Hi everyone,

I am brand new here and other than accepting the TOS, this is my only post!

I am stuck, stuck, stuck on a business name and it is driving me crazy. I thought I had a name and tagline -

e-Click Away
Our Inbox is Always Open

But when I asked friends & family for suggestions, all but one person shot it down, saying it sounded more like a retail, gambling or gaming site than a business site. Now that it's been brought to my attention, I agree but...

I'm back to square one! I'm hesitant to use my name or any part of it because eventually I would like to partner with my sister. By the way, she's the one who didn't shoot down the original name above! :-)

Maybe I'm just coming here to vent, but I noticed in another thread that some people used things that meant a lot to them. I love dogs - any way to incorporate that into a name?!

My name is Karyn and my sister's name is Robyn. I tried thinking about a way to play with the "y's" in our name but at this point I am brain dead.

I have my first client, and he has offered to help me build the client base. But we can't really do that without a name! Ugh! Any suggestions for how to get myself re-inspired?

Many thanks!
Karyn

Your name is important - and I am the biggest "failure" in this area that is on these forums. I've changed my company name 4 different times.

I finally gave up on it and decided that I would have a better time of it and more flexibility if I just used my name.

So...from someone who has learned my lesson - FINALLY - have at least an outline of your business plan in place. Know who your target market is, have your niche, have most of your planning out of the way. When you better know what services you want to offer (both short and long term), who your clients will be, how you will be helping them, understand your own values as well as theirs, then you will start to see themes and ideas for names may start to take shape.

This is what I DIDN'T do...got myself a business coach and mentor...and got my act together and now things are taking off. It is now working because I listened to her and was because I did all the planning stuff that I'm highly now recommending to you. It worked.

For me it worked to just be P.L. Blackman & Co. because I am planning to have more than one line of business - and it will allow me to grow into it.

__________________
Pam Blackman - The Process Coach
Get more done in less time by streamlining!

Hmm, I dont like the inbox being always open thing for some reason. Makes it seem like a 24 hour operation. I too had a hard hard hard time with names.

I started off as wanting to be Della-Gate with a super hero icon but it was taken by a lady name della!

Then I became Rise and Shine solutions...nixed after I hated it.

Then I used part of my last name to create MAGE ( means wizard ) and did Creates on the end.

So Mage Creates Amazing Admin Solutions or whatever, its limitless as far as my tagline goes. I also run a design/technology firm so I needed to make sure it was creative.

My advice is this, stop asking everyone you know because while helpful, they really don't have a personal connection to the name like you do! I passed up a few good names because of that. ( can't remember them now )

Find a few words that you feel an emotional connection to....mix some verbs and nouns around. That helped me a ton. Plus KEEP A LIST of everything you love.

Oh and one of my staff ( my bff ) actually helped me name my company. He was pretty much the only person who got that I needed my personality to be inserted into the name. He kept pushing me to use Mage and I was hesitant. I did not even know the heritage of my own name! Once I figured it out, It was like a light bulb went off.

If I can think of some good names I'll post them! Maybe post more about what you want the name to represent. Just a few words can help!

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Dani
http://www.danimagestro.com

There is a local shoe store called "Two Sole Sisters." May be you can use the word sisters somewhere in your biz name?

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Lily Chambers, The Virtual Office Goddess, LLC
Author "How to Do Your Own Small Business Bookkeeping"

Hello,

I posted an article in the Branding Your Business category some time back which helps entrepreneurs name a business in three steps. Here's the link Name Your Business in 3 Easy Steps

When you have come up with a few more ideas feel free to stop back and we can review those with you.

Janine

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It's good but you're either going for a descriptive name or a branded name, e-click Away is kinda in between although it doesn't really describe what you do. But I do like it, quite catchy and original, easy to remember.

I am new at this, but I am guessing that while your business name is important for recognition, your true value really lies in the quality of service you provide. So for me, my goal is for people to attach a good reputation to "Marimac Administrative Solutions" rather than hoping for it to work the other way around.

My name came to me in a dream about 6 months ago. Its kinda a combo of my first name "Mary" and middle name "McKaig". My career counselor didn't like it so much as a more catchy and descriptive name like "Virtual Solutions", but I had a gut feeling that it was right for me.

When people visit your website (after much hard work by yourself directing them there) they will get much more out of the content of the site then by your name, so I vote for giving yourself a little "wiggle" room and going with what your intuition says to do.

When stuff drives you crazy, that is an indication that it is time to relax a little and have fun. That helps tremendously. There is such a thing as "trying too hard". Maybe have a "brain storm" session with your sister where you get to giggle alot. Sometimes when you let go, you will be amazed at the ideas that flow.

You've already won your first client, so you are way ahead of the game. Give them your best and enjoy the ride!

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Marimac Administrative Solutions
www.marimacadmin.com

Hi again,

I just wanted to drop a quick note and thank everyone who has replied so far.

I've decided not to go with e-Click Away

Oops! I didn't get to finish my thought above.

My sister and I have been tossing around ideas today, and one is to go with our maiden name and add "business solutions" or something similar behind it. I'm still on the fence about that, though, because as much as I love my maiden name it is difficult not only to spell but to pronounce unless you know how to - - Choate. So, I'll mull over this for a few days and try to look at it with fresh eyes later this weekend.

I had a bit of an epiphany last night and came up with a name that some may consider silly but I think is unique and really shows my personality. My husband loves it, my sister is okay with it, and my 3rd resources says he likes it much better than the original but he's going to get back to me with some suggestions to enhance it.

I played around on VistaPrint with the name and a possible tag line. While I don't necessarily want to use this log, it gives me an idea to go by. If I decide to go with this, I'll probably contract Logo Nerds to create something unique for me. I created an album in my profile and added the draft business card there. I hope you can see it.

I think the tagline could use some tweaking, but so far I like where this is going!

I'm interested to hear your opinions. Constructive criticism is welcome!


Thanks again
Kar

Ummm... what name did you come up with? I'm too lazy to go look at your profile.

__________________
Lily Chambers, The Virtual Office Goddess, LLC
Author "How to Do Your Own Small Business Bookkeeping"