Shop Name


21meyer

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Hi,

 

I am getting more serious into the woodworking community and hope to sometime soon make it a full time career.  I currently build several different types of simple furniture but the majority of my business comes from custom Cornhole Boards.  I am looking for a name to encompass my simple style but not too specific because my Cornhole Board business slows down considerably during the winter and I focus more on indoor furniture.  My last name is 'Meyer' and am still unsure if I should include it or not.  Please share any ideas you might have to help get my mind turning.  Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Cody

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My two cents...

Why not have two business names. Really, if I had a good business of making these Cornholes and I would make that part of the name.

Maybe Kiki can add some secret spy insight, but my guess would be that if you have the cornhole in the name it will be easier to find you than if you leave it out.

Another point, if you have some grand sounding name I probably wouldn't buy a cornhole set from you. Something like Cory's Cornholes, would be fine. Also very funny. I can't imagine the buyers of these contraptions would be too serious. May work in your favor to keep it light hearted and easy to remember. If you use a serious sounding name like Cory's fine woodworking, it sounds more expensive and may detract from sales.

 

Of course the downside would be the obvious problems with a web search  :P

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Thank you everyone for the insight.  I had not thought about the two different names idea but I think it could work, at least until I am more established.  Fretless Llama makes a good point about keeping it light hearted as the strong majority of my customers are 20-35 years old for the cornhole boards and are generally laid back.  In my opinion, more people know the game to be called bean bag toss or bags than the actual term for it so I'm not sure if I should lean more in that direction.  

 

No offense to anyone that has done it, but it has always been my preference to use my last name instead of first name for a business name.  I'm not a marketing expert by any means so maybe one is more appealing than the other.  Any thoughts or comments on that?

 

One of my main reasons of establishing a name is to be able to brand the inside of the boards.  I think it could be good advertising if they are being used at a tailgate or other social gatherings.  

 

Thanks for your input,

Cody

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" The Great Cornholio"?  Or if you wanted a name for an electrical business, "Meyer's Wires". OK, I really couldn't pass those up. 

 

For a shop name I use my own, with a twist. My real last name is Southwood, so I went with South Wood's Shop, simple and sweet.

 

How about Nebraska Woodworks? Gets what you do and where you are at. Cody's Cornhusker's Woodworks, Cornhusker Woodworks? 

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Thanks for the responses.  I do like the idea of generally describing the region as well as the short and sweet mentality.  For my cornhole board business I am thinking about the following options:

 

Midwest Boards

Midwest Bags

Midwest Bagz

 

The majority of my sales come from alumni or fans of the major universities that are close by (Nebraska, Iowa, Iowa State, South Dakota State, etc).  I think If I get too specific and say Nebraska or Cornhusker in the business name that it may discourage potential buyers of other schools or non sports related ideas.

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I agree with everything Mel said.  Two names for one parent company if you're planning to sell fine furniture and cornhole sets.

 

Despite my affiliations with the largest governmental and corporate big brother agencies in existence, I don't have much knowledge about increasing search engine hits...but there are others here who know about that stuff.  One thing I can tell you is that all three of the names you're considering, i.e. Midwest Bags, etc...are too ambiguous to get you any attention.  If you're planning to market yourself online, I would definitely have the word "cornhole" in your name.  Midwest Bags makes me think you sell the poly bags I often use for shipping.  Or you sell purses.  Or anything other than cornhole sets.

 

Custom Cornhole

Cornhole Carnival

The Crusty Cornhole

Cornhole Connection

Captain Cornhole

 

You'll love dropping your bag in our cornhole!

Let us put you in a cornhole today!

The slickest cornholes in town!

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Thanks for all the input.  Does anyone have any suggestions on who to use for a website service provider?  It seems that there are numerous companies and options but with no experience, are there any more user friendly than others?

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My blog is still on hostgator, as well as my email.  I have wordpress configured to notify of downtimes.  They do happen, but they are always brief, mostly early in the morning.   No real complaints with them.

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One other thing you can do: set up the name of the company you want as the "ultimate company" to do the wood working as.  Then set up a DBA (Doing Business As).  The company gets registered with the state, the DBA doesn't always need the same level of paperwork.  That way, you can run your Captain Cody's Cornholes business as an "independent" entity, but the parent company of "39th Place Trophies" still is the legal entity.  (By the way, that was one name I was considering for my own location, back when I lived in a house on 39th Place.  Decided to go in a different direction, but still like to joke about the name.)

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Having done this more than once in my lifetime I have to say that "Cody Meyers Woodworking" is a Great choice and using "Cody`s Cornholes" on the website will not only attract business but keep it humorous at the same time. Never get too serious it will Kill you. JMHO. I remember putting in 70-80+ hours a week into my motorcycle business and it almost killed me. People like a 'professional" name but they like a little light heartedness and humor. Besides it helps to put them at ease to sell your products.

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