Emma kicked off our latest 24 question series by getting to the bottom of a curious naming mystery when she chatted to Lisa Appadurai of The Wellbeing Musketeers, which she runs with her partner Tracey Bloss. All for one and one for all! 

24 fingers: For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Emma Goode of social media agency 24 fingers, and today I’m joined by the lovely Lisa Christmas LongSausage, and I’m sure she’ll be able to tell us why she’s called that on Facebook, because I promise you that isn’t her real name. How are you today Lisa, are you okay?

Lisa: Hi Emma I’m fine thank you. 

24 fingers: You can tell us that now actually. I usually start with what’s your favourite word but feel free to share. 

Lisa: I was rather inebriated one evening watching TV and watching the credits roll on the end of a programme. Somebody’s name rolled past whose surname was Christmas, I made the chance remark that I’d love to be called Christmas. The LongSausage part, I’ve no idea where that came from, I think it got tagged on that same evening. That was 10, 11 years ago and just kind of stuck really… 

24 fingers: I love it. Lisa, what’s your favourite word?

Lisa: My favourite word, for this year anyway, is progress. It stems from my holiday I had just before lockdown, which I took as an opportunity to try and think about what I was going to do this year, how things were a bit up in the air in a few areas and I needed to formulate a plan while I was on holiday, think about the future.

I had also coincidentally managed to snap a beloved silver ring I’d been wearing for years and decided to replace it. While browsing in a shop on holiday I was looking at some lovely jewellery and there was this pretty little ring with the word progress written on it in the Thai language. It just seemed so appropriate so I thought “d’you know, I’m going to have that as it sums up what I’m thinking about at the moment”. 

24 fingers: Life’s too short, buy the ring: that’s my motto. What gets you up in the morning?

Lisa: My filter coffee and my daily gym work out – or at the moment my home gym workout. I can’t do without either of those. 

24 fingers: What do you honestly, truly think of social media?

Lisa: I’m loving social media for the fact I’ve got lots of friends and family in far-flung countries so it’s amazing for being able to keep in touch and see birthdays and photos and the like going on. I’m also slightly addicted to it at the moment as for the past few weeks I’ve been working from home a bit more, so I’ve had more time to scroll, but I’m not loving the noise you get from social media. Being bombarded with endless rubbish and adverts, and the amount of quite nasty comments in different groups. People are on quite a short fuse. 

24 fingers: Keyboard warriors I believe they’re called. Kindles or books?

Lisa: Books, definitely for the smell and feel of them. 

24 fingers: 100%. What do you feel is the biggest challenge your industry is facing right now?

Lisa: It’s not just a “right now” thing, I think it’s been for a long time, it’s just changing people’s perceptions. People come with the idea they want a diet plan or a pill or some funny green powder to drink and suddenly they’re going to be thin and beautiful and feel wonderful. That’s not how we work, personally. It’s trying to get them to see there’s a different way and one that can be successful for them in the long-term. 

24 fingers: I have to say I’m a convert of funny green powders, but I absolutely agree with you, it’s got to be a long-term solution. I’m very much “I want fixes  right here right now” and get very frustrated when I haven’t achieved my goals tomorrow. I phone my coaches up and say “I’ve done X,Y,Z and want it to happen now” and they say “slow down, there’s been decades of abuse”.

Lisa: I think it’s wishful thinking for people, and I’m like that myself. I hope if I try something new that it’s going to happen instantly but I know in my heart and head I’ve learned probably that it’s going to take a while. 

24 fingers: What did you want to be growing up?

Lisa: I wanted to be a veterinary nurse, and I became one so I was very lucky. 

24 fingers: So what led to you founding The Wellbeing Musketeers?

Lisa: I had a long passion for health and fitness and nutrition since the age of about 17. I qualified as a fitness instructor and massage therapist, and then about 10 or 11 years ago I saw an advertisement for an open event for a new scheme being set up in Southend. I went along and chatted to some of the management of that new team and got an application form, and was one of the lucky ones to get a job as a health and wellbeing practitioner and it led on to this. 

24 fingers: Now you’re favourite word was progress: can you use it in a sentence?

Lisa: Yes, though this isn’t me, it’s George Bernard Shaw. He said “progress is impossible without change and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything”. I think it’s very apt for the type of work I do. 

24 fingers: It’s interesting about mind shifts – I’ve had a few lately and the difference to how I used to think – just take one thing and suddenly it was like a switch going off in my brain. Now, can you make it rhyme?

Lisa: Yes and this is also appropriate: it’s progress, don’t regress. 

24 fingers: Very good. I’m going to steal that one. What advice would you give to your younger self?

Lisa: I would tell myself not to worry about what other people think of me, their opinions of me, know I can be confident and bold enough to speak my mind, as long as I’m not horrible. Be a bit more bold, really. I was a bit of a frightened rabbit growing up. 

24 fingers: What’s the best thing anyone’s ever done for you?

Lisa: Bought me a lovely pair of Gore-Tex running gloves, which were very unglamorous, but without me saying anything, he noticed how cold my hands got when we went for a run together. Then out of nowhere, he produced these lovely gloves which back in the day – this was quite a few years ago – were actually very expensive.  I was quite overwhelmed that someone had actually noticed without me saying anything and I’ve still got them to this day. I still wear them in the winter. 

24 fingers: If you won a big award of some kind, who would you thank?

Lisa: My teachers at school, first and foremost, because they wrote me off. I was off sick quite a lot at school and had glandular fever a couple of times, and my teachers told my parents I wouldn’t pass my exams or get anywhere in life and I feel I’ve proved them wrong.  I’d also thank my lovely clients I’ve seen over the years. They’ve been amazing on the whole and trusted me with a lot of their woes, and they didn’t know me from Adam when they first met me, but they really made me feel quite humble and grateful that I was able to help them. 

24 fingers: You might not have had it yet, but what’s been your career-defining moment so far?

Lisa: It was when somebody told me that I’d changed her life. She did that herself and may well have done it without my help, but she said that to me and that was wonderful – it made it all worthwhile. 

24 fingers: You obviously gave her the tools to change her life.

Lisa: I hopefully planted a seed there somewhere. 

24 fingers: Definitely. It germinated. I know you’re up early, can you give us a timesaver for the day? 

Lisa: I always put my makeup on and get dressed while the coffee’s brewing, so I have to be quick about it. I also always make sure if I’m going to be out at lunchtime then I prep it the night before. It’s a life-long habit. 

24 fingers: Amazing. You’re a better woman than me. Where do you see your industry in 24 months?

Lisa: Well it’s going to be growing I think, because people are going to be looking to better themselves health-wise and so on, but I’d like to see more people embracing long-term change. Moving away from a visit to the doctors to get more pills, when perhaps other changes they could make might make an improvement for them, and just look to the future and embrace the fact that they can make change if they’re patient, and not throw it all away if it doesn’t work in the first few minutes. 

24 fingers: I will remember that. Where were you 24 months ago?

Lisa: I was still employed doing a similar health role and very happily so. I had a wonderful small team of colleagues to work with and a wonderful  client base too, so I’m very grateful for that. At the time I was thinking of striking out on my own at some point in the future but it was never really a serious thought I don’t think at that point. 

24 fingers: And yet you did it. What’s an interesting fact about The Wellbeing Musketeers?

Lisa: I don’t know if it’s interesting but it is a fact. Tracey and I could be any one of our clients. We’re both in our fifties now, Tracey’s a single mum of five and a nanna as well, I’ve had mental health issues over the years, I’ve had problems with food. So we really can relate to the struggles our clients have, we’re not just sitting in a higher position preaching at people and saying “well you should be like us”, because we understand how time-consuming these things can be to sort out and the damage you can do mentally as well as physically. 

24 fingers: I don’t think there’s anything better than talking to someone who listens and gets it, rather than judging. I think that’s a huge thing. I know the people I’ve worked with in the past have been empathetic and not tried to rush me. 

Lisa: We try to make our client experience really chilled out. We don’t wear a uniform or even wear a T-shirt with our logo, anything that would make us stand out as an official kind of person.  We’re not medical people, we’re mates you have a chat but maybe we’ve got more knowledge in a certain area that benefits the client. 

24 fingers: Brilliant. If you had a 24-minute Skype chat with anyone who would it be?

Lisa: It would be my grandma, who passed away when I was 13 and my grandad, who unfortunately I never got to meet. 

24 fingers: What’s one word you’d like people to describe you with?

Lisa: I’d like to be known as kind. I hope I am, most of the time. 

24 fingers: Would you mind taking a selfie?

Lisa: Hair and eyebrows – not good at the moment!

24 fingers: What’s your favourite social media campaign or group you follow?

Lisa: I follow and I’m part of the Myprotein Facebook community. I probably shouldn’t be plugging a supplements company, but it’s one I buy from and I was invited to join their VIP community and it’s absolutely wonderful. I’ve made what I feel are really good friends, though I’ve not met any of them. Everyone’s super-supportive. I don’t understand Twitter or Instagram I’m afraid, I’m a bit of a dinosaur. 

24 fingers: Twitter’s the best. What’s one quote sums that defines your work ethic?

Lisa: I saw this online, I don’t know who it’s from but it sums things up for me. It’s: If you have a passion for what you do, regardless of status or income, you’re a winner in life. I find that to be true – I really love what I do. If I could afford to do it for free I would, but sadly I can’t. 

24 fingers: Not yet. What’s been the best part of your day?

Lisa: Today’s been the workout this morning and later on it will be putting on my pyjamas as I’m not going out again. 

24 fingers: I’m envious now you can put your pyjamas on at 5 o’clock. Finally, anything to plug?

Lisa: Just us, Tracey and myself as The Wellbeing Musketeers. If you want to make a lifestyle change, and have been thinking about it for ages or you’re trying lots of different things that aren’t working, we can help you. We want you to feel empowered and confident and help to improve your current and future health. This isn’t about looks as much as your actual state of health and how you can manage it better and avoid developing long-term conditions.  

24 fingers: How can people find you?

Lisa: They can find us through Facebook. No website as yet but hopefully in the pipeline before too long. 

24 fingers: Talk to me about that. Thanks very much Lisa, I really enjoyed our chat. Inspiring. Carry on the good work. 

Lisa: I will, thank you. 

 

Proof that you can be busy and still enjoy yourself came when Emma had two interviews in one day. Not only did it keep her off her phone, she also immersed herself in positive vibes by chatting to transformational relationship coach John Kenny.

24 fingers: Hi, John.

John: Hi Emma, how are you?

24 fingers: I’m okay, thank you very much. So, shall we kick off? What’s your favourite word?

John: I have difficulty with this. There’s a word I use a lot, when I just want something to say, which is badger. It is something I got from Eddie Izzard many years ago. I just go “ahh, badger”. But, then I thought “smidgen”, I like smidgen, it’s a good word. 

24 fingers: What gets you up in the morning?

John: My alarm. Sunshine. I like daylight. That gets me up. I don’t have problems getting up in the morning. I’ve got a routine, I just like to get out of bed, get myself my protein shake and sit in the garden when the sun’s nice and just chill a little bit.

24 fingers: I can tell, you’re a morning person. So, what do you truly, honestly, think of social media? Go on, be honest.

John: It’s balance. These are balanced scales. I think some of it’s awful and some of it’s really good.

24 fingers: Much like life.

John: Yeah, it is very much like a relationship and relationships in general. Some of it can be really damaging but some of it can be really positive. For keeping in touch with people, and business-wise, I think it’s quite good. But I think obviously, there’s a lot of toxicity, abuse and stuff that also goes on, which is terrible. I think they need to get a grip of a lot more. But yeah, I think it’s like everything in life, it has its good and its bad stuff.

24 fingers: A game of two halves, as they say. Kindles or books?

John: Kindles.

24 fingers: Really?

John: Yeah, I like to get hold of my phone and just read, rather than pick up a book nowadays. Obviously it’s a lot easier to mark books I like, you know, when you’ve got your little things on here. I much prefer just to pick my phone up and have a little read of it there.

24 fingers: I’m the complete opposite. I like books all the way. What do you think is the biggest challenge to your industry right now? I was talking to a coaching person two days ago and she said something that really hit home. It’d be interesting to see what you think. 

John: At the moment, there are a lot of people who are unsure about what they want to do. I don’t think there’s a lot of people out there looking for coaching until they get a little bit more stable and think about what they want. I think it’s about being taken seriously, some of, or a lot of the time because coaching isn’t a profession that is regulated. I speak to a lot of coaches that I wouldn’t speak to myself, as a coach, because they don’t have the background. They’re trying to sell people their personal experiences and I find that quite difficult to kind of stomach sometimes. 

24 fingers: She was also saying that coaching is an unregulated industry. The quality barometer can be very varied and I’ve seen that for myself, personally. Interesting that you say that too.

John: I’ve had quite a few clients come to me and say, “I’ve started talking to this person and they opened me up on this” and I’ve said, “Oh no we don’t do that.” Why get someone into that space in the first place, where then you say, “Oh no, you need to talk to someone else about that”? That’s not what I do.

I can just tell you how to do this. I think it’s okay if you’ve got something like a property coach or, some other where they say: “this is how you buy and sell houses” or “this is how you can do this and this is how you can do that”, and have a kind of a very scheduled structure in place. You could sell that, from your personal experience, because you know what works.

24 fingers: Emotion is different, isn’t it? It’s people’s lives.

John: Yes, but with most coaching, whether you call yourself a life coach or not, it has a tendency to revolve around life. So, it would be great if you had some kind of certification to prove that you at least understand the process of what coaching is all about.

24 fingers: Million percent. So did you want to be a coach when you were growing up?

John: No. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I was growing up. I don’t even think I had any career advice or anything like that when I was at school, I don’t remember doing it. I didn’t do any work experience. I had no idea. I was very lucky when I found athletics. I wanted to be an athlete for about 10 years, but then when that didn’t pay off, I had no idea what to do. Then just through trial and error really, I got really interested in psychology and that kind of led me on this path. So, it took me to my early thirties before I started on this journey. 

24 fingers: Interesting, and you just answered my next question. So your favourite word, let’s use smidgen. Can you use it in a sentence?

John: I like to put a smidgen of spice in my food.

24 fingers: Okay, now can you make it rhyme?

John: I might put a smidgen of spice on my pigeon. How about that?

24 fingers: Well done, John, well done. What advice would you give to your younger self?

John: Stretch. Depending how old he was, really. So definitely stretch, keep yourself supple. It’ll do you a world of good when you get older. And, get help, and it’s not your fault.

24 fingers: Very good. Understand that. What’s the best thing anyone’s ever done for you?

John: I think probably when I got turned on to coaching really. When I met a coach and they told me that I can change my story, and that led me on to the journey where I completely turned my own life around. So, I would say that’s probably the best thing anyone’s ever done for me, just say: “you can change this and you can be happy”.

24 fingers: Amazing. What’s been your career defining moment? You might not have had it yet.

John: When you get positive feedback, I mean that’s the goosebumpy stuff, I get. I did a documentary, I would imagine would be the thing that I’m most proud of at the moment.

24 fingers: So, you said that you were a morning person.  Can you give us a time saver of the day?

John: Don’t spend so much time on that (mobile phone). Turn it off. 

24 fingers: We have a rule at home that we don’t have phones on after seven. My son came up with that rule, which is quite unusual. “No mum, stop messaging, be off your phone.” That really does help. 

John: I don’t take that advice, by the way. I have a tendency to pick up my phone. I work until nine most evenings, so I have mine on until nine, at least. But yes, I do tell myself, “you need to put this thing down, because you’re wasting your own time”.

24 fingers: If you won a big award of some kind, who would you thank?

John: What would my award be for?

24 fingers: Anything. Which one of your many achievements, John?

John: I would just say, I think it would be everybody, wouldn’t it?  I’d thank my parents for turning me into the person, or allowing me to be the person I am today. Obviously definitely my wife, friends, and probably my coaches, actually. The coaches I’ve had. My athletics coach, unfortunately he’s passed away now. Definitely would thank him and the coaches that have helped me to find my way in this profession. 

24 fingers: Genuinely, I never used to have a coach before and over the last 18 months, I’ve had a few. The difference it makes to my life, to have a coach, is just incredible. Because I think we’re all guilty of only seeing our limitations and a coach can really help to broaden your ambition, broaden your horizons, but then metaphorically give you that security blanket and a bit of a comfort factor, I think.

John: Yeah.

24 fingers: Someone’s got my back and they’re going to guide me through the process. They’re not going to do the process for me, but they’re there. The difference it’s made, in terms of what I can achieve, but also just believing in myself, is hugely incredible.

John: I would definitely add, I’d add my supervisor for my counselling, because she really, championed me really, and led me to kind of hold some kind of self belief about I was capable of what I was doing. She would definitely get a thank you.

24 fingers: I did a post yesterday on LinkedIn about the fact I was really scared of something last year and I got out of my own way out of my comfort zone. It’s the best thing that I did, and it’s the highlight of my week that I do now. If I’d have said no, if I’d have listened to that inner voice, I would never be doing what I’m doing now. 

So, where do you see yourself and your company in 24 months?

John: I’ve got this idea in my head, which I won’t share with you now because it’s a little bit complicated. I’d like to be spreading the word of interpersonal relationship coaching not just around the UK but around the world. I think the message that I’ve got is massively important for people to hear. In a couple of years time, I’d like to be doing a lot more speaking and spreading the philosophy that I’ve got behind my coaching.

24 fingers: Go John! Where were you 24 months ago? Physically or metaphorically, whatever you prefer.

John: I was actually in Turkey, physically, two years ago. The business was probably not anywhere. I probably still hadn’t got my mojo together at that point, or my niche, I hadn’t kind of focused on where I wanted to get to. So, I was still figuring it all out then.

24 fingers: What’s an interesting fact about you?

John: That I used to be an international athlete.

24 fingers: In what field?

John: Sprinting. I was a sprinter, yes. I ran for Great Britain a few times when I was younger.

24 fingers: I definitely am not a sprinter. 

John: I’m definitely not a runner. 

24 fingers: If you could have a 24-minute Skype chat with anybody, living or dead, who would it be?

John: Jesus. I’d just like to know who he was. What his message was, what the reality of the situation was.

24 fingers: Interesting. What’s one word you’d like people to describe you with?

John: Empathetic.

24 fingers: Hugely important. Would you mind taking a selfie for us? Brilliant, done. What’s your favourite Twitter handle, social media campaign, if you’ve got one? You must do, because you’re on your phone a lot.

John: I don’t actually, no. I’m not a massive social media follower. I put my stuff out there and I follow a few other people and you know, if something sort of pops up that I like the look of, I’ll like it, follow it, share it, whatever. But no, I don’t have a favourite thing.

24 fingers: Someone’s got to convince John. This is your challenge for the year. What’s one quote that defines your work ethic?

John: My favourite quote would be from Carl Bard which is: “although we cannot make a new beginning, we can start now to make a brand new ending”. Something like that.

24 fingers: I get that. What’s been the best part of your day?

John: So far today? Obviously talking to you and, when I did my cycling session this morning, my heart rate stayed really low, so I must be getting fitter.

24 fingers: Good. So you’re winning all round. Finally, anything to plug?

John: Loads of stuff. Obviously there’s my coaching, if anyone’s interested in coaching they can contact me for a complimentary consultation. I’ve actually just put together, with the help of a few other people, a membership site, so if you would like to know a little bit more about coaching, want to get involved in coaching, or not sure if you want a coach of your own at the moment, my membership site has dozens of downloadable coaching tools, PDFs you can have. 

I’ve got some audio and video programmes on there. I’m going be doing some live Q&A stuff. So if you are in the market for a bit of coaching but don’t know if you can afford one, or not sure if that’s the right thing for you and you want to try it, then the membership site is a really good way to start. I’m running a special offer on that one at the moment, for just £39 a month.

24 fingers: Amazing. So, before I leave you, can you give us some advice, for anybody that’s in lockdown with somebody that’s driving them insane and they’re confined in a space, you know, in a physical space, but also a metaphorical space with somebody that they’re struggling with to get a good relationship?

John: Luckily enough, from next week you’ll be able to escape a little bit more. So, make sure you find some time for yourself so that you’re not under that constant pressure of wherever you feel you are, suffocation or disempowerment. But maybe the most important advice I give generally, would be that nothing is personal. 

No matter how someone is treating you, they’re doing it for their own gain and for their own needs. You don’t need to feel like a victim, or that they’re aiming it at you, it’s just that they’re trying to achieve something, and if you can take a step out of feeling like a victim, or if you can take a step out of taking it personally, then that’ll relieve a lot of pressure on you to be able to figure out why are they doing what they’re doing, what are they trying to achieve from that, and whether you’re going to allow that to happen anymore. 

Are you going to keep feeding them? If they are doing that, then I would suggest it’s quite a toxic and unhealthy relationship and as soon as you can you need to sort that out.

24 fingers: Thank you very much, John. That’s really helpful. Great as ever talking to you. Wishing you health, happiness, and safety through all of this.

John: Thank you very much and the same to you. Take care and be good to yourself.

There’s nothing like catching up with old and very good friends, and our Emma was delighted to do just that when she chatted to former publisher Lorraine Williams, who co-founded and runs The Thyroid Trust.

 

24 fingers: Good morning, everybody. It’s Emma here from 24 Fingers, a social media agency in Brentwood, in Essex. Today I’ve gone across the pond and I’m chatting to the lovely Lorraine Williams from The Thyroid Trust in Kent. Hi, Lorraine.

Lorraine: Hi, Emma. Thanks for having me.

24 fingers: Absolute pleasure. So this is really special for me. So Lorraine and I’ve known each other for over 20 years. We were trying to work it out this morning and we both look exactly the same. Well, we think we do anyway. Lorraine, if you’re ready I’m going to kick off – what’s your favourite word?

Lorraine: Okay, I had to think long and hard about this because I like lots of words. My favourite word in all the world is love.

24 fingers: Oh, love it. What gets you up in the morning?

Lorraine: Nowadays, it’s a sense of compelling purpose. Running The Thyroid Trust feels like important work. I am actually the only member of staff and there’s quite a lot to do. I wake up with my mind going through all the things that need to be done, leap up and get on with them. It motivates me a lot.

24 fingers: What do you truly honestly think of social media?

Lorraine: I truly and honestly totally love it. I think it’s fantastic. And, I’m old enough to remember life before there was social media. And growing up as a kid in the 1970s and 1980s, it’s quite difficult to find like-minded people and now that’s so easy. And it was quite difficult to find, sort of interesting cultural stuff, music, whatever now that’s really easy. I think you know what social media brings to society in terms of connecting us, making information readily available, is absolutely revolutionary, and I think it’s really exciting and I’m really into it. 

24 fingers: She’s a fan. So go and follow Lorraine on Twitter because she’s brilliant on there. 

Lorraine: I’m _LorraineW on Twitter, and the charity @ThyroidTrust on Twitter as well.

24 fingers: Go follow it. At the minute charities are really impacted by corona. What do you think is the biggest challenge to your industry, let’s just say for now, charity, I know that you’re a mindfulness practitioner as well. What do you think is the biggest impact/challenge for you?

Lorraine: Well, the complete uncertainty of the present situation, obviously, and that’s the same challenge facing everyone, an individual, an organisation and all sectors. But charities typically raise a lot of money from mass participation events, for example. And obviously, none of those are going ahead. And charities benefit when people feel reasonably comfortably well off and able to give and there’s not so many people in that comfortable situation at the moment. Yeah, it’s a whole untold future that we’re gonna have to navigate and we’re gonna have to think very nimbly. That’s challenging.

24 fingers: I’m sure you’ll do it. What did you want to be when you were growing up?

Lorraine: I either wanted to be Prime Minister, or I wanted to be a dress designer. One of those two things.

24 fingers: What led you to your current career?

Lorraine: Well, I kind of bumbled into it if I’m completely honest. Again, talking about growing up, communications was always something that people told me I was good at, and I always enjoyed words. Maybe I must have dreamt of being a writer at one point, but that wasn’t something that I had any idea you could actually make a living at. We were growing up, we didn’t have much money and, like I said, I felt quite bored a lot of the time as a child. So I think my primary motivators when I started my career were to be A not bored and B not poor. I threw myself into London working life as you did Emma, with those two things really driving me. I worked in publishing for 10 years, I started out doing media sales all the way up to the publisher. 

About 10 years in, I had a bit of an epiphany that I wanted to do something a bit more worthwhile, a bit more meaningful. I was also very excited by what was at the time, new emerging digital technologies. So I made a career shift and started working for organisations that were trying to do some good in the world and particularly using new technologies. I ended up working for some quite big charities, doing fundraising, marketing. In terms of how I ended up where I am now doing what I am now, basically, I got ill. 

My thyroid condition knocked me utterly sideways for about 18 months, and stopped me from being able to work. I ended up doing bits and pieces of freelance work using the various skills that I’ve got. I started running a support group for thyroid patients because I wanted there to be one and there wasn’t. Run that for a few years as a volunteer and ended up with enough people who carried on with that. Then about two years after I stopped being involved, we were offered funding to set up the charity group. I was asked to lead it, which was a huge honour. It seemed to fit my skill set and was something I’m very passionate about. So, here we are.

24 fingers: At this point, I have to say, Lorraine was a fantastic media salesperson, and also she was a great publisher as well. We worked in the West End, there were budgets, there was time, there were expense accounts and we sat in the pub most afternoons.

Lorraine: There were a lot of long lunches…

24 fingers: There were long lunches, late nights and yeah, it was bloody amazing. I loved it.

Lorraine:  It was great fun. We worked hard and we played hard. So cliche but it was good fun.

24 fingers: Exactly, good memories. So your favourite word was love. Can you use it in a sentence?

Lorraine: Yes, I can. Love is all around, love is all there is.

24 fingers: Very good. I think that was in Love Actually, actually…

Lorraine: Oh god.

24 fingers: No, no, no, it sounds like it might well be, I don’t know. Can you make your word rhyme?

Lorraine: Yes I can: love is all around, love is all there is, I’m you and you’re me, life is simply bliss. I told you I’m into mindful stuff as well. I thought I’d warn you about that.

24 fingers: That was good. What advice would you give to your younger bored self?

Lorraine: I wish that somebody had said to me or I would say to myself: “you can do anything” because I had no idea. I think that’s the best thing anybody can say to a young person, really do what you want to do. Don’t be worried about being bored, don’t be worried about being poor, because life is abundant and varied and go out there and do the things you want to do.

24 fingers: You don’t realise it at the time, do you?

Lorraine: No, no idea.

24 fingers: What’s the best thing anyone’s ever done for you?

Lorraine: It has to be a benefactor who suggested to us, that we set up The Thyroid Trust and basically made it possible for my role to be paid and has been fantastically supportive from the beginning and continues to be. That’s incredible because we wouldn’t have the charity without that faith and that financial support. I know he wants to remain anonymous, but what he’s done for us is incredible.

24 fingers: Amazing.  Tell us, though you may not have had it yet, what’s been your career-defining moment?

Lorraine: No, unfortunately being ill. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now, if that hadn’t happened. That sounds a bit grim, doesn’t it?

24 fingers: No, no.

Lorraine: But it has led me to really interesting and meaningful work, and it’s enabled me to help other people. So it’s what they say every cloud has a silver lining. I wouldn’t wish being ill on anybody or myself but yes, it’s life’s rich tapestry isn’t it? It has defined the path I’ve ended up taking. 

24 fingers: Definitely on that because challenges in my life has definitely led to some really great things. At the time it didn’t feel like that. So if you won a big award of some kind, who would you thank?

Lorraine: Well, if that were ever to happen, there would be so many people to thank. First of all, I’d say my husband for just being the most amazing support and standing by me, and my family for giving me some kind of moral compass, which has guided me through my life and been really important. A lot of people don’t come from families that have that sort of solid, something that gives you strength to get through things. I think that’s really important. And then whatever I was ever to win an award for, if I ever did, whatever team of people I was working with, would have done the lion’s share of the work, I’m sure. And so there would be a long list of people that I have worked with up to today.

24 fingers: 100%.

Lorraine: I feel like I’ve just won an award Emma, that felt a really weird experience. I’m filled with gratitude and love now. You’ll have to send some chocolate or something as a pretend award.

24 fingers: We’ll just call you Gywnnie. Can you give us a timesaver of the day?

Lorraine: Yes, meditate. Meditate for 20 minutes. However pressurised your life might feel, however much you think you have to do, make the time to do a little bit of mindfulness practice. And actually, even if you really literally can’t spare 20 minutes, do like a little three-minute meditation or something because it’s like plugging yourself into the universe and re-energising you. Everything is clearer, time opens up. So I can’t recommend meditation highly enough. And just to emphasise that it doesn’t have to be done in a particular way for a particular amount of time. There’s lots of different ways that you can practice mindfulness meditation in your life. It’s really worth finding a way that works for you and doing something regularly helps.

24 fingers: I think those daily behaviours really make a difference, don’t they?

Lorraine: Yeah, absolutely. We did a self care event recently for The Thyroid Trust, we had a wonderful woman called Michelle who came. She’s a yoga teacher, but she had us doing self massage, and like a lot of people in the group are really not very well and a bit older so you had to do like chair yoga, and then some breathing exercises and meditation. So use of those self care practices is really valuable. – 

24 fingers: Especially right now, you know what I mean.

Lorraine: Yeah, it’s easy to just get wrapped up in your head and think of all these other things to do. And these are the things I’m not happy about, that is draining. It takes a lot out of you. So, just to show it has an effect.

24 fingers: Where do you see your charity or your industry in 24 months?

Lorraine: Well it’s two separate questions, isn’t it? So, the industry is the charity sector. This has a very uncertain future. I suspect there might end up being fewer charities as people might have to merge and a lot of things will have to be done differently. In terms of The Thyroid Trust, I really hope that we will come through this and I believe that we can, because I believe that what we’re doing, we’re doing pretty well. We’re getting a lot of positive feedback and a lot of interest.

So I hope in 24 months we will be a little bit bigger and a little bit more secure. Well, actually, let me speak reality as I want it to be. I believe in 24 months we will be a secure, well-established, sustainable organisation, because I’ll be honest with you at the moment, it all feels quite precarious. We only completed our registration with the Charity Commission a year ago and the pandemic happened. Tough times ahead, but we’re determined.

24 fingers: You got this. Where were you 24 months ago?

Lorraine: We were about six months into our journey with The Thyroid Trust. So we’d created the brand, set up the website. And we’re still building boards, getting some really good medics and people with professional expertise on board. We were preparing for a big debate that was gonna happen in the House of Lords in June about thyroid treatment, which ended up leading to a huge amount of work for us. 

We were just sort of on the cusp of that, we were sitting thinking: “This debate is happening, it’s really important. Nobody else is sending parliamentarians detailed information about why it’s important, we must do this, start preparing the briefing for that”. Really just gearing up and it’s really important I was still working for a number of clients. I was doing some marketing stuff and building websites for people. I had more time in my social life and I think I didn’t quite know what was gonna hit me really. Two years later, here we are.

24 fingers: It’s great. What’s an interesting fact about the charity?

Lorraine: So, we’re talking about The Thyroid Trust, and I bet lots of people watching this, have no idea what that means, what a thyroid is. So your thyroid interesting fact, is a butterfly shaped gland, sits in your neck, and it controls every cell in your body. So when your thyroid goes wrong, it can affect you in lots and lots of different ways that could be really horrid. 

So to raise awareness of that interesting fact, it’s a butterfly shaped gland. We’ve been running around this week on International Thyroid Awareness Week dressed up as butterflies. And that seems to be interesting ’cause we’ve got some media coverage. So that’s my interesting thing. I want everyone to remember it’s a butterfly shaped gland.

24 fingers: I didn’t know that. If you could have a 24-minute Skype chat with anybody, who would it be?

Lorraine: It would be with my mum, because she died when I was five. So to have a chat with her would just be amazing. So there’s nobody else in the running for that.

24 fingers: Would you mind taking a selfie for us? I’m gonna take a screenshot, so you just need to smile. So tell us what’s your favourite social media campaign or Twitter handle?

Lorraine: I would say Action for Happiness. I think it is brilliant, you get immediately what it’s about. It’s dynamic, it’s positive, they do so much. Yeah, I think that’s really important and would be a really good thing.

24 fingers: Especially on a local level as well, they’re great.

Lorraine: Absolutely. They’re very supportive of small-scale initiatives as well. Like I’ve spoken to the lady who set it up. We do stuff in my local area with mindfulness. She’s been really really supportive. She’s great.

24 fingers: Amazing. What’s one quote that defines your work ethic?

Lorraine: Life is not a dress rehearsal. This is it.

24 fingers: What’s been the best part day of your day? I know it’s early So you might not have it yet.

Lorraine: Obviously Emma talking to you But yesterday, I would say the best part of my day was the self care session that we did with Michelle, which was just beautiful.

24 fingers: That sounds amazing. Finally, anything to plug?

Lorraine: Well, it’s International Thyroid Awareness Week, this week until the 31st of May. And we would love people to get involved with that. Even if you’ve got a thyroid condition and maybe you’ve been feeling a bit isolated, know that you’re not alone with a thyroid condition. If you don’t have a thyroid condition, maybe ask friends and family and see if you find anyone, if you know anyone that does because it’s often not talked about. I think it would be really great if we could start some conversations.

If you’re interested in getting involved, in fundraising or in supporting us with a donation or doing something creative, helping to amplify our messages on social media, for example there’s lots and lots of ideas, ways you can get involved on the website. We’re always looking for volunteers as well.

24 fingers: Amazing. Oh, well done Lorraine.

Lorraine: Let me show you this. International Thyroid Wednesday. I said, I’m dressing as a butterfly. I’ve been in the paper, look.

24 fingers: Fame at last.

Lorraine: Exactly. So we want more people to do that. There’s three more days to be able to fly around, raise some money for The Thyroid Trust. You can save our future. 

24 fingers: I love that.

Lorraine: I was doing that. Can you believe it? £1,000 just for being a fool. Everybody laughed. Running through Broadstairs on my own, in that get up, and people were just so enthusiastic. It was brilliant fun. Can’t recommend it highly enough.

24 fingers: Well done, Lorraine for everything that you’re doing. Thank you again for your time this morning, it’s been lovely to chat to you.

 

Emma celebrated her lockdown birthday not with champagne and chocolates, but by chatting with Tony Crawley of VReptile International. If you’re looking for an exotic pet but don’t know your asps from your zebra-tailed lizards, then Tony’s your man. He’s behind the world’s first online expo for reptile owners, which runs from 27-28th of June.

24 fingers: Morning Tony, let’s kick off with what’s your favourite word?

Tony: It’s probably ironic that we’re in this Covid thing but holiday is my favourite word. I do love a holiday. 

24 fingers: Where’s your dream destination? What’s the first place you’ll be going after lockdown?

Tony: I’d like to go back to Costa Rica. I fell in love with Costa Rica. I could see myself retire somewhere like that. 

24 fingers: Next year, Rodney, next year. What gets you up in the morning?

Tony: Coffee. I can’t function without a cup of coffee. That and the drive to achieve the goals I’ve set in my life. Some have happened and some haven’t. But keep going, especially in this current climate. Focus on the positives and not the negatives. That gets you out of bed in a morning. 

24 fingers: What do you truly honestly think of social media?

Tony: I think like most people it’s got good and bad sides. I think the bad side is you can become addicted and with this current virtual expo that I’m doing, I’m forever checking. Even after I’ve gone to bed after half an hour trying to go to sleep, I’m picking it up, wondering if anyone else has looked at it. But equally, I think we’re seeing again in this current lockdown the benefits of social media are tremendous, even for – dare I say it – the older generation. My dad is using it more than ever now, before he wouldn’t even have a mobile phone but now he’s Facetiming and you can’t get him off it. 

24 fingers: My dad is using Facebook as well. Kindles or books?

Tony: Definitely a book. I spend too much time on a laptop or even a phone to be able to contemplate reading something in my leisure on a Kindle. 

24 fingers: What do you think is the biggest challenge to your industry is? I know you’ve got a lot of experience in a lot of different sectors. 

Tony: This is probably going to answer a lot of questions for a lot of people out there. The moment where we’re all at in business is the uncertainty. That’s what’s not frightening people but it’s that “what do we do next” in terms of our business. The biggest challenge around this Covid is how we’re going to come out of it. I guess we’re banking on our leaders around the world to try to get us back to some normality and try to give us the confidence, not just as business people but the general public. I was after a new three-piece suite before this happened. Do I still go and spend the money on buying that? Have I got a job next week? I think confidence and uncertainty are the biggest challenges at the moment. 

24 fingers: Rishi for next PM we say, and Brentwood Council, they way they’ve supported us as businesses has been tremendous. Who did you want to be when you were growing up?

Tony: I wanted to be working in conservation in forestry. I’ve always, from a very small age, like most young kids, went running across the field trying to find a mouse – I guess that’s where the reptiles came from. Conservation was always something I was passionate about, but let’s just say I wasn’t very good and in those days university wasn’t on the agenda. So I ended up going into – thanks to my father – I ended up getting a trade, so I became an electrician. But it wasn’t really something I enjoyed, I guess it was something you had to do in those days, at least I had a job and a career and a trade. 

24 fingers: It was different back then, you went into a job, you stayed there and if you didn’t like that job you’d go really quickly into another one. It’s very different these days. So, what led you to your current career?

Tony: As you probably know I’ve run companies and had my own companies, one of them being in the electrical industry, for many years. What I’ve enjoyed in the past five to six years is being my own boss. Not having to employ lots of people gives me the freedom to do multiple things, equally challenging things that I’m not relying potentially on others to fulfil.

What got me into VReptile, it was always on my agenda to do. People are more and more keeping exotic pets rather than your standard budgerigar. They’re keeping lizards and snakes  because they’re a lot easier to keep, but they weren’t getting necessarily the right advice. There were a few shows around that were long distances for people to travel. My idea behind the online event was to show people what sort of animals and equipment but also the expertise in looking after them and how easy they are to look after. The Covid thing has accelerated this business in that now’s the time, especially with social media, is for people to come along to the event in June. 

24 fingers: So out of a crisis has come an opportunity as well that you thought actually,now’s the time when you’ve been able to change and adapt quickly than if Covid hadn’t happened as it were?

Tony: Yes and I think that’s the same for everyone really, not just in business but in life. I think it’s changed a lot of people’s views, attitudes and we’ve all got to move on and it’s about grabbing those opportunities as they come up. 

24 fingers: Your favourite word was holiday. Can you use it in a sentence?

Tony: I look forward to international holidays and visiting new places. 

24 fingers: Can you make it rhyme?

Tony: Now that I really struggle with. 

24 fingers: Every day’s a holiday in Brentwood?

Tony: Yeah, there you go. 

24 fingers: What advice would you give your younger self?

Tony: I look back and I had opportunities to possibly buy my own house earlier and own more property. Going back I wish I’d invested more in property than I did. 

24 fingers: Bricks and mortar. What’s the best thing anyone’s ever done for you?

Tony: She’s sitting in the background. The best thing that ever happened to me was my wife Natasha agreeing to marry me. 

24 fingers: She’s wonderful. Can you tell us your career-defining moment?

Tony: I left school and became an apprentice and stayed with the business right through to become senior management. When I became chairman of that company and took it forward and made it into a nationwide company, that was my biggest career-defining achievement. I was very proud of what I did there. 

24 fingers: You should be. If you won a big award of some kind, who would you thank? 

Tony: Definitely my parents and Natasha, my wife for supporting me all through these times that I say “I’ve got another business idea”. 

24 fingers: Love it. You need someone like that. What’s the time saver of the day?

Tony: I really struggled with that one. 

24 fingers: Where do you see yourself in 24 months?

Tony: I’d like to think very successful with VReptile, which is going to be an event we run twice a year. I’m also out the back of that hopefully going to open up an online TV channel specialising in reptiles around the world. I’d like to think that in 24 months I’d be running my business from a beach anywhere in the world. 

24 fingers: Costa Rica. Where were you 24 months ago?

Tony: I was running a business that I started. It was an invention to put out fires. Needless to say I’ve started something else that’s an established business but it’s on hold because of Covid. I’m involved in two businesses: this one, VReptile but also a very clever product, basically it’s a paint that you can paint on surfaces and it won’t catch fire. Anything you paint it on won’t catch fire. Maybe we’ll have another podcast about it and we’ll show you some videos?

24 fingers: Definitely. Tell us, what’s an interesting fact about you that we won’t know? Any claims to fame?

Tony: I used to have hair. I was on TV once for a reptile show in the 1990s. I’ve kept under the radar since then. 

24 fingers: You’ve gone stealth. If you had a 24-minute Skype chat with anyone, living or dead, who would it be?

Tony: Definitely Sir David Attenborough. For me he’s one of the biggest icons in conservation. 

24 fingers: What’s one word you’d like people to describe you with?

Tony: I hope honesty is the word. 

24 fingers: What’s your favourite social media campaign?

Tony: There’s various on Instagram and Facebook. I obviously follow you now. There are quite a few around the reptile industry that I follow because that’s my hobby/passion. 

24 fingers: What’s one quote that defines your work ethic?

Tony: 24/7. 

24 fingers: It’s all about the 24. What’s been the best part of your day?

Tony: Today? Looking forward to this. 

24 fingers: It never gets boring when people say that, we love it. Anything to plug?

Tony: VReptile. I’d love everyone to experience what we’re doing there. Please reach out if there’s any information you want other than that’s on the site, send me an email or Instagram on Facebook message. I’d love to hear people’s feedback and hopefully we do it right. 

24 fingers: We’re really looking forward to it – thanks again Tony for your time. 

We may be commemorating 404 years since the death of Shakespeare, the greatest English writer of all time, but it’s not all sad. In fact, some might even say all’s well that ends well. For a man who wrote so many plays concerning legacy, Shakespeare still hasn’t breathed his last. #ShakespeareLives in fact.

You might say in this, our brave new world, and to give the devil his due, that William Shakespeare ensured his legacy forever, not just because we still watch and re-watch the plays and stories he wrote, but because the short and the long of it is that he had the greatest impact on our spoken and written language of any writer.  This was possible not just because of his productivity (37 plays and 154 sonnets are credited to him alone), but also because the landscape of the English language was shifting and still being formed at the time. Shakespeare was a master at amalgamating the languages he knew to create new words. Who knew he was so fashionable? Bard, you trendsetter you.

Even if you sat through English lessons at school wishing in your mind’s eye that you were somewhere else, you’ve unwittingly been quoting Shakespeare for your whole life. Mumford and Sons take their name from ‘Much Ado about Nothing’, ‘Sigh No More’ refers to much of the dialogue between the protagonists, Benedict and Beatrice. The Beatles, The Smiths, Dire Straights… pretty much any name you can think of has written, painted and sung tributes to the master – and why not?

Shakespeare was, after all, a chronicler of human emotion like no one else. His plays encompass the whole gamut of human experience and serve as wonderful insights into a time long past. Love, which as we now know, is blind! Loss, madness, hatred, jealousy, comedy, he even taught us how to feel. The word ‘gloomy’ first appeared in ‘Titus Andronicus’ and is now a common adjective to describe those blue days we all know and hate. More commonly known as Mondays. How would we have described the feeling before he put pen to paper? We dread to think.

If we could sit down with William Shakespeare for our 24 questions interviews, we’d expect that he might not know a great deal about social media. But for the master of iambic pentameter and 14-line sonnets, creator of some of the greatest stories ever told, we’re sure composing 280 characters wouldn’t be too difficult.

Just leaves us to say, Bard, within this wall of flesh, there is a soul that counts thee its creditor*

*Shakespearean for ‘thank you’, obvs.