How Emma found her audience: Act Natural Performance & Nutrition
Performer and singing teacher Emma Ward transformed her own life by learning about nutrition. Now, she helps other creatives to enhance their craft while prioritising their health. She tells us how The Business Factory has supported her new venture…
My journey with nutrition started a few years ago after getting NO WHERE with conventional medicine.
I couldn’t get any answers as to why I had constant chronic fatigue, bloating and horrendous acne. It affected my confidence as a performer and really limited my life. I tried everything, even studying beauty therapy and training as a makeup artist to make a difference to my skin but nothing helped.
Eventually I realised the answers lay in what I was eating.
I trained as a nutritionist and applied what I learned to myself, healing my own body with food, natural medicine and lifestyle changes.
I aimed to improved my symptoms but I ended up changing my life! Around the same time, I landed my first paid acting role and that became a catalyst for a professional career.
Now I want to help other performers who are held back by their health.
Together, we find the root cause of why they are feeling the way they are and I help them on their way to feeling their best, naturally. Act Natural Performance & Nutrition is a hub for creatives, also offering vocal coaching and acting through song training.
I turned to The Business Factory because I felt I really needed some direction as a new business.
I met with a Business Factory adviser to review the barriers standing in my way and they organised some fully-funded support through their GROW programme. Specialist Laura Kemp from the Innovation SuperNetwork was matched with me to coach me through the next stages of growth.
We met every four weeks for four months and set goals. Between sessions I’d work hard to put in place the plans we’d make. Working on your own can be lonely and it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture so I loved how this held me accountable.
Firstly, and most importantly, Laura helped me find my audience and narrow my focus.
Because my business brings together my passion for performance and nutrition it’s very personal. It was incredibly helpful to check what I’m offering makes sense to someone outside of the business.
Getting an outside perspective on things gave me confidence in what I was doing and reassured me I wasn’t missing anything important.
By becoming more familiar with my ideal customer I now use my time focusing on attracting the right kind of business.
The digital marketing support helped me with SEO, social media posting and blog posts. I’m now much more comfortable with understanding my audience and what to do to engage them.
I felt so lost before I met Laura but each time we had a session I became clearer and things seemed more linear and less stressful. I know I’ll be learning all of the time about what works but I am on a good path.
If you’d told a younger version of me what I’d be doing now, I wouldn’t have believed you.
I used to fall asleep in the middle of the day and had to carefully plan how I used my energy.
Now I have a lovely little studio at North Shields Business Centre and work with people of all ages and abilities to perform and feel better. I’m so pleased I didn’t just settle for a job I didn’t like and a life that held me back.
Has Emma's story got you thinking?
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