Joel Runyon, the guy behind IMPOSSIBLE, talks about his source of inspiration for starting the brand, the name IMPOSSIBLE and why entrepreneurs should value their brand.
What is the story behind IMPOSSIBLE?
I started IMPOSSIBLE as a personal challenge to live a more interesting life. It started off as a blog about me trying to do more interesting things with my life. I had a bunch of things I wanted to do, but they all seemed IMPOSSIBLE.
Instead of just feeling bad for myself, I turned it into a list and called it my “Impossible List.” The blog originally detailed my personal challenges and goals and as I started breaking down how I accomplished specific goals – I created more products, ideas and programs for other people to engage with as well.
I put all of these under the umbrella of “IMPOSSIBLE” and kept going with it!
When did you start thinking about your brand name and how did you settle on IMPOSSIBLE?
It evolved over time. I originally called my blog – the blog of impossible things – and over time I just started calling it IMPOSSIBLE as shorthand. As we created the logo, we sort of settled on just calling the business IMPOSSIBLE as it was easier, shorter, and made more sense overall.
How did you get the domain name ImpossibleHq.com for your brand? Why did you select that one exactly?
I registered it for $8. Down the road, we were able to acquire impossible.org for our non-profit-related work and Impossible.co for our eCommerce brand.
How has owning ImpossibleHQ.com affected your business? Do you own any other domain names?
I wouldn’t say ImpossibleHq.com domain has had an effect on our business other than being a good launching pad and home for everything. The sister sites and Impossible.org have been helpful as we expand beyond the original site.
Who is your target customer and how is your brand name helping in reaching them?
Our target customer is all over the place, but tends to skew towards young, ambitious men 20-40. That said, we have everyone from highschoolers to grandmothers that write in to talk about how IMPOSSIBLE has impaced their life.
The main differentiator is that people are tired of the status quo and want to do something challenging to live an interesting life.
How do you keep your brand consistent across different channels online and offline?
For ImpossibleHQ.com we keep the @impossiblehq handle consistent across the board. As we expand on eCommerce, we’ve used Impossible.co – which is exciting to be launched and out in the wild.
Why should entrepreneurs value their brand?
I think the brand name is incredibly important. It’s the first thing people see when they meet your brand and it should have a consistent thread of message from start to purchase.
“I think the brand name is incredibly important. It’s the first thing people see when they meet your brand and it should have a consistent thread of message from start to purchase.”
Has the pandemic affected your company in any way? What has changed since?
We are busier!
What would your advice be to entrepreneurs who are just starting out, in general and when it comes to branding and naming?
Spend time coming up with a name that is both meaningful and expansive. A lot of people (in my opinion) get overly cute with their naming and it becomes much less interesting or inspiring. They get really tied to a name early on and then the business model changes and the name becomes more awkward than inspiring. I think finding names that have range and are capable of growing alongside the business is super important.
Where do you see your business in the future and how does your brand name fit into that vision?
We are continuing to build out our eCommerce store at Impossible.co. In the meantime, we have several sister sites like ImpossibleFitness.com and MoveWellApp.com that help our users.
We hope the above information will help you in making informed decisions about your brand. If you want to say hi or have any questions about naming, branding, and domain names get in touch, we’re always happy to hear from you.
Find out more about IMPOSSIBLE
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