zero intention of joining her mastermind at first.
But her 5-day challenge blew me away. I learned something new every day and instantly knew I wanted to work with her.

Ig Handle: https://www.instagram.com/ads.with.ashley/

Join the Win with Paid Ads Challenge: https://www.paidadscoaching.com/a/2148041125/Nq5sPzDb 

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Hey there, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Female Empowered Podcast. I am your host, Christa Gurka, and if you're listening to this in real time, happy New Year. It is January, 2026, which is crazy and I am so, so, so excited to kick off. This, I think this is the fourth season, maybe the fifth season of female Empowered with a one amazing human. Ashley Brock with the Paid Ads Academy, win with paid ads. Ads with Ashley. She's had a couple different, business names, but she is amazing and I'm so grateful for you taking the time. I know how busy you are and I'm so grateful for you taking the time to come chat with me and my audience today. So welcome Ashley to the podcast.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Thank you. I'm so excited.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

I am so excited. I am gonna read her. It's, it's a very, humble bio. And then I'm gonna let you kind of

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Love

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

wash it up a little bit because I think you're, you have a lot more to offer here, but

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

it.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Ashley's, slogan is Making it rain, being rainmakers, so she teaches her clients how to make it rain in their business. Being the founder of the Paid Ads Academy and author of the number one Amazon bestselling book, how to Win with Paid Ads after Managing$200 million in Ads. Been for over a decade and advising and working directly with CMOs of Fortune 500 brand. She built a nearly eight figure company in under three years. And we are gonna talk about that'cause that's absolutely amazing. Hitting a$1 million day and building a thriving team of 12. I'm also gonna ask you about your team'cause they really are amazing, helping entrepreneurs be findable, scale profitably and be known for more. And I am part of her group. I'm in her mastermind and I can just say. It's just been an incredible experience. So I want you to know what a great program it is. And I don't say that lightly. I've been in a lot of programs and, I, if I'm gonna spend money on something, I want to get the service back and it's just been phenomenal. can you, I'd love to just ask you your, your into ads, right? And marketing in, in general, and then how you went from. to deciding you were gonna start your own business.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yeah. first of all, Christa, I have to tell you, I'll never forget when you, because I think you, you bought from an ad, you landed in the challenge, and then after it you were like, I just have to say the whole machine of this thing was good. And I love her already. because she sees What I see when I look at things is I don't just. See what's right in front of me. I see the big picture. And of course, this person is obviously immensely successful because they, they step, step back and look at the whole operation, which is why you're so good and I've grown your business so well. I just, I'll never forget that comment in voice memo. I was like, she saw it and it, it meant a lot to me.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

And it does mean a lot. I will say that, touchpoint and I know what goes into making that happen. it doesn't just happen.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

No, it doesn't.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

It doesn't just happen. again, if this is, and this is what she's doing behind the scenes, what she does, front facing must just be that much more incredible. So

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

That was the goal. That is the goal. And I know that, and I say this all the time, I know we're not perfect, but we do choose to be the best on purpose and for a purpose. And it's for just like you, for more people to find you. But it, it takes feedback. And anyway, feedback is actually probably where this whole thing started. you asked, and it was, I went to the career fair at the University of Georgia. I actually had a degree in broadcast journalism, and my husband and I were like, we need jobs. Let's go to the career fair. we go to the career fair. I met with some different businesses and it ended up the, the one that I connected the most with. And I remember going back to Kyle, I was like, this is not me being on camera at News Channel nine.'cause I interned at a news station and, and I was like at an a, b, C station. I was like, I'm gonna get a job there. And I was like, I just met with this person and she was so great and it's advertising, but she likes me. And I was like, I really liked her. on day one. I graduated college and then the next day, I already had my job lined up. It was by college and then started, I started at a, at a marketing agency and then went from, and that was a lot of small businesses, and then I went from that one to the next one. I called the, the girl that helped me get the job. The one that hired me, she moved agencies and then she took me with her. I call her my fairy job mother

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

I

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

because she took me from there to there. I went from small businesses and maybe they're spending a couple thousand a month to medium sized businesses. Maybe they're sending five figures a month, ultimately to a large agency where my clients were spending six figures a day. I had multimillion dollar budgets every month. And I think what. I loved the most out of getting from there to there was doing ads on all the different platforms. I love the strategy of when do you do Google versus when do you do meta versus when do you do TikTok? I guess to wrap it all up, I, I, I ascended, loved it so much. Got to work with these huge companies. But before and after work I was teaching at a place called General Assembly and I was teaching at. I was going to, and then, and then I had people that found me there and they were like, can you teach me private? then I'm teaching people privately ads before work, going to work, and then driving after work to go teach ads. And that was a whole 10 year thing. that ultimately I got to a time where I was pregnant with my second and I was I'm working probably 60, 70 hours a week. I'm exhausted. I can't leave my desk. Even though I love my job. These clients are paying my agency six figures. A month. What if I could just make a quarter of that a month? I decided to start my own thing.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

That's amazing. I love listening to

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yeah. It was wild. Mm-hmm.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

By the way, I could totally see you being on TV as a broadcaster too, though. I could see you sitting in a

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Oh, thank you.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Yes. I could

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Thank you reporting. That's why I always say reporting live. It's like, it's like a,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Oh, that's

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

that because it was like a tie in to like Ashley with me, with the microphone being like, reporting live from News Channel nine in Chattanooga. People like, why does she say that? And I'm like, because I was a reporter.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Yeah,

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

anyway, it's a whole thing.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Reese Witherspoon in the morning show. You

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

That's, that's why I, I, she's my doppelganger, even though I think she's cooler than me. But

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

totally.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

yeah,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

about if she's

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

bucket list to meet her for sure.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Yeah. let's get right into ads then. And I, you kind of

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Let's do it.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

you like the whole thing about. Google versus Meta versus YouTube. I believe most of my audience is mostly familiar with Google and Meta. I think they kind of know

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yep.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

other things out there like TikTok ads and YouTube ads, and maybe Pinterest ads. But it's one of those things where they're like, I don't really have the bandwidth to learn that right now. So

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Mm-hmm.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

of my listeners are also local brick and mortar service spaces, service businesses. Thank you. In your experience, and I, I know what your strategy is, but would you like to explain what your strategy is in terms of local brick and mortar service providers?

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yeah, if it was, if, if I was, if someone said, Ashley, you have 30 days to get 20 new clients in my local service space, brick and mortar business, I would say, great, we can do it. And we would start with Google Ads. Because those people are already searching for you. They're already looking for a Pilates studio or a yoga studio, or a chiropractic studio or a pellet floor studio. they're, they're already looking for a therapist or, or somewhere to go. They're raising their hand and most often on Google, if you think about this, this big funnel, there's people that are symptom aware. Then there's people that are aware that those symptoms are a result of a problem. Then there's people that are aware that they have a problem that they need a solution for, and then there's people that are aware of your specific solution on Google. People are typically problem aware or solution aware. I'm, I'm searching for the solution of a physical therapist. they already know they want it. You don't even have to sell'em that they need one. They already know. And so they're just raising their hand searching. So being findable on Google for that is the most lowest of every dollar anybody could spend. They could tell you, I want some wallpaper in the studio. I need a new chair. It's like, what you really need is to make sure that people will sit in the chair and see the wallpaper. you need to be findable on Google. And then the strategy is, is once you're, once they've been to your website. Once they've checked you out or they've seen your Google business profile, or have they've gone to your Instagram because you were, you were found, they saw your website and then explored beyond that, then you just needed to be top of mind. Because one of the things that we probably know is when I'm searching or Chris is searching on Google for something, most common behavior is when I, let's use a, let's use a yoga studio as an example. If I'm searching yoga studio near me, I'm like, oh look, there's four. I'm Googling and I'm like, who has the best reviews? Okay, they've got a knock, a knock in the, but I'm like, okay, you've got Gold Star for me. And then I'm like, oh, but this one's closer. And they also have good reviews. Okay, this got a knock for me. And then I see another one and I, and I click on their websites and I'm like, okay, your website looks like it was updated in 1983. That's no a Love 1983. It's just that the website shouldn't be that. This one, there's no reviews. And I, I only see one type of person here. I don't know if this is a di diverse group. Maybe it's young, old. And then this one, I'm like, your website looks really good. I wonder where your Instagram looks like. And I scroll to the bottom. I click on the Instagram, and then I'm like, oh my gosh. Look at how cute the studio is. It looks so clean and nice. Oh, I love that. And it's right by the shopping area. Maybe I could shop after. And then I'm like, okay, this one's got my preference. But then what happens is studio number one can't stop getting back in front of me and I see them over and over and over and then they've got an incentive and then I saw something else. I didn't realize, even though their website was bad, at least there's this other testimonials and other people, it's like the person ultimately, even though I actually probably would've picked studio number three, it's like studio number one won't stop following me around the internet and they look really nice. Let me just give that one a try. Because it's the law of familiarity. What we're more familiar with, we move towards, and so that's the opportunity is be find a on Google and then stay top of mind on meta.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Great. the way that, and the way that you call them is prospecting is like be findable, right?

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yep.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

people,

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

That's right.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

for the most part. And then the being everywhere on the internet is retargeting.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

That's exactly it.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

yeah, you can, you can do both, right? You should do both actually. Yes. yeah. I love that. Okay, when you. And I know you see a lot of people's ads, and one of the things that actually really did attract me to your program also was you do have a ton of local, my business now technically is online, but

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Totally.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

forever it was local business and my. Clients right now are local business providers. the fact that you had so many local service providers in your groups and in testimonials, that was also another big thing that drew me to your program.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

That's good to know.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

what are some of the things that you see, maybe mistakes when you see people's. The way they've either set up the ads or been taught to set up the ads before. the number one mistake. Let's talk Google first.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Okay.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

local search, what are some things you that are really common mistakes you see people make all the time?

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

there's, there's two things for everybody that's not an ads wizard. The, the way that I could bucket this for this to be super straightforward is there's the words

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Mm-hmm.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

and then there's the, the buttons.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Okay.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

the words are what are the keywords? What are the words on the ad? What are the words on the landing page? Are, are the words good? do you, are you actually showing up for the right thing? Then there's the buttons and there's so many buttons. You're oops, accidentally, I'm targeting the whole United States. I'm yep, that'll be why they won't show up in your Pilates studio. And crap, I didn't know. I've actually had that happen. Someone no, it's all Pilates studios. And I'm I know, but you're showing up in Kansas and you're, and you're in California. I'm no wonder you're getting zero people. that's just a button issue.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Yep.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

I feel it's a balance of people and, and at the end of the day, the thing that I find so often is people ju are just DIYing.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Mm-hmm.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

let me just figure it out. And I love the hard work and passion that comes from somebody who's to figure it out. Somebody. It's just, you can still figure it out yourself while having an expert speed you up on that.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Yeah. Yeah.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

that I, I think people just, not, people not realizing the difference between yoga versus yoga studio near me. Those are two different keywords someone could be looking for. someone's oh, what we do is yoga, they make yoga their keyword. And I'm for a hundred reasons. I can tell you why. That's a terrible idea. It needs to be our, what is the intent of the person? Because the, the thing about Google and Meta and all these things is they'll optimize towards the signals you give'em. if you give them bad signals, you will get bad results. But if you give'em good signals, you'll get good results.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

mentioned

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

you, yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

to me in the call that we just had this week where I asked the question about having all those different conversions set up, like directions,

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Oh yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

and you made a comment

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Calls.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

question was Should it, should you just optimize for one specific thing or are all of those conversions okay. And you said what? What's gonna happen? As long as those conversions are good intent, like someone looking for directions is a good intent that they want to visit you. But if they just go to your random contact page, that might not be, and then Google is just gonna keep showing your ad to people that will click and not take an action type thing, which which was a

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

That's exactly right.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Mind a mindset for me of oh yeah, that Google will keep and meta's the same. They will just keep showing your ad to the person that's gonna take the, the action that you're testing on.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

That's right. that's why it's you could give them all of those signals, but would you rather give them all of them or just some of them that are the best intent? And you wanna give the The thing is, is we get the option. That's why I asked you, even at the beginning, there was one, one coaching call and there were so many different keywords and I was you could, you could show up for all 10 of those keywords, but what if you could just show up for the three that were the most highest intent specific, you and you're I would like that. I'm we can do it. We can eliminate all the other mess that someone could get distracted by. And I, even yesterday, my COO was here and we had a VIP day and she got a. a eight figure lead from her Google ad while we were sitting here. She's this has been a fruitful day. And then I'm like,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

day. Great day.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

she's so happy. And it's yes, because she has five keywords, she has narrowed it down to spending thousands and thousands of dollars a month on just five, because those are the five that work. And she's if they're searching that, they're searching for me. That's it. And it just takes time to get to, what do you wanna pay for? Not everybody's gonna have five keywords, but sometimes you can, depending on your budget.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

I

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

really great. the other thing, of the things that I've learned from your program is how to look at the metrics from a

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Hmm.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

perspective. really understand them. And I would say you, you did mention oh, you know, when someone's DIYing it, they might know or not know, but I've seen people who have agencies doing their ads and I don't think they have it. up great or correct even too. And that's, I mean, that did happen to me at one point. I was working with a, an ad agency who was very reputable, came, had worked with some very high people and they had my ads not optimized to the right conversion either, but I didn't know enough to. Know the difference.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

I.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

their reports to me were oh, look at all the impressions you got. Look at all the clicks you got. Look at how many people went to your email. But some of those people were in. Botswana, and I'm is, that is no one's coming into Miami, Florida from, But

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

No.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

didn't know enough, I basically abdicated the responsibility

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Right.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

enough. And now I feel I've much better skillset. I can still have someone help me, but I'm no. Mm-hmm. That's, that's not the strategy we want. Nope. These are not, these are not good leads. These are good leads. Let's go more in on this one. even with. PE watching people that, the biggest thing I see now, and I'd love to hear your feedback on this, is broad match versus phrase and exact.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

even a lot of, A lot of, even the, the brick and mortar businesses, I know when I go in to look at their Google ads, they're all set, their agencies or ad persons all set them up with broad match and from what I've learned from you, that's not good intent.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

No.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

of your picture with a little tent inside and I'm

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

yes,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

looking for a video of Pilates.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

correct.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

is there ever a time where you would use broad

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yeah, when you've got so much money and you're Hey, you're Hey, I wanna expand a little bit and let's just see if it gets good quality. Like when you're spending six figures a month. Honestly, my accounts had broad match in it. It's just for small business owners, 90% of the time it's a no and 10% it's a yes. Like sometimes some long tail broad match keywords can work. Great. And for those of you listening that're what are these match types? There's basically three different signals you can give Google of what you wanna show up for. And people that don't know what they're doing are just gonna say, oh, these are my keywords, and you upload them. What you don't realize is you're doing it the wrong way. You're not giving Google the signals of how you wanna be specific with that word. That's the more broad option. And Google is, and their representatives, they are, I'm not saying anything against Google. I had great Google reps. They were amazing. There's different tiers of Google support. the people that are spending the absolute most get the absolute most experienced Google reps. The people that are spending below$50,000 a month are gonna get, or even 10,000 or there's a, there's a tier. And the the goal is that Google wants you to spend your money in full and those account reps are incentivized to get your account to spend. And they know that it will spend when it's in broad match because broad match can show up for anything and it can be really lenient. And that's why I had a dumpster company. Actually be, showing up for trash cans. And I was like, you are a roll off dumpster rental company and because of broad match, you're showing up for trash cans, which are day and night, two different things. you'll spend a hundred percent of your budget and get zero conversions. I've seen agencies, and here's the thing about the agency side, it's almost likewhen you think about an organizational structure, Christa andsomeone's team, have you ever seen a company where it's a bunch of new entry level people and you're like, they're great, they're hardworking, it's amazing, it's grown and there's actually nobody who's been here or since10 years ago to have somebackground information. And at a certain point. Asads Grow grow, there becomes this ad agency layer of all the people that have actually never done the manual stuff that are only in the new ai, let it be broad, whatever. And it's that's not getting as good of results as the more manual option, but they've actually never even heard of it, they definitely can't even recommend it. And they're being told by their advisors, no, only broad smart bidding. And it's the only people that really know how to make it happen are the people that have been around the block are in it for long enough to be able to advise. I think sometimes that's where it's like. Man with every extra year, the people that have been doing it the longest, there's fewer and fewer that are still in it. I think that's, that can mess up the performance when that's someone's experience. They don't even know what they don't know to advise.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Exactly, and usually the business owner and Iwill say, listen, most of us are in my industry, we're movement people we're very left brain people. We're science people. marketing is such a huge umbrella for us. We can understand it, but usually

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

You have? Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

the business that it's really hard. It's oh my gosh, I have to learn this new thing. when. It's like when our patients go to the doctor and the doctor's like, oh yeah, you had surgery, but you're great. You can go back. You know? Or you just had a baby. Yeah. But you can go back to running no problem. And you're, as a therapist, you're like, you could, but I would not advise doing that.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Right.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

when the business owner doesn't know enough information to ask the question to the ads person or the ads agency, there's no good communication

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Nope. Nope, there's not.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

sometimes when I'll see something questionable, I'm not gonna assume anything. I would just say, Hey, would you ask your ads person? Here's question I would have for how this is set up. But I don't know what they are thinking on their end, but they should have a real rational. Answer for you

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yeah, that makes complete sense.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

this reason and should show you the money, so to speak.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yep.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

I think the point you made about smart bidding versus manual bidding is great. can we talk a little bit about that and if you wanna explain the difference between manual so that our listeners might understand the manual cost per click versus smart bidding, which is what I think a lot of people in Google are pushing people

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Oh yeah, it's broad match and smart bidding

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Yeah.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

that that's it. And there's two ways you can pay. bidding is just how do you pay? Think about sitting in an auction. It's like the auctioneer's go in about a mile a minute and everybody's like, Ooh,$3,$4. that actually is what's happening behind the scenes. Every time you say, I wanna pay for this keyword, there's an auction that is occurring and there's a few ways you can pay for that auction. You can say, let Google decide how much you should pay. Let them automate it. And if you think about why all these agencies are doing broad and and smart bidding and performance Max, it is because it is easier. It takes more time and more resources to train someone how to do it a manual way.'cause it's a skill versus do it the easy way. It's way easier to mass get someone to do something and handle as many accounts as possible at an agency when the way that they're setting up the campaigns is not so complicated. Right? there's, there's, with bidding, there's the way that you let, let Google decide, which is a quicker, easier way. Then there is manual. Let me decide. And what Google is trying to say is, you don't have time for that. let us decide. We'll figure it out. It'll be great. And honestly, I have many accounts that graduate from Manual to Smart. But what I found is manual is where you're saying, I wanna pay this amount, no matter what ish. Whereas Google could say, Hey, you wanna pay$3 a bid or$30? Who? Who knows? And you're dang, I can't afford to pay$50 a click if my, what I'm selling is 30. You know what I mean?

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Mm-hmm.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

it's there's those two different ways to pay. And smart bidding works well when there is data and specifically conversions. People that have signed up for your class called you, whatever. And if you don't have any conversions and you're trying to do smart bidding, it can't be smart and bid without data on a conversion. And so oftentimes, unless you start with manual to get it to figure it out, sometimes it struggles to be able to actually perform with smart bidding. that's my,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

it's great.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

my experience.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Yeah. And it's even, you're right because even when you're trying to change it from smart bidding to manual bidding, it says, we do not recommend.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

But yeah, it's in Big Blue, better. It's scaring you.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

yeah, exactly. you're right. You're not saying never use smart bidding. You're just saying

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

No.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Google can't get you to the right smart bidding. So

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

of the time there are. There are times where I've had someone turn on smart bidding and it worked and we're like, leave it. Great. Good for you. Congratulations. It's just that is not the majority I don't teach that. I teach what works most often. Yeah,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

have metrics on that.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

that's right.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

if you were looking at someone's, again, local brick and mortar business, what are the maybe two to three metrics when you pull up your Google ad campaigns? Right. what are the two to three things your eyes specifically are going to right away?

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Lead and cost per lead.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Lead and cost per lead.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

That's it. If there are leads coming into that account, that's all I care about. If there's not, and it's zero'cause they literally haven't gotten a single lead yet. Then I'm just going to look at are the, are they the right people and are they engaging with the ad? I'm looking at click through rate. If the click through rate is terrible, and I'm they're obviously confused.'cause if someone's searching Pilates studio and someone says, we're, Pilates Studio Atlanta, and someone's ad says We're a Pilates studio in Atlanta. If at least five to 10% of people are not clicking on the ad, I'm something is wrong. it's either not the right people, your keywords are off. Something's going on because if they're searching and what you say is what they were searching for, it's gonna be relevant and they're gonna click

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Yeah.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

less than 5%.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

what, what's the click through rate you like to see in Google?

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Five per five to 10% or more? less than 5%. I mean, there are totally times when it's two or 3% depending on the industry. Before a local service based business specifically, I really like five at minimum.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Okay. Great.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yeah. Okay.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

can we transition a little bit to you and your business, because I think just being a female business owner, that's what my listeners are. talk a little bit about, I mean, it has been a whirlwind for you these last two to three years. can you give us a little bit from 2023 to 2025 what your business has grown to?

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yeah, let's see. I. Left my job in December of 2022. Yeah, December of 2022. And I'd already been building it behind the scenes, there was some stuff going on already. but I left in December of 2022, and then in May of, may of 2023, I was getting pretty darn pregnant. I think I was about eight months pregnant. And I decided to invest in a program that was$4,000. It was actually 39 97. And I told my husband,'cause it had a three in front of it, that it was only 3000. it's funny that I can't, I literally lied.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

I use the same math.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

It's just, it's just husband meth.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Yeah.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

And, I purchased that program. It felt like the biggest investment of my life to pay$4,000. It's funny. I could spend millions of dollars for clients, but when, when it was me, I was what is happening? panicked and then learned some sales skills, and the next launch I had with my own ads, I had 20 or 30% higher conversion rate. I was oh my gosh. I did the same thing but did it differently and just communicated differently, and it worked. I was like, wow, this is cool. I started applying that in my ads. Then in December of that year, 2023, I decided to invest$50,000 in a coaching program. I did not have the money for that, I told my husband that was a hilarious story, y'all can get the full story another time on my podcast or something. But basically I trapped him in the, in the bathroom and was like, Hey, I play, God told me I should spend 50,000 today. He was like, God called. You said what? And I'm like, yeah, that. I swear. I know that sounds crazy, but anyway. I did it the very next month. I had my first six figure day in my business, I was able to pay off those credit cards and take the weight off my anxiety, and then I took a, whatever was left of that money and just reinvested it and hired someone else on the team, reinvested it back in ads. the business did 1.4 million in 2024, and then it's 2025 and we've done 7 million.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

That's

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

That is insane. and then I know that yesterday we planned for 2026 where we will do 10 to 12 million is the goal. The goal is 10. We're gonna go on our company trip at 10, but I know that we'll do 10 to 12 next year because we are just getting the right things in place. But yeah, it's been, and the only thing I didn't share in that whole journey is when I made the, when I made the$50,000 investment that January, I had a six figure day, well, six months later in June of this year, was it this year? What is happening? no, it was that year of 2024. I paid six figures with that same person. I bought the 4,000 from. long story short, I paid six figures to invest in their program, to work with them more closely. Then I paid six figures to go be with Alex or Mozy and has his team on. I just, I was relentless. the reason we've done 7,000 is because I've invested more in myself and the business than ever before, and, and that includes the team. we've grown from a team of. One and a one and a half. in, in our$1.4 million year, it was me and one other person,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Okay.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

two people, and then to do seven. We added 12 that. We're at 13 starting tomorrow or on Monday. we'd absolutely invested in. My growth, my skills. I invested in four different masterminds. People always tell me, well, I can't work with you. Be, and the same thing for you Chris, when people are considering working with you, one of the excuses, sorry, but it's true, is they're like, well, I can't do it because I'm like, you're just making up excuses. You can, if you wanna fight for your excuses, you can have'em. I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go grow. And I just feel skills stack, they don't detract. I'm like, oh, I'm in a mastermind. Perfect. That's only gonna help me with this other skill. I've just relentlessly invested in myself in my team. And of course we spent over half a million dollars in ads, which also helps. it just, it all, there's expenses in the business, but we also still grew very profitably and got to help a lot more people and actually help our clients make millions, which is what makes me and the team so happy'cause we have a whole little wind channel for that. But yeah, that's a story I.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

that is, about hockey stick growth. That is, that's like a hockey stick. And then on the other, like on the other way around, it's like a huge, I mean that's a huge angle of hockey stick. I'm curious to ask you, one of the things that I see, and I felt it a lot in business, was when you start hiring people,

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yeah,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

management it's a different skillset

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

it is a different skillset.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Yes. And I find, I don't know, I feel I, I get this from you too, and just in terms of being a founder and a visionary, our. I kind of call it the founder's paradox sometimes, because our brains are thinking 25 steps ahead and when we're hiring people then we kind of have to there's just this dichotomy. So

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yeah,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

handle, quadrupling your team in a year?

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

it wa, I'm gonna be honest, it was really hard.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Mm-hmm.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

It was hard on me. It was hard on my employee number one, Laura Beth. I, she and I had, she came over for the VIP day and we were just, ha we had a moment yesterday and we were both just getting emotional.'cause it has been hard to grow a team and for everybody to be okay because to grow at that pace, you always need somebody else, somebody's drowning all the time. And I refuse to hire someone who does not align with our core values is just because we need a person.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Hmm.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

And we've hired almost one person a month. That's why we went from that to,'cause we hired someone at the very end of 20, the, we had one person all year, but at the end of November and December we had two. So we ended, and we were four. So we went from four to, 12, 13. we, I had to let one person go. That was hard. But it's because I, because that person. It was, it, it was a misalignment with core values. And it was because I, we, we were so desperate. We, hi. We hired quickly instead of following through with our process. And so I was like, I'll never do that again. And so we've refined our process, we've gotten support for the people that we're owning so much of it because now we run ads. There's an application, they have to do a video, and now we don't even look at anything of their qualifications until we look at the video to see if they're a sane person with good communication skills. And so then after I've looked at the video, then my hiring team looks at their qualifications. And then if their qualifications are good, then they set up an initial interview. But we've, I'll tell you one thing, we did not have a hiring process. It was Ashley, you call and Laura Beth calls and we're like, you're in. And now we have a legit, sophisticated, very good process. But it has been the hardest thing because as we've grown, I've not wanted other people in my team to drown, but I've had to be a vision caster and be like, this isn't forever, and I'm gonna, you're gonna be so glad that you pushed through. Just hold on with me. And so it's been hard, but I have the best team in the, I, I, I, I don't wanna single one of them to go anywhere. they're so good. I'm so grateful for that, and they've been willing to take feedback. Thank you.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

have a great team. I mean, I haven't met everyone on your team, butcommunication forme, as apersonal core value is really important.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yes.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

and integrity andmeaning doing what you're, say, say you're going to do.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

I can say that I fully feel when I invested in the program you provided the service that. You were advertising, right? You know,

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Praise the Lord.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

well, I have joined groups that know, and paid 15, 20, 20$5,000 to be in masterminds. And then you get in the program and you're like, we're not even seeing the person that sold us the Mastermind, we paid to learn from this person, and I haven't seen this person. Eight months. where are they? What, where are we? the bait and

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Man.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

fun, right? I will say your team is great. At every email that I send, a response back. I'm always I'm not sure if this is the right person, but if you can direct me to the right person, this would be great. And I know that that comes from leading from the front. that doesn't happen in a vacuum. That comes from the leader.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Mm-hmm.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Even if you, the leader is hiring the right people to work that process. That's the step.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

It's true.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

when, and you, with your team now, how do you feel you have had to change on a personal level to interact in Team dynamics?

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Hmm.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Or maybe you haven't, maybe you're no, I was built for this.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

I have had to have self-awareness. Luckily, although I'm not perfect at it, I really am in relationships and in life willing to admit when I admit when I'm wrong. one thing I've done is admit when I'm wrong to the team. there was, there was a team call. A couple weeks ago, and I, I cut off, one of my teammates was Nope, we won't be doing that, and here's why. then I just moved on and it was really rude how I responded. And on the next team call, I was Hey guys, I just wanna start off with, publicly acknowledging no one said anything to me about it, but I lost sleep about it. I, there was stuff going on and there's no excuse, but this is not how you talk to people. And so I was like, I'm so sorry. Here's how I want what I meant to say instead. And having extreme ownership. I read that book, extreme Ownership. It's so good. But

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

it over here.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

yeah, I love it. It's all, it's my fault. I'll take the, the ownership and then, I just know that they, what I really try to do is they're all different. And the ones that, that I'm more similar to, of course it's easier to talk to them. The ones that I'm a little bit different'cause I need different personalities. I need different people on my team. I don't, we do not need a lot of Ashley's, we need a diverse group of people. And so I've hired that intentionally with people that have other gifts. I think one thing I've had to do is be a chameleon. okay, with this person, I talk like this with this person, I talk like this. And, just being willing to take feedback. But yeah, I, I have loved leadership from day one. I love being the captain of the basketball team. I can't, I wanted to be on tv. I, I love leading, it's fun for me. It's thrilling for me to pull people together and pull the best out of them. I'm an A on the Enneagram, I'm a challenger. I just wanna challenge you to bring out the best version of yourself. And that's fun. And I've been self-aware and constantly been. Trying to be a better person and leader for them too,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Yeah,

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

my clients will win when the team is happy.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

A thousand percent.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

A thousand percent. I will say learning how to be a leader was a. Tough transition,

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

a technician to a manager to a leader. And I always wanted to be a leader too. I, I was always like, I wanna be the head of the group project. though, more though, not because I'm an eight, because I'm an Enneagram three. I wanted to be in control of the outcome of everything. it was important to me that I was like, we need to win. And, in order to guarantee that, then I need to be in control. for

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yep.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

of also getting better at being a little more self-aware. What I recognize, I am a chameleon by nature. again, being an Enneagram three, I'm like, I will do. myself into whoever I need to be to be liked and be win. But it gets exhausting. that type of task switching is very exhausting. for me, I recognize that I didn't have the best communication style for

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Hmm.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

And I also

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yes.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

hire a bunch of mini mes. That's like the

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

No.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

if owner can make. I started just putting people in that were. I'll admit better communicators than I, than I am.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yeah,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

a good communication style with that person. And then they would in Tarn, have a better communication style with some other people on the team. Right? Because

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

totally.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

I don't mean to hurt people's feelings, I really don't. I care a very deeply about people, but I do recognize that again, like you, I'm like, yeah, we gonna move on from that. And I'm like, that's not nice. It is not nice. And I don't, that's rude. I don't

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

I can say it differently. I'm like, I know that I can. here, here's what we're doing. Yes.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

And we're gonna move forward, but, where do you see 2026? Well, we're in it at, at the time of this recording, we're still December of 2025, but at the airing it's gonna be 2026. what is, what are some things that you're gonna say as an owner and a woman and a human being no to in 2026? I'd love to hear what you're gonna say no to in 2026.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

I will say no to things that are not an absolute heck yes. I, I'm like, I, I am going to say no to traveling to speak at things for free

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Okay.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

because I am so glad I spoke at things for free when I started.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Mm-hmm.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

really am, and I recommend everybody does now, unless there's like a, a mutual exchange, I have to protect my time and my, like wellbeing. I am saying no to anything on Mondays and Fridays.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

I love it.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

I'm only, I'm only, I'm going to use those, like I'm working those days. However, it's like on my time. And I'm taking care of me. I'm saying no to getting less than, seven and a half hours of sleep. I'm just gonna say no to more things so that I can take care of myself, make it worth when I'm traveling. because I mean, you, you, it's just a, it's the people pleaser in me that wants everybody to be happy and doesn't want to say no.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Mm-hmm.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

someone was like, Hey, can you pack up and just fly over here for free? I'm like, I can't do that anymore. Um. yeah, it's really just opportunities and my schedule, I said, yes to things I, there's a way that I truly believe that there's a way all of us can build this schedule that actually makes us happy. It's just Do you have the, the, the power to say no to an opportunity? To be like, I'm so sorry I can't do that date, but I can only do this date. Can we make that work? And what's so funny is I was too hesitant to tell people could we do this date instead? And 95% of the time, absolutely. And I'm like, my God, I was just too scared to even com. but could we do it like that? So I'm just saying no to things that could cause me physical harm and burnout or losing time with my family on the weekends because I just know that you, I can have better balance in 2026 than I did in 2025.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Yes. I love it. I love it. I believe all of us pay with time or money, and at

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

of our. Career or journey or whatever. We usually have more time than money, so we're gonna

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Not,

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

the things and we're gonna say yes to all the things. I was just telling someone when I first opened Pilates in the Grove, they were like, do you wanna teach at Lululemon? Yes. Would you teach a class at Athleta? Yes.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

yes.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

teach outside at the park? Yes. Would you come do this race? Absolutely. And now I have more money than time,

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Right.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

now I'm like. I would love to. I'm not gonna be able to make that happen. I can refer you to somebody or it, here's my fee. At

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yeah.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

right.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Yes.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

I think it's okay. I do think as women sometimes, somebody gave me a book in college that said it was called, when I Say No, I feel Guilty. And that book has changed the trajectory of my life. Just being able to say no to cer certain things. we should always also be good kind people. And there are sometimes things we don't want to do, but it's the right thing to do. Right? But in business. You only have the, the more you say no to allows the more opportunities that are heck yes. To come into your life and

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

It leaves space for it. It does. No, I love that.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Well, I'm excited to see what 2026 has in store. let's tell people where they can find you. your, Instagram handle I think is just at ads with Ashley.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

That's me.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

Yep. We're gonna link it in the show notes and you have a challenge coming up at the end of this month, can you tell, we're gonna link the challenge in the show notes too, so people can join up. By the way, this is how I found Ashley and I. It was so phenomenal. I was done. I'm joining. Good. And I will tell, I'll be very honest. I, when I joined the challenge, I had zero interest in joining the Mastermind. I really was Don't think now I'm gonna join the challenge. I'm curious to hear what it said. But I had zero interest and the challenge was so good that I was this is a no-brainer. in five days you completely transformed me from, I have zero interest to dropping five figures on a mastermind. tell, tell our listeners about the challenge. I think everyone should sign up for this.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

Thank you, Christa. I'm so glad you did. I really am. that's what I want everybody to know for your business, for anybody business listening. When you are great at what you do, and you can communicate that well, people will want to come to your place. there's a lot of yoga studios, there's a lot of other places. There's a lot of people that could teach ads. They'll only want to work with you. Because you're you. And I just, that makes me so happy. yes, the challenge, it's five days is incredible. It's life changing, in my opinion. I had my life changed by by that other investment because I was in a five day challenge. I'm like, these, just experiencing and learning from other people has changed my life. yes, the challenge is below. It's the win with paid ads challenge. And we'll link, it's like paid ads coaching.com/challenge. Yep.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

We, we'll link it in the show notes below. It really is a very good. again, even if you were like me, you're like, I have no desire to sign up for a marketing, do the challenge. I'm just gonna tell you she teaches so much in those five days that you will learn something each and every day in the challenge that you had never heard before. I'm telling you, I've been doing marketing for a long time and I was like, I have never heard this before. and I, we both believe. Putting yourself in the room with different business owners is a, an integral part to your growth as a female business owner. As a male business owner, I just really, really believe that putting yourself in the room with different entrepreneurs is. Life changing in, in terms of a business. And so it's been a really great experience for me to be part of your program and I do thank you so much for taking the time to speak to my audience today.

Ashley Brock | Paid Ads Academy:

I loved it so much. I really am I've loved working with you and you're so smart too. for all of you listening, I know you know it.'cause if you're listening, you already know. Chris is amazing, but she's very, very smart and she's successful for a reason, and she loves helping people do that, and it's really cool to watch. yeah, I'm so thankful. Yeah, it was great.

Christa Gurka | Fit Biz Strategies:

you too. All right, everyone. Until next time. Bye for now my friends.