After a spell in the corporate world, Laughton volunteered for Selection into the 21st Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserve) in 1991 and was awarded his sandy coloured beret with famous winged dagger logo bearing the motto "Who Dares Wins".

He was awarded his parachute wings in 1992, completed the Explosives and Demolitions course at Hereford and was commissioned at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 6 August 1995.

[3][4] Following his military career Laughton held several management roles within the construction industry before moving into self employment from which his entrepreneurial activities stemmed.

OPL managed and delivered commercial interior and exterior fit-out and refurbishment projects for a range of blue-chip UK customers and was acquired by Balfour Beatty in 2011.

[5] Since then he has held non executive director roles as well as founding the Business Leadership Academy, co-founding Brighton City Airways (City Airways) and is founder and managing director of Laughton & Co Ltd.[6] Through his expeditions Laughton has raised funds to support charitable causes, these have included Great Ormond Street Hospital, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, Community Action Nepal and Global Angels.

He has founded and directed a number of events for charities including the annual Great Sussex Bath Race,[7] the Rockinghorse Sportathlon[8] and Speedee Boarding.

In September 2023 Laughton published Adventureholic: Extraordinary Journeys on Seven Continents by Land, Sea and Air telling the stories of Neil's most unforgettable and daring adventures.

[18] In 2003, Laughton led an expedition to help wheelchair-bound explorer Glenn Shaw achieve his life's ambition of seeing Mount Everest from Base Camp.

This record-setting parajet paramotor flight eventually reached an altitude of 9,000 m (30,000 ft) flying higher than all the Himalayan peaks and raised £1 million for the charity Global Angels.

[22][23] During an expedition to set the record for the World's Highest Dinner Party, Laughton and his team are on the north side of Everest in Tibet at an altitude of 6,400 m (21,000 ft) during the devastating earthquake of 2015.

[35] In 2009 Laughton undertook a mission to pilot the world's first road legal flying car on a 5,800 km (3,600 mi) journey by land and air from London to Timbuktu across the Sahara for charity Alive & Kicking.

[51] Laughton completed a Penny Farthing ride from Land's End to John o' Groats in the summer of 2019 with David Fox-Pitt in support of Mary's Meals and raised over £25,000 for the charity.

[52] On 17 September 2019 Laughton managed a team of racing penny farthing riders who attempted individual world records for the furthest distance in an hour around an indoor velodrome.

[53] On 10 October 2019 Chris Opie set a new world record for the furthest distance in one hour outdoors at Herne Hill Velodrome - 22 miles 369 yards (35.743 km).

[53] In celebration of GWR Day on 14 November 2019 Laughton attempted three Guinness World Record titles on a penny farthing (no hands) at Preston Park velodrome in Brighton.