Naming Your Business
You’ve decided you’re ready to start a store (or booth) and I’m sure you have lots of ideas flowing through your head right now. One of the first things you’ll need to do is come up with a business name. Naming your business involves far more than just thinking of a name you like. A good name should reflect your business’s brand or identity. Your business’s name will be with you for a long time, so it’s important to choose that name carefully and do so before you start investing in the business licenses, setting up a website, and starting your advertising.
Here are some tips that I used when naming my business.
1. Brainstorming
It’s time to brainstorm and come up with a name for your business. I highly recommend buying a notebook that is specifically dedicated to starting up your business. Any ‘ole notebook will do. There will be so many things you’ll need to write down throughout the process and it’s nice to have it all in one spot.
Even if you have a name that you like already, I encourage you to still do this step. Why? When we get to step 2 you may realize you’re unable to use that chosen name or in the process of brainstorming you may find a name that suits your business better.
In the notebook, write down what type of business you’re opening and what words go with that. Is it a vendor store? If that’s the case, some things to write down are vendors, co-op, shops, market, stores, mercantile, shoppes, marketplace, etc… If it’s going to be a brick and mortar with just you in it, words to write could be store, shop, mercantile, cottage, etc… Consider this set 1 of your words.
Next, write down what type of items will be sold in your store. Farmhouse, Antiques, vintage, primitives, etc… This would be set 2 of your words.
Now, with those last set of words (what type of items to be sold) write down words that remind you of or are related to those items. For example, if I was going to open a store that sold Primitives, the words I think would go with Primitives are hearth, heart, briar patch, creek, attic, crow or homestead. If I was selling Farmhouse items, I might use words like meadow, cottonwood, sage, hollow, thistle, and lavender. I know that these might seem like they’re off the wall things, but in the end it all comes full circle. Do a word dump. Write as many descriptive or root words as you can for 30 minutes.
Next, take that third set of words and use those words in a thesaurus. The thesaurus will become your friend. By using a thesaurus, you’re getting words that you may not have even thought of before. So if I were to input the word lavender into the thesaurus, it would give me a synonym of lilac. From lilac, it would take me to mulberry. To me, mulberry is a word I could possibly use so I’d write it down. Continue doing that until you feel that you have enough words. These last bunch of words should be your longest list and this’ll be set 3 of your words.
Once you’ve compiled all of your sets of words, it’s time to start mixing and matching the sets together. Mix and match words from two different sets together. These could potentially be your business’ name. See any you like? Write them down. Don’t stop with the first one you like. I recommend writing a list of at least 15-20 different business names. This is how we got our business name. It may not work for everyone, but I encourage you to take your time. Start this on one day and come back the next and try again. It took me over a week of revisiting the words and potential names before we settled on one.
IDEA HELPERS
Colors – think outside of the box with colors. Lemon, Blueberry, Lavender
Plants and Trees – Cedar, Poppy, Honeysuckle, Fern
Location – Name of your street or town
Add other words like AND & ON
OTHER TIPS
Easy to spell
Ask family members their input on the name.
Easy to remember
Tell a story
Say the name out loud. How does it sound?
Are you happy with the name?
2. Research
Once you have your list of potential business names, it’s time to do your research.
Do a web search on the name. Is someone else already using that business name? Does that business have a bad reputation online? Will people get confused and think that is you? Something to think about when you have the same business name as someone else (even if they’re in another state).
Are the social media usernames available for that name? This is a big one for me. I think it looks more professional when all of your social media handles are all the same.
Is the website domain available to purchase? If you’re not planning on doing a website…wait, why wouldn’t you have a website? Nowadays, a website is a must when having a business. If you’re not tech savvy, that’s alright. There are plenty of ways to have a website made. There are templates already online for you. You simply input your business info and you’re set. If you don’t want to go that route, check with a local tech school who does web design. Students need the practice and will do this for you at a fraction of the normal cost.
Be sure to do a trademark search on the name. Someone may have it or a trademarked already and you don’t need that legal hassle from the get go.
Since you will likely want to structure your business as a corporation or LLC, don’t forget to do a search of your state’s business database. Sometimes your name will be taken, but it will have a spelling change or have an extra word added to it.
3. Get Legal
Take the legal steps to forming your company. Whether you want to become a LLC, corporation or other business entity, make sure you follow the laws and steps set forth by your state. I’m not going to cover the legality of starting a business because I am not in the legal profession. Do a search for “ how to register a business in (your state)” and find your state’s official website on how to start.
How did you come up with your name? Let us know. If you used our tips, let us know what business name you came up with.