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9 Steps to Craft a Perfect Business Name

Customer perception is a major part of any success, and getting your business name right is the first step to building a solid brand to attract customers and increase revenues.

Most new entrepreneurs don’t think twice about their business name, but it literally has the power to make or break your business. This is more true today than ever before now that there are countless alternatives to every product or service imaginable. Sure, every business may have its own world-changing differentiator but from the outside, they all look the same. The main differentiator ends up becoming your brand name. It’s more important now than ever to stand out from the crowd.

In a world full of distractions, customers no longer have the attention span to thoroughly research what they buy so they primarily rely on their feelings and emotions. This is why large businesses like Apple and Amazon spend billions on just their brand alone. They understand customer perception is everything in business today

So let’s explore how you can craft the perfect business name for your next big idea.

1. Start brainstorming

Write down a list of words that are related to the product or service you want to offer to the world. Think about words that are associated with what your business does, with what your mission is, with what your values are, and with what problem you’re looking to solve with your new business. You can even add your first or last name to the list if it’s short and catchy. Then mix and match those words until you find combinations of names you like.

  2. Research competitors

Look up competitor business names for inspiration. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel when it has already been reinvented countless times. Your competitors also had to go through this same naming process when they first started their companies so why not take advantage of their work? After all, your goal as a new business owner is to out-compete them.

3. Examine the meaning

Some words can have different meanings or negative connotations in different languages. So it’s always a good idea to do a quick Google search for alternate meanings. If you discover that a name on your list may form a negative impression of your company, scratch it off. You don’t want that name to hinder your future potential.

 4. Zoom out a little

It can be tempting to go with a super relevant name that describes exactly what your company plans to offer when you first open your doors. But don’t forget to think about how you want your business to grow and expand in the future. Remember, Amazon was just selling books at first but then expanded into selling everything else. Imagine if they had named their business “SuperBooks” initially. Think about the big picture before you get too excited about a name on your list because it’ll pay off in the long run.

5. Keep it simple

Many companies use alternate spellings nowadays. Feel free to do so if it feels right for your brand but try to keep the name short and simple. If your name can’t be easily spelled or pronounced, customers will struggle to find you. Practice saying the name out loud. Remember, your potential customers will talk about your company to others during casual conversations just like how you talk about companies like Walmart and Netflix with your family and friends. So avoid hard-to-pronounce names like those with more than four syllables or those that have silent letters in them.

6. Ask for feedback

Don’t keep the name you like a secret. Share your ideas with other people and see what they think. Entrepreneurs are naturally biased toward their own ideas. It’s always good to hear other people’s thoughts especially if those people are your future customers. And if you can do this in person with them, that’s even better. You may find that a name you like is perceived negatively by others or has a hidden meaning that you didn’t notice before.

7. Take a breather

New things are exciting and it’s tempting to rush into making a decision, especially when you have so many things to do for your new business before you can get up and running. But don’t act on that impulse just yet. Give yourself a few days to mull over the name you like. Once you pick a name for your business, it’s hard to change it. Not impossible, but much more difficult than starting with the right one from the beginning.

8. Grab the domain name

In today’s high-tech world where every business needs a website and email address, owning a domain name that matches your company name is crucial. So before you commit to a name, make sure to grab the corresponding domain name especially one with a .com extension as they’re the gold standard and will automatically build trust with your customers. Use a domain registrar like GoDaddy to register a domain that matches your company name. If you can’t find a domain that’s available or simply need inspiration for more names, check out a business name marketplace like Alter.

 9. Search for trademarks

Before you set your heart on a name, check to see if you can legally use it. Make sure there isn’t another business in your industry that’s already operating under that name. Simply head over to USPTO or your country’s equivalent and search for the exact name you like. If you can’t find any existing trademarks for that name then you’re good to go! Otherwise, you will have to consult a trademark attorney to see if your name infringes on another trademark.

These nine steps will help you craft the perfect business name for your next company. The name you pick will dramatically impact your company’s future marketing efforts so choose carefully. No matter what name you end up choosing, remember to enjoy the journey!

 Business Documents Every Business Needs

Entrepreneur’s collection of free business forms, Business Plan, Business Proposal, and Free Business Plan Template specifically for small and home-based businesses

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Launching a Startup Comes Down To Making A Few Key Decisions

Taking an idea to market comes down to making not more than five to ten key decisions. Not a hundred, just a few. And you only need to get a few of them right. Here are three important decisions every entrepreneur has to make to launch a successful startup.

A successful startup is made up of a collection of good decisions. It is led by entrepreneurs who are not afraid to make decisions, follow through on their decisions, and use the lessons they learned from earlier decisions to make better future decisions.

If you’re starting and fear the uncertainty of the startup journey, think about your launch phase in terms of the decisions you will need to make using a backward approach. Start by listing the different key areas of your startup like product, marketing and legal. Next, list all of the key decisions you may have to make in each of these areas. Finally, try making those decisions. Mentors and other entrepreneurs can help you with this mini Business Plan Sample. Pay special attention to how and why they made those decisions.

What you will learn is that taking an idea to market comes down to making not more than five to ten key decisions. Not a hundred, just a few. And you only need to get a few of them right while keeping in mind that rarely will one decision fail your startup. Just like a successful startup is made up of a collection of good decisions, a failed startup is made up of a collection of bad decisions. Unless you’re not willing to learn from bad decisions, you will always have a shot at success in business.

Here are three important decisions every entrepreneur has to make to launch a successful startup.

1. Do I Start?

The most important decision of all is whether you are truly committed to starting and pursuing a startup venture. You may only need to make a few key decisions to launch a startup product successfully, but launching your solution doesn’t mean you have a successful startup. The real work begins when you put your product into customers’ hands. Are you ready for the journey?

We mostly see the statistics on the successes and failures of launched startups when the truth is, most startups fail before they even launch a product. Every other key decision is based on whether you are committed to seeing your product launched and used.

2. Building Your Team

Unless you will take the responsibility of building the product, your hiring decision will be the most expensive decision you will make. Choosing the right person or team can mean the difference between success and failure.

A good hire is not only someone who can build a good product. It’s someone who can help you build the right product. It’s someone who will challenge your assumptions, clarify your plan and help you execute as if they were your co-founders.

3. Defining Your Product

You can open a Word document and list all of the features and functionalities you want your solution to have or before you do that, you can study the competition, interview a few of your competitors’ customers and use the insights you gather to better understand what buyers need and expect from a better solution. That’s one of the key decisions you need to make.

You can adopt an agile methodology that uses an iterative development process centered around customer feedback and rapid development or you can decide to follow a more linear and structured development approach that starts with scope definition followed by development, testing and launch. That’s another important decision you should make and that your team should help decide on.

When it comes to product-related decisions for your first product launch, it’s as simple as answering two questions: what to build and how to build it. It can certainly take time to answer those questions, especially if you’re looking to go the extra mile, for example, by deciding to run validation experiments and speak with mentors. At the end of the day, all you need is to know what to build and how to build it.

If you truly commit to your startup, build the right team and make educated product hypotheses to solve the identified problem, you have made ninety percent of the decisions you need to make to take an idea to market successfully. In the process, some of the other important startup decisions you may have to make include answering these questions:

How do I attract the first users or paying customers?

What is the best legal structure for my startup and     when should I incorporate it?

How do I fund my startup?

In conclusion, just like anything else in life, an outcome is the result of actions that start with decisions. In an early-stage startup, the outcome you’re looking for is to launch a product your customers need. To achieve this outcome, you only need to make a few key decisions. Most importantly, you need to act on those decisions.

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13 Books on Money to Transform Your Finance Management

One of the most obvious measures of our success is our wealth. That said, that statement alone can be taken in various directions. Some people think it’s a matter of how much wealth you have. We, on the other hand, believe that it’s more of how much you’re able to retain and manage from month to month and year to year. Below is a list of books on money that we believe will transform your way of thinking about money management in several ways. From sparking interesting conversations about it to making plans for your financial future, this list covers many aspects of finance management.

To help you find the best books on money to reach your personal finance goals, we’ve done the research for you and have formed this list of criteria.

Relevant – Even though money has been     around for a long time, the economy     has changed a lot over the years. We want to ensure you the books     recommended are offering relevant advice that would be ideal in any     financial environment.

Offers a system – Financial advice is great, but     it doesn’t always stick. Each book should overall provide tips and habits     that will allow you to build a system to help you manage your money.

Sparks     conversations     – Reading about money is one thing, but these books should also encourage     you to talk more about money with those around you to some extent. Even     though we all have our own ways of managing money, discussing money can     have merits in some circumstances.

Practical – While these books provide     general financial advice, they should remain practical in that the advice     should be obtainable for people to achieve. Most people don’t have the     funds necessary to start a real estate business, but they can put away a     few hundred dollars into a savings or investment account every month.     Practical books will help you achieve your goals.

1. I Will Teach You to Be Rich

As the title of the book suggests, Business Plan Sample, this book delivers on a plan to be rich. The author, Ramit Sethi, has a background in personal finance and provides a detailed six-week plan for living out a “rich life.” This book on money covers a wide variety of aspects like using credit cards and maximizing rewards from them, opening a high-yield savings account, and automating accounts where you can save money with no effort from you at all. This book is filled with nothing but pure actions that are outlined and sectioned off in a good way.

2. The Automatic Millionaire

Another one of the great books on money that will help you build a system is The Automatic Millionaire. Written by David Bach, a financial writer, this book focuses on our ability to automate our finances and builds a system based on that. The idea with this book is to give you the knowledge and information to put together a system in an afternoon that will make a large impact on your financial future for the better.

3. The Simple Path to Wealth

The principles from this book on money were first presented by the author to his daughter through a series of letters. As such, you’d expect there to be plenty of actionable advice when it comes to investing and overall saving. Considering the direction of the book further, this book is light and has a casual tone to it. That said, it won’t shy away from complicated explanations. It’s one of the highest-rated personal finance books around and it’s clear why it is.

4. Retire Before Mom and Dad

This is a book for those who are looking to be involved in the FIRE movement. FIRE stands for Financially Independent, Retire Early, and it’s clear why many people are striving for this or considering it. This book delves into the principles and acts as a primer for this movement and going down this path. That said, it also considers other principles that make FIRE more attainable or easier to achieve, even if you’re not planning on retirement in the next few years.

5. When She Makes More

Money is a topic that most people shy away from, and it makes sense. Money is a status thing and seeing someone making more can cause unease or resentment. Money can also strain relationships and overall cause harm. People fear talking about money and it’s those emotions that cause problems in the first place. This book on money is powerful as it provides opportunities for women to be talking to their partner about money. After all, stereotypically speaking, men are meant to be making more money than women and it’s a sore spot when it’s the reverse. This book is fantastic because the author, Farnoosh Torabi, lives a life where she is the one making more than her partner. Getting into details, this book looks at the realities and the various rules she’s set up with her partner. She also discusses ways to maximize earnings while minimizing conflict.

6. Women & Money

SuzeOrman is a financial advisor who most notably ran a show called The Suze Orman Show from 2002 to 2015. In the show, she received calls from viewers who asked for financial advice and whether or not it’s a good idea to buy various items. Orman has years of experience working in this field and pools a lot of her knowledge into the various books she’s published. Women & Money is one of the more recent ones. This book in particular talks about how women earn, invest, and save while also giving practical advice on retirement, marriage, and other topics. Whether you are 20 years old or 60, this is a good choice if you’re looking to learn more.

7. Think and Grow Rich

This famous book has been around for almost 90 years and still holds some relevant information. While this book on money won’t tell you about 401Ks and building a portfolio, Business Proposal, it takes a turn to the mindset of building wealth. Through this book, you’ll learn more about desire and persistence as opposed to strategy or money management. While this is an odd book on our list, we believe it’s still important as the stories and the lessons are still relevant to your money attitude today.

8. You Are a Badass at Making Money

As you can guess from this title, this book takes a lighthearted angle to personal finance. Similar to “Think and Grow Rich,” this book also focuses on the mindset of earning and keeping money. While this book lacks any sort of actionable financial advice, it’s compensated by the fact it’s inspiring. It’s an ideal book if you’re looking for a new perspective to making money and could spark conversation with friends, family, or your partner. On top of that, it’s a nice motivational booster.

9. The Millionaire Next Door

Another inspirational focused book that you’ll want to pick up is “The Millionaire Next Door.” Many years ago, Thomas J Stanley, Ph.D. and William D. Danko, Ph.D. did extensive research into the millionaires of America. From the various interviews they’ve conducted, they created a profile of America’s wealthiest citizens and discovered common connections amongst them all. Stanley wrote it all in this book that has garnered over 1,700 five-star reviews and provides tremendous insight into what it’s like to be a millionaire. This is all explained through seven habits that all of these individuals have in common. Again, there’s not so much practical advice here, but it prompts you to take a closer look at their overall lives and what you can do to change yours to be like theirs. Even if you’re not planning to be a millionaire, the lessons in there are all practical such as living below your means and rejecting traditional consumerism.

10. Spend Well, Live Rich

For those looking for a good book for budgeting and personal finance for beginners, this is a good pick. Author Michelle Singletary reflects on her life with her grandmother who raised five children on a modest salary. By watching her grandmother, Singletary devised principles that her grandmother used to support that kind of lifestyle with what money she had. Through those principles, you can find inspiration in her story while learning about how to stretch the money that you already have.

11. Your Money or Your Life

The core of this book is financial independence and lays out a plan to reach that goal. While this book is the longest in this list, it does provide advice on pretty much every aspect of financial independence you can think of. Free Invoice Online It covers things like mindset requirements as well as investment moves that you should be making. Even if your plan isn’t to retire early, there is plenty of advice in this book you can use.

12. Broke Millennial

Amongst millennials, this book on money is a favorite for its simple and relatable language. It touches on a lot of the struggles and issues that millennials are faced off with today—things like living with your parents in your 20s, dealing with student debt, and even dealing with friendships and your finances. Between all of this, the book does offer plenty of practical advice and things to consider for those within this age group. It covers a broad overview of checking your credit score to even buying your first home. Even if you’re not there, chances are likely that the information mentioned in this book will be relevant for quite some time.

13. Get a Financial Life

Another millennial-focused book is “Get a Financial Life,” which covers a lot of the basics for personal finance. This book is more direct with its advice since it covers things like doing your own taxes and paying off debt. The goal of this book is to provide a foundation for you to establish a financial life and it does so in a good and clear manner.

Final Thoughts

What a lot of these books teach us about money is that success doesn’t come overnight. It’s something that takes a while to build up. But it also shows just how changing your way of thinking or taking a few small steps can mean changing your financial path for the better. There are many great books on money, and these are only the start.

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StaylI.com is the premier source of Business Plan Sample, Business documents , Business Proposal and Online Invoicing, Tools and Resources for Entrepreneurs. Think, Build, Succeed.