Spend just 5 minutes with Liverpool’s Jen Corrigan and you will experience her infectious passion for the music industry. Jen’s business ‘Fierce Management’, which she set up with friend and business partner Karl Connor, has successfully celebrated its first birthday and is continuing to build momentum. Speaking to The Women’s Organisation about her journey Jen told us “I’ve worked in the industry for 11 years, from doing an A-Level in Radio Production I went to work at Radio City. I had a hand in organising events there and through that I was approached by a well-known local girl band to work with them as a P.A. Two and a half years on the band sadly split leaving me facing redundancy which meant I had to go back to office work, which was just not what I wanted to do. I carried on organising events and gigs on the side to keep my hand in, mostly with friends or local bands I knew well.”
Jen knew she really wanted to push forward her career in music, so applied for a degree course to widen her experience. “I had always wanted to go to LIPA and so I was delighted when I was offered a place to study for a BA Hons in Music and Entertainment Management” she said. “That’s where I met Karl who is now my business partner. We were similar age, had worked on the same sort of circuit over the years and when we worked on joint projects in LIPA we jelled well. In our final year we worked at Simon Cowell’s booking agency IMG for a practical management project. Through that we were offered placements on the 2009 series of X Factor looking after contestants, bookings, diaries. It was a great learning curve. Following the work with IMG I was offered a job with Simon Cowell’s company, but I decided it wasn’t for me. It was a very controlled environment and I wanted to have more of a say. It was then Karl and I decided to set up Fierce Management. We had both worked for other people and we felt the time was right to do it for ourselves.”
Once Jen and Karl had decided that self-employment was the route for them, there was no stopping the ambitious duo. Jen said “We jumped in feet first really. When we graduated from LIPA we won the Paul McCartney Enterprise award for our business idea that we put together in our final year. We went along to The Women’s Organisation for extra advice and support and were able to apply for a £200 grant that helped us to set up our website which a lot of business has come through since. Since then we have set up our office, been all over the country, signed up good solid artists and a decent set of clients for our event management side of the business.”
In looking for potential artists to work with Jen said “We don’t do fame hungry or karaoke. We wanted artists who write and perform their own music. Some of the artists we have signed up in perhaps unconventional ways. Zara, for example, was a busker who had moved up from Abergele in Wales. Zara is now working with writers from Sony/ATV and writers who have worked with Paloma Faith, Robbie Williams and Plan B. She has performed with artists such as Sugababes, Blue, Pixie Lott and Alexandra Burke.
Reflecting on her leap of faith into self-employment Jen said “I feel 110% that we have done the right thing. Working for yourself allows you to do what you want to do. There is a freedom of following something you enjoy. Don’t get me wrong – it is tough to survive in this industry. You have to take time to develop an artist, and maybe make sacrifices along the way. But we wouldn’t change it. Karl and I see Fierce more like a family than a business.”
Looking back at lessons learned over the time of setting her business up Jen advises others thinking of branching out for themselves “Be forceful and pester. Never leave an email unanswered. It’s so satisfying when people you have pestered then come back to pester you. Go with your gut if it feels right. As long as you believe in yourself you can do it.”
Fierce management currently manage artists such as ’10 Reasons to Live’, ‘Zara’, ‘Paul Thomas’, ‘Rich Lown’ and offer a unique and dedicated event production service to a range of high profile venues and organisations, including producing live tours, entertainment productions, live music events, corporate events, launch events and social events.
To find out more about the event production services Fierce Management offer, and to hear more about their artists visit www.fiercemanagement.co.uk or contact enquiries@fiercemanagement.co.uk. Or experience a bit of Fierce Management in person by joining them for a Christmas party hosted by 10 Reasons To Live at Eric's Liverpool on 27th December. Tickets are just £5 and can be bought online at www.10reasonstolive.com
And if like Jen you have a passion you would like to turn into a business, contact The Women’s Organisation on info@thewo.org.uk or 0151 706 8111 to find out what free support is on offer.
Photography by Abi Booth
0 comments:
Post a Comment