ORGANITS® - What's in a Name?
What is ORGANITS?
What’s in a name? Apparently a lot. We see businesses all the time and we just accept the names of those businesses because we’re just used to seeing them: Amazon, Vuori, Nike, LuluLemon, Chanel, Adidas, Nokia; the list can go on and on. No one really questions the name of it - is it just because it’s familiar?
When I tell people the name of my business, ORGANITS®, I tend to receive a variety of responses:
Person 1: “Organics? Um, I think that exists already.”
Me: “No - I said ORGAN-ITS - it exists only as an Albanian word.. That I’m aware of anyway.. (More on that in a minute).
Person 2: “OR-GAN-TIS….?”
Me: “NO.. OR-GAN-ITS..” - (Insert annoyed emoji face here).
Person 3: “Oh.. uh, okay..” Followed by a look of confusion and a face that says, ‘what the heck does that mean..”
Me: *Thinking to myself.. Just keep smiling at them and pretend you’re not getting irritated..
Then my favorite one.. The one that hit me hardest in the gut was when I hired an advisor and she asked, “Soo.. this isn’t good or bad, but - how attached are you to the name of your business?”
→ My immediate thoughts that coincided with the emotional gut kick:
“Are you kidding me?! For the last THREE YEARS I have been working on building up my brand and my business and here you come along and question the business name itself? That’s a low fucking blow. I spent a lot of time and money into not only securing ALL of the social media platforms, the website itself, the emails, and then also hiring an expensive attorney to help me trademark and register my business name.. Not to mention the legal registration of my business in the state of Nevada. Are you fucking for real right now??”
My actual verbal response went more like this:
Attempting to muster up a polite smile while seething inside I respond with: “I’m very attached to the name..” - and I went on to explain to her what it meant to me, as I will for you.
ORGANITS® is a play on words between the word organic and my last name, Nitkowski. When I was first trying to figure out the name of my business, it was only after I decided firmly on the types of products I wanted to create and/or sell. - A whole other blog on that later, but I think the ORGANITS® name does need a bit of an explanation because I figured.. If this girl is asking me what it means, I am sure that other people will be asking what it is too. After I took my butt-hurt feelings out of it and saw it from her, and perhaps many other people’s perspective, she had a valid point.
ORGANITS® is very special to me. After I settled on the name I was reading one of the fashion business books that I had purchased and it said that if you’re going to make up a name, make sure it doesn’t mean something foul in another language. Immediately, I went to Google and went to the “Google Translate” feature and put ORGANITS into the search bar - and low and behold, it did mean something - organit means body in Albanian. All I could think was, “Perfect.” with a big smile on my face. It encompassed everything I was trying to build but also everything that I already was. I have been a preventative expert for the last 14 years as a dental hygienist and I am all about educating my people (patients) on the oral-systemic link and how to better take care of themselves and their overall body health. The medical profession still needs to catch up in 2024, dentistry still has you guys beat.
And NOW, I am trying to bring a better and more sustainable & ethical brand to the world utilizing a more organic approach with the materials the fashion and personal care industries are using. You mean, I still get to bring some of my healthcare background into the fashion and personal care space and help educate people on their overall health? That was a HUGE personal win for me.
I genuinely love to help people. The only thing I have continued to love doing in the 20 years I have been in dentistry (that includes 6 years as a dental assistant), is connecting with people and being able to help them in some way. Being fortunate enough to meet people from all walks of life from all over the world, and hearing their story - not to mention having them become a part of mine as well. Despite all the bad shit we see in the media day after day - I refuse to give up on humanity because we have all seen people come together to help one another. I can certainly still see the good in people. Don’t get it twisted either, it’s not like I had a charmed or easy life - not by any stretch. It’s been a rough one - which made me strong in many ways. Just like Miyamoto Musashi stated, “It is better to be a warrior in a garden, than a gardener is a war.” Everyone goes through rough times in their life, but as I like to say, it wasn’t punishment, it was preparation.
You have to understand something about me. I have truly struggled in so many ways while building ORGANITS® up - and honestly, it is something that a lot of people probably would have walked away from by now. The majority of entrepreneurs relate to this which is why the success rate is so small - but I like those odds and am stubborn enough to keep going. Despite everything, it still means the literal world to me that I continue forward because this is so much infinitely bigger than just myself. That being said - now you know where I came up with the ORGANITS® name and why it is so special to me. You’re welcome. lol
XX,
Lisa, Founder
ORGANITS®