Hidden Gems: Meet Kelly & Ryan Cole of Team Blessed

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly & Ryan Cole.

Hi Kelly & Ryan, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
We’ve actually talked a lot about this. The brand has been established since 2015, around the time we were having so many people walk up to us asking what ‘Team Blessed’ is. And they were referring to our very first hats. It was crazy because we were connecting with all walks of life, everywhere, like we were all on the same team. And we kept having these interactions because we were Team Blessed, and clearly so was everyone else. But then we also feel like the brand has been weaving its threads into our existence since we were kids. Ryan would draw pictures of shoes and would always talk about how cool it would be to design a shoe one day. And there I was drawing pictures of these characters, with different designed shirts, logos, and colors. Whenever we’d walk through any mall, we would always be obsessed with finding the best fitting and feeling clothes. We’d see a lit-up sign above a store and think about how cool it would be one day if our brand was on a sign. It was talked about lightly because we didn’t know how two kids could even make something like that happen. We didn’t have any money to do something like that and we kind of saw some adversity growing up, so we just left it as talk.

We’ve bounced ideas back and forth about how maybe the starting point was when we were at a gym I was a trainer at, sitting at a table with the man who could be our lawyer and trademark attorney. We told him, “Yeah so, we don’t have the money to pay for the trademark. But our tax returns are coming soon and we could pay you with that.” He said, “okay that’ll work.” That honestly further validated what we had originally created; the coolest hat (at least we thought) with ‘Team Blessed’ boldly stacked on the front.

The minute we had the design mocked up and thrown on a hat at Lids, we walked out of there looking at each other like we were on to something big. We could feel it, we could see it, grabbing attention on our walk through the food court and out to the car. We even got stopped by someone asking, “What’s Team Blessed?” We said, “a brand, about bringing people together and blessing other people any way you can.” He said “cool, I’ll check it out.” We were thinking like whoa okay this is it. The next day another stranger asked where they could get one of those hats. That kept happening at grocery stores, the gym, airports (especially airports), when we were out eating, walking around, and at conferences, it kept happening. People wanted hats and we wanted to get more made. And we wanted to make them better. A year later we filed with our trademark attorney to officially make Team Blessed a trademarked brand. And after another 1.5 years, we received the good news.

It could have started then. It could have started the day, I think it was my birthday actually, that we bought Teamblessed.com. It was a 4 or 5-year pursuit of checking the cost and seeing if it would drop to something that we could somehow scrape enough money together to buy. We had some guys who turned out to be angel investors, invite us to their room when we were at a conference in Miami. They wanted to hear about the brand and share some wisdom. One of the things was for us to obtain the .com for Team Blessed. And after that 4 or 5-year pursuit, it happened. It was such a big part of our journey to finally get Teamblessed.com and made it even easier for people to find our website and read about the mission and find their favorite apparel. Maybe it wasn’t a starting point, but a major milestone for us.

Then we have traces of all this starting when we were younger, wanting to somehow make a difference and give to people. And since money wasn’t ever a thing we really had, we gave them our energy. This is how our main core value was founded here at Team Blessed, ‘Your Energy Is Your Currency.’ Our energy was literally our currency and we just gave it to people. This is how we became ‘The Bless Other People Brand.’ We found it was the little things you could give to bless other people and that seemed to go a long way for people. This brought us to our next core value here at Team Blessed; R.E.B.E.L. Respect, Encourage, Bless, Enlighten Love; the things we knew we could keep giving to people freely that seemed to make a shocking difference in their lives as if people weren’t seeing that on a consistent basis. That’s what expanded the Team Blessed state of mind, to be a R.E.B.E.L out in society doing what you can to bless other people. And to R.E.B.E.L against the status quo of treating people. Once we started noticing the impact, it almost became a test, to see how we could use all these principles to help Unify and unite us. We would watch how people treated other people, servers, cashiers, security at events, and just random strangers, and it was more commonly a cold interaction without any appreciation for the person or even acknowledgment of that person. And that goes against what we stand behind here at Team Blessed since we see we’re All One. And we’re all somehow connected at a deeper level. And if we can overcome the darkness stemming from our ego that often stands in the way of seeing that truth, it’ll help us all consciously give a currency of light to the world around us. This all led to the bigger mission behind Team Blessed, of choosing to be the catalyst where ever you are in the world. This paved the way to our longest-standing core value here at Team Blessed, ‘Let’s Bless The Rest.’ And really showed that no matter what you’re growing through in life, the smallest things from you can make a life-changing impact on other people around you. So we often talk about whether was that the starting point.

Here’s what we do know, a lot of Team Blessed expanded in a 9×12 bedroom at our parent’s house, that we shared when we moved back into our parent’s house to help out, reboot our lives, and pour all we could into the brand. And it was actually working. That’s where we took the first pictures of our hats using printer paper as a background, where we built the website, and where our logos were created. That was probably one of our biggest victories when we figured out how to make our logo authentically represent everything about Team Blessed. And that took a couple of years. But drawing after drawing, design after design finally got us to where we always saw it being. Our second logo came 4 or 5 months into COVID, in the middle of summer. We had always tried to somehow place the T and B together, to be another logo that said, Team Blessed. And after a couple of years, we finally drew the perfect representation of what that looks like. So we contacted our lawyer and were able to trademark our second logo with flying colors in 2020. What shocked us was NFL legend Tom Brady had 20-30 different TB stylized trademarks himself, and ours passed inspection. Which was a major creative badge of honor for us that really showed us how true to ourselves we’ve stayed along the way.

Now, we have two logos trademarked, our HQ has expanded to the basement of the house we moved into at the beginning of January 2022. Our apparel has expanded into tees, long sleeve shirts, hoodies, and more hats and continues to evolve since we’ve been working with a private manufacturer. 5 years ago we talked about joggers and tracksuits, and those are very close to being released, along with the highly requested yoga pants. It’s been a really fun process and probably one of the hardest at the same time. We’ve self-funded the entire journey from the beginning from income. And we’re just super grateful, every day, that the universe has our backs. We remember earlier days when we would scrape together our last $150 between us both to make a few hats because we needed everything else for bills, food, and family. And now we see ourselves doing it on a bigger scale, and it sometimes doesn’t even feel real. We have come so far and have a long ways to go, but our long-term vision for where this can go and the level of impact it can have is helping us evolve at the perfect pace that’s allowing us to keep the brand true to our hearts.

My background is in fitness, I started working out around 11 or 12, which has led to 19 years around the industry and being involved in the industry professionally for over 13 years. I was so in love with fitness, I quit football and made fitness my sport. So of course when I found out I could get my degree in Health and Exercise Science I was in. This opened the doors to some early insight into Sports Medicine and a concentration in Health Promotion, with multiple certifications and continuing education courses in the process. And I’m grateful because it helped me heal my body and started helping me help other people heal their bodies. I started having success getting people out of pain and even avoiding surgeries, and I knew I was on to something. Team Blessed Fitness has since been established and taken off since COVID, specializing in premium personal training at people’s home gyms, as well as our home gym and through our fitness app.

Ryan & my girlfriend Kalika have 30+ years of combined hospitality and expertise behind the bar, so they set out this year to build Team Blessed Bar, a Premium Private Event Bartending service. The goal is to bring a real, professional, craft bar experience to private events, whether in-home, in the office, or in venues. They decided to build this branch of Team Blessed Bar they came across this niche not being met by most clientele, who were wanting an elevated bar experience at their events. It was something that has echoed throughout the industry for a while now, so seeing them put this together to fill that void is really fun for all of us. Instead of the same old lame beer, wine, and amateur cocktails that fill the “bar” at most events, Team Blessed Bar brings a “Real Bar” to you. It’s been fun watching Team Blessed Bar grow this year throughout Colorado and even be requested out of state.

Team Blessed is evolving as a platform and mindset honestly, from the dopest apparel that helps bring people together and reminds the person wearing it to be Team Blessed, all the way to fitness, and celebrations. But the coolest part about this for us is hearing how the mindset of Team Blessed has shifted so many people’s lives since they started practicing it more and wearing the brand. We have endless Team Blessed stories from other people about how they connected with strangers because of the brand and how their lives have gotten better from it. You can’t put a price tag on stuff like that. This brand has built our minds, bodies, and even spirits and it’s helped us help others do the same. Something that helped us do that was books, books on personal development, business, spirituality, business, self-love, finance, and lots of subjects; so we put together a recommended book list on our website for anyone looking to start or continue their journey of growth. We’re excited to watch Team Blessed continue to evolve and impact more people and we’re grateful to be here for it all.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Now the road is definitely smoothing out. We’ve both said it many times, how good it feels to have made it through some of the harder times along the way. It felt like life was a struggle for 15 years or so, and then the fog started clearing. It’s like all of that built us mentally to build something like Team Blessed. I think that’s where we really stumbled upon another core value here at Team Blessed, Dark to Light; regardless of the darkness around you or even within you, you can still choose to let your light lead the way. If you Think Blessed, you Live Blessed.

We might need a few pages to talk about all the struggles (ha), but a few definitely stand out. A major one would be we haven’t taken a penny from anyone, we’ve done it all on our own dime (that the universe has so generously lent to us while we’re here, of course). There have been opportunities and offers but it just has never felt right. What has always felt right is building it from the ground up, our way, even if it takes a little longer. It’s funny because people tell us to build it faster, but they often only see the money, not the mission. We’re in it for the long game.

Not being able to pay our lawyer was a struggle. But he saw something in us and trusted that we would eventually. And yes we came through. In our earlier days, scraping $80 together to make a few hats leaving our bank accounts close to empty was a struggle. Trusting our belief that this could work, while some people laughed at us was a struggle. Moving back into our parent’s house, to share a 9×12 bedroom to take the brand to the next level and help out while we were there, was a struggle. Keeping our faith that we could somehow figure out the next step was even sometimes a struggle, but we somehow always found a way and we somehow always kept believing. Waiting has been a struggle at different parts of the journey; waiting for 1.5 years on pins and needles to get the word that Team Blessed was officially trademarked. Waiting for the price of our .com to get a range where we could buy it. Waiting for our income to improve so we could keep growing. But in all the waiting, we were actively building.

Completely unrelated to the business side of things, working 40-50, sometimes 60 hours a week with two jobs while in college full time, was a struggle. Ryan taking care of our grandma in college was a struggle. Working through high school was a struggle. Building ourselves out of a struggle, was a struggle. But we truly always saw it all as building us, which has ultimately led to a smoother road and prepared us for everything we’re doing now.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Team Blessed?
Team Blessed started as a lifestyle brand, a lifestyle you proudly live and incorporate into your daily life. And it has spread through our apparel. We start with hats and are finally making our dreams come true with tracksuits, joggers, matching sets, and custom apparel. Team Blessed overall, definitely specializes in making people feel respected and loved as if they belong to some bigger family. What sets Team Blessed apart is how easily it brings people together and how it reminds people they aren’t alone. It’s a catalyst for connection wherever you go.

Since we both have different backgrounds and experiences, we’ve launched two other umbrellas under Team Blessed; Team Blessed Fitness and Team Blessed Bar.

Team Blessed Fitness specializes in premium personal training at clients’ home gyms, at our home gym, and through our app. I think what sets Team Blessed Fitness apart are three major things; how I’ve learned to successfully lead someone to a healthier way of life they can sustain. Second, how to take someone from pain and get them to move pain-free. I nerd out on the body and how to move. And I’ve always been obsessed with preventing surgeries for clients because I started understanding how so many could be prevented through strength and movement. A lot of the “my doctor said I definitely needed surgery” cases started turning into they really just needed to reprogram that area of the body cases. Of course, some surgeries just have to happen, but movement and re-education of our bodies are often the best medicine. Third, education and experience. I’ve been blessed enough to work with and learn from amazing trainers, movement specialists, physical therapists, doctors, team trainers, professors, founders of certifications, and continuing education courses; I’m super grateful. And I get to apply all of it to help people, it’s awesome.

Team Blessed Bar specializes in a premium private bartending service that brings a real, professional, craft bar experience to private events, weddings, dinner parties, and corporate parties; any reason you can think to celebrate, Team Blessed Bar brings 30+ years of experience to your event. Ryan and Kalika launched Team Blessed Bar because they are obsessed with the little extra details that make the biggest difference in every cocktail and every celebration. They kept noticing how many events would drop the ball on cocktails and bar experience. And so they set out to raise the bar. What sets Team Blessed Bar apart from others is the kind of experience that is given at these events. People are often shocked, like did that cocktail just come from there? It’s the engineering of the cocktail that’s done to precision every time, the attention to detail that is so often missed. And if there’s a special request, they always find a way to honor it at a higher level than requested. I hear countless stories about how many new drinks get made on the spot, that suddenly become party favorites and everyone wants one. From the drink to the knowledge that goes into the drink, to the personality and conversation, it all makes for that perfect experience you’re looking for at an event.

There are a lot of things we’re very proud of brand-wise. The top five would be: one, we didn’t quit. Even when it was the hardest, we didn’t quit. We just kept believing, kept learning, and staying patient. And it’s really starting to pay off. Second, our logos; it was such a process and victory for us and they represent so much behind our brand. We love them and a lot of people seem to also which is a major plus. Next would be our graduation from the 9×12 to our house where HQ and the gym also live; we laugh about the 9×12 days and don’t even know how we did it. Fourth, we’re super proud of how much we’ve learned and taken on to grow this from nothing. And lastly, we’ve stayed true to ourselves throughout the process.

We definitely want people to know we’re out here, the apparel exists and the services exist as well. Please check us out at Teamblessed.com or find us on Instagram @teamblessedlifestyle, @teamblessedfitness, and @teamblessedbar.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
There are a lot of people who deserve credit. God, thank you for letting us do this life. Our parents for sure. They let us expand a company out of a 9×12 room in their house, they for sure deserve the most credit. Shoutout to my girlfriend Kalika (also Ryan’s business partner) for all of her support along the way. She bought the first hat off our website just to make sure it would work. Shoutout to all of our friends and clients who have supported Team Blessed from apparel to fitness to the booking of events. Another would be books, as those have been our greatest mentors throughout our lives and helped us grow (check out our recommended book list on teamblessed.com if you need a good read). We owe a big shoutout to Blake Burroughs and Zach Donaldson, we love and appreciate you both for being by our side as we expand our brand. Major shoutout to the Centeno family. They’ve been clients of mine for 7 or 8 years, built a home gym, and showed me I could make and build a business model around at-home training.

That home gym is also where a lot of filming for the app took place and where we would do photo shoots for apparel.

Shout out to The Friedery’s who have followed me to gyms before they built their own at home and before I built my own practice. Shoutout to all of my clients who have been with me along the way.

Huge shoutout to our lawyer Paul who saw something in us before we could even pay him a dime. Shoutout to founder and entrepreneur Matt Manero for awarding us tickets to an entrepreneurial conference in Miami. That weekend helped us stitch together a widened vision for the Team Blessed platform. That weekend and our visit to your office in Texas got us into conversations and rooms we didn’t even know if we were qualified to be in. Or were we? Oddly enough, a lot of strangers deserve credit, because that’s where we got a lot of support on the apparel side at first, from people we didn’t know. It’s like strangers’ reactions to the brand inspired us to keep building. We’d hear Team Blessed whispers echoing in conversations around us, we heard Team Blessed called out from across the street. And it all kept inspiring us. So thank you, family, thank you, friends, thank you, strangers, thank you, everyone.

Contact Info:

• Website: Teamblessed.com
• Instagram: @teamblessedlifestyle ; @teamblessedfitness ; @teamblessedbar ; @kellyccolebrother ; @ryancolebrother
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077397916463