How important is your business name to you? Do you name it according to your product or services or do you choose a name that has a meaning behind it. Think about Nike, Google, Adidas, etc. If you would have never known what these products were, what would these names represent to you? Now let’s look at Jordans, Oprah,and Kimora Lee Simmons. Their brand is named after them. Their will personally represent their brand. Which one will you choose?
When I was younger, I use to hate my name because everyone assumed I was an old white lady from down south and then when they see me they get confused because I look and “act” the opposite. I hated when people prejudge me. As I got older, I grew to like my name just because of who I was named after, which was my gram. The closer I got to her and admired her, the more I wanted to make her proud. I use to tell her that I will become somebody and represent the name well.
The first business name I came up with is Mary Alice Services. Underneath my name it would state Accounting, Administrative and Tax Preparation. As I ventured off, I wanted to start teaching people independent living skills, entrepreneurship, and offer a mentor program. Someone advised me that my business name was unprofessional and I should change it to something that represent what I was providing.
Being new as an entrepreneur, I took their advice and changed my name to Changes Are Made with the slogan Changing lives one person at a time. It sounded good but after 2 years, I noticed that the main reason why I went into business was not something I can represent when advertising Changes Are Made. I wasn’t proud of the name as I was when it was named after my grams and I. So after spending several thousand dollars in marketing material and internal and external documents, I changed it back to Mary Alice Services. Yes, I wasted money throwing out all the old material but I learned that when creating your business, you have to following your OWN passion.
It’s good to hear other people’s advice but at the end of the day, what makes you feel good?
What name will you be proud of? Choose THAT name. So as time passes, you won’t have to “rebrand” yourself like I did.
What name will you choose and why?
If you would like to learn more about this topic, please feel free to take our “Is starting a business right for you?” Workshop.