I do believe…

… I have a name! The chosen name has been on my list in one form or another for a while. After I stopped stressing about it, and just let the names gestate for some days it popped up front and centre!

I’ll share the full list (the good, the bad, the simply ridiculous and the plain ugly) after all the names have been registered.

Next step is to fill in my forms for the business registration centre, pay my fee, open a temporary new-business bank account, get my business plan all nice and shiny.

I have a serious case of butterflies (in the tummy!) and some sort of insomnia again. Once the name was there, I couldn’t fall asleep. All of the things I have to do kept crowding in to my mind. Little wonder I woke in the wee hours of the morning again, and the same things whirling around.

Short and sweet today. Moving on up – nothing can stop me! in the words of M People.

First comes the name…

I’ve been sitting here for a few hours now… working on the name. Helsinki Buy Design, the blog title is my first choice and the name that springs to mind first… although it is quite possible that the Business Name Registrar (PRH) will not accept it. Plus there is every likelihood that I can come up with something more inspiring and catchy. As one page suggested: quirky or functional!

At the same time I’ve been googling all sorts of combinations to see what other sites are out there. I’ve found tour pages, on-line tour guides, a heap of blogs, and similar business ideas to my own. Fortunately they are not in the same city. The good news, nobody is offering the type of tour that I’m looking at doing. Not yet anyway. Talking with people who know the market better than I do, has led me to believe that there will be competition quite soon.

The plan is to get the initial paper work in the system before the end of the month. Now, I’ve downloaded the initial startup package. 15 pages of text to go through. Ugh. In the meantime, I have managed to create a list of 26 names to ponder… Of course now that I have the list I’ve googled ‘How to choose a good business name’! (I’m wondering if I should have done that right at the beginning). So now, with the list in hand I have to keep in mind the following do’s and don’ts:

Do have a name that is memorable and easy to spell.  Do have a name that has a visual element. Do pick a business name that gives a positive connotation. Do have a name that include information about what your business does. Do try to keep the name short and easy to pronounce. (Maybe this means that I have to exclude the Finnish words…)

Don’t use generic names based on names, such as Heather’s Bar, John’s Hairdressing etc. Don’t use generic names that literally describe the product or service, like Computer Consulting Company, (that contradicts the 4th do from above!). Try to avoid geographical names. (I think this advice is not applicable for travel based business.) 

Now, to sit quietly and go through my list. Once I have a name, then comes the next stage. Stay tuned!!!