The Next Chapter for Diva Energy

I’m writing this from my wonderful home in Scotland, where for some reason everything just seems to make sense.

I love it here. I slow down, I think more clearly and I get some of my best ideas here. And this week I’ve been thinking a lot about my business and what I actually want it to look like now I’ve reached a new decade.

And I’ve realised that I’m in a really lovely place.

After more than 35 years of teaching, coaching, singing, speaking and working with voices, I know what I love doing. 

For years I’ve had a very busy diary. I’ve taught a lot of people. I’ve run programmes. I’ve spoken at events. I’ve travelled. I’ve performed. I’ve said yes to some brilliant opportunities. And I don’t regret any of it.

But I don’t think the next stage for me is about fitting more in. In fact, it’s almost the opposite.

I’ve decided that I only want to work with ten private clients at a time.

Ten!

And that feels really exciting. I don’t want hundreds of clients. I want to know the people I work with really well. I want to know their voices, what they’re singing, what they’re working towards and what they really want. I want to know what scares them and what excites them. I want to remember that three months ago they couldn’t sing that note and now they don’t even think about it. I want to notice those things.

Because that’s the bit I love.

It’s so much more than a singing lesson 

This is really why I created From First Note to Final Curtain, my private mentorship. Of course I teach singing. I’ve been doing that for a very long time and I’m still completely fascinated by the voice. But I don’t really want somebody to come to me, have a singing lesson and go home.

I want to know: Where are we going with this? 

What would you LOVE to sing? What do you secretly think you’re not good enough to do? What would happen if we stopped worrying about whether you should be able to do it and actually had a go? And then we work towards something. We choose the music. We learn it. We work on the technique. We work with an accompanist. We rehearse.

And ultimately, we perform.

That’s why it’s called From First Note to Final Curtain. There’s a destination.

And the wonderful thing is that the person who arrives at that final curtain isn’t quite the same person who sang the first note.

That’s the bit that really interests me.

Because singing changes things 

I received the loveliest message after working with someone recently.

She said:

“Thank you so much for all your incredibly generous time and energy yesterday. My head is still reeling (in a good way!!) from the many, many things we chatted about and I learned.” 

And then she said:

“I’m so grateful for your encouragement, insights and support with both singing … and my next steps in life too.” 

I loved that.

Because that’s exactly it. We might start with singing. But very often something else happens along the way. Confidence changes. People start trusting themselves more. They become braver. They start saying yes to things.

Sometimes they start saying no to things!

They find a bit more of themselves. I think that’s why I’ve remained so fascinated by the voice after all these years

It’s never just about the voice. 

I LOVE my VIP Days 

This is another thing I’ve realised.

I absolutely love spending a whole day working with one person.

My VIP Days give us time. Proper time. We can sing. We can talk. We can work with an accompanist. We can try things. We can change our minds. We can have lunch and then come back and discover that something which wasn’t working in the morning suddenly works!

Nothing needs to be rushed.

And sometimes the most interesting part of the whole day is something neither of us expected to be talking about.

I love that.

I love being able to give someone my full attention rather than thinking about who is coming through the door next. And I think I want much more of that in my business.

I received another lovely comment recently:

“Julie, you are amazing and make everyone feel amazing in your presence, on top of all we’ve learned from you.” 

Now obviously it was extremely lovely to be told I was amazing! I’ll happily take that.  But actually, it was the next bit that got me.

“You make everyone feel amazing.” 

I thought, That’s what I want. I want people to leave me feeling better than when they arrived. Yes, I want them to sing better. Yes, I want them to understand their voice. Yes, I want them to learn things.

But I also want them to think: Maybe I CAN do this. 

Because I’ve watched what happens when people start believing that. And it’s wonderful.

So I’m changing the way I work 

I’ve been sitting here in Scotland looking at my diary and thinking about how I want my weeks to feel.

And I’ve decided I’m going to work with 10 clients only.

That’s it.

And I want to sing!  This is a HUGE part of it. I’m not just a singing teacher. I’m a singer.  And now I’ve reached this new decade, I feel more excited about my own singing than I have for a very long time.

I’m singing repertoire I absolutely adore. And I have LOTS of plans.

I’m hugely ambitious about what I want to create over the next few years. I’m just not particularly interested in being busy for the sake of being busy anymore. I want to work with brilliant people. I want to do brilliant work. I want to sing. I want to perform. I want to write. I want to create things. I want to spend time in Scotland. I want adventures. I want lunches that go on for far too long. I want time with the people I love.

And I want some days when there is absolutely NOTHING in my diary. That sounds pretty successful to me.

And plenty of room for the next slightly bonkers idea that pops into my head. That feels like a pretty fabulous way to enter a new decade.

And sitting here in Scotland, where everything somehow makes sense, I can’t help thinking:

This is the next chapter!

(If you'd like to be a part of it - just get in touch!)