What I collect, and why.
Last updated October 12, 2026
The Level Up Lab is run by me, Zach Houk. This page covers zachhouk.com, my Instagram DMs, my emails, and the courses. Plain version: I keep track of what you do with my stuff so I can send you things that are actually useful, and I never sell any of it.
What I collect
When you message me on Instagram
My Instagram DMs run through ManyChat. When you comment a keyword or message me, I get your Instagram username and name, whether you follow me, the keywords you comment, the buttons you tap, and anything you choose to tell me — like your email address or the team you work on.
When you’re on my email list
My emails go out through Kit. I get your email address, which guides you asked for, and whether you open emails and click links in them.
When you visit zachhouk.com
- What you read. Which pages you open, roughly how long you spend on them and how far you scroll, which site sent you, and whether you click through to checkout.
- Who you are, if you came from one of my links. Links I send you in a DM or email carry a short random code. It tells me the visit was you; it never contains your email or Instagram name, and the site removes it from your address bar.
- A random ID in your browser. The site stores a random ID (and that link code, if you have one) in your browser’s local storage, so a second visit is recognised as the same person.
- Your approximate location. My hosting provider works out a rough location — city, state and country — from your internet connection. I store that, not your IP address. It’s often only accurate to the state, especially on mobile data.
- Meta’s pixel. The site loads Meta’s pixel, which tells Meta you visited so my ads can be measured and shown to the right people. Meta sets its own cookies for this.
When you buy
Checkout runs through Polar, which handles the payment and the tax. I get your name, email and billing country — never your card details.
When you take a course
I keep your login email, your progress, the work you submit for review, and your conversations with the course’s AI coach, typed or spoken.
When you use the Next Seat tool
I keep the job details you enter, and your email if you ask me to send you the report.
How I use it
- To send you what you asked for: guides, emails, course access.
- To understand what’s useful — which posts and guides people actually read — so I make more of it.
- To decide who to follow up with personally, and what to send whom. That includes grouping my email list by things like the team you’re on or the state you’re in, and telling you true things about that group (for example, how many people near you are on the list).
- To run ads: measuring them, showing them to people who’ve already engaged with my content, and finding people like them. To do that I may share your email address with Meta in hashed (scrambled) form, so Meta can match it to an account without me handing over the address itself. I also use it to make sure people who’ve already bought don’t see ads for the same thing.
I don’t sell your information, and I don’t share it with anyone except the services below, which process it on my behalf.
Who processes it
- ManyChat — Instagram DMs.
- Kit — my email list.
- Polar — checkout and payments.
- Meta — Instagram, the pixel and ad measurement.
- Vercel — hosting for the site and my back office, including the rough location described above.
- Supabase — the database where I keep the records described on this page.
- Resend — course login emails.
- Anthropic and ElevenLabs — the course’s AI coach and the Next Seat report.
How long I keep it
For as long as you’re on my list, a customer, or in a course — or until you ask me to delete it.
Your choices
- Stop the emails with the unsubscribe link at the bottom of any of them.
- Stop the DMs by not commenting or messaging
- Stop the DMs by not messaging back, or by typing STOP. mdash; they only ever start when you do.
- See or delete what I have by emailing zach@zachhouk.com. I’ll delete your record and everything attached to it, and remove you from my email list and DM tool.
- Block the tracking with your browser’s settings or a content blocker. The site still works.
Kids
This is for working adults. I don’t knowingly collect anything from anyone under 16.
Changes
If this changes, I’ll update this page and the date at the top.
Questions
Email me: zach@zachhouk.com.