How to Reduce Operating Costs in Your Business

How to Reduce Operating Costs in Your Business

No matter the size or industry of your business, reducing operational costs is crucial to improving profitability and long-term sustainability. Streamlining expenses not only boosts your bottom line but also allows you to reinvest in growth opportunities. By leveraging tools like data analysis and even simple visual aids, such as a line graph maker, you can track progress and make informed decisions to manage costs effectively. This guide will walk you through practical strategies to cut down on operating expenses and foster a cost-conscious culture in your organisation.

Evaluate and Analyse Current Expenses

Before you can reduce costs, you need to understand where your money is going. Evaluating your current expenses will highlight high-cost areas that need attention.

Identify High-Cost Areas

Start by conducting a financial audit to pinpoint where the majority of your funds are being spent. Focus on recurring expenses such as payroll, utilities, inventory, and administrative costs.

Leverage Your Data

Go beyond general observations—dig into financial data to identify inefficiencies. Modern tools can help you break down costs and reveal areas for improvement.

Streamline Operational Processes

Increasing efficiency within your operations not only saves time but also cuts costs significantly.

Eliminate Inefficiencies

Analyse your workflows and processes to identify bottlenecks or redundant steps. Automating repetitive tasks, like data entry or invoicing, can help streamline operations while reducing labour costs.

Outsource Non-Essential Tasks

Consider outsourcing functions such as accounting, customer service, or IT to specialised third-party providers. These tasks are often more cost-effective when handled externally, as it eliminates the need for additional hires and training.

Adopt Lean Management Techniques

By applying lean principles, you can minimise waste and focus on value-adding processes. For example, reducing the time taken to process orders or eliminating unnecessary meetings can significantly enhance productivity.

Optimise Your Supply Chain

An optimised supply chain can result in substantial cost savings for any business.

Negotiate Better Deals

Reach out to your current suppliers and negotiate better rates, especially for long-standing contracts. Don’t hesitate to explore alternative suppliers to get competitive quotes.

Consolidate Purchases

Buying in bulk or consolidating orders can lower per-unit costs and reduce shipping fees. However, ensure that this doesn’t lead to overstocking.

Manage Inventory More Efficiently

Improving inventory turnover can save money on storage costs. Analyse sales patterns and adjust inventory levels accordingly to avoid holding excess stock.

Use Technology to Cut Costs

Emerging technologies can help businesses save costs while improving efficiency and productivity.

Adopt Cloud Computing

Switch to cloud-based services to reduce expenses on IT infrastructure. Platforms like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 can provide cost-effective solutions for collaboration and data storage.

Automate Tasks

Utilise automation tools to handle repetitive tasks, from payroll tracking to email campaigns. AI-powered solutions can reduce human error and free up your staff for high-value work.

Invest in Energy-Efficient Solutions

Energy-efficient equipment can make a big difference in utility costs. Consider switching to LED lighting, using energy-efficient appliances or implementing office-wide sustainability measures, like shutting systems down when not in use.

Cut Labour Costs Without Sacrificing Quality

Reducing labour expenses doesn’t mean compromising on output or employee satisfaction.

Cross-Train Your Employees

Train your employees for multiple roles within your organisation. This ensures maximum versatility and reduces the need for additional hires during peak seasons.

Hire Temporary Workers

Consider bringing in freelance or temporary workers for short-term projects or to fill in during peak times. This approach eliminates the costs associated with long-term full-time employment.

Encourage Remote Work

Allowing employees to work remotely can cut overhead costs, such as rent, utilities, and equipment. A hybrid or fully remote model could be a win-win for both your business and employees.

Review and Renegotiate Existing Contracts

Revisiting your current service agreements can uncover hidden opportunities for saving.

Reassess Contracts

Regularly review contracts with service providers, such as cleaning companies, marketing agencies, or insurance providers. Better rates or alternatives might now be available.

Switch to Fixed-Price Agreements

Whenever possible, opt for fixed-price contracts to cap unforeseen expenses, especially when working with vendors and service providers.

Monitor Results and Track Progress

Continually tracking and analysing your efforts is key to ensuring your cost-cutting strategies are effective.

Set Clear Objectives

Define realistic goals for cost reduction. Clear targets provide a framework for evaluating success and maintaining direction across all departments.

Visualise Progress with a Line Graph Maker

Create visual representations of your cost-reduction efforts using a line graph maker. These graphs allow you to easily track spending trends or compare before-and-after scenarios to assess impact quickly.

Share Results with Your Team

Communicate progress with your employees to keep them engaged and motivated. Celebrate milestones as a team to reinforce the value of collective cost-saving efforts.

Foster a Cost-Conscious Culture

Lastly, a successful cost-reduction initiative requires the commitment of everyone in the organisation.

Encourage Employee Participation

Seek input from your employees—they often have first-hand insights into inefficiencies or creative solutions. Actively involving them promotes ownership and a shared commitment to the company’s goals.

Reward Cost-Saving Efforts

Recognise employees who contribute significantly to cost-saving initiatives. Whether it’s through financial incentives or public recognition, showing appreciation fosters continued engagement and innovation.

Cultivate Continuous Improvement

Encourage a mindset of ongoing efficiency within your team. Regularly revisit your processes to identify more opportunities for savings and growth.

Step Into a More Efficient Future

Implementing these strategies to reduce operating expenses can directly improve profitability and create more resources for business expansion. Tools like a line graph maker will not only help track financial progress but also provide an easy way to share your results with stakeholders and employees.

By fostering a cost-conscious culture and continuously assessing your operations, your organisation is well-positioned for long-term sustainability and success. Start taking small, actionable steps today—because small changes can lead to big savings.

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How To Build A Successful Website That Gets Noticed In 2025

How To Build A Successful Website That Gets Noticed In 2025

Building a website in a digital domain where there are over a billion of them in existence, is quite the challenge. With so many websites competing for the top spots or any ranking on search engines, it’s essential you do everything possible to build a great website from scratch.

Whether you’re a new business starting up or you’re an established business that’s looking to introduce itself to the digital domain, here are several tips on how to build a successful website that gets noticed in 2025.

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The importance of building a strong website with an online presence

As it’s already been mentioned, building a strong website that has a great online presence will do wonders for your business. With so much happening online nowadays and businesses gravitating to a more digital-forward way of working, there are many benefits to focusing your attention on updating an existing website or building a new one.

Increased credibility

Improving the credibility of your business is always a benefit worth having. By improving your credibility, you make it easier for your new customers or prospective leads to take the plunge and trust your business with their hard-earned money.

Expands your reach

Expanding your reach has become an incredible benefit for many businesses that might have only existed locally or within their own country. For some businesses now, they’ve managed to tread the boards across the sea and exist for customers in multiple countries.

Being able to expand your reach gives you unlimited potential for improving sales and awareness of the brand.

Improves brand awareness

Brand awareness is something that is worthwhile having, especially when there’s so much competition online to pick from. Customers are in a privileged position of having the pick of businesses to choose from, which is why you need to be able to stand out as a company to attract all of the customers.

Helpful for SEO purposes

Search engine optimisation helps to boost your online presence and by following the best practices, you give yourself ample opportunity to get higher on the search engine.

While it might seem alien if you’re not familiar with SEO, it’s easy to learn the basics and outsource it where required.

Enhanced customer engagement

Customer engagement is an important one, especially when it comes to keeping your customers loyal to the brand and business in general. With a great website, you’re going to see an improvement in how engaged your customers are as a result.

Reduces marketing costs

Reducing marketing costs is always a good way to save some money and when it comes to running a new business, it’s important

8 tips to build a successful website that gets noticed

Building a successful website takes an understanding of your audience, using the right software, and knowing what will help make it relevant in relation to the rest of the internet. Here are eight tips to help inspire and build a website that gets your business noticed in 2025.

1. Get to know your audience

First and foremost, you want to get to know your audience. Who are they? Do you have buyer personas that create clear profiles for who your audience is, what they enjoy, etc? The more you know about your audience, the more you can influence the design of your website for them specifically.

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The design and functionality of your website should be suited to your ideal customers. Whether that’s the type of font you choose or the layout and colour schemes, there’s a lot to think about when it comes to adapting a site design that appeals to your audience.

To get a better insight into your customers, get to know your audience in general. Do focus groups, conduct feedback opportunities, and get suggestions on what your typical customer looks for when navigating a website in 2025.

2. Create a backlog of content ready for publishing

When it comes to building a successful website, you want to ensure there’s a backlog of content ready to publish, even if the site has launched already. The content you publish needs to be high-quality and SEO optimised – more information on that in the next point. 

It’s certainly useful to have a blog element to your site, that way you have an opportunity to always put new content out on the internet. That helps to boost your ranking as a result. While you might have new landing pages such as product pages or announcements, these might not be as frequent, which is why blogs are a usual feature for a lot of company sites.

By creating a backlog of content, you get ahead of yourself and provide consistency within your content schedule by being ahead in what’s already written and ready to go.

3. Optimise with effective SEO practices

SEO, as mentioned above, is a crucial part of building a successful website and that’s why it’s important to incorporate it into your strategy when building the website or updating it.

The more you optimise your website with effective SEO practices, the better your site is likely to perform via Google’s search engine. For example, think about adding internal and external links throughout your website’s pages. 

Look to add in media that is engaging but isn’t going to slow down your site’s speed, as that can put users off. Consider bounce rate – the rate at which customers spend on your site before going off it – and improve it where required.

There are many different SEO practices you could get started on in order to improve your efforts to climb up the search engine rankings.

4. Make sure the website design is responsive on all devices

Your website design needs to be responsive on all devices. That means not just desktops and laptops but also mobile devices and tablets. A lot of businesses don’t make their sites mobile-friendly and as such, lose their users.

It might not be something you’ve considered, but not using mobile-friendly websites or designs when most people nowadays use their smartphones for browsing online is short-sighted.

With that being said, make sure your website functions via mobile just like it does on any other device. If it doesn’t, then you’re going to want to update it where possible to ensure it functions correctly. This might mean you have to remove one or two functionalities currently on the main site for it to work.

5. Create a cohesive branding that’s recognisable

Branding is highly important, especially as it takes multiple interactions with a user before they recognise the brand. 

Cohesive branding should be cohesive, meaning it looks the same whether it’s on your website, social media, or any marketing materials you put out into the world, online or offline.

Is that cohesive branding currently in place across your company assets? If not, then make sure it’s something to change as you build or update your website. By keeping it cohesive, it’ll take less time for users to recognise you from the times before and ultimately improve the interactions they have with the business from then on out.

6. Integrate your socials

Integrating your socials is a great method of promoting your business across all of your channels. While your website might be the main contact for customers and new users alike, your social media handles might also be where customers are originating from. 

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Therefore, you should look to integrate your socials, making sure all of your platforms are connected to other social media handles. Do this with your website too by putting the icons of your social media feeds at the bottom or top of the page. This will allow for easy navigation back and forth from your website to your social media profiles.

7. Add a chatbot service for customer interactions

Chatbots are great for businesses, especially when the demand for interactions is going beyond what your internal resources can provide right now. If you’re revolutionising chat bot for business, make sure you add as much knowledge to your knowledge base as possible for the chatbot technology to work from.

That way, your chatbots will be more knowledgeable about answering questions, even if they’re quite complex. The more questions the chatbots can answer, the lighter the workload will be for your customer support agents.

8. Utilise analytics to track your website’s traffic and general performance

Finally, make sure you’re implementing some form of user analytics to understand how much of your traffic is coming from various external sources. You’ll be able to get a deeper insight into who your users are, and how they’re interacting with the site, and from this you can make the necessary improvements.

Analytics software is for the most part, free to use. However, there are some tools and platforms worth paying a small premium for in order to get better insights where necessary.

With these tips, you’ll be able to build up a successful website that gets your brand and business noticed in 2025. Use these tips to leverage your success and improve upon your website too.

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Benefits & Considerations of Pensions for Children

By Liam Hunt – Managing Director of Prestfield Wealth Management & Dad of One.

Liam has 20 years of experience working for Retail and Private Banks in both an advisory and managerial capacity. In 2017 Liam co-founded Prestfield Wealth Management and he is responsible for the vision and growth of the Practice.

As parents, many of us have the desire to save for our children’s future, but we may also have concerns about giving them full access to the money at a young age. This is a common dilemma I’ve seen by parents over the years. We want to ensure that the money we put away for our children is not wasted, and that it can truly benefit them in the long run and not spent on their first trip to Ibiza!

One solution that often goes unnoticed is setting up a pension for your children. It may come as a surprise, but even newborns are eligible for a pension, just like working adults. Parents and guardians have the option to establish pensions for their little ones and make contributions on their behalf. What’s more, the money invested in the pension receives a tax boost from the government. For example, every £80 you contribute, the government adds £20 to the pot, allowing for a maximum annual contribution of £2,880, which would give a boost of £720 within the tax year. If you start making contributions from day one for 18 years, you would have contributed £51,840, with the government boosting it by just under £13,000 (£12,960).

So why consider a pension for someone so young? Apart from the government boost, there are several reasons why parents should consider a pension for their children. Firstly, it addresses the concern of giving the child control over the money. While the child will be able to take control of the pension at the age of 18, they cannot withdraw the funds until they reach 57. This ensures that the money remains intact for a considerable period of time, allowing for potential growth and preventing impulsive spending during the teenage years. The age at which you can access a private pension (defined contribution pension) is 57 and this is 11 years before the current proposed state pension age of 68 that many of our children will face, this gives them a head start on retirement or ability to use the money at a wiser age.

Another advantage is the long-term investment potential. The contributions made along with the government top-up, can be invested over a significant time span. This opens up opportunities for capital growth and the potential to accumulate wealth over the long term. By thinking ahead and setting up a pension for your children, you could provide them with the possibility of retiring early or passing on generational wealth in a tax-efficient manner.

However, it is important to consider the downsides of using a pension for children. One key drawback is the restriction on accessing the funds until the age of 57. While this ensures the money is preserved for the future, it may limit flexibility in case of unforeseen circumstances or financial emergencies. Although anyone can make contributions to a child’s pension only a parent or guardian can open it, this is sometimes why we see less uptake compared to other easier to open products. Another thing to consider is at 18 the pension passes to your child who is now expected to make the decisions on what to do with the monies and how they could be invested.

In summary, pensions for children offer significant benefits for parents who wish to save for their children’s future while maintaining control over the funds. The tax boost from the government, along with the potential for long-term capital growth, provides a solid foundation for financial security. However, it is essential to weigh up the limitations, such as restricted access, financial emergencies, and market risks. 

For anyone who is considering a child’s pension I would suggest speaking to a financial adviser who can go through all the pro’s and cons as well as alternatives available.

Liam Hunt is the Managing Director of Prestfield Wealth Management & Dad of one.

For the purposes of this article his views are his own. The tax treatment of the products discussed are correct at the time of writing (July 2024) and it is recommended that you seek your own financial advice from a qualified Financial Adviser.

If you wish to view the St. James’s Place Partnership email disclaimer, please access the link below:

https://www.sjp.co.uk/site-services/site-disclaimer/sjpp-email-disclaimer

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Danny Miller, Nige ‘Wingman’ Clucas. Images by Tom Pitfield for BROOD Magazine Limited ©

What inspired you to start Alberts Bookshelf? 

Danny: “Albert, was always at the heart of why I wanted to start it and so we chose the name based on that, and whenever we couldn’t find him in the house! He was usually working his way through his bookshelf in the playroom. So the two sat nicely together. Alberts Bookshelf. But the reason for starting it was because I was adamant to keep books and literature at the centre of his education. Nigel agreed, that a lot of the time these days iPads and tablets are used for the wrong reasons. Whilst it’s a good distraction for the children so the adults/parents can have some time to sort through house chores or catch up with each other – the two can marry up to allow the child access to tablets but in an educational format and we wanted to try and be a part of that by bringing some brilliant books to children’s homes and use their imagination to listen and invent what’s happening in their own heads. Rather than mindless videos on YouTube or other platforms that are proven to have no benefit other than distracting their attention rather than helping the mind grow.”

How do you manage the juggle of your busy work schedule, building Albert’s Bookshelf and your Dad duties? 

Nige: “We’re both lucky to be on the same page and whilst family undoubtedly comes first, we try to keep in mind we’d love to pass this business down to Albert and to my daughter Lyla as well as Danny’s daughter Edith and any more in the future to come. It means we can say that they were the reason for starting something so brilliant and unique in Albert’s Bookshelf that books and words and literature can be just as fun as anything you’d find on YouTube whilst helping to educate and carve a path of interest and love for books and learning. Whether that be on a tablet or in a hardback book, the two can go together”

What have you found to be the most challenging part of running a business to be? 

Danny:: “The hardest thing, I’d say, is the distance between my house and the recording studio. Being in Yorkshire it can be quite hard whilst downtime from filming to balance family life and helping Alberts Bookshelf to grow. That said, it shows how much of a brilliant team Nigel and I are together, we manage to find time and work around each other’s schedules to get a batch of books done in one go so it becomes easier to release them weekly, whilst not needing to be in the studio every day. Something we hope one day will be a lot easier to do when we have our own facilities to record and entertain, educate and socialise with other like-minded children and parents – all under one roof!” 

What’s your favourite thing about building Alberts Bookshelf? 

Nige: “For me, it’s seeing the growth. From a small, almost silly idea of Danny’s, it blossomed into a huge and quite honestly, brilliant idea from both of us. In over 124 countries and now being downloaded every single day by thousands is mind-boggling as well as humbling and also, overwhelming. We try to keep growing because we know there is so much more to overcome and achieve. We’re not here for the short term.

What would you say to someone thinking of taking the plunge into the business world?

Danny: “I personally would say that if you have an idea then work on it and go for it. And learn along the way. That’s what we’ve done so well, we’ve learnt as we go. Trial and error. Not everything works, but that doesn’t mean it won’t work a different way. Family life can be busy, but if you find someone who can bounce off you like me and Nige, it makes it all the easier. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, don’t be afraid to make mistakes and grow along the way and finally, don’t expect it to be an overnight success, because when it becomes a success it’s all the more surprising and rewarding knowing that genuine hard work, commitment and determination, will pay off.”

Since the interview, Entrepreneur Ryan Williams has also joined Alberts Bookshelf after meeting at one of our BROOD Live Events

Danny Miller, Nige ‘Wingman’ Clucas and their family. Images by Tom Pitfield for BROOD Magazine Limited ©

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Russell Kane & Lindsey Kane by Tom Pitfield © BROOD Magazine

Where were you in your career when you became a parent and how did you find the transition into parenthood? 

Russell – “I was fully established really, in fact, I was at the point where I was like if I don’t have kids I’m not that bothered, because I really like animals, I really like going out, I really like travel, friends, I like strangers. At the time, I didn’t have any nephews or nieces as my brother is not very well. So I didn’t have a ‘burning boyvery’ as I call it, an aching inside [for a child.] I passed 35 and I thought, if it didn’t work out, don’t worry about it. Then I met Lindsey when I was exactly 35. We were on the dance floor and I said to her what I’ve just said [above] ‘If it doesn’t happen, it’s no big deal to me.’ And she replied, well, that is definitely something I do want, so there’s no point in us taking this any further! I’m not saying straight away, but I’m not waiting 10 years. So we basically had a rather grown-up discussion when we met where we compromised on the ages we’d want to be before we had a child and we ended up meeting in the middle. Lindsey basically had our daughter Minna 3 years sooner than she would have liked to, and I was probably 3 years older than I would have liked to have been. We discussed it early on, in the same long-handed way that we discussed where the baby would sleep and how we would even approach parenting before Lindsey was even pregnant. It was really important for me to agree on it all before. We were holidaying somewhere like Mauritius and we kept sneaking into a villa with a private pool and swimming at night. When Lindsey said shall we try for a baby at Christmas? But I’d said, we do not miss one month’s contraception until we agree on a few things ‘Where that baby will be sleeping. At what age will the baby be sleeping on its own? At what age do you want the baby to go through the night without one of us having our lives ruined?’ [We laugh] So until we have written this down and agreed to it, I will remain childless’ [he reminisces] 

It doesn’t matter what couples in society do, if they agree to rolling around in their hippy bed, letting their baby suck on their t**s until you’re both 60, if that’s what you want – No one should judge anyone, I just think it’s really important to agree on how you want to raise your kid beforehand.” 

Lindsey – “Yeah, and I was a make-up artist working in TV, doing 12-14 hour days, and when I was pregnant I didn’t want to be standing up on my feet for so long and working the long and irregular hours. I wanted something with structure and routine and that is when I decided to start an online business so that I could work from home and it meant that whilst Russell was touring I could base myself anywhere. That is when I launched a lash business –  because at the time it wasn’t a saturated market there was just a small selection that you could buy in the shops at the time, and I wanted to offer a variety of styles at cheaper prices for make-up artists in particular, so I set that up and launched it whilst I was pregnant, and within the first year of being a mum, trying to juggle everything – basically trying to be superwoman!”

You say you wanted to make sure that you were on the same page when it came to parenting, what were some of the things that you decided on and how did you find implementing them? 

Russell – “Our lives are very different so it was always important to adapt her sleep pattern around what we needed. Like today, I woke up at 10 am and I fell asleep at 2 am – there’s no point having a child and then having to sleep in the spare room? I can’t do stand up without sleep, so I think it’s important as a working parent that they fit around your life. I’m extremely lucky with Lindsey as a parent. She was very open-minded about me making suggestions when we were having our daughter because my mum was a nanny and a childminder who knew all the tricks of the trade. So our aim with any baby was always to have them sleeping 8 hours by 8 weeks, and 12 hours by 12 weeks. Which is what my mum’s target was with any child that came through the door. ” 

Lindsey – “Yeah she was 6 weeks, doing 6 hours in the night, then at 12 weeks she was doing 12 hours through the night. We did the Gina Ford [method] and it is controversial but for me, I had no idea about parenting and so it was a bit of an instruction manual whereas some women don’t like it because she’ll be like, ‘right, whilst the baby sleeps, have a nap or have a snack or…’ basically telling you what to do. Whereas I needed that reminder and it helped.”

Russell – “I wouldn’t say it was all Gina Ford [method] we did read lots of books. But we made a conscious effort that when the baby was around 4-5 months old, put the child to bed and sit down to have dinner and talk about our day. When people talk about happy babies and breastfeeding, they tend to forget two of the most important things. No. 1, a completely sane and happy mother (above breastfeeding) and number two, a happy working partnership, whether that be a man and a woman, woman and a woman, man and a man, whatever. They’re more important than anything and they tend to get put to the bottom. [He imitates the nurse again] “No, no, the baby has to suck on her t*t until she’s 7, you go and masturbate in the spare room, dream of a holiday to Bangkok and leavin’ her.” – Yeah, that’s what the baby needs? he despairs.” No, it f***ing doesn’t actually [answering the question as himself] in my opinion. 

So we mapped it [with having a baby] because of the lifestyle we already had. Doesn’t matter if your plan goes wrong, just have one. Like I’m doing a stand-up tonight and I have 70 mins of material, but I don’t give a s**t if I don’t use any of it cause I go off and improvise or the lights explode or something goes wrong – but that 70 mins is always there, that little birth plan if you like, but it’s important to have one.”

Lindsey – “…and not getting bogged down if it doesn’t go to plan.”

As you feel so strongly about things like that, and you discussed your plan on being parents before you had a child, looking back now, has there been a time where you have had to compromise?

Russell – “Only when we got to about 5 years old I would say. Up until last year, our daughter had never been in our bedroom after she’d gone to sleep without asking first, but she didn’t even know that that was a thing. We still have a child monitor now and use it like a walkie-talkie system. But I just wouldn’t roll back on the sleep thing because of my job. I come from… (without getting my violin out) My first home was actually a women’s hostel for women and babies, we were homeless and my dad tried to get a council flat. So I’ve started from so far down the food chain, I didn’t want to compromise on that sleep and that has a knock-on effect [he puts on a different voice] ‘hey lets cut sleep, do a shit tour and hope that my career will be ok!’ – Absolutely not, he answers himself. It’s important to these guys [Lindsey and their daughter] that I do that as well. Well, not now Lindsey’s about to turn into a billionaire or whatever she’s got [he jokes] she doesn’t need me but before that, it was all on me – then if you come from a council house/working-class background, then that pressure is doubled because you feel that you’re going to become a peasant again at any moment and it’ll all be taken away. So I couldn’t even if I wanted to. Even if I wanted to go on holiday [he puts on a voice of one of his friends] “come on holiday man, just put the baby next to you [to sleep]” – I physically wouldn’t be able to do it. It would be like asking someone of faith to eat meat that’s not accepted in their religion. I worship sleep, and sleep is the direct bank account that fuels, that funds, that powers, the act.”

So it didn’t affect your career becoming a parent?

Russell – “I don’t think it did. It probably affected Lindsey’s journey [more] massively because she hadn’t got going enough yet. If anything it enriched it. It made me want to explore different countries and have experiences with them [both]. Before that I was quite happy staying in England, I love England and that’s where I’m known. Although I built a following in Australia by accident, as I went there and won this massive award on my first go so I ended up building a following over there too by accident. But before having Minna, I wouldn’t entertain different countries and cultures. But I’ve just had an inquiry from the Cayman Islands, which I’ll probably say yes to, it’s not all about the money, because we’ll go there and have that experience as a family.” 

Lindsey – “Yeah, we’re not really that bothered about materialistic things, for us we are all about the experiences, we love doing them together as much as possible.” 

Russell – “Yeah don’t get me wrong we have a nice gaff, but ‘normal’ clothes, a nice watch (but that’s because I used to sell them to rich people to get outta the f*****g ghetto) that’s why I’m hung up on watches but other than that, we are driven by experiences now. Like my car, I have a 1986 BMW and I love it!” 

What do you think is the hardest thing about being a working parent?

Lindsey – “I think the hardest thing is trying to find balance. It’s impossible, no one has cracked it, and everyone is just surviving and trying their best. I don’t give myself a hard time, I just always try and remember that I can only do my best – that’s all I can ever do. I think that it’s an amazing thing to teach your kids to go out and work and that things aren’t just given to you on a plate you have to work hard for things, especially because Russell has got a fantastic job and I run a successful business, I don’t want her to just think that she’s just gonna roll out of school and into a job, she’s going to have to prove herself and work hard, but I think the hardest thing really is about finding the balance and trying to be everything to everyone at any one time.” 

Russell – “Between 0-18 months it was absolutely fine, I’m not a very masculine-type bloke but I was quite Neanderthal at going away and coming back – I got to do the best bits initially because I had to work. Then we swapped it, Lindsey was on her second business by then. In fact I think Minna was 8 weeks old when Lindsey said “bye bye, see you in a week!” she just went and was gone. I was on my own with my mum and the baby. Then I think when she was 6 months old, I took Minna abroad on my own with my mum. So I enjoyed all that, having a baby strapped to my back, nappies and all that s**t but when it changed was when I realised the type of connection I was going to have with Minna as her personality changed, it was like a Disney love and it became really hard to leave her all of a sudden. So I think a lot of my female friends had like 3 months [with their baby], whereas I got like two years and it’s worse now because she’s 8. I know what I can bring to her life when I’m here, we’re so connected so it’s hard leaving her. I know a lot of dads are out at 7 in the morning and back at 7 in the evening so get the top and tail of their time, and I get weeks and weeks of holidays with her. But I also do what a lot of dads don’t do and just disappear for four days, back for two days then disappear again for four days… and its a long time and when you’re doing that two three times a month… [it’s hard] but we’re adults [gesturing at Lindsey,] we can FaceTime, we can make up for it, whereas Minna is a disappearing egg timer. Soon she’ll be 9, 10, 11, 12 then ‘f**k off you’re embarrassing me now’. So yeah, I do struggle with that but at the end of the day, I’ve got a job. I don’t think Lindsey does though, I think she skips out the door with her hand luggage to her business conference, he jokes.” [we all laugh]

Lindsey – “No, I do find it difficult, but I am really enjoying the process of watching her grow into her own person…”

Russell – “I know, but you don’t struggle emotionally as much or pine when you’re away at a hotel as much I do. That started at 18 months when she started speaking to me and got this personality, I was like s**t, I don’t wanna go to work – I’ve never had that before. Don’t get me wrong, I love work, and once I’m on stage it’s the best hour of my day. There’s something religious about it, being picked out, knowing there are however many billions of people on the planet and 150,000 of them are coming to see me over the next 18 months, that goes beyond belief, I’ve created something amazing – what privilege right? ….So that hour [being on stage] is fine… but I’ve got to get there. 4 hours there, 4 hours back, 8 hours sometimes sat in a room on my own whilst my child is without me, I f*****g hate that.”

What do you use as a coping mechanism to deal with that so it doesn’t affect your work?

Russell  – “I numb myself with Netflix or TV. I can’t drink or anything like that because I’m going on stage, thank god. So I live really clean, I do that and I do lots of exercise. I’ll FaceTime and phone as much as I can in between. But she’s just slightly too young where it’s like [taking off Minna] “yeah yeah, I gotta go…. I got a boogie.” It’s holding her attention. But that was the biggest surprise for me, finding it difficult being away from her. ‘Do you remember it switching?’” [Russell turns to ask Lindsey]

Lindsey – “Yes, I do.”

Russell – “I think it’s a common male thing actually, well actually, that’s not fair actually. I’ve got friends who are like, proper hard nut geezers, every single one of them when they themselves had a baby, scooped them up and sobbed on the floor, my life was permanently changed – and I just thought, that was going to be me. I just assumed I was the most emotional out of all of them. 

Don’t get me wrong I cried, but I was like, great, back to work now, I’m f*****g fine, great see ya later! I was like, ‘Oh s**t, maybe I’m some kind of serial killer’, but the truth is I got there but it was just delayed. But that happens to some women as well. We have all these stereotypes of how you should act. Lindsey was the same… [he chuckles, asking are you ok with me saying this..?]  I’ll never forget, Lindsey had a c section and the baby came out and they were like, ‘Would you like to hold your baby’ and she said ‘Nah, not really’” [we all laugh]

Lindsey – “No because, To be fair, I was that traumatised from the c-section. She didn’t turn and she was breach. So I had to have a c-section instead of a water birth and I didn’t want to hold her straight away as I was very much in a meditative state and I just wasn’t ready yet. I went very child-like, all I wanted was my mum.”

Russell – “That’s why I stepped in and did skin to skin. But I bet Lindsey isn’t the only woman to be like, “can you just give me ten f*****g minutes.’ I know on Instagram I’m supposed to sob, with amniotic fluid on my t*t and smiling to the camera whilst I take away my child’s digital consent in its first seconds of life! [We all laugh] But actually, I just need time and you see that guy over there, he’s the dad, let him do something for an hour seen as though he’s just planned his Deliveroo whilst they pulled a baby from my guts!” But to me her saying that wasn’t controversial, there’s two of you. Some people aren’t lucky enough, some people are single parents, some women die during childbirth – so sometimes there’s just one [parent] so if there are two of ya, just use all your resources and I was up for that! I was happy as a pig in s**t for an hour whilst they sorted her out. Doing the first nappy, first cuddle. I felt privileged and grateful, how many blokes get to say they held their baby first before the woman. So Lindsey felt a complete set of different emotions and I had felt a completely different set of emotions. None of the stuff we were told we would feel.”

Lindsey – “I felt very isolated and I wasn’t feeling these emotions I was told I was supposed to feel. And on top of that, we had a few friends that gave birth at similar times and they too had c-sections. But they were walking two days afterwards whereas I couldn’t walk or sit up straight barely, for two weeks. It was hard as you compare yourself to others.”

Russell – “But it’s crazy to think that I struggle more now (with her as an 8 year old) more than I did when she was 2. Surely they need you more at 2 than 8 but I do? 

Who was it who said it now? [he rhetorically asks] Rob Beckett says he wishes every gig he did was at the end of his road. He opens one door and he’d be in Torquay then he’d open another and he’d be in Glasgow. Because it’s the travelling part of being a standup. See today’s a short day but I will do 8 hours travelling with an hour on stage.” 

It’s not easy particularly for women to admit they feel that way, now you come out of the other side of that Lindsey, what is your favourite thing about being a parent?

Lindsey – “I will admit I really struggled with the first few years of being a parent and that was down to me losing myself or I should say me feeling lost and not understanding where that feeling of being lost comes from and now I’ve worked through that through self-reflection and therapy work and I think my favourite thing about being a parent actually is that she has been a real teacher for me and made me realise that she is her own person, and made me realise what projection is put on us all from when we are young children. She has taught me that she is, well most kids are born with a certain level of confidence and that it’s everyone around them that projects and puts things on them that alter their confidence or impacts them later in life. So I do think that my favourite thing is that she teaches me how to be patient and she’s taught me how to listen and absorb what people are saying and to look at things from a different perspective.”  

What inspired you to start JOLT and how have you found the dynamics of being married and working together? 

Lindsey – “For me in a nutshell, when I had Minna I had this overwhelming fear of mortality. I was petrified of dying. I was very lost in my career but I didn’t understand what that feeling was and I was very unfulfilled in what I was doing. I just had a real panic about ‘Is this it?’ ‘I’m a mum now, what am I going to do now, is this it?’ When I was in my 20s, I was diagnosed with a lung disease called Bronchiectasis along with chronic sinusitis which I’d had all of my life but I’d been misdiagnosed and I’d never taken the disease as serious. Before then, I had just sort of cracked on with life and thought ‘well, other people have it worse than me’ It wasn’t until I had had my child that I thought ‘I have a lung disease and terrible lung health’ along with (at the time) covid hit so I thought its about time I ought to start looking after my health better and looking into ways I can improve my lifespan, health in general and lung health. I’d been watching Russell take care of his health and how he’d completely changed his energy, the way he looked, everything on a cellular level. I’d watched him take evidence-based supplements over the years and seen the change and so I started to take a lot of them. They really massively helped reduce inflammation, increase energy, and improve sleep. I think most people are like me and are quite lazy when it comes to supplementation. They want something that’s really convenient and they want something that’s easy to take. Russell then did the podcast diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett, after that, we were both inundated with messages ‘What does Russell take?’ ‘Where does he get it from?’ ‘What dosage is it? ’ ‘Can I trust it?’ then we were met with replies of ‘Oh, it’s too much hard work.’ ‘I can’t be bothered to take everything.’ That’s when I said do you think people would buy a combined supplement? Everything in one dose? One supplement? Because most people don’t have the time or remember to open a million jars – they just want something that is cost effective, convenient and easy to take, and that’s when JOLT was born.

It feels natural working with Russell. He motivates me, challenges me and makes me look at different perspectives. I really enjoy working with him. We also have a business partner Dan who is also Russell’s best friend from when he was a child. So he’s very involved from an operational point of view and we just all really work well together as a team. We all have what each other needs and it’s amazing going on the journey together.”

Do you find it hard to switch off from your business, and Russell when you are writing new material for a new tour? 

Lindsey – “Do you know what, I’m pretty good at setting boundaries. I really prioritise self-care and family so I try to get the majority of the work done when my daughter is at school, then when she finishes school, it’s time to switch to family time, to eat dinner and to have that bit of time together. Sometimes me and Russell will have date night or when we’re indoors watching TV, we watch things together – there are no devices in sight – we put our phones, laptops, and everything away so we’re aware that whatever we’re watching or consuming we’re doing it consciously together. I think that’s really important. A lot of times as couples don’t prioritise date night, they don’t prioritise each other and I think it is really important to do. We do speak creatively about some of the ideas that we have but I do enjoy discussing creative concepts and I let Russell respond about material for his tour!”

Russell – “The first part, no, I could have done the palladium with 5 cameras, and then me and Lindsey can be sat there half an hour later sat on the sofa with a glass of wine laughing at Curb your enthusiasm. I suppose I’m very unusual as a comedian, I don’t have that come down. I come off buzzing, have a wine and then I’m done. Tired, don’t get me wrong. The next morning is when I feel it. It takes me a while to get going as you can see. 

The second part of the question, yes all of the time, because that’s part of the job. If something funny happened now, and my trousers fell down during a photo, I’d probably have to take a break to write that up as an idea. But that’s because I need that for the material. Lindsey will sometimes… [he turns to her] it’s more you than me, he points. We’ll be having some family time and she’ll be like, you need to pause and write that down, that’s really funny. So it’s more Lindsey saying it to me because I won’t realise. I just do funny s**t.”

And Lindsey with your work, you have your own goals, your own business, your own dreams too – do you have to compromise, i.e. if Minna is poorly and needs picking up from school, does your work take a back seat compared to Russell’s?

Lindsey – “Well it’s something I knew would always be the case. For me, I had an online business when I had Minna, but I wanted that online business, my own thing for me to grow and focus on. But your [she turns and gestures to Russell] my biggest cheerleader, you;ve always encouraged me and pushed me. It’s only this last year, where I’ve thought, you know what I can now actually do what I want, I’m not locked in a cage, I can be myself. Whereas before I felt I was this watered down version of myself to fit into people’s boxes or moulds. Like now, I think when Minna is a bit older I’d like to go and do a degree. I think I’d be interested in learning. Because I’ve spent the last 20 years living with PTSD from uni and being bullied at school whereas now I’m getting back into improving myself. But to answer your question, it is what it is. It’s just something that most women, traditionally women, but equally I knew what I was getting myself into before I had a child. His work is a priority at that time because he’s the main bread winner and it’s a difficult situation to get out of. Whereas me, on my laptop, and my online business at the time, I can fit in and around and be based anywhere. I had systems in place.”

You can see Russell’s standup tour throughout the Autumn of 2024 and view more about his and Lindsey’s supplement business at www.joltmyworld.com and Instagram @JOLTmyworld @Lindseykane0 @Russell_Kane

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A letter to myself: Lisa Morton 

A retrospective letter to herself

By Lisa Morton, Business Owner & mum of 2

__________________________________

Lisa Morton  © Tom Pitfield Photography for BROOD Magazine

Lisa Morton  © Tom Pitfield Photography for BROOD Magazine

Alex will not be neglected as the first born being still under two, when his baby sister arrived. I know he was absolutely fuming, and you were terrified that he would hate you, bewildered about how huge he suddenly looked – and so sad and guilty that he was no longer your baby.

 He wasn’t the sacrificial lamb, he will stop looking at you like dirt, and you will have a wonderful relationship. He’s going to make you laugh your head off and grow up to be a loving, clever, kind, young man.

However, he will NOT ever forgive you for not allowing him to have a toy from FAO Schwartz in New York because he kicked his sister in the face the night before. EVER. You will never forgive yourself either.

You will look back and laugh (rather than want to hide in shame) when one of Nina’s first fully formed sentences – delivered to a group of full-time mums – is a loud “Where’s my bloody mobile?”

However, you will discover that as an amazing, beautiful, kind and ferociously loyal young woman, she’s still partial to a well-placed expletive. You say she gets that off her dad. He says it’s definitely off you.

You will look eventually look back and have compassionate self-talk – because you did everything you could to make those kids loved, secure, good human beings, whilst working to provide opportunities that having a business could bring. You also needed to work for you, because you have loved it. Most of the time.

And when you see their desire for personal success, their creativity, their work ethic, their continual search for new business ideas and opportunities – and that they are also both helping you in your businesses in different ways – you will feel a deep sense of pride, gratitude and love.  

You will have no doubt then, that you haven’t in fact, screwed up the kids’ lives because you had virtually no maternity leave, and have been a business owner as well as their mum.

You managed reading at school every Friday afternoon, you went to every nativity and musical, every football match (although Alex still says you don’t watch football – you look at it) and you did manage to make it as a proper school mum on a few school outings, even though you lost six fully costumed eight-year-old Centurions on a day trip to Chester.

 It was all fine. They are fine. You are fine. Everyone is absolutely great. You really knew this in your heart all along.

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