Pamela Wagner: How Getting Laid Off Kick-started My Company | 17/100 Interviews

TLDR;

1?? Google Ads auctions are ??complex systems that take into account multiple factors, including bid amount, ad quality, and user experience, to determine which ad is shown

2?? Pamela Wagner never expected to start or own her own company, but her genuine mission to help companies ??scale has allowed her business to grow exponentially.

3?? Self-awareness is a non-negotiable for Pamela and she credits the ??success of her business, Ajala Digital to her dedication to radical self-discovery.

How Google Ads Work

You know those ads that pop up on almost every website, the ones that eerily reflect the recent Google searches you did on foot creams or weight loss tips? Each of those ad spots is sold to businesses by Google through auctions. Each slot is an auction. However, these auction systems are far more complex compared to the art or jewelry auctions we see, where wealthy buyers or their agents raise their paddles or bid numbers in a big room.?

Pamela explains it like this.?

Instead of giving the reward to the highest bidder like in traditional auctions, google ad spots are bid by two hundred different conditions. 200. Pamela explains that only three can be actively influenced by advertisers. Money (the amount you bid - NOT how much budget you have!), the quality of advertisements, and how well the experience of the user matches with the ads. However, getting the desired spot requires bidding a perfect combination of the three conditions, and this apparently requires a lot of knowledge and experience. Moreover, Google Ads are not a blanket solution that would propel all businesses - there are suitable marketing methods for each unique business.

How to navigate such a complicated system

This is where Ajala Digital steps in.

Ajala Digital is an advertising agency that works with companies globally in the six to seven-figure range. Pamela and her team have helped 3,000+ companies scale with Google and Meta Ads, creating ingenious ad campaigns that reduce cost, increase leads, and most importantly, showcase the company’s true voice.?

Its growth comes at a time when the user journey has more touchpoints than ever; it is estimated that an average consumer goes through four hundred touchpoints subconsciously before, for example, purchasing a car. Touchpoints range from seeing an ad on a website to influencers talking about a product. However, with the decreasing attention span of the average human, more touch points are needed to drive a specific purchase into action. Pamela expects AI to play a huge role in making marketing more efficient but also sees the preservation of the human element in her role.?

Ajala Digital’s Origin Story

Pamela’s genuine mission to help companies with her expertise in advertisement has allowed Ajala Digital to blossom as an agency, leading to her appointment as one of Forbes 30 Under 30.?

But Ajala Digital’s story is actually an unexpected one. Its inception actually came about around four weeks after Pamela was laid off from Google in 2015. It was a shock, and Pamela remembers telling herself that first night that all she could do was just go to bed and sleep. In the following three weeks, she gave herself permission to do whatever she wanted to do. This was when she discovered her love for traveling and told herself that whatever career she was going to do next, would allow her the freedom of location.?

To fund her travels, she started freelancing, by providing advising and consulting services on Google Ads. Her small side hustle to fund her travels gradually gained momentum, proving to herself that this was very much a viable means to her livelihood. This was the beginning of Ajala Digital.

Growth as a Founder

During our talk, Pamela reflected on some of the challenges she’s faced as a founder, almost eight years into the entrepreneurship journey.?

A firm believer in self-awareness, Pamela has invested a lot of time and mental space in coming to terms with her subconscious beliefs. Businesses fail with mismatches in mindsets, and working on your company is equally important as working on yourself.?

Pamela used to believe that she wasn’t worthy of being loved and that in order to deserve love, she needed to work hard. Through a lot of reflecting she now believes that people want to work with her because of who she is, that she is worthy of being admired and loved. It was through confronting her insecurities that she realized that her reservations about her self-esteem were what kept her from having a better situation. Confront the subconscious mental cages that exist in your mind that stop you from dreaming big.

My Personal Notes

My friendship with Pamela has been a fortuitous one.?

I can’t really remember how our conversation started, but we somehow started talking while sitting next to each other at the coworking space of a hostel in Taipei. At some point, I guess the conversation pivoted to me rambling about my career and future anxieties to which she very patiently and kindly listened and offered advice. Although I had read biographies of entrepreneurs, she was the first self-starter I had ever met in the flesh, and meeting her made this entrepreneurship more real. She left Taipei the following day, and although we had each other’s Instagram, I honestly didn’t think I’d meet her again.

Fast forward to my Europe trip in June of 2023 with my childhood friends. It was my post-graduation trip, the beginning of a gap year, when I had ample time, money, and energy; I felt like I could accomplish anything. I posted a picture of the cathedral in Vienna on my Instagram story, and Pamela instantly replied, “You’re in Vienna? Let’s meet!”.

Viennese herself, Pamela took me to the oldest cafe in the city, where I indulged in the most luxuriously decadent chocolate cake with Apricot jam.?

We talked about our projects, her company, and career planning.?

While queuing for pastries to take to my friends, she spotted a silver coin on the floor. She picked it up and held it in her hand. After we left the pastry shop, she showed me the coin, which was less than a Euro, a small coin, and said,

“Those who do not appreciate the small things will never appreciate the greater things in life.”?

People come into our lives for a season, a reason, or a lifetime, and we often only know which of the three in hindsight. As a child who grew up moving around every few years, this saying was a way to make sense of the people I met, the friendships I grew out of, and the people I said goodbye to. Nowadays, this saying serves more as a way to grant more meaning to the encounters I have.?

With Pamela, I know that it has been at least for reasons that I have met her. In Taiwan, she offered me the perspective that a “career” is not a linear thing and that your worth in the world is self-created; there are infinite options to be valuable in society. In Europe, her words reminded me to not forget to appreciate what I have in front of me, to not be caught up in lofty goals and ambitions and to remember the mundane and less glittery aspects of life, to appreciate the family and friendships I have when I am striving for greatness.?

People come into our lives for a season, a reason, or a lifetime.?