Q&A: Is it too late to change my business name?

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

What's up, welcome to Sadduceful School. This is Chris Guillebeau. Hey, this week we're beginning to look at messaging. One of the things I mentioned in the classroom episode the other day, that would be episode 1143, is that when it comes to standing out and becoming attractive to customers, it's not just what you sell, it's how you talk about it. Okay, so today's question relates precisely to that topic, that topic of branding.

It's from someone who's trying to solve a problem with her project's identity, specifically its name. And this listener has a growing side hustle, but she's worried she has the wrong name for it. With an active customer base and an upcoming agreement to market on YouTube, is it too late to change the name? Very interesting question from a real world situation, and I've got a pretty clear answer for it. I'll be curious to know what you think.

Is it too late to change a business name? [Music]

Hi, this is Tori from Orem, Utah, and I've been listening to the show since the beginning. My side hustle is Pics2Pics, a shop that sells shirts and resources for teachers who teach children from China how to speak English. I sell these products from an Etsy shop now, but I would like to transition to my own website once it is finished. My question is, is it too late to change my business name?

I originally picked the name Pics2Pics for another business idea. It was chosen because I took pictures of textures and turned them into digital art resources, aka pixels. From pictures to pixels was the idea for the name Pics2Pics. Now I believe I should have picked a name more relevant to my industry so people know what I represent without having to ask. It is also important to keep brand consistency.

Another big reason why I'm considering a name change is because there's a million and a half ways to spell Pics2Pics. I have customers, partnerships, and even myself on occasion spelling it wrong. On top of that, there are other companies with alternate spellings. I'm worried that my customers will search for my company and become confused when they spell the name wrong and find the wrong company. However, I'm about to enter a written agreement with a YouTuber to market my brand with the name Pics2Pics.

I'm worried that if I change my business name now, my audience will become even more confused. Please help. I can't wait to hear from you, and thanks, Chris. [Music]

Tori, thank you so much for listening, and thank you for the excellent question. Well, here's what I think.

I think this is the time to change. I think you can absolutely change that name, and I think you probably should. Like you've already identified the problems with the existing name. It made sense for a different project, but not really this one. And here's perhaps the greatest reason why it's a good time to make a change.

If you sometimes misspell your own business name, then that is a very good sign that something else might be better. I think in this case, it is especially true because Tori's market is teachers who teach children from China how to speak English. So even though those teachers might be native English speakers themselves, they will be especially sensitive to anything that's hard to explain or could be spelled in lots of different ways. She mentioned there's some other companies with alternate spelling, so that is just confusing. And I would say, you know, her concern is, well, I'm worried that making the change will be confusing.

My suggestion is don't worry about the short-term cost because whatever confusion you're going to experience in the short-term, I think could be minimized. I don't think it has to be a big deal. But even if there is some, you know, this sounds like a project that you want to pursue for quite a while, all right? So in the long term, I think a better name will serve you well. The only question, Tori, is what should it be?

I don't have a great idea myself, but I'm sure it's something you've been thinking about. So I'll be interested to know, if you do make that change, what's it going to be called? All right, good luck, let us know what happens. Listeners, if you have a question, come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. We'll be featuring them throughout the year, along with updates from listeners as they launch or improve their projects.

This has been episode 1145. Tomorrow I've got a Throwback Thursday, Where Are They Now? segment for you. You don't want to miss it, so be sure you're subscribed. Once again, this is Chris Guillebeau.

You're listening to Side Hustle School. [Music]

From the Onward Project.