Should You Use Your name as a Business Name?

As a Debut article in this Column, I will be sharing five reasons why you should use your name to represent your business and five others why you shouldn’t.

 

One of the advantages of using your name for your business is that you get to help people easily find you on google; especially if your business has a website and great online presence. Also, you become the face of the brand - this means that you have a lot to do with content- videos, pictures, etc and the business is what you want people to know you for. Three it allows people to know that whatever comes from the space of that name is your idea and no one else. This doesn’t affect your employment of others but the concept of the framework or structure must be from you. Again, it helps you push your personal brand as a person- your belief, character, view, etc. An example is Tom Ford known for Social Entrepreneurship, etc.

Five, you cannot run out of ideas so long as you’re sure of what you stand for and what you want to portray and so if as a person you love it simple, you might not find it hard making really simple dress designs. These are the 5 benefits you get from using your name as your business name.

Let's see the disadvantages.

If you are someone who would not love to remain as the face of the brand and appear very frequently, you might need to rebrand your business name. If you are camera-shy and don’t want to be at the forefront of your marketing campaign, it is advised that you do not use your name. You might just want to leave some others to work on it for you.

2. Secondly, you cannot run the business without you being there. You have to be there because people trust you not the business. It’s you they are used to. Building a business that eventually operates without you means hiring staff and training management teams and you can’t do that independently.

Again, when your company is more comfortable hiring staff and not just one person, you shouldn’t use your name. This means that when you use your name, it might not fit the mode of business you want to do. This is why you cannot find a bank with the name of just one person. The company doesn’t fit that mode.

Four, once you use your name for the business, you cannot use it for another line of business except it’s under the same enterprise. You might have to choose another name for the other business outside the former description. Five, using your name might limit you because your vision of the business you’re building is just for the now. You are not sure what’s going to interest you later and so it’s better to pick what you understand. So for whatever name you’re choosing, make sure it’s something you understand for now. Something you have full details about. Branding is beyond just having a logo, it involves your perception and how you project that perception to others. Please note that ‘name’ in this talk means something like ‘Abayomi Adeola (Della)’ not ‘Lekesticks’ or ‘Soladrums’. I’m talking full names.