Theo Time for Olive Training

So it was a pleasant end to a gorgeous hot sunny day on a Greek Island when I noticed my Twitter account had gone a bit manic! Pleasantly tired was I mad checking my Twitter account on holiday ? Oh well, when you run your own business that’s what you have to do!

Imagine my delight though when I scrolled down the notifications feed to find that Theo Paphitis, a former business entrepreneur from Dragons Den had chosen Olive Training to champion and retweet.

Theo, who calls himself a shop keeper, decided to support small businesses and came up with the idea of a Twitter Pitch to Theo every Sunday and whilst probably sitting at the kitchen table, in his own words, with Mrs P, he picks six to retweet on Monday evening.

Now pitching to Theo in 140 characters is no mean feat, what catches his eye? Shall I put in a picture? How do you say so much in so little space? Well I obviously hit the winning formula that particular Sunday evening - "Theo time" hit when I had just boarded a Greek Ferry from Italy to Greece, and I had to purchase Wi-Fi credit but it was the first thing I did when we sent sail !

We train therapists in a wide range of courses from level 1 to level 4 Beauty, Cosmetic & Media Makeup and Complementary Therapies but we also run a quality assurance service to other training centres, colleges and academies. We are also active in supporting new start ups and giving business support to the hair and beauty industry. We as a company also want to be known for our quality and passion for an every changing workplace. How was I going to get all that information in one little Tweet and include our web address just in case he took a peak? And how many characters does a picture take up ? I kept it simple and added our ethos statement to the Tweet - Quality and Passion - something I now know that Theo admires.

I was persistent; I tweeted weekly for two years and that special time on Sunday evenings between 5 – 7.30 pm was fondly called “Theo Time” - never imagining I would be picked after all there were other fantastic businesses tweeting him but here is the thing – I never lost faith, there was hope and secretly times I imagined what winning was like!

So seeing my name next to Mr P’s was just the icing on the cake, the best thing ever! I didn’t stop smiling for the whole of the holiday and haven’t stopped since. Winning Theo Paphitis #SBS has opened doors to other opportunities for Olive training, moving us forward and helping us build for the future.

At the #SBS business conference we had the chance to meet Theo, yes that smile was still there and we were over the moon to receive our Winner’s Certificate. The energy was electric at the conference we came away inspired and motivated; and so proud of Olive Training and how far it has come!

My advice to anyone in business – network, as you just never know who is listening, have passion for your business, never give up on your dream, embrace social media as a marketing tool and invest in a little “Theo Time”!