Some choose to name their business after themselves. Others choose a different name. What drives your decision?
When choosing to do business with a new company, does a business named John Doe, LLC scream amateur to you or does it not matter?
Posted by Southern_Beat6052
11 Comments
The name of the biz literally does not matter. What matters is them delivering on promises. Judge accordingly.
All the biggest companies are named after people.
Bob Google
Lindsey Nvidia
Muhammad Tesla
James Chickfila
Etc.
Is the business focused around you as a person? If yes (say you are an artist or something), then go for it… but if its not (or won’t in the future) it might be suggested to not use your whole name… That being said, there are many businesses that use the last name of the founder… I will say it is very industry dependent.
I find an available domain name first.
No one is going to go to johnsmowerserviceofuppercanada.ca or whatever
I had no desire to put my name on something. My name doesn’t matter by the time it does, my company name will matter too.
The other thing is I intend to sell at some point. I don’t want someone else owning my name.
My first business name was regional and what I do. I just changed my name to a more national name and leading with what makes the most revenue and drives more clients.
Should your LLC be the same as domain name?
Personally I have found AI to be pretty useful for this.
I would highly recommend against using your name. If you build a business you’re proud of, then your son gets in trouble, or you get a dui, do you want that coming up in a Google search? Always consider what will affect your search results!
I have a friend that named his appliance repair company, Gladiator Appliances. There is literally a company called Gladiator that makes fridges. Not only that but all the movie and history results.
Pick a name, make sure the domain is available. A dot com, not a dot net! And see if you want to be in the same crowd as similar search results.
Think of the guy that owns Epstien Remodeling!
I usually pick a name that somewhat resembles what I am building. When I had a maid company, I named it Maid Sailors; when I did e-commerce, I named it Montem Outdoor Gear, and now my SAAS is called SMTP Ghost.
I typically try to add a keyword that is good for SEO and makes sense as the brand name to help associate the brand with the industry.
Also, two words are typically a more accessible domain to purchase, and you can get all the other handles.
Rob from Startups for the Rest of Us also had a good segment on naming a product with Derick from Savvycal
If you’re offering professional services that revolve around you in particular (e.g. law firm, consulting, CPA) then it’s normal to include your name (e.g. Smith and Associates, P.C.). Otherwise for a general product or service company try brainstorming adjectives and verbs that have something to do with your industry or type of products, then combining two of them together into a new word. Or translating them into Latin and combining those.
Sleve McDichael LLC
Or
Bobson Duggnutt LLC is also a great one for business