250 | The New Rules of Paid Advertising and What's Working Now with John Horn
The Business of You with Rachel Gogos
Release Date: 12/23/2025
255 | The Hidden Cost of Growth and How Smart Leaders Fix It with Megan Crabtree
The Business of You with Rachel Gogos
Behind every growth problem is a lack of structure. Many businesses scale fast, only to realize they've outgrown their systems, their teams, and sometimes even themselves. The result? Burnout, chaos, and missed opportunities are hiding in plain sight. In this episode of The Business of You, we explore what it really takes to grow a business with intention — learning from someone who survived the burnout and chaos caused by the hidden traps of growth for growth’s sake. This conversation is about leadership that balances people and performance, and why data without heart (or heart without...
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254 | How Accountability Creates Freedom in Business and Life with Robert Hunt
The Business of You with Rachel Gogos
What if the thing you’re avoiding is the very thing holding you back? Accountability often gets a bad reputation — as pressure, control, or punishment. But what if accountability is actually the key to freedom, clarity, and sustainable success? In this episode, we explore why so many leaders feel stuck even though they “know what to do,” and how ownership — not excuses — is what creates real momentum. Robert Hunt is the founder of REF Dallas, a CEO peer group and leadership platform he’s grown since 2013. Known as “The Accountability Guy,” Robert helps leaders reclaim...
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253 | How AI Is Changing the Way Companies Scale with Casey Woo
The Business of You with Rachel Gogos
What if the most important people in a company are the ones no one talks about? They’re the builders behind the scenes. The operators who organize chaos, fix what’s broken, and quietly turn vision into reality. Scaling isn’t glamorous — but it’s essential. In this episode, we explore what it really takes to grow companies fast and smart, and how AI is accelerating the shift toward adaptable, cross-functional leadership. Casey Woo is a public market investor turned high-growth technology COO and CFO with more than two decades of experience helping companies scale. He’s served as a...
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252 | What Founders Need to Know About Bringing a Product to Market with Kerim Kfuri
The Business of You with Rachel Gogos
If you’ve ever dreamed of launching a physical product—turning an idea into something tangible—you’ve probably noticed how overwhelming the process can feel. Manufacturing, sourcing, quality control, logistics, global suppliers…every step has layers most founders never see until they’re already in trouble. In a world where disruptions happen daily and the global economy shifts without warning, the founders who succeed aren’t just innovative—they’re prepared. Today’s guest, Kerim Kfuri, brings more than two decades of global supply chain expertise spanning technology,...
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251 | What It Really Takes to Succeed on Amazon with Pasha Knish
The Business of You with Rachel Gogos
If you’ve ever looked at Amazon and wondered how some brands scale effortlessly while others disappear into a sea of competitors, you’re not alone. Amazon can feel like an unpredictable giant—full of opportunity, but also packed with complexity. And as more entrepreneurs jump in, the brands that win aren’t the ones chasing trends…they’re the ones building with intention. Today’s guest, Pasha Knish, has lived through every era of Amazon—from the Wild West days of early e-commerce to today’s data-driven, hyper-competitive marketplace. With more than 13 years of hands-on selling...
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250 | The New Rules of Paid Advertising and What's Working Now with John Horn
The Business of You with Rachel Gogos
Have you ever wondered why some brands seem to crack the code with paid ads while others burn through budget with nothing to show for it? If you’ve ever dabbled in Google Ads—or avoided them out of fear of expensive mistakes—this conversation will open your eyes to what’s possible when strategy and execution align. John Horn, CEO of StubGroup, has helped hundreds of companies transform underperforming campaigns into profitable acquisition machines. His team is ranked in the top 1% of Google Partners worldwide for performance and customer care—and their reputation is...
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249 | The Hidden Skills That Make Great Leaders With Vicky Brown
The Business of You with Rachel Gogos
You know that moment when someone sees something in you long before you’re ready to claim it? For many leaders, that moment becomes the spark that changes everything. For Vicky Brown, it was the gentle (yet persistent) nudge that pushed her from devoted “number two” to founder of a thriving HR firm that’s been supporting high-performance companies for more than two decades. Too often, business owners think of HR as paperwork, policies, or “the stuff you deal with when something goes wrong.” But Vicky’s story—and her expertise—reveal a very different truth: HR is leadership....
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248 | The Most Powerful Leadership Skill No One’s Talking About with Keri Ford
The Business of You with Rachel Gogos
When success starts to feel like stress, what if your body could tell you why? For high-achievers, it’s easy to push harder, hustle faster, and ignore the quiet signals of exhaustion. But for Keri Ford, those signals became her greatest teachers. A former Creative Director turned award-winning CEO, Keri discovered that the real key to high performance isn’t found in strategy or mindset — it’s found in the nervous system. Through her groundbreaking Somatic Success® method, Keri has helped elite women — from celebrity clients like Alison Sweeney and Kaley Cuoco to powerhouse founders...
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247 | Turning Your Story into Sales With Dr. Danny Brassell
The Business of You with Rachel Gogos
What if the fastest way to grow your business isn’t marketing harder, but speaking smarter? In this episode, Dr. Danny Brassell shares how to make storytelling and public speaking your most powerful tools for attracting clients, building authority, and confidently closing deals. Known as the “Jim Carrey with a Ph.D.,” Danny has spoken to over 3,500 audiences worldwide and co-founded The WellCrafted Story Workshop™, where he teaches entrepreneurs how to transform their stories into client-generating presentations. The Power Of Clarity And Connection If you’ve ever struggled to...
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246 | Don’t Scale Your Business Without Hearing This Franchise Model with Bennett Maxwell
The Business of You with Rachel Gogos
What happens when business growth outpaces the guardrails that keep it sustainable? This week, I sit down with Bennett Maxwell, serial entrepreneur, investor, and founder of Franchise KI—best known for scaling Dirty Dough Cookies from one store to over 450 franchises sold in just two years. After experiencing both the highs and the chaos of hypergrowth, Bennett now helps entrepreneurs build wealth through franchising the right way: with systems, structure, and staying power. How To Grow Fast Without Burning Out Bennett reveals the critical mistakes founders make when scaling too...
info_outlineHave you ever wondered why some brands seem to crack the code with paid ads while others burn through budget with nothing to show for it?
If you’ve ever dabbled in Google Ads—or avoided them out of fear of expensive mistakes—this conversation will open your eyes to what’s possible when strategy and execution align.
John Horn, CEO of StubGroup, has helped hundreds of companies transform underperforming campaigns into profitable acquisition machines.
His team is ranked in the top 1% of Google Partners worldwide for performance and customer care—and their reputation is built on both deep technical expertise and a refreshingly human, boutique approach. John lives and breathes PPC, but what sets him apart is his ability to translate complexity into clarity.
In this episode, John breaks down how to build smarter ad systems, navigate AI-driven changes, and use data to make confident marketing decisions—so you can scale sustainably.
Building Effective Google Ads Campaigns Starts with Strategy
Before a single ad runs, John emphasizes one crucial question: What does success look like? So many brands jump straight into campaign creation without defining the exact action they want a user to take.
Whether it’s booking a call, filling out a form, or placing an order, the call to action must be clear, trackable, and front-and-center on the landing page.
From there, it all comes down to relevance. Google search is built on demand, not interruption. That means your job is to align with the terms people are already searching for—balancing high-intent keywords with lower-cost, broader queries that reveal early interest.
And once ads are running, tracking becomes your lifeline: real data allows advertisers to cut waste, double down on what’s working, and eventually leverage Google’s AI-powered bidding strategies for even greater efficiency.
How AI and New Algorithms Are Changing the Future of Advertising
AI is dramatically reshaping how users search and how brands need to show up. Google’s AI Overviews now dominate search results, and platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity are becoming discovery engines in their own right. For marketers, this means optimizing not only for Google but also for GEO: Generative Engine Optimization.
John reveals a surprising insight: AI models pull heavily from third-party sources like Reddit, YouTube, Quora, and listicle-style articles. That means service providers and brands must think beyond traditional SEO and start contributing valuable content across these ecosystems.
As John puts it, “AI is an incredible tool, but it’s not a critical thinker.” Without strong human guidance, automated systems can quickly misinterpret signals and overspend in the wrong places.
Enjoy this episode with John Horn…
Soundbytes
07:13 – 07:21
“Advertising is not a magic bullet. We're not going to just launch a campaign and suddenly you're printing money and life is amazing.”
23:00 – 23:10
“Businesses are having to definitely think through, how do I make sure my business is coming up as a solution in those other platforms when people search there as opposed to Google.”
30:41 –31:06
“So what would you suggest to service providers specifically to start ranking in the AI platforms?”
“Start engaging on Reddit. When I say engaging, answering questions, commenting on posts, creating your own posts. And you have to be—you can't be too salesy. You have to bring legitimate value because people are very allergic on Reddit to too much of the salesy approach and things can go south quickly.”
Quotes
“Advertising is not a magic bullet. There’s risk involved, and every business is different.”
“You have to define what success looks like and the action you want people to take before you ever launch a campaign.”
“AI is a fantastic tool, but it’s not a critical thinker. You have to pair it with human judgment.”
“You can’t rely on AI to make all the right decisions. If you give it bad direction, it will spend a lot of your money very quickly.”
Links mentioned in this episode:
From Our Guest
Website: https://stubgroup.com/
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnjhorn1/
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