The Business Exchange Swindon & Wiltshire Edition 39: Oct/Nov 2018 | Page 15

CREATIVE THINKING
How do you become one?
Through old-fashioned hard work. There’s
no quick route to success as many
business owners and entrepreneurs know.
The truth is I’ve been a brand
ambassador for various beauty products
over many years – long before social media
became mainstream. This did involve
activities such as stocking products in my
salon, demonstrating products at shows
and exhibitions and teaching others to
use products correctly. I still do this today
so social media has become, for me, an
extension of what I was already doing well.
In other words, I’ve done the legwork to
become an expert both through learning,
qualifications and experience.
However I started to notice that experts
like me – across various sectors – were
being side-lined in favour of those who
were talking beauty on social media
platforms. They were getting audiences and
then being asked to share their ‘knowledge’
which, in some cases, was not based on
learning, qualifications and experience. It
was based on having a big online audience
and their homegrown amateur knowledge.
Sometimes their advice was simply wrong
and even, on occasion, dangerous.
I wanted to educate myself about this
growing trend-after all, if you can’t beat
them, join them- and work towards being
better. That’s how it all started. Now I have