What if losing your job was actually the best thing that ever happened to you?
That’s exactly what Kendra discovered when she was suddenly fired from her teaching job of 14 years. Instead of running back to the classroom, she made a bold decision: bet on herself, learn something completely new, and build a business on her own terms.
Less than a year later, she’s at $7K months, working around 25 hours a week, homeschooling her kids, and serving clients in the US, UK, and Australia. And y’all, she started with zero marketing background, zero ad experience, and zero clients.
If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines wondering whether it’s too late, whether you’re too new, or whether there are even enough clients out there for you, Kendra’s story is exactly what you need to read today.
From the Classroom to Freelance Ad Manager
Kendra spent 14 years as a teacher in California. She’s a mom of two, a homeschooling parent, and by her own description, someone who commits hard when she decides to do something.
When she got fired, she took a beat and thought about what she actually wanted. Work from home. Homeschool her kids. Set her own schedule. Choose who she worked with. As she put it, “ad management kind of checked all the boxes.”
She found Conversions for Clients and dove in with zero background in marketing or ads. She started doing marketing minutes every day, showing up consistently, and just learning as she went.
The turning point came that summer when she connected with an educator from the UK who was running her own ads and needed some help. During that collaboration, the client told Kendra something that changed everything: “Kendra, you need to help teachers. Do not go after other businesses. You need to help teachers.”
And just like that, a niche was born. Not from a fancy strategy session or a market research spreadsheet, but from a client telling her exactly where she belonged.
You Don’t Have to Have Your Niche Figured Out Before You Start
This is one of my favorite things about Kendra’s story, because so many service providers get paralyzed trying to pick their niche before they’ve even signed a single client.
Kendra didn’t have it figured out on day one. She just started showing up, doing the work, and the right direction revealed itself. That is so much more common than people realize.
Once she started directing her marketing minutes toward educational accounts on Instagram, things snowballed fast. She landed her first client in August, another in September, a third in January, and then signed two more in the same week we recorded this episode. Five clients, all educators, all found through Instagram, in less than a year.
The best part? She had a genuine advantage nobody could copy. She was a former teacher. She’d literally used her future clients’ resources from Teachers Pay Teachers. She understood their world, their problems, and their goals in a way that a generic ads manager never could.
If you’re sitting there wondering whether your background is relevant, I want you to flip that question. Your background might be your biggest competitive advantage. What did you do before this that a specific audience would love you for?
How She’s Managing 5 Clients While Homeschooling
I know what you’re thinking. Five clients, homeschooling two kids, no full-time childcare. How?
Here’s how Kendra actually structures her week. Her kids attend classes twice a week, which gives her two solid six-hour power days where she mostly works straight through. The rest of the week is pockets: evenings, during dance practice or baseball, the occasional weekend when her husband takes the kids out.
She estimates she works no more than 25 hours a week total.
Here’s what’s wild about that number. At Strategist Society, we track our members’ time, and the average member works 24.5 hours per week. But here’s the kicker: it doesn’t matter whether they’re making $10K a month or $30K a month. The hours stay the same.
That’s the whole point. More clients does not automatically mean more hours. It means better optimization. Kendra is at $7K right now and working 25 hours. The path to $10K, $15K, even $20K doesn’t require her to work more. It requires her to work smarter. That’s what we focus on inside Strategist Society, and it’s exactly where Kendra is headed next.
She’s already set her goal: $20K months this year.
If scaling past $10K is where you’re headed and you want the strategy to get there without burning out, Strategist Society is the place to do it. Come join us.
The Cold DM Strategy That’s Landing Her Clients
Kendra’s entire client acquisition strategy lives on Instagram, and it is refreshingly simple. No complicated funnels. No massive content machine. Just cold DMs done the right way.
She’s not sliding into inboxes saying, “Hey, do you need an ads manager?” She’s starting real conversations. Her first messages usually look something like this: connecting as a fellow educator, referencing something specific about their account or resources, and then asking curious questions like “Who’s supporting you with your ads right now? How are they going?”
As Kendra described it, “I usually don’t ever lead with, can I run your ads? I’ll just ask those curious questions.”
That’s getting people into the buyer zone, and it works. We don’t lead with the sale. We lead with genuine curiosity, build rapport, and then move them toward a call. The DMs aren’t where you close the deal. They’re where you start the conversation.
One of the biggest lessons Kendra keeps running into? Most of her ideal clients have no idea they can even outsource this. She told me about reaching out to one of the biggest names in the homeschool space, and the woman responded with “Wait, people hire for this?”
Y’all. That is the opportunity sitting right in front of you.
Just because you know what an ads manager is doesn’t mean your ideal client does. It’s your job to educate, connect, and show them there’s a better way. That’s not pushy. That’s service.
If you want to learn exactly how to land clients like this from scratch, Conversions for Clients walks you through the whole thing, even if you’ve never run an ad in your life.
What’s Been Hard (And Why That’s Normal)
I always ask this question because I want people to see the full picture, not just the wins.
For Kendra, the hardest part has been consistency. Some weeks she’s DMing 15 people. Other weeks it’s five. And the content side of Instagram is her biggest ongoing struggle.
Here’s what I told her, and I’m telling you too: your marketing method has to match your capacity and your lifestyle. Cold DMs on Instagram work great, but if you want Instagram to bring clients to you, you’re going to need some content to go along with it.
That said, I’ll be the first to admit I’ve gone MIA on Instagram for two months at a time. So no judgment from me. The goal is progress, not perfection.
The key insight here is this: content should lead to conversations. When someone follows you, comments on your post, or engages with your content, that’s your opening to get into the DMs. The content isn’t the end goal. The conversation is.
Choose a marketing method you can actually be consistent with, even imperfectly, and keep showing up.
What You Can Learn From Kendra’s Story
Kendra’s journey is full of moments that other service providers can apply directly to their own businesses. Here are the big ones:
- You don’t need experience to start. Zero marketing background, zero ad knowledge. She learned it inside a program and then did the work.
- Your niche doesn’t have to be predetermined. Sometimes the right niche finds you when you start showing up and serving people.
- Your past career is an asset. Kendra’s 14 years in the classroom aren’t irrelevant, it’s her entire competitive edge.
- Cold DMs work when you lead with genuine connection. Ask questions, build rapport, don’t pitch immediately.
- Working more hours is not the path to more revenue. Optimization and strategy are.
- Self-limiting beliefs about niche viability are almost always wrong. Kendra worried her niche wasn’t big enough. She now has clients in Australia and the UK.
The Program That Made It Click
When I asked Kendra what she’d tell someone who was on the fence about Conversions for Clients, she didn’t hesitate.
“Your program is just so comprehensive. There’s literally everything you need in there. Every question I had is answered in there. Every tool I may need, it’s in there. You just have to do it. You can’t just consume it. You have to do what is being taught to do. And if you do those things, it works.”
The resource she said helped her most was the Wow Factor Onboarding inside the program. Learning how to onboard and offboard clients properly, handle contracts, and set up the backend of her business gave her the confidence to show up professionally from day one.
When you know how to run the business side, not just the service side, everything else gets easier.
Ready to Do the Dang Thing?
Kendra started less than a year ago with nothing but a commitment and a willingness to learn. She’s replaced her teaching salary, built a client roster of five, and has her sights set on $20K months.
The classroom, the corporate job, the industry you’ve been in for years, none of that is wasted. It might just be the exact thing that makes you the most compelling choice for a very specific group of clients who are waiting for someone exactly like you.
You don’t need to have everything figured out before you start. You just need to start.
If you’re brand new and ready to learn how to run Meta ads for clients and build a business that fits your life, head to Conversions for Clients and get started.
And if you’re already past that stage and ready to break through to $10K months and beyond, the Strategist Society is where we optimize, strategize, and scale, without adding more hours to your week.
And hey, if Kendra’s story hit home for you, DM me on Instagram @brandimowles and tell me what resonated. I’d love to hear from you.
Now go do the dang thing.
This post was inspired by an episode of the Serve Scale Soar podcast. If you want to hear the full conversation with Kendra, including her exact DM scripts and how she manages her week, go listen to the episode wherever you get your podcasts.
** This post may contain affiliate links which means I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you if you use one of the links to purchase. This helps keep the podcast going and I only share products I have used, tested and love.”
Listen on Your Favorite Podcast Platform
Follow & Review on Apple Podcasts
Are you following my podcast? If you’re not, I want to encourage you to do that today so you don’t miss any future episodes! I already have so many amazing guests and topics lined up, I would hate for you to miss a single one! Click here to follow on Apple Podcasts
Could I ask a big favor? If you are loving the podcast, I would LOVE it if you would leave me a review on Apple Podcasts. I read each and every review. Plus, you get to pay it forward because it will allow other service providers like you to find the podcast! Wondering how to leave a review? Click here to review, then select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review”. So easy and so appreciated!
Meet Brandi
Brandi Mowles is the host of the Serve Scale Soar® podcast which is a podcast dedicated to helping service-based entrepreneurs scale their online business to five-figure months so they can soar into six-figure years. Brandi is a wife, mom and in less than one year, created a six-figure business. Now she is spilling all her secrets so you can too.
