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6 Simple Steps To Naming Your Lifestyle Business

Written by: Sarah Cooper

Article Overview: If you are ready to start your own lifestyle business, but stuck on finding a good name for it or just wondering how to come up with a catchy name that hasn't been taken yet, you'll find your answers here. These six simple steps will help you find a great name for your business - something fitting, catchy and not boring.

6 Simple Steps To Naming Your Lifestyle Business

I started my lifestyle business nearly two years ago and deciding what to call the wretched thing was definitely one of the hardest parts of the setting up process. I obsessed over potential business names for the better part of a week. I'd wake up in the night to scribble down my latest crazy idea, and surf Wikipedia for hours analysing words or expressions for subtle layers of meaning. But everything I came up with seemed to have been thought of before.

Eventually, the right name just popped into my head - and I (pretty much) knew that was it.

"Simple" may be slightly optimistic, but I hope these 6 steps help you negotiate the naming minefield more smoothly than I did!

1. Don't be boring

This should be true for any business. But in my view, it's especially true for a lifestyle business.

As a lifestyle entrepreneur you have chosen to walk a more independent, individual and uncompromising path. Your business is set up to allow you to do exactly what you want, where you want and when you want.

So choose a name which reflects the unique personality of your business. Consider what motivated you to become a lifestyle entrepreneur for example.

2. Be relevant

I'm slightly torn here I admit. The likes of Apple and Orange have proven that a business name doesn't need to directly relate to its product or service to catch on.

On balance though, I think it's helpful if there is a direct association, rather than opting for difference for difference's sake. Can you allude to a benefit your customers will experience, or a feeling you'd like them to associate with your brand? My good friend Jasmine Keel has set up a company called INSPIRED, to provide life and career transition support to expatriate spouses in China. It's punchy, it's a bit different, and it perfectly describes the feeling she wants her clients to leave with.

3. Ask for feedback

It's a good idea to run your proposed name past selected friends or colleagues. Choose people who could conceivably be potential customers. There's no point asking your granddad for feedback on a name aimed to attract people in their twenties.

4. Ignore much of the feedback

Don't aim for 100% positive feedback. We all have different tastes and what appeals to one person might not appeal to others. A confused response is another matter - people should understand what you're getting at even if they don't relate to it.

As long as enough people like the name to give you confidence that you haven't taken total leave of your senses, chances are you've hit on a good one. (Don't worry either if the name doesn't feel like it quite fits you yet. Go with your instinct and give yourself time to grow into it.)

5. Quickly secure the website address

Check the name is available as a website address (domain name) - you can do this in seconds on a site like GoDaddy. It's much easier for people to find you online if the business name and domain name are the same.

If you've fallen in love with a name and it's taken, you may be able to fudge things by adding a short word; for example the country or town you operate from e.g. wineandcheeseuk

You don't need to purchase all the possible suffixes - .com (or .co.uk if you are based in the United Kingdom) are the most recognised.

If your preferred name is available, buy it straight away - most domain names are only USD 9.99 a year and imagine how you'd feel if someone beat you to it.

6. Consider registering the name as a trademark

If the name is going to be a significant part of your marketing efforts, it's probably a good idea to trademark it. You can potentially trademark the words, the logo or a combination of both.

The cost of applying for a UK trademark starts at £200. For more information, check out the trademark office website for your geographical area.

Related Articles
  The Mother of Name Change Reports
  Design Your Business to Fit Your Lifestyle
  How to create your lifestyle?
  What’s In a Name These Days?
  How income affects lifestyle?

Article Tags: apple, benefit, business name, business names, career transition, china, crazy idea, entrepreneur, expressions, good friend, jasmine, keel, lifestyle business, minefield, orange, personality, sake, transition support, wikipedia



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$1000 and a stupid idea - [quote="OmnivoreInk":8mkh1lv7]Bill and Heidi Dittmar: Executive Lifestyle founders of a magazine called Executive Lifestyle. Started in 1991. Revenue has grown more than 200% since 2004. 4 full time, 3 part time employees "We started off with $1,000 and a stupid idea." It began as This Month, a guide for tourists, and morphed into Executive Lifestyle.[/quote:8mkh1lv7] Hi Barbara, I find this story about Bill and Heidi Dittmar's success to be especially interesting! Would you happen to know what the catalyst or tipping point was for their change from a guide for tourists to an Executive Lifestyle magazine? Thanks
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
5 Entrepreneur's success stories - My local paper's business section profiled 5 successful entrepreneurs in the Jan 6, 2008 issue of the paper. Thought I'd share just a bit of it here. Bill and Heidi Dittmar: Executive Lifestyle Jeff Wassmer: Spectrum Deloise Hawkins, Star Whitaker and Lenzy Hill: Touch of Elegance Stephen Brosius: Advanced Door Systems Pam Watson: Goodrich and Watson Insurers Bill and Heidi Dittmar: Executive Lifestyle founders of a magazine called Executive Lifestyle. Started in 1991. Revenue has grown more than 200% since 2004. 4 full time, 3 part time employees "We started off with $1,000 and a stupid idea." It began as This Month, a guide for tourists, and morphed into Executive Lifestyle. Jeff Wassmer: Spectrum Company specializes in computer network security and intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance. Wassmer was an 11-year Air Force guy, so he had "ins" in order to form this business. Deloise Hawkins, Star Whitaker and Lenzy Hill: Touch of Elegance Founded business in 1994. 12 employees. Their company designs and plans an average of 25 events each month in Hampton Roads and other parts of Virginia. Stephen Brosius: Advanced Door Systems Started company in 1995. 5 full-time employees, plus subcontractors. After having worked as a subcontractor for others in the construction business for 20 years, he decided to start his own business. Pam Watson: Goodrich and Watson Insurers At age 49, she was approached by an insurance colleague to buy out their employer's insurance division. They did so, and became employers themselves., witj 4 full-time people.
Re: What would you do with $500,000 or less? - there's a show on TV that talks to this point about saving time by getting other businesses to do the work for you. Anyone watch that show (Canada)? It may be on SLICE TV or Lifestyle.
Re: New Infographic: Top Ten Reasons to Partner with Someone - I like it. Simple yet informative. I also RT'd it for you.


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