The Den Company

The Den Company Helping Dance,Theatre, Music and Performing Arts School Owners to grow their business with balance.
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Consultant, speaker and trainer to Franchises, Associations and creative enterprises. As Dance teachers we are trained as technicians, we can teach technique all day long! What about mums, marketing, costumes, lighting, shows, exams, branding, uniform, admin, competitions, music, social media and so on... the list is endless. This page and website is dedicated to building a community that can help with all the other bits!

Are You Adding to the Problem?In business, problems are inevitable. But sometimes, instead of solving them, we unintenti...
21/06/2026

Are You Adding to the Problem?

In business, problems are inevitable. But sometimes, instead of solving them, we unintentionally make them worse. One of the biggest culprits? Overcomplication.

Another one is over delivering

Another - trying to please everyone

Overcomplicating happens when processes become overloaded with unnecessary steps. I remember having a member of staff who created a holiday form, that a teacher needed to fill in to be approved etc…. It was too much as a team of 4 at the time. The easiest solution was to talk to each other and yes have a process to document that down - ie diary, with a follow up email to confirm but did it need the extra form?
Overdelivering are you a culprit of this….

Parent:please could you run little Susie’s solo after her class, it will only take 2 mins
Teacher: 30 mins later…..

Trying to please everyone, just ends up with most people not being very happy, inefficiency, confusion and frustration.

Here’s a quick reality check:
🔹 Are you adding more steps than needed?
🔹 Are you making things harder to understand?
🔹 Are you slowing down progress with excessive rules or approvals?
🔹 Do you need to learn to say no?
🔹 Are you bending over backwards for everyone and getting burnt out?

Simplification isn’t about cutting corners—it’s about cutting out what doesn’t add value. The best businesses don’t just solve problems; they do so in the most effective, streamlined way possible.

Next time you're faced with a challenge, ask yourself: Am I fixing the problem, or am I adding to it? Let me know in the comments below

19/06/2026

Something’s brewing…and I am super excited

It’s my birthday on the 25th

I’m not usually one for being cryptic you know me, I say the thing.
But this time I’m making you wait. Just a little.
Something I’ve been building for a while is nearly ready, and I’m opening it up on my birthday. Make sure you are following for more info!

I got on a plane this week. (No biggy right....read on!)I have a horrible fear of flying. I hadn't stepped foot on a pl...
17/06/2026

I got on a plane this week. (No biggy right....read on!)

I have a horrible fear of flying. I hadn't stepped foot on a plane in 7 years! And I knew it was limiting me. A couple of months ago I did a fly-with-confidence course at Heathrow to help me. I got on the plane, it was part of the course. It was not pretty. But I did it.

This week, I took my first internal flight and got on another plane an hour's flight to a major marketing convention instead of eight hours on the train. Because I knew if I didn't get on another plane soon, then the course would have been a waste of money.

Let me ask you... What fear is keeping your business small?

And here's the thing about fear in business: it rarely looks like spiders or planes. It looks like:
Avoiding the camera because you don't think you're 'good enough' at video.
Putting off starting a new class because what if nobody comes?
Knowing a difficult conversation needs to happen with a team member and finding seventeen reasons to delay it.

Is fear keeping your business smaller than it needs to be. What's your version of my plane?

Name it in the comments. Because naming it is the first step to getting on it and just to show you...the picture is of me on my first flight in 7 years! Yes I had been crying! Yes I am smiling but I am not comfortable because I am on a plane!

I didn’t build The Den because I had it all figured out. I built it because I didn’t.There was a point in my career wher...
15/06/2026

I didn’t build The Den because I had it all figured out. I built it because I didn’t.

There was a point in my career where I was doing everything ‘right’ by the standard advice and still feeling like I was always chasing, always behind and if honest now I was struggling, back then I took that as 'normal'. It's not btw!

I was isolated. I couldn’t talk to friends who didn’t understand the performing arts world. I couldn’t talk to other studio owners because , well because we just didn't talk about that stuff. I was carrying it all alone.

And that’s why I started The Den. Because the performing arts, dance and drama studio world deserves a community, education and leadership support. Not generic. Not fluffy. Not theory, been there got the t-shirt support! (because I have it, in many colours!)

Real. Specific. Built by someone who ran a dance school for 24 years, taught for 32 and has mentored for 10 and I know it's not straightforward.

That’s why I show up here to help you not have as many t-shirts as me!

If this resonates, follow along. There is a lot more coming.

What if the thing your business is missing isn’t a strategy — it’s a room?I’ve talked to a lot of studio owners who are ...
12/06/2026

What if the thing your business is missing isn’t a strategy — it’s a room?

I’ve talked to a lot of studio owners who are trying to figure this out alone.
They’re smart. They work hard. They consume content, take courses, read the books. And they still feel like they’re missing something.
Here’s what they’re usually missing: people who actually get it. Not generic business coaches. Not friends who mean well. People who understand the particular rhythms and pressures and possibilities of a performing arts studio business.
When you get in that room, the right room, with the right people and the right guidance things unlock. Not because the information is radically different. Because you stop being alone with it.
That’s what The Den is. That’s why it exists.

Are you building your business completely alone right now? Tell me honestly in the comments.

Then why not come to one of my events...be in the room, because the room is incredible!

𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗢𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗪!Free 3-day challenge for studio owners who run shows.Show Time Simplified. 10-12th June. 9am daily.Les...
09/06/2026

𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗢𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗥𝗢𝗪!

Free 3-day challenge for studio owners who run shows.
Show Time Simplified. 10-12th June. 9am daily.
Less stress. More profit. A team that actually helps.
Free in the Facebook group.
Link in comments

If you're reading this in between a costume panic, a venue email, or a parent WhatsApp message you've been putting off, ...
08/06/2026

If you're reading this in between a costume panic, a venue email, or a parent WhatsApp message you've been putting off, hi. I see you.
Show season is a lot. Not just because there's a lot to do, but because it all lands at once and most of it falls on you.
The decisions. The communication. The creative vision. The budget. The staffing. The tickets. The tech. The parents.
It's exhausting in a way that's hard to explain to anyone who doesn't run a studio.
Which is exactly why I'm running the Show Time Simplified Challenge Starting in 2 days. Three live sessions, one each morning, completely free.
Day 1 (Mon 10th June): Less Stress is the Strategy. We're talking about why show stress starts before rehearsals even begin, and how to map your season so you're always ahead instead of behind.
Day 2 (Tue 11th June): Profit on Purpose. Because a brilliant show that loses money or breaks even isn't sustainable. We're looking at where the profit leaks are and how to fix them.
Day 3 (Wed 12th June): Delegation is Liberation. The art of not doing everything yourself, even when you think you have to.
9am each day. Live in the group. Replays available if you can't make it.
Come and join us here
Bring the brew. The notebook. And the knowledge that it genuinely doesn't have to be this hard.

Are you recognising yourself in any of these?You're producing.You're creating.You're delivering.And yet... something fee...
08/06/2026

Are you recognising yourself in any of these?
You're producing.
You're creating.
You're delivering.
And yet... something feels off.
I nearly missed it myself. I added 11 new trainings in a week and called it progress. But what I was actually doing was hiding in the work, behind the frameworks, inside the content.
Hiding feels productive.
That's what makes it so sneaky.
If you're a studio owner and you recognise yourself in any of these slides, this is your gentle nudge. June is my month to change the hiding. It could be yours too.

📞 Book a free 15 minute call
Link in bio. Let's talk about where you are and how I can help.

I used to run shows feeling like I was holding the whole thing together with string and sheer will.Every year I'd say ne...
07/06/2026

I used to run shows feeling like I was holding the whole thing together with string and sheer will.
Every year I'd say next year I'll be more organised. Every year the chaos found me anyway.
Until I started treating my show like a project with phases, a team, and a profit goal. Not just a creative vision I was desperately trying to execute alone.
That's what the Show Time Simplified Challenge is about.
Three days. Three topics. 9am live in my free group, 10-12th June.
Come and join us. Link in comments

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