Netflix’s hit show, Apple Cider Vinegar, follows the rise and fall of Belle Gibson, a business entrepreneur-turned-scammer who won the hearts of minds of her audience before a rather spectacular fall from grace.
The fact that Gibson scammed her audience and then refused to pay her arguably small $410,000 fine highlights that she’s not exactly the best business mogul. But, it’s worth remembering that Belle Gibson was a shrewd business mind before all of that. Love her or hate her, business owners could undeniably learn a lot from her story.
Let’s consider just a few of the things she’s taught us about success and how to hold onto it.
# 1 – Story is Everything
Though she may have quickly become Australia’s public enemy #1, Belle Gibson was initially so popular that she managed to amass 200,000 online followers in her first year. That was unheard of back in the early 2010s, let alone from an entrepreneur in her early 20s.
Of course, lying about her cancer (as we’ll discuss later) made very little business sense. But, Belle’s story does highlight one crucial thing – telling a personal, relatable story is almost always the key to unlocking brand success.
By connecting your brand with your personal story, it’ll be far easier to create trusting, human relationships with your audience. This is especially true if those stories chime with audience wants, such as (in Belle’s case), the quest for specific lifestyle improvements.
# 2 – Great Design is Key
Belle Gibson’s ‘Whole Pantry’ app was so popular that Apple pre-installed it on their watches, and a lot of that popularity came down to great design. At a time when apps were still very much in their infancy, Gibson was perfecting the sleek, intuitively minimalist designs that many wellness brands still use today.
This is proof that even the smallest brands can make it big if they also prioritize design focuses like great product photography and responsive, fully customized websites. Luckily, that’s now easier than ever to achieve thanks to platforms like Wix, but alternatives like Webflow offer an even more sophisticated design focus for entrepreneurs looking to get ahead of trends, rather than move right along with them.
Admittedly, you will need a little more technical knowledge to make the most of what Webflow has to offer, but working with Webflow specialists could easily bridge any knowledge gaps to see you getting ahead with design in ways Gibson could only have imagined.
# 3 – Always Stand by Your Morals
Belle Gibson’s entire business collapsed because she wasn’t honest about her morals, her personal experiences, or her overall business ethics.
This level of honesty is even more important today, where brands have no space to hide when it comes to things like sustainability or workplace equality. As well as ensuring your processes are entirely transparent and ethically aligned, always vet your suppliers and partners to avoid a Gibson-style scandal your brand may never recover from.
Belle Gibson did a lot of things wrong, but business owners could still benefit from these crucial lessons hidden in her story.
Images are property of NetFlix YouTube and Exeleon Media has no ownership of the same.
