Choosing a name for your business!

This will be a bi-monthly blog on the topic of  running a small on-line sole trader business. I decided to start a transcription business as it is work that I really enjoy doing and I had many years experience in my working life transcribing audio interviews. This was a completely new venture to me which I started in late March of this year.

The first thing I had to do was come up with a name so that I could register a domain and contact the government to let them know I was now self-employed and trading under my company name.

It was important for me to have a name that conveyed what I wanted to project to my customers, first and foremost, I was trustworthy. I had worked for the Police for 11 years and therefore was very well versed in data protection and dealing with sensitive information. I wanted my customers to feel comfortable sending me their often very private audio recordings in relation to legal matters, disciplinary issues, clinical sessions, dissertations, thesis projects etcetera, of course these all need to be kept strictly confidential.

I bounced a few names off of my husband and several friends and we all agreed that Trusty Transcriptionists had a nice ring to it! Now, I will give you a little advice if you are at the stage of picking a name for your business- go shorter than the name I chose! Yikes, it seemed like a good idea at the time, but every time I have to type it, it is a pretty long winded affair! In addition, I tried to register it on Twitter after a client suggested I ought to, but guess what? Too many characters! Doh! Now I'm attached to the name and the essence, and I already have a lovely bunch of regular customers and so I really do not want to change it. Not to mention the hassle of having to change the domain, the business cards, all of my forms, you get the gist! 

I added an 's' onto the end even though I am a sole-trader, as you never know what the future holds. At this stage, I really enjoy doing this on my own, but if I did decide to expand down the line I thought it would be better to already be trading under the plural version of transcriptionist.

So when deciding your name, you may want to consider the following advice. Pick something relevant to your business, choose something you like the sound of, and if possible-- go short!