Part 1: How I Traded Google Ads Help for a Power-Washed House (And Why It Was a Win for Us Both)
There’s more than one way to get paid.
If you’re a marketer — mainly a freelancer or service-based pro — you’ve probably had moments where someone wanted your help… but didn’t have the budget.
We usually default to:
“No worries, I can lower my rate.”
But what if you didn’t have to?
What if you could trade value for value, and both walk away better off?
That’s precisely what happened in this story.
The Trade: Marketing Skills for a Clean House
Last year, I hired a local company to power wash my house.
This year, I reached out again, and the conversation took a turn.
The owner started asking about Google Ads.
He wanted to try running them himself.
But I could tell right away:
🧰 He’s working in the field daily
⏳ He doesn’t have time to learn a whole ad platform
🤝 He thinks he wants control, but what he wants is results
So I made him an offer:
He’d power wash my house. I’d run his Google Ads for 6 weeks.
Set up, strategy, leads, and a walkthrough if he wanted to take it over later.
He agreed. And it worked beautifully.
Why It Worked for Both of Us
This wasn’t charity. It was a clean, professional trade.
As marketers, we forget how valuable our “easy” work is to someone in a different world.
This trade let me:
✅ Barter for something I needed
📈 Build a real portfolio piece
🔒 Keep scope tight (no “free forever” expectations)
💡 Even if money isn’t exchanged, the value should be mutual and clearly defined.
👋 By the way — this is the kind of real-world strategy I share in the paid version of this newsletter.
If you’re into frameworks, client-ready playbooks, or service-based ad strategies that work, the paid edition is $45/year (25% off) and is packed with the good stuff.
Back to the story…
Next Week: The Actual Google Ads System I Built
In Part 2, I’ll walk you through the exact system I used to drive real leads in 6 weeks and how I now apply it to almost every service-based client I work with.
Here’s what I’ll show you:
🎯 My go-to campaign structure (and why it scales)
📍 How I break services into hyper-targeted ad groups
🔥 The Performance Max strategy that works without wasting money
📲 The mobile-first landing page tweaks that boost conversions fast
It's all real, repeatable, and meant for small businesses, not just big agencies.
Just think about it…
Sometimes money isn’t the only currency. When you lead with clarity and offer real value, everyone wins.
This was one of those moments. And if you’ve ever thought about trading skills for services to grow your experience, network, or client base?
Here’s your sign.