As I sit with my mother and discuss her plans to open her new business, we are amazed at the difficulty of choosing a name. This is such an important aspect of opening a business. By answering a couple of questions, mom was able to come up with a name that made her happy and most important, made business sense.
I first had her answer the question, will you ever sell this business?This concept is important becuase if she personalize the business name by using her name or last name, then she is going to have to sell this business to someone named Patty. What are the odds of finding another Patty that shares my mom’s business idea.
I told my mom that she should not use a name that limits her services. For example. Fast Home Cleaning will make it difficult for her to sell her services to offices that need a cleaning service. She needs to choose a name that will allow her to grow.
A third question I had her answered was, Does the name help you advertise your products or services and is it appropriate for her market? The best tip I have for this was given to me by a momprenuer. She advised me to go to a website that sells business cards and stationary templates. She said that we should go through the templates that fit the business and form a name that will fit that template and the business. This has saved mom time and money. Mom choose a busiess card that has a perfect logo, matches the name and it going to appeal to her market.
With a good name, mom is now ready to form her business.
Sandra Beck 