A Business Approach For DeDicated Creatives
A CounTER INTUITIVE MOVE
Most people in your position are looking outside themselves for the solution to get out of survival mode and back to creating. A better marketing strategy. A new offer. A course. A money maker. More visibility. More students.
But what if creating space, turning within and putting your artistry first was the answer?
Not as a reward for when the business is more stable. Now. Because when you start doing the thing, really doing it, not just teaching it, the business blooms. The right people notice. They want access to someone who is walking the path, not just pointing at it.
You end up working with fewer people. Better matched people. Charging more because you know exactly where you create the most value. And you have the space to keep creating.
This is not a fantasy. It is a different way of thinking about what you do and what it is worth.
Hi, I’m Gemma Sugrue
Two days after finishing school I was booked to tour as a professional singer. I was only 17. There wasn't a lot of time to stop and think, is this the path?
What I've always wanted was to be a songwriter. Instead I spent years shaping myself into whatever version of me I thought could be successful. I loved vocal technique, so I became a vocal coach. I loved entrepreneurship, so I built a singing school. I loved being on stage, so I became a singer for hire. Each role a slight compromise. A little bit of a workaround.
I see now I was afraid to find out that if I do what I really care about I’ll find out I’m still not enough.
Then I sold the singing school. I stopped taking singing gigs. I built an online course business and a social media presence that reached over half a million singers and ended up feeling displaced within the very community I had built, because I wasn't being the artist myself, so I walked away from that too.
Everything stopped and I spent two years sitting with questions around what would ever make me happy.
People close to me became very frustrated, sad to see me mope, knowing I had much to offer. But just because I'm good at something doesn't mean it's what's meant for me.
That's where Artistry First came from. I wanted a business model that gave me the freedom to finally develop myself as a songwriter, in my own slow way. I would help other artists/educators design a business that creates that same stability and space in their life too and I received a masters diploma in coaching to help me translate my 15 years experience as a creative entrepreneur.
I know what it’s like to constantly bend and shape yourself just to make enough money. And I know what becomes possible when you find a way to let yourself just be what you want to be.
Testimonials
Some Of the amazing TAlent I’ve been working with
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Emily Hatch
“Our work together has open up a lot, really. I looked at my week this week and was like, I’ve 6 hours of coaching that I’m excited about, I’ve to practice a song, and … that’s all! And, I’m making enough money? It’s like, what? And I don’t feel that voice that used to say ‘you’re not doing enough!’ all the time. Thanks for showing me that this stuff is possible, it’s been a huge change.”
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Emilia Martensson
“Gemma has helped me see where my true value lies. I’m securing work that I care deeply about, and I feel confident charging appropriately for it. It has required me to step up in ways I didn’t know how to before. The sessions are filled with aha moments, honest truths, and plenty of giggles too. With her support, I’ve moved from an exhausting, grinding energy into a creative energy that brings me new ideas and opportunities.”
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Tommy Ludgate
Creative Coach
“Gemma has helped me achieve much higher paying clients, reach my income target much faster than expected and become so clear on what my value is and how to articulate it. I really didn’t believe this shift would happen this quickly. Gemma has a knack for plucking out the complete diamonds in what I’m saying, talk it back to me and make everything feel so much clearer.”
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Claire Perkins
Branding Expert
“Gemma is incredible. More than just a “gem” of a human, she lives her tagline: helping you align who you are with what you do. In just a month of working together one-on-one, her insights cut through the noise and gave me the clarity to refine my offers. She understood my strengths and where I wanted to go even better than I did. After months of spinning, I finally feel I’m moving in the right direction”.
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Jane Pak
Professional Coach
“If everyone could experience the kind of connection Gemma offers, our world would be in full bloom. Through community, coaching, and friendship, Gemma helped me rekindle the spark of my creativity, reminding me how to live courageously in all dimensions of my life. Gemma will bring her full and loving attention to you and your dreams so you can cultivate the conditions to bring them to life. “
Are You AN Artist First?
You teach, you coach, you perform. But what you identify with most is the art itself. Creating. Be it music, dance, painting, acting or film. You have been doing this for years, you have reached a level of mastery, and you want to keep putting that first.
But putting it first feels like a fantasy. Because you have to make ends meet. You say yes to the gig, yes to the students, yes to all levels, all stages, all requests. Your schedule is packed and the truly creative work keeps getting pushed back.
You can also see that scaling, building courses, grinding out content, doing all the internet marketing stuff, is not really you. You would like a more authentic, deeper way to go about things business wise.
What you actually need is more space. Space to prioritise your creative work and to understand where you create the most value and leverage for yourself so you can build a business structure that supports and benefits from your artistry rather than competes with it.
Most artistic people massively underestimate their value. The sum of everything you know, everything you have experienced, and the person you have become is likely worth far more than you are currently charging for it.
Create the space. Prioritise the artistry. Work only with people where you can create maximum value. And charge accordingly.
If this resonates, we need to have a conversation.
HOW IT WORKS
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Send me a message and tell me a little about where you are. If it sounds like there might be something worth exploring together we’ll arrange to have a call together. There’s still no pressure to commit to anything for either of us, it’s just an honest conversation to see if there is a fit.
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There is no off the shelf programme here. What we build together depends entirely on where you are, what you carry and what you are trying to create. I combine pure coaching skills, my own lived experience in business and the creative arts, and a process that we create together so that it is completely tailored to what you need.
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I sit somewhere between a business coach and a creativity coach and I straddle that deliberately. Your creative life and your business need to be in harmony and we work on both.
But more than strategy or structure, I hold somebody through the emotional transformation of shedding and becoming. That means looking honestly at the patterns, beliefs and ways of operating that have kept you working hard for not enough reward.
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Most people I work with need at least a year for it to take shape although many of the big wins come early in the process which is great to prove the concept, but sustainability matters too.