u/Friendly-Intention-5

 

I started working with a guy from Germany in 2023
He hired me as a Facebook ads expert for his home improvement lead generation business
The deal was 1000 dollars per month plus 1 percent commission on revenuee

 

At that time the business was not doing great
He had a team of 6 people
2 tech guys
2 sales people
2 ad people

 

The company was making around 8k to 10k revenue per month
After ad spend salaries tools and other costs there was basically no real profit
Some months it was probably even losing money
My job was mainly to fix the paid ads side
The previous campaigns were not stable
Lead quality was not consistent
Cost per lead was not under control
And the sales team could not scale because the traffic was not predictable

 

After around 4 months my campaigns started working much better
I rebuilt the ad structure
Tested new angles
And helped the sales team get leads they could actually close

 

After around 6 months the business was making around 40k to 60k profit per month

 

Not revenue
Profit after all expeanses
Then we scaled hard

 

This was not some lucky ad that worked for one week
It became a proper system

 

After around 1.5 years the business was making around 130k to 150k profit per month on average
At that point I was making around 2000 to 2500 per month

 

Which already felt low but I kept going because I thought long term it would pay off
Because of the growth he told me he was open to investing in another business if I found a good idea

 

He said he could invest around 20k dollars and give me 20 percent
I researched a lot of businesses and found a product idea
We launched it

First month was testing
Second month we got close to break even
Third month I found the right ad angles and the ads started working properly
That month the new business made around 8k profit

 

Next month it made around 18k profit
Now that business makes around 25k to 29k net profit per month on average

The main reason it worked was the ad angles
Once we found the right message the product started selling

 

After that he started saying there are legal issues with commission and ownership type payments
He told me I should move to a fixed salary instead

 

He offered only 1000 per month
I pushed back and got it to 1500

 

I accepted because I trusted him and thought the bigger picture would be fair
But from the start of this year his behavior changed

 

He started making comments like
you are making a lot of money nowI changed your lif look where you were 3 years ago
It was not said in a nice way It felt like taunting

 

I ignored it because I did not want drama
But then my commission numbers also started changing

 

Every month there was some new calculation
Some new deduction
Some new reason why my payment was lower

 

No matter how much the business grew I was never paid more than around 3500
Even when the business was doing huge numbers
In march the lead generation business made around 321k profit in one month

 

Based on the original deal of 1 percent revenue commission my payout should have been much higher because profit was 321k so revenue was obviously more than that

But I was only paid around 3000
That made no sense to me
When the business was doing around 150k profit per month I was making around 2500
Now it did more than double that profit and I only made around 3000

 

Durineg this time I also trained 5 people from zero
I did not just run ads myself

 

I built the process so other people could follow it The team grew from 6 people to around 14 people

 

He now has 2 profitable revenue streams
The original lead generation business and the product business

 

Both were built and scaled while I was deeply involved in the ad strategy and growth
I did save some money

 

But I had no real backup outside this work
Eventually I asked him directly why the numbers keep changing
He got angry very fast
It felt like he was waiting for me to question him
In April he gave me one month notice and fired me

 

His reason was that working with me was getting too expensive
Now he came back and offered me 2000 per month to handle everything again

But honestly I do not want to work with him again
I feel usedI feel like I helped build the machine and when it started printing money I became a problem

 

I only have an employment contra
Some parts were written

Some parts were discussed over messages
Some things were verbal

 

I know I should not react emotionally
Part of me wants to expose him but I also know that can create legal trouble and maybe make me look bad

So I want to ask people here
What are my realistic options

 

Should I talk to a lawyer first
Should I try to claim unpaid commission

 

Should I negotiate a proper settlement
Should I ignore him and start my own thing

Or should I take the 2k offer for now while building my backup

 

What would you do in my posizion?

 

I started working with a guy from Germany in 2023
He hired me as a Facebook ads expert for his home improvement lead generation business
The deal was 1000 dollars per month plus 1 percent commission on revenuee

 

At that time the business was not doing great
He had a team of 6 people
2 tech guys
2 sales people
2 ad people

 

The company was making around 8k to 10k revenue per month
After ad spend salaries tools and other costs there was basically no real profit
Some months it was probably even losing money
My job was mainly to fix the paid ads side
The previous campaigns were not stable
Lead quality was not consistent
Cost per lead was not under control
And the sales team could not scale because the traffic was not predictable

 

After around 4 months my campaigns started working much better
I rebuilt the ad structure
Tested new angles
And helped the sales team get leads they could actually close

 

After around 6 months the business was making around 40k to 60k profit per month

 

Not revenue
Profit after all expeanses
Then we scaled hard

 

This was not some lucky ad that worked for one week
It became a proper system

 

After around 1.5 years the business was making around 130k to 150k profit per month on average
At that point I was making around 2000 to 2500 per month

 

Which already felt low but I kept going because I thought long term it would pay off
Because of the growth he told me he was open to investing in another business if I found a good idea

 

He said he could invest around 20k dollars and give me 20 percent
I researched a lot of businesses and found a product idea
We launched it

First month was testing
Second month we got close to break even
Third month I found the right ad angles and the ads started working properly
That month the new business made around 8k profit

 

Next month it made around 18k profit
Now that business makes around 25k to 29k net profit per month on average

The main reason it worked was the ad angles
Once we found the right message the product started selling

 

After that he started saying there are legal issues with commission and ownership type payments
He told me I should move to a fixed salary instead

 

He offered only 1000 per month
I pushed back and got it to 1500

 

I accepted because I trusted him and thought the bigger picture would be fair
But from the start of this year his behavior changed

 

He started making comments like
you are making a lot of money nowI changed your lif look where you were 3 years ago
It was not said in a nice way It felt like taunting

 

I ignored it because I did not want drama
But then my commission numbers also started changing

 

Every month there was some new calculation
Some new deduction
Some new reason why my payment was lower

 

No matter how much the business grew I was never paid more than around 3500
Even when the business was doing huge numbers
In march the lead generation business made around 321k profit in one month

 

Based on the original deal of 1 percent revenue commission my payout should have been much higher because profit was 321k so revenue was obviously more than that

But I was only paid around 3000
That made no sense to me
When the business was doing around 150k profit per month I was making around 2500
Now it did more than double that profit and I only made around 3000

 

Durineg this time I also trained 5 people from zero
I did not just run ads myself

 

I built the process so other people could follow it The team grew from 6 people to around 14 people

 

He now has 2 profitable revenue streams
The original lead generation business and the product business

 

Both were built and scaled while I was deeply involved in the ad strategy and growth
I did save some money

 

But I had no real backup outside this work
Eventually I asked him directly why the numbers keep changing
He got angry very fast
It felt like he was waiting for me to question him
In April he gave me one month notice and fired me

 

His reason was that working with me was getting too expensive
Now he came back and offered me 2000 per month to handle everything again

But honestly I do not want to work with him again
I feel usedI feel like I helped build the machine and when it started printing money I became a problem

 

I only have an employment contra
Some parts were written

Some parts were discussed over messages
Some things were verbal

 

I know I should not react emotionally
Part of me wants to expose him but I also know that can create legal trouble and maybe make me look bad

So I want to ask people here
What are my realistic options

 

Should I talk to a lawyer first
Should I try to claim unpaid commission

 

Should I negotiate a proper settlement
Should I ignore him and start my own thing

Or should I take the 2k offer for now while building my backup

 

What would you do in my posizion?

Location: Lhe

 

I started working with a guy from Germany in 2023
He hired me as a Facebook ads expert for his home improvement lead generation business
The deal was 1000 dollars per month plus 1 percent commission on revenuee

At that time the business was not doing great
He had a team of 6 people
2 tech guys
2 sales people
2 ad people

The company was making around 8k to 10k revenue per month
After ad spend salaries tools and other costs there was basically no real profit
Some months it was probably even losing money
My job was mainly to fix the paid ads side
The previous campaigns were not stable
Lead quality was not consistent
Cost per lead was not under control
And the sales team could not scale because the traffic was not predictable

After around 4 months my campaigns started working much better
I rebuilt the ad structure
Tested new angles
And helped the sales team get leads they could actually close

After around 6 months the business was making around 40k to 60k profit per month

Not revenue
Profit after all expeanses
Then we scaled hard

This was not some lucky ad that worked for one week
It became a proper system

After around 1.5 years the business was making around 130k to 150k profit per month on average
At that point I was making around 2000 to 2500 per month

Which already felt low but I kept going because I thought long term it would pay off
Because of the growth he told me he was open to investing in another business if I found a good idea

He said he could invest around 20k dollars and give me 20 percent
I researched a lot of businesses and found a product idea
We launched it

First month was testing
Second month we got close to break even
Third month I found the right ad angles and the ads started working properly
That month the new business made around 8k profit

Next month it made around 18k profit
Now that business makes around 25k to 29k net profit per month on average

The main reason it worked was the ad angles
Once we found the right message the product started selling

After that he started saying there are legal issues with commission and ownership type payments
He told me I should move to a fixed salary instead

He offered only 1000 per month
I pushed back and got it to 1500

I accepted because I trusted him and thought the bigger picture would be fair
But from the start of this year his behavior changed

He started making comments like
you are making a lot of money nowI changed your lif look where you were 3 years ago
It was not said in a nice way It felt like taunting

I ignored it because I did not want drama
But then my commission numbers also started changing

Every month there was some new calculation
Some new deduction
Some new reason why my payment was lower

No matter how much the business grew I was never paid more than around 3500
Even when the business was doing huge numbers
In march the lead generation business made around 321k profit in one month

Based on the original deal of 1 percent revenue commission my payout should have been much higher because profit was 321k so revenue was obviously more than that

But I was only paid around 3000
That made no sense to me
When the business was doing around 150k profit per month I was making around 2500
Now it did more than double that profit and I only made around 3000

Durineg this time I also trained 5 people from zero
I did not just run ads myself

I built the process so other people could follow it The team grew from 6 people to around 14 people

He now has 2 profitable revenue streams
The original lead generation business and the product business

Both were built and scaled while I was deeply involved in the ad strategy and growth
I did save some money

But I had no real backup outside this work
Eventually I asked him directly why the numbers keep changing
He got angry very fast
It felt like he was waiting for me to question him
In April he gave me one month notice and fired me

His reason was that working with me was getting too expensive
Now he came back and offered me 2000 per month to handle everything again

But honestly I do not want to work with him again
I feel usedI feel like I helped build the machine and when it started printing money I became a problem

I only have an employment contra
Some parts were written

Some parts were discussed over messages
Some things were verbal

I know I should not react emotionally
Part of me wants to expose him but I also know that can create legal trouble and maybe make me look bad

So I want to ask people here
What are my realistic options

Should I talk to a lawyer first
Should I try to claim unpaid commission

Should I negotiate a proper settlement
Should I ignore him and start my own thing

Or should I take the 2k offer for now while building my backup

What would you do in my posizion?

I think I’m hitting a wall with client retention and honestly it’s getting kinda frustrating… so wanted to ask other agency owners here who’ve actually dealt with this.

Quick context:

Been running Meta ads for around 6 years now
First 2 years local clients, last 4 years mostly with US clients

Results wise… no real issue.

• scaled clients from basically Scratch to $500K/month
• helped grow a team from 2 people to 15
• still have 2 clients with me for 4+ years (started from scratch, still running strong)

So delivery isn’t the problem.

But here’s the pattern that keeps happening:

I come in, fix things, build a proper system , revenue starts going up… and then after a few months the client leaves.

Not because performance drops.

Usually something like:
I think we can handle it now

Some real examples:

• Ecom Crafts store: $2K → $19K/month in 4 months → left shortly after
• Ecom supplement : $5K → $17K/month in 3 months → churned (thinks she can do it)
• Wearable ecom #3: $31K → $80K/month in 5 months → they moved ads in-house

And yeah… this isn’t just one off.

On the flip side:

• 2 clients I started from zero are still with me after 4+ years
• one of them now doing $500K/month with a 15 person team

So clearly retention happen… just not consistently.

Right now it feels like this loop:

• get client
• fix + scale
• they feel like they “figured it out”
• they leave

and repeat…

What’s confusing me is even with good results + solid growth… still losing them.

So trying to understand from people who’ve actually solved this:

• how are you structuring things so you don’t become replaceable?
• do you intentionally NOT share everything? (not sure where the line is tbh)
• did switching to rev share / performance pricing help?
• how do you keep long term clients without them feeling overcharged?

Because right now it kinda feels like I’m doing the hard part right… but still losing the game.

I think I’m hitting a wall with client retention and honestly it’s getting kinda frustrating… so wanted to ask other agency owners here who’ve actually dealt with this.

Quick context:

Been running Meta ads for around 6 years now
First 2 years local clients, last 4 years mostly with US clients

Results wise… no real issue.

• scaled clients from basically Scratch to $500K/month
• helped grow a team from 2 people to 15
• still have 2 clients with me for 4+ years (started from scratch, still running strong)

So delivery isn’t the problem.

But here’s the pattern that keeps happening:

I come in, fix things, build a proper system , revenue starts going up… and then after a few months the client leaves.

Not because performance drops.

Usually something like:
I think we can handle it now

Some real examples:

• Ecom Crafts store: $2K → $19K/month in 4 months → left shortly after
• Ecom supplement : $5K → $17K/month in 3 months → churned (thinks she can do it)
• Wearable ecom #3: $31K → $80K/month in 5 months → they moved ads in-house

And yeah… this isn’t just one off.

On the flip side:

• 2 clients I started from zero are still with me after 4+ years
• one of them now doing $500K/month with a 15 person team

So clearly retention happen… just not consistently.

Right now it feels like this loop:

• get client
• fix + scale
• they feel like they “figured it out”
• they leave

and repeat…

What’s confusing me is even with good results + solid growth… still losing them.

So trying to understand from people who’ve actually solved this:

• how are you structuring things so you don’t become replaceable?
• do you intentionally NOT share everything? (not sure where the line is tbh)
• did switching to rev share / performance pricing help?
• how do you keep long term clients without them feeling overcharged?

Because right now it kinda feels like I’m doing the hard part right… but still losing the game.

I think I’m hitting a wall with client retention and honestly it’s getting kinda frustrating… so wanted to ask other agency owners here who’ve actually dealt with this.

Quick context:

Been running Meta ads for around 6 years now
First 2 years local clients, last 4 years mostly with US clients

Results wise… no real issue.

• scaled clients from basically Scratch to $500K/month
• helped grow a team from 2 people to 15
• still have 2 clients with me for 4+ years (started from scratch, still running strong)

So delivery isn’t the problem.

But here’s the pattern that keeps happening:

I come in, fix things, build a proper system , revenue starts going up… and then after a few months the client leaves.

Not because performance drops.

Usually something like:
I think we can handle it now

Some real examples:

• Ecom Crafts store: $2K → $19K/month in 4 months → left shortly after
• Ecom supplement : $5K → $17K/month in 3 months → churned (thinks she can do it)
• Wearable ecom #3: $31K → $80K/month in 5 months → they moved ads in-house

And yeah… this isn’t just one off.

On the flip side:

• 2 clients I started from zero are still with me after 4+ years
• one of them now doing $500K/month with a 15 person team

So clearly retention happen… just not consistently.

Right now it feels like this loop:

• get client
• fix + scale
• they feel like they “figured it out”
• they leave

and repeat…

What’s confusing me is even with good results + solid growth… still losing them.

So trying to understand from people who’ve actually solved this:

• how are you structuring things so you don’t become replaceable?
• do you intentionally NOT share everything? (not sure where the line is tbh)
• did switching to rev share / performance pricing help?
• how do you keep long term clients without them feeling overcharged?

Because right now it kinda feels like I’m doing the hard part right… but still losing the game.