We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Andrea Fox a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Andrea, thanks for joining us today. Do you think folks should manage their own social media or hire a professional? What do you do?

As a social media expert, I feel it best that I manage my own account so that I can be close to the subject matter at hand. With that, I’ve been able to come up with a few workflows that have made my life significantly easier to manage as a business owner that as needs to use social.

I utilize Later and upload all of my photos there for storage. Not my phone, not my computer, they are housed in the app so I never need to go looking for pictures when I need to post. This gives me time to write captions and schedule posts when I’m feeling creative so I can only focus on one app to do all of my work.

With a little preparation, I’m able to use Later to schedule out 2 weeks of posts in about 3 hours so I can focus on better tasks in my business.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a former small-town Montana girl with a special place in my heart for Prince, live music, and hot chocolate.

TimeOfDre Media started with a challenge to create my own weird corner of the internet but EXPLODED with a daily inbox full of “can you help me grow on social” messages. This reminded me that I was armed with Ivy League social media knowledge from my past 9-5 that just HAD to be shared.

After many years of helping Fortune 500 companies improve their social experience and brand awareness online, I was inspired to focus on building brands for small businesses and public figures.

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Why? Because I know what it’s like to see other people growing and chasing their dreams online but not having the slightest idea where to begin. It can feel so frustrating. My dedication to creating freedom for others has been the main driver behind my success.

Now my days are filled with speaking on stage, teaching dozens of students each month, and consulting with small businesses about their social marketing strategies.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

Growing up in a small town, my parents wanted the best for their children. This, to them, looked like a college degree, a solid salaried job and a role that provided healthcare. It didn’t matter if you liked it, what mattered was to be grateful for the stability a salary can bring to you and your future.

This really molded my perception of entrepreneurship and how “unstable” and “scary” it would be for me. This mentality led me to a string of unfulfilling jobs that I absolutely had no interest in and often left after a year or two. I felt lost. I knew I was an entrepreneur – so why was everyone discouraging me from it?

After many years, I realized one thing: to build my dreams in private without asking for additional input or opinions from people that meant well but didn’t have the same mentality.

I only shared that I had quit my job and built a successful business about 6 months after I had done so.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I could go on and on about how to build an audience on social media but there is one secret that I think is most important and everyone should know.

Stop waiting to show up, act like, or be the leader you want to be until ” you have followers.” It is quite the opposite. Whether you have 5 followers or 50k, I want you to show up like your content, your stories, your message is viewed by 5 million people a day.

Trust me, this energetic shift will magnetize people to you and they’ll feel like they just found a best-kept secret.

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/timeofdre
• Facebook: ]