If you’ve pigeon-holed yourself with your business name, I’m going to kindly ask you to get your hand examined.  For example — and I’m not using real life examples, only inspired-by-real-life examples, here — let’s say you specialize in kids’ photography.  You name your biz Pinwheels & Mudpies.  Okay, great.  Cutesy, childish, I can guess that you’re dealing with little ones.

One day, though, you want to branch into Senior portraits.  Guess what?  Your name is embarrassing for 18-year-olds to have to say, and will hurt your Senior marketing efforts, regardless of how fabulous your photography is.

Likewise, let’s say you name your biz (real-life-inspired) Gorgeous Bitch Photography.  Well, aside from being insulting to half the population of the planet earth, your boudoir name is great.  Then you decide to start doing newborn shoots.

Uh-oh.

There is no parent on the planet earth who wants to see the Gorgeous Bitch Photography watermark against her sweet little baby’s face.  And shortening it to Gorgeous Photography is just stupid.

Your business name chooses your business path, if you narrow it to just one genre.  While you may stay a boudoir photographer until your dying day, leaving a bit to the imagination won’t hurt you nearly as much as what happens if you work the other way ’round.

Great, you’re thinking, I chose my business name as MY name, because I’m smart.

Well, you may be smart, but I would argue that choosing a generic name allows your business to grow, to take on associates, and to be scalable income for you and yours.  Just because using your given name is easy doesn’t mean it’s the right choice.

So, take a long hard look at your business name.  Consider a doing-business-as subdivision of your company if you’ve chosen unwisely in the past, or want to switch genres without 100% new branding materials.  Consider your long-term goals, and whether having associates or the ability to sell your business in ten years is worth switching business names.

And please, don’t let me catch any of you mixing newborn and boudoir portraits EVER. AGAIN.

Tomorrow’s post is 100% motivation, promise.

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