What is Your Brand Name?

Generally speaking it won't hurt you to come up with a good name for your business, especially if you are a retail store, a restaurant or a have a business with a physical address that's open to public during any business hours you choose.

If you are a coach, healer or any kind of practitioner where your business hours are by appointments only and you don't have any employees other than your personal assistant, it is would be fine to use your own name for your brand.

However, if you choose to brand your business under your personal name, it is a very good idea to name your program, a technique you personally developed. If you want your name to become well known in your field, you need something to be known for. The idea is that overtime you will build an association with yourself and your product or system.

You also have to think about other factors as well. Is your name common or rare? Is your name easy or difficult to remember? Do people misspell or mispronounce your name often? If your answer is yes, you are not alone. If you think your name is to rare and difficult to remember, don't let it discourage you. Here is how I look at it, if people learned how to pronounce Arnold Schwarzenegger's name, they can probably learn how to pronounce my last name, eventually. Spelling may be more difficult to learn, that's why I would recommend you come up with another name for your website because you will need to announce it to people quite often.

If your name is too simple and common, then you will most likely face another problem -- too much competition. You may be hard to find due to the abundance of other people out there who have the same name. Besides, chances are, the web site name under your name is already taken. Also, if your name is not that common but it just so happens to be the same name as someone who is already famous, you will definitely need another name to be known by.

Now, here is one important fact to keep in mind when using your personal name for your brand. If you are ever planning to sell your business, you may lose the rights to your own name. I know this sounds crazy but it actually happened to one of the famous clothes designers. After he sold his company, he lost the rights to all his names and trademarks, including his brand name, which was his personal name. As a result he could no longer work in the fashion industry and use his name to promote any of the new clothes he designed.