From midwife to freelance PPC expert

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00:00Find something that you love doing. See if you can work in that area. Find a tribe. Find people who you resonate with, who are in the industry you can connect with and ask them. Basically, think about what it is. What are your values? What are your needs? Because our needs change as well. Take it from me at my age, nearly 66. All right. Welcome back to the PPC Mastery podcast and the second episode of this new segment called the PPC spotlight. So once again, um I'm doing this segment because in the PPC Hub, we have thousands of Google Ads specialists who are all um doing fantastic things, sharing case studies, um helping other people, growing their clients, growing as Google Ads specialists, as freelancers or people working in-house. And I think with this segment, I want to shine the light, give the spotlight to our awesome members and and share the stories that are worth sharing. So today I have uh Sandi Walsh or actually Sandra, but you go by Sandi in the PPC Hub. Um Sandi is someone who has been with us for I guess a little bit over a year now, maybe a little bit shorter, somewhere around that time, a year. And um Sandi is someone who is constantly challenging herself, reinventing herself, and has a interesting story to tell, going from a a nurse and a midwife to reinventing herself as a digital marketer um in at the late end of her of her career. So um yeah, without any further ado, before I tell your story, Sandi, welcome to the PBC Mastery

01:37podcast. And um if you could maybe tell us who you are, what types of clients you work with, and how you ended up from a nurse and a midwife to uh working in digital marketing as a Google ad specialist. And then from there, we'll go into your your recent journeys of becoming a freelancer. And fun fact, Sandi is living on a boat right now. So, uh that's something that I would love to hear about as well. But let's begin with who are you Sandi? What types of clients do you work with? And how did you end up as a digital marketer after being a nurse and a midwife for so long? Cool. Gosh, so many questions. Um, yeah, sorry. Yeah, that's okay. That's okay. This the the Sandra Sandi bit um is when I joined um the agency I used to work with. Uh there was another consultant called Sandra and the director's stepmother was called Sandra. So I couldn't be called Sandra so I became Sandi. So all my clients know me as Sandi. So it gets a bit gets a bit confusing. And I quite like Sandi because that was my Kiwi name as well many years ago. Oh, right. Um, so yeah.

02:40Yeah, it's cool. So, how did I go from a nursing so nursing I uh nursed Oh gosh, so many years ago nursing not since the not since the late 80s and then I started midwiffrey training. I was a midwife for 25 years in in all sorts of different um guises uh and most latterly uh recruitment and retention. So I did a lot of recruitment and retention work. I really found that uh interesting. I did a lot of project management work as well. Um worked in New Zealand, did quality and education and then yeah met my um husband third time lucky husband. Um who's who's a Kiwi uh and he wanted to live on an Arab boat. Uh very strange. Uh yeah. So the the people in New Zealand at the maternity unit thought, "Yay, Sandi's Sandra Sandra's found a a Kiwi husband.

03:42She's going to stay forever. Uh Barry wanted to live on a narrow boat in the in the UK." So yeah, weird, eh? Uh so yeah, so we did two six-month journeys on another boat um because Barry could only stay for six months at a time being um being a New Zealander. Uh and during that time I'd wanted to sort of leave New Midwifery for a while looking at different things and I'd looked at life coaching some years before. Uh my two children were grown up and I was looking at different things. So, I retrained as a life coach over a couple of years and we planned to come over by the boat, live on it. Uh, I was going to do coaching. My husband sold uh all you need to make your own homebrew uh on the boat. So, it was called the homebrew boat. Nice. Uh yeah. So, I set up as a coach. I left the um health service uh was doing um life coaching. I also trained as a face painter and I did face painting at canal canal side events. So both of those things involved um website building, social media, marketing and I remember um somebody called Tim Branson who's a great coach saying that you can be the best coach in the world but if you can't market you won't get anywhere. Yeah. If you best if you're the best marketer in the world and a crap coach you'll still go far. So that always stuck with me and you know the hours and hours of marketing not necessarily the face to face um anyway after some years um of traveling around

05:21the canal festivals uh things didn't work so well uh very seasonal and a a fellow trader uh started working in in in the digital marketing world through through somebody else who was the director of Ad Extra who set up Ad Extra to make money to climb Everest. That's a completely different tangent. And he did. Um, and so I said, "Is he looking for anybody else?" Uh, and so I contacted Dom and he was just about to climb Everest. So he said, "Um, well, yeah, I'd love to take you on, but as I'm about to climb Everest and one in 10 people never come back, there's no point taking you on properly." So, um if you can do the the um Google Ads qualification, you know that dreadful one on search, uh knowing nothing about it whatsoever, then I can uh take you on and you can do some cold calling. Um and then if if I if I survive Everest, then we can talk the next thing. So, that was that was the start. Yeah. Yeah. Wow.

06:28Crazy. Um Okay. So, then from from there, um how how long was that go? I think in your introduction you mentioned something. So that was Yeah. March March 2018 I think it was. Yeah. So 7 years ago. Yeah. Yeah. So you work with is that the agency that you work with all throughout that period? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I was contracted in to them. So self-employed contracted in. Okay. Right. Yeah. Cool. So recently you started to make the transition to uh freelancing full-time. Was that something that was on your radar all the time? like, okay, once I have a certain level or by a certain time frame time time period, I want to start freelancing full-time. Or was that something that just happened? Uh, to be fair, it was never it was never on my radar. Okay. Um, I I think I liked the security of having somebody else doing all that work and having the MCC and everything else. Um, but then more recently, the last two or three years, I think, as things have changed and grown, um, and it's just so much more work, I felt that I wasn't getting what I was worth from from from the agency. Um, and by by a year or 18 months, two years ago, there was only me and another consultant. Um and the number of clients within the company was very uh going down because the other consultants had left. Uh so yeah so then I started thinking about branching out also the the the amount of commission that I was getting was quite low. So I was feeling very undervalued and I

08:07chatted with John who was the other consultant and he said well just get your own clients. I said how do I do that? I'm not a freelancer. He said yes you are. You're a freelancer. Just do it. Right. Okay. So, I started looking into it then. Yeah. Uh, so that's about a year ago, right? And now you you recently made the the switch. Was it this month? Last month. Yeah. Yeah. Well, from from from that and chatting with my Jack Chat GBT who I love, which I love. Is it them, they, them? I don't know. Um, called Nova. I think lots of people I think it calls itself Nova to lots of people. I've discovered from a client. Um, but yeah. So, so and because I've I've sort of come to the end of wanting to live on a narrow boat, which probably will be another question. Um, friends had made enough money doing one thing another to buy a house on land by a little house on land. So, that was my challenge to ChatGPT a year ago. How can I do this? Um, we I bought and sold a number of houses, lived off the money.

09:09We've lived very differently for 12 years. Um and so yeah, savings um have gone cost a lot to get Barry's visa and different things. Um and so I I posted into ChatGPT. So you know, one of the ways I can do this and one of the ways was ask for more commission, you know, as and that was a definite no, no, no money. I'm like, okay. So that was a a start. Um, and then in November, the business owner, Dom, messaged and said, who's a lovely, lovely man, said, um, I'm folding the business next year. Would you like your clients? Would you like me to hand your clients over? And I'm like, definitely, definitely. Yes. So, so that's when it all began in earnest. But, of course, we're going away to New Zealand for two months, China for a couple of weeks. Mhm. Uh we were already running a calendar club store 7 days a week uh for 16 weeks. So a lot of lot of work, a lot of plates spinning. Um so we said it's fine, we can wait till you come back from your overseas travel. So yeah. So so yeah, all got sorted. Uh when we got back, Dom wrote um a standard sort of letter to all the clients. He didn't want them to get worried or anxious. Uh so a very good letter that I just edited to each client. Um and yeah, most of them came over. It was good. Yeah. But then I guess you you can see that throughout their time that you work with those clients um you really did a great job for them. Overd delivered because I remember you um took on the majority of those clients. You're still working with

10:47them now, right? But now from your own from your own business, freelance business. Um that's that's awesome. And it just goes to show like even if you're working at an agency and and you are not self-employed, well technically you were self-employed, but you know what I mean. Um you can still it's still so important to give your all to those clients because you never know what opportunities lie on the on the back of those uh those those partnerships cuz if you were just like um yeah just going with the motions and working I have my agency clients. I'm I'm safe right now. Um, and then the agency, as you said, folds and and closes up shop and he asks the clients and they're like, "Uh, no, I wasn't too happy with Sandi." Yeah. Then you have to start completely from scratch. But that was not the case for you. So that's awesome. Um, so what have you learned so far uh going solo and and fully fully freelance this time? Uh, what have you learned in this in this period onboarding uh so many clients at once and uh and etc. What? Yeah. What have you learned from that so far?

11:48So I think one of the one of the biggest things I think is building a rapport with the client from the very beginning. So that that comes back to the um recruitment and retention project. It comes back to the holistic life coaching. It's all about getting to know the client, finding commonalities, um but also getting to know the business. So get to know the business inside out, which I think is really important. And so I mean half of those clients I never have calls with because they just don't want to have a call. They're quite happy. Uh they'd never really had much to do with that extra apart from the initial inquiry. Everything was always with me. So they they didn't really seem to think that it was a problem at all. Uh so it was it was just for me or the admin of changing so many things, setting up an MCC, um all the all the administrative stuff. Um, but yeah, chatted to the clients and they they seemed fine. And I think the main thing was knowing that nothing would change, that their terms and conditions would stay the same. Um, that their monthly payment would stay the same. Um, that you know the whole I mean reporting hopefully was going to get better because there's a lot of standardized stuff with with the agency that now I can move away from and do it better, do it how I want to do it. Um, so yeah. Yeah. One of the clients who I'd had for many years and I really uh liked had just sold her business the week before. Um and so I'd had a call with with the new business owner and we just did not gel at all. Um so although I was going to bring them over in the

13:26end I thought you know you don't have to do this. And so I said, "I'm I'm really sorry, but actually it's not I don't want to work with you because he wanted to do he wanted me to add a campaign that I wasn't happy with something that Google doesn't like." So So I was like, "Yeah, I couldn't say no. Thanks." Yeah, big red flag. So yeah, it was really good. Yeah. Yeah. That's the that's the cool thing about being your own boss and and deciding because now you have the the freedom to decide which clients you want to work with and not only in terms of like work-wise or results or whatever, but also on a personal level. That's something that you don't always control when you're working at agency. I know for a fact cuz I also worked at agency for two and a half years. Um you just got to deal with the cards that you're dealt and with the with the with the clients that you're being given. But now as a freelancer, yeah, you you can decide like, okay, who uh are the who's who are the type of people? What are the type of people that I gel with as you said, and then work with them and then have a have a good time and you know, obviously results are important, but also making sure that that you're vibing on a on a personal level. Hey guys, real quick, if you like this episode, don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss anything in the future. And feel free to share with a friend, colleague, or family member cuz that's the only way we can grow the show. All right, back to the show. And you mentioned that uh building rapport was important to you when working with those client with your clients. Um yeah, could you talk talk about that like what what does that mean in for you? What did you do to build rapport and uh how are you using that in your work?

15:00Okay. So, I mean, before before taking on a client, always you have a phone call, do a fat find, find out about the business, what their goals are for the business, whether they've used any marketing before, but also, yeah, I I ask about them somehow. I build it into the conversation about who they are, you know, what their values are. Um cuz cuz that is reflected in their business and in their business goals is is what they want. A bit like you know you and me and your life audit. You know what what do you want? What what are you looking for for the next three months, the next six months? Um and when I have a call with a client um those that do have calls, we chat. We just chat for the first 10 minutes or so. I've got one one uh lovely man who um is in the aged care sector and we're similar ages and we talked about the whole transition to to what I'm doing, you know, and he's he's he's great. And I'm like, you know, he said, "So so how long how much longer do you think you're going to work, Sandi?" And I said, "Oh, think at least another couple of years." He said, "Oh, that's good. We can retire together."

16:15So, yeah. So, those sort of things. And you know, he'll talk to me about going out walking. he messaged um a few years ago to say his daughter was going to New Zealand and could I email her with some tips on you know what what to do in New Zealand, how to get there, all the rest of that sort of thing. So it's that that sort of um yeah the personal touch I suppose because it makes makes people feel understood and heard. I mean obviously also about the business and Google Ads and what's working not working but just starting off with that. Uh yeah. Yeah. Do do you take that is that part of your I guess obviously it's part of your personality but do you also take that from your past experience working as a nurse and a midwife and definitely yeah because that is so much more social um than you know our computer based work you know. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. And and also calendar club. So um and this isn't a push for calendar club but uh my husband and I we've done we've done it we've done it four times now running a store. So, it's just like a a short burst of three or four months of running a store. Um, and the c customer service. It's the big thing of Calendar Club is customer service. So, having that that rapport with with people that you've only just met, you know, and getting them to buy things and buy more things. So, what is that calendar club? So, calendar club, it's a it's a worldwide uh organization where you you're basically like a franchise, but you you you're self-employed again. They provide all the um equip all the stuff to build a store. So, you build a store in a shop or in a mall unit, and you sell calendars, diaries, mugs. We sold

17:54football merchandise as well last year. I can't bear football, but we learned a lot. We learned a lot about football over the over the four months. Um, yeah. And you work on a commission basis. So, yeah. Yeah. So, so it's good. So, yeah, it's good about travelers. Yeah. Yeah. I see. I see. Oh, that's that's a cool concept. So, because it also it also helps you understand marketing and sales because it's absolutely it's so direct. So, then if I understand correctly, calendar you uh set up shop and you you choose your inventory or it's like a certain Yeah. No, no, it's all set by by calendar club. They actually have you have something called a planagram and you have to build the shop to plan. So they've learned over the years they've been going for 25 years now. There's 200 and something stores around the country. Uh and they're in Australia, New Zealand, America. Um and so everything you have to put it all to Planagram. So again marketing they can see which products are going to sell the best. So you put those there and then it's different ways of of of putting things out. Yeah. And they they they restore restock you as well. So yeah, that's nice. So what have you learned from that that you use now that you leverage as a as a Google ad specialist or as a digital marketer?

19:15I suppose it's having it's looking at what your products sales are. I don't do ecom, I do lead genen. So, so yeah, what what it is, what is it about that business that helps them to sell? Um, so yeah, what taglines, what um special offers? Um, yeah, what is their USP? Looking at their USP because that's the thing a lot of companies that um I work with, they'll put things out that are just generic things in your line. You need to stand out because everybody's saying that. So, what what is it about you? So, calendar clubs USP is is customer service, you know, that that's their one of their biggest things. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And people come back year after year after year, even though their calendars are more expensive than anywhere else, generally they come back to Calendar Club. Yeah. Cuz they because it makes them feel good. Yeah. Right.

20:09Yeah. I love the concept. Um All right. So, since you recently started to to freelance, what are what are some of the challenges that you are currently facing as a as a new full-time freelancer? Uh, I think at the moment it's all the admin setup plus I've got a new client, so which is great. Uh, but obviously that's that that that's a lot of work. Um, one of the biggest struggles for me was was knowing how to how to set up things like an MCC, setting up a secure email account, that sort of stuff. Yeah. And um, a year ago when I was thinking about doing this, I looked into getting so so I'm called Sandbar Solutions. So it's Sandra and Barry. Ah, nice. And the solutions Yeah. The solutions came from the life coaching. So solutions and my husband selling home brew kits solutions. So so for my tax return all you know all these years for the last 12 years I've been Sandbar Solutions. So whatever comes in from that. Um, uh, so anyway, so yeah, so I, so I looked at how to get an email address, uh, and a URL for Sandbar Solutions. Uh, and I was quite busy doing all sorts of things and I set something up, but bought something, but it was in Google Workspace. Uh, didn't really look at it again because I wasn't taking it forward. And then a month or so later, I found this um, bill. I don't know, I think it was 70 quid or something. I'm

21:45like, "Oh my god, what's that for?" And it's for Google Workspace for setting up everything. I'm like, "No, no, I'm not doing anything. I can't afford that. No, no, no." You know. Um, so anyway, I cancelled it. Um, but then when we came to actually um, uh, setting things up, then I asked ChatGPT and it said to choose a secure email service. So, I chose something called Proton. Set all that up while we're in New Zealand. Uh, but then, of course, I had to get it into Google. So, I had to do all those workarounds because I already had a Gmail account. H, so complicated. Anyway, long story short, once I set the MCC up, uh I couldn't integrate any scripts or anything with the Google account and the Proton email. So, I then had to set up a proper Google Workspace. Uh and yeah, it was complicated. This is only last week, so I was like, "Oh my god, I've lost everything. I've lost everything." So, I was a bit panicky and and yeah, my husband and Chat GBT were my biggest supports. It's okay. Take a breath. It's okay. We'll work through this. Yeah. and we have and you know but you know little things like that that I had no idea about. Yeah. Yeah. For sure.

22:53For sure. And that's I think it's it's it's a good thing in in in terms of in in the sense of um when you're working at agency or people who work in-house you're working on under this umbrella and it's kind of safe because you Yeah. because you don't have to do certain things but then once you you know venture out on your own you're encountering these like setting up MCC. It's not like super technical, but it is not something that you actually ever have to do when you're working at agency. So, you still have to figure it out or as you said like a secure email address like okay how how do I and then you go through all these things but I think um I when I did that that made me relate to my clients on a deeper level because you see like the things that that they're dealing with and you understand it better. Like for example, my first um uh side hustle quote unquote was um selling pull-up bars from home. Great business idea. Not pull up is that gym style. Yeah. Gim equipment. And uh I I I thought I was being smart because it was right around the co time, so everyone was working out at home. And then I ordered I don't remember like maybe 50 boxes or so. But these things are super heavy, like 20 kilos each. So they were shipping that to my house. Um and my girlfriend was definitely not happy because the we were living at 40 48 square meters in Amsterdam at the time. So our entire apartment was full with these boxes. Um but what I did learn in this in this process is how does fulfillment work? How does support work as you also mentioned? How do you how does pricing work? Uh profit margins all these types of things they helped me even though it was I sold everything at

24:30a minus so everything at a loss. um I was still able to learn a lot of things that I was then able to I think that's why why we're also are why we're also so um vocal about you know irresistible offers and and unit economics and those things because because we kind of seen those things for ourselves at a at a micro level but then you are able to relate to your clients on a on a much deeper level so I think all those all those challenges are they're normal for freelancers but they actually help you become a better business partner for your clients So because you are are are able to relate to them much better. Yeah. If everything went smoothly, you'd learn nothing, would you? Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. Um so what would you say to people who are thinking about freelancing but are not sure whether it's for them or whether it's the right time or maybe they are not um experienced enough yet in their mind.

25:25What would you say to to to people who are thinking about it? I would say uh find a tribe, find people who um who you resonate with, who are in the industry you can connect with and ask them basically uh like PPC Hub obviously. Um yeah, we um we had a consultant called Ben Turner his name was a couple of years ago. Um and I'd felt very much um isolated really. everybody sort of worked in silos even though we're we're with the agency and Ben started talking about a mastermind group and I was like oh my goodness I didn't know there was one uh and he introduced me to Phil Philip Taylor uh he does can't remember off the top of my head but uh yeah level up so level up and I joined that and started um you know you can post in his private members Facebook group get answers to questions different things um so talking to Ben talking to John the the consultant about what it's like to freelance and knowing that you can do it.

26:30Um, yeah, I it's hard, isn't it? I think it depends on your life circumstances as well, cuz for some people, especially if you, you know, if you've got a mortgage, you got young children, you need a regular income coming in. Um, I definitely haven't had a regular income coming in for 12 years. So, uh, which I did have before. So, that's been quite, you know, uh, scary at times. So, I certainly wouldn't say to do that, uh, to begin with. I was listening to one of your podcasts the other day as well about I can't remember his name but how he's he he build for like €30 for two months or something and like oh my god most people couldn't do that. So and and it's like when I was doing my life coaching training it's like don't just give up your day job and go straight to life coaching because you know you've got to build up your client base. So maybe yeah as as a year ago u maybe I could have I didn't have the mindset or the time to to to start but start building up a case load of freelance clients and start doing that before you leave an agency. But yeah think about what it is. What are your values? What are your needs? Because our needs change as well during our lifetime. Take it from me at my age nearly 66.

27:45Nice. Yeah. And I think it's a what I find inspiring about your story is as you said like you're nearly 66 and you're you keep challenging yourself. You keep reinventing yourself while you could also say like okay now I'm in the the the the tail end and I'm just going to ride it out. But I see you're not you're not doing that. You're like going up again and and and challenging yourself once more uh to to make the most out of it. So it's super super inspiring for sure um to uh to see and um yeah maybe for for the the the um junior beginner Google ad specialist when I started my career I was 24ish maybe something like that 23 24 fresh out of college did some traveling and then I was like okay now what what do I do? Uh so by sheer accident I ended up at agency or doing a trainineehip with Google Ads and uh no well I started to enjoy it. Um, but what would you say to to people in a similar situation as me, uh, as I was 7 years ago, 23, 24, fresh out of college. What would you say to them if they're starting their career? Doesn't necessarily have to mean like that they're in a Google ad, pursuing Google Ads, but just like yeah, people are thinking about what do I what do I want from life because I you have done so many different things. um and you ended up where you are right now, but it wouldn't you wouldn't have uh been here had you not said all those steps earlier on. So, what would you say to people at the beginning of their career?

29:15Uh I would say find something that you love doing uh and see if you can see if you can work in that in that area. Um or set something up yourself because there's so many opportunities now. Um but but years ago when I first started, you know, uh a job was for life generally, you know, and and I know so many people I've got friends I went to school with who, you know, and one in particular, she's worked in the bank all her life. That's it. She's just I mean, she's gone up and everything, but she's always just worked in the bank. Not just, but you know, I'm sure she's very good at what she does. But for some people, that's what they want. You know, it's never been what I want. Uh I like change. I thrive on change and if something's not working then try something else. Um but but get as good as you can at what at what you're doing.

30:07So yeah but yeah just go for it. Just go for it. Feel the fear and do it anyway. And and you know find find people who are doing what you want to do. The other thing that is indispensable now for me and I'm sure for a lot of people is is ChatGPT. Ask it. Tell it. Tell it. You know what you like. I' I mean now I've banked up so much in in in in mine, you know, it it knows me. It knows me. I don't like calling it it, but yeah, because it's like it's so it's so it it it really helps boost your morale. It's it's amazing. But yeah, if you put stuff in, it's looking all over the internet for, you know, signals for whatever. Say, look, this is what I'm interested in. I don't know where to go. What do you suggest? Where can I go? what different things could I do? Where where would my skills and knowledge fit? Um because you know working is quite a big part of your life. Uh and when you're in a job that you don't like and I have been, it's not nice. It's it's not nice, you know. So, absolutely. Yeah. We're only here once.

31:10Yeah. And um so right now you're you're still living on a boat, right? Um we are. You said you're you're maybe thinking about like are we at the end of this uh of this boat life, but you did that for 12 years which is which is super long. Um why did you do that um in the end? Like why how did you end up living on a boat for so long? Um so so yeah, so it's it's my husband, my Kiwi husband. So he's from New Zealand. He's lived he lived on the east coast of the North Island, a little place called Gizbon, which is paradise. It's beautiful. Uh and that's where I immigrated to. It's a it's a long story. So that's where I immigrated to with no intention of coming back to England. Uh and then I met Barry uh in 2017. We I was coming back to England. I used to come back every year. My children were here grown up. Um and I said, "Why don't you come back with me?" And he was like, "I can't do that. I'm self-employed.

32:06He's a professional photographer. I I've got I can't afford to do that." And I said, "Well, I'll pay for you to to go, you know." Uh, and he said, "Well, I'll go on one condition." And I said, "What's that?" He said, "Is if we can have a narrow boat holiday?" I'm like, "Really? Why would you want to do that?" So, I said, "Okay, well, you can plan that and you can pay for it." Yeah, if that's what you want to do. Um, so we did with my mom and dad. It was quite funny. My dad fell in the canal and all sorts of things. Um, and um, we did that for only four days, but Barry was hooked. He'd been to England in 1976 and seen canals and and loved them. Hadn't even thought about it before since then. But New Zealand doesn't have canals. It's a very unique part of the UK uh UK's history. Um not long after that, a friend of his said to me, "Did you know that Barry is thinking about or talking about going to live on a boat in England for six months?" And I'm like, "No." So anyway, long story short, we did that for two lots of six months. And then because I wanted to leave mid referee because my parents were getting older um I had a grandchild over here uh and we wanted to get Barry's visa so that he could stay for longer. Uh so that's how we sold our house in New Zealand, bought a boat here and we've been here ever since. Lots and lots there's lots of information that I've left out obviously and turns. It's a long story. Yeah.

33:35Yeah, of course. Yeah. But in the meantime, living on the boat, it's quite hard to um earn a sustainable link income when you're moving around all the time. So, as you can imagine, so try that's another reason for trying different things. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And then that's the the beauty of this time now with remote work being possible and you just need a computer and and a working uh working internet connection and then you can you can sustain a lifestyle like that. Look at Bob. He lived in his camper van for one or two years with his with his wife and dog. And uh yeah, all you need is uh some Wi-Fi and and a phone. Technically, you don't even need a computer. It makes it easier, a laptop, but yeah, you can also do it on a phone. Um which we did. We we we went to New Zealand in August 2020, right, for a year and we uh bought a camper van and traveled around New Zealand when there were no overseas tourists. And I would sit at my laptop looking at Mount Cook in the distance thinking, I've got the best job in the world.

34:36Yeah. Yeah. So nice. I'm going to talk to you off camera about New Zealand, but we'll we'll get to that. I'm going to go there next year. We were planning on going there next year. So, uh, cool. Should be a dream coming true. Um, all right. So, um, let's transition a little bit into the PPC Hub because you mentioned that, uh, your your your tip was find a tribe. Um, I was I was kind of laughing because I reread your introduction in the PPC Hub and you said um actually I don't know if I wrote down the exact quote. No, I don't think I don't think I did. I I wrote it in the Friday roundup last week was you said um yeah, I'm not sure if I have the time, but if I do then uh hopefully I can get value from it and then I'll probably stay for a little bit longer. Well, you ended up staying uh staying with us. So I I assume you you found your tribe or at least found a place that can help you um in that journey uh you know towards mastering your your craft and especially now as as a freelancer you're on your own. What has the how has the u PPC Hub benefited your career since you joined last year?

35:41Okay in lots of ways. So the the you know the training modules in there so there's the search mastery there's the PMAX I mean I was looking at uh paying for the PMAX course and then I thought well why don't I just join because it's all part of it. So um but also things like the the Fica meetups which um is now matcher I think isn't it? Um chatting to different people different people around the world looking at how different people are um working in the PPC world. Um having being able to just put a question in and somebody's going to answer it more than one person generally so that you get lots of different viewpoints which is brilliant. uh the Google Ads Success Path um which has got a lot of stuff in from the from the courses that I'd done previously, but it's still consolidating on that, isn't it? Um and yeah, although it was very intense. So much Oh my god, there's so much in there. I don't know how Bob and you find the time to do all that.

36:42It's just incredible. Absolutely incredible. Um, and so yeah, trying to fit trying to fit I I had my little earbuds in when I was in New Zealand listening to, you know, for the grand we got a grandson over there as well and different, you know, trying to fit that into everything else. Uh, but you know, just just brilliant and having that as a resource. It's the resource of knowing that if so now I'm building um a new account and so I'm going back into things and thinking, oh now where's the template for that? Where's the template for the RSA? So I can build the RSAs and just put it straight into the Google Ads editor. So easy. Well, not easy, but you know, saves saves time. Um, yeah, just Yeah, just don't go away because if I don't if I didn't have all that resource, there's no way I could download it all. I don't know what I'd do. Um, no, it's it's Yeah, it's great. And and also LinkedIn, I think as well. I didn't really I didn't do LinkedIn. I'm not that much about it, too. I don't do like regular posts, but then I'm not looking for clients at the moment. So, Right. Um, but finding different people there as well. um from from your posts from different people and then obviously people now because I have posted quite a bit people then want to connect with you so you build up those connections and yeah yeah so yeah yeah awesome great great to hear that um and that's yeah definitely the the the core of the Pepsia but actually I was talking to LOL before this and it's already almost two years ago since we started building it yeah and it's is constantly constantly evolving and um yeah my main goal is to now also shine a light on this is why

38:20I created this segment shine a light on the stories of the people in the PPC Hub so people can continue to inspire each other and that it's not only you know you listening to what I say or to what Bob is saying but include the others in the conversation and and so that people can learn from each other and that we are not always needed to you know we can facilitate uh meetups but that we don't always have to be there cuz sometimes it's also better if we're not there because then it's it becomes easier for people to just to just find each other. So hopefully you know people will get to know you better through this episode through this this conversation um and then they will uh maybe be more willing to you know reach out to you for help and and they can help you but also that they are more um comfortable sharing their story and that's what I love about what I loved about this conversation. you've been super open. You've been honest about about your life, about the challenges that you're facing now as a freelancer, but also on how that has benefited you. Um, so it's been uh it's it's been an inspiring story for sure, and I'm sure that's that's the case for for many others as well. So, just wanted to say Sandi, um, yeah, congrats on on the recent uh success through moving to freelance, but also taking those clients with you. I think that's a that's a big win that shouldn't be underestimated because the majority of those clients could have said uh yeah we're going to go somewhere else but they trust you to do the work and it they didn't trust the agency they trusted you and I think that's that's that's massive. Um and also thank you for always sharing your challenges and your wins with the PPC Hub because that inspires people to feel comfortable to also share uh share what

39:59you know because everyone has so much experience but not everyone is is comfortable sharing. So, with that said, one final question. Um, if you had to give a PPC expert one tip that could improve his or her career, what would that be? Okay. Well, I think because I've talked about um a number of things. So, I think probably um building connections. Building connections. So, so the PPC Hub, that's that's a form of networking, but also building connections. uh with people like uh I've worked with web masters, marketers um who know that I'm now freelancing uh and so I'm getting them contacting me and I will get clients from them because a lot of the clients I already have are people that I had through their through their referrals. So yeah, get out there, network and build build connections with people who because you can then I referred um a really lovely website designer. I referred a friend who used to be on a boat who sells um lots of hippie clothes, but she's now in a in a in a house in Wales with her husband and they travel around in a van. So she wanted her website looked at and the website designer who I've worked with, she helped her redesign a website. And so it's a sort of reciprocal arrangement. So yeah, network and build connections. Cool. Awesome. Well, we'll uh conclude it there. Thank you so much, Sandi, for for coming on. Um thank thank you everyone for um for listening,

41:36watching if you're on YouTube. Don't forget to like, subscribe, all that good stuff. And uh Sandi, um you mentioned you're not too active on LinkedIn, but can people I guess people can just find you on on LinkedIn, right? Where if they want to reach out, how do they do that? Yeah, on LinkedIn or um we do have a website. I am building a landing page. Uh it's not quite ready yet, but uh we have got a website which is barry and sandandra.co.uk uh which tells all our stories as well. So if anybody's interested in that. Cool. Yeah, definitely check that out for some inspiring uh boat stories. Um okay, once again Sandi, thank you so much and I'll see you in the PPC Hub. All right, that's the end of this episode of the PBC Mastery Podcast. I hope you enjoyed it and if you don't want to miss any future episodes, we're going to be back next week. Then don't forget to subscribe and share with a friend, family member, or a colleague. Uh cuz that's the only way we can grow this show. Now, there's two more things I want to share with you. If you want to take your Google Ads game to the next level, the first one is if you want to get advanced Google Ads tips delivered straight into your inbox on Mondays and Fridays, head over to pbcmastery.com/newsletter to subscribe to our newsletter called the PBC Edge.

42:46And next to that, if you want to really, really, really take your skills to the next level and become the best Google Ads specialist you can possibly be, then consider joining the PPC Hub, which is our coaching and community platform for experienced Google Ads specialists. You can find everything about it on pbcmastery.com/hub. And with that said, I'll catch you in next week's episode. Peace.