www.albertaspocius.com

Category: Getting Started

What & Why

  • 1.5 Final Mindset Check Before Spending on Ads

    1.5 Final Mindset Check Before Spending on Ads

    Before we dive into campaign preparation in Section 2, let’s establish the operational mindset required for effective media buying. Getting this framework right now is critical for making objective decisions and maximizing your return later. This isn’t abstract theory; it’s the foundation for profitable advertising.

    1. Ad Spend is Investment, Not Expense

    Shift your perspective entirely. Ad spend isn’t a sunk cost; it’s capital to acquire two things: customer data and profitable customers. Treat it like any other business investment:

    • Focus on ROI: Evaluate every dollar spent based on the tangible return it generates – whether that’s immediate profit or actionable insights that lead to future profit. If $1 spent brings back more than $1 in net profit consistently, it’s a winning investment.

    • Make Rational Decisions: Professional detachment is key. Don’t let daily fluctuations cause emotional reactions. Base decisions on performance against your calculated goals (which we’ll define in Section 2), not fear or hope. When managing budgets, thinking clinically about the numbers helps maintain objectivity.

    2. Prioritize Simple Consistency

    Effective advertising doesn’t require complex ‘hacking’ or endless hours tweaking settings, especially when starting out. The strategy we’ll implement focuses on:

    • Simplicity: Using straightforward campaign structures that leverage platform strengths (like Facebook’s algorithm) rather than fighting against them.

    • Efficiency: Expect minimal time commitment for ongoing management. After the initial setup (which we’ll guide you through), optimization often involves quick, regular checks – maybe 5-10 minutes every few days – focused on clear performance rules.

    This approach respects your time and allows the platforms to optimize effectively based on the clear signals you provide.

    3. Analyze Only Key Business Metrics

    Ad platforms can drown you in data points. Most are irrelevant noise for making core business decisions. Avoid analysis paralysis by focusing ruthlessly on what matters:

    • Track Your Funnel: Concentrate on the essential metrics that happen on your website and directly impact profitability – Cost per Landing Page Visit, Cost per Add to Cart, Cost per Initiate Checkout, and ultimately, Cost per Purchase (CPA).

    • Diagnose Bottlenecks: Use this core funnel data to pinpoint exactly where potential customers are dropping off between clicking your ad and completing a purchase.

    • Actionable Insights: Ignore vanity metrics. Focus only on data that tells you which specific part of your process (ad creative, landing page, checkout, etc.) needs improvement to lower costs or increase conversion rates.

    The Bottom Line: Mindset Dictates Action

    Adopting this mindset – viewing ad spend as an Investment, committing to Simple Consistency, focusing analysis on Key Business Metrics, and executing with Realistic Optimism (understanding the competitive landscape but trusting a focused strategy) – is the essential mental preparation.

    It ensures that the practical steps we cover in Section 2 (defining goals, knowing numbers, setting up tracking) are seen not as tedious chores, but as the necessary groundwork for making your advertising investment calculated, strategic, and ultimately, profitable.

    Ready to build that foundation? Let’s get into Section 2: Preparation.

  • 1.4: Setting Realistic Expectations for Your First Campaigns

    1.4: Setting Realistic Expectations for Your First Campaigns

    Alright, you understand what media buying is and why it can be helpful. Maybe you’re feeling ready to start running your first ads.

    Before you begin, let’s pause for a moment. It’s really important to set realistic expectations right from the start. This helps prevent disappointment and sets you up for a smarter approach – one focused on understanding your business data and taking clear steps based on what you learn.

    Let’s get one thing straight immediately: your first ad campaigns are very unlikely to bring massive profits overnight. Forget any hype you might have seen about instant, huge results from a small starting budget. That’s not the goal here, and it’s not how sustainable growth typically works.

    Focus on Learning & Diagnosing Your Website Funnel

    So, if not instant riches, what should you realistically expect from those first campaigns, especially when starting small? Think of this initial phase as Learning and Understanding.

    Your main goals should be:

    1. Understand Your Website Funnel Costs: Find out what it actually costs to get visitors to take important steps after they click your ad. You need starting numbers for:

      • Cost per Landing Page Visit

      • Cost per Add to Cart

      • Cost per Initiate Checkout

      • Cost per Purchase (This is the final goal, but tracking the steps before it is essential).

    2. Track the Customer Journey: See how many people move from one step to the next on your website. Where do most people leave or stop?

    3. Learn the Basics: Get comfortable with setting up a simple campaign and finding the results reports.

    The main purpose is to gather information specifically about your customer’s path on your website and the cost at each step. Expect to use that initial budget primarily to get this information. You might spend money without making it back immediately, but you’re buying essential knowledge.

    Use Data to Find Where to Improve

    What if you spend your first $200 and get no sales? That doesn’t mean the campaign was useless. Remember: you always get information, and that information tells you what steps to take next.

    Think like a detective finding the problem area:

    • High Cost per Landing Page View? Maybe your website loads too slowly, check and improve website speed. If everything is alright, I’d suggest testing new ads with different pain points.

    • Getting Landing Page Views, but Very High Cost per Add to Cart? People reach your page, but don’t add products. Is the offer unclear? Product info weak? Page untrustworthy? Action: Analyze and improve the landing page content/offer.

    • Getting Add to Carts, but High Cost per Initiate Checkout? They add products but pause before starting checkout. Is the cart page confusing? Unexpected fees shown (like shipping)? Action: Analyze and improve the cart page.

    • Getting Initiate Checkouts, but Very High Cost Per Purchase? They get to the payment step but stop. This often points to checkout problems. Is your payment system difficult (missing options, seems insecure)? Are final shipping costs surprisingly high? Is the payment form too long? Action: Analyze and improve the checkout process.

    By tracking these steps on your site, you stop guessing and start seeing the specific place that needs improvement. That’s valuable progress.

    Setting Your Realistic Targets with Basic Math

    How do you know if your cost for getting someone to your landing page, or adding to cart, is “good” or “bad”? You need to work backward from your profit goals.

    Let’s use a common starting benchmark Conversion Rate (CR) of 2%. This means for every 100 people visiting your landing page, you might expect 2 to eventually buy. (Your rate could be different, but 2% is a reasonable starting point for many online stores).

    Now, imagine your average Profit Per Sale is $40.

    • To break even with a 2% conversion rate, those 100 visitors need to result in $40 profit (from 2 sales).

    • This means you can spend, at most 0.40 per Landing Page View just to break even.

    • To make a profit, your cost per landing page view needs to be less than $0.40.

    You can apply similar thinking to other steps, guessing typical drop-off rates (e.g., maybe only 10 out of 100 visitors add to cart). Perhaps you estimate a 30% drop-off between each main step (Landing Page -> Add to Cart -> Initiate Checkout -> Purchase).

    The exact numbers will depend entirely on your business, profit margin, and how well your website converts visitors. BUT the important idea is: calculate your own target costs for each step.

    Once you have these rough targets (e.g., “My cost per landing page view needs to be under $0.50,” “My cost per add to cart needs to be under $5,” “My cost per purchase needs to be under $25 to make money”), then you can look at your first campaign’s data and ask:

    • Are these costs realistic for my business with my current setup?

    • Which specific step is costing much more than my target? That’s where I need to improve things first.

    Summary: Focus on Data and Improvement

    Setting realistic expectations means changing your focus. It’s about:

    1. Knowing your numbers (profit margin, target costs per step).

    2. Tracking the full customer journey on your website. (GA4, Facebook ads pixel or any additional tracking software)

    3. Using initial ad spend as an investment to get diagnostic data.

    4. Finding specific bottlenecks where costs are too high or people leave your funnel.

    5. Making clear improvements to that specific stage.

    6. Testing continuously and patiently.

    Media buying becomes much less like gambling when you treat it as a methodical process of understanding your funnel, finding problems, and making improvements based on data.

    Ready to approach it this way? Great. Now that we know what to realistically expect, let’s talk about the essential preparation needed before you launch anything…

  • 1.3: Common Media Buying Fears

    1.3: Common Media Buying Fears

    Alright, we’ve covered what media buying is and why it can be a powerful tool for growing your small business. But maybe, just maybe, there’s still that nagging voice in the back of your head…

    Is it whispering things like:

    • “What if I just waste all my money?”

    • “This looks way too complicated for me, I’m not techy.”

    • “What if I set it all up and absolutely nothing happens?”

    Let’s be clear: those are totally normal worries. Many people feel exactly that way before diving into paid ads. It feels like a big, potentially expensive unknown. But the good news is, these fears are often based on myths or can be managed effectively with the right approach and mindset.

    In this post, I want to tackle these big anxieties head-on and show you why they shouldn’t paralyze you or stop you from exploring what paid ads can do.

    Fear #1: “I’ll Just Waste Money! It’s Too Expensive!”

    This is usually the top concern, right? The thought of your hard-earned cash vanishing into the digital ether with nothing to show for it. Nobody wants to just burn money.

    Here’s the reality check: Media buying isn’t like playing slot machines if you do your homework first. It’s not about random spending; it’s about making calculated, informed decisions.

    How do we avoid just ‘wasting’ money? Preparation.

    Before we even get close to launching an ad campaign later in this guide, we’re going to walk through analyzing your own business numbers. We’ll figure out:

    • What results do you need to achieve just to break even, let alone make a profit?

    • What’s your target Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)?

    • What’s a website visit, an ‘add to cart’, or a lead realistically worth to your business?

    • What kind of results are typical in your market?

    Based on your numbers, we’ll determine a sensible starting budget specifically for a ‘testing phase’. The goal of this initial spend isn’t necessarily immediate profits; it’s to invest a controlled amount to gather real data and see if things are heading in the right direction.

    So, is success guaranteed? No business investment comes with a 100% guarantee. But by knowing your targets before you start and using a structured testing approach (which we’ll cover), you dramatically reduce the risk of just throwing money away blindly.

    Fear #2: “It Looks Way Too Complicated! I’m Not Techy Enough!”

    Okay, next up: the platforms themselves. You open up something like Facebook Ads Manager for the first time, and… yeah. It can look like a spaceship cockpit, overloaded with buttons, menus, and data tables. It definitely feels intimidating if you’re not used to it.

    And let’s be real, the main interface for Facebook Ads hasn’t drastically changed its core structure since maybe 2007 – think Runescape old-school graphics. It can feel clunky, and honestly, sometimes things just glitch or act weird for no clear reason. It happens.

    BUT – and this is crucial – that slightly dated, sometimes buggy interface shouldn’t stop you.

    Here’s why:

    1. Platforms Are Simplifying (for Essentials): Despite the visual clutter, platforms like Facebook are actually making the essential tasks easier, especially for beginners. They’re rolling out features (like ‘Advantage+ Campaigns’) designed to automate things like audience targeting. Your main job is increasingly focused on providing good ad creative and clear goals, rather than needing to manually tweak hundreds of obscure settings.

    2. You Don’t Need to Know Everything: You absolutely do not need to understand every single button and report right away. That’s like trying to learn how to rebuild an engine before you’ve even learned to drive. In the setup stages later in this guide, I’ll show you exactly which settings matter for getting started and why. We’ll focus only on the essentials needed for today’s advertising, cutting through the noise. Don’t let the interface overload scare you off.

    Fear #3: “What If I Do Everything Wrong / Get Zero Results?”

    This is the fear of failure. Spending that initial test budget, maybe $200, $2000 and… nothing. No sales, no leads. Just the sound of digital crickets. Feels like a complete waste, right?

    Here’s a vital mindset shift: You will never get zero results.

    You might not get the sales you were hoping for right out of the gate. That happens. But you will always get valuable data that you can analyze and act upon.

    Think about what that ‘failed’ campaign might tell you:

    • Lots of clicks, but nobody bought? Maybe the disconnect is on your website. Is the landing page unclear? Is the checkout process confusing? That’s valuable feedback.

    • People added items to the cart but didn’t buy? Perhaps your shipping costs surprised them, or you’re missing a key payment option (like Apple Pay or Google Pay) they expected. Now you know what to investigate.

    • Your ads were shown many times but hardly anyone clicked? That suggests the ad creative (image/video) or the headline isn’t grabbing attention. Time to test new visuals or messages.

    Every dollar you spend generates information about what works and what doesn’t for your specific audience and offer. That first campaign might simply teach you what not to do next time, or it might highlight a critical bottleneck in your sales process that you can now fix. That learning is a result, and often, it’s well worth that initial ‘tuition’ fee.

    Wrapping Up: It’s Manageable, and It’s About Analysis

    So, let’s recap. Those common fears – wasting money, getting overwhelmed by complexity, getting zero results – are understandable, but they are manageable:

    • Wasting money is minimized by preparation and knowing your numbers.

    • Complexity is reduced by focusing on the essentials (which platforms are trying to simplify anyway) and ignoring the noise.

    • Getting ‘zero results’ is a myth because you always gain data and learning.

    Here’s the real secret: Media buying itself, the act of setting up a campaign, isn’t the hardest part. Honestly? You can learn the basic clicks to launch a campaign in 15 minutes, no joke.

    The real skill, the part that makes the difference, and what we’ll focus on heavily throughout this guide, is the analysis. It’s about looking at the results you get (good, bad, or ugly), understanding why they happened, and deciding what to tweak or test next based on your specific business goals.

    As long as you have a clear target in mind (which comes from knowing your numbers), the path becomes much less scary, and the steps needed become clearer.

    Don’t let these common worries hold you back before you even explore the potential. Acknowledge them, understand how we plan to tackle them together, and get ready to focus on the preparation that builds confidence and reduces risk.

    Feeling a bit better about those fears? Ready to think about what realistic results look like when you do start? Great. Because next up, we’ll dive into setting realistic expectations for your first campaigns…

  • 1.2 Why Small Businesses Need Media Buying

    1.2 Why Small Businesses Need Media Buying

    Hey again! So, we chatted about what media buying is in the last post – basically, paying for that prime spot in the online market to get your message seen. Now, let’s get real about why this actually matters for you, the person running the show at a small business.

    Okay, let’s speak facts. Do you absolutely need media buying to survive? Maybe not. If your local shop is humming along, word-of-mouth is bringing people in, your free social posts are doing okay, and you’re hitting your current goals – fantastic, keep doing what works! You don’t necessarily need anything else if you’re truly happy with where things are.

    BUT…

    What if you want more? What if you’re feeling a bit stuck? Want faster growth? More predictable sales flowing in each month? Want to finally reach those customers you know are out there but just aren’t finding you?

    This is where paid media buying stops being a ‘maybe’ and becomes one of the most powerful, practical tools you have to accelerate your business. Let’s break down why.

    Reason 1: Predictability & Speed – Your Growth Accelerator

    Think about your current marketing. Maybe some days are great, others are quiet. Organic posts sometimes hit, sometimes flop. It feels a bit random, right?

    The biggest edge paid media buying gives you is predictability and speed.

    While organic is valuable, it’s often slow and, let’s face it, a bit of a guessing game. Paid ads? You decide you want to test a new offer today, you set it up, you hit ‘go’, and your message is out there immediately to the exact people you want to reach.

    Want to announce a flash sale and know people will see it now? Paid ads.
    Want to see if people in the next town over are interested in your services today? Paid ads.

    Once you find an ad and targeting that works (and we’ll cover how to do that later), you can often get similar results, similar costs per customer (CPA), month after month. It’s one of the fastest ways to build a predictable engine for bringing in leads or sales. Imagine being able to actually plan your growth because you have a rough idea of what it costs to acquire a customer. That’s powerful stuff.

    Reason 2: Cut Through the Noise & Focus Your Efforts

    “Okay Albert,” you might be thinking, “I’m already juggling a million things running this business. Adding ‘paid ads’ sounds overwhelming!”

    I get it. But think of it this way: instead of scattering your energy across tons of different free tactics hoping something sticks, paid ads allow you to focus. You concentrate your message, your budget, and your efforts directly on the specific group of people most likely to be interested in what you offer.

    You’re not just shouting into the void; you’re having a targeted conversation.

    (Quick heads-up: Later in this guide, starting around Section 2.0, I’m going to give you a straightforward playbook – the basic steps I use – focusing initially on Facebook ads with some extra theory for platforms like TikTok. You won’t need to become some elite hacker. If you just want the ‘how-to’, you can eventually jump there. But understanding this ‘why’ first makes the ‘how’ much more effective.)

    For now, just get this: targeted, paid effort often beats scattered hope when it comes to driving consistent results efficiently.

    Reason 3: It’s Often Your Marketing, Not Your Product


    Here’s something I’ve learned working with over 50 companies, from tiny startups to bigger players:     There’s rarely a truly ‘bad’ product. More often than not, it’s just ‘average’ (or non-existent) marketing.

    Seriously. You could have the best handmade crafts, the most delicious food, the most helpful service – but if the right people don’t know about it or don’t understand why it’s right for them, it doesn’t matter.

    Think about a brand like Liquid Death. At the end of the day, it’s water… in a can. But their marketing? Genius. They packaged it like a craft beer, gave it a rebellious attitude, and tapped into a specific niche (people at parties or bars who don’t want to drink alcohol but also don’t want to look out of place). They didn’t invent better water; they created brilliant marketing around it.

    The point? Don’t automatically assume your product or service is the problem if things are slow. Maybe its potential just needs to be unlocked with the right message, delivered to the right audience at the right time. And guess what? That’s exactly what effective media buying helps you achieve.

    Reason 4: Think Investment, Not Expense (The Basic Math)

    Let’s get down to basics here. Media buying isn’t about randomly spending money and crossing your fingers. It should be treated as a calculated business investment aimed at generating profit.

    The core idea is simple math:

    1. Know Your Profit: First, you need to know how much actual profit you make on each sale, after accounting for your costs (product cost, materials, etc.). Let’s say you sell a widget for $100, and your costs are $60. Your profit per sale is $40.

    2. Track Your Ad Cost Per Sale: When you run ads, the platforms tell you how much you spent to get each sale (or lead). This is often called Cost Per Acquisition (CPA).

    3. Compare: Now, compare the two. If your profit per sale is $40, and your ads are bringing you customers for a CPA of $30… you’re making $10 profit on every sale driven by those ads.

    If Profit Per Sale > Ad Cost Per Sale (CPA), you’re winning.

    That $10 profit might not sound earth-shattering on its own. But the real power of media buying comes from replicability and scale. If you find a way to consistently bring in customers profitably through ads:

    • Maybe 100 customers = $1000 extra profit. ($10 profit per sale)

    • Maybe 1000 customers = $10,000 extra profit.

    See how that works? It turns advertising from a mysterious expense line into a potentially predictable engine for growing your bottom line, provided you know your numbers and target profitability. It’s about investing $1 to make $1+ back, repeatedly.

    Reason 5: The Barrier Isn’t As High As You Think (But Preparation is Key!)

    “Okay, sounds intriguing, Albert, but isn’t this going to cost a fortune?”

    We touched on this before, and let me say it again: You can absolutely start small. Treating your first $200+ in ad spend as an investment in learning and gathering data is a perfectly valid way to begin. You’re not buying massive scale with that; you’re buying vital insights.

    BUT… (and this is huge, don’t skip this bit!)

    For that investment to have any chance of paying off, your basic business ‘pillars’ need to be reasonably solid:

    1. Traffic Acquisition (Paid Ads): Getting the right people interested (what we’re learning here).

    2. Website/Funnel: The place you send them needs to be clear, easy to use, and guide them towards the action you want (purchase, contact form, etc.).

    3. Product/Offer: What you’re selling needs to actually deliver value.

    And most critically, echoing what I said before: You MUST know your basic business numbers before you start spending on ads. What’s your average profit margin? Roughly what is a new customer worth over their lifetime? What specific, measurable goal do you want your first ad campaign to achieve?

    If you don’t know what you’re aiming for, you’re always missing. Spending money on ads without knowing your targets is just gambling.

    So, Why Should You Really Care?

    Look, media buying isn’t magic. But it’s a seriously powerful tool that gives businesses like yours:

    • Control: Choose exactly who sees your ads and where.

    • Speed: Get your message out and see results much faster.

    • Predictability: Build a more consistent flow of leads or sales over time.

    • Scalability: Provides a measurable way to invest in profitable growth.

    It’s about taking charge of your business’s growth trajectory, not just passively hoping customers find you. It’s about turning ‘average marketing’ into something that lets your great product or service truly shine.

    Feeling like this might actually be worth exploring for your business? Starting to see the potential? Good.

    Because before we even think about clicking buttons inside Facebook Ads Manager or any other platform, there’s some crucial prep work we need to do. And that’s exactly what we’re diving into next… getting your house in order before you spend that first dollar. Stay tuned!

  • 1.1 What is Media Buying?

    1.1 What is Media Buying?

    What is Media Buying?

    Ever heard of the term “media buying” and just kinda scratch your head?

    To put it simply, media buying is just paying to get your business’s message (your ads) in front of the right people, in the right places, at the right time.

    Think of it like this: instead of just setting up a stall on any random street corner and hoping customers find you, media buying is like paying for a prime spot right inside the big popular market where you know your ideal customers hang out.

    You’re paying for targeted visibility online – getting your ads seen on Facebook, Instagram, Google search results, YouTube, or any other paid media channel.

    And the beauty is, you get to choose that ‘prime spot’ online. You’re not just throwing money randomly; you’re telling platforms exactly who you want to reach. Plus, it’s not just for the big guys with massive budgets – you can start small and control exactly how much you spend.

    Okay, But How is it Really Different From My Free Posts?

    You might be thinking, “Okay Albert, I get the market stall analogy, but I post on my business’s Instagram/Facebook page already. What actually changes when I pay?”

    It boils down to TIME and INTENT.

    Think about it like this:

    • Organic (Free) Posts: You’re setting up your apple stand. Some people walking by might see it, maybe even buy an apple if they happen to be hungry. You can make sales, absolutely, but you’re relying on chance encounters and whoever happens to wander past your specific corner of the internet that day.

    • Paid Ads (Media Buying): You’re still selling apples, but now you’ve paid to set up your stand right outside the gym exit at 6 PM, or you’re specifically showing ads for your apples to people who have been searching online for “healthy snacks near me.”

    See the difference?

    The hard truth, especially on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, is that the days of massive free reach for business pages are mostly gone. Media buying lets you cut through that noise and guarantee your message gets seen by the specific people you choose.

    So, Why Bother Paying? Speed & Precision.

    Paid ads give you two massive advantages, especially when you’re starting or want to grow faster:

    1. Speed: Want to test a new product idea? Announce a flash sale? See if people in the next town over are interested? Paid ads get your message out immediately to the audience you define.

    2. Precision (Targeting Intent): This goes back to the ‘starving crowd’. You can laser-focus on the people most likely to be interested in buying your product.

    What’s the Real Goal Here? (Hint: It’s Not Likes)

    Let’s be real. People don’t pay for ads just for fun or vanity metrics like ‘likes’ or ‘followers’. Likes don’t pay the bills. Satisfaction is nice, but profit is the goal.

    The primary goal of media buying for your business should almost always be driving Conversions.

    What’s a conversion? It’s someone taking the specific action you want them to take that leads closer to a sale or valuable business outcome. This could be:

    • Making a purchase on your website.

    • Filling out a contact form for a quote.

    • Signing up for your email newsletter.

    • Calling your business.

    Think about it this way: If you could give Facebook 1 euro, and they could consistently bring you back 2 euros in sales from a customer who saw your ad, you’d do that all day long, right?

    That’s the potential of media buying when it’s working well. Your job, and what I want to help you learn, is how to set things up to try and make that happen – turning ad spend into profitable results.

    The Elephant in the Room: Can I Really Start Small?


    Okay, the money question. You heard me say you don’t need massive budgets. Maybe you’re thinking,     “Can I actually start with something small, like $200?”

    The short answer is: YES. Absolutely.

    Starting small, especially when you’re a small business, is hard. I get it. Every dollar counts. You have to take calculated risks. But here’s the crucial mindset shift for that first small budget:

    • Your First $200 Isn’t About Getting Rich Quick: Don’t expect that initial $200 to suddenly flood your business with massive profits. It might happen, but it’s unlikely.

    • Think of it as Tuition: That first small budget is your investment in learning. It’s for gathering data. What messages resonate? Which images get clicks? Who seems interested? What does it actually cost to get someone to your website? This initial data is GOLD.

    • Experience vs. Budget: Does having media buying experience help? Of course. Does having a bigger budget give you more room to test? Sure. But everyone starts somewhere. Lack of experience shouldn’t paralyze you. The key is to start smart with what you have, focus intensely on learning from that first small investment, and then build or adjust based on real results.

    We’ll dive much deeper into the specific numbers, metrics, and what to aim for later on. For now, just know that starting small is possible and necessary – just manage your expectations about what that first spend is designed to achieve (Learning!).

    Wrapping Up Part 1: What Was That Again?

    So, what’s the main takeaway here?

    Media buying isn’t some scary monster. It’s simply paying to strategically show your ads to the right people online.

    Hopefully, that clears things up a bit! Feeling a little less intimidated? Good.