Nick Shackelford Review: Facebook Ads Pros & Cons, Course, & Modules + Alternatives |IPPEI

Updated On 2021-04-20

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Back in 2015 Nick Shackelford was just ending his career as a professional soccer player for the LA Galaxy II.

He was in debt and needed money.

While coaching high school soccer he soon realized “trading time for money” wasn’t going to help him fulfill his goals.

After leaving the soccer league at the end of 2015, Shackelford felt limited by his career options.

So he gained experience in paid social media through an internship at PepsiCo. and a stint at a digital marketing agency.

nick shackelford as keeper pic

In 2016, Nick managed to get hired at Apple in one of their biggest years.

This is when they were launching the iPad Pro, the i Watch, and the iPhone 7.

This was Nick’s first jump into paid social and he basically was playing with millions.

Apple was so loaded that they weren’t even looking at the performance of the ads.

It was that crazy.

That was when things went even more mental.

Remember fidget spinners?

fidgetly pic cheddar

Nick and his friend Jake Schmidt , who is still his partner today, teamed up and dreamed big.

They created one of the most successful brands of fidget spinners, Fidgetly .

Fidgetly went viral across the world and made the duo millions.

No doubt thanks to Nick’s FB Ads skills he had learned along the way.

After the close of Fidgetly, Shackelford launched Structured Social to start helping other brands scale online by using Facebook ads the right way.

We’re not talking random brands.

We’re talking making ads for the Kardashians.

You can’t even work with him if your adspend is less than $50k per campaign.

At the end of 2020, Nathan Chan, creator of Foundr, asked Nick to develop the definitive FB Ads course.

the user nick shackelford picture

After having quite a few people asking me to review this courses in my comments, I thought it would be only fair to my readers to go through it, dive in it and give a very honest opinion.

As you will see, I don’t have an affiliate link to Nick’s course.

If you end up buying it, I will not be making a dime, but since I’ve had a lot of experience with FB Ads, I thought I’d try and give an honest review.

In a YouTube video on the Foundr channel, Nick Shackelford said: “Invest in hiring a creative teammate. I’m not saying they need to be full-time; I’m not saying that they need to be an expensive agency, but relying on a digital marketer and not giving them the correct assets or giving the correct tools that they need to find success for you is gonna be much more difficult.” And I agree. Social media ads is a complex process that needs multiple heads in order to work. In my opinion, making money from Facebook Ads is like flying the same Delta Air Lines every month, but the ticket price keeps doubling. The destination hasn’t changed, only the cost has. Competition drives up CPMs every quarter, so what worked last month now bleeds money. You’re paying more for the same audience while margins collapse. Plus, one random platform update can destroy weeks of optimization overnight. What used to convert suddenly dies, leaving you scrambling for better content and ad strategies. You’re always at Facebook’s mercy.

In this article, we uncover who Nick Shackelford is and how he went from a professional soccer player to co-founding multiple companies like Konstant Kreative and Structured. We also dive into his How to Create Facebook Ads course on Foundr and its inclusions and modules. Finally, we determine whether Facebook Ads is better than local lead generation in making money online in 2025.

What are Nick Shackelford Pros & Cons?

Pros	Cons
When Foundr launches a course, you can bet your butt they are going to find the best of the best in that niche, and are going to produce something of value for a reasonable price. Have been a bit of a Nathan Chan fanboy from the beginning, and this course didn't disappoint.	I'm not going to lie: a lot of the things that are in this course, just like any other FB course, can be learned for free from FB itself and its courses. Of course, the production quality of this Foundr course is much higher, but you know what I mean.
The quality of the videos and the materials is stunning. No shoddy productions here. You are also handed working materials like a 100+ page actionable workbook and templates to fill up that make the most tedious part of the process a pleasure to go through.	Sometimes I get the impression that the course is especially geared towards eCommerce situations, and, although everything can be adapted to other scenarios, I wish that other types of hustling had been considered in the examples.
You're working with a pro here. Nick really knows his stuff, not only that, he knows how to explain it as if he were talking to a 10 year old kid. Fear not, you are going to understand all the concepts he goes through, and will be able to apply them to your business manager.	This is still FB we are talking about: no matter what it says, bans are going to happen, your accounts are going to get shut down at some point. That is just the nature of FB advertisement and there is nothing even this course can do to change that.
The FB group is super active, and if you ask for help and Nick is not around that very minute, there will be multiple people jumping in and giving their 2 cents. These are often people with a good track record, who you can really learn from.	In 2021 you don't really need to have all these ad creating skills: there are models, such as the local lead generation one that I have been following for almost 7 years, that sell themselves. Carry on reading for more!

Who is Nick Shackelford?

Nick Shackelford is a performance marketer and eCommerce growth expert known for his mastery in paid social advertising, especially on Facebook and Instagram. He gained recognition by scaling direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands like Movement Watches, Pura Vida, and Snow Teeth Whitening to 7- and 8-figure revenues using creative-driven ad strategies and rapid testing systems. He is also the co-founder of Structured Agency, a performance marketing firm that specializes in helping DTC brands grow through media buying and conversion optimization.

Beyond client work, Nick is a sought-after speaker at global marketing events such as AdWorld, GeekOut, and Affiliate World, where he shares advanced frameworks for ad scaling and creative testing. He is particularly known for his ability to systematize the process of identifying high-converting ad angles, formats, and hooks. As of 2025, Shackelford remains one of the most trusted names in performance marketing and a go-to strategist for brands looking to profitably scale with paid traffic.

What is How To Create Facebook Ads 1.0?

How To Create Facebook Ads 1.0 is one of Frank Kern’s low-ticket training programs focused on helping beginners launch their first profitable Facebook ad campaign quickly and affordably.

The course teaches you how to:

Build ad creatives without overcomplicating strategy.
Launch your first campaign in 5 days or less, even if you’ve never advertised before.
Create a lead or customer-getting asset you can reuse indefinitely.

It’s part of Kern’s “challenge-style” learning model, meaning it’s taught step-by-step through short daily videos, templates, and real campaign walkthroughs. At just $49, it’s designed to deliver fast wins while introducing buyers to Kern’s broader ecosystem.

What Do You Get With How To Create Facebook Ads 1.0?

Access to Foundr’s Private Facebook Ad Community.
Facebook Ads 2 for 1 Licence to share with your Ad Manager.
Nick’s Swipe and Deploy FB Ads Files.
Tried and True Spreadsheet Calculators to Calculate AOV or ROAS.
How to Find Free Money.
365 Day Guarantee.

What Will You Learn From How To Create Facebook Ads 1.0?

How to show the value proposition within the first 3 seconds.
Include people enjoying the product in your video.
Show customer’s problems being solved.
Leverage reviews as copy.
Choose upbeat music.
Use text overlays to address common objections.
Show details of what the product looks like.
Engage commenters.

Module 1: Mastering the FB Ads Foundations

If you thought Module 1 was going to be another of those mindset fluffy fillers, think again.

In this module you’ll discover the “must know” Facebook ad foundations.

You’ll learn everything you need to do to give your ads the absolute best chance of winning from day one.

My main takeways were 2 in particular.

The first one was the 15 myths about Facebook advertising we should get over.

It’s pretty reassuring when someone who spent more than $100M on FB Ads dismantles some myths.

Here they are, in no particular order.

“I’ve tried this before, it doesn’t work for me.”
“What works for the “big guys” won’t work for me.”
My business/niche is different.
My audience isn’t on Facebook.
Facebook is not effective for B2B.
My page/following isn’t big enough to run ads.
Facebook ads are too expensive.
Boosting posts is the same as running ads.
It’s best to target a very narrow audience.
Instagram is only advertising to young people.
Facebook is only valuable for “bottom of funnel” marketing.
Turning your ads on and off helps performance.
Users will not convert on a Facebook ad the first time they see it.
Videos are always better than images.
Facebook is changing so quickly… your info is already outdated.

Another fundamental aspect of the first module is the explanation of all the FB ad talk used throughout the course.

Some, you may be familiar with, but it’s always good to brush up on it!

Some are a bit more technical, so thanks Nick for coming in our aid:

ULPV - Unique Landing Page View - The number of consumers who made it to your landing page.
UCPLV - Unique Cost Per Landing Page View - The average cost per each landing page visit.
UATC - Unique Add To Cart - The first step in the checkout process.12. UCPATC - Unique Cost Per Add to Cart.
UIC - Unique Initiate Check Out - The second step in the checkout process.
UCPIC - Unique Cost Per Check Out Initiated.
UP - Unique Purchase.16. CPUP - Cost Per Unique Purchase.
CPA - Cost Per Acquisition - Cost Per Result - Cost Per (Enter you goal).
ROAS - Return On Ad Spend - The money you receive derived from spending on advertising.
PCV - Purchase Conversion Value - The revenue seen from Facebook specific purchases.

Module 2: Finding Your Target Clients

With module 2 you’re already in the meat and potatoes of the course.

This is all of about the prospecting end of the funnel, the top bit.

Most of your cash will be spent there, circa 60%, so you can find your ideal clients.

This is where you’ll master not only driving traffic, but driving the right kind of traffic!

Since this will also impact the quality of your clients further down the funnel, you have to be extra careful here.

This prospecting aspect is fundamental:

You need to understand your customer’s journey and how they go from cold “prospect” to warm “lead” to piping hot “buyer.”

The phases of prospecting are mainly 4:

Interest-Based Audiences: targeting people based on their interests and behaviors in your category, which means a higher likelihood that they will be interested in your product or service.
“Lookalike Audience”: a custom audience that includes all potential customers who LOOK LIKE a given group. It’s an effective way to widen your audience and reach more potential customers, especially when you have a smaller following or customer base to start with.
Broad Audiences: fine to use, and you can get more granular from there as you gather learnings.
Exclusions: for example, people who have already visited your website and purchased from you recently (and are unlikely to purchase from you again so quickly).

By going for these 3+1 different kind of broad audiences, you can begin testing and checking out what works better and what doesn’t.

Throughout the course Nick goes through some of his most iconic ads.

He then breaks them down and focuses on the subject at hand.

How he got the right audience, in this case.

There are also excel documents to calculate ROAS, different audiences to target.

Nothing is left to chance in this course.

By the end of this module, you will have learned how to find your top-of-the-funnel audience and will be ready to go!

Module 3: Middle of the Funnel

This module is all about Re-engagement.

In this module, you’ll walk through the next part of the funnel — the “middle of funnel”

You’ll be bringing your prospects a little bit closer to purchase.

This is where you warm them up, and bring them a little bit closer to purchase.

You should be spending about 10-20% of your time, budget, and creative energy on Re-Engagement ads.

The ad campaigns aren’t structurally different from the previous prospecting one.

The main differences are your Audiences, the Copy, the Timing and the Campaign Structures.

Re-engagement targets usually include:

Instagram engagers (past 365 days)
Facebook engagers (past 365 days)
Video viewers (past 365 days)

These are people who were clearly interested in something you showed them, but didn’t quite have the motivation to purchase from you just yet.

You have another chance to expose them to your product/service through Re-Engagement campaigns, and bring them a little bit closer to converting.

They’ve already seen one or more of your Prospecting ads, so they are aware of you.

They may have even engaged with one of your Facebook Ads, watched your video, or followed you on Instagram.

Module 4: Bottom of the Funnel

You’re now at the very bottom of the funnel.

These people are even more familiar with you.

They’ve seen your ads.

They’ve even taken some kind of action, whether that’s clicking your ad, shopping on your site (but not buying), or some other event that shows high intent.

They just need that little push over the edge, which requires unique ads, right?

At this point of the funnel you will be able to use DPA, or dynamic product ads.

The potential customer knows about you and your product, he’s so close.

DPA campaigns pull content automatically from your product/service pages to show people custom messaging based on their Pixel behavior.

DPA allows you to show them another Remarketing Ad displaying the exact product/service they were looking at.

This way you have another chance to convince them to buy.

Remarketing also has its own microfunnel:

At this point, there are different tactics you can use:

Build FOMO — Fear of missing out is a powerful psychological trigger.
Inject scarcity / urgency — e.g. “It’s nearly gone…” , “Time’s running out” , or “Only a few seats left.”
Same creative, new copy — repurpose existing creative assets, like a video clip or image of your product being used.
Message match — Make sure your messaging lines up from ad to landing page, otherwise people will bounce.
Clear, timely CTA: if you’re running ads around a holiday or specific sale event, make sure to be clear about this in your copy.
Leverage UGC — User Generated Content is a very powerful social proof technique, especially when it’s authentic.

There’s no way they’re not going to buy at this point!

You’ve basically done all of the work for them.

Module 5: Ad Creative That Converts

So you’ve gone through the theory.

Now it’s time to get your hands dirty and learn how to write killer copy.

Luckily, Nick is one of the best in the world, so you’re in good hands.

Nick writes down what you actually need in an ad creative:

Angle / Idea
Hook (first 3 seconds)
Problem Setup
Present Solution
Social Proof / Validation
Big Promise / Benefits
Objection Handling
Call to Action (CTA)

This division of all you need to do in your creative is pretty priceless.

This is what all of Nick’s ads are made of.

One of the most important aspects Nick really focuses on is that of congruence:

You should match what you say in the ad with what is written on your landing page.

You want to create a cohesive customer journey that carries them smoothly through your funnel, and make it easy on them.

If you have a negative experience that doesn’t make sense for your consumer, or a high bounce rate (the person clicked away from your page right after landing), Facebook will begin to dock your score and negatively view your user experience.

This leads to things like disapproved ads and higher costs.

Always make your style congruent throughout your writing gigs.

People will like that, resonate with you, and then be more likely to buy.

Module 6: Avoiding Costly Mistakes

By the end of this module, you’ll have the confidence and troubleshooting framework to dive in and solve any problem that arises.

You’ll be equipped with a proven framework on how to approach any ad issues or problems that can pop-up on your journey.

And, knowing Facebook, and the way accounts are shut quite arbitrarily, I feel that this is the most useful module out of the whole course.

This module will answer questions like:

Where do you even look when something goes wrong? (and something always goes wrongwith Facebook)
Is it a traffic problem, or a conversion problem?
Why are my Ads getting disapproved by Facebook?
Is it the Ad itself, or my Website, or my Facebook Page?

Nick dives into the 6 most common roadblocks and how to fix them:

Overspending of an Ad Set
Underspending of an Ad Set
Target Cost Campaign won’t spend
Exported list from Shopify incompatibility
Not knowing what budget to start with
How to scale your budget without upsetting FB

This is frankly a godsend, especially for those who are just starting out.

You can get shut down from FB but not get told why, so it’s great to have a pro on your side.

But by far the best part of the module, and maybe of the course, is another one.

What is the MGD Method?

The MGD Method (Make Good Decisions) is Nick Shackelford’s decision-making framework to optimize Facebook ad spend based on correlation data. It helps marketers cut underperformers, scale winners, and eliminate guesswork using a guided spreadsheet system.

As Nick says: ‘The difference between a successful and unsuccessful Facebook marketer is their confidence to make decisions and to take advantage of what the data is giving you’.

The ‘MGD Method’ stands for ‘how to Make Good Decisions!’

According to Nick, when you leverage this lesson and the template we’ve provided, you can effectively make better decisions on the fly.

That will allow you stay in complete control of your ad spend even when scaling, and never light money on fire again.

In order to do this you are provide with a Correlations Template.

All you have to do is to fill it in with your stats, and the numbers will do the talking.

Through the MGD method, you will be able to:

Cut the Ad if it’s not working
Apply more budget to an Ad that’s working
Eliminate guesswork in your Ad Account

Sometimes, knowing exactly when to do the right thing will save your butt from overspending.

Bonus Module: 6 Hardcore Bonuses

You know when you get bonus modules in courses and you just know they are going to be complete fluff?

This is definitely no the case for this Foundr course.

Boy they really went all out on this one, and they are keeping the course current by adding new material regularly.

For example, since the iOS 14 update, people can opt out of FB capturing lots of their details.

This has caused concern in the Feb/March 2021 period in the course FB group.

Nick then proceeded to do a 2 hour video to add to the course addressing this very issue!

The actual bonuses you get are 6:

The FB community (where Nick is surprisingly active).
A 2 for 1 license, which means your partner can run the course to.
Nick’s most successful ads in png or video file, for your consumption.
The Agency Replacer Toolkit, to help you save the $$$ for your ad spend only.
Tried and True Spreadsheet calculators (a frickin’ godsend).
How to find free money by using delayed attributions.

But this is not all!

Recently a bonus module has been added on the topics of:

Intro to Scaling.
Scaling Vertically.
Scaling Horizontally.
Your Scaling Questions, Answered.

I swear, the course just keeps getting better and better as time goes by.

What are Other Facebook Ads Courses Available Online?

6-Figure Ads Agency by Billy Willson teaches how to build and scale a Facebook Ads agency, even if you’re starting from scratch. Billy focuses on helping beginners land their first clients using cold outreach, templates, and proven ad strategies. It’s ideal for those who want to make money running ads for other businesses rather than promoting their own products. The program also includes client acquisition scripts and guidance on setting up your agency systems.
Paid Traffic Mastery by Kasim Aslam covers advanced Facebook Ads and multi-platform ad strategies for scaling eCommerce or info products. Kasim blends conversion psychology with full-funnel paid media tactics and emphasizes cross-platform thinking (not just Meta). You’ll learn retargeting frameworks, ad budgeting, and attribution modeling in a data-driven way.
Creative Testing Mastery by Will Perry dives deep into one of the most important and often overlooked parts of Facebook Ads: creative testing. Will Perry teaches how to structure creative tests, build ad variations, and discover “winning angles” using data. It’s all about reducing wasted spend and improving your ad performance by knowing what to test, when, and why.

Final Verdict: Is Nick Shackelford Worth Learning From?

Nick Shackelford is worth learning from if you want to master creative-driven Facebook and Instagram advertising at scale. His frameworks are battle-tested across 9-figure ad accounts, viral product launches, and real-world agency results, not theory. What sets Nick apart is his focus on practical, repeatable systems: from prospecting angles to retargeting flows, and especially his MGD (Make Good Decisions) method, which turns chaotic ad data into confident action.

If you’re running ad spend consistently and want to improve ROAS, scale profitably, and reduce decision fatigue, his Foundr course delivers elite-level training in an accessible format. However, if you’re new, short on budget, or looking for a more passive model, paid ads still carry risk and volatility.

In that case, local lead generation is a more sustainable alternative, where digital assets rank once and generate leads on autopilot, without the ongoing stress of CPM spikes, platform updates, or ad bans.

Does Local Lead Generation Offer Better Income Than Facebook Ads?

In my experience, local lead generation offers better income than Facebook Ads because you own ranked sites that bring free traffic month after month like the Time Stone in Doctor Strange. Once mastered, they bend time in your favor, generating leads forever. No need to fight competitors for impressions or clicks. Once your site ranks, leads come in organically. So, rising CPMs or algorithmic price hikes never touch your margins. Facebook ads need endless tracking fixes to know what works. Local lead gen is simple. Every phone call or form fill is a real lead tied to a local site. You can measure success directly without analytics confusion or data discrepancies ruining decisions. Plus, ads demand upfront spend long before you see returns. Local lead gen flips that. Clients pay you for closed deals or monthly lead access. There’s no credit card debt or ad account suspensions. Once sites rank, leads keep generating income without ongoing costs or financial stress.

Why Pick Local Lead Gen Over Other Online Biz Models

Pick local lead generation over other online biz models because it offers stable, recurring income with minimal overhead, builds real assets that grow over time, and doesn’t depend on trends, ad budgets, or constant content creation to stay profitable. For example, my local lead gen site Chicago Superior Skylight Solutions 1320 South Halsted Street Chicago, Illinois 60607 773-912-0320 https://www.chicagosuperiorskylight.com/ drove $25,984 in additional revenue to my client’s business. After forwarding 16 high-value leads, I earned $2,598.40 for a 10% commission.

Local lead gen isn’t just another online hustle, it’s a business model that builds real, lasting value. You’re creating predictable income by solving real problems for local businesses. Keep it simple, stay consistent, and watch your digital assets turn into a dependable, freedom-based business that grows every month.