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
When Your Bank Says Your Business Is About To Disappear (Ep. 9)
Ever had that moment when your carefully constructed business plans come crashing down with a single notification? That's exactly what happened when we woke up to an email from our bank informing us that our company, Honeycomb and Co-Collective Limited, was "due to be dissolved." Talk about a startling way to begin your day!
This episode takes you behind the scenes of our virtual address fiasco – a cautionary tale about the perils of cutting corners when establishing your business fundamentals. What started as an attempt to protect our privacy by using a virtual business address quickly spiraled into a bureaucratic nightmare that nearly cost us our entire company registration. We share the frantic emails, the questionable responses from the address provider, and ultimately how we managed to save our business from disappearing entirely.
Beyond our near-dissolution drama, we discuss the practical realities of early-stage business decisions. How necessary is it to have everything perfectly established from day one? We reflect on our joint bank account benefits, debate content creation timelines, and explore the possibility of launching our website in phases rather than waiting for absolute perfection. The conversation reveals our different approaches to crisis management – one partner's panic balanced by the other's pragmatism – and how these complementary responses strengthen our partnership during challenging moments. Whether you're just starting your entrepreneurial journey or well along the path, our candid behind-the-scenes look at business mishaps offers both practical wisdom and reassurance that even the most alarming setbacks can become valuable learning experiences.
Welcome back, all the business, welcome back. We do have a lot of sort of just general business conversation that I think we just ended up almost running on into. So it's yeah, you get a peek behind the curtain.
Speaker 2:A lot to say, a lot more to say, but it felt like we had a little. It ebbs and flows, but this past week there was a lot of stuff happening, so lots of updates and hope you enjoy episode nine. The other thing we wanted to talk about was the business being dissolved almost Basically.
Speaker 1:I Do you want to read out the message we got?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you have it saved. Let's see the Monzo message. Yeah.
Speaker 1:I love that it was from the bank as well. It wasn't even like from the government, but we found out about this.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So basically when I started this business, when I registered honeycomb studios for us, when we started this business honeycomb and co-collective is the legal name I was just on a rampage about not having our addresses be public, which now makes no sense because they were public anyway, which I think I just didn't realize would be the case because we're both directors. So I tried to create a virtual address and that seemed like it went fine. I Googled a few different virtual addresses for businesses, read a few different reviews, landed on one called VLOT and then bought it, emailed them, got the address, submitted that to Companies House to be approved as the virtual address, and then at one point, what was the email that we got? I'm trying to pull it up. I'm trying to find it too. Yeah, on July 22nd just passed, we wake up to this email.
Speaker 1:I see.
Speaker 2:Hello, rose Lewis Company's house have shared a first gazette notice with us today telling us that Honeycomb and Coke Collective Limited is due to be dissolved. You can see this filing here, and this is from monzo, mind you.
Speaker 1:so not actually from company's house, but from our bank, and I remember opening it I was early in the morning when I saw it and I was like good morning, like I have yet to open my eyes.
Speaker 2:Yep, and I read it and I was kind of like damn. And then I messaged Layla I think I had a screenshot of it, but I remember just being so grateful that you're my business partner because I messaged you and said, did you see the email from Monzo? And you just responded like yep, there was no drama, no real like in a good way sense of urgency around it, whereas I felt kind of panicked and I felt like you were just like we'll figure it out, yeah, and so then I tried.
Speaker 2:I had tried to submit. Maybe the paperwork I had tried to submit was that paperwork and it was. And they basically said, like this isn't.
Speaker 1:Oh, the one that got bounced to me that I was talking about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Basically said this isn't legit, and then I'll show the email. So you'll have to watch this video if you want to see it. I'll post a screenshot of it too. We'll put it in our dump of the email. You'll have to watch this video if you want to see it. I'll post a screenshot of it too.
Speaker 1:We'll put it in our dump of the episode, because that was something we wanted to do as well. Episode dumps. I'll try and get on that.
Speaker 2:Let me just find it, because they actually have never responded to me since. Oh, that's hilarious. I had a few email exchanges with this company where I had the virtual address. That seemed a little weird, and one of them, when I submitted the address to Companies House, I had to have evidence that I had even purchased this address And… and what they sent me was just like. I asked them for evidence that I had purchased it and this is literally what they sent me. Like you can't really see it, but it doesn't.
Speaker 2:I think you may have been scammed, it's not anything legit, but I was like, okay, sounds good. And then I emailed them and I said, hi, I tried to use this virtual address to register my company and it was rejected. I said a few other things about I was told why it was rejected. Could you please advise me on how I might be able to get better information? Then this is what I got back.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God.
Speaker 2:I will look into this and get back to you period Like come on, and then, of course, I never heard back from them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so when we were saying that Rose thinks she may have been scammed. This was that scam.
Speaker 2:That was the scam.
Speaker 1:But I mean Rose is when? Oh, should I share? So then I ended is when? Um, oh, should I share? So then I ended up having to send through some documentation. And this is when Rose was in France.
Speaker 1:So I had to do it because I was here and anyways it was going to be under my address, so I would have had to write out those letters anyways. But when we got the news that and it's obviously you've moved to the state, so I woke up earlier than you because just time difference, and I woke up to a message from monzo and I want to find it was so funny. Um, just a quick note to confirm that we've heard from company's house that honeycomb and co collective limited is no longer due to be dissolved. You don't need to do anything, you can continue to use your account as normal. That was on the 30th of July. I messaged Rose and I was like woke up to the best news ever this morning in all caps and I sent it over to her and I knew that when she woke up she would see it.
Speaker 2:And I knew worst case, we'd have to just register a new, like it would have been fine.
Speaker 1:we'd have to just register a new, like it would have been fine when I told my mom literally there was nothing. It would have been just like a pain to do it, but we weren't actually going to lose out on anything.
Speaker 2:No, and it would have. Yeah, it would have just been a pain. That's exactly right and honestly I was more. It wasn't that annoying, but setting up that business account was just slightly infuriating. I remember with confirming it was your identity and then getting it registered at business.
Speaker 2:At one point I remember just feeling like I was going in circles because I needed some address, and then I also needed information from the bank to get the address, and it was just going around and around and around. Needed information from the bank to get the address, and it was just going around and around and around. And so to get those emails and be like, oh my God, I thought that I had done this right.
Speaker 1:And then to not, I think also because we were away from one another I don't know how, because there were some things where they needed us to be together to do, so that would have been tougher to get to. But what I had been telling my mom because I was talking to her about it I was like like, ultimately, worst case, that account does get dissolved. It's not like we have money in it. Worst case, if we did, we could have taken the money out, like it would just be almost like the time that was lost, but actual, like there was nothing on page, like there was nothing that we were going to really, you know, lose out on. And that's why I was also so chill, because I was like, okay, worst case, we just do it all over again.
Speaker 1:Um, and it's a lesson, and it's a lesson that we learn from everything in these beginning stages is just a chance to learn more. Um, and that is where my mom messaged me once she um saw once, or once you put in the, I think we briefly said like, oh yeah, rose thinks she got scammed. And you were like I just jumped into something. My mom messaged me to say tell rose, um, that I completely understand. I'm the same way, like I will just like jump into something, um, and just decide then and there that I need to do it it's just it's.
Speaker 2:And it's so funny now because and I love your mom, I love the little comments that we get from her, she's the sweetest. It's so funny now because and I love your mom, I love the little comments that we get from her, she's the sweetest. It's so funny now because from the time when it was registered, nothing about it being registered has been required to do anything. I mean the bank account, and it's been useful to be able to make payments from that bank account and like be really clean about it, but it wasn't necessary.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:And so I don't know why, on that day in June, when I was registering, we were just like from the beginning.
Speaker 1:We're like let's just get everything down, cause, like even this bank account, technically we could just be transferring money to each other or having things individually. Although I'm much more for having the joint account, I don't know how some people do it without. Yeah, I like the joint.
Speaker 2:It just makes it so easy to see exactly what has been spent.
Speaker 1:And where our expenses are going to anyways. Yeah exactly, especially as we start to pile on more subscriptions and business accounts and things like that. The Buzzsprout one is supposed to go out again today, because I put in money for it but it didn't go out.
Speaker 2:You shall see, I still need to make a list of the different subscriptions that we have. So we know.
Speaker 1:Buzzsprout riverside. Google pilates ology applied. I couldn't get, I couldn't log into it. That's what I meant to tell you. Oh really, yeah, the details of it work.
Speaker 2:Okay, I will check. I'll resend um. Yeah, because I want you to be able to see that. Um.
Speaker 1:We should also probably in general, catch up soon about where we are at with the videos. I have yet to film a single video.
Speaker 2:I have not. I have not. I had it on my to-do list on Sunday. I've blocked out time actually today and tomorrow to do it, because now I have a room that is my designated office slash workspace Nice and I'm going to record in there.
Speaker 1:I meant to ask you have we decided we want to cue and speak while doing, or are we going to do it afterwards?
Speaker 2:I feel like it doesn't really matter, as in if one works better for you, then do it afterwards. Now that you say it, I do feel like Probably do it during is probably easier or better.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that it probably would be pretty easy to film it and then talk over it. But when I was staying at my uncle's house, he has like a Peloton and so I was doing Peloton workouts and they're all doing it while they're speaking and they're out of breath and they're doing the workout and sometimes they stop and they're still counting down a timer and they don't even have.
Speaker 2:They do have like a bigger timer on the top that shows kind of like here's the warmup, here's the blah, blah, blah. They don't have a timer on the screen or anything, he's just looking at it on something. And it made me feel a lot better about like just Our level of production. Just filming it and doing it Like don't over for myself, like don't overstress about it. So yeah, I think I'm going to just film it.
Speaker 1:No, I have it on my playlist also, because I was just like I also need to. When my back was gone as well, I was like, okay, I cannot be doing intermediate advanced exercises, but I meant to say for both of us Also, with the way, with the amount of time we have until the website launches, which I feel is probably going to be pushed a little bit from, yeah, I don't even know what the coming soon page says. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Neither Coming soon.
Speaker 1:Page says yeah, neither I remember it was like somewhere in September. I meant to say if we it says 17 days.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, that's not happening. With respect to us and Nikki, A little quick, Because we need Hex to go through fully before that part of it is even launched. Even if we launch Honeycomb without the hex page, we still yeah. So I might just say to you as well if you don't hit because I remember we had our strict deadline If you don't hit the amount of videos by that deadline, don't stress. Do you think it's good? Oh, I was going to say I've been looking into it and a lot of people launch without a backlog of videos. So I think if we have any videos going into it, we'll be good. I mean, obviously we'll aim to get like as many as possible, but I wanted to say, especially because you had so much going on with like life and business, if you didn't hit your 30 or however, I also think that once I start I totally agree with that I also think once I record one, I'll be like, okay, it's just getting it, getting it going, getting it started.
Speaker 1:My thing is also now, though, whenever I set aside time for the honeycomb stuff, in general, I've been doing the studio stuff, and it just feels like it's never ending and I'm like I don't know, because I'm trying to get that stuff done first, because it'll be launched first, so I'm trying to prioritize that.
Speaker 2:but yeah, do you think there's a world where honeycomb gets launched and hex can just say coming soon? 100 because I feel like the honeycomb stuff. Like I have some feedback on what Nikki sent. I really like it in terms of like the honeycomb stuff. Like I have some feedback on what Nikki sent. I really like it in terms of like the simplicity, and I know she needs to get like the hex logo and all that figured out, but I'm like, yeah, that could be soon.
Speaker 1:I think that's why I've also been trying to give most of my time to the Honeycomb stuff, because it has been more likely to come out soon. So, even if it was a situation where, like you're saying, honeycomb launches and then Hex is just a part of that that is coming soon, I think that makes a lot of sense because, anyways, the memberships are no longer dependent on one another, so you don't actually need one for the other Because are no longer dependent on one another, so you don't actually need one for the other. Yeah, and then once we have a bit because I've started to get into this because there's like a couple of major countries like the States and Canada that I want to have on that website before it launches. So, even if it just means any, or even if it means that, for example, we've got some more videos from you than me in the beginning and I just like catch up later on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Totally Do it when it was, but I think we can be less strict to an extent about how many videos we have and when, because we'll also have a lot of stuff that will build that.
Speaker 2:I also. There are a few things Nikki said. Well, first of all, did you have any opinions on what Kate said, the revisions, Because I think it's basically just like picking.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I don't have any. I looked at it briefly Um.
Speaker 2:I like the first or second one. Yeah, I agree, I think the first is my favorite, I think the first is my favorite because the contrast is the strongest, Whereas in the second one I feel like it looks a little bit hazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So if you're cool with that, I might just email her back and be like yeah, let's go with the first one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, it could always be edited and changed later, but I kind of like that no, I like, I like the heavy, I like the font in the first one, the best as well. That's like you have your weight, because that was what I preferred as well on the first round, yeah, but then she was like I would need to be like a bit longer just to fill up space, um, um, she recommends the middle for clarity, but I like the top one more.
Speaker 2:I like the top one best as well, so we can just say that. Just make it clear and then there were a few things that, um and again. Like this can all be edited, it's just to like get it on there for now. There are a few things that nikki said, so I went in yesterday and made a bunch of edits, oh hello, hello.
Speaker 1:Oh, she's back. Hello, hello okay hello, she's back.
Speaker 2:um, there were a few things I went and edited, slash added in in the google doc and she had asked for like imagery for oral histories. And I just said, every time we have a guest, I think it'd be cool if every time we have a guest, we have a picture of them and we put it in black and white. We can either ask them to submit one or whatever that might be best.
Speaker 1:And then I told her that I had put a few things in the Drop box that were like black and white cassette tape, black and white headphones if you've got the time today, would you be down to see if you could make us a similar logo to the sticky notes one you made for us for oral histories yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely um like similar, maybe not necessarily with a hexagon, but just like, as just a simplistic logo yeah would be.
Speaker 2:Do you have any initial inklings as to what you would want? The?
Speaker 1:um, I quite like the font of sticky notes, like the sort of scented cursive style. Yeah, um, I don't know what color you want to go for. In my head, weirdly, it's like maroon and white, but I feel like then we have too many different color schemes yeah, I feel like we would need it to either be a yellow or a purple, or black and white. Yeah, which I think it's.
Speaker 2:I think it sits more in like beige, yellow, yellow, yeah, or mustard, as Nikki was saying Maybe we can do it in black and white and ask them to put the edit over it that they did, that they're going to do for the other black and white pictures. It kind of gives it like a yellowy hue. Yeah, I'm down with it, I'm not too.
Speaker 1:I think it's kind of cool because like a yellowy hue, yeah, I'm down with it.
Speaker 2:I think it's kind of cool because it feels like history-ish Mm-hmm. Yeah, whatever it is.
Speaker 1:I'm not too picky, but I figure it's probably good to have a logo for it. Yeah, especially if it ever gets built out. Yeah, if anything.
Speaker 2:I'll send some to you today and then I think that was the only.
Speaker 1:I need to make my bio longer um I need to finish up my bio I sent her all the links for I saw her ask, I think about she's like at what point you'll be start logging the directory stuff. I'm gonna try and I'll tell her. I'll respond to her and just say i'll'll try to get America or a bits of America on, um, or some of the major States, but America is going to be quite a time project. Yeah, because there are just so many of them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um, but even if it was also it that gets loaded, like you're like, once they teach us the backend, or if it's like a thing that, like it, can auto load, I can just input it into whatever that coding software is, rather than putting it into like the sheet.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And then the other thing she said which I thought was really interesting and then I went back, made some changes was, um, putting in like benefits as opposed to features of a membership, and yeah, and that was really. It was just interesting to think about because it's true, and so it was a good test for me to go in and be like, okay, yeah, what are people actually? Because to me it's obvious, but got to put it out there, so I made a few changes. They're all in there. And obviously, after she put it out there, so I made a few changes, they're all in there. And obviously after she builds it out, like I'm not really too worried, Once she builds it out and shows us how to do it, we can always go in and edit and change.
Speaker 1:I'm like I'm perfect if she just gets this on the yeah, cool, so that's all very exciting. I was going to say I do have to run. Um, yeah, we can go for it. Look at chopping this episode, because it's a chunky episode. We can chop this up into personal life and then business let's do it yeah, we can episode seven and eight yeah or no? Eight and nine eight and nine.
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, let's do that because it's a long one. Thanks for listening. Thanks for listening Episode nine. Our next one will be 10, which is very exciting.
Speaker 1:I want to wear like a party hat or something we need to celebrate we should. When I was trying to edit that very first episode, I was like so how am I gonna keep doing this every week? So it's kind of wild that we're we're already here yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 2:It's very cool episode 10 inbound. But thank you for listening episode nine and see you next week. Thanks,