“Help, How Do I Name My Business?”

Gloria has a naming problem:

“I can’t think of a name for my knitting business. It feels like such a monumental decision. Everything I think of or that’s suggested to me is super cheesy and not what I want. It’s driving me crazy. How do I pick the right one?”

Here’s my take. Your success depends much more on what you do after you pick a name than on the name itself.

It doesn’t feel like that, though.

Names are powerful. They’re so permanent and official. By naming your business, it’s almost like you’re calling it into being.

It also feels like you’re shaping its destiny for better or worse. Having an unfortunate, funny or awkward name can be a hard thing to overcome in life – for businesses as well as people.

That’s a boatload of pressure so no wonder the stakes feel high. Let’s see if we can lighten things up.

You do not need the perfect, catchy-as-hell, magical name to be successful.

All you really need is a name that’s okay.

What does okay look like?

#1 – The name you choose has to be unique and recognisable enough that you don’t get mixed up with other businesses.

#2 – It would be cool if you didn’t want to stab the back of your hand with a fork every time it’s mentioned.

“Okay” names for your knitting business might be:

– Gloria’s Knits
– Swift Knits
– Bumblebee Knitting Studio

None of these names are earth-shatteringly interesting or original, but they’re distinct enough to be memorable and hopefully don’t sound too much like other businesses (check carefully on that score, online and off.)

Picking a name is much less important than getting your name out there.

Because, by itself, your name has no meaning.

There are dusty boxes of business cards for brilliantly-named businesses lurking in shoeboxes and drawers and cupboards all over the world.

Sadly, those magical, just-right names never got plugged into a power supply.

That is, the energy generated when you send out newsletters, post I-feel-like-a-dork-but-I’m-doing-it-anyway images of your work on instagram, ask podcasters in your field if they’d like to interview you and so on.

Even really good names don’t amount to much without that power behind them.

I get what a big decision this is.

And it’s not like this is a one-time thing. You’ll find yourself naming products, services, starter packs, special offers and more as time goes on.

So my advice is to pick something memorable-ish that resonates enough to make you feel happy-esque, and then move on to the next steps of building a website, creating a content plan and beyond.

Do that part consistently and well and whatever name you choose, you’ll find people start to remember it.