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

Jennylyn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.

I believe that in order to be an entrepreneur, you have to be able to tolerate risk. Growing up inside a family business, I watched both my parents take chances without a guarantee they would ever pay off. It can be stressful, sure, but I also think risk builds resilience—something I’m proud to say I have a lot of.

When I took over our family’s paint business, I came face to face with the risk of failure. Would I be able to keep Homestead House afloat? Or, more importantly, could I help it grow?

Part of my strategy to succeed was to take an even bigger risk: launching a new sub-brand, Fusion Mineral Paint. I guess you could call it a calculated risk, since I knew there was an appetite for a more affordable chalk like style paint with a built-in top coat. Even though this was a clear gap in the marketplace, demand doesn’t always equal dollars. At that point I’d already made a significant financial investment I couldn’t afford to have sitting on our warehouse floor. My only option was to try.

Fusion’s success came from creating a plan and, for the most part, sticking to it. I knew once people had the product in their hands they’d see that affordability and convenience were just the first layer of benefits; the paint itself is a dream to work with, too! Of course, these things take time, so along with risk tolerance you also need to have patience. Fusion didn’t become a premium paint brand overnight; where we are today is nearly a decade in the making. Now we can confidently launch new colours because we’ve invested the time in really understanding our customers—again, another great example of calculated risk and reward.

Jennylyn, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

In my time as CEO, social media has drastically changed. Gone are the days of opting out or posting when you feel like it; if you want to succeed, social media is a big part of the path to growth. Today it’s TikTok, tomorrow it’ll be something else… but I can pretty much guarantee that the concept building and connecting with a community of like minded people won’t be going away anytime soon.

Right now our Paint it Beautiful Facebook group has almost half a million members, and that number’s climbing all the time. But like any group, at one point our member count was zero.

The best way to tell Fusion’s social media story is to share three pieces of advice that guided how we went about growing our Fusion family online.

First is to pick your niche. The more specific you can get, the better. Paint it Beautiful covers general topics, tips, and questions related to paint, but often the conversation is specific to painting and flipping furniture. It’s been amazing to watch people on opposite sides of the world connect over a mutual love of paint!

Next is to be consistent. You have to be willing to put in the work and the time, and to prioritize purposeful posts over fluffy ones. I’m lucky to now be at a stage where I have help with our social channels, but in the beginning it was just me. Not sure what to post? Don’t assume—ask! Trend tracking is another way to stay current online. For us, that includes everything from popular paint colours and techniques to what’s “in” for interior design and décor.

Third is to start small. If you try to master every platform from the beginning, you’ll burn out. Pick one or two that stand out to you, or that are popular in your industry, and build from there. When you reach a certain size it becomes more important to have a presence across several platforms, but taking some of the pressure off yourself in the early days will give you breathing room to get creative with what you’re putting out there.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I love this question!

Although there’s no doubt our end customers, from casual DIYers to professional furniture painters, have been integral to Fusion’s success, what’s helped us most in building our reputation as a premium brand has been our focus on B2B. Our retailer network spans more than 35 countries and while we do sell direct to consumer, these retailers and the relationships we have with them play a key role in promoting and growing our brand.

We nurture those relationships in ways other than simply providing Fusion sales tools. When someone buys into our brand, they don’t just get paint—they get access to a community of niche small business owners to connect with and learn from. We call it the Fusion family.

In the early days of Fusion, I did very little for our end consumer beyond beautiful photography and a handful of YouTube videos. Between conferences, retreats, and in-person hands-on learning sessions, the vast majority of my time was dedicated to our retailers. It has always been important to me to set our retailers up with tips and tools that will not only support them in becoming successful paint salespeople, but all-around successful entrepreneurs, too.

Whenever I’m asked why we decided to take this unconventional approach, I’m happy to share that it really was a no-brainer for me. I love seeing others succeed, and as someone at the helm of a small, family-owned business, I knew firsthand the questions and challenges that come with it. Sales are just one part of the equation; you also have to balance your books, staff, customer service, inventory management… the list goes on! By offering support in areas other than paint, we’ve forged a pretty special bond with our retailers and an unshakeable loyalty to the Fusion brand.

The added bonus is that it’s easy to sell something when you love it!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.fusionmineralpaint.com
• Facebook: http://groups/PaintItBeutiful