Breaking Barriers: Female Entrepreneurs in Tech with Charli Hunt

2% of female founders get funding in the UK.

Only 2%!

Despite that shocking statistic my guest in this episode, Charli Hunt, has created a tech startup with her partner called Lime. A platform revolutionising how to use LinkedIn to generate more sales.

Charli grew up with entrepreneurial parents, and we explore the impacts of them balancing entrepreneurship and family life on her. So many of us are running our small businesses, trying to change our lives for the better, but do it racked with parent guilt, wondering what impacts we are having on them.

Well, Charli shares a story of positivity and love for experiencing all the roller coaster moments being the child of entrepreneurs can bring.

So, ease your parental guilt and check out Charli’s inspirational story of becoming a female founder in tech.

 

“Female founders get 2% of funding in the UK” – Charli

 

You’ll hear about:

 

• Female co-founders receive only 2% of funding in the UK.
• Starting a business requires immense hard work and dedication.
• Lime was created to fill a gap in LinkedIn's functionality.
• The tech industry presents unique challenges for women entrepreneurs.
• Childhood experiences shaping entrepreneurial spirit.
• Parental guilt is a common struggle for working parents.

Connect with Charli:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/charli-hunt/

X - https://twitter.com/charliahunt

The Lime One - https://thelime.one/

 

Connect with me:

My website - https://leaturner.co.uk/

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lea-turner/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/leaturnerholt

 

Find out about The HoLT:

 

The HoLT - https://www.the-holt.com/

The HoLT on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/theholt

The HoLT on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theholtcommunity/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/theholtcommunity 

The Vault - https://www.the-holt.com/vault

 

Join The Holt waiting list - https://www.the-holt.com/waitlist

 

This podcast is sponsored by QDos. Use the code LEA10 at the checkout to get your discount when signing up - https://my.qdoscontractor.com/code/10255/115219

Episode Transcript

Charli Hunt (00:00):
If you have a

(00:00):
business that's only got female
co founders, you get 2% of
funding in the UK, people choose
people that look like them to
invest in, because they think,
okay, there's so much risk in
investing in a business. And if
you can see yourself in someone,
you've, I mean, to get to an
angel investor level, you've had
to work like crazy to get that

(00:21):
amount of money. So you are then
trying to de risk everything,
and you're trying to find people
like you, who work like you, and
who will have the results that
you've had. So I don't think
it's conscious, but I think
unfortunately, most of the
people to give the money are
white men, middle aged men. You

Unknown (00:50):
Charli Hunt. Welcome to
the Holt survivor guide for
small businesses. It's so good
to see you. Thanks so much for
having me on and for anyone
watching the video, they'll see
that again. Bronson has
abandoned me today. He's decided
to be Charli's emotional support
dog for this podcast. But I'm
going to try not to traumatise
you too much. I've invited you
here today because, firstly,
you're a tech entrepreneur, and

(01:11):
as a female tech entrepreneur,
you're in the minority, so we're
definitely going to talk a
little bit about that. So but
also, what we've what's come to
light in our pre podcast
conversation is that you are the
child of an entrepreneur, and
you've definitely inherited a
lot from that. So we want to
talk about the parent guilt that
so many of us business owners
have, and the perspective of

(01:32):
someone who grew up with an
entrepreneur parent to sort of
add some context to that guilt
that so many of us feel. So why
don't you first tell us a little
bit about your kind of career
journey to date and what you're
doing at the moment. Okay,

Charli Hunt (01:44):
so I started off my
career in marketing and travel.
So I did loads of internships
and things in uni holidays and
just between uni and school.
Then I set up my business, my
copywriting agency at uni. I
thought, you know, doing writing
a 3500 page website, doing my
finals and studying for and,

(02:06):
sorry, writing my dissertation
would be a great idea all at
once, so you're not afraid of
hard work, no. And then, yeah.
So I had the copywriting agency
for 13 years still going. And
then Chris and I set up Lime
last year, which is a LinkedIn Tool,

Unknown (02:24):
and I'm a big fan of
Lime. And caveat, I'm not
currently using Lime, and the
only reason I'm not currently
using Lime is because I haven't
had the personal time to set it
up, but I know so many of the
members in the community are
using it and loving it as a way
to organise their contacts and
regularly engage with those
contacts and make sure that the

(02:46):
engagement that they're putting
out there is much more targeted
and efficient, rather than just
scrolling the News Feed hoping
to see something that's
relevant. You, you and I have
met multiple times, along with
your romantic partner Chris, and
also your business partner,
Chris, which is brave. And I
know Chris extremely well. It

(03:06):
was through Chris that I was
introduced to hope for the
charity that I'm on the board of
now. So we've got quite a bit of
history between us. And when you
and Chris started telling me
about Lime over champagne and
Thai food, I think it was, I got
really excited, because it's
filling a gap that definitely is
there in terms of LinkedIn,

(03:27):
people don't know who to engage
with. They don't have the time
to be finding people. They've
got all these people in their
network that they probably
connected with years ago, and
don't really understand the
relevance of them, or forget
that they're even there and Lime
is completely safe to use your
LinkedIn account. Unlike a lot

(03:47):
of like third party apps that
put your account at risk, Lime
is entirely safe. Doesn't
connect through your LinkedIn
account. You upload your own
data to it, and it acts like a
CRM. So how did you and Chris
come up with the idea for Lime initially.

Charli Hunt (04:03):
So the first
problem we encountered was Chris
used to do these amazing daily
vlogs. Yes, I remember them very
well, and they took him hours
every day to film them, edit
them, and then kind of, you
know, a lot of LinkedIn is kind
of babysitting comments and
things, isn't it? So he built up
this lovely community of people
who all knew each other in the
comments, and they all knew him,

(04:23):
and they were commenting every
day. And he realised about six
months later, he was still
getting the same levels of
engagement, but he was it was
just different people, and he'd
lost he calculated, I think,
about 40% of that network. Wow.
And that's because of the way
the algorithm works. Obviously,
it has to show you new stuff and
new people all the time, but
that's not the way B to B sales

(04:43):
work. They take years or months
to build up a relationship until
someone's ready to buy, or it's
the right time, or they're
looking for that product, or
whatever it is, or they trust
you enough. So it's just there
was just this mismatch between
the way the two things work. So
you. Chris kind of, he's so He's
so clever. Was kind of thinking

(05:04):
about how we would do a tool
without breaking LinkedIn rules,
and because of the recent kind
of GDPR rules, and Chris had a
business that didn't quite take
off in GDPR, so I'm quite lucky
he had that. And yeah, so
LinkedIn has to give you this
download of your contacts as the
GDPR rules. And, yeah, so we

(05:26):
just kind of invented something
around uploading all your
contacts, and then how do you
manage them, and how do you turn
those into sales and leads?

Unknown (05:33):
And you've, you've been
so when was Lime launched? It's

Charli Hunt (05:37):
got to be over a
year ago now. No, I think it was
May last year. So I think we did
that recently. Yeah, it's only
about nine, eight or nine months
old.

Unknown (05:44):
So that was when it
launched. So, but you built
this? You and Chris built this
in like, record time from the
actual idea when he started
actually making it happen to
when it was a usable tool. And I
remember we were sat in that
restaurant, weren't we, and he
was showing me on the laptop
before it went live, showing me
how it would all work. And we
got told off for having the
laptop. She weren't allowed to

(06:06):
have a laptop in this particular
restaurant. And he was showing
me all and I was like, No way,
what? This is wild. How, oh, my
God, this is crazy. And ideas
started come to me about, like,
what else you could do? And that
was the whole purpose of me
being there, right? How long was
that that period because it was
wildly short, wasn't it?

Charli Hunt (06:22):
Yeah, I think so it
was, I think, ticking along in
Chris's brain for a few months.
And then I'd say it took him
about two or three months to
build it. And that's the kind of
MVP, yeah. And now we've got
Lime 2.0 coming out in the next
two weeks. Which, which

Unknown (06:37):
can we talk about the
new Yeah, we can. Yeah. Okay, so
for anyone who isn't maybe
familiar with the back end of
LinkedIn, if, if you go into
your settings on LinkedIn, there
is a data section where you can
download a CSV file of every
contact, and it has the date you
connected. It has a little bit
about like the industry and
basic information about that

(06:58):
person's profile, but you then
upload that CSV to Lime, and you
can sort through your contacts.
So when I went in, I just put in
recruiter, and it showed me all
of the recruiters in my network.
Allowed me to tag those people,
and I could also look up, you
know, people that I'd connected
with back in 2012 that were no
longer relevant, and very

(07:18):
quickly delete those people one
by one. You still have to do it
one by one. You can't mass
delete, but it allowed me to
delete them very quickly. And I
was like, whoa. Now I have
30,000 connections on LinkedIn,
so for me, that was like, Oh, I
don't think I can actually. I
don't think I've got the time to
actually do all this. And also,
I'm not very targeted with my

(07:39):
engagement, a bit more random as
a person in general, in life,
but for people that want to be
very structured and very
efficient and spend their time
very intentionally on LinkedIn,
Lime is is perfect. It sounds
like I'm advertising for life,
but it really is filling that
gap that LinkedIn does not allow
you to do that. Their filters
are very difficult to use, and

(08:01):
you still have to sort of one by
one. You there's no way of
tagging people. There's no way
of filing them in any kind of
sense, or making notes about
those people. Which Lime allows
you to do. Yeah. So how have you
when you started using Lime
yourself, what did you notice
happened to your account? My

Charli Hunt (08:19):
impressions have
gone crazy. I mean, I would say
I was not very, I wasn't very,
kind of rigorous. I was a bit
random, like you with LinkedIn
before, so I'm a bit more
targeted with what I'm doing
now. But I think that's because
lime allows me to see what's
working and what isn't working,
but the commenting especially so
you can set follow up schedules

(08:40):
for each person that you want to
stay in touch with, and then
those people are much more
likely to see your content. But
also, LinkedIn sees that you're
very active, and you tend to get
a lot more impressions, but
because those people that you
actually want to work with are
seeing your content, you know,
you're actually getting in front
of them, and they're seeing your
expertise. So my impressions
have gone through the roof. I'm

(09:02):
getting like, three leads a week
for the copywriting agency, and
I don't even promote that on
LinkedIn, because they only
allow you to talk about kind of
set things they don't like you
to talk about anything outside
of your expertise. And then
we're getting about 10 to 15
signups for Lyme a week as well
through your engagement just me,

Unknown (09:19):
yeah, and you can
actually track that, because you
can see who the people are that
you're engaging with, and in
engaging with your content from,
from how you're using Lime,

Charli Hunt (09:27):
yeah, exactly. And
also I just, I look at the
analytics on the site, and
everybody's coming from organic
LinkedIn, basically.

Unknown (09:33):
So we're probably then
coming up to a year since Chris
started working on it, yeah,
there or thereabouts 1010, to 12
months, yeah, so you've
literally developed and grown
Lime. And do you have a kind of
rough idea of how many monthly
subscribers you've got online
now? Yeah, we've got about 200
at the moment. That's great,
considering you've not actually

(09:54):
done any paid marketing at all.
Yeah, that's that's incredible
in such a short. Period of time,
like, what, six months since you
really started pushing it hard?
Yeah. Do you feel proud of that?
Do you realise how big that is? Yeah,

Charli Hunt (10:08):
I think I thought
it was like crazy, small
numbers. And then I one of my
mentors, he's had a tech
startup, and he's like, You
don't understand how a few tech
companies actually even get to
revenue, like, even 200
customers is a huge milestone.
So yeah,

Unknown (10:23):
and I think it's one of
those those things, one of those
tools that when more people
understand how useful it is and
safe, because that's the key
thing. There are plenty of third
party apps out there that are
like, we can automate your
commenting. We can automate
sending DMS, sending connection
requests. Every single one of
those requires your account on
LinkedIn to be linked with that

(10:45):
third party app, and that link
breaches LinkedIn Terms of
Service. And

Charli Hunt (10:49):
even if you had a
have a plugin, we spent a lot of
money and time developing a
plugin, all the money we had in
the account, and then Chris was
like, LinkedIn can see when you
got a plugin and it doesn't like
it, so we abandoned that, and
we've got the app coming out
now, but, and that's

Unknown (11:07):
yeah and that, and
we've all seen people actually
get banned, and more often not
than not, people do get their
accounts back. But my God, if
you and I, it's happened to me.
I've been banned on LinkedIn a
couple of times. Yeah, one of
them was for the emoji in my
name. Oh, that was a whole
story. I had to fight to get it
back and legally change my name

(11:28):
to Leah rainbow Turner for that
as a whole other story. But it
when you rely so heavily on it
as your lead gen, which I did,
it was my only source of leads.
It proper put the fear in me.
And that was like right time to
build an email list. Time to
build like time to start
thinking about where else I'm
going to make revenue, because

(11:49):
if this happens again, I'm
screwed. So I think Lime is a
fantastic tool, and I highly
recommend anyone actually goes
and looks into it. So you had an
agency for 13 years before you
ventured into tech. What were
your and you're lucky, I
suppose, lucky. You're with a
partner that's got experience in
tech, so maybe the risk wasn't

(12:09):
as as scary for somebody who's
out on their own deciding to
start a tech company. Yeah, but
Tech's notoriously tough for
women. Has there been any
experiences that you've had
while sort of pushing into the
tech space that you feel have
been because you're a woman.

Charli Hunt (12:26):
I think the
interesting thing is, someone
said to me the other day, oh, it
easy for you to get funding,
because you'll be you can go to
all those women in tech things.
And actually, if you have a
business that's only got female
found two co founders, female co
founders, you get 2% of funding
in the UK, 2% of funding goes to
that. So Chris, by partnering

(12:48):
with me, has taken a bigger risk
that he won't get any funding
just because he has a female
business partner. Why do you
think that is? I think it's
because people choose people
that look like them to invest
in, because they think, okay,
there's so much risk in
investing in a business. And if

(13:08):
you can see yourself in someone,
you've, I mean, to get to an
angel investor level, you've had
to work like crazy to get that
amount of money. So you are then
trying to de risk everything,
and you're trying to find people
like you, who work like you, and
who will have the results that
you've had. So I don't think
it's conscious, but I think
unfortunately, most of the

(13:29):
people to give the money are
white men, middle aged men.

Unknown (13:32):
When I I was venturing
into a tech idea a few years
back, and I was speaking with
some people that were very
experienced in that that area,
one of the things that came up
and partly why I decided not to
even consider taking it any
further, was the fact that I'm a
mum. So they basically said to
me, Look, if we're going to do
this, the next five years of

(13:53):
your life are going to be this,
and nothing else, and investors
will not even entertain you,
because they'll unless you show
that you're committed. So you
might have to, like, give up
everything else that you're
doing and show commitment
working full time. And I went, I
don't want to do this because my
son's at the time he was, I

(14:13):
think, seven, I was thinking, do
I really want to spend five
years of my son's only childhood
glued in and out of an office,
in and out of investor meetings,
enslaved to whoever invests, and
working my ass off trying to get
something off the ground that
is, frankly, huge and scary. And
I went, I'm really not
passionate. If it was something

(14:34):
I was really, massively
passionate about, I probably it
probably would have been harder
to say no, but it was very easy
for me to walk away from said,
This is not my path, yeah, and
this is not how I want to spend
my son's childhood. So I back
that up. It's, I don't think
it's necessarily because we're
women. It's because there's a

(14:54):
chance that there will be
something that comes along
that's more important in this
project. And if we look at Sing.
All men, they'll be more single
minded, because I suppose it's
assumed, if they have a child,
somebody else is going to be
caring for it primarily. And
it's not right, and it's not,
certainly not the case for most
people. But you can understand

(15:16):
where that stereotype has come
from, for for people to make
those assumptions. So it is a
really difficult space to get
into. But excitingly, you've now
got conversations going on with
big companies about the future
of Lime. Yeah, one of the things
I I think attracts people to
tech is the huge potential,
because you've obviously grown

(15:36):
this very short period of time,
it potentially could mean within
the next couple of years, what
you've created, you could sell,
yeah, and you could walk away
with a large amount of money.
We've We've all seen the
situations happen, like
clubhouse boom during COVID, and
the valuation on clubhouse
rocketed. And I don't know if I
really don't know what happened

(15:58):
next with clubhouse, but you've
seen even just, you know, the
crypto industry, we were all
like, what the hell things would
just skyrocket because they
became popular, or the idea was
considered really valuable. It's
very up and down. But do you
think that's something that
really draws people to tech? Is
that potential for like, legacy

(16:19):
building amounts of money. Or do
you think there's something else
that really draws people into
it? I think

Charli Hunt (16:25):
it's, yeah, I think
it's the money primarily, and it
gets so much attention. So let's
say, with my agency, I could
probably, probably sell it for
one to two times revenue. With a
tech company, it's probably 10
to 20 times revenue. Wow. So
it's just such a difference.
Also, we were talking about
earlier, when you have an
agency, you sell something, and

(16:46):
then you've got to deliver the
work, and you've got to keep
delivering that work, whereas
you sell a piece of tech or
SaaS, and people kind of keep
coming back every month, and
obviously you've got to make
sure they're happy, and you've
got to keep developing the
product, but you're developing
that product for a lot of
people, so you're not kind of

(17:06):
having to keep one individual
happy all the time. And you're
not. You've got this mass, this
critical mass. So with an
agency, let's say you have 20
clients. If one of them drops
out, that's 20. That's like a
20th of your business. What's
that 10, no, 5% of your
business, whereas, let's say a
Lime customer leaves, that's a
tiny, tiny proportion of our

(17:26):
business. Yeah, so I think
there's that. And I just, I also
think it's exciting. There's so
many cool things happening, but
as you say, it's so the barrier
to entry is really hard, because
you need to, you need to have
money to be able to hire someone
to build it if you can't build
it yourself. And I'm so lucky
because Chris has, like, I mean,

(17:46):
he built his own computer when
he was, like, 10 or

Unknown (17:50):
something. He is like,
a an actual like, I always think
of Chris is that is one of the
most eccentric people I know,
but in a lovely way, not like,
you know, peeing in the corner
and losing his marbles. He's but
he's eccentric in a in a very
traditionally English gentleman,
did you know, I mean, like, the

(18:11):
very stereotypical version of an
eccentric Englishman, yeah. And
he is a super, super genius when
it comes to coding. He can build
anything, yeah? And he's
literally said that to me as,
like, you have an idea for
something, and if it can be done
with coding, I can do it. Like,
I don't even understand what
coding is, yeah? Like, never
mind actually doing it. And it,

(18:31):
he's just, it's magic. It's, he
is a magician, as far as I'm
concerned, witchcraft, yeah. So
you will, you two have a
perfectly combined set of
skills, because you're a
marketer, you're a content
writer, and you've used that and
the people skills that you have,
because he's very charismatic,
but you're much more like you

(18:52):
engage with people in a more
maybe straightforward way, and
the two combined work so well to
create what you've created,
yeah, and that's but can't be
easy, like working with an evil,
mad genius. Not evil, I love
you, Chris, but, but working
with a genius has its
challenges, but also a genius

(19:14):
that you never leave because
you're also romantic partners,
yeah. Now, I've dated
entrepreneurs in the past, and
the thing that I have struggled
with while dating entrepreneurs,
one at a time, not multiple at
just for clarity, is I never
switch off, because we are both

(19:36):
always thinking about our
businesses, discussing ideas,
discussing ambitions, problem
solving, whatever it might be,
our brains are always on and
turning off is very difficult.
Is that something that you
found? And how do you cope with
that?

Charli Hunt (19:53):
So I think Chris
and I are lucky with Lyme,
because we're at the we're still
in the honeymoon period, so I
don't mind talking about it all
the time. Yeah. Yeah, Chris is
probably better than I am at
switching off. And he's very
good at telling his mind, okay,
I'm relaxing now, or okay, I'm
working now. Really, he's really
good at that. And I think we we

(20:14):
started off working together. So
we met through work, and then he
and then we did a bit of work
together, and then he started to
get more involved in proof, and
then we did Lime together. So I
think because we've always had
that, it works quite well. I
also think it's useful because
we argue at work, so we get all
the arguing out, and we don't

(20:34):
really argue at home as much. I
mean, we do argue, but not as
much as I normally would with
someone. So I think, yeah, so I
think it does work. It it's not,
it's difficult, because you
obviously can't, like, go home
and bitch about your colleague.
But I've been and Chris and I
have both been solo founders for
Well, Chris for ages, and me for

(20:54):
13 years. So we are, we do come
to blows quite a lot, because
I'm used to having the final
say, and he's used to having the
final say.

Unknown (21:02):
Do you have any like,
ground rules in your
relationship? So you haven't
really had to have those
conversations like laying some
ground rules. We don't talk
about, like, if you have an
argument about something at
work, is there sort of an
unwritten rule that we do not
take this home, we leave that in
the office? Kind of thing

Charli Hunt (21:16):
we're quite good
at. Our arguments blow over.
They don't last very long. So I
don't think I care about any of
the small details enough that I
would kind of carry it over an
hour.

Lea Turner (21:27):
Sounds like you
really got it nailed? I think

Charli Hunt (21:29):
we all see that
balance. We don't live together,
so it'll be interesting to see
when we move in together. If
it's difficult, yeah,

Unknown (21:35):
I suppose if you can,
if you have that opportunity to
sort of still be separate
sometimes, yeah, that's really
helpful. I think I would
probably kill someone if I had
to be, and it doesn't matter who
it is, but working and living
with somebody, I think I would
probably do a murder. Yeah, I'm
not sure I'm that patient of a
person. Chris

Charli Hunt (21:51):
wants us to be
together all the time, and I
have to be like, I'm gonna go
with my friends. So it's he's a
bit like Bronson, yeah? Just

Lea Turner (22:01):
wants to be by your
side, hugging all the time, and

Unknown (22:04):
I'm, like, my dog, I
need some space,
but you need that balance, one
you have to have, yeah, if
you're both, like, I'm not
saying you're clingy, but if, if
both of you were to be like,
overly you'd probably end up
exploding, right? Yeah,

Charli Hunt (22:18):
it was my last
partner was really independent,
and I'm really independent, and
I'm really independent, so you
just never saw each other. We
were like shit,

Unknown (22:27):
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eligibility. Now, back to the
conversation. Now, let's talk a
little bit about your childhood,
and I don't want to go with
Stephen Barlow on you like we're
not trying to uncover your
trauma and all of this, but I
know that one thing that I have

(23:49):
struggled with the entire time
running a business. And I
started my first business before
my son was born, and I'm a solo
mom, so it's just me and my son.
It's only ever just been me and
my son, but there have been
periods where I've been
exceptionally busy, and I've
really felt that parental guilt
that I'm not doing enough for my
son. I'm not spending enough
time with him. There's too many

(24:09):
times where I'm saying, babe, I
can't I'm busy. I'm sorry,
darling. I'll do it in a minute.
I'm just, I just need to finish
this thing and almost making him
less important than my business.
And I carry that guilt, but I
know I'm doing it for the right
reasons, but you, your dad's
been an entrepreneur your entire
life, and your mum had a full
time job working in marketing.

(24:29):
So we can see where your skills
come from. Right from? What was
your childhood like as the child
of someone who worked a lot as
an entrepreneur.

Charli Hunt (24:41):
So also, my dad
comes from our family of
entrepreneurs, so it goes all
the way back to my great, great
grandfather. Oh my gosh. So he
started foils to the bookshop

Unknown (24:50):
in London. Wow, I'm
pretty sure I've seen that in a
LinkedIn post, actually, yeah,

Charli Hunt (24:54):
I think it's on my
LinkedIn post. Yeah, that's so
cool, yeah. So I think so I
guess there. Was that kind of
family heritage feeling to it.
But I think growing up with an
entrepreneur, it was so
exciting. So I remember we would
like ride our bikes at my dad's
office at the weekend, if he had
to go in at the weekend, and

(25:15):
like, they had this cool, big
car park that we could ride our
bikes in. So he'd like take us
down there. I think my dad
generally is he set a really bad
example for me with choosing a
partner, because he wakes up at
four like he used to unload the
dishwasher, walk the dog, go to
go to work at like 5am he'd be

(25:36):
back in time for bath time, walk
the dog in the evening as well
cook for us. He was like, he's
just, I mean, he was only 22
when I was born. So very young.
He had that energy of a young
parent. So I guess that's part
of it. But I think it was just
exciting, like we would, we got
all these cool experiences. He

(25:57):
was in he worked in travel a
lot, so we did a lot of
travelling, which was amazing,
but like, round the dinner table
would get excited talking about
things when I was when I was,
like 14, I think my aim was to
be on Charles Archie's speed
dial. That was my aim

Unknown (26:13):
in life. I mean, that's
wild. And

Charli Hunt (26:17):
then when I was 15,
I wrote my first business plan.
I just remember, like my dad
would work in the dining room.
It's so exciting in there all
those things. And then when I
was 17, he paid me, like, three
pounds an hour to write this, to
type up all these lists of
potential investors for a
company he was starting. And it
was just, I think if you get
your kids involved, it's so

(26:37):
exciting. And like, how cool to
be able to show them that they
can do whatever they want to do.
And, like, if you want to be my
dad really wanted me to do a job
like lawyer or doctor, like a
really safe job, because I guess
he's, he's seen the ups and
downs, but, I mean, we're really
lucky, like my dad is really
good at making money, and he's
also had periods where we've had

(26:59):
really no money. And I think
though those, both of those
things, give you such a great
kind of experience. Yeah.

Unknown (27:07):
I mean, at the time,
not so good, but in hindsight,
you go, wow. Well, I picked up
these really incredible life
lessons from that.

Charli Hunt (27:14):
Yeah. The only
thing was, like, after the after
my parents got divorced, my dad
had a very public company
failure. So he had an airline
that he had to raise a lot of
money for, and seeing him like
on the floor, like that was
horrible, but it's a great life
lesson, because he picked
himself up again and like,

(27:34):
that's the lesson, not really
the shit bit.

Unknown (27:37):
Yeah, and that, that
you can look at it like that.
And, you know, we've, we've
talked a few times on this
podcast about the sort of what
you can take from the crappy
times, and if there's, there's
always a lesson to be taken and
you can sort of look at that
experience and go, yeah, it was
shit, but I am grateful that it
happened, because I got this out
of it. You don't have to be okay

(27:57):
with that having happened, but
you can still find something to
be grateful for that you've
taken forward. And it kind of
almost makes it worth going
through when you can take
something positive from it. It's
also makes a great story later
on. Well, this is it, isn't it?
And I remember having a whole
conversation with them. I think
it was Dan Kelso about the most
interesting marketers, or the
people that have had the most
varied life experience, because

(28:18):
you can empathise with a wide
variety of people. You can put
yourself in other people's shoes
so much better you better. So is
there anything that you remember
like, I'm always worried with my
son that he's thinking, you
know, I wish mum had more time
to play with me. I wish mum
would do this. I'm much better
now. My work life balance with
him is so much better, and it's

(28:38):
become a priority, but probably
only in the last year I've been
able to do that. And like you,
my son's had some really amazing
opportunities to travel and have
experiences with me as a result
of my work. But I'm always
thinking like, is he gonna grow
up and be remembering all of
those times I wasn't there? Do
you remember times and think

(28:58):
like, Are there parts of your
childhood where you almost
regret the more you're maybe
resentful of your dad for not
being around enough?

Charli Hunt (29:08):
I really can't
think of anything. I don't I
don't think I am. And to be
honest, my friends in London who
work like nine to five jobs,
it's not really nine to five,
and they feel more pressure to
go into the office. So they're
even, you know, even if you are
working, you're still with your
kid at home. So they have to
hire, they have to have

(29:29):
childcare, they have to put
their kids in after school
clubs. They're, they're so
stressed. And I think probably
everyone's just really stressed
when you have kids and you want
a career like feminism,
obviously, is amazing, but we've
built this weird prison for
ourselves where women are still
doing the majority of the stuff
at home, and they're still

(29:50):
responsible for the majority of
the childcare, but they also
want to be working full time,

Unknown (29:55):
and we're shouldering
the guilt for doing neither of
them to the best of our ability.
Yeah. Yeah,

Charli Hunt (30:00):
so we've got two
full time jobs, and we built a
society and a work life based on
the fact that one person would
be at work and one person would
be at home, and now we're having
to do both of those things in
the same amount of hours. So I
just and

Unknown (30:13):
even if it wasn't for
feminism and us, you know, women
wanting to work more, we can't
afford to live without two
incomes these days? Exactly. No.
It's very difficult to afford to
buy a house and pay all the
bills on one salary. Yeah, so
it's it's difficult. I think
parenting is always difficult.

(30:34):
It doesn't matter what situation
you're in, it's always going to
be difficult. But I know
personally, as a business owner,
as a mum trying to grow a
business, trying to provide
enough for his future, but also
balancing his needs. I'm just
constantly thinking, I'm not
doing enough for him. I'm not
there enough for him. I could be
doing better, and it's always in

(30:54):
the back of my head, even when I
know I'm doing my absolute best,
there's still that voice going,
Yeah, but what about this? Like,
I missed one sports day. It was
an event that been booked for
months in advance, and it was
like, there was people flying in
from Europe to attend this
thing, and I was going, I was
there, and the reason a lot of
them were flying in was for the
training I was given. This
company had spent tonnes of

(31:15):
money on flying people in, and
the school emailed me, it's
sports day with like, two weeks
notice. I was like, I can't go
that day. Like, there's
literally, I can't do anything
about this. I cannot cancel. It
would be career suicide, or it
certainly felt like it would be
career suicide. So I didn't go.
And, you know, I got a friend of
mine was there cheering Dexter

(31:36):
on instead. But oh, my God, did
I punish myself? I felt like the
worst human ever, and I've been
at every other one in, you know,
his whole life. I've been at
every other one, all the school
plays, all the Christmas
concerts, all of that. But that
one thing I punished myself for,
and I guess what you're saying
is, there's so much you get from

(31:57):
having a parent that works hard,
that has helped you is that, is
that what you're saying, like,
do you feel like a lot of what
you're doing now, your work
ethic, your tenacity? Do you
think that would have happened
if you didn't have a dad that
was doing what he was doing? I

Charli Hunt (32:13):
don't know. It's
it's really hard to say. Like,
you don't really know what your
life would look like if
something hadn't happened. But I
think, yeah, watching someone a
do like work that hard, but B do
what they want to do, and take
risks and push boundaries, I
don't and then it all be okay in
the end. I don't know if you
would have that. I don't know if

(32:36):
I would have that if I hadn't
watched my passionate about what
he's doing, right? But I think
there was a study I read
recently that about children of
working moms versus children of
mums who stayed at home, and the
kids of working moms are happier
in general because they've
they've got a parent that's

(32:56):
happy and has their own thing,

Unknown (32:59):
And that's important. I
mean, in any relationship,
having our own space to do our
own things and maintaining who
we are is really important,
right? And I know that
definitely, in the first few
years after I had my son, that I
definitely felt like I lost
myself. I just didn't know who I
was anymore because I was in I
was now working full time for my
clients, but also working full
time for my child. I was

(33:21):
literally like, everything was
on me. I was he was completely
dependent on me. And I was like,
okay, yeah, but who am I now?
Because I'm this person to my
clients. I'm this person to him,
but I've got no time for
friends, I've got no time for
dating. I've just don't have any
time to be me. And that got that
got easier as I got older, but I
think it was never as good in

(33:44):
the first five years of my son's
life. When it started getting
good was when I started doing a
job that I loved, and when I
started doing LinkedIn training,
I was really passionate about
growing the brand, about the
challenges, about learning new
things, and I suddenly was
excited by getting up in the
morning. I wasn't, like, going
to my desk and going, Oh, more

(34:05):
medical reports, oh, more
building surveys. I was like,
Oh, what am I doing today? This
is exciting. And I'm working
with this really cool person,
and I'm having to go at this
thing, and I'm learning how to
do this thing. That passion in
me. It was like a light that
went on, and I was super
passionate, there's probably no.
I mean, maybe you'd, you'd say

(34:25):
there was, but is there any
better gift than you can give to
your kids than that example of
excitement for what you're
doing? Because I, I can't think
of anything worse than spending
40 hours a week hating what I'm
doing,

Charli Hunt (34:40):
yeah, for somebody
else. And then your son thinking
that he has to spend his life
doing them as well. And if
that's all he wants to do,
great, but

Unknown (34:47):
like staying in an
unhappy relationship, right? If
you're, if you're you and your
husband or wife are not happy,
but you're staying together for
the kids, but the kids see Mom
and Dad arguing all the time
instead of a lot. Relationship,
and it might sound a little bit
brutal, but you're you're
probably doing more damage to
your child for their future,
because they think that's what

(35:08):
marriage is like. So then when
they go seeking a partner, they
think that's normal, yeah, they
think that's what marriage is.
And you've got these weird
wirings in your brain now that
that, well, it's okay if he
shouts at me, because that's
what my mom and dad did. They
shout at each other all the
time. That's just what marriage
is. Hopefully it shouldn't be

(35:28):
what marriage is like. I know
there's lots of people that that
is what marriage is like, but
it's that example that you're
setting. So I know Chris has
already got children, but do you
think like when the time comes
for you, because, and I'm not
assuming this, we have had a
conversation that is something
that you want in your future. Do
you how do you see your life
juggling the two?

Charli Hunt (35:51):
Um, I yeah, I
guess. I mean, firstly, Chris is
very hands on. He's very hands
on with his kids now. So I think
firstly, it's, don't marry your
own glass ceiling. And then such
a good friend I did steal it
from someone. And then secondly,

(36:13):
I think just having a business
is great, because you can get up
before everyone else, or you can
go to bed after everyone else,
and you can work on a Saturday
morning. Or you can, like, Chris
takes his kids to taekwondo
every Tuesday night, and he
codes in the car park of the
taekwondo. That does not
surprise me. So, you know, you
can do things like that without

(36:33):
having to have this presenteeism
that you have as an employee.
And I think, yeah, I think
that's the main thing, is
escaping that presenteeism, like
if you have to do emails on your
phone, you're still doing your
emails if

Unknown (36:46):
it matter, if you're
sat in a rented office in the
middle of the city or not, yeah,

Charli Hunt (36:51):
and if you want to
make your business a bit more
automated, or you want to take
less money and hire somebody to
fill those gaps for the first
five years or something, and
then think about money a bit
more after that's fine too. I
think you just, yeah, I think
you just, you can set it up how
you want to work around your
life, freedom.

Unknown (37:11):
Yeah, it's definitely,
it's definitely evolved over the
last five years for me, like,
the first year it was COVID. So
my God, did I work like but what
else did I do? I couldn't go out
of the house. It was when he was
asleep. It was I'm bored, I'm
lonely. Let's get some work
done. Let's earn some money. I
may as well graft while I've got
nothing better to do. But

(37:32):
definitely, as he's got a little
bit older and his own social
life has developed, put more
demands on me. But actually,
I've finally got my business to
a place where I can be a little
bit less there in the office,
constantly on everything,
because I've got a team and
things like that. It's just, I
think it's an interesting

(37:52):
perspective, because I like
thinking about all of the
working parents that will be
listening to us, especially the
ones that are sort of maybe in a
full time job, who are or maybe
they're on maternity leave, and
they're thinking, I don't want
to go back to my full time job.
Maybe I could start a side
hustle. Maybe I don't have to

(38:13):
work for somebody else all the
time. But also thinking, Oh my
God, but my family like, it's
going to be really hard for the
first few years to get the
business off the ground, and
it's going to take going to take
away from time with my child and
Oh, my God, they're going to
hate me, and I'm going to be a
bad mum for doing that, or a bad
dad. There's so many things that
go through our heads, and I
think that that message for me
is that actually it's not that

(38:34):
deep for so many children. Yeah,
the my son says to me all the
time, he's like, I'm going to
start a business when I'm older.
I'm going to listen to all your
podcast episodes, mommy, because
when I'm done being a
professional footballer, I can
start my own business. I'm like,
All right, okay, yeah,
professional footballer better
go well, though, because that's
my retirement plan. He's already
told me that it's like, I'll

(38:54):
look after you, Mom, when I'm a
premier league footballer. But
it's just, it's interesting to
hear that, and I was excited
when you told me that you were
the child of an entrepreneur,
just like, oh, suddenly this
episode's got a different
dimension to it, because I'm,
I'm personally fascinated in
that, and I'd love, I love to
hear from other people that have
grown up in that I didn't grow
up in that environment. My my

(39:14):
family were not entrepreneurs. I
didn't have that example when,
God, it took me so long to get
there, to even think of it as an
option. Whereas you came out of
uni, before you'd even left uni,
you'd started a business, and
you had the guts to do that. Do
you think it's made you much
more of a I know you've
mentioned it made you more of a
risk taker. You're much more
comfortable with risk has that

(39:35):
come from your dad as well?

Charli Hunt (39:37):
Definitely. My
mom's a big risk taker as well.
I mean, she's always getting
into fights with people about
just not doing things
conventionally.

Unknown (39:44):
I love that though. I
mean, well, obviously I would
love it. I'm not really a
conventional kind of person. So
what? How's that lent itself to
your business?

Charli Hunt (39:53):
I think with a
business, you just, you've got
to take the risk, and I think
you have to, very often, just
jump first and then worry about
it later. To the thing I would
say, so I've started a business
at 22 and I've started a
business at 35 so the business I
started at 34 sorry, so the
business I started when I was 22
I had no mortgage, I had student

(40:14):
loan, and I'm pretty good at
just existing off very little
money. So I had no risk really.
And that was the perfect time to
start a business. It was a bit
riskier last this time round,
because I've got a mortgage I
have to pay for my dog, like I,
you know, I was fairly
comfortable with the copywriting

(40:34):
agency, and if I have to get a
normal job, I don't know what
I'll do with my dog in the day,
because he doesn't like other
people, so unlike mine. So yeah,
so I think there's, you know,
definitely things build up and
it becomes more and more
difficult to take the risk. But
on the flip side, when I had my
business, when I first started

(40:54):
my copywriting agency, I was a
lot slower with things, because
I didn't have the risk to worry
about, and I knew I could cover
my 800 quid a month rent in
London, and then a couple of
bits and bobs on the top of
that. Now I know like shit if I
can't pay my mortgage, like all
that money I saved up to put
into the flat goes. So I just I

(41:17):
do things a lot quicker, and I
know I have more a fire lit
under me, I would say, so you've

Unknown (41:22):
got the skills to do
things quicker as well now,
right? Because you've got 13
years more of life experience,
yeah? And I've

Charli Hunt (41:28):
got the network and
the, you know, I kind of just
know how things work a little
bit, and I know how to just, I
know you just try things for a
couple of months, if it doesn't
work, move on to the next thing.
Yeah. So I do, I do think that
helps, but I do also, I think
it's the fact I've taken a
bigger risk. Is I need to be
like, right? This needs to pay
off quite quickly.

Unknown (41:45):
Yeah, so everything is
going into it, and if it doesn't
work, right? Yeah, what's the
next idea? Yeah, so I'm not,
there's no time or space for
procrastination. There's no
denying, though, that being
working as running your own
business, growing your own
thing, is constantly exciting.
Yeah, even the bits where it's a
bit crap and you're a bit
worried and anxious, still

(42:05):
exciting. Yeah, and I don't
think I could ever give that up,
even if my businesses make it
hugely successful and I end up
retiring very, very rich, I
don't think
I could stop No,

Lea Turner (42:16):
it's like a disease.

Charli Hunt (42:18):
I read an article
by the founder of loom. He sold
it, and he's had a year off, and
he's like, I don't know what to
do with myself. I'm really

Unknown (42:24):
bored and really rich.
It's like, that gold medal
depression, isn't it? Yeah, that
people spend their entire lives
trying to achieve the thing, the
big goal, and then they achieve
it. They're like, Oh, well now,
yeah, and I don't ever want to
be that. I can't, you know, an
open dog rescue centre or
something like, that's what

Charli Hunt (42:43):
I was thinking.
Yeah, I'll probably go, I'll
probably try to do something
with food tech, because I think
food is a big problem at the
moment. So something like, maybe
not as lucrative, but, you know,
still interesting. So

Unknown (42:55):
I would urge anybody
who's enjoyed this episode and
gone, oh, Lime. That sounds
interesting, go to Lime. It's
what's the website address? Is
the Lime.one? The lime.one? I
was going to say, is it the dot
Lime.one? Or can't remember
these things, but do go and try
it out if you're struggling with
your LinkedIn engagement and you
want to boost your impressions
without putting your account at
risk, but just give Charli a
follow in general, because the

(43:16):
content that you're putting out
is is fascinating, and it's
really lovely to be able to
follow the journey of Lime from
the beginning and to see where
it's going to take you. So thank
you for coming up here and being

Charli Hunt (43:26):
on the podcast.
Thank you so much for having me.
Le, it's been great. Supporting
small business owners

Unknown (43:31):
is my biggest passion,
and that's what my membership
community the HoLT is all about.
Inside the HoLT are more than
150 master classes from experts
in every business skill you
could ever want, and we add more
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(43:52):
But it's so much more than just
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Everyone inside the HoLT shares
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They're super active. The chat
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cheerleaders in your pocket
willing you to succeed and
helping you wherever they can.
And we offer all of this and

(44:13):
much more at an extremely low
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bootstrapping a business, the
HoLT is a kind, inclusive and
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everyone knows that working
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you to join us. You can check
out the full details on the dash

(44:34):
halt.com or if communities
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just want access to the hundreds
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(44:56):
Visit the-holt.com/vault to
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(45:22):
You.