Small Biz Survival

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How to choose a business name

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Naming your business is important.

Sometimes, businesses end up with names that can project a bad image. Examples:

  • George E. Failing Company. Despite the Failing name, they are celebrating 75 years, after having changed to the initials GEFCO.
  • Glitsch Construction.
  • Greif Brothers Trucking.
  • Quality Prevention Company.

I used a couple of these examples before, and I don’t mean anything unkind. My point is to consider what your business name means before you get stuck with it.

Chris at Shotgun Marketing is talking about this, too. He feels stuck with Shotgun Concepts and often has to explain it to customers, much to his irritation.

Or you can intentionally pick a name that requires explanation. My antiques business was M County Antiques. I chose that name because it gave me instant interaction with people. When customers would ask, I could explain that during the land run, our area was surveyed and the counties were lettered instead of named. It gave me a chance to build a bit of rapport with people.

About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband have a small cattle ranch and are lifelong entrepreneurs. Becky is an international speaker on small business and rural topics.

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