Karen

by Karen
(Westland, MI)

We owned a small business for approximately 5 years. We started from scratch and did not have a name. Part way into the first year we decided we needed an identity.

First, we checked the phone book to see what was popular, so our name would not be too closely related to or confused with others.

Second, we listed all the words we could think of that were related to our type of business, and then started putting them together in combinations.

We built two spreadsheets – one in alphabetical order and one in order of our favorite names. We let family members vote for their top three choices, then we made the final decision. Luckily, they liked the same ones we did!

Third, we did a web search on a site that offers packages to incorporate a business to see if any of the names were available. Once we found the name we wanted was available we took the necessary steps to incorporate, developed a web site, and designed a logo.

Our final step was to have a party to introduce our business to family and friends. We gave each one a packet designed like a bag of seeds that included a magnet, business cards, a pen and a keychain so that our name and number was always available.