When did you realize it was time for changes in your life? Those moments when you just knew it was time to shake things up to make your future align with the vision you’ve always had? That’s what we’re diving into in this blog.

Four years ago, Skenit was born out of a need to assist the gym where we trained. The trainers there were struggling to keep track of their clients’ attendance. QR codes were a hot item in the Serbian market, so we saw an opportunity to build a solution for our trainers, pivoting Crystal Pigeon towards a new venture – product development. The name’s meaning was clear: scan your trainer’s QR code to check in for your workout, as simple as Skenit.

Over the years, we implemented various features and expanded our team, continuously working on development. At one UMPS (Association of Young Entrepreneurs of Serbia) event, we met the SPR team. We partnered up in the summer of 2021, and they provided invaluable expertise in the fitness industry, helping push Skenit forward. Their hands gave our little orange ball the force it needed to bounce with potential, a potential we didn’t even realize existed in Serbia (to such an extent) and beyond.

We understand that the development process is individual, influenced by time, desire, effort, environment, current possibilities, and many other factors. Like most, we aim for constant improvement, expanding our horizons, and pushing beyond what we’re used to.

Skenit, the name that represented us until now, doesn’t capture the industry we’re in or our future growth as we see it.

So, how do we see it?

Skenit has grown. Now, he’s smashing 150kg on the bench but, four years ago, he started with a 20kg bar. He works with serious businesses, trainers, and various fitness studios, yet it knows it can do more. To unleash its full potential, Skenit realized it needed to change how it presented itself while retaining its core values. With the support of businesses (trainers and studios), it decided to soar even higher and leave the nest where it was born.

Skenit is landing in the international market (Middle East, Texas, UK, Europe), noticing that people struggle to connect with his name, often searching for “Scan it” (a language barrier), and not recognizing its association with the fitness industry.

And so begins the story of Skenit’s rebranding

We spent hours and hours in workshops with the brilliant designer – Nikola Dameski (later Damazz). To give you insight into the whole process and our story, let’s show you how it went down. Let’s start… well, from the beginning.

The workshops were divided into mini-tasks that required us to write down all our thoughts and considerations for why we wanted to change Skenit and what we wanted to achieve.

Everything that had been floating around in our minds for so long, we began to collect on paper:

1. Warm-up – each of us wrote down what we liked and didn’t like about the current brand, taking into account our different roles within the company. It was our first encounter with reality. Turns out, we all see Skenit in such different ways, yet similar. Wow.
2. What, how, and why? – The famous trio for a good start. We all tried to answer these questions, and then, we filtered all the answers into just three, considering that we had only three questions.

1. Brand Purpose – Why do we exist? The first thought: This is tough to put into words. We know why we exist. But try explaining that in one sentence. After hours and hours of shaping our thoughts, we arrived at a collective answer: “To empower relationships between Fitness Businesses & Entrepreneurs and their members so that they can both have a higher quality life!”
2. Brand Mission – First thought: Brand Purpose was a piece of cake. Now what? Damazz’s approach made the iceberg we were approaching turn into just ice in a glass, and with good concentration, analysis, and chit-chat, we came to this conclusion: “To give the Fitness Community the power to bring back their focus on fitness itself by ensuring smooth organization.”
3. And where there’s a mission, there’s also a vision – First thought: We know they’re not the same, but can’t they be in this moment? Damazz was incredible here too. Good real-life examples and strong brands like Twitter, Forbes, Google, and Uber inspired us to transfer our thoughts to paper:  “We see a world where fitness enthusiasts lead accomplished lives, where time is more valued and interactions are effortless.”
4. Values – Here, we were all clear that we wanted to retain everything that Skenit was and was recognized for by our current clients: Growth, Trustworthiness, Responsibility, and Fairness.
5. Brand voice – If you had to describe your brand as an animal, what animal would it be? – We were asked… 

First thought: Kangaroo – you can imagine a kangaroo in the world of fitness as you read this, with muscles flexing. A kangaroo has a pouch. In that pouch, it carries its baby, nurturing it, shaping it, strengthening it, and constantly caring for it. That’s Skenit. That’s Skenit’s ideal client. Skenit cares for the client and their business, supporting and enabling them to be stronger and better. Skenit’s clients (trainers, studios, and instructors) care for their clients. They’re entrusted with time and money, but most importantly, with the client’s health. 

But, there’s also a mythical creature – the Phoenix. After all, we are Crystal Pigeon, and the phoenix, as a bird, carries strong symbolism – it’s ready to be reborn. Its warm orange color symbolizes the current colors of Skenit.

After several workshops where we shaped the above-mentioned elements, we took a look at the changes to the Brand Tagline, revising goals for this year, and the most exciting part for us – a new name.

Well, this took a while… At the final meetings where we were supposed to confirm the new name, which we were convinced was “it,” along with some casual chatting and discussing the new things awaiting us, something completely new was born, which immediately thrilled the whole team.

Introducing: Fitnest

Every business we collaborate with has several common goals – constantly working on themselves and their business to ensure that the people who trust them (their clients) are always fit and feel safe in that space.

That, right there, is Fitnest.

Playing with words led to a name that’s easy to pronounce in all languages, successfully removing the language barrier that slowed Skenit from adapting to other markets.

That same orange ball we mentioned earlier decided it was time for a new color – a color closer to symbolizing the fitness industry – blue. In this way, it’s here to highlight that it’s ready to adapt to different businesses in the fitness industry and to show that, given the chance, they can jump on clouds together, as our new color is called Sky Dancer.

And we come to the end – the meaning of the name.

As you might guess, “Fit” in the name Fitnest represents the fitness industry. As we mentioned, this was another obstacle for Skenit. Now, when someone encounters Fitnest, they can be aware that it’s related to the fitness industry, which, at first glance, opens many doors for us. After all, first impressions matter, don’t they?

And “Nest“? There’s not much to add there. The team behind Fitnest is Crystal Pigeon, which leads us to the conclusion that Fitnest was born in our nest. For years, we’ve been working on it, teaching it to be nimble and constantly solving problems in the fitness industry.

Fitnest isn’t just another mobile app in the fitness world. Fitnest is a mobile app that takes care of the organizational, administrative, and record-keeping aspects of your business. With Fitnest, you don’t need countless papers, notebooks, and Excel sheets. Everything is in one place, at your fingertips, at any moment.

You train. We manage the rest. Fitnest.

On this journey of rebranding, a little poem was born that describes Fitnest, formerly known as Skenit, and it deserves to see the light of day.

“In the world of software, miracles we often meet,

Skenit was there and expanded its fleet.

Change came, a new purpose was born,

Fitnest is the name that now leads us on.

From tracking workouts to scheduling a class,

Fitnest is here to make it easier for each coach to surpass.

So don’t mourn the old Skenit’s fate,

Fitnest is the future, let’s celebrate!“

Last few words

Gratitude is a small word to describe the entire journey from the very beginning until now. But gratitude is the word with which we want to end this blog. Therefore, let’s reflect on a well-known quote from Arnold Schwarzenegger:

“I didn’t make it that far on my own. I mean, to accept that credit or that medal, would discount every single person who has helped me get here today, who gave me advice, who made an effort, who lifted me when I fell. And it gives the wrong impression that we can do it all alone. None of us can.”

A big thank you to all the people who have been with us on this journey, and who are still here, working tirelessly every day to improve Fitnest. Each of your contributions has led Fitnest to where it is today, and we look forward to even greater shared successes.

Because in the end, Fitnest is here to support the fitness industry, just as all of you have been our support.

The whole

Crystal Pigeon Team