Chapter 1: Our journey from a thought to launching a brand

Tomorrow, we will officially launch Gym+Coffee. Needless to say, we are incredibly nervous. We are asking ourselves so many questions: what if it launches and nothing? What if it takes off? What if we’ve got it completely wrong?

Even though the last few days, in particular, have been a whirlwind of jobs, we were able to take some time to look back on how much we have done since we started down this road. Looking back actually gave us a different perspective and filled us with confidence. We have done so many things and overcome several challenges. First off, it was - how the hell do we pick a name? In the past, with other ideas, we tormented ourselves getting this part right. This time we just picked one and moved on to the next task. That was our first lesson: getting the ball moving is difficult, just get it moving, it’s easier after that. In fact, we made most of our decisions in the first few days and so quite quickly there was no stalling, no going back.

Visualising what you’re working on is so important. We knew we wanted the + to be prominent. We used Fiverr to get some thoughts on our logo and branding with this in mind. After a couple of rounds, we were delighted. What we were given then is what you see on the site and on our products. Once we saw the + at the heart of our name, it inspired us to create a brand we passionately believe in. Once that passion was started, all other jobs became much easier. Seeing and feeling what you’re committing to is vital.

As we found out, there is a ridiculous amount of things to think about when you’re starting up a company. We admired entrepreneurs and business owners a lot before this but now we have a whole new level of respect for them. Over the last five months, we have faced questions and had to make decisions on product sourcing, shipping methods, storage and logistics, tax and accounting generally, company registration, website development and digital marketing. One day we are designing products with our manufacturers and the next we are fine tuning the back end functionality of our website. It has been a challenging few months but we have never doubted what we are doing and we continue to get more enthused with every new way we stretch ourselves.

While this may seem intimidating, the people that have helped us along the way have been amazing. Friends and family have supported us non-stop, offering personal and professional advice where their expertise suits. What has been inspiring for us has been the encouragement and help we have received from all our business partners during this time. Whether they are building our website, helping us with photo shoots or storing our stock, every one of them has shown us they are passionate about our business and want it to succeed just as much as we do.

As you’ll see, our brand is all about finding the right balance and making your life richer. This journey from a thought to launching a brand has been our personal attempt to be true to that. We hope you go out and do what’s right for you.

Thank you for your support! G+C Team