Deciding on a business name

[sofadoc]

Anyway, I had no problem registering "Riddle's Custom Upholstery" with the state,  I have got to come up with a logo and build my site.  

Hey Bobby, since your last name is Riddle, how about a logo of you in a green one-piece with big question marks on it? Instead of just calling a customer to tell them their stuff was ready, you could leave them a series of perplexing clues all over town :D (Don't forget to laugh maniaclly)

[byhammerandhand]

In town here, there is a "Hyde Park Lumber" that recently moved from Norwood to Fairfax.  There's also a Norwood Hardware that is now in Evendale.   All these names are various suburbs in town.  I'm sure there are move examples of this, but these are a couple that I know of.

I decided on mine based on where I live off the main drag in the woods. They always say the life of a business are location, location, location which I do not have I'm easy to find off the beaten path mine is by word of mouth or my truck advertising

[Mojo]

My Name is simply Stone Vos which is a blend of last names from my wifes grandmother and my grand mother.

I selected that name for my marketing / PR company I incorporated years ago. When I retired I kept the name and corporation. When I started doing this trade I just picked back up with that name. It is non descript and wont lock me into anyone type of work.

When I was still consulting I tried to move clients who were doing start ups away from descriptive names such as geographic ( East, West, etc. ). I also instructed them not to pigeon home themselves into a certain service by using descriptive names in relation to what they do or sell.

I have seen it time and again where a new business owner selects a name that is very descriptive to one product or service and in three years time they find the market changes and they have to expand and carry a full line of other products or they have to expand their service offerings.

Same thing has happened with businesses that move from one location or another or maybe expand and open up a branch or satellite office/service center elsewhere.

What is funny is that I still have customers tease me about my name. They tell me " I didn't know law firms were in the upholstery business " or that an accounting firm was doing solar screens. :) I try like hell to achieve name recognition through advertising and I still end up with the same results
" Call Chris, he does solar screens for RV's ". No one ever remembers my business name. :)
Whatever sells the service I guess.

Chris

[Dede]

As long as the name is not too limiting.  If your name is something like, "Gene's Draperies"  and you decide to get into furniture or marine, you have a problem getting looked over.

Wish I had realized this when I started...  "West Village" is the old name for my part of town -- that part wasn't hard.

1. West Village Drapery -- turns out I hate doing window treatments.
2. West Village Upholstery -- not bad, except I was doing slipcovers at the time. Duh.
3. West Village Studio -- general, all-purpose (no matter where I go with it).

Had to register (or re-register) with Fed, state, and local offices, and change everything at the bank every single time.  When I added buttons, I got smart and just did a DBA.  West Village Studio is the official, legal name, although I hardly use it anymore -- buttons kinda took over my life...

[Hess]

With my last name being Seaton, I saw I had no choice but to use my own name. Its like it was ment to be... :D
Although I did consider the longer version of "Seaton Furniture Upholstery" untill I looked at the initials and had second thoughts.

SFU :o