When you are just launching your interior design business one of the hardest decisions you face is what to name the company. Do you name the interior design company after yourself?

Julie Johnson Interiors
JJ Designs
Deluxe Interiors by Julie

Or do you name the interior design company something bigger than yourself, something that captures the essence of your company?

Deluxe Interiors
Daring Design
Design for Divas

This is an important question, and below are a few things to think through to help you make the right decision.

1) What does the future hold?

When you picture your design company 5-10 years from now, do you see yourself as a solo-act? Do you imagine you’ll have design assistants but you’ll be firmly established as the key designer? Or do you imagine leading a team of outstanding designers each with their own clients? There is nothing to say that you can’t use your name and lead a team (think about brands like Mary Kay), but especially in the early days, clients will expect you if your name is on the company.

2) Can I pronounce your name?

Is your name easily pronounceable? If so, great! If not, is there a way to make it accessible to your clients. For example, one of my clients is a personal stylist. She’s Hungarian, and her name is Orsi, pronounced “Orshee.” To make it easy on her clients she simply named the company Orshee’s – no reason to put your future clients in an awkward spot every time you have to correct their pronunciation, or worse, lose clients because they feel anxious about getting your name wrong and don’t call in the first place.

3) Is your name available?

Is the name being used by anyone else?

This is really a three-part question. Early on in my career, I was completely jealous of my colleague Sara Eizen who owned her design company called Nest – I had such a #designcrush on that name! But it was taken, so I had to figure out something else (ironically she later rebranded under her own name lol).

Is your name available as a web URL? I was so bummed out when I checked on rebeccawest.com and found it was already in use by another woman of the same name – sigh. Since it’s always worth asking I inquired about buying the domain, but she had no interest in selling, so I had to go another direction with my URL.

Is your name available for social media use? I also hit a wall when I discovered that @seriouslyhappy was already claimed on Instagram, and despite it not seeing a lot of activity, it wasn’t available to me. So be it, I had to figure out a different Instagram handle.

Give those three questions some thought as you try to figure out your company name, but that said, don’t worry too much about the decision. Did you know I went through three company names and brands before I settled in Seriously Happy Homes?

Name #1: Rivalee Redesign: When I was a baby designer I didn’t have the courage to name the company after myself, so I named it in honor of my grandmother: Rivalee Redesign. So sweet, I know. Sadly, no one knew how to pronounce it (see point #2 above – RYE-vuh-lee? RIH-vuh-lee? REV-əl-ee?)

Name #2: Rebecca West Interiors: After a few years of correcting people’s pronunciation, I decided I needed to courageously step in front of my company, so I rebranded as Rebecca West Interiors. At this point, I was still a one-woman show…

Name #3: Seriously Happy Homes: A few more years went by and suddenly I realized my company had become bigger than me. I needed a name that was about my team and my clients so we could help more people and I could step back from designing to lead the whole team. That’s when we became Seriously Happy Homes.

Was I terrified with each re-branding that I’d lose SEO or clients, or that people might see me as a flake? You bet I was! Was there any fallout? Nope, not a bit. So go ahead and pick a name you love, own it, and move forward. If you need to make a change you can cross that bridge when you get to it.

Super Awesome “Secret”: Did you know you can have a “doing business as” or DBA name that is different from your main company name? Yep! Also known as a “trade name”, you can legally name your company “Super Awesome Designs LLC” and then have a DBA of “Rachel’s Rooms” – the client never sees the main name and you can even have multiple DBAs if you want to run several different brands under your one company – only the IRS and your bank will have to know. More on that in a future post.

May your business always make you Seriously Happy!