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Life Equals Blog



feedback: the key to identity

Tuesday, November 30, 2010
(This post was originally posted in an old blog Kyle and Graham started when Life Equals was a different branding. For simplicity, the company and product names have been updated. No need to create confusion. We thought we'd share these posts as a tribute to where we came from, and also to share a little bit larger view of our story. Enjoy!)


One might think that coming up with the initial idea for a product or business is the toughest part.  Once created you just sit back and watch everybody love it, buy it, and tell all their friends.

That hasn’t been our experience. At the time we thought idea generation was the hardest part. We were wrong. The toughest part is the gap between creation and everyone loving it.

The process that takes you from idea to success is oftentimes winding and unknown.  The one thing that has helped us find our path and condense our ideas is feedback. Even if we make the best product on the planet, if we don’t understand how to convey that to our customers and understand their needs, we will be sunk.  Or worse yet, we would have a really great idea and no way to implement it.

Hearing from the people who use our product has given us much needed direction.  I would like to thank all those who have come into our process to help us improve our product and better convey our message.  Your influence and feedback has helped us see our company with fresh eyes and realize the changes necessary for our success.

Thank you.





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local beans

Tuesday, November 23, 2010
(This post was originally posted in an old blog Kyle and Graham started when Life Equals was a different branding. For simplicity, the company and product names have been updated. No need to create confusion. We thought we'd share these posts as a tribute to where we came from, and also to share a little bit larger view of our story. Enjoy!)


What could possibly be better than a hot cup of coffee on the coldest morning of the winter?



A cup of coffee that was hand roasted yesterday by the best nano coffee roaster in the city: Oddly Correct.

Four years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Gregory when he moved to KC to pursue the premium coffee business.  A few years later he is preparing to open his new shop at Westport Road and Main in Midtown.  Gregory’s brand Oddly Correct currently sells whole beans online and they are available at the Filling Station in Union Hill.

Handcrafted, local products allow the artisan’s soul to come through in the products they make.  Each coffee bag displays a hand carved block print, pressed on by Gregory’s man powered printing press.  It is beautiful to see such art integrated into the story of each product and then given away as part of the packaging.

I was lucky enough to swing a small package of his super rare beans from Jimma Ethiopia.  Not only is Jimma the birthplace of coffee, but they are still producing some of the best arabica coffee in the world 1,000+ years later.  Freshly roasted, the sweet earthy flavors and scents of fruit were perfect for a cold morning.

If you want to try a cup of the Jimma varietal, swing by the Filling Station soon as it is in limited supply and might only last a week.  






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celebrate!

Tuesday, November 02, 2010
(This post was originally posted in an old blog Kyle and Graham started when Life Equals was a different branding. For simplicity, the company and product names have been updated. No need to create confusion. We thought we'd share these posts as a tribute to where we came from, and also to share a little bit larger view of our story. Enjoy!)


Kyle and I are two relatively high-energy people. We are enthusiastic and passionate and tend to dominate whatever conversation we happen to be in.  It makes for an incredibly dynamic friendship and business.

We love working together.

Surprisingly, one practice we’re really poor at is celebrating. We don’t do it very often or very well.


When Kyle and I went to see the Social Network in an act of celebration it was a rare thing.  Probably one of only 2 or 3 times that we’ve intentionally celebrated what we’re doing and what we’ve done in the last year and a half of our business.

That’s no good.

The temptation is to wait to celebrate until something huge happens or the business is completely done.  The problem is that there’s always more to do.  There are always more goals to accomplish, besides, maybe something bigger will happen next month. Nothing in a business is ever done.

Celebration is easy to delay.  


It was refreshing for Kyle and I to cut out for a weekday matinee rather than just stopping early to do our own thing.  The reason being is that the act of celebration served as a mark that we had accomplished something, that we had achieved a goal, and that we could sit back (for a little bit) to enjoy that accomplishment.


Set goal. Accomplish. Celebrate. Repeat.
It’s a really good rhythm for business... and life.






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