We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Todd Fuller. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Todd below.

Alright, Todd thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you manage your own social media?

I hired someone to manage my social media, specifically Instagram. She is a friend and she started by giving me pointers and I quickly realized the amount of time it took to produce so I hired her. My results have been amazing for my market. I am not looking for 10,000 followers, I am looking to reach my limited client base and I have increased my visibility and stay in front of my clients in a clever way. Lessons I have learned: know your market, be your genuine self, and getting someone who knows social media to manage your account is a game changer.

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 started my career as a Commercial Interior Designer focusing on Hotels. After 10 years in the industry I wanted a change, but did not want to leave the industry I was invested and loved. I am outgoing and can talk to a wall so I knew sales within my industry would be a great option. Now I sell/ promote product to my former co-workers. I am now a multi-line representative which means I represent several companies. Each vendor provides product that would go into a hotel. I represent companies that provide furniture for guest rooms, custom decorative lighting, restaurant seating and tables, outdoor and indoor furniture, fabric (upholstery and drapery), leather upholstery, wallcovering, and curated art.

I am really proud of the vendors that I have partnered with are well known in the industry; they know I bring value to their brand.

For my clients, my goal is to make sure that I respond quickly, offer amazing service, and utilize my experience as a designer to give my client more. To set myself apart from my competition, I always strive to bring joy. We can work long hours and it can be stressful. I want my clients to get excited when they see me walking in the door because they know I am going to help with their project and bring my special dose of sunshine. In turn, as I get closer to my clients, I am a listening ear and I am am very vulnerable with my own story, professionally and personally.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

I am currently in a place where I am almost missing payroll and near death. Last month I gave notice to my assistant. I hired her last year because it was so busy and I felt like I was drowning in my workload, but that work has yet to turn into invoicing. In my market segment, Hospitality is doing very well, but there are many factors that have slowed down many of the jobs I am working on and I don’t get paid until the project invoices. I held on too long and ran up debt. Now I am living commission check to commission check trying my best to pay my assistant through the month, pay quarterly taxes on top of my personal/ household expenses. If something goes wrong and I need more money, it could mean the end of my company.

I have learned that hiring someone full time is complicated, I should have had help to set my company up to have an employee, and I should have had more saving on hand before I hired someone full time. Looking back, I should have hired someone contract and part time.

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

When I hired my social media consultant she said, “There are other people that sell the same thing. What makes you different that your competition is you. You need to bring yourself and your personality to your social media.” She was very right. When I started being less professional and more of my goofy self, it resonated with people. My clients started following and even people outside of my territory have taken notice. Through social media I remind my clients about the vendors I represent and show them new product, I remind them that I am fun and a joy to work with, and I make them laugh.

She also said that consistency was important. We have fallen behind over the summer, but there was a point where we were doing 5 posts a week. Not all of them were that amazing, but the consistency made sure that my posts would get in front of my followers.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @TODDllc
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/TODDrep
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/TODDrep

Image Credits
Primary image by Rick Gore