My Story

Who is Russell Thompson?

When I think back to my twenties, I must have looked like one of those fellas who had it all.

I had a young son and a fiancée, a great job with the promise of a better career, a new house, and nice car.

I did have it all – didn’t I?

Well, not quite.

One evening around this time, there was a knock on the door that changed my life.

It wasn’t the police, a fireman or any anyone else in authority.

It was the milkman.

You heard me – the milkman!

Sounds strange I know, but I owed him £2.50 and I couldn’t pay it.

The lovely life everyone perceived I had was, in reality, falling apart. And this knock at the door just about summed everything up.

I was failing.

That day hit home hard.

No one really knew my circumstances. I felt like I had a sign over me saying ‘failure’.

Things had to change.

I was stopped in my tracks.

I couldn’t continue as I was.

I asked myself how I had got into this position, I needed to reflect, to take stock.

Three changes from that day…

1. I reassessed my finances – I was struggling, and it had to change.

2. I had an honest conversation with my partner – we both knew things weren’t good – we went our separate ways, vowing to be the best parents to our son that we could possibly be.

3. I admitted to myself that I felt like a fish out of water living where I was and so I moved back to my roots in Sheffield – to my family and friends.

It was time to find out – just who was Russell?

My family and friends couldn’t have been more supportive.

I needed time to work out who Russ was now, at this point in life. I admit, I felt a little lost.

I refocused, grounded myself and built solid foundations.

I took on a new role – determined to change my circumstances for the better.

And I did.

but

I still knew there was something else I was destined to do, I just didn’t know what just yet.

Redundancy.

After many years working in the same organisation, I took the opportunity of redundancy.

Now was my time.

I’d been a small cog in a very large and complex corporate wheel for long enough.

It was time to do something different.

The first opportunity.

A friend needed a consultant project manager and offered me the opportunity.

It built my confidence to go out on my own and help more businesses using my own unique style, tools and frameworks.

It taught me that the pace of change in small businesses is so much faster than in a large corporate, and I loved it!

I had found the itch I had been needing to scratch – to rebuild my business so I could not only support huge corporate businesses, but also to work with small and medium enterprises.

Who I became.

I became a solver of problems, a builder of solutions.

A mentor once said to me “do the hard graft and back yourself to deliver”.

I took those words to heart and have never looked back.

Who I am now.

Russell Thompson, Director on Demand, was born.

I have a range of products (some would call them services) to help small and medium enterprises AND Corporate clients to achieve the goals you are looking to achieve both now and for the future.

Transfer not transaction.

Consultancy can be a transactional business.

But that’s not for me.

To me, it’s about partnership. It’s about working together.

Collaboration

It’s about helping you reach those goals and giving you the skills and knowledge you need, not about creating dependencies on me or anyone else. To leave something behind that helps your business, both now and in the future.

My purpose, my passion, what I love to do - is to Lift People Up.

To give them back their valuable time.

To see the benefit this can bring to their lives, as well as their businesses.

To give them the breathing space to head confidently into their futures with the opportunity to make new memories for themselves, their families, and their colleagues.

To Lift People Up.

Yes. Its bold.

But it’s me.

And I can’t think of a better reason to jump out of bed every morning.

Kind Words

What my clients think

The proof of the pudding (that’s a great Yorkshire saying isn’t it) is always in what clients who have worked with me think

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Liam Smith

Director of Customer Contact at Rank Group

Russell is a dedicated business partner who has the ability to build deep and long lasting relationships with partners and suppliers, enabling him to develop opportunities & new revenue streams that add long term value for both parties.

He is commercially astute and able to quickly assess the economics of an opportunity for both parties, and is not afraid to walk away from those opportunities that represent a low return...

Richard Brown

MD of ReBalance Management Limited

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Russell Thompson Consulting on a number of projects over the past couple of years. Russ is a creative, dedicated and insightful business partner, I have no hesitation in recommending the services he provides and look forward to collaborating on future projects.

Dil Patel

Connecting Brands and Communities

One word. TRUSTED. If ever you need a safe pair of hands to deliver, Russell ticks all the boxes. He comes with a rare mix of strong values and a delivery mindset, which makes him an intoxicating business partner.