Here we continue with our series on the trials and tribulations of starting a craft business. Shall we learn together?

I have a confession to make. My craft business doesn’t have a name.

There, I said it. No big deal, but it is one. The name of your business is, well THE name of your business. It is something that helps guide your branding. It is the first impression people get of your shop, your products, your everything.

Names are important. It’s something that you have to live with day in and day out, for (hopefully) many years to come. It will be on legal documents. It will be on accounts that pay taxes.

In choosing a name, it seems that I could go one of two ways:

1) Use my name
2) Pick a made up name

There is a tradition among artists to go by your full name. This means that your work is tagged with your name and your name becomes your business name. But for indie crafters, having a made up business name seems to be the norm.

Since I mostly knit, if I go with a made up name, using a word like knit, or knitting would be advantageous because there wouldn’t be any doubt as to what I do. Pare that with an adjective to describe my work and that can be some good branding. For example, Sublime Stitching is a craft business that does unique embroidery. It sums it all up, right in the name.

If I were to start using my full name, people wouldn’t know what my business was about. I would have to work hard at associating my work with my name, a good tag line wouldn’t hurt either. Crafters with a successful ongoing career can use their name synonymously with their business name, for example Jenny Hart.

See what I did there? Sublime Stitching and Jenny Hart are the same thing. It’s a great goal to aim for for any crafter.

For anyone who might be in the same boat as me, there are some tech issues to consider when choosing a business name. You will need to register the name with your state. To do this you will need to search to see if your name is already taken.

The quickest and easiest way to do this is to search for your name online to see if the domain name is available. If a legitimate looking business pops up, you’ll have to find something else. You will also need to search within your Secretary of State’s office. Here in D.C. all business matters go through the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. You should also search the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

When you take the step to register your business you will start with your state. It is also recommended to register your name with the Trademark Office, since this protection of your name will extend nation wide. This is important to have, especially since many crafters have online shops which are not relegated to the state you are based in.

So how did you pick your business name? Do you want your real name associated with it? Let us know in the comments!

For more information about choosing a name for your business visit the Small Business Administration’s page on the subject.