So excited for you to be here today. Can you give us a little intro on what you do?
I’m Gemma Cargill, and I am a multi-passionate entrepreneur and coach. I feel like it’s my gift and my talent to inspire and empower female entrepreneurs, to have the confidence to do and be better in life and business. I do just want to see women do better, be better, and have that confidence and encourage them to go for it.
Love that you use the term passionate as I can 100% relate. How did you find your passion?
Girl, it’s still ongoing! When I say I’ve tried everything in life, I’ve tried everything in life, and I could never really capture what my purpose was. I’d ask myself; what am I supposed to be doing? what am I passionate about? For me, I feel passionate about loads of things but I felt like I had to nail it to one thing.
It’s only now that I’ve gotten to the age where I’m comfortable saying I have multiple passions. That’s what took me so long to start a business because I was thinking I have to launch with one business first, then I have to launch as a coach as a second. It took me a while to realise that it doesn’t have to be that way. You can have this agency, you can have this brand or whatever it is, and have many different streams.
Do you see that as a good trait to have?
Being a multi-passionate person is part of me, that’s who I am. I used to go into interviews and my CV was all over the place so I would leave things out to fit the role, but equally would be thinking, why am I hiding certain parts of my job past? Because it doesn’t fit in with what? Surely my experience shows I’m flexible? I have many skills. I’m good at many things.
I love the confidence and the conviction in that last statement. My life is about experiences good or bad. And that’s success to me. Knowing that I tried. Even if I didn’t get any financial reward from it. I tried, and I enjoyed every single moment.
You mentioned passion and how that word felt for you early on in your career. What does passion look like for you now?
Passion for me is being passionate about something. When I’m in my flow, I’m passionate about having discussions, because I’m enjoying it. I feel it within me as a feeling of energy and flow.
I try things and if it’s given me that feel-good factor, I’m passionate about it. I’m passionate about it until it becomes something I no longer want to do. We can have passions but it doesn’t mean that we’re tied to them for the rest of our lives. I feel like passions come and go. And that’s okay when you need to let it go, do.
How do you stay tuned in to what is authentic for you?
A lot of personal growth is a passion for me. I’m passionate about personal growth, if I’m not growing and learning, I feel very stuck and very low. I say that with all seriousness if I don’t feel like I’m moving forward, I struggle. I love journaling. For me, journaling is like tapping into me when I’m being still.
I love courses. I love learning. I’m trying to slow down on the course that I’ve been signing up actually! I like art. I like painting. I love discussions. Don’t ever underestimate the power of a discussion, that gives me so much inspiration and creativity inside.
Do you think it’s important to challenge coaches on social media about transparency, original content and their journey?
Yes. In my head, when followers are consuming our content or anyone else’s content, what they’re seeing is a place that they relate to and a place that they want to be.
What they want to know is how did we get there? How did we do this? How did we make that transformation? And a lot of the time they’re not putting their own spin on it. They’re trying to implement what you have done down to a tee by replicating everything they are seeing. They’ve got the strategy, but not the mindset. They haven’t got the self-awareness, that awareness mindset to implement the strategy but as their own.
So as coaches, we need to hold that mirror up, and get them to just check-in and ask; who am I? A coach can give you strategy all day long, but it’s not gonna work for you If you don’t put your own spin on it. If you don’t bring your own personality, your own energy, you’ve got to bring yourself to the table to do anything in life.
You mentioned personal development. Can you expand a little more?
I feel like everybody at their core should know what their mission, what their purpose, and what their values are in life. When you know that, it is easier to navigate life. Because you can cut, delete and change what you don’t like, and you can do more of what you do like, in business and life overall.
In business and in your personal life, ask yourself – does this action adhere to my values? If I put that in the context of a relationship, is this person treating me the way that complements my values? If no, then what are you doing? What is my mission in life? Is it to inspire other people? At the core, we need to know what our purpose, mission and values are.
It just makes it that little bit easier to navigate life, as you can start making decisions for yourself, you can start having confidence and saying no, and yes to things, because you know, at your core what it is, you’re there to do.
For years, I didn’t have a clue and had no idea. But we’re not taught to value these things. If we were taught these things in school, we might start navigating life a little bit differently.
I have a daughter and I don’t push education on her, I don’t force her to do some things. I want her to be creative and explore. I just want her to explore what she likes by having these conversations. I want her to tap into her feelings and know what feels good from what doesn’t.
If you took us back a year ago, where were you and what did your career look like?
So a year ago, I was in employment and hadn’t even launched my business. I was just someone still with a big dream and thinking, I’m meant to be doing more. What am I doing? So I qualified as a coach.
I had done all the training, etc. but I was trying to find that confidence. I wasn’t on social media before this as I was quite a reserved person. We then went into lockdown, and I thought, you know what, just do it. Just see what happens. A friend of mine helped, I posted my first post, then a couple of days later, I signed up to do a talk with yourself, and it’s just grown from there.
I feel like taking that step was the biggest part of the journey, like pressing play on it has been the biggest, scariest bit and the rest has just come with ease. I’ve set up every single opportunity that feels aligned to me, and I’m still learning and accepting that if it’s not for me, that’s okay. That’s still growth. That doesn’t mean I’m quitting.
It’s still growing. I’ve done the talks with you and when I started to where I am now has shifted massively, but it’s part of learning. I think a lot of entrepreneurs when they go into business, they don’t start where they end up. I’ve pivoted massively in my business numerous times. And that is okay, as it’s me finding myself and what I feel like is empowering people in their journey.
The most important thing to me is that I’m creating an impact. I’m doing what I love, and am now receiving financial reward for it. And that’s what’s changed massively in the last year.
What’s your career teaching you right now at this moment?
You can actually get paid for being you. Sounds very simple but it’s true. When I was in an office job, I was finding myself changing the way I talked – I was constantly using my telephone voice.
Then one day, I thought to myself; I don’t want to do this. I wanted to show up and be me so I learnt how to embrace myself and stick up for myself and realized you don’t need to worry about the telephone voice. No one cares as long as you get the job done.
I didn’t even know I could get paid to just show up and talk. People wanted to hear what I had to say. When I’ve done talks in the past, I would think; what am I going to say? I don’t know what I’m talking about. What makes me an expert in this?
I suffered from every element of imposter syndrome you can think of, but when I got on that call, I saw people were intrigued by what I was saying, and I got paid for it. I was doing something for myself. I was enjoying the moment. But then I got rewarded financially.
Where can people connect with you and see everything that you’re doing?
You can connect with me at the moment on my website, which is www.jemmacargill.co.uk. I’m on Instagram as Gemma Cargill.
In March, I’m launching a membership in collaboration with a lady called Amy Cook who is the founder of Mango and Wild and I’m excited about it. I started as a coach in this industry, that’s where I started. But I’m now moving away from coaching, and want to be more of someone who’s creating and building my creative networks and communities. That is my focus. That is what I’m good at.
I’m also starting my own podcast, and YouTube channel which focuses on interviewing people, and them sharing their expertise, their journey, and just inspiring people to do more.
Why was it a community for you? What draws you to that as a focus?
I’m someone who likes deep connections. I love one to one work. I feel like we operate when we’re working together. Yes, I can create great stuff by myself, but what I know is I thrive when I’m in a community of like-minded women or even men. So, for me, if this is how great I feel within a community, and having those people that I can lean on, this is what I want to create. For others, this is exactly what I’m about. I want people to thrive and grow together.
I naturally attract women who are parents but it is because they know I get it, they know that. If I can’t give it 110% on certain days, because I’m also a mom, they just get it. They know it and it is the feeling of being heard, it’s being able to voice your thoughts, your opinions in a safe space. Being able to thrive to do more, I’ve been encouraged to do it by my communities, and that is what I want to create.
What would your key advice be for our readers?
It doesn’t matter how I show up, whether I’m sat there in a bra or not. Or if my hair’s done or not. My message is still true – you must embrace yourself. I cannot stress that enough. Don’t worry about what other people have to say.
