Motivated by the desire to spend more time with his growing family and pursue a passion for racing hovercraft, he seized the opportunity to be his own boss with both hands.

Beginning as a man in a van, he never imagined that almost 20 years later he and his wife Lorna would be running a million-pound turnover business employing ten people with seven vans and a workshop unit.

Speaking from his office in the Lincoln based workshop complex, Russell is feeling energised:

“I look back at what we’ve done and I don’t think I ever thought we’d achieve what we have achieved. I jumped on that journey to see where we’d get, but I never had any aspirations of a million-pound business. When we started we were looking at two or three vans and the plan was that with this territory we’d get to five vans, which we actually got to quite quickly.

“Being part of the Revive! network has driven us all to where we are now and the quality of support and mentoring from head office you just wouldn’t get anywhere else.”

By 2017 Russell had nine vans on the road, and Revive! West Lincs’ territory had expanded to take in more of Lincolnshire and Nottingham. Looking for both an investment and a driver for further growth, the couple bought their workshop unit in 2021 which has parking for 30 vehicles and five interior work bays. State of the art wheel refurbishment equipment enables Russell’s workshop team to take on more extensive wheel work that can’t be done from a mobile van.

The addition of a salesman recruited from the motor industry in 2022 doubled their retail work and by 2024 the million-pound turnover target was in sight.

But then serious staffing issues set the business back, and Russell had to take a long hard look at what he needed to do to get back on track:

“ This past year is the year we’ve learned the most. Whilst we were up on the previous year and still showing growth, It’s been the hardest hit and the most demoralising, but the one that makes you look at yourself the hardest. I had become perhaps too involved in the day-to-day minutia of this place and had taken my eye off the ball a bit.”

Mentoring from Revive!’s business coach, Ricky Taylor helped the couple to look at their business in a different way.

Explained Russell: “Since Ricky’s been involved it’s more about looking at profitability and right-sizing your business rather than just adding vans. Lorna’s got more involved beyond just doing the accounts and admin and has been getting right into the nuts and bolts of the business looking at everything from technicians’ performance to route planning. Now we know how lean we need to be and what numbers we need to do to achieve the growth we’re looking for.”

As a result, Revive! West Lincs has put more structure into the operational side of the business, creating team leaders and team managers all working towards key performance indicators which are reviewed at a weekly team meeting.

This renewed focus happily coincided with the launch of Revive!’s new elite Executive Leadership Programme (ELP), an invitation only development programme for its top performing franchisees.

As a member Russell has already felt great benefits: “ This latest ELP initiative is great. It’s been pitched at the right level and has encouraged us to look at our businesses as leaders not just managers. Now we find ourselves in big business you have to step up and be a different person. We have to be leaders, and I’m working on becoming the best leader I can be.”

Looking to the future, Russell is working towards achieving a £2m turnover within the next four years. He plans to focus more on documenting the processes of the business, examining every aspect to maximise profitability across the board.

Has Russell achieved his original ambition to spend more quality time with his family and race hovercraft? Absolutely! “The reality is that when you work for yourself you work harder and longer hours, but you can fit in what you want to fit in. My oldest son got into the Leicester Tigers Rugby academy and it was great to be able to pop over to watch him training and go to all the matches. When it comes to hovercraft racing, I take a bit more of a back seat these days as the boys have taken it up as well – my youngest son is the current UK champion in his class and number two in the world!”