TrueNYC -- Where Ideas & Entrepreneurs Meet

What's In a Name

Naming a company or a product is harder than it sounds.  Anyone who has started a company or runs a small business knows that.  What seems so easy at first becomes an issue of debate as soon as you take the time to think about it.  The reason that many people struggle over a name is that it is so permanent.  Once you announce a name, that is your brand and that is how it will be known forever, no matter how successful or unsuccessful something is.

There are a few schools of thought when it comes to naming a company/product.  One school of thought is to say exactly what you mean.  Name something so that it describes or tells the consumer exactly what it is.  A good example of this is Toys ‘R’ Us.  This type of name attracts the right kind of consumers and makes it easy to brand your company with the type of products and services you offer.

The second school of thought is what I like to call the Mom and Pop naming technique.  In this category, the founder(s) use their name or the name of someone close to them as the business’s name.  Some good examples of this style are McDonald’s and Ford.  In this case, the person becomes permanently associated with the company.  They become a symbol for what the company stands for, which may or may not end being a good thing.

The final school of thought, and perhaps the most common, is to come up with a name that has nothing to do with the founders or the product.  In this case, anything goes, and that is where it can get tricky.  While there is no wrong or right answer, the name of a company can permanently affect the way consumers view the business.  The best names have always been short and easy to remember.  Avoid things like making up words or making something difficult to say.  Good examples of simple, strong brand names are Nike, Google, Apple, and Coca-cola.

So with no real definitive solution, how do you go about finding a name that works?  Try a few things, ask the advice of those around you, and test out images and logos.  Sometimes seeing something written out on a paper can change the way you think about it.  Get a group of people together, brainstorm, write out options on paper, and in the end go with your gut.

P.S.  In today’s internet driven world, another good thing to think about is the domain name for your company.  If you come up with a company name and you cannot purchase that domain name for whatever reason, it may not be the best choice.  Just something to think about…

Entrepreneurship and the Art of Selling

If the movie “The Pursuit of Happiness” teaches us one thing, it is that when a father and son play a father and son in a movie, it is very believable. And if it teaches us another thing, it is that a never say die attitude is necessary to achieve success. As entrepreneurs, the way we present ourselves can be as important as what we actually do in a lot of cases.

In early classes on marketing and selling, you will always learn that professionalism and confidence in yourself can go a long way toward making you successful. You have to present the look of success and people will be much more likely to believe in what you have to say. Not only are you selling the product or the service, whatever it may be, but you are selling yourself.

In Will Smith’s case, he was playing Chris Gardner, a man who went from a struggling medical supplies salesman to a top stock broker. He did this by constantly communicating to people that he was competent, and willing to lay it all on the line to get the job done. He never gave up and it paid off in the end as he went on to open up his own firm.

As an entrepreneur, it is vital to display an attitude and a look of success right from the very beginning. Start with the end in mind and build your business as if it is successful before you ever start “selling”. Find out what people expect from you and then give it to them. This will ultimately instill a confidence in your customer and clients, and keep them coming back for more. In addition, they will relay the message about how great your company is to their friends and colleagues, leading to more business for you. When you present the look of success, you are calling success to you, and you will be much more likely to grow and achieve your goals.

Are You Crazy?

The more you learn about the world of small business and entrepreneurship, the more you learn of the hardships that one must go through to follow their dream. The road for an entrepreneur is often times not very smooth. You will have to face more challenges and hurdles than you knew existed. Every time you solve a problem, a new one will pop up right in front of you. Sometimes it can be hard to find the courage to keep moving forward.

The most successful entrepreneurs have to be a little crazy about their business. The kind of passion it takes to succeed in any small business environment is not possessed by most people. That is why others around you will constantly challenge what you are doing, saying things like, “why don’t you just get a normal job?”

The easy thing to do is just give up and get a job. Join the rest of the working class and wait for your paycheck at the end of the week. But, as entrepreneurs, we have a responsibility to ourselves to hold true to our vision and see it through to the end. People with that kind of drive and determination will always come out on top when it is all said and done. So embrace the “crazy” inside of you and channel your energy toward achieving success.

What is your Model T?

How do you make a car that is affordable to the masses? That is the question and the challenge that Henry Ford was dealing with when he was designing the famed Model T. Up until that time, cars were luxury, more expensive than the average annual salary of a working man in the United States. Each car was custom built, and only affordable to the elite. Ford turned all that around in the early 1900’s with a new production system in a state of the art facility and a car designed for “everyone”.

Henry Ford did not invent the car, and he did not invent the assembly line, but he combined the two in one of the greatest innovations in US history. A true entrepreneur at heart, Henry Ford continually challenged the status quo in the automobile industry. Often going against the wishes and demands of investors, he pioneered the way cars were produced, and made them affordable to the every day working man. He had a vision, and worked hard to achieve it long before anyone else could see what he saw.

That is a key success factor that every entrepreneur needs to realize. Your ideas and vision might differ from everyone else around you. If it is not something that people are familiar with, they will be quick to doubt it. You have to have the courage and the determination to see your idea through all of that until it is complete. The Ford Motor Company increased car production more than 100% every year for the first 5 years until they owned nearly 50% of the US car market in the 1920’s. Henry Ford took his small car manufacturing plant and turned it into a powerful company and one of the “Big 3” automakers in the United States with vision and passion. What is your vision?