Kevin W. McCarthy

The Professor of On-Purpose

Leadership

How to Name (or Rename) Your Business Right for Success

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Creating a Right Business Name

Keep Your Business Name As Simple As Possible

Business naming is a combination of art and science. Done right, it sets your business up for long-term success. How? A good business name eases the marketing and sales process, builds customer and team member loyalty, and provides a strong ROI.

If your business name isn’t helping you, then it’s hurting you. Why settle for anything less? Let’s get your business name right from the start-up, or rename your business to gain a host of business advantages.

Business naming is a big subject. Let’s focus on the start-up entrepreneur and the small-to-midsize business owner. Large corporations typically turn to their internal marketing team, an outside ad agency, or strategy consultants like On-Purpose Partners for this work. Because you’re reading this, is it fair to assume you don’t have $1 million like Pepsi spent in 2008 to change their logo?

Creating a right business name is first a strategic process. Start-ups have the advantage of the proverbial greenfield to start fresh. In an existing business, a business name change typically means something isn’t working with the current name. Perhaps you need a new name because your business and another are merging. Beneath a new business name, something strategic is in play.

Business naming problems fall into broad categories such as being too long, too difficult to spell, or too hard to remember or pronounce. It takes an extra investment of time, money, and effort to establish a difficult business name. However, once established, the business name can become distinctive. Here’s an article from HubSpot on hard-to-pronounce business names that you likely know.

Creating a right business name has practical implications. The business name will visually appear in print and in pixels. It will be in use everywhere. It will also be spoken on video, podcasts, radio, and other audio formats. It will be converted into a graphic for placement on signs, doors, trucks, business cards, stationery, banners, and more. Your business name is tightly tied to your brand strategy and implementation.

Creating a right business name has personal implications. For many owners, your business name is a reflection of you personally. In addition to the physical assets of your business, your business name lives as intellectual property with a goodwill value for when you sell the business or pass it on to others.

Creating a right business name has creative effect. Do you want a catchy business name, a cute business name, a prestigious-sounding company name, or (to the other end of the spectrum) a short, nondescript name that you build into a brand? Do you want your business name to be bold or subtle?

How to Get Your Business Naming Process Started

Business Naming exercise
Business Naming Brainstorming Exercise

Here at On-Purpose Partners, clients periodically seek me out to help them name or rename a business, product, or service. Because they recognize I’m gifted with distilling big concepts into a few words, as in a 2-word purpose statement, I’m a natural for this work. I’m remarkably fast and accurate at naming businesses, programs, products, and such. Pushing the boundaries of the mundane to get to something magical is really a blast! And, as a business owner myself, I appreciate what all is riding on the business name. There’s an urgency to get the business name in place sooner rather than later. Otherwise, the business is can get bogged down and kill precious time.

Here’s the way the business naming process works:

Initial Consult: This is typically a 30-minute over-the-phone or video call where we mutually assess fit and appropriateness. If both of us agree it’s the right fit, engage me via a Small Business Advisory Package (as long as your revenues are under $1 million). If you’re a larger company, then our next step is a consulting engagement with the On-Purpose Partners team that I’m leading. The fees vary based on the degree of complexity, which includes but isn’t limited to the size (sales and people) of your company, the stakes involved, the number and level of decision-makers who need to sign off, and the speed of your need. We only work directly with the company owner, president, Managing Director, CEO, or CLO.

Engagement: Ready to get started? Below is the typical flow of a business-naming engagement.

Prep Me: In advance of our interview(s), send me links to your current website and LinkedIn profile. This helps me get a sense of your company and you. If you have an existing product or service, if possible, I want to experience it. Send me your available product and current marketing, brand guidelines, or business plans. If none of these exist, no problem — we’ll talk it through.

Give me context. The nature of your business matters when it comes to business naming. For example, business naming for a B2B enterprise versus a B2C company typically defines a direction.

Prep You: You’ll be given access to use ONPURPOSE.me to find your purpose in life. The best small businesses are ultimately the expression of a person’s purpose and passion. Your 2-word purpose provides a solid basis to craft your business name and to assess if the business name and your purpose are meaningfully aligned.

Interviews: You’ll be interviewed about what’s working and what isn’t working with your business name as well as your business. It’s vital we establish a dollar value to renaming the business. It may not be worth it or it may be worth a lot. This metric is important. Otherwise, it is easy to put off working on the business. There are always pressing issues, and business naming is easy to put off. Here’s where my accountability to move the project along matters.

Once I’m prepared to meet with you, we begin a fun, exploratory process. My first question is, “What’s your gut tell you to name the business and why?”

You’ve been thinking about this for some time and I want your thoughts. Put your ideas out there. While you may not be gifted at business naming, you know your business. This is our starting point that tells me what you have in mind.

I’ll ask a number of related questions to assess the fit with your vision (where you envision your business going), missions (what you do), and your values (what is important to you). Surprisingly, we may be able to tweak what you have and be done in minutes. Business naming isn’t something you do on a regular basis so my best advice involves affirming your keen thoughts.

I may even throw a number of business names in your direction just to get a sense for your personal preferences and to hear your reaction. Ultimately, this is your business and you want to be proud of it. This fast, creative, instinctive process can produce remarkable results so you can get moving now!

The instinctive approach works best for start-ups and small businesses. This collaborative business naming approach gets to a business name thoughtfully fast. You’re relying upon my decades of business experience to absorb the spirit of your intentions and to translate that into an immediate and sustainable business advantage.

Beyond the instinctive approach is a more structured approach that most often comes into play for midsize or larger companies where lots of livelihoods are at stake. This typically involves a 30-day process and can range from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars, subject to complexity. At this point, you’ll have a written contract to sign.

If the instinctive process fails to produce near-immediate results, we move to a more structured approach. This is typically needed in midsize companies and larger.

Competitive Assessment: Give me the names of your top 3 to 5 competitors. I will assess how far behind or ahead you are of your competition from a strategic and marketing perspective for attracting and keeping customers and team members.

Set Criteria: Based on all I’ve learned, we’ll collaborate to create criteria to measure how well potential business names achieve the desired business goals and outcomes. For example, does LLC or Co. or Company need to show up in your business name? How long or short does the name need to be?

Suggestions: For existing businesses, we may write a briefing or produce a video to share that a renaming process is underway. Next, we launch a campaign to invite related parties (team members, customers, vendors), asking for their suggestions.

Collaborate to Create a List: Eventually, all those involved go away to just noodle on a new business name and send me their suggestions. I compile their suggestions, plus I do “my thing” as my team calls it.

I use a combination of internet research, the dictionary, mind-mapping, and conversations with consulting peers and creatives to come up with a list of names. During this creative process, I’m also searching for trademark and domain name availability so we don’t fall in love with a name we can’t readily use. I’m also searching for variations on the name, including misspellings. For example, Lyft, the shared-driving service, plays off the concept of giving some a lift or a ride somewhere.

Presentation(s): Depending on the size of your company and the number of decision-makers involved, I cull down the list to a reasonable number of business name options where we weigh the pros and cons against our gut and against the criteria. This may take a few rounds of whittling the list to the final selection.

A New Business Name!: Now that you have a new business name, this opens up a host of wonderful opportunities — plus work. You’ll need a new logo, an outreach campaign to announce your great news, and more.

Business Naming Lessons

Over my decades of doing this kind of work, I’ve learned a few lessons. Here’s a few:

Generally, the shorter the name the better. A short name works better for memorability, graphics, and efficiency in all communications. Simple sells better and faster. The more people can remember your business name, the easier it is for them to refer people to you.

Business naming is easier when business strategy is in place. At On-Purpose Partners, we help clients write their deep strategy of purpose, vision, missions, and values. These are defining statements that feed into the naming process.

Business naming draws upon the past while inspiring the future. Even if your business is a new start-up, you have a history that led to this point. You also have a vision for where you want it to go. And you need to act in the present.

Get it right the first time. Business name changes are a big deal. You don’t want to do them very often. Everything from filing a name change with state, federal, and local agencies to communicating with vendors and customers to graphics to banking and checkbooks and more are just some of the realities of a business name change. The corollary to this, however, is:

When your business name stops working for you, make the business name change fast. My father-in-law was a dairy farmer and had an expression about dragging things out: “It’s like cutting the tail of the dog off an inch at a time thinking it won’t hurt ’em so much.” Act and act decisively.

Digging deeply into your personal, career, and business history produces gold! By also exploring your dreams and aspirations, we’re more apt to land on a solidly meaningful name for your business. The added benefit of this is a significant strategic advantage because the purpose, vision, missions, and values of your business are clarified.

Decide if you’re building a practice, a lifestyle business, or a business. What’s the difference? A practice is a business a professional builds. A lifestyle business meaningfully integrates one’s life and work to where profit-making is one of several measures of success. A business is a serious, all-in endeavor with significant aspirations and ambitions that will employ lots of people and serve many customers. This relates to the purpose, vision, missions, and values of the business and its owner(s).

Founders matter. Founders insert a spiritual DNA into a business that sets a pattern and mindset. Sometimes that is good and other times it isn’t. For example, renaming may be necessary to reinvent the organizational culture.

Your business is its identity in the marketplace. The business name and your business strategy, marketing, graphics, sales, and team culture are all influenced. Investing in such a vital aspect of your business on the front end has very practical human, operational, and financial implications. It’s a small forward investment with dividends through to a retirement or exit strategy!

Do I use my name in naming my business? Yes and No!

Ford or General Motors? Post Cereal or Generals Mills? Hewlett-Packard or IBM? The first business name in each pair bears the name of its founder. The second group doesn’t. There is no right answer, just the one that best suits your needs. There’s also change. Edison General Electric Company became General Electric Company in 1892.

Here’s some guidelines and examples:

Are you a start-up solo owner who is a coach, consultant, counselor, trainer, lawyer, CPA, engineer, realtor, broker, architect or other role that’s providing professional services? If so, then using your name in the business name of your practice often makes sense.

If you’re a personality-based business, such as an author, politician, artist, solo musician, TV or radio personality, comic, keynote speaker, etc. and that’s your gig, then use your name.

Using your last name in your business is fairly typical but not necessarily all that inspiring. For example, if I were starting a business, I could name it McCarthy & Associates or McCarthy Company, if it is available. Typically, this business-naming method conveys a small professional service led by one person and perhaps a small team. Frankly, I find these names bland from a marketing perspective, but they may also reflect the personality or lack of marketing expertise of the owner. Ironically, it is truth in advertising.

On the other extreme is the Trump brand. Heck, it helped Donald J. Trump become the President of the United States!

My colleague, Terry Pappy, is a talented solopreneur business advisor. She formed PappyClub to help her peeps build their businesses and brands. She included her last name in the business name to convey that you’ll be hanging out with Terry as she coaches and offers business and marketing insights. She’s very sharp, quick-witted, and fun to be around so being in a “club” with Terry matches her style.

What about using your first name? I engaged the services of Jan & Susan, a virtual assistant team. Jan and Susan are the two founders who elected to use their first names in their business name. Perhaps they were fans of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream and followed their lead?

But using your name isn’t always right for naming a professional services business. Since 2008, Julie Holzmann has provided copy editing and proofreading services. She calls her business WordProofing. We created a tagline of “You write. Then I right. (That’s word proofing.)” The business name conveys what she does so there was no need to include her name.

The benefit of not having your name in the business is when people are looking to the business and not a specific person. That makes it easier to add people to the team and create more long-term freedom. Frankly, there’s an element of ego involved, hopefully healthy ego. And there can be an element of low self-esteem involved that prevents a person from naming their business with their name.

Name That Business!

Naming a business seems like such a simple task. To some degree it is, especially for start-ups, professionals, and small businesses. In fact, business naming is a vitally important, sophisticated task that touches every facet of your business, primarily because it is how people will identify, relate, and brand their experience with your company.

Related post: Insider Scoop to Naming Your Business: Ice Cream Edition

Do Good Manners Matter?

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Ladies and Gentlemen, your manners distinguish you for better or for worse.

Good manners reflect a degree of one’s upbringing, experience, and socioeconomic standing. Good manners, like good grammar in speech, are subtle cultural refinements.

Above all, good manners are voluntary, a choice we make as to how we choose to be and to present ourselves. Ideally, manners come out of a sincere respect and politeness for others as opposed to simply being put on and off to impress others.

A kind soul without proper manners but a sincere graciousness and goodness is far more appealing to me than a formal phony with all the right manners.

Right manners do not always translate into good manners.

Lately, I’ve been pondering both my language and carriage with a measure of concern. Our present culture is so accustomed to using and hearing profanity that we’ve lost our sense of what is truly profane. Gone with the wind are the days when Rhett Butler saying to Scarlett O’Hara, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,” was a scandalous controversy for use of profanity.

Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines profane as to treat (something sacred) with abuse, irreverence, or contempt. Ouch! I don’t know about you but that isn’t the kind of person I want to be known as being.

Mores change over time and generations.

I get that. Today, however, the liberal and insensitive use of profanity—I mean really profane and derisive language directed at people—is a dangerous objectification of one another. This speaks to a deeper pain or rift in society.

Admittedly, I’m no Puritan as I’m apt to drop cuss words from time to time. When I’m real with myself, I don’t like it when I do it. Cussing is typically lazy, dumbed-down language coming from the lesser me rather than the greater me. It tears me down and, worse, brings others with me—not what we leaders want to do.

Yep, both my manner and manners matter.

I’m working to be the best Kevin I can be. Will you join me in cleaning up your language? When you do, you’re also becoming a better leader of your life by becoming a lady or a gentleman.

As I dream about The On-Purpose Planet, where every person is on-purpose, I imagine a more gracious and kinder world. Being On-Purpose is about looking into one’s own heart as well as the hearts of others. As we search our own hearts and find ourselves wanting, it is only fair that offering such understanding and acceptance of others is not for the outer person but the inner soul. Right manners can be learned.

Harshness of heart, however, speaks to a deeper problem.

Jesus told the crowd that would stone the woman, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” That sticks with me. I am too quick to pick up stones. Fortunately, as I age, I’m learning to drop them faster than ever.Humility

The mark of a true leader is a courageously generous spirit who is capable of honoring the worth and dignity of paupers, kings, and everyone in between. Privilege is a gift containing humility that must be opened and embraced. It also helps to send a thank you to those who provided the opportunity.

Be On-Purpose!

Kevin

In this classic (April, 20 2010) On-Purpose Minute, you’ll catch me at the Ritz-Carlton on Grand Cayman Island. After the video watch the quick 270-degree sweep of this beautiful resort. Special thanks to Daniel, the concierge, who suggested where to shoot the video and escorted me there. Truly a gentleman!

On-Purpose Proverb: Humility is knowing oneself relative to God.

What Is Trust? Can I TRUST You?

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What is trust?

TRUST = Truth, Respect, Understanding, Sincerity, Time

Can I TRUST you? is a question living at the heart of every relationship.

Trust is a precious and valuable state of being.

Trust in business and in sales is an essential and valuable character quality that pays dividends.

Squander your trust and you ruin your business. Build trust and you grow your business.

Standard poodle apricot Hamlet
What is trust? Hamlet (above) isn’t your shining example of being trustworthy. Because of trust issues, it costs him freedom and fun.

By way of a negative example, meet our dog, Hamlet (shown a few years ago before he died). Here was a great family dog—but a shining example of the cost of lost trust. His intelligence regularly surprised us. His one great flaw, however, was being off leash.

Within the home and fenced backyard, Hamlet would come when called (about half the time). Off the leash, however, at the dog park or when he escaped, Hamlet was a standard poodle gone wild. He would wander for hours, generally, circling the house in large walkabouts through the neighborhood.

Disobedience has a price.

He rarely got to go to the dog park to play with other dogs. When it was time to leave, he wouldn’t. He was too fast to catch and too smart to be caught. He would seemingly taunt us to catch him by coming within feet of our reach only to dash away. As a result of this distrust, Hamlet lost out on all sorts of privileges and benefits that a more trustworthy pooch would earn.

Hopefully, today’s On-Purpose Business Minute gives you “paws” for thought on what lack of trust could be costing you in terms of sales, customer relationships, employee turnover, and other challenges potentially undermining your business profits.

Are your relationships, options, and opportunities limited because of trust issues?

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I’m a member of Trust Across America, a membership-based organization making the strong case for trust and integrity as business imperatives. Check out the website and join me.

Are You Still Living in Trial and Error Mode?

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This On-Purpose® Minute may rattle your cage a bit as I challenge what might be a hidden and unproductive point of view coloring your daily experience. More importantly, it may be setting the trajectory of your life far lower than it was designed to be.

Trials and errors in life are inevitable, but “trial and error” does not need to define our approach to life.

As clarity around who you are comes to light, you’ll discover a greater sense of peace despite the circumstances. Yes, the trials and errors will still come, but they won’t toss you about as they have in the past. Be clear about who you are and whose you are.

On-Purpose Peace FE cove
On-Purpose Peace is a personal or small group guidebook designed to help you be on-purpose as an explorer of your identity in the person of Jesus.

How does “Trial & Error Living” affect us?

Here’s a true account of a small business advisory client from years ago. My client came to me down and discouraged because his business was losing money and he wanted to sell it soon before the bottom fell out.

In reviewing the business, I realized that if he were to sell it there were a few things he could do to “window dress” or clean it up for sale that would make it far more appealing to a buyer. In anticipation of the sale, we began to make some of these small changes and tweaks to his systems.

Two months later, my client called to say he no longer wanted to sell the business because it was making money again; he was thrilled and wanted to keep it. Oddly enough, about a year later, he called me wanting to sell the business again because it was losing money again, albeit after a substantial growth in sales.

We went through the same cycle—cleaning up a few things for the sale and the revenues turning around. It happened yet a third time in 18 months. The third time, however, the pattern of his emotional swings rather than the business matters caught my attention.

His business was basically sound, but there was something “wrong” with the business owner.

Why was he on such an emotional roller coaster? The pattern was apparent—when the business showed bottom-line profits, he was happy. When the business showed bottom-line losses, he was sad.

It struck me that his emotional well-being was tied to a monthly financial statement. The P&L report literally colored his world in 30-day increments.

Good news—good life.
Bad news—bad life.

That’s interesting, but here’s where it got fascinating. I asked him if he knew how to read a financial statement. Of course not. He knew sales was the top number and profit and loss was the bottom number but everything in between was meaningless to him.

In effect, his emotional stability was tied to what was seemingly a random event—profit or loss.

He was a hard worker, but some months he made money and other months he lost money—it all appeared to be random to him.

He was living in trial and error mode.

I gave him a basic primer on financial statements and had him enroll at the local community college in a course called “Finance for Non-Financial People.” Once he understood his financial statements, he gained control of his business and, frankly, his emotions were not subject to the seeming randomness of the financial well-being of his business.

  • Within two years he had doubled his business.
  • He doubled it again by buying out his closest competitor.
  • He ran his business for another 10 years and eventually sold it for a handsome sum and is still living a good life off the profits he made.

He moved from trial and error to being proactive. Instead of running from his problems and ignorance, he ran into them and became educated.

Here’s the point: trial and error mode isn’t necessarily random.

Once we realize our contribution to the “randomness,” we can actually take action to make our lives much more predictable and emotionally stable and calm. Look around to see if the “randomness” is affecting other people or if they seem to be on top of it. If others have it mastered then that’s a clue to you that you’re self-selecting trial and error over leadership and learning.

  • Improve your odds of success by looking for ways to reduce your variables.
  • Be strategic instead of stuck in trial and error mode.
  • Certainty isn’t possible, but do your share to improve your chances and you’ll grow as a person and find life isn’t so crazy after all.

Sometimes the greatest benefit of a business advisor like me or a life coach isn’t what we know technically. Rather it is our outside perspective to look into your life and simply ask, “Why are you doing it that way?”

So, why are you living in trial and error mode when you could be on-purpose?

Don’t go into a new year in trial and error mode. On-Purpose Peace can guide you toward your best year ever.

Click here to receive an email when I post new On-Purpose Minutes.

How Solid Is Your Core?

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A solid core is the source of inner strength.

This isn’t to say that fears, doubts, and concerns don’t creep into our lives. The difference is when they do creep in, do they find an unguarded home to invade?

Pileated_Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker

You are better positioned to withstand the storms of life with a solid core of purpose, vision, missions, and values.

(Look for the bonus footage on today’s On-Purpose Minute about the cost of having a hollow core versus a solid core. After hurricanes pass over us, we see just which trees have maintained a solid core.)

Did you know that woodpeckers peck at trees to find the rotting trees? That’s where the bugs are. At the solid-core trees, the birds sound them with their beaks and then move on to easier hunting.

At our core, we are spiritual beings.

And at the core of your being is your inherent purpose, your reason for being. Purpose isn’t learned or earned. Purpose is; it exists. Purpose isn’t optional. Your purpose came with your birth package.

People can be woodpeckers who pick and poke at you.

A solid core gives no ground to their offenses. A hollow core makes you susceptible to critical natures and comments. Life gets better all around when you know who you are and you live it solidly from the inside out. That’s being on-purpose!

How Are You Building Your Confidence?

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Gaining confidence begins with a decision to become confident.

The lack of confidence can negatively influence every aspiration and aspect of your life and work. Personal leadership and personal confidence go hand in hand.

Avoid falling prey to the “Fake it until you make it” crowd who believe in building on lies at best and self-deception at worst. Being truthful about a matter where one isn’t experienced serves no one.

Confidence comes with experience and achievement, which can’t be faked.

Confidence, however, is speaking the truth about one’s experience and achievement and allowing the miracles of graciousness and kindness of others to accept you as you are rather than pretending to be someone you aren’t.

How are you gaining and building your confidence?

Please share your thoughts and suggestions in the comments section. Thank you!

How Many Friends Do You Have?

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(This Classic On-Purpose Minute first aired in 2009. Where I say 2010, insert 2018. Start creating friendships today so your tomorrows can be richer.)

Are you hiding behind your avatar pretending to do life?

Who really knows you?

Despite the proliferation of social media, digital connections, and the means of communicating via FaceTime, Skype, text, phone, email, and a letter, do you truly have friendships?

Facebook friends are not the same as true friends. Hiding behind our Facebook profile has become an art form but not necessarily a form of friendship. These one-way communication postures allow us to talk but not be challenged.

I’ve often said that one of our greatest fears is the fear of being known for who we really are and what we’re really thinking.

These “unmentionable secrets” create strongholds of deception that undermine our confidence or cause us not to act. Confession is a sacramental exercise for good reason. It frees the soul to be right with God, self, and others.

When no one really knows us, we can be so lost and alone in the midst of our tribe. Adding more “friends” becomes an unfulfilling addiction in our search for identity, connection, and meaning.

Perhaps you aren’t even aware there is a different way.

  • Has the number of your connections become your measure of the meaning of your life?
  • Do popularity and followers define your worth and character?
  • Have the online hours spent building your network left you busily distracted, desperately lonely, and lacking? Is something still missing?

Consider this, however: a true friend knows what doesn’t get posted on social media or knows it before it gets posted.

Try an experiment this week: Make fewer new connections and have more conversations with a handful of people whom you love or truly would like to know better. Instead of focusing on your burgeoning network, try investing in going deeper with the relationships you do have.

Begin by writing down the names of 2 to 4 people whom you identify as worthy of becoming a better friend.

  • Call them and tell them what you’re up to in terms of deepening the friendship.
  • Get together with them.
  • Grab a cup of coffee; invest yourself in what’s happening in their life.
  • Learn to listen and ask the deeper, more penetrating questions.

Instead of staying on the surface of life and activities, discover what they learned, how they felt, what concerns them, what gives them joy, and so forth. Laugh, cry, reflect, and just do life together.

Challenge yourself to add at least one true confidant to your life over the coming weeks and months.

Your reward may be a lifelong friend.

When we have friends, we can be apart from people, but not alone. Keyboards can masterfully sustain and keep true friends connected through time and distances. Having friends to talk things through, to be in the flow of one another’s lives with context and concern—now that can make all the difference!

This classic On-Purpose® Minute invites you to take a hard look around and see who is truly there standing with you. As importantly, are you at risk of being off-purpose and there’s no one there beside you to call you to task because you’re caught in the swirl of social media?

Read a summary of the Duke University research here.

How Solid Is Your Leadership?

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The self-awareness and inner strength of the leader get transmitted throughout the team, division, or business.

It is hard to see ourselves for how we really are.

  • Some of us are hard on ourselves.
  • Others of us overestimate the strength of our leadership.

There’s one defining benchmark that will clarify how solid your leadership is.

I address it in this On-Purpose Business Minute.

Have you ever been led by a solid core leader? Count your blessings!