#howtolaunch

Launch it challenge

HOW TO LAUNCH YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS!  -

Week 4.

Hey beautiful people! I hope you have had a wonderful week! I have to say my week has been pretty lovely. Had a nice catch up with a lovely friend down at our gorgeous local cafe. I fitted in some yoges and a few beautiful walks/run around my neck of the woods ( like literally, I was running in the forest, lol :) I then spent most of the week behind my desk looking out my window at the gorgeous birds who visit my little bird bath. Sometimes I wonder if I get too excited over birds, like a crazy bird lady lol. Honestly I just love watching them splash and go crazy, it's a nice distraction and break from the computer screen. Anyway enough tree hugging ( for now that is, there will be lots more, cause that's how I roll!  ;)  let's get into week 4!

Today I wanted to start getting you thinking about how to come up with your business name. I was going to go into websites/ domains but after chatting  about this with my friend the other day I decided to slot this one in first. So we where talking about business names and how many of us naturally all start to think about business names in the same way. It's funny how we can think we might be coming up with something very unique only to find that name is taken. "What I thought it was so perfect but it's gone!" is a really common situation to find yourself in at the begining. 

When thinking of your business name  the first question that will crop up is do I use my name or  create a business name + identity? So I thought I would list a few of the pro's + cons for using your own name versus a business name;

USING YOUR OWN NAME-

PROS

Creating yourself into a brand is a great way to keep consistancy and bring your identity and personality into your products + services.

You won't have to worry about getting sick of your name beacuse theres a good chance you kind of like yourself  (hopefully) :)

Using your own name rather than a business name makes you seem more affordable and approachable to potential clients.

Depending on your name, it can make you easier to remember. If your name is Dick Assman :) :)  then you might want to get that crazy memorable business name up on a billboard stat! :) If your name is really complex to pronounce, hard to remember then this one may not apply to you.

CONS

Using your own name can actually make you appear less experienced and so if your aiming to get those big clients or sales it might be a little turn off to those more high end clients/purchasers.

It can be a little restrictive if your wanting to add future business partners or staff as other collegues may be putt off by your name being all over the place.

It's a missed opportunity to quickly let others know what your business is about. If I just use Mel Sherwell, people will only think who is she, what does she do and what does she stand for? Most will not care and before you know it they will have clicked off onto some other page and forgotten all about me.  When people surf the net they can be lazy and just will not bother to go and click onto your bio to find out, "oh shes actually an interior designer" It's not likely people will make that extra effort to find out.

USING A WELL THOUGHT OUT BUSINESS NAME-

PROS

In a very short second you can communicate so much to your potential clients about what you actually do. Make the most of every second of exposure you get with a clever business name.

A clever business name can also be very memorable, especially if you think of something that communicates your services + perspective. Remember to get into the mind of your potential clients. How do they think? What name would excite your potential customers or target audience?

A good business name can communicate who you are + what your about.

This is an ooprtunity to demonstrate your creative/intelectual ability. This is of course if you come up with a name that is creative and intelligent ;).

You may include words or imply a point of view that communicates what your business represents, your goals, beliefs + ethos 

A business name can communicate that you really do mean business + are one to be taken seriously.

With the additional information that a business name communicates, your also building trust and rapport much more quickly than a personal name.

Your communicating that your business is hoping to grow with no restrictions and you have high expectations of where you are heading. This communicates to potential clients that they are dealing with someone who is ambitious, dedicated and aims to achieve great things, including your services/products.

You can leverage your self to really stand out with a clever business name. With so many interior designers + stylists out their, I just couldn't handle 'Mel Sherwell Designs', ummm boring not too mention no one would blink an eye lid at a name like that. I needed something to communicate who I am as a designer and why I'm worth remembering.

CONS

Everyone always says this one, it's a long term committment to use a business name! Well yea, so is having a business :) But I guess their is a small amount of truth in this statement. Lets just say you decide after a few years you want to go in a new direction and your business name no longer suits you. Well then perhaps a business name could be a con in that circumstance. My answer to this one is, just start a new business. As long as you have been consistantly marketing your personal name alongside your business name, you will still be building your reputation which you can take with you always.

A business name can sound a little more formal which can be off putting to smaller clients, wanting a more personal service. People do like to know who they are dealing with and not just be speaking to a brand name. However I think it only takes one or two emails with a your personal name/signature to start personalising the service. Also who wants to only target small clients. I mean yes I love personalised jobs of any size, but I would'nt brand my whole business to only target smaller jobs. I want serious clients, who want a professional service.

I really can't think of any more cons to having a super cool, well thought out business name. As I mentioned earlier, I like to use a little of both in my business name. In all of my social media accounts I include both my personal name and my business name. I'm always, 'Mel Sherwell - Soul Shapes' . I love having both and I think it represents me  Mel Sherwell the designer + then my creation, my perspective + my work 'Soul Shapes'.

Workshop it

So just to finish up, let me throw a few more considerations you can ponder to help get you on track with this business name thing.

So lets go back to your passion footprint in the earlier weeks. What did you discover was your passion footprint + your unique view point in your industry? Write it down again on a piece of paper.

An example scenerio might be,  if your a florist, are you a florist who works with wild flowers, or the more lux varieties of roses etc? Be honest, what do you love? Then choose that! You have to love your passion foot print (if you dont know what I'm talking about, go back to weeks 1 + 2) Forget about the clients for a second and just think about what gets you exctited! Ok, got it! Great, keep your niche in the front of your mind at all times! This is always the focus of your business, so stay on track and now write down some key words to describe your niche -  Wild Rose, Natural Bloom, Peaceful Posies...... you get it. Keep writing down key words to describe your niche, + your view point. Then throw in some key words about your ethos, your believes or your goals.

This is how to workshop in a direct, purposeful way and I promise you in amongst all those words is your business name. Now you just need to bridge the correct pair together. I like the idea of a pair as it gives you more power in communicating what your about rather than just one word. At times one word may do it, but generally not.

Now good luck, have fun, relax with it! I remember when I came up with Soul Shapes, I knew I instanlty loved it, but it did take me another week or two of playing around with other ideas to realise it was the winner. So be patient and the key to creating is to keep your mind open and positive!!

Enjoy your weekend everyone.  I promise next week we will get into websites + purchasing domain names.

Peace out 

Melanie Sherwell - Interior Designer