Leif Abel:

Founder @ ReVision Furniture

What’s the backstory of how you got into social media?

My journey into social media started about seven years ago when I began my furniture restoration business.

I was working a full-time sales job at a boat dealership, selling high-end water ski and wakeboard boats.

It was totally in my wheelhouse because I grew up skiing and wakeboarding competitively.

All the neon signs were saying I was destined to do this job for the rest of my life.

After a few years, I came home one day and realized my son was crying and having to warm up to his dad.

In other words, I was gone all the time.

Through some inner leadings spiritually I felt I was supposed to leave.

So I did, with no plan B, cold turkey.

Everyone thought I was crazy.

I tried my hand at a couple of graphic design business type things and music lessons, but nothing was really clicking.

Then, I refinished a coffee table for our house.

A friend at Lowe's corporate saw my post of the before and after on Facebook and asked to share it.

A month later, that post blew up, getting 100,000 likes, comments, shares, with some HGTV stars commenting on it.

After leaving my sales job, I was chatting with my mom, and she suggested doing furniture flipping.

I started by buying a dresser off Craigslist and learning as much as I could about refinishing.

I stumbled upon the mid-century modern style and fell in love with it.

I connected with a guy in Florida who also bought and sold mid-century modern furniture, and he encouraged me to go all in on this niche.

When it came to social media, I had no real connections or knowledge about marketing.

What was your approach when you started?

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