Mum-of-one Jodie Horton-Stanley became a franchisee for Razzamataz Theatre last year – her new career has become such a big hit she hopes it will run and run. Here, she tells Workingmums.co.uk how she became involved.
Jodie has always been at ease in the spotlight. From the age of two she attended dancing classes and later took part in theatre plays. She became a professional dancer and toured Japan, Tunisia and Cyprus before becoming a choreographer with Airtours in Spain. Husband David also worked in the entertainment business as a compere and entertainments manager.
‘’I loved my work, especially working with children,’’ said Jodie. ‘’We both enjoyed being in Spain and stayed there for about 10 years. We wanted to have something a bit more concrete, rather than working on contract, so we opened up a British restaurant in Majorca. We wanted a business we could run side-by-side.’’
The couple were successful and eventually opened up a second restaurant and takeaway, running the business for about five years.
‘’We worked pretty late hours and it was hard work,’’ said Jodie, now 31. ‘’The Euro currency was suffering and we decided to come back to the UK after an investor purchased the restaurants – we thought it was the right time to come back.’’
Jodie and David came back to live in her home town of Yate, north Bristol, three years ago. Jodie gave birth to Eden, now nearly two, and settled down to being a mum.
‘’I was really enjoying being a mum, but I felt as if I was climbing the walls,’’ says Jodie. ‘’Part of me wanted to get out there and do something, and there were also financial reasons why I should work. I needed to do something. We looked at running a B&B because we wanted to work together.’’
However, Jodie saw an advert for Razzamataz Theatre School, a part-time theatre school franchise. The school was founded by Denise Hutton-Gosney, who achieved national prominence when she appeared on Dragons’ Den – she wowed judge Duncan Bannatyne and he offered to invest in the school. The two set about expanding the school and now there are about 40 branches and 150 freelance teachers.
‘’I wasn’t particularly looking for a franchise,’’ says Jodie. ‘’But the advert caught my eye and I thought it could be ideal for me. I knew I loved working with kids and I’d also had experience of running my own business and of being in the entertainment industry.’’
Jodie became a franchisee in April last year and took advantage of a deal to take up the £10,000 franchise fee on a loan basis - she funded the £4,000 start-up costs through savings. She attended training for one week at Razzamataz’s head office in Carlisle with another four franchisees. There, she received a comprehensive training package on how to launch a Razzamataz Franchise.
‘’I’d already had a venue in mind before I even did my training,’’ says Jodie. She knew the area of Yate well and thought the leisure centre would be an excellent location, because parents who were waiting for their children at the theatre workshop could go for a swim or shop at the nearby precinct.
The theatre school targets youngsters aged 4 – 18 years and runs on Saturdays. ‘’Eden was just over a year old when I was setting up the school, so it was quite tough. But David was really supportive – because he’d been in the entertainment industry I was able to bounce ideas off him. If I had to go to a meeting, he would take charge of childcare because he was working as a CCTV engineer and could work flexibly.’’
During the first term, students had 12 weeks in which to rehearse and stage a show. ‘’I wanted them to get experience of performing,’’ said Jodie. ‘’When they first started they were rather shy and had never done anything like it before. It was lovely to see them all gel together and gain confidence.’’ The group took part in a charity show to raise money for a sick girl to travel to America for surgery. They also presented their work to an audience of 250 family and friends – the show was a wonderful success.
Word of mouth and further advertising has seen Jodie’s theatre school rapidly grow in numbers to over 120 students taking part in eight sessions each week. They have been booked for a community festival and she’s hoping some of the older students will be taking part in an Abba Mania tribute event in the prestigious Bristol Hippodrome this summer. The school’s next big production will take place in July.
‘’I’m looking to expand, but don’t want to do too much too soon,’’ said Jodie. Currently, she works on a Saturday from 10am to 6pm, and reckons she spends about two hours a day answering emails and inquiries mostly when Eden is in bed. ‘I am intending to open up another school possibly in September this year about 20 minutes away, but I don’t want to move too fast because I have to make sure a school has been established before moving on to the next.’’
Jodie has organised stage academies for school holidays and has a week in Easter lined up, with another two weeks planned for the summer. ‘’These can be used as taster sessions for children to have a go and see if they like it and want to sign up to the school,’’ she says.
‘’Taking up the theatre school franchise was a good decision. The work is very rewarding when you see how far the children have come, and I have way surpassed my business plan.’’