Starting your own business, whether full-time or part-time, has many advantages, including the freedom to be your own boss and the flexibility to set your own hours and decide how and where you want to work. But is that enough motivation?

In this episode, co-hosts Nola Boea and Lori Vajda speak with listener and aspiring entrepreneur Beth Ortman about the difficulties she encountered in determining her business's "why." Is knowing your "why" important? Our answer may surprise you. Hear how we helped Beth discover her unique ‘why’ and how you can use our process to find yours.

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By the end of this episode, you’ll learn 

• Which is more important when starting a business, knowing your “How” or knowing your “WHY”? 
• How knowing your purpose can lead you to find your “Why” 
• Knowing your how, what, and why are the three steps to achieving personal satisfaction 
• Practical tips and questions to ask yourself so you can find your entrepreneurial “Why”

Key points Lori and Nola are sharing in this episode:

(02:54:12) According to surveys, dissatisfaction with a career is the second most popular reason for wanting to start their own business. This is the #1 reason.

(07:57:03) Knowing what is your motivator when things get tough, is only part of understanding your ‘why’, but it’s not more important than knowing ‘how’

(10:47:13) When you’re in a state of joy, your impact may not be visible, but your impact on the world is profound.

(14:52:09) Here are five reasons you don’t need to know your your 'why'

(23:19:77) Here from the listener as she shares her thoughts about our approach to finding your business ‘why’

(21:03:14) Four books anyone thinking about starting a business should read

Resources

Instagram - Beth Ortman's studio - https://www.instagram.com/bethortmanstudio/?hl=en

Connect with Beth Ortman  Website - https://www.bethortman.com/

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[00:00:00] Nola: Today's podcast topic comes from a listener:
[00:00:03] Beth: Hi, Lori and Nola. My name is Beth and your recent podcast about retirement really hit home as I'm looking to potentially change careers. So the thing that I'm running up against is, I'm noticing a lot of people that are either transitioning in their career or just starting out in their career, the idea around what is my why and I have a problem answering that. Sort of a black hole for me is, is this normal? Do you guys have any tips on defining this?
[00:00:31] Nola: Stay tuned listener, because in this Ask Muse episode, we're tackling this audience member's entrepreneurial question of knowing your why. How important is it and what do you need to know before you start your new business?
[00:00:44] Lori: Welcome to Sticky Brand Lab, where we bridge the gap between knowledge and action by providing you with helpful information, tips, and tools from entrepreneurs and other experts so you can quickly and easily jumpstart your side business. We're your hosts. I'm Lori Vajda, and this is my co-host, Nola Boea. Hi Nola.
[00:01:06] Nola: Hello, Lori.
[00:01:07] Lori: This is a first for us in that we are actually bringing in a question provided by the listener, and we have the listener in the audience mode as we are doing this episode. And later, we're going to bring her on to share her thoughts about our ideas around knowing your why.
But before we get to that, Nola, I have a question here for you. Now you've gone in many different entrepreneurial tracks and you've had a variety of different careers along the way. Everything from early childhood director, right. Of a childcare program. And now with your MBA, you're working in a nonprofit, but you're in strategy in that company. So excluding your current work, because we know how much you love that one, were there any previous jobs that you were in, in which you daydreamed about starting your own business?
[00:02:06] Nola: Yes. Pretty much most of them. What about you?
[00:02:13] Lori: When I was working on my undergraduate, I actually had a professor tell me that I would be a terrible employee in corporate world and I took that to heart. So I didn't start off working in the corporate field, but I did work in a variety of different positions I ever daydreamed about working for myself, it was more because I wasn't happy with what I was doing, rather than me having an idea of a business that I wanted to start.
[00:02:43] Nola: I can totally relate.
[00:02:44] Lori: And I think a lot of people want to escape the corporate environment for a variety of reasons. In fact, did you know, in a recent survey, dissatisfaction with a corporate career is the second most popular reason people have for thinking about starting their own business, at least in the United States. Can you guess what the number one most popular reason is for people wanting to start their own business?
[00:03:13] Nola: You say number two is, I hate my job, so I've got, I need to get my own company. So I don't know.
[00:03:20] Lori: Well, according to a survey done by Guidant Financial in 2021, the most common motivation, 29% of people who answered the question said their primary reason was because they wanted to be their own boss. I think that makes a lot of sense, but I think of those people whose desire is to be their own boss, few of them will go on to start their own business.
[00:03:45] Nola: But starting your own business does mean that you have the freedom to not only be your own boss, but be the boss of your time. Which is certainly appealing.
[00:03:54] Lori: Yep.
[00:03:54] Nola: And it gives you the freedom to make decisions about how and when and where you want to work. But, is that enough to really be a motivator? And I think that might be actually maybe an unspoken part of Beth's question about knowing your why.
[00:04:12] Lori: Yeah. So Nola, initially when Beth's question came in, you and I started talking about it, and we realized right at that moment that we kind of had different perspectives that we were applying to our answer. As we discussed this more, we thought, hey, why don't we just bring Beth in? She can hear our perspectives, and then we can see what resonates with her and if she has some other questions. But before we get input from her, I just kind of want to talk about this whole "knowing your Why" concept.
Now, I'm sure it happened well before Simon Sinek's book, Know Your Why, and his TED Talk really took off, but it's kind of a buzzword right now. In fact, I just got back from VeeCom, is what it's called. So it's this big conference that happens. And the whole idea was to have entrepreneurs come in and talk about different aspects of their business. And the one thing that happened over and over again is that people had almost like dueling perspectives. Which led me to think there's probably not one right answer here, but there's the answer that resonates with you.  But the whole idea for Simon is that it comes back to this idea that as humans we are compelled to do something for a reason. So when you know what your Why is on an intrinsic level, what motivates you from the heart, you are more likely to be successful at it than external motivations like money or job title. And are you familiar with Frederick Nietzsche?
[00:05:51] Nola: I've heard of him, but I haven't read his stuff.
[00:05:55] Lori: One of his quotes is, "He who has a why can endure any how." I thought that was apropos here because if you really understand what motivates you from your soul there's something internal driving you to do that.
[00:06:14] Nola: Yes. And I do think that's easier said than done. Hence, getting hung up on it, right?
[00:06:19] Lori: Yes.
[00:06:19] Nola: So listener, Lori, and I are going to discuss our different thoughts on this topic, and Beth is listening in, and then we're going to bring Beth on the show. And I'm curious to hear her reaction to our different perspectives. And then we'll together walk her through an exercise to help identify her Why.
[00:06:38] Lori: I like it.
[00:06:38] Nola: All righty. Let's have at it.
[00:06:40] Lori: My general piece is that starting a business is really hard, and the whole point that we started the Sticky Brand Lab podcast is that we wanted to help people who were contemplating starting a business for whatever reason, get going. Because once you have launched your business, refining it, improving it, you can do later. And so that kind of is where I'm coming at from this. I think your reason for starting a business can be, I want to have a cushion for multiple streams of income. I want to see if my business idea actually has legs. Can it grow? Do I have the time, energy to do it? One of the questions that came up at the conference was, do the thing that no one else is doing. Well, how do you know what other people are doing? How do you know if what you are doing is going to work? So the idea here is, you could launch a business with a great Why, but get into it and realize you don't like it, or the thing that you're doing, you don't like. Or that people aren't interested in your business idea.
And so for me, the Why is what is going to be the motivator when things get tough. When your Why feels more fluid than solid. And I think that you can come up with a why later. A matter of fact, I also believe that you can craft an entire founder story as your business becomes really more successful as you figure out who you want to work with, why you want to work with them.
So for me, your why changes over time and it evolves. So you don't have to have a perfect why to get going. Now I'm going to pause right here because it looks like you've got some strong opinions. But the one thing that I definitely want to stress is if you're thinking about starting a business, don't let the fear of not knowing your why stop you. You can move forward with one reason and watch it unfold later on.
[00:09:01] Nola: So I do like that. Don't let, not knowing your why stop you. And I do appreciate approach of, of being fluid about it. I can respect that. I think when we were first coming up with this topic, I kind of took pause when you had said, you can have as your why that I want to make more money and I want multiple streams of income. And I'm thinking, no, that's the product of carrying out your why. And to me that's not deep enough. Unless, then I had this little debate with myself. What's his name? Not Jimmy Buffett. Buffett, the head of, head of Berkshire Hathaway. I would bet you that for him, and people like him, getting more and more money is a game.
But with that being said, there have been times where I have launched a company because I wanted more income, because I wanted more security. And there comes a point where there ain't enough money on the planet to keep me going in this rat trap that I've created.
So let me step back. The typical understanding of a why is that you have to turn it into service. And I think that's really Simon Sinek's thing. Is, I am going to do this because it's going to help other people do this. Or, I'm going to give this benefit to the world. If you're crunching numbers as a bookkeeper, sometimes you have to connect those dots. Especially in the creative my opinion is that by doing that thing, basically, you're going to have this state of joy and you are designed to provide whatever that is to the world. Even if it is an athletic endeavor, even if it is music or art, you may not know how you are helping others. You may not know that contribution. My opinion is, if you are in a state of joy, your impact may not be visible, but your impact on the world is profound. So there I said it. I think it's harder in that case to state the formulaic, if I do this, then it'll have an impact on these people, because they're benefiting this way. I think that if I'm doing something so natural, I feel like is in me to do, the world's going to benefit from it because this is in me to give to it.
[00:11:15] Lori: So, you're saying that when you are coming at it from how your business will benefit others, that you're more likely to feed your soul, feed your desire to be of service, and that will expand your business. Is that what you're saying?
[00:11:37] Nola: Well, the whole philosophy around identifying a why is that you'll be more fulfilled if you're in service of others.
[00:11:44] Lori: Right.
[00:11:45] Nola: Basically.
[00:11:45] Lori: I get it.
[00:11:46] Nola: And I'm just saying that it's not that cut and dry. That sometimes just doing what you are meant to do is in service of others in some way.
[00:11:55] Lori: Can you say a little bit more about doing what you're meant to do as being in service? Because that's, I think, where I got a little lost,
[00:12:02] Nola: When I say, meant to do. When you're in the flow, when it's something that's a process or a creation that is in you that needs to come out, like art or just something that you enjoy. Simon Sinek says that's only part of the equation. Because he says if you do something you love, that brings you happiness. If you do it in service of others, that brings you joy. And maybe that's the difference between a hobby and a business. Again, my philosophy is, just by doing it and turning that into a business, that joy, that passion that comes automatically in doing that thing is a service in my opinion. But with that being said, we often say the difference between being in the business and working on the business. So being in the business is doing that creative thing, whereas sometimes meeting with clients or trying to manage logistics could be not so natural to you, and that's the part where you have to have enough of that love of what you do to get you over it.
There's an artist I know of. She had this following online and I followed her, but she'd always wanted to have her own storefront. So she got her storefront and it was really charming, and it's like, hey, my dream come true. And then Covid hit. And then Covid passed. But then she couldn't get it staffed and, in the end, she took stock, and she says, I am being a shopkeeper more than I am being an artist. And I'm going back to my first love. So, it's a balancing act in my opinion. But the thing about what you had said, it's from the heart. This example I just said about the artist who decided to close her shop she listened to her gut, she listened to her heart. I think that part of listening to your heart is what makes you want to bring this to the world anyway. What makes you want to birth a business. Just because you have the ability to grow doesn't mean you should, or maybe you do. But then it's be very intentional and aware about which tasks you take on for yourself and perhaps be very intentional about delegating certain things.
[00:14:01] Lori: Your answer really lends itself to that whole idea, knowing your purpose or following your passion. And I think that there's a fair amount of the segment of the population that knows what they're passionate about or knows what their purpose is. People might work in one way and then do their passion, write music, write poetry, create art. They do that on the side and then wonder, can they start a business, based on it. And so my response to, you don't need to know your why, or your why doesn't have to come from the heart, it can be something as simple as, I want multiple streams of income. I want whatever fills in the blank. It can be from the head, and I'm going to give you five reasons why I think that is important.
Here's where I'm coming from. I don't know what my purpose is. I don't know what my passion is. I've changed my career. I've changed the places I've worked. I have worked at them, and acquired knowledge. I love learning. I am by nature a person who loves to get out of my comfort zone and try new things, and I think entrepreneurship opens that up. So for me, the very first business I started taught me about marketing. It taught me about branding. It taught me about positioning. Taught me things that I wasn't going to learn on the educational track that I took to get my master's degree. And those insights, those skill sets, they helped me in the career that I was in at that time. So it didn't matter that there wasn't a one for one, I wasn't in marketing, I wasn't in communications. I was providing mental health services, but understanding the business aspect of providing that service really helped me grow in a totally different way than I would've otherwise. So, I think entrepreneurship can be a hands-on, real-life learning opportunity that you don't need a “why” for. You just need curiosity for. You need to be in wonder.
I think a second reason that you don't need to know your why, is because things change. The direction of what your skillset that college gave you, that your employment is giving you, that can change with new technology, with new rules, with new regulations, and you need to be agile. So the ability to be flexible means that you recognize you're starting a business and your why can be flexible. And I think because of that, you end up recognizing that you can adapt your business model based on feedback that you get from your audience. And that when you're working with people that you like, you start to narrow in what gets you excited. And perhaps that's when being in service really starts to unfold for you. Because now you realize that you are giving people something that they're craving and it aligns with what you like doing and who you like working with. And that flexibility helps you determine what your why is.
A third reason you don't need your why. Sometimes it's not until you make mistakes and refine that you actually get to the core, the thing that excites you. When you can tap into that, that's when I think it aligns more with what people's why is. But until then, they don't have any idea what that is, and I think that's okay. I think it's okay to take action without having a fully formed why because I believe it's in those action steps that you're going to tap into something that's purpose driven.
My number four is you have an idea for starting a business, whether that's a product or a service. But until it starts interacting with customers, you don't start refining that strategy or the product itself because you don't have that feedback. And I think that's another reason why your why will change. And I think that's okay. I think it's okay to go into a business and know that it's going to be refined or that you might end up going in a track that really resonates with you, but you didn't know it until you got in there. Your business is going to change. It's going to be refined. And another version or a different direction may be the aha moment, but you won't know that until you put it out there and get into it.
And my fifth reason is there's personal and professional growth that happens when you become an entrepreneur. And knowing how that taps into you intrinsically can give language to what motivates your why. But you won't know that until you hit those challenges, until you get other people's perspective, until you realize that the thing you thought excited you doesn't really excite you. This thing over here really excites you and you want to lean into that.
So for me, I don't think you need a fully-formed why before starting your business. I think it can be ego driven to get going. But in the moment that your excitement for what you're doing and that of your audience comes together, I think that is where your why really takes shape. It comes from the heart and it's motivated with the head, if you will, with the practical strategic parts.
[00:20:12] Nola: Well, that is a very well thought out approach. And actually, I can't say I disagree with a lot of it because what you just said is, you might step out there thinking you're doing one thing, and if it doesn't turn out the way you planned, that's okay. Because as we have said before, failure is really a step in another direction. It's really just guiding you to what might actually be better. It's really a learning experience. And curiosity is a way to just really follow the next breadcrumb to where it takes you. You don't have to know the full picture. You don't have to necessarily have it all full-fledged, and it gives you some wiggle room and some forgiveness.
I don't know if I will say that needing more money or just having a business itself is enough. I don't know. I like your speech. I think it's just something that, with that being said, I want to put a caveat into what I said because it's like, you know, follow your heart. Do what you love, bring joy to the world. Well, in addition to that, before you actually step out, do at least a one-page business plan. Do your market analysis. If you're going to turn this into a business, do treat it like a business. But I am curious to know what Beth thinks.
[00:21:29] Lori: And so listener, we are going to play Beth's complete question that she submitted to us, and we're going to ask her to move from audience where she was listening in, into being a guest so we can actually get her response. Stay tuned.
[00:21:47] Beth: Hi, Lori and Nola. My name is Beth and I'm a senior user experience designer and fine artist. My company is Beth Ortman Studio and my website is bethortman.com. So I have been a user experience designer for over 25 years now, and recently have started thinking about working towards a career shift as a textile surface pattern designer. I started out in, uh, fine arts. I have a sculpture and painting background, and this feels like a good combination of those skills. Plus, all the things that I've learned in UX. And your recent podcast about retirement really hit home as I'm looking to potentially change careers. I'm 52 years old and in order to move beyond that so-called retirement years, I want to be able to have a more interesting creative career that is less, I guess, quote, traditional. So the thing that I'm running up against is, I'm noticing a lot of people that are either transitioning in their career or just starting out in their career, the idea around what is my why. And I have a problem answering that. Sort of a black hole for me is, is this normal? Do you guys have any tips on defining this? I wanted to reach out to you all, these past few years of all your work has been super helpful and it feels a lot less around being alone in this nonlinear path. Anyway, thanks again for everything. You guys are great and the podcast is great and I really appreciate your help. Take care.
[00:23:12] Lori: Welcome, Beth.
[00:23:14] Nola: Hey, Beth.
[00:23:14] Beth: Hello. Hello.
[00:23:15] Nola: It's so good to have you on our show.
[00:23:19] Lori: Yeah. So our first question to you is what were your thoughts? Feel free to share.
[00:23:24] Beth: You know, it's funny. I listened to both of you and I find myself agreeing with both of you in a lot of ways. My original hearing of the idea of why was that Simon's Ted Talk, I didn't read the book, but I definitely listened to the TED Talk and part of my frustration with the TED Talk was it felt like such a 20/20 reverse understanding, right? You can kind of look at Apple and say, okay, I'm going to deconstruct Apple and come up with their why, and it was about the brand and elegance and all of that, but I can't think that that was what they started with. It just didn't, some of that stuff just didn't feel that focused. I've been in the tech industry for 25 years and I don't think I've ever found anything built that well from the beginning. So, yeah, it's interesting.
And then Nola, on your point on sort of the authentic self that you were talking about, weirdly, here's my quote unquote data point on something like that. When I do my artwork, if I get into the flow and I post it on Instagram, people like it more. I can't explain that. That's not real data, but
[00:24:24] Nola: I wouldn't doubt it.
[00:24:25] Beth: It's an interesting phenomenon that I've noticed. So I do think there's an authentic self and I think, Lori, to your point, I've always looked at my curiosity as my superpower, so I can't imagine going into something completely knowing my why, because technology changes every five minutes. Our why changes every five minutes. So I, again, I'm kind of coming down on both. I feel like what's interesting about trying to define the why is how we adapt and move forward with what we're willing to put up with in that sort of nine-to-five job. And I think for me personally, service in equals service out. So moving forward, my desire to start something is this idea of taking my past in technology and my love of fine arts and combining them and making something that allows me not to be the only sole proprietor of that. Getting into licensing and servicing equals hopefully multiple services out. And I think there is an authenticity and I think there is a almost a woowoo side of things that allow you to make that decision to move forward in your passion, but also understanding that it is a business. And that when you're up at that 2:00 AM doing your business or whatever the scenario is, and I feel like the passion of what you're doing, is just not going to be enough for those times. It's just, I think there's a balance there.
I feel like I'm talking in circles, but I feel like there's just this, a little bit of Lori, a little bit of Nola, that really makes this third thing really makes a lot of sense. There's a lot of, I have this passion and I want to do this. And there's this, I have this business sense and I'm open to all possibilities, and I think putting those two things together would really benefit somebody getting into business to be their own business owner.
[00:26:12] Nola: That's so cool. I'm so thrilled by your reaction. That's amazing. Beth, let me ask you, have you had any other entrepreneurial ventures prior to the one you're thinking about now?
[00:26:24] Beth: I've thought about many. I remember even in high school, I was actually making earrings. Oh, wow. And I love the idea of owning my own time, but I never had the words for that. I never really understood that that was part of that way of thinking. I wanted to open up my own graphic design business. I started as an illustrator in graphic design because that was the path to make money. It wasn't in my DNA n a to go down that route. So yeah, I've had many, many times and many, many moments in my life, in my career where I was like, I want out. I want to do my own thing. And it was never about money. It was never about anything other than wanting ownership of my time and my freedom.
[00:27:06] Nola: And if you did not move forward with them, do you think it was the lack of the really strong why?
[00:27:14] Beth: I think that in my mind, I wouldn't have even asked for the why. I don't even think I gave myself permission to allow for a why I didn't say it at the time, but I think fear was a big harbinger of that decision. I don't think I would've admitted it then. But the safety and the security and where I was and, and honestly, I've loved my job. I've been user experience designer for 25 years, and it's been a really cool job. So it's not the typical scenario where it's like, I hate my job and I want to leave. I feel like it's more, I want ownership of my life and I don't want to work for somebody else.
[00:27:48] Nola: There you go. So, tell us a little bit more about this creative business that you want to launch now.
[00:27:55] Beth: Yeah. As weird as user experience design, this is probably even more weird. It's called surface pattern or surface design, and it's taking art and turning it into things that can be put on wallpaper or stationery, pillows, home decor, you name it, soup cans. It's, it's a really fascinating career that we don't think about and I guarantee you hearing about it, you will now see patterns everywhere in your world. And it's just been a interesting mix of my tech background and my fine art background. So putting those two together feel like a good marriage. I'm in my fifties, so what better time to start a new business?
[00:28:36] Lori: So is the patterns that you're wanting to create, are those based off of your artwork or are they based off of something else?
[00:28:46] Beth: No, they're based off of my artwork. So, my artwork right now is fine art watercolor. This is something more of understanding what trends are, what people are looking for in home decor or in textile art or fashion, and then using my art or my style and then translating it over to those type of scenarios.
[00:29:07] Nola: That sounds really exciting.
[00:29:09] Lori: Yeah. What has been your experience using your fine art and creating textiles or home decor? What previous experience have you had?
[00:29:19] Beth: None. 10 years ago or so, I took a piece that I had done. It was a black and white illustration. And I, for grins, had it printed, at a company called Spoonflower on a fabric swatch. And there was this crazy little spark inside that just lit up. I can't explain it. It was black and white on watercolor paper, and then I had it printed black and white on a piece of cotton. So there wasn't a visual difference, but there was this spark that happened and I have not been able to put that back down.
[00:29:55] Nola: That's a good sign.
[00:29:57] Beth: Yeah. 13 years later here I am.
[00:30:00] Nola: So what's getting in the way of taking off in this new spark?
[00:30:03] Beth: Pretty much everything that you both listed earlier. Time, I have a pretty intense job that takes up a lot of my time where I'm on the computer 40-plus hours a week, and right now I've been on my computer additional 40-plus hours a week trying to build an inventory of these designs. I think fear is always a big part of it. Were people not going to like it, it's not going to do well. It's a saturated market. All the things that you can tell yourself from these external pressures. And it's funny because the question around the why that comes up, so this why thing is, so for me, attributed to goal setting, and maybe that's a, a commitment issue, but the idea of understanding this, why, as in my head, an equivalent as a goal, just felt insurmountable to understand how to even break that down.
[00:30:55] Lori: So I think some of us think we need everything all ironed out and working perfectly before we can do a business, and some of us are just so, I want this business for whatever is motivating me. I want the money; I want the recognition. Versus what often stops us in that fear moment of, if I don't know it perfectly, if I don't have it lined up perfectly, if I don't have my logo done, I just can't go with it. Which path do you feel speaks more to what gets you stuck?
[00:31:30] Beth: First, having every duck in a row, having all of the things thought out. That's always been the thing that stopped me. This time, I recognize those things as the things that are stopping me, and there's a program that I just took part in. It was an eight week immersive program for surface pattern design, and her motto is, do one thing a day. And that changed everything for me.
[00:31:55] Lori: Yeah. I think you're not alone. A matter of fact, in a survey that looked at the difference in men and women who start their companies, what some of those differences were. Men tended to go with an idea and just try to sell it. Get out there and do it. They're excited by it. And women wanted everything all neat and orderly organized before they would do it. And I think men recognize that failure is just part of the process, whether it's in your career or it's in starting a business. And women don't have a lot of mentors to model that, so they tend to want everything to be perfectly aligned so they can prove that they're the best person for the job, versus I have the solution that you're looking for. What do you think about here if we gave you some questions to help you think about your why for starting a business, versus do you have your checklist all done before you launch it?
[00:33:04] Beth: Yeah, I would love that.
[00:33:05] Nola: Just think of this as more of a fun game than a quiz.
[00:33:08] Lori: What was your goal for taking this course or even taking your art and designing the patterns into textiles?
[00:33:17] Beth: One point for Nola. It was my intuition. I had been looking at it.
[00:33:21] Nola: Oh, this really is a game, isn't it? Ah scored! No, I'm just kidding.
[00:33:26] Lori: That's because she went with you first.
[00:33:28] Nola: But yeah, that's a big deal. Intuition.
[00:33:30] Beth: It was a really strong intuition that I wanted to know more of the long game to understand if I was willing to put up with what it took to get there.
[00:33:39] Nola: Very cool.
[00:33:40] Lori: Question number two, what do you want to achieve?
[00:33:43] Beth: Autonomy. And I really want something that I feel will be an exciting way to learn and advance myself into doing things that are creative and still maybe being relevant. So for me, this feels like a good transition into the next phase.
[00:34:00] Lori: Question number three, what do you care about?
[00:34:04] Beth: Yeah, quality. I want to produce something that people want to have in their home and live with.
[00:34:10] Lori: Question number four, what are values that are important to you?
[00:34:14] Beth: I'll go back to quality again. No matter who I work for, if I can do a quality job, that reflects better on me, and by association, the company gains from that. For me, I always want to do the best I can with the knowledge that I have. Curiosity for me is equality. It has led me down many paths. I will say the learning, I just love learning.
[00:34:37] Lori: What motivates you?
[00:34:40] Beth: Probably my desire not to be bored. I have crazy drive if I'm even taking time off that I should be doing something towards something. This idea of purpose. When I do get bored, I should be doing something towards a purpose. I just feel like I have a purpose.
[00:34:58] Lori: What keeps you going through those tough times in work, in learning this new craft of yours?
[00:35:06] Beth: Flexibility. Understanding where the frustrations hit, and then it's like, okay, how do I problem solve myself out of this?
[00:35:13] Lori: What are you really good at?
[00:35:15] Beth: I think create a problem solving. Whatever situation I'm in, I can take a lot of facts and turn that into something, whether it be artwork, interface element, websites, sculpture, whatever it is.
[00:35:28] Lori: How do those answers align with why you want to bring pattern design to textiles as a business?
[00:35:37] Beth: Maybe it feels a little hubris of me to say this, but it feels that I have something to say and share. If I can do it on an authentic level on my part, then I feel like it can translate to somebody else. And I feel good making this stuff and I hope that that translates over.
[00:35:56] Lori: I think I might have a working “why!”
[00:35:59] Nola: You've identified a lot of your passions, goals. Now it's time to start connecting the dots. What do all these things have in common? What is that red thread that ties them all together?
[00:36:15] Lori: Here's some examples of why statements that people use or can use. So you can say anything from, I want to help people live a beautiful life in a beautiful space. I want to make a difference in the world through creativity. I want to create something that will last, because definitely textiles do. I want to be my own boss. I want to have multiple streams of income, so not everything is dependent on me showing up. I want to share the joy that comes from making my art with others. And I want it to be in a space in which they then combine my joy with their joy of a beautiful space.
So I'm going to use a little bit about the big passion that I heard is, what you said, all of these things under the umbrella of create. You are a creator and things can't keep you from being a creator. You have an intrinsic need to create that creativity has lended itself to this question of, I know that my art gets the most response when I've created it from a place of joy. For some reason, I know that that piece, when I post it, is going to get more comments than something that I was really working detail meticulously on.
So, creating from joy means that your art brings other people joy. And I think one of the interests that you've had is art and technology. So this tool that you're using to create the patterns that could lead to the textiles hits both sides of your brain. Which is what you mentioned, user experience for the last 25 years, has really helped you think about the end user as well as the company, except now that your art represents the company. So for me, it feels like creating textile patterns that could be used for homeware or office or something to create an aesthetic, aligns because of that. It's those two worlds coming together. So the idea of freedom is what entrepreneurship creates for you. It creates freedom and flexibility. Even if you do it as a side business.
So your why is I want to create and I want to do it from a place that brings technology and artistry together. So the functional use of creativity and technology is in the textile. That's the functional use of what you manifest.
[00:39:09] Beth: I knew you all would have a good answer for this.
[00:39:13] Nola: But it's a matter of just hearing it back to you.
[00:39:16] Beth: In a eloquent way.
[00:39:17] Lori: Yeah. Thank you. If the fear of rejection was not on the table, what would get in the way of you trying to sell your work?
[00:39:31] Beth: Probably just understanding how to communicate and reach out with a very concise proposition, I guess, to licensings and different companies. And then doing it over and over with different companies because the rejections will come in and you just have to kind of move forward.
[00:39:51] Lori: So your why resonated and now you were able to find the obstacle or the stepping stone to what you needed to do, which was, how do I articulate it in a way that somebody would give me an opportunity to show them what I have? But the thing that stood out from what you said is the thing that I personally also have been struggling with, but then I heard Guy Ross say this: Very few people have the kind of impetus, the internal mechanism, for sales. He said one of the reasons many entrepreneurs will take a kind of a stint with sales is so that they can get that practice. And he said, if you think of no as a muscle that you have to build, then you recognize that sales is the equipment you're using to build the muscle. Pretty cool, huh?
[00:40:49] Beth: He's pretty awesome.
[00:40:50] Lori: Your why doesn't have to be big or grandiose. The thing that's really important is that you do something that excites you and motivates you when you get to those hurdles that stop you from going forward. How does that sound to you, Beth?
[00:41:08] Beth: That makes total sense to me. Yeah. I appreciate that.
[00:41:11] Nola: Yay. Well, thank you, Beth, for sending us your question, especially for coming on the show as our guest. This is a first and I have really enjoyed our talk. But before you go, how can listeners get in touch with you or where should they go if they want to learn more about you or see your art and follow your progress?
[00:41:32] Beth: Sure. I appreciate that. And first, let me say thank you for your time, the both of you. This has been really great and like I said, I knew y'all would have the answer and some good guidance for me, so I appreciate it. My Instagram's at Beth Orman's studio. And then I have a website that's www.bethortman.com.
[00:41:52] Lori: Listener will be sure to put the links in our show notes. With that in mind, we hope the ideas and thoughts we've shared here today have sparked your interest, curiosity, and willingness to turn your knowledge, experience, ideas, and your why, into multiple streams of income, and empowered you to become a first-time entrepreneur in the second half of your vibrant life. Be sure to stick around to the very end of this podcast for a fun little surprise.
[00:42:20] Nola: If you found the information we've shared helpful and want more tools, tips, and inspiration delivered to your inbox, sign up for News You Can Use, over on our website, stickybrandlab.com, or click the link in our show notes. And remember, baby steps, big effects.
[OUT-TAKE]
[00:42:39] Beth: Actually, I think it's time for you to introduce.
[00:42:45] Lori: I was wondering where you were going, but I was going to let you go all the way in. Okay. 

Are you looking to start your side business in 2023? If yes, this might just be the most important episode you’ll want to hear. Why? Because there are correct and incorrect ways to maximize a domain and business name. But it all starts with choosing a name.

In this episode, co-hosts Lori Vajda and Nola Boea share three critical mistakes to avoid and five important best practice tips for choosing your business name and domain.

Thanks for listening! Let’s stay connected!

If you enjoyed this show, subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen. That way, you’ll never miss an inspiring, motivating episode. 

Want more helpful tools, tips, and inspiration delivered to your inbox? Sign up  for “News You Can Use” at Sticky Brand Lab

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If you haven’t already, please connect with us on Facebook! 

Would you like to be a featured guest or have your question, comment, or review mentioned? Ask Muse!

Business success strategies are in the works. Come have a listen!

In This Episode You’ll Learn 

• Level up your ‘stand out from the crowd’ ability with insider tips for selecting your business name
• Discover the website domain trends that can help you attract your ideal customers 
• Why you don’t want just one domain in 2023
• How to make a business domain’s name work harder in 2023 
• 
  

Key points Lori and Nola are sharing in this episode:
(
05:23:01) Three well known brands, the reasons the owners chose them, and the methods they used 

(07:23:2) How building trust has become more important for customers in 2023 and why your business’s domain name plays a key role   

(10:38:29) Three important purposes of a business domain name

(12:19:09) Three common mistakes many first time entrepreneurs make, along with tips and resources so you can avoid making them  

(20:28:78) By avoiding these mistakes and combining them with our five tips, it will free you up to let your creativity run wild to create a name that resonates with you and your customers.

Resources 

Name Checkr  - namecheckr.com
Name Check - namecheck.com
Name Chk - namechk.com
WordStream - wordstream.com/keywords
Internet Archive Wayback Machine - archive.org
Who Is Request - whoisrequest.com/history
DomainTools - domaintools.com

Sign up for “News You Can Use” at Sticky Brand Lab

You can subscribe to Lori and Nola's show (we love you and want to make it easy) on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Audible, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
​
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[00:00:00] Nola: Think about the companies you regularly buy from, like Nike, Starbucks, Amazon, Sephora, or Ulta, for example. Have you ever considered how or why they chose those names? Just like your favorite brand, a business's name is an important component of its image and identity. In fact, to prospective customers, your company name not only helps differentiate you from your competition, it's also the first impression people get of your business. Yet many first-time entrepreneurs don't really think about the impact of the business name or domain name they select. Some even select two different names, one for the company and one for the website. Stay tuned listener, because in this episode we're sharing five tips to help you choose the perfect name for your business and domain, plus three mistakes you'll definitely want to avoid.

[00:00:48] Lori: Welcome to Sticky Brand Lab, where we bridge the gap between knowledge and action by providing you with helpful information, tips, and tools from entrepreneurs and other experts so you can quickly and easily jumpstart your side business. We're your hosts. I'm Lori Vajda, and this is my co-host, Nola Boea. Hello, Nola.

[00:01:09] Nola: Hey, Lori.

[00:01:09] Lori: You know, in today's episode we're doing things just a little bit differently. In this case, we're talking about three related things. And for you, listener, just to clarify that, the first is going to be on how to choose a name for your business. So we're going to give you some recommendations and information there. The second thing we're going to do is talk about choosing a domain for your website. And here the focus is just going to be on best practices. And third, we're going to talk about the disadvantages, as well as some of the advantages of using a business name and domain name that don't match, and our reasoning behind that might just surprise you.
But before we get into all of that, Nola, I have a pop quiz for you. At the start of the show, you mentioned a variety of different brands. And I thought it would be fun to test your own knowledge on the names of those brands.

[00:02:06] Nola: Okay.

[00:02:06] Lori: Are you ready for a little fun?

[00:02:08] Nola: I suppose. Go ahead and fire away.

[00:02:11] Lori: All right. This brand was founded on January 25th, 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports. The company officially changed its name to blank. What do we currently know that name brand as?

[00:02:28] Nola: Well, if you had just asked me in a vacuum, I would have absolutely no idea. But since you're referring to the brands I named earlier, only in one of them was a sports brand. So you must be talking about Nike.

[00:02:39] Lori: Ooh. First, that's good, and I like your deductive reasoning. It was founded in 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by Bill Bowerman. He was a track and field coach at the University of Oregon and one of his former students, Phil Knight. And the company takes the name Nike. From the Greek Goddess of Victory.

[00:02:59] Nola: Oh.

[00:03:00] Lori: Alright. Brand number two. How did they come up with the name Amazon?

[00:03:05] Nola: Well, I have no idea since I just think of Amazon as this big jungle on the equator with a river running through it.

[00:03:14] Lori: So Jeff Bezos had originally dubbed the business Cadabra as in Abracadabra. After somebody misheard the name as Cadaver, he decided to call his startup Amazon, and his thinking behind that was related to the big river in South America. He thought the moniker wouldn't box him into offering just one type of product or service.

[00:03:41] Nola: Ah, okay.

[00:03:42] Lori: All right. Brand number three. This brand to me has a very interesting history. Initially, the company began as a fragrance shop called Shop Eight in 1969, the store was laid out so that customers could try on the fragrance before purchased. And years later, the founder, Dominique Mandonnaud, I think that's how you say her name, would use the idea to really revolutionize another industry. And what is the name of that company she founded?

[00:04:17] Nola: Oh my. Was it Ulta?

[00:04:19] Lori: No. Although Ulta does have a very interesting name. So the beauty brand is Sephora, and it gets its name from the blend of two words. The first is the Greek word sephas, which means pretty, and the second is the name Zipporah. And according to the Bible, she was the wife of Moses, known for her beauty.

[00:04:40] Nola: Okay. All right. You know something that I noticed about all of the different brands and factoids you mentioned is that all three of them started out with one name and then changed it. And I think it's important to note because even though today we're sharing tips and recommendations for choosing your first business name, listener, it's a good reminder that even with the best guidelines, you may still at some point want to rebrand. And should that be the case, we hope it's for similar reasons as a brands we just mentioned. And that is because your business grew and became hugely successful.

[00:05:14] Lori: Which would be very cool. But there's another interesting idea that came to me in kind of looking at the names of the brands that I gave you the pop quiz on, and that is the meaning to the owner behind the name that they chose, and the method that they went around to get that. Blue ribbon, I believe at the time, was one of the rewards you won for being top. And I think victory, kind of that whole idea behind the running shoe taking you there. Or Amazon, not boxing you in and having a name that's broad, even though you might not know what that meant, because it was a disrupting industry, Amazon, when it first got started, but there was meaning behind it. There was rationale behind it and the blending of two words. And I think those play into some of the tips that we're going to be sharing later on.

[00:06:05] Nola: Cool. Well now Lori, I have a question for you.

[00:06:08] Lori: Okay.

[00:06:08] Nola: Have you ever done research or searched for a particular solution online and in that list of search results you noticed that the business name and the domain name that came up, they did not match?
[00:06:21] Lori: Yes.

[00:06:21] Nola: What were your thoughts went into deciding whether or not to click that link?

[00:06:26] Lori: This is really interesting to me, particularly because around maybe a decade ago, when I would put in a phrase into Google and I would see the name of the business come up with that name, I thought, oh my gosh, there's the solution I'm looking for. How about that? That actually exists. The company already exists. And then I would open it up and it was more of a very spammy kind of site. And when you get that description, well, you get the name of the business, you get the URL, and you also get a spam score. And in looking at that, if things just don't line up, I'm far more hesitant today to click on links that don't match up or that have high spam scores because I worry about getting spyware on my computer.

[00:07:11] Nola: That's a really good point, because sometimes the name an entrepreneur chooses for the business is more of an afterthought. Or perhaps there wasn't enough thought. And by that I mean that a first time business owner could actually put in a lot of time and taskwork setting up their side business without actually putting the same effort and research into choosing a name. Or, they choose a name they really like, but they don't really understand all that goes into the impacts of that.

[00:07:39] Lori: Absolutely. For me, choosing a name is really hard. Some people it's not, but usually means something to us, right? And here, doing the tasks to get your business going and launched and up and running, you can check those off. Picking a name, people can get stuck there. They either can say, I don't really care. I'm just going to do it. Here's the name I've come up with. It means nothing to me. And then someone like myself who does content strategy and content writing, we develop a story to match the name, which I have done for many businesses. Or, first time entrepreneurs get stuck and they become paralyzed with the decision of what to call their business.

[00:08:21] Nola: That actually might explain the name of a company that just opened up in my small town. Probably got paralyzed and probably said to forget about it because this is a place that specializes in really great fried foods, good old Southern Fair. The name is, I Don't Know, It Don't Matter.

[00:08:38] Lori: No way. That's the name of the restaurant?

[00:08:41] Nola: Yes, and the logo is I D K. I Don't Know. It Don't Matter. But I sell really good fried food.

[00:08:49] Lori: Fried food.

[00:08:51] Nola: That whole situation about just not being able to figure out might also explain why some businesses don't have domain names that match. Because they might finally settle on a business name and go forward, but then not actually have a domain name that matches their business.

[00:09:05] Lori: You've started a few different side businesses. Have you ever had chosen a name and a domain that didn't match?

[00:09:12] Nola: Well, I never really settled on a business name and went forward only to later find the domain wasn't available. There were plenty of times I thought I had decided on a business name and really wanted to go for it, but before I went too far, I looked at the domain names, and more often than not, in fact, 99% of the time the domain name was not available. What about you?

[00:09:33] Lori: When I started my dating coach business, I chose Dating Made Simple. I was simplifying the process so people could feel more confident. But that name wasn't available for a domain. So I chose Make Dating Simple. My business name was Dating Made Simple, and my domain name was Make Dating Simple, and I used to have to point out to people that if they were searching for me online, they knew how to find me.

[00:10:01] Nola: They were two different names, but the same company.

[00:10:04] Lori: Exactly.

[00:10:04] Nola: Yeah. That's awkward.

[00:10:07] Lori: Well, it wasn't such a big deal in the beginning and then it became a big deal later on. And today, well, we're going to get into that a little bit later, but let's just say the pendulum swings. Dating Made Simple is what my goal was for the business. The name of the business spoke to what I was trying to do. And the domain of Make Dating Simple was now put upon the client, right? Don't make it complicated. Simplify it. So I think that lends itself to the idea that the name of your business serves many purposes beyond what you call it. Or it's the way for people to find you to get an idea of what you do, and it's how they'll remember you. So even though my domain was different than my business name, because I had to stress each time, I was almost like planting a seed in the potential client's mind to remember these two items, but they were both about what benefit and what you can do in the dating world.

[00:11:10] Nola: Bingo. And I think you've nailed that there.

[00:11:13] Lori: But the question still remains, Nola. As a first-time entrepreneur, what are the best practices for choosing a business name?

[00:11:20] Nola: The reason I was so excited about what you had mentioned and said, bingo, because a company's name really is often reflected by the products and services it offers and the problem it addresses and you, you are making dating simple. And if somebody just enters in their search terms, can I just simplify dating please. Something like that. It helps your business stand out from other businesses that might be doing the same thing. And that's, for example, if there is a cockroach that has the nerve to cross my threshold,

[00:11:51] Lori: God hate cockroaches.

[00:11:53] Nola: I will, I know I will call The Bughouse. How did I find them? Because I'm like, get bugs out of my house. And guess what came to the surface? The Bughouse. They were in my area, so that is the perfect name. The name in the business and in the domain all have keywords that were part of my solution finding online.

[00:12:14] Lori: That's a great example. So we thought it would be helpful if we started by sharing three common mistakes many first-time entrepreneurs make.

So you can identify them and avoid them, listener. Our mistake number one. Names that are too broad or too general. Here, the problem with a generic name is that it often doesn't give perspective customers any sense of what you do, what you sell, the problem you solve, or the benefit they'll gain by using your product or service. So a good example of this would be a company named Big Red. Can you tell what this company is all about, Nola, simply by the name Big Red?

[00:12:58] Nola: I was going to hold up a piece of gum because I happened to have Big Red gum in my pantry.

[00:13:03] Lori: No way.

[00:13:03] Nola: And that's the only thing I can think of.

[00:13:06] Lori: I remember that Cinnamon gum, I used to love that. But here in doing just a Google search, obviously the gum would come up, but one company I found was named Big Red and they produced soda. Another was a convenience store and a third company had a similar name in that it was called Big Red Cloud. Any guesses what that company is?

[00:13:29] Nola: I have no idea what a big red cloud is except maybe pollution during sunset.

[00:13:37] Lori: Interesting, Nola.

[00:13:38] Nola: But I don't know what people are selling for that.

[00:13:41] Lori: This is an accounting software company.

[00:13:43] Nola: No way.

[00:13:44] Lori: Yeah.
​
[00:13:44] Nola: In accounting," in the red", meaning you owe money. So...

[00:13:49] Lori: Maybe they try to find that, or maybe they represent attorneys. I don't know.

[00:13:53] Nola: Ah, so this is an example of probably having a special meaning to the owner, but that does not translate to market.

[00:14:00] Lori: Well, you wouldn't want to say big black cloud.

[00:14:03] Nola: No, you wouldn't.

[00:14:04] Lori: Because that also sounds ominous. Even though being "in the black" is being in the money.

[00:14:09] Nola: That's true, in accounting terms, yes. And I guess cloud means cloud computing, so it's probably a cloud-based accounting.

[00:14:17] Lori: It would be interesting to find out what the meaning was for the accounting firm who came up with the software. So that's kind of why mistakes with names that are too general or use common business names where a variety of different businesses have it, often you get a domain that doesn't match the business because somebody's already using the name and it's under a different umbrella. Which gave me the kind of the thought of sometimes we name businesses after ourselves. So I spell my name, L o r i, and I thought, all right. Let's say that I had a design company, Lori Designs, and I go to check and see if that business is available because that's my business. That domain was already taken.

[00:15:04] Nola: Well, try to find anything related to Nola. It's New Orleans, Louisiana, this, that and the other thing.

[00:15:11] Lori: Yes. And matter of fact, that comes up when I go to write your name, it auto-populates with the capital N O L A all the time. Yeah.

[00:15:20] Nola: You were talking about having names that are very general, kind of like Amazon, and I know we're talking about it in terms of a mistake, and I don't know if it was or not, but I had a business name for a while that I named Altruist Associates, specifically to be general, because I did a variety of things on the side. Rather than have several different businesses or landing pages, well, I made them landing pages on one site, Altruist Associates, one company. But the thing is, my business card, people would say, so what do you do? It really was important for me to be able to have some kind of one-liner that made my name relevant to whatever it is they were seeking my services for. It could be a mistake if you don't have some kind of a story or tagline that says, okay, this is really what we do.

Mistake number two. And that is not doing the research before you choose a name that'll work for your new company. It's really important for you to do some research just to see if any other businesses already exist with that name. And this will help you to avoid potential conflicts. I have an example for that. I used to run very briefly, a transformational travel. Actually, it was a retreat company. It's not that I booked travel for others, but I launched a company to lead transformational retreats at these life-altering destinations; at these really special locales. And when I first did the research for the company, I named a whole bunch of different possibilities, and I really liked the term GLAD Travel. And of course, there are so many names are already taken, especially if it has to do with transformational or destination, I mean, the name Travel has been a business for eons and all the names are taken. Even Glad Travel. There was another Glad Travel. There was a competitor named Glad Travel, then they had Glad travel.com. That company existed in Hawaii, had a site that probably hadn't been updated since 1995 and had really bad reviews because people didn't know they were gone. It was still accepting money. People would pay the money, go on site, find this whole dilapidated place nobody was answering.

[00:17:25] Lori: Oh my God.

[00:17:25] Nola: t was, yeah, it was really bad.  But I thought, you know what? Once I put out my website, I used the glad.travel, not glad travel.com, and my company was different enough that I felt I'm totally going to blow away the competition. People are definitely going to stand apart and I used GLAD as an acronym for Groups to Life Altering Destinations, G L A D.

[00:17:49] Lori: Very cool.

[00:17:50] Nola: Well, yeah, I thought so. And I went with that. Then I went through all the tasks, got launched, got incorporated, all of that, and a little friend of mine that I shall not name, even though I'm looking at her right now,

[00:18:05] Lori: Would that be me?

[00:18:06] Nola: Did some cursory, just a cursory search and noticed that GLAD also stood for G L B T Q, legal Advocates and Defenders. Now G L B T Q travel is definitely a thing. And there was a high possibility that my travel destination retreat was targeted to a specific niche audience. And then they would come on there and realize, no, this is not what we're looking for. So you don't want to have traffic that comes and then bounces right away. Because that actually brings you down in Google ranking. So if I had just really thought that through or told my friend about my name before I did all that, that's just one example.

[00:18:48] Lori: I think the part in this mistake that I think is most important here is if you listener are in love with the name, And you recognize and you're doing research that there are other companies that have been in business for a while, they're going to hold that space at the top of a Google search. So if you're in love with the name and you go in knowing that you're going to be much farther down. On that Google search, and that's okay with you because your businesses are completely different. You at least are going in with your eyes wide open, which I think is kind of different than what you're saying, Nola, which I heard you say, is that I fell in love with the name. I knew that there were some other travel agencies in there. Because this was what mine meant to me, it would be okay. But you didn't realize that there were so many businesses with established footholds in the Google search, and so for you to get noticed, it was going to take a lot of content marketing.

[00:19:47] Nola: Yep, absolutely. You've got it. So listener, here are a few reasons you should conduct research before settling on the perfect business and domain name. Research will tell you if anyone has a trademark on the name. And if they do, you really should find a new name. I mean, just like you'd need to know that a car you're buying has a clear title, right? So here are a couple free tools that will check the domains that you're interested in, as well as social media availability for those domain names. One is called namecheckr without the. E before the R, and the other one is namechk without the E before the K. So namecheckr.com and namechck.com. And don't worry, we'll have those links in our show notes. So even if you find out that a company is using the name but is not registered as a trademark, there's still a good chance that they own the.com domain.

[00:20:41] Lori: Mistake number three. Names that are too long, and here are actually three important reasons why this can be a problem. The first is, names that are too long often don't work in social media handles, or they take up too much space in looking on a small screen. There's competition. There's a variety of reasons, but social media can be one challenge, especially if there's any character limits. The second is it's hard to read, especially when you're putting that information in for an email address or a website address. And letters that are too similar, like two Ls or two i's next to each other. You don't always recognize that there are two letters versus one letter. And a third reason why long names can be a challenge is they often get shortened and they don't match. So, I think you had used your own example, Nola, of Glad Travel. You had the name longer in your mind of what it stood for, and the letters represented something. That often is the case for names.

[00:21:50] Nola: Yes. Now, you had mentioned super long names and I can't help but thinking of organizations such as the International Association of Business Communicators. It's a very well-established association. It's a huge, long name. And you're not going to type that in to go to their website. So they have iabc.com. And I'll say from experience that when you are seeking an acronym for your organization, very often those are super expensive because there are so many other organizations with the same acronym that want to buy that. So the demand and supply, right?

[00:22:23] Lori: Yeah. Well, SaaS is a good example of that. S a a S, We had talked about podcasting as a service. There are already associations linked to P A A S.

[00:22:35] Nola: Yeah. And with all that said, if you turn our three things to avoid into three things to keep in mind, our tips for choosing a business and domain name grows to eight.

[00:22:46] Lori: Yay.

[00:22:47] Nola: Also, by avoiding these mistakes and combining them with our five tips, you listener, are free to let your creativity run wild in order to find a name that resonates with you and your customers. Now, before presenting our ideas, we should address the question, why is it important or not important to have a domain name that matches your business? Well, think of your website as a store on the street, and the domain name is a sign out front enticing people to step inside. Now, when it's not the same as your website, visitors get confused. It's like, okay, you know what business you're looking for. You follow the map, you show up. You think you're here, but the name on the store is different. So when you're online, that can often lead to distrust, like you were saying earlier. it might be a phishing page, or there's like a lot of cybersecurity issues. However, more often than not, those visitors, they're just going to take their business elsewhere. They're not going to stick around to try to figure it out. And that's one reason why having a matching business and domain name is so important.

[00:23:48] Lori: As I mentioned in the beginning, my company, Dating Made Simple, and I had Make Dating Simple as the domain name. And that wasn't a big issue early on. But then it became a big issue because there were so many businesses online, it's crowded, right? So you want to be able to stand out. Now, the example you gave of why you want them to match, there's also an equal opportunity in having domain names that don't match. And that is particularly helpful when you want to drive niche traffic to a landing page, especially on your website. In this situation, what we would suggest is, if the business name and the domain name are available, we say, get that for sure. And maybe take on purchasing a few domain names that are different that you can use to market and get back links back to your main website page. So, in this case, I'll use my company's example. If Dating Made Simple is the name of the company, Dating Made Simple is the website domain that's available. Those are the same. Then purchasing Make Dating Simple. That might take people to my book. I can have a U R L that redirects to my website. And now I have a back link to my website. I have a domain name that I can use for marketing purposes, and I can sell a book, and yet I still have the business name.

[00:25:23] Nola: That makes sense. And that's an intentional use of it, and you've really thought that through. Now I have another question for you, Lori. So, having said all that and talked about website and domain, can you explain the difference between a URL and the domain?

[00:25:38] Lori: Yes, so a domain name is the internet address for a website like stickybrandab.com. That's the domain. The U R L is the complete website address that includes the domain and the specific part of the site you want to direct people to. So in that case, you think of the www dot http s sticky brand lab forward slash podcast. That's that other component that lets people know they're on the right page. And how you might even think about that from a visual standpoint, listener, is if you were to go to Google and put in the name of our company, it would pull it up and then you would see About page, Podcast page, specific areas that you could click that would take you directly to the page that we are talking about. With more businesses moving online, having a domain and business name that stand out to the customer really is more important than ever and having multiple domain names allows you to get pretty creative in getting more traffic to your website.

[00:26:53] Nola: An example of having the domain and separate URL kind of working together is, Glad Travel offered transformational destination retreats to Vietnam. And therefore, I had a webpage that was dedicated to talking about those retreats in Vietnam. And so the URL would be my domain name, glad.travel, and that particular page came with forward slash Vietnam. Now for marketing purposes, this is an example where you would have a separate domain name, I could have Vietnam retreat travel, either.travel or.com, and use that in my marketing and have anybody who clicked on it actually get redirected to my landing page all about Vietnam, but on my website. And what would make that effective is when I had the branding on both. So people didn't think that they were going one place and then arrived at the other. They knew that this is exactly where I wanted to go.

[00:27:52] Lori: That is a great example of using domains to help boost marketing. Listener, you just got a bonus tip. But that's how you can use multiple domains to work for you in marketing and promoting your website. It's okay to do a redirect, which is what Nola's talking about, that a landing page can do. But let's for now move on to the five tips that we do want to give to help listeners choose a business name and a domain name.

The first one is be unique, just not too unique. And by this what we mean is a distinctive brand name and domain will help you stand out from the competition and it can boost SEO. As Nola said, if people were specifically looking for transformational retreats and they specifically wanted to go to Vietnam and they saw the total URL address that included Vietnam travel, they're more likely to click on it. So that key word that's in there, even though it's a tiny little lift of a boost in SEO, it still is a great way to help an audience find your business. And by doing that, you're also using it to help search engines help you stand out. So here's a free tool that you can use to find keywords: Wordstream. That's wordstream.com/keywords. You can find that link in our show notes or on our website under our freebies resource page.

[00:29:31] Nola: Tip number two, make it meaningful to you and your audience. Now, there are a ton of name generators online, and they're great for helping you get your creative juices flowing, but don't rely on them to choose a name for your business. I mean, even though they're quick and convenient, their limitation is that they cannot conjure up a name that means something to you either as a business owner or as a company. Now, to help spark your creative juices, get out your piece of paper, your tablet, and write this down. Ask yourself and answer, what were some of the reasons you decided to start your business? Now, write down what and or who drives you to make it a success. So, write all that down. Just do a stream of consciousness and when you're done, look at your list and circle any repeating words or phrases. Those may help identify the key words to put into your business name that will help create a name that means something to you.

[00:30:31] Lori: At the start, we had talked about the fact that Blue Ribbon changed its name to Nike and Sephora had two different words coming together to give its name. You know, that's a great example of businesses that are very well known, that chose names that mean something to them. Even you talked about your Altruist Associates, it had a personal meaning for you. It might not tell the user what your business does. But when you go to tell your story, it really creates that stickiness factor in the mind of the listener for your brand. And hence now, listener, that's what Sticky Brand Lab is all about.

All right, tip number three, give your brand growth potential. It's true that you don't want to choose a business name that's too unique or too generic. You also don't want to go in the opposite direction and make it so specific, you're limited to one single product or one single location. For example, if I as a copywriter wanted Write Words New York, because I lived in New York, and then I wanted to add website designed to my business. Now I've boxed myself in. And then if I moved, let's say I went from the East coast to the West coast, New York is no longer my home destination or where I'm working from, but I've boxed myself in.

[00:31:53] Nola: Exactly.

[00:31:53] Lori: Tip number four, make your brand easy to remember. You know, there's a huge difference between a memorable brand and a name that's easy to remember. For example, let's say that you have cats and you started a clothing company for cats and you call it Cool Cats Clothing. That would be all Cs at the start of your name. But now let's say that you do Cool Cats Clothing for kids, and you decide that you want all Ks instead of Cs, and somebody else comes along and they want Cool Cats something else, a similar business name to it. What ends up happening is all of these businesses are competing and it makes it hard for the user to figure out which of those companies is the one that they want. Because the names are similar, but one letter is changed, or there might be a hyphen between it, or somebody might put a number between it. It just makes it convoluted for the user, and so instead of deciding, they go to a totally different direction. Something that's easier to figure out.

[00:33:00] Nola: So, the rule of thumb here is just keep it simple. The KISS principle, right? Keep It Simple, Sweetie.

[00:33:05] Lori: Good point.

[00:33:06] Nola: Tip number five, our final tip is that once you've settled on the perfect name or the perfect couple of names, before you make any domain purchase, it's crucial to make sure that your company name and domain name are free of anything that could harm your just-starting company's reputation. For example, let's say you create stuffed animals and you named your company Bunny Fluff, and you get the domain name, it's available. Bunnyfluff.com. Well, then you find out that it used to be a porn site. It's on all kinds of spam filters, and you've got 200 better Business Bureau complaints. That's something you do want to avoid. On the other hand, let’s say Bunny Fluff was a really reputable company at one point, and the prior owner of that domain name was in good standing and had a lot of positive traffic, and that's something that you would actually benefit from. Now even though a quick Google search can tell you if there are any news stories or BBB Better Business Bureau reports or things like that, it's really better to use some tools that can do some deep digging. And here are three of them. And again, you'll see them in our show notes and on our resource page.

One is the Internet Archive Wayback Machine over at archive.org. The other is a Who Is Request whoisrequest.com/history. And DomainTools. That's research dot domain tools.com, and we'll be sure to put in our podcast freebies page as well. So it's very similar. This whole concept of doing the research for Bunny Fluff is very similar to getting that Carfax or that history report when you're getting a formerly owned car. And so you want to make sure that you are also getting the history for your business domain.

Well, listener, we hope that the ideas and thoughts we've shared here today have sparked your interest, curiosity, and willingness to start your business and empowered you to become a first-time entrepreneur in the second half of your vibrant life. Be sure to stick around to the very end of this podcast for a little fun.

[00:35:06] Lori: If you found the information we've shared here today helpful and want more tools, tips, and inspiration delivered to your inbox, sign up for News You Can Use over on our website, stickybrandlab.com or click the link in our show notes and remember, small steps, big effects.

[00:35:25] Nola: In fact, to prof. He, he, I did so good too.

[00:35:35] Lori: Your, your P became an F.
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[00:35:38] Nola: Yes, it did. Retake two.

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