Today I’m excited to share an interview that explains how to make money with Facebook ads. I recently spoke with Bobby Hoyt, a former high school teacher who paid off $40,000 in student loan debt in just 18 months. Bobby now runs the personal finance blog MillennialMoneyMan.com full time and also operates a digital marketing agency for local businesses, which he launched in 2015.
In 2017, Bobby earned nearly $200,000 across his blog and marketing business.
If you’re searching for a new business idea or a side hustle to learn how to make extra money, running Facebook ads for local businesses is a skill worth exploring. It can be profitable, scalable, and doesn’t require deep technical expertise to get started.
Bobby also created a course called the Facebook Side Hustle Course that teaches how to make money running Facebook ads for local businesses.
In this interview you’ll learn:
- How Bobby started earning income by running Facebook ads;
- Why small businesses seek Facebook ad services;
- How much you can earn doing this work;
Plus practical insights and tips for getting started.
Bobby’s work has been featured on CNBC, Forbes, Business Insider, Reuters, MarketWatch, and other major publications.
Read the interview below for the full story and useful takeaways.
Bobby also offers a free training that shows how to start this business, find paying clients, and more.
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Can you start by sharing your backstory and how you got into running Facebook ads for clients?
Sure. A little over three years ago I was a high school band director who had just finished paying off $40,000 in student loans in 18 months. During that journey I discovered a passion for personal finance and a desire to help others tackle their debt.
I began blogging in my spare time and eventually started Millennial Money Man. I didn’t know much at first, but I enjoyed writing about money and learning along the way.
At the same time, I felt increasingly pulled toward entrepreneurship. After running the blog for about six months, I took a leap and left teaching to focus on the site full-time in June 2015.
Quickly I learned that blogging can be slow to generate reliable income. After a few months with limited revenue, I needed a more immediate way to support myself and avoid returning to teaching.
One realization helped: the skills I used to grow my blog—creating content, building social media—were directly applicable to marketing for small businesses. Many local business websites I found were outdated and their owners struggled to use digital channels effectively.
I started pitching local businesses and landed a jeweler (who had made my wife’s engagement ring) as my first client. I wrote content for their blog, improved their search visibility, and began running Facebook ads for them.
Over the past three years I’ve grown both my marketing business and Millennial Money Man, enabling me to work online and enjoy a flexible lifestyle.
How did the idea to teach people to make money running Facebook ads come about?
A friend from high school who runs a dedicated Facebook ad agency suggested I create a course teaching readers how to run Facebook ads for clients as a side hustle. At first I didn’t think it would gain much interest, so I casually mentioned it in my community and social pages.
Within 24 hours hundreds of people expressed interest. I’d stumbled onto a real demand.
I partnered with that friend, Mike Yanda, to build the course. I had hands-on experience running ads for my blog and a few clients, while Mike managed clients across multiple continents and earned $25,000–$30,000 a month from his agency. Together we created a course that combined practical know-how and tested strategies.
Facebook ads are attractive because they have a low barrier to entry and significant upside. You don’t need advanced web development or technical skills to start, and generating leads on Facebook is relatively straightforward compared to other marketing channels.
Both Mike and I came from non-marketing backgrounds—he was a lawyer and I was a teacher—so the course is designed for people who want a realistic path into this kind of side hustle.
Do small businesses really want Facebook ads? Why would they pay for a service like that?
Yes. Facebook ad management is one of the most requested services small business owners seek. Most business owners use Facebook personally, so they see ads but don’t know how to run effective campaigns themselves.
Put simply, Facebook is a marketing platform disguised as a social network. It collects detailed user data, making precise audience targeting possible and often more cost-effective than traditional advertising like billboards or print ads.
The challenge for business owners is that DIY ads can quickly waste money without delivering results. They usually lack someone on staff with the necessary expertise.
If you can offer a clear proposition—“I’ll run affordable ads that drive the right customers to your store and prove it with measurable results”—business owners are likely to hire you. It’s a low-risk way for them to attract new customers, and that practical value is what many clients are willing to pay for.
How much can you make doing this work, and how many hours does it take per week?
Industry standard pricing for lead-generating Facebook ad management typically ranges from $1,000 to $2,000 per client per month. While that may sound high at first, the value comes from delivering measurable leads and sales that the business owner can track.
Traditional advertising often leaves ROI unclear—businesses might spend thousands on magazine placements without knowing how many customers the ad produced. With Facebook you can attribute conversions more directly, which is highly valuable to owners.
Time commitment varies. The most time-consuming phase is onboarding: setting up Business Manager, creating audiences, setting budgets, and building the first ads. That usually takes 3–4 hours per client but is a one-time effort for each campaign.
After setup, campaigns mostly run automatically, though you’ll want to monitor performance and make optimizations. Plan on a few hours per week per client for monitoring, reporting, and client communication.
For a side hustle, managing 1–3 clients is often the sweet spot: it provides meaningful income without consuming all your spare time.
Can this side hustle grow into a full-time business?
Yes. Ten or so clients can constitute a full-time agency, but scaling to that level typically requires hiring help to manage accounts and handle client needs—at which point you’ve shifted from side hustle to agency.
If you deliver strong results, client referrals become a powerful growth engine. Many business owners are happy to recommend someone who consistently brings customers through their doors, which can rapidly expand your client roster.
With organization and dedication, there’s significant income potential in turning Facebook ad management into a full-time business.
What will students learn in the Facebook Side Hustle course, and is it affordable?
The course teaches how to create profitable Facebook ads for local businesses so you can earn an extra $1,000–$2,000 per month, even with no prior marketing or technical background. It includes step-by-step video walkthroughs and practical systems to help you onboard clients and track results.
Inside you’ll learn:
- How Facebook Ads work so you can confidently answer clients’ questions;
- How to create profitable ads with guided settings and examples;
- Strategies for troubleshooting and improving ad performance;
- Targeting methods to reach the right customers for each client;
- Top strategies for finding your first clients and starting to earn quickly;
- Systems and templates for tracking results so you can demonstrate ROI to clients;
- Operational tips for running an ad management business while working fewer hours.
The course initially sells for $247, which is priced below many comparable programs. The instructors chose this price to make the training accessible, and it’s possible to earn several times the course cost with a single client in the first month.
The course also offers access to a paid support group where students can ask questions and get help with ads. The first month of that community is free after purchase, with a $47/month fee thereafter. This ongoing support helps students troubleshoot campaigns and scale their services.
The course package plus support aims to provide the training and community needed to start earning quickly from one client onward.
What do you think of this side hustle idea?