How did Robin and Lisa name Workit Health?
So, why is it called Workit Health? Here’s the story:
It was late at night on Tuesday, October 14th, 2014. Lisa and I had spent the entire day seated across from one another in my one bedroom apartment in Oakland, California. Sticky notes covered the walls with words like “Open” and “Thriving” and “All the Time, Always There.” I had been checking available domains with GoDaddy for the better part of an hour. Up until then, we had been calling our project “ENDURE,” because, frankly, we’re suckers for melodrama. But it was time to move past ourselves and push this thing out into the world.
I had a few contenders queued up, so I gave Lisa a call while horizontal in my bed, balancing my laptop on my knees (many of our best meetings commence this way). Our conversation went as follows:
“Hi, do you have a second to run through names?” I asked.
“Of course. Go,” she answered.
“Great. Okay, first one—ResistIt.”
“Too negative,” she replied.
“Okay. What about AIRA?” I countered.
“Did you just sneeze?” she asked. She was serious.
“Okay, that’s out. What about something from an expression … oh wait … it works if you work it. Like they say at AA meetings. What about Workit?”
As she’s inclined to do, Lisa remained silent for an uncomfortably long period of time, causing me to think she’d hung up.
“You still there?” I asked.
“Oh, yes! I was thinking. Workit … I LOVE it. It’s racy, like us. Workit, girl! Plus there is that song, it’s sexy. And I think it’s irreverent. Workit!!! I LOVE IT!”
One click, one personal credit card number entered (we bootstrapped well into our second year), and we were officially a two person operation with the name Workit Health.
We didn’t overthink it, we went with our gut. We dreamed it together, and we started it together. In hindsight, we are delighted (and relieved) to report that the genius of our name has revealed itself.
A few thoughts on the Workit Way:
Workit Health is an action. It’s something you do, every day, for yourself. You must act your way to better living; you can’t feel your way, or think your way. But you can act your way to a better existence. This is a belief Lisa and I both subscribe to. It happened to us. The act of remaking yourself, your life, the fabric of your days, until you are born anew.
Workit isn’t an angel from on high, and it’s not a magic pill. We humbly offer people a way to get better, tools to “work,” a match, and an unlit candle. The work is presented as an option. This isn’t a snake oil cure. Entering Workit won’t change your life. But working Workit will change your life, assuredly. We stand behind our ability to catalyze change—not to accomplish the change for you.
And finally, we are what we do, not what we say. A new name (or an idea) is an empty vessel awaiting meaning. Meaning happens with time. Workit Health was hatched at a dining room table by two close friends dreaming big. Over time, we turned our embryonic ideas into a prototype, then a force of people, then a determined organization of intermingled talents, sweat, love and grit.
What mattered then as it matters today, is the work. The work will light your path, every time.
I think I texted every person in my phone that night. Not to seek approval—but to announce.
The next morning we started work again with a renewed sense of purpose, texting one another “Workit!!!!!”. We were being ridiculous and silly, but we didn’t care. The name was ours. We claimed it as our own.
And we’ve never looked back.
– Robin