How important is education to you and your team?
Education is very important to me and my team. Not only do we pride ourselves on offering world class training throughout Australia and all over the world, we also ensure our team is up to date with the latest products and trends. This allows LYCON Cosmetics to make sure we offer the most up to the minute training. Waxing is more than just putting wax on the skin and some hair comes out. There are many factors to consider and evaluate while waxing, taking into consideration the area being waxed, the hair growth type as well as the condition of the skin. In addition, there are psychological factors to be considered and monitored in everything a professional therapist does. It is therefore immensely important to continue to grow and develop our waxing skills, communication, and interpretation skills, even if you have been waxing for decades.
During the pandemic how did you alter your education for staff and clients?
During the pandemic we moved most of our training online. Our trainers in Australia were still able to offer our world class LYCON support to the RTO’s and students who were studying from home. We all became experts at training via Zoom and the students were still able to experience the wonderful world of LYCON from the comfort and safety of their own homes. As trainers we were still able to interact with the students and provide training to assist them in developing their knowledge and skills and answered their questions along the way.
Tell us how it has changed to be an educator going forward?
Educators have had to change and modify how they do things in order to provide ongoing training via a different medium. In turn people have become more receptive to the idea of receiving training via alternative methods via the Internet. It has been interesting for us to do online training, as it has also taught us a lot of how to deal with these changes and still share our world class training.
How important is it to upskill in a new landscape during 2021?
It was important for us to upskill and over online training and in turn the industry has been able to continue to grow and learn what they need to as well. It has been a two-way street. It has been an interesting journey with the change, and we feel that we will rely more on online training in the future. With some more learning curves no doubt along the way.
What are some of the educator plans you have put in place for the year ahead?
We very much look forward to returning to face to face training, as beauty therapy is a very hands-on industry. The best way is still in a hands-on, in person environment with a trainer and we love being involved with the students and we know they very much enjoy interacting with us as well. We will however incorporate online training for those who are unable to receive face to face training. This will allow LYCON to reach more passionate therapists and upcoming beauty therapists who would like to learn new skills and continue growing in an ever growing industry.
Has online/tutorial educating become more important now and how does it replace the face to face educating?
It has been important for us to be able to offer training online to support all of our customers who we cannot get to but also those who have not been able to work at all. Our education and our products are exported to over 75 countries and it has been imperative that we could continue to support our LYCON lovers all over the world throughout this pandemic. Our Founder and CEO Lydia Jordane has performed thousands of hours training internationally and we have many well-trained trainers connected to our export agents all over the world as well as our own trainers and account managers who we also have dotted around Australia. They are all remarkable people who share the LYCON passion and continue to provide in person or online LYCON training in their territories. All the same we very much look forward to again be able to provide in person training in Australia and globally as much as possible. There are so many little nuances we all miss when trainers and students are not interacting in the same room at the same time.
Any educator advice for the year ahead when it comes to innovative ways to make sure business stays ahead of the game?
I feel that 2020 was a very difficult year for everyone. Businesses have been in lock down for long periods of time and some have unfortunately had to close all together, not to mention that lives and loved ones have been lost. The main thing is to stay safe and healthy and to believe that things will get better and we will all get though this pandemic. We must believe that things will change for the better and that life will blossom with more opportunities and great things in the very near future. In so many ways, if everything works out well, which it will, business will come back and we will grow again.
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