Irene Pollak
Analytics and Optimization Consultant at rumble media
Irene runs a boutique agency that specializes in helping small businesses optimize their ads and websites. With the help of Data Studio Masterclass, she has been able to understand the nuances of Google Data Studio, allowing her to create profitable dashboards and increase her confidence and pricing points. This has had a huge impact on her business, and she has been able to monetize her work more efficiently.
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Read Irene’s experience:
My name is Irene. I run a boutique agency that focuses on growing small businesses and optimizing their ads and websites. I have 10 years of experience in digital marketing, including web design, SEO, and email automation. We decided to specialize in ads and data because clients were asking us how to increase their profit margins and optimize their ads.
We couldn't do top-level tracking without going into detail. So, we needed to create reports that the team could actually use. We had done basic Data Studio training, but we needed more hands-on support to understand all the pieces of Data Studio, as it is different than Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager.
When Ahmad said he was doing a masterclass, we jumped at the chance. We've been able to understand the nuances of all the elements within Google Data Studio and unpack it with his guidance. He sees 10 steps down the track, so we get to piggyback on his knowledge. He doesn't tell us what to do, he shows us how to think.
I'm a visual learner and while a Google Sheets is great, it makes no sense to me. When I see someone doing it, I learn it. I add my own source to it, but if I have to read it from a doc, it's difficult. The biggest challenge for me was the learning curve, being able to accelerate that.
It was a safe group where I could ask nerdy questions, or even basic questions while we were going through the training, both basic and advanced, simultaneously.
My biggest challenge in the Data Studio was filling in the gaps in my knowledge: understanding how each part of Data Studio works and how to do more complicated things faster was key.
It was like when all the complicated stuff finally made sense, right down to the bones of it.
Really understanding the foundational aspects of Data Studio, with the scope of how customized you can make it, was probably the biggest challenge. Looking back at the Data Studio I had done before, it's like I was a kindergarten kid doing it, and now it looks like an adult is using it. It's smart, easy to use, and simplifying.
I was trying to put too much into a dashboard, but now it's just one of the KPIs. How did we get to that? What do they want to know? What might give the client a spark of an idea or something else they might want to ask from the dashboard?
I noticed that the other participants and I were having the same "aha" moments at the same time. We were revealing things that we hadn't looked at or thought about. This was a great confidence booster!
Google Data Studio can be complicated and sometimes it's a misunderstanding of its potential. Doing this in a group environment felt safe and like a study - we were choosing to be there and excited about it.
And so, like everyone else, the learning process feels much more accelerated. As a result, I'm often hired first; they'll bring me in to explain how their CRM, Facebook, and Google Ads are working. I've been in rooms with a lot of quotes on the table from SEO, Ads, and more, and I've won the bid. They'll say, "We'll start with you, then get the rest of the team on board." That's the biggest change that's happened.
My basic charge is now three times more than before. I'm good at selling what we do, but this is a difficult problem. People, since COVID, want to know what's working and what isn't in their business without needing a science degree or a lot of numbers. That's why we create tables that show losses, and that's what people want. It's exciting and exceeded my expectations. You explained the complicated stuff in a simple way that we could understand and use to come up with effective solutions for our clients.
I like this decision and I want to do more complicated stuff now that I never would have been able to see myself doing, but that's because of the way you make learning and breaking down complex topics feel comfortable. I think your gift is taking the complicated and making it digestible. Not only that, but making it so we can assimilate it and then take it and run with it.
I was expecting a headache, but it was broken down in such a way that it made me feel much more confident when I got into the backend of Data Studio. Now, I look at it as a puzzle and just need to figure out what to do, how to display it, etc. You've taught us how to do that 10 step thinking. That's really cool!
That to me is you totally changed the way I look at not only Tag Manager, but also how I present [what its collecting] in Data Studio. It's been incredibly valuable and has had a huge impact on my business. My confidence has skyrocketed, and it has also helped me with my pricing points when I assess the complexity of the task at hand.
There are certain tiers of rights I have in Rumble. The complexity of the stack, the data I'm building, and the number of pages in the report all affect how I can monetize and communicate value to the client. This has made quoting more efficient and solid. My contracts have always said that the work is mine until it's paid, but the idea you presented planted a seed of another way to do it. If the right client comes along, I would negotiate that.