Send us Fan Mail

From a first dance class at 11 to a Dragon's Den deal and 85 theatre schools, Denise Hutton-Gosney is living proof there's no single path to success.

Grab Spotlight on Success on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spotlight-Success-Passion-Meets-Purpose/dp/B0FFH88B1C

In this Spotlight Series episode, host Nicole Louise Geddes sits down with Denise Hutton-Gosney, founder of Razzamataz Theatre Schools and the person who wrote the foreword for Spotlight on Success.

Denise shares the full arc: growing up in Renfrew with money tight, catching the dance bug late, performing as a trapeze artist at the Millennium Dome and the London Palladium, and then building one of the UK's biggest performing arts franchises after her time in the spotlight came to an end.

It's an honest, warm conversation about the "spotlight shift" every performer eventually feels, and why the end of one act is only the beginning of another.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

• Why there's no one path to success, and how a late start can still lead to an empire
• How to spot the "spotlight shift" and plan your second act before you're forced to
• Using franchising to scale a passion into 85 UK schools plus international territories
• What Dragon's Den was really like, and the seven-year partnership with Duncan Bannatyne
• Why performing arts training builds confidence that transfers to any career
• How to beat imposter syndrome by staying curious and finding the right mentors

ABOUT DENISE Denise Hutton-Gosney is the founder of Razzamataz Theatre Schools, now with 85 schools across the UK plus master franchises in the UAE (Dubai) and the Republic of Ireland. A former dancer and trapeze artist, she took the business onto Dragon's Den, secured investment from Duncan Bannatyne and later bought her shares back, and went on to win a ten-year contract with TUI. She wrote the foreword for Spotlight on Success.

ABOUT THE SERIES The Spotlight Series features the co-authors and creatives behind Spotlight on Success, the PerformerPreneur book redefining what success looks like both in and out of the showbiz spotlight.

LINKS

• Denise's Dragon's Den episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00b3kkm
• Razzmatazz Theatre Schools: https://www.razzamataz.co.uk/

Found this inspiring? Hit like, follow or subscribe, and tag @performapreneur across socials.

Chapters

00:00 Welcome and introducing Denise Hutton-Gosney
01:02 The Spotlight Series and hello from Denise
02:05 From Renfrew to the Millennium Dome
05:22 The spotlight shift
06:23 Why the theatre school was born
07:47 Juggling classes across the North
09:57 Scaling Razzamataz through franchising
11:05 How big Razzamataz is today
11:40 Imposter syndrome and staying curious
13:43 The Dragon's Den story
15:29 Does performing arts build confidence
17:53 Crossing paths and why the book matters
20:33 How the Razzamataz franchise works
22:52 Passion, purpose and legacy
24:10 You can have it all
26:54 Closing thoughts and outro

#ShowbizSideHustle #SpotlightOnSuccess #Performapreneur #DragonsDen #PerformerToEntrepreneur #TheatreSchool #SecondAct #WomenInBusiness

📕 Buy The Showbiz Side Hustle Handbook: https://ln-k.me/clGQ

🎭 Join our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Performerpreneur

📕 Download our free guide - The Dream Big Workbook!: https://ln-k.me/GKCR

🎙️ Listen to the podcast: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2386041.rss

Connect with Nicole:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Performerpreneur

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/performerpreneur

Website: https://performerpreneur.co.uk/

#ShowbizSideHustle #PerformerBusiness #CreativeEntrepreneur #performerpreneur

Send us Fan Mail

Most people think getting published means uploading to Amazon and hoping for the best. Jo Wildsmith does it properly.

In this episode of the Showbiz Side Hustle Podcast, host Nicole Louise Geddes sits down with her publishing partner, Jo Wildsmith, the woman behind the publishing of the second edition of Spotlight on Success.

They go behind the scenes of what it really takes to publish a book: building a proper publishing entity, getting listed in Waterstones and libraries, and why selling beyond Amazon matters far more than most authors realise.

Nicole also shares the foreword coup that landed a Dragon's Den success story at the front of the book.

This is the final episode before the big launch. The second edition of Spotlight on Success goes live on 30th June 2026, with 18 inspiring performers sharing how they pivoted their careers beyond the stage and built something of their own.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Welcome and one week to launch
00:30 Meet Jo Wildsmith, the publishing partner
02:31 Why Spotlight on Success became a second edition
06:29 The new co-authors and their stories
08:04 The foreword: a Dragon's Den coup
11:59 Building Jo Wildsmith Publishing
14:12 The Matinee Mixer and live events
17:59 Inside publishing a second edition
21:39 Why authors should look beyond Amazon
22:36 Where to find Jo and grab the book


#PerformerPreneur #ShowbizSideHustle #SpotlightOnSuccess #SelfPublishing #BookPublishing #PublishingABook #PerformersWhoPivot #SideHustle #AuthorJourney #IndieAuthor #FromStageToBusiness #portfoliocareer

📕 Buy The Showbiz Side Hustle Handbook: https://ln-k.me/clGQ

🎭 Join our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Performerpreneur

📕 Download our free guide - The Dream Big Workbook!: https://ln-k.me/GKCR

🎙️ Listen to the podcast: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2386041.rss

Connect with Nicole:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Performerpreneur

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/performerpreneur

Website: https://performerpreneur.co.uk/

#ShowbizSideHustle #PerformerBusiness #CreativeEntrepreneur #performerpreneur

Send us Fan Mail

Franchising, Outreach Anxiety & Social Scheduling Tools.

GET THE BOOK HERE: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Spotlight-Success-Passion-Meets-Purpose/dp/B0FFH88B1C/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0

Three listener questions, three PerformerPreneur associates, three completely different angles on building a business beyond performing.

In this Q&A episode of the Showbiz Side Hustle Podcast, host Nicole Louise Geddes takes your questions to the associate team.

Jess unpacks the real difference between licensing and franchising, and what happens to a dance school licensee when a franchise opens in their area.

Buckso helps circus performer Amy push past the anxiety of following up with cold leads, with a practical take on mindset, EFT tapping and incentivising the clients you actually want.

Ellie and Michael share the scheduling tools they rely on to stay consistent across every platform.

This is the final associate episode of the season.

Next up: the second edition of the bestselling Spotlight on Success book, launching 30 June with 18 inspiring performer stories.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Welcome back to the Q&A

01:19 Book news: Spotlight on Success, second edition

02:34 Q1: Licensing vs franchising, with Jess

05:11 Q2: Pushing past outreach anxiety, with Buckso

12:53 Q3: Social media scheduling tools, with Ellie and Michael

15:37 Got a question? Submit it for a future episode

16:19 Season wrap and what's coming next

Useful Links:

https://theaida.ai/ai-social-content

https://jessicawesson.co.uk/franchise-in-three

https://metricool.com/

#PerformerPreneur #ShowbizSideHustle #SideHustle #PerformingArts #CreativeEntrepreneur #Franchising #Licensing #BusinessMindset #EFT #ColdOutreach #SocialMediaScheduling #Metricool #PerformerToBusiness #CareerPivot #BusinessForCreatives

📕 Buy The Showbiz Side Hustle Handbook: https://ln-k.me/clGQ

🎭 Join our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Performerpreneur

📕 Download our free guide - The Dream Big Workbook!: https://ln-k.me/GKCR

🎙️ Listen to the podcast: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2386041.rss

Connect with Nicole:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Performerpreneur

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/performerpreneur

Website: https://performerpreneur.co.uk/

#ShowbizSideHustle #PerformerBusiness #CreativeEntrepreneur #performerpreneur