Sticky Notes
Ever wondered what it's actually like to build a fitness business from the ground up? Meet Rosie and Leila, two Pilates instructors who crossed paths at a London studio and discovered a shared vision that was too powerful to ignore.
This podcast—Sticky Notes—is our real-time chronicle of building something from nothing. We're relatively new teachers stepping into entrepreneurship, balancing Rosie's big-picture dreaming with Leila's pragmatic planning. We're challenging fitness industry norms, particularly the narrow concept of a "Pilates body," and creating spaces where everyone feels welcome regardless of how they look.
Join us weekly as we document every decision, meeting, and milestone. Whether you're interested in Pilates, entrepreneurship, or simply enjoy witnessing the unfiltered journey of two women betting on themselves and their vision—we're glad you're here for the ride.
Sticky Notes
We're figuring out how to build two websites while recording a podcast on £10 Amazon mics (Ep. 2)
The journey of building a business (or a few!) from scratch involves what feels like endless decisions, unexpected hurdles, and the constant excitement of creating something new. In this conversation, Rosie and Leila dive into the trials and errors of launching their first podcast episode, and the ongoing development of their dual-platform Pilates venture.
The episode reveals the behind-the-scenes realities of entrepreneurship- from the surprisingly complex process of podcast editing to the paperwork involved in setting up a business bank account. With Amazon microphones and an iPhone recording, they're embracing a DIY approach while manifesting future success.
Financial considerations take centre stage as they discuss their equal partnership and decision to build without outside investors. Having already invested significantly in their Pilates certifications, they're now focusing on strategic spending for website development with Bee More Design. Their approach involves phased payments and learning to maintain the websites themselves.
A central theme emerges around clarifying their vision for two distinct platforms: Hex, a subscription-based virtual studio combining classical Pilates and HIIT training, and Honeycomb Studios, a community for connecting all actors in the Classical Pilates world. The co-founders discuss pricing strategies, content plans, and their target launch date.
Throughout the conversation, there's a palpable excitement about this creative phase of business development. As Rosie notes, it feels like the training period before becoming a certified instructor – a magical time of learning and growth before the full weight of responsibilities sets in.
Ready to follow along on this entrepreneurial journey? Subscribe now to witness the building of a Pilates empire from the ground up, complete with all the triumphs, challenges, and lessons learned along the way.
Jumping in really quick just before this episode starts. To let you know that. Jumping in really quick before this episode starts, just to acknowledge the clicking sound that appears in the first couple of minutes. It comes from the mic. We, neither Rosie nor I, were really aware just how much feedback it would pick up from us just fiddling with the little individual mics. It was obviously our first time recording with the mics, so we would love if you would bear with us and if you push through the first few minutes. It does get much better as we get into the flow of the episode. It won't. It will hopefully not be as prevalent. I can promise that episode three does not have this issue. We had heard this before filming and recording episode three, so it is just this episode, if you would bear with us. I know, especially because most, if not all, the people listening and watching right now our friends and our family, and so we appreciate all the support that has come from all of you, and I know I speak for both Rosie and myself the messages that we have received this week from anyone who has just watched the episodes, sent photos, shown their love and support, mean the world. Obviously, the episode was not posted by the time we recorded episode two. So jumping in to acknowledge the technical difficulties but also to thank you all, um, for your support. So please sit back, relax and enjoy episode two.
Speaker 1:I love holding a mic. Yeah, I like it. It makes me feel so cute, I feel so important. Um, I feel also like really casual. I feel more casual than last time, even though I don't think it is Welcome back. Oh, should we do three, two, one again? Yeah, we didn't come up with an intro or anything. In our last episode. We said we would be more dialed in on the intro. It doesn't have to be like, yeah, it can just be welcome back, because I feel like there's nothing catchy, there's nothing necessarily. Welcome back to sticky notes podcast, whether you're here for the first time or have seen our first episode, welcome or welcome back.
Speaker 1:Welcome back, um, we now have two microphones, which is the biggest. Discuss that in the first one, we briefly touch on it because one of us accidentally knocks the pillow the tripod pillow, the tripod pillow and then we just are like, let's acknowledge our one microphone. That was just us not super planning ahead. No, I forgot to bring that second one, and actually I've been recently. If we, when we interview people, are we gonna have to have three, because I have a third one of these but does it connect? Connect to that? Like I don't know, maybe not, we might have to buy something. That's three. Yeah, maybe at that point we upgrade up to like nice audio, actual mics. Yeah, cause these are just like, well, they were 10 pounds a pack from Amazon. Um, gets the job done. But, yeah, I also. Yeah, and I luckily I bought two, because when I first got them it was it was actually to voiceover tick tocks, because I was like, maybe if I have this cute mini mic, I'll be less intimidated about doing voiceovers, cause I just didn't like that. Yeah, um, and then it was weird. I know it was a bit, yeah, it scares me.
Speaker 1:And then it was going to be for another podcast that I was going to do with a friend and that just never came to fruition because her and I just like were bad at planning that. So it then worked out that we obviously are now doing a podcast and now we have two mics. One of my friends was actually in here earlier, my best friend, sarah. She was in here filming a voiceover she does for the woman that she works for and it was like this big, proper mic, oh, and I'm sure it's. I mean, this woman has a very established business and that's what's required and it isn't as casual as this. But I was like one day, well, I would say, yeah, one day I did a friend of a friend with, did a uni project once and like in her final thing it was, um, because it was like audio, digital or something, her like a degree and so she had to interview me and she was like that fancy proper setup they had, like the, we had like the headphones that we wore and he would hear your own voice. Yeah, um, maybe one day, maybe one day. But I do see a range Some of the podcasts I listen to that are also videos.
Speaker 1:They don't even have anything, it's just them in a quiet room looking into an iPhone and they've done a few episodes where they go into a studio and they're actively testing it out and asking the audience like what do you guys think of this? I was going to say, because I'm sure there are studio spaces in London, I like this chill vibe, but this with the big mics might be kind of fun. They would be quite cool. Feel a little more legit and maybe, if I'm sure, also when we figure out I mean, this is sort of jumping into what we want to talk about. I was going to say I'm sure when we figure out also maybe like slightly more effective ways to record and then edit, because I have a feeling that the way we're doing it is maybe not the most effective. I mean efficient, rather. Yeah, because you want me to just jump right into the editing that happened this week, sure, well, do you want to talk about? Yeah, we can do that if you want. Yeah, I want to talk about, we can. Well. I guess this ties into it.
Speaker 1:How we even felt about the podcast last. Yeah, and you can start with, yeah, your editing process, but that's also part of what you did this week, that is part of what I did that week, this week, how do we feel about the pod? I feel great. We had so much fun we did. It was so good, we knew so. Actually, was it last? Oh, it was last week. I was like, was it two weeks ago now? No, it was we both. We ended it and then, after you left, I sent you a message. That was so much fun and I was on a high. Yeah, I just had the best time. I thought it was and maybe it's just because it was novel, I don't think so, but it was just so fun. I thought no, it was. It's also nice to.
Speaker 1:When you're recording something or just saying something out loud, you do really have to what the words I want to say are, because it's literally and that's to do with exact. You have to really be so specific with how you're choosing to like phrase things and you have to really think well, to just like, as we were trying to plan this and figure out things with the business, is that this is almost forcing us to be not necessarily introspective but to really like be doubling down almost and like the thought process is behind things. Yeah, that was one of my biggest takeaways. First of all, I found it personally so nauseating to listen to my own voice so many times. So nauseating to listen to my own voice so many times. The first time I listened to it, I had so much fun and I was actually just smiling because it was you and me just talking and I loved it. And then, when I was going back, trying to find the little areas that I wanted to be edited or whatever. I just got so sick of hearing my own voice. I think that maybe, but you have this too. With teaching you kind of hear your own voice a lot, and with coxing I hear my own voice a lot on the rowing team. I'm always listening to recordings of myself, so maybe I just was overhearing my own voice, but I was very aware that I was saying like a lot and, like you just said, I was sometimes not articulating as much as I wanted to.
Speaker 1:I had an English teacher in year eight, which is, I believe, by grade seven in the American system, and he was sort of a very strict British older man and he got us to trained out of using the word like, because he hated when people said oh, like, like, like, yeah, and I don't think I said it much before him, but I, very much after him, didn't say it because he would call everyone out um and I. That's something I've noticed, not not in you necessarily, I don't think you overuse it, but in some media that I've consumed I do notice it and I just think of him. It's distracting. Yes, 100%, and I think anyone who was also in that class English class with Mr Guy Byrne. Don't know if I want to say him. We'll see if we get his name stays in or not.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, he's passed away now. Actually, I think he was in the school from when my mom or when my uncles were in that school, so a long, long time. Was he old when you had him? Yeah, he was probably like in his late 60s, 70s, but I mean, he trained me to not use the word like, so I think it's so important. Honestly, I know some people it's just a word, but it makes a difference when you're speaking to someone. Oh, 100%, there's just the confidence that comes with not saying yeah or other filler words. You know, um, but overall, I listened to it and I loved it, and I loved unbiased, of course, totally unbiased. I just had so much fun with it. I thought it was great and I was kind of, as we touched on last time, dreaming big about it, writing lists of people I wanted to interview about. Did you Pilates? Oh, fair, and just feeling like there's so much I have to say yeah that we both have to say so. Very fun.
Speaker 1:I liked it as a creative outlet. I think this is re-sparking my sort of like creative brain. I mean even just like in the editing process or like, um, like I know you're gonna notice that, um, I like growing up I would always like edit like little movie recaps of like either trips we went on or like anything. Oh, my god, I'm so annoyed. I never normally use it. Um, yeah, I just, I've always loved, I'm always like been editing things on I'm movie.
Speaker 1:So I felt like I was going back to my like childhood roots, like being back and editing things and it just was like a nice creative outlet for me in my week that is so normally focused on like business, like not business, like the pilates of it all. It's been nice to really have different outlets and just to use different parts of my brain, I think more than anything. Um, so I did enjoy that. Yeah, me too. And I very much enjoyed the fact that this was working. Yeah, which is tricky, who was? Like I was telling someone this? It feels very weird to be working and not reaping any benefits in terms of income from it yet and it's super fun to say, okay, I have some work to do and it's all things for our business. And it was very nice, as you just said, to sit down and just have this be have a conversation and have that actually be an important part of what you're doing in your life.
Speaker 1:Definitely I think it is also nice, obviously, this sort of like this beginner era or beginning stages of the business. It reminds me of when we were when I was on my teacher training program Just sort of spend your days practicing and you spend hours upon hours in the studio, like with, with other apprentices, and it's that same thing where you're not necessarily reaping the benefit because you're not teaching yet, so you're obviously not generating an income, but you have to put invest so much time and energy and money in terms of like privates, into your training. And I miss it so much, that moment where it was just not a hobby but there was no real consequence to whether or not I was in the studio and it was just like this sort of magical era just waiting to become an instructor. And it kind of feels like the same thing here, where obviously there's there are no full consequences yet for if we miss things or don't do things, like obviously we are trying to be very strict with ourselves and we have invoices and deadlines that we're trying to meet, but it just feels a little bit less hefty, yet there's not as many burdens to it when it's just us sort of trying to build something, yeah, whereas hopefully one day there will be a lot of burdens and there will be a lot of stress around it. So it's nice that now it's sort of just like fun and I'm trying to really enjoy that because it is super fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we can talk more about what we did this week, but I was definitely feeling this week a lot of am I doing this right? Is this form correct? Yeah, am I missing six other forms that I need to do? And there's a lightness around where it's at right now because the the you know punishment of doing something wrong in this stage is just learning, yeah, which is hopefully always the case, but, yeah, I feel that for sure. Do you want to talk about what you did this week? Because you did the editing of the podcast I did, so that can feed into what you felt about it, but also just that process. So any complaints you have, you can take them up with me, which, by the way, I was so grateful when you said that you would do that. Oh, fair, because I think I'm sure I would have it in me, but at some, at some points, obviously, we can both do it, but I was pumped.
Speaker 1:No, I don't mind taking all that I do. You were so on it. I need to generate a bit more. I want to like screen record some clips. Oh, this is that's what I sent you as well. I don't know if you saw that message. Um, if there were any points in that podcast that you liked, um, or you thought were like good clips, just because I think our instagram needs to be just like have, like, be pushing us out as much as possible for the algorithm, um, we're cute, people want to hear us. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, any part that you think it was like, oh, a clippable one, let me know I'm gonna. I want to get a visual clip to match the audio file that we posted, and I want to just post that because then that can be posted on Instagram and TikTok to hopefully get people. But also, if I just think of Instagram accounts for like podcasts and businesses, there is always like artwork or stuff that relates to the episode. So I'll see, maybe I can check some stuff out tonight.
Speaker 1:Yeah, anyways, that was our actual, just train of thought. Yes, so I did the editing. That was our actual, just train of thought. Um, yes, so I did the editing, so any complaints? Don't blame rose, come blame me. Um, what was it was? Do you know what? I think, as we were saying, we're probably not recording and editing in the most effective way possible for people. It's the easiest way for us in terms of like the actual amount of money we're putting into this and like where we're at yeah, where we're at, and then just ease. Oh sorry, I don't know if my foot just showed up. My leg is out, extended, so I had my knee out for a second. Oh, knee is fine, my knee out. But it looked so like pale and I could maybe not be connected to my body just patiently, so I put it back. Yeah, I'm like very lazily sat on the couch. I should probably pop myself up at one point and I'm still doing it now.
Speaker 1:In the first episode, you are so zen, okay, you're. You're so grounded and I am like every two seconds I'm up, I'm changing positions, I'm moving around, so I'm working. Maybe that's just how I am gonna do it, but I think in my head, no one is actually going to listen to this like I don't know why, or watch it. Yeah, in my head, this is just us speaking to each other for an hour. You made a really good point before we even did the first one, which was that having.
Speaker 1:I would be so grateful if no one else ever saw any of it and we had documentation of us doing this thing. Yeah, yeah, that would. Because I'm that kind of person. Anyway, I'm always filming little snippets of myself. I'm in new zealand and this happened today and blah, blah, blah, and I'd never share it with anyone, but I love looking back on it. Yes, so I've been filming, like your future kids stuff, like every once in a while. I like I just saw that photo album on my phone recently and I was like, oh, I need to record something for this. But yeah, I love I'm always recording a moment.
Speaker 1:Yes, so I'm glad that we will have this, like you said, even if I mean, hopefully the podcast has a song Shoots off. Yeah, oh yeah, I thought you were talking about the archery. Oh, I thought you were talking about our shoes being on. Oh, no, shoes. What did you just say? Yeah, hopefully it does. Minimally, it will reflect who knows what we'll be looking at a year from now. And to look back on this and we'll probably think, oh my God, the quality of everything. What were we doing so bad? Yeah, that's just how it goes. Anyway, that was life. Talk us through the editing. Yes, so we are editing. We are recording on mini mics that are connected to my phone. So we're recording on my Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max. There's a little port that you connect to the phone and that connects this to that. Those of you watching, especially, it's been reading record recorded on the iphone, which is actually very good quality um.
Speaker 1:I then export. This was the longest process, so I have to wait then for this file to connect or upload to my apple photos or to my. I did it to my icloud and that took like a couple hours or like an hour and a bit. Are you saying yeah, just because it was such a long file? Um, so I wonder if it's actually worthwhile to sort of cut, but then it would just take a while for each thing to upload. Um, but I might, in like a couple minutes, just cut it, because then you're uploading multiple shorter videos. So that took a while to upload to my iCloud. Um, once it was on my iCloud, it was easy to access on the laptop. I think it took a little bit of a download time, but it wasn't excessive. Um. And then put it onto iMovie.
Speaker 1:Um made some audio um and like or just cut and edited things out that we didn't want um. It then it felt like was mostly me. I suddenly had all these things. I know, I'm not gonna lie, I didn't fully listen to the whole episode, because I probably didn't either in retrospect, and I'm gonna listen to it when it's out yeah, what I think when it's out, because then I can watch it on two times speed, whereas I couldn't. I couldn't watch it on iMovie on two times speed, and my friend was in town and my childhood best friend, so I was like prioritizing that. There was one thing I knew I wanted to cut out, um, but other than that, I was kind of like whatever happens happens, but I obviously I don't mind editing out whatever you need out um. So, yeah, we went back and forth with a few things.
Speaker 1:I then had to figure out how we were going to actually get the audio out to people and I started trying to figure it out and I was like I need like some third party help. I was like I need someone where I can upload this and then they can just deal with it for me. And then, obviously, this is not an ad. This is not sponsored. We're using buzzsprout. Um, it was one of the first that popped up. It had a good trust pilot review. I love that.
Speaker 1:You looked at the reviews. I did just because I was like is this a scam or not? I did that for the business, for the bank account. Okay, yeah, so I did. I checked it out. It looked, because I was like this seems too good. Because it was like I just had to upload the audio file and then they were going to post and deal with all the like back-end stuff, scheduling. There was like extra AI stuff you could purchase that would like help with the sorting out the audio levels and like creating content for you. And I was like sign me up.
Speaker 1:And I was like this is like after like five hours of trying to just get the phone, like the thing from my phone onto my laptop, and I was like why is this not just moving? One day we'll have an editor. Yeah, not even that. I was just like there must be an easier way. I was like I wonder what are people recording on, like, maybe they're recording, I see, the mics that are connected to, like the big, like banks, and then, like, they take the sd file from that. But then how do you record the audio, I mean the video, and line it up, unless it's like being done separately, and then that's why they're doing? See, this is the one thing where I'm like maybe a studio would be more helpful because they could, we could pay, I'm sure, obviously, for them to just like give us the file, um, but obviously for now that's not.
Speaker 1:So, just for context, we're in an airbnb, yes, where I currently live, because this couch seemed like a comfortable place to film. Something can confirm it is comfortable. We have amazon mics. Yes, oh, yeah, oh, I thought you're gonna say so, basically, in some of the next clips where we're gonna be in a whole different location, yeah, which might be a theme because, yeah, we can do my my place, we've got do my my place. Yeah, the couch is probably like from the 90s, but love it. Yeah, who knows where this one's from, but, yes, so recording on an iphone with amazon mics, edited on imovie and then uploaded using buzzsprout, which, as we're recording this, we haven't actually uploaded the first podcast, like it hasn't gone live to the public, so I'm not actually sure if the whole buzzsprout upload process works. Works, yeah, so I mean episode three. We'll let you know how it goes, um, but yeah, we're trying to put in, at least on this aspect we're trying to. We're not investing as much in financially, obviously, just because we don't know where it's going to go. We're spending our money on the actual business of what we're trying to build, which rose can talk to you about how that went this week.
Speaker 1:But yeah, my week was a bit stressful. Just trying to get I was so far, I was like looking at my phone and my laptop and I was like just, I was like and I tried using the cable, but I was like I just want to put you there, yeah, um, and I just couldn't. So that was a bit frustrating, but obviously it was fine, like okay, it was cool, it was all right. And then there was a bit of back and forth about when. It's just a weird thing when you're doing this totally you and one other person because we had to decide even when are we going to post it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, what day of the week, and that seems like such a simple thing. But when you asked me what we should be consistent what day, what time and I and that seems like such a simple thing, but I, you, when you asked me what you know we should be consistent what day, what time and I was kind of like, is that important? Like yeah, and it surely is. Yeah, you don't realize that literally every decision you have to make, I think we decided on the monday on the podcast, maybe, oh, maybe we did, we might have, but then because I have to schedule what time it goes live and I was like what time? And then I said our podcast to be under british done or summertime, whatever bs, and I was glad you said early morning, because I think that's better, because then people wake up and it's yeah. But then maybe if we have australian viewers, it goes out midday. If you're watching in australia sorry, you have to wait any family in australia that which I think I have any family in australia that might be watching. I have a friend in australia. I've extended family in australia, yeah, extended, extended, um, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then I think maybe I mean, I don't know if we'll include this I think the the video that youtube can probably go up later in the day. Youtube can be, yeah, more chill, I think, but then the audio stuff would just be. I'm actually really excited for the YouTube. I think it's just fun, another way to just document. It might be cool along on that channel. It might be actually cute for us to vlog like days when we are together or things like that, because we could just do like extra content and that doesn't have to be like recurring or scheduled, it could just be like whenever. I think it might be fun to do that as well.
Speaker 1:Actually, I was just thinking, yeah, for like this week, even if we're talking about, yeah, what we did this week. Yeah, if we, if we see each other at the studio, yeah, I just like, even separately, because I recorded myself record. I was like I'm about to start editing the first part, thinking it was gonna be so easy to just get the files, and then there was like me, four hours later it's gone dark and I was like I'm still trying to edit, so it'd be cute to just that would be really like clips of the week, because then I like and then that can just go up whenever we have a certain amount of footage. Yeah, um, and then that's just another way to document things. I like that. All right, cool, cool, cool, cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, what else was going through your brain this week? Um, I'm not gonna lie to you, didn't think too too much about the podcast once it was like edited. I was like, all right, cool, at least we've. And I think obviously the first time is always the most complex, just trying to get everything out of the or like figuring out the first time how we do everything and hopefully it can be more streamlined as we go forward. Um, I sort of has.
Speaker 1:I was explaining to people a lot less the podcast, more the actual business this week me too. And then I actually because you posted the logo for honeycomb and then I and I decided to like repost that onto my story and then realized I was hard launching the business to. Quite I got a lot of dms of people being like friends, messaging me heart launch, blah, blah. And I think because it's been ruminating in my brain for so long I didn't really think about that. But yeah, I really put it out there. Yeah, I should have run it by. I've only told all of like four or five people and now I'm speaking to quite a lot of people about it, especially people in the fitness industry and then people who are also in that business, like other entrepreneurs, because I realized that there are people who you know the whole networking, blah, blah, blah of it all, but it feels weird to tell them the idea. It's hard to explain. Also, are you finding that because there's so much of it?
Speaker 1:I actually had a good exercise this week where one of my friends in California one of my best friends she randomly put me in contact with one of her friends who's a bit older, as in, has kids and is like fully, she's a real adult person as I would envision it and she at one point started a fitness I want to say it was a bar studio or something and then she sold it as a franchise. And now she does like private coaching for young entrepreneurs and put me in contact with her and I just had to write out what, because she's just so sweet. But she said you know what's the idea, what are you talking about? And then I had to put it in an email in a succinct way and it was pretty challenging, but it was good, because now I feel like I almost have more clarity on it as I've been explaining it to, like other fitness instructors. I've been just saying avert, I just explained the virtual online space of honey hex.
Speaker 1:I say, oh, virtual online pilates studio, classical pilates, and hit combined um, because I think the honeycomb is a whole other layer, whereas it's easier, I think, just to explain to people, oh, like they've seen it before, they know what a virtual studio is. So that has been easier to explain, um, and I'll say that and I'm like, oh, and we're running a podcast to like document it. But there's obviously honeycomb studios, which is, I think, a harder, more complex thing that we're building, maybe not actually literally in the infrastructure of it, but it is a bigger world. Yeah, it will take longer to build, I think, whereas Honeyhex, which is the virtual studio, feels a bit easier and almost more tangible because it's just film, video uploads, not just, but it's content out there for people to, whereas I think with the product, yes, and with honeycomb, there's a lot more that we want to build and it's just a bigger project maybe in terms of like outreach, um, so, yeah, I just think that's a harder one to explain. So I've just been explaining honey hex to, to be honest. Yeah, I like that. I've been kind of putting it in three parts in the podcast Honey, hex and Honeycomb Studios, which is helpful and it feels like a lot. It feels like a big piece to bite off, but it's super fun to have it all swirling, difficult difficulties. We're down to one mic now but we'll return with another one at some point. It's charging. We were going back to our roots with a single mic.
Speaker 1:Hey, what else did I do this week? This week, for me, felt a lot as if I was going in circles because I created a business bank account for us, which took a bit of research because, again, financially, I wouldn't say I guess in some ways we're financially restricted because we only have, you know, we don't have investors, we don't have infinite resources to put, we don't have a business bank account. So the point of me, you know, opening one this week, business bank account. So the point of me, you know, opening one this week. And so I did a bit of Googling around, looking at, you know, various reviews, and things settled on a Monzo one because I already use Monzo and that seemed to have good reviews. So I did that.
Speaker 1:And then I went to go create the business account and it was asking for the address of the business. And then I went to go create the business account and it was asking for the address of the business. And then I remembered that I had to. Currently, the way that the company is registered, it just has sort of the automated company's house address. And I had to. I had purchased a virtual studio because we didn't want our addresses to be public information. Yeah, yeah, so you can have a virtual business address for your company.
Speaker 1:So I purchased one of those and then had to go online to change the address. But in order to do that, you have to print out a form and send it in the post. To do that, you have to print out a form and send it in the post. So I called company's house and I said is this really the most efficient way to do this? And she said, yes, um, so that, and it was one of those things I think now, just the way that the world is sending something in the mail, I just felt so, is that what you said? Will this get there? Yeah, is that what you said would get sent to me? No, so that's a different piece what I got sent to you and to me. I don't know if you've gotten it yet it's an authentication code, so I don't think either of us have gotten it yet. But there's the security measures that they have for logging in to your company's house address and changing information about your business. It's obviously very well protected. So there's an authentication code that you need and that has to get sent to you in the mail in some cases. So there was a lot of. I called company's house and was asking them all these questions what are all these portals I have access to now? How do I actually change any information? Do I have to do it all by post? So now I'm sure it will be one of those things where I just keep figuring it out as I go.
Speaker 1:We realized that we needed a business bank account because we are which we'll talk about getting ready to put money towards developing the website and a few more design logo things, and we wanted that to come out of our business account, just so we can be really clear on expenses. But I didn't have a business bank account, so we had to do that and I figured that out and now, when Layla came over today, we approved, we confirmed your identity in the Monzo account and then we just have to wait for that to get approved and then we'll be able to transfer money into it. It felt really weird. We were sitting here clicking through the Monzo thing and it asked what we want the business card to say, the physical card to have our company name on it, which is crazy. But so that was a lot of what I did this week. I started even if they aren't actual final videos I started filming a few little classes, which was really fun and also felt really strange because I had the little mic on me.
Speaker 1:I filmed a whole class and the mic wasn't turned on, so I had to go back and do it again. But little things like that. I did film a little voiceover, that instead I should. I don't know how to do that. You have to show me how to do it, because that would be way easier than doing it. I was doing the class and speaking and it was so hard. Yeah, I mean, I think it would be nice for a lot of them to be like that, but I'm more so for when audio files corrupt, that's always an option. Yeah, yeah, yeah, true, so that you don't have that. Definitely, yeah, which we do actually probably need to sit and start planning videos, what we want to film. Um, when we want them filmed for, especially once we, once we pay off or once we invoice or pay the ladies to start the website we want to have stuff to, then it'll be like, okay, that is being worked on, now it's our time to actually have the things to populate the website. Yes, exactly yeah. So that was a lot of.
Speaker 1:What I did was trying to figure out how to open up a business bank account. I touched base with the woman I mentioned in California. I'm hopefully going to have some kind of either both of us can have a meeting with her just to get some advice, because she's been very successful in this world and she might have some tips. I'm trying to think what else I? I watched the podcast a lot because I kept realizing things. I said that shouldn't be in there, not for any bad reason, just for own personal things. So I watched that video many times. That's about it and I planned a bit of what this podcast will be. Should we talk about some of the finances? Can you pull up the actual proposal and look, yeah, on my phone, maybe Rose is pulling out the proposals that have been sent over to us. I'm like is she From the team at Be More Design, the two ladies we've been working with, nikki and Kate.
Speaker 1:Nikki handles the actual building of the website and then Kate handles a bit more of the marketing side, and they're just lovely ladies. I discovered them because someone else who used to work in our studio that we both work in I saw that she had a website for her pilates business and it was just very easy to navigate and at the time I had the honeycomb idea and then I saw in the bottom corner of this woman's website that it was be more design said a sign. Let me oh, of course, another b element. Yeah, and I've been in communication with them for almost a year now because I was so back and forth about when I was gonna have the money for it and what it was even gonna be, and they've been awesome, so they sent us.
Speaker 1:First day we had a meeting with them, the two of us, where we sort of melted their brains, I think, with all of the things we had to say, like whoa, it's changing, they're. They were very excited, they're very excited, but and it was nice because there were a few things that I was sort of avoiding saying because I felt like we were layering them on so thick with information about what we wanted. Rose was dreaming big, I was dreaming big, and then when I said the piece about what Honeycomb Studios would be more the community I felt like that's when they kind of lit up a bit and they said you should tell us everything. Yeah, we need to know 100%. And they could feel our enthusiasm. So they sent us over a week ago now, they sent us proposals for a branding package and a website design package and we responded asking for a bit more of a clear breakdown of what the costs would be, because I think, if we wanted to speak briefly and not in too detail about finances, we're going in 50 50 on the company.
Speaker 1:We are, oh see, that's the sock, my neon sock. Um, yeah, so we are both equal partners in the company. We're both directors, yes, co-founders, founders. I like that better than we don't have. Oh yeah, we don't have roles. Because today he was like ceo, I was like no, we don't have that yet, we'll figure out. Brother has been cracking me up with this. Um, anytime I say I have to do something for this business, he says that's a sheeo and it's so stupid. But it makes me laugh. We're both ceos, yeah, we're co-ceos, ceos, and we both have literally 50-50 shares of it and down the line we can figure out who fits what roles better, because I was explaining it to my parents as well. It's like we're very much equal in this.
Speaker 1:And then as we figure out where, like Rose has been handling all of the logistics and the more legal side of things, I've been handling the operations a little bit, but everything is 50, 50 and yet. So we're going in 50, 50 financially as well, and whilst we're, we hope to get a bit of support, um, from family. We're not looking at investment. I don't think either of us want to bring on investors, um, mostly because I just don't know that. Yeah, I don't want to take on loans and investment. Just the thing is we already have the skill, we have already invested, yes, to get a pilates, a classical pilates. Certification is not cheap and I think mine was just hovering under six thousand pounds. I believe mine was the same with the initial the. Just the seminars and the training was that we had to then also have a certain amount of private sessions for each stage, which we were told beforehand, um, but then I, which is quite common yes, programs and it makes and I would obviously so much sense. You learn so much in private settings.
Speaker 1:I then felt so in love with the privates, um, and I felt I had to see laura twice a week. So I was then seeing her twice a week instead of once a week. I love laura. I don't know. I think she's gonna get, I really think she's gonna get mentioned in every episode and she doesn't know she deserves it. Shout out she doesn't know this is getting recorded, exists, or that I view her as a mentor. I need to let her know how to tell her. She knows how attached I am to her, though, because I I told her I was like, when I mentioned, like, having to leave London eventually, um, she was like I was like, yeah, but don't worry, like you'll be doing, almost threatened her. I was like we'll be doing virtual, even if I don't have a studio. We'll be doing that once a week, don't worry. Um, she loves you, yes, so where was I going with this?
Speaker 1:Oh, to say that, yeah, we've invested a lot financially already. We're not looking to invest necessarily too much more because, yeah, like you're saying, we've done a lot of it. It's just the sort of the back end. The thing we're trying to do is have a business based around a skill that we already possess, and I think also, investors bring in outside voices, whereas we're hoping to keep it just us. I even think, as we dream big and look at a physical space one day. Even with that, I think the less investment we can get from just outside I don't know, actually, the term of the different types of investors, but I would only ever really consider like a private loan from like a very close family member where it's like Definitely, yeah, you know this is not even something that you and I have talked about, necessarily, but I think it's something we've both just come agreed with where it's very much our business.
Speaker 1:It is, yeah, and if we were to ever also one day employ someone or have anyone join the team, it would still remain that they were joining our team and we were and we were the yeah, co-founders, ceos, co-ceos yeah, that was very important to me and part of why I wanted to do it with someone else, because I just think it's more fun. It's, I was gonna say, easier, not necessarily easier. Sharing the load is more definitely doable and fun because you can bounce ideas off of someone and not just be doing the things we both did individually alone last week would have not been nearly as oh, I don't think I could have done, wouldn't open the bank account by myself, I don't know, it just wouldn't have happened. I think it also stops us being an echo chamber of just our own ideas and, whilst we have been in agreement with a lot of things, we just bring different perspectives like definitely so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, rose is pulling up the proposals, so we asked her, for we asked nikki, who does the website design, for a breakdown, and there's a few phases. I believe there's three phases, yeah, three phases, the first one being just a small deposit. Yeah, a small deposit in the coming soon page so that we have I've already purchased a domain name, although I guess I haven't for honey hex, maybe I have. Is that on the spreadsheet? I don't remember. If we do have one, it's on the spreadsheet. We're trying to keep roses like set up our spreadsheets where we're supposed to put all of our logins, which there's increasingly more logins. I just realized I haven't put in any of my. I need to put in all my logins. Oh, we need to do it for the Instagrams as well. That's been one of the weirder things is realizing how quickly.
Speaker 1:You have a bank account login. You have a virtual address login email. Oh, I need to log in. Yeah, oh, I need to log in All the Instagrams. Yeah, I need to make sure. Are you logged into the podcast on your phone? We need to almost cross. Yeah, we do, because you've got one of the accounts. Yeah, I think I don't. Oh, I don't have access to Honeycomb Studios account. Yeah, we've got to get you on that. Yeah, just so we can be cross and so you can have the podcast one in case you. So that all comes up really quick and we're trying to keep it as organized as possible.
Speaker 1:Yes, part of why we asked nikki to send us very clear dates. So the second we have this monzo business account open and we've put money into it, which, in this case, will be coming from le're making a small investment when we decide basically to get the process going and then about three weeks later, we pay for the rest of the full build out of the website, and then Nikki's obviously costs quite a bit more than what we're doing with Kate because she's building out the infrastructure. Is that the cost for both websites or is that the cost just for honey? Yeah, I just realized as we were speaking. I wonder if that's I feel like now that you're saying it.
Speaker 1:I actually don't remember if we had, in that meeting, decided on having one website or two websites. I feel we should. I fear we may have to clarify with her that we want to, we should. Let me see if she because I'm trying to remember what we would have also said as the initial website to build out, because whilst I think it may be easier to build out honeycomb studios, honey hex is the harder one I think that she this says honeycomb studios website project. I think the reason she wants to do this one, get started with it, is because she has all the branding information. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think she wanted to get it started because then the final phase is the community build out. So then is that, would we have to pay that same amount? That maybe I should ask her. Yeah, so I think what?
Speaker 1:I think what happens, if I remember correctly, first the branding happens. So first because this is how it happened with honeycomb studios, first with kate will design what's the look gonna be, what's the feel, what's the, because she can't, like nikki can't build anything out if she doesn't have that. What's the colors, what's the whatever? And then once she has that, so maybe, yeah, I don't know, I think, but I think that one's a lot quicker to build. Also, I think the virtual, the honey hex, the honey hex Really, oh, for whatever reason in my head, that's the harder one to build. But either way, just so we know financially how much to budget, if we have kind of two schedules going, okay, we should ask her.
Speaker 1:So we're realizing real time that we probably need to, um, clarify some things, because we want to have two websites, one for honeycomb studios, one for honey hex, and we've gotten proposals for honeycomb studios. Yes, um, and it may be that she just because that may be the total, if it's just she was already going to create those two platforms under one website and we're just asking her to put one under a different domain name. Yeah, because we don't have the. Do we have the domain name for honey x or is that what you were saying before? Yeah, that's what you mentioned, or we should check that. So we, yeah, we should clarify with her. But essentially, financially, there's four different phases to it. You pay a small deposit in the beginning they get it started, there's a bigger chunk to finalize the build out of the website and then at the end there's kind of a top up. If there's anything else, yeah, it's added. So and and then that fourth one is like the sort of ongoing or anything that comes down the line. Yes, in terms of anything else we want to build out and add on because we're taking not as large of a marketing. Yes, portfolio, not portfolio Package Package.
Speaker 1:So when I did the Honeycomb Studios one, I did the full package, which means I got, for the case of how these women run their business. I got basically every version of the logo that you could think of under the sun the logo that you would have seen on the Instagram account. Yeah, the Honeycomb Studios one, the hexagon. She sent me every different color iteration of it. She sent a version of it on a transparent surface, on a white surface. She sent me a secondary logo, like lateral ones, vertical ones, for different types of social media, but for honey hex, we will pretty much just be getting, I think, a primary and secondary logo with all the branding information. Yes, which makes all we need. Yeah, because that's a little more. Here's the product. Yeah, I think there is a bit less. Here's the gist.
Speaker 1:Well, I think honey hacks is sort of more of a task for us. It is, I think, a more simplistic concept to understand and just like service that is being provided. Yeah, I think the hard part in that in terms of honey hex is us just creating the videos and like and creating videos that would people would want to pay for really. Um, yeah, because we yes, we did speak to her about it, because we talked about um, how we would build out live videos. Yes, on honey x, because that's something to have them. Also, we should want to look into the, into the subscription. Yeah, and then when do we want those to be posted, which is a conversation for that meeting that we have. Yeah, so we need to clarify with her a little bit on what, the and that those phases.
Speaker 1:By the way, the timeline is a september launch of Honeycomb Studios and then the community part of it a little bit, maybe a month or so later. Yeah, because in my head, honey Hex is launching in September as well, but maybe not. I think it could be. I think, if we can financially, just because the branding will be so much less time. When I did the branding the first time, it took three months maybe, and this is far less. Because I wonder if we could then ask her to build out Honeyhex first.
Speaker 1:Yeah, over Honeycomb. Yeah, because Honeycomb will grow also more organically, because it's about building that community, yes, whereas Honeyhex, the quicker we can get out and in front of people, the better. I think, yeah, um, so I would almost I don't know how you feel, I would almost rather that initial payment goes towards a bulk of it, towards honey x, even if it maybe there's not that much added on financially. But I would rather her build that out because, especially in terms of live videos, we want to get those going as soon as we can, especially because, well, I guess they're both I hadn't really thought about this they're both going to be subscription services, right? Yeah? And then, if you wanted, you could have a combined one maybe. Yeah, and Honey Hex.
Speaker 1:I think we talked about this in the previous episode, but just to clarify and we can always cut it honey hex is going to be in its most basic form. You have a membership, you pay for that monthly, you log in and you get access to workouts. That's the purpose. You log on, you can exercise with you log out, you log out, yeah, you log off, whereas honeycomb studios will be classical, classical world. So us putting up stuff about being classical teachers, yeah, process, blah, blah, blah. And I guess, because we could have the classic videos, we could have the classical videos on there. Just, I think, especially in the beginning, yeah, in terms of a subscription, that's worthwhile. Yeah, we could just reuse the videos that are on Honeyhex, yeah. And then, yeah, like we're saying, it's more the community stuff and that's a lot of what you are more aware of from all the emailing you were doing.
Speaker 1:So then I wonder, like, are there sujas we need to talk? Like, what do we actually want on that website? Yeah, because I was thinking about this too, the actual designing of a forum to connect people. You know, what do we want on that? Because I think I also would like Honeycomb Studios to have you know, I would like that to be related to the newsletter. Yeah, so there's a blog. I hate the word blog, it just sounds so heavy, but I do like the idea of having a space where you can go see just our thoughts or whatever. And then, yeah, connecting people, yeah, and that is a different membership thing. So, yeah, we should maybe organize a meeting with them to just discuss and make sure.
Speaker 1:I think we need to decide and agree with what we want on on honeycomb, yeah, and then meet with them to like fully, because I feel like when we met with them, we had an idea and we were very sure of where we were going, but we were still a little bit like almost in a cloud, and now I feel like we're a bit more grounded in terms of we know what we want on each website, yeah, um, and so we can probably convey to them also bet more effectively. Yes, this is going here, videos are going there, um. And in terms of honeycomb, because there are probably so many facets of like, okay, we want community, we want a place where we can speak and then maybe a place where people connect, yeah, and then I don't know how you want that to look, because I feel like you understand that world a bit more. So, no, I don't now I'm I'm thinking about it a bit more, I, but when I was on the little mini version of it that I had, it was kind of kind of facebook ish, where you could post things and people could respond to them and there was a relationship that you could grow with um other people who were in that world, and that's what I envision, but also who knows what they're. I'm just imagining yeah, I'm just imagining also what we would then charge for that versus the videos, cause I imagine that would be a lower. I think it would be. Also, I think it would be lower because I would really want it to be geared towards students, apprentices and students. So I would want it to be a resource that was accessible for people who also on I think we already talked about this but also something that might be interesting for us to put on types of videos for us to put on that could be going more in depth to exercises or our experience with teaching certain exercises. I guess we could ask what people want to know. It'd be cool also to reach out to apprentices, both at Equinox and Pi, and almost like offer them either discounted rates or just be like get on and start building out a community. Yeah, and I think I definitely envision it being, like you said, cheaper but a super accessible resource, with the goal of just connecting people and keeping the spirit of the classical space alive.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, the other thing, the final thing was how do we feel moving forward, forward. How do you feel about where what's happening? Still very excited, I feel so excited about it. I feel it feels a bit more realistic to me now in terms of, okay, what do we actually want to get done? Also, now that I'm talking to more people about it feels like it's actually happening.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, I think the the next steps are a bit clearer. So I don't know if this will have been included in what you guys see, the end result, but even just in this actual podcast, we've realized places where there may just be a lack of clarity, both between just our maybe our brain and what we want with each other, with the teams we're working with. So, like some of the, some of our next steps include clarifying and detailing what the actual structure of combined hit classical classes will look like, exactly what we want to include on each website, especially, I think, honeycomb Studios, more so than Honey Hex. Just detail, like, what do we want really? And then getting that message across to Nikki the powers that be, the powers that be the be more, be more, yeah, be more design, be more design. So I think those are our next steps, our next steps.
Speaker 1:For sure, when we do that, it will allow us to at least start recording videos, building it out, building it out, and a cool thing, just another thing to mention about the way that the website design works is that they build out this website and then we effectively are taught how to use it through them. But if at any point so, then we are empowered to kind of edit it and make changes on our own. But at any point in the future you know, 10 years down the line or next month we wanted to make changes and preferred that they did it. We could reach out to them and they sort of have an a la carte situation. But basically you can add web designer and computer scientists to our growing portfolio. There you go, yeah, so there's a lot to learn, but it's nice to have kind of guides to show us the full, definitely powers.
Speaker 1:Um, so yeah, we have a few things on our to-do list and probably when we sign off from this, we'll just clarify even more what we're gonna do and then that kind of feels like about how it goes. That's so funny because I was like well, I was like I don't think we have anything to talk about this week. We have a lot to talk about. So much to talk about. So, yeah, all right, that's about it. Woo, have a lovely.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, it's a Monday as you're listening to this, so or it may be Monday If you're listening to this. We're filming it on Sunday, the 22nd of June, and it will be going out on the 30th, so not the night before, but the week before. Who knows what will happen in this next week. Oh my God, liz Shoney, who in the world we hopefully aren't always going to be recording so close I mean, we're not actually that close to posting. We had to reschedule this week also, yeah, because you weren't feeling great. No, that's totally how it just goes. That is life. That's life. I had a friend work lives as well. So, if you're watching this on a Monday or listening to this on a Monday, have a lovely rest of your week and we'll talk to you soon. Bye.