20: Choosing your business name with Mark Grainger

Intro

Welcome to 15 Minute Freelancer, your snack-sized guide to being your own boss and building a business and life you love. I'm your host, Louise Shanahan. My LinkedIn bio says I'm a freelance health copywriter. But for the next 15 minutes, I'll be tickling your ears with practical strategies, behind the scenes stories, and nuggets o' wisdom so you can create a freelance business that works for you. Whether you're just starting out or you've been self-employed for a while, I'll be right here with you to help me navigate the ups and downs of freelancing life. So, grab a coffee relax and join me for 15 minutes of freelancing fun. Don't forget to hit subscribe! 

Louise: Hello, and welcome to another episode of the 15 Minute Freelancer podcast. Today, I'm very excited to be speaking to Mark Grainger, who is a fellow freelance copywriter, at Blossom Tree Copy. Mark and I are in the same mastermind, and a while back, Mark mentioned that he'd been thinking about changing his business name. I thought this would be a really good conversation to have on the podcast because I know it's something that a lot of freelancers will wonder about when they're starting out. So hi, Mark, welcome. 

Mark: Thanks. 

L: So yeah, I think this is a really big question that most if not all freelancers have when they're first starting out. What should you call your business? It can be one of these decisions that you get really stuck on, and it feels like the success of your entire business is hanging on it. And since you went through this process recently, I thought it would be really helpful if we could have a chat about how you thought about that, and what your decision process was like, and hopefully hearing about how you considered it will give some food for thought to anyone who is currently trying to think about what to call their business. 

Mark: When I started out freelancing in 2015, I went by my own name, so I was just Mark Grainger copywriter. I'd already started getting work in too quickly to sort of have time to think about it. So I was just like, well, I'm just trying to be me, I'm not trying to be anything bigger, I'll just use my own name. And I kind of found after a little while, that because I hadn't gone all in on it on the website and branding, I don’t think people really took me that seriously, because I was just this solo bloke. It felt like I wasn't being offered the budgets. So when the time came to go limited, I decided that was a good time to shake things up a bit and create an actual bit of branding. And then that's when I chose Blossom Tree Copy Agency. It was important to find something that felt natural to me, because I think there's so many places, especially in marketing, where you'll have this system where you've got a wheel of animals and a wheel of colours, and you spin them, and whatever the land on is what you call your business. Like the Purple Alpaca Marketing Company. It's a nonsense, and it's not what I wanted at all. For me, it was something very personal. 

You know, I've been asked before, why Blossom Tree. The fact is that in my parents’ backyard, there's a blossom tree, and it grew in front of my bedroom window. And it's something that always reminded me of home, especially since my mother died a few years back. And I was looking at it and thinking, well, that's something that means something to me. But it also has connotations around growth and renewal. And that's something that is very important when it comes to sort of brand refreshes and web refreshes. So I just thought it made sense to pick something that had a meaning had value to me that I could then project into a strong brand. 

L: Yeah, that's a really lovely reason to come up with your name and a nice memorial to your mum as well. 

M: Exactly. I mean, it's something that I’d carry with me even if it wasn't the name of my business. I went with that name for a few years. But it kind of felt a little bit like a lie because I wasn't an agency. I think when I set it up, I had this idea that I was going to potentially offer more services. That just sort of never materialised. I kind of kept on just doing the work that I was good at. I was having a chat over Twitter about it with one of the groups of copywriters I'm with and it was André Spiteri who said something about being honest and not bullshitting people about who you are, and it kind of hit a nerve. So I decided to drop the agency side of it. And the reality now is it's just like it's having a stage name, essentially. It's still me, I just operate under that name. And I've tried to align it more with my personality. So I don't have a separate business Twitter account, everything's got my name, and then Blossom Tree Copy. 

L: Yeah, I like that. I think one of my pet peeves is seeing people refer to themselves as “we” on their website, when you know it's just them. And I think when you're the face of your business, it's you that people are hiring, isn't it? 

M: Exactly. 

L: So to me, I don't think it's a downside to be upfront about the fact that it's just you. And yeah, it's actually a bit misleading sometimes if you pretend that you're something that you're not. I think if you were planning to become an agency or you were leaving some room for growth that's maybe different. 

M: I'm very focused on not growing into being an agency and having office space. I'm very much a lifestyle business. And I like it that way. 

L: Yeah. So did you think about any other options? Or did that feel like quite a natural process? 

M: No. I mean, I played around with a few other things, but I honestly couldn't remember what they are. Now, when I landed on the idea of Blossom Tree, it clicked and made so much sense, because of the fact that it meant something to me. And the fact that it had those good connotations around marketing.

L: I imagine if you're speaking to clients about where the name come from, and they hear that story, then you come across as a really genuine, authentic person as well. 

L: I think so. It's almost a sort of storytelling element. It's so important, as well, to be able to have a name that means something, but also show that there's sort of other levels behind it. And plus, the other side of it was, it gave me a really good focal point to be able to instruct a designer, for a visual brand. I've got all the imagery for social media. I've also got small tree pin badges and that I use at networking events when they actually happen. 

L: So this was part of a bigger rebrand? 

M: Yes, this was when I went from just being Mark Grainger Copywriting Services to wanting to have a limited company with a proper brand. 

L: And what role does the new name or the slightly adjusted new name play in how you think about marketing yourself? 

M: Now, you mentioned the “Royal We” before and that that was something I was doing as an agency. Over the last few months, I've decided that I want to be known as Blossom Tree Copy, but also still as myself, so it feels less like a front than it did. Before when I was calling myself an agency that seemed like having a big cardboard office space in front of me with just me at a typewriter behind it. Whereas now I'm trying to use it as a sort of stage name. So I am Blossom Tree Copy, Blossom Tree Copy is me. There's nobody else involved. And through the likes of LinkedIn, and Twitter, I'm not keeping it separate. When it was classed as an agency, by name only, I had a separate Twitter account and a separate Instagram account. In some ways. I'm being fundamentally lazy here in that can't bring myself to separate things that much. But another is I want to be known as myself and the business so you get a sense of who I am. And not just, “Hi, I'm a business account. Have you heard about the latest marketing tips?” You know, you get my actual opinion and my actual thought processes. 

L: Yes, I thought about that as well. Obviously, neither of us now use our own names as business names. For me, I think that decision was kind of led by the fact that I wanted to focus on a particular niche. So I was quite keen to choose something that was vaguely health orientated because I do health copywriting. And unlike you, I did have a long, long, long, long list of every possible formulation of health copywriter, health, copywriting, or this sort of thing to try and come up with a name. And a lot of them were taken, it is quite tricky to come up with something, you want it to be memorable, you want it to be easy for people to spell and to type. Maybe if you have the word copy in it, that's going to give you some SEO advantages as well. 

M: Yes, it helps with searches as well. 

L: But I suppose that there are also advantages to using your own name. So even though neither of us have gone with that, maybe it's helpful for others, if we kind of touched on what some of the pros would be. So is there anything about using your personal name that you think actually might give you an advantage? 

M: It definitely helps for recognition, especially when there is actual physical networking. I think if you're using your own name, it can help if you're dealing with more traditional clients that aren't sort of in the creative space, because they will then have you in their internal Rolodex. They’ll be able to pull your name and go, that's the guy who does that, as opposed to having to think what the company name was, that they may not necessarily remember, especially if you're starting out. If you're brand new, then it doesn't hurt for people to know your name. People associate that work with you, and just keeps it simple. 

L: Yes, especially if you are in a field where you're getting most of your clients through social media where like you say you tend to use your own name. And I think the other advantage is it means you can change what you do more easily. So if you're a designer, it might make sense to use the word designs in your name, but in a few years time, you might want to start doing copy or PR or podcasting or whatever it is, and that name with the word design in it might not work. So using your personal name would be a bit more flexible. But that said, like you were saying earlier, if you have the brand name that might give you room to grow in a different sense, in terms of if you were going to become an agency or have more employees, or you're going to grow it to a level that you might sell it in future and you needed a bit more space between you the individual and you the business, then that might be something to consider as well. 

M: I've no regrets about using my own name when I did. First. I think it helped me figure out what I want to be what I want to do and how I want to do it. And so I would, I would always recommend that as a first step because it sort of helps you to get going and then look around and see what you want to be and take inspiration from elsewhere. So you know, people might look at my business name or your business name go well, “that's why they're doing it, and, I might want to do that in future.” It works out nicely just to be able to have that space to do the work and research. I got made redundant and that's why I started out freelancing and I can't imagine now taking you know, a month, two months to pull together a lot of brand materials and create a name and get a designer on board. So another benefit is that it just allows you to hit the ground running. 

L: Yeah, well, the nice thing is that either option works, doesn't it? We know of many, many examples of both, where it works really well for your business. So you can choose whatever name you want. And you can always change it in future, as you've shown.

M: I think I've settled now. I'm learning to embrace myself and how I speak. 

L: So have you got any kind of high level tips for anyone who's trying to come up with a name right now? 

M: I think it has to feel honest. And it has to be unique to a degree. I think puns are great for the right people for the right business, if that's if that's your personality type. I would try to avoid anything so clichéd, that's been done a million times, and come up with something that feels real to you that will make people remember you.

L: And crucially that you can get the URL for!

M: Something that you don't have to add a load of words onto a URL would help! 

L: So you mentioned branding earlier. I did an episode on personal branding a few weeks back, and the name that you operate under is obviously a huge part of your brand. So how do you think about personal branding more broadly? 

M: I've gone on a bit of a journey over the last couple of years of trying to bring my personality into business more. Even in the first three or four years of business, I've been trying to be dressed up and present myself as a “young professional.” And now I just want to be myself and more. It's a big part of the work I do. I bring a creative element to my work. And I want people to employ me based on not only my work, but also on how I interact with them and how personable I am. So I think to do that, I have to bring my personality forward a bit, which is another reason to drop the agency wording in terms of how I present myself online. So I've narrowed my focus down in terms of accounts so that it's purely myself, it's more focused on what I would post anywhere, regardless of business. I had a brand photoshoot done. And for me, it was very important to select the right clothing. It sounds a bit strange, but I wanted clothing that was sort of smart but soft, and matched the brand colours that I've got, because you know, I'm fairly comfortable, relaxed, easily approachable person, and that had to come across. I wasn't ever going to wear a three-piece suit, it was always going to be smart casual, because that's who I am, and that’s how I'm comfortable. 

L: Yeah, that's a really good point. And I think that's true throughout your whole business. You know, if you feel comfortable with what you're doing, then it's much easier to show up as yourself on calls with clients. And also I really like this idea of bringing in some creativity and playfulness as well to your business. Because if you're not enjoying it, then what's the point?

M: Exactly. For me, if I have to be too buttoned up to deal with somebody, then they're not the people I want to deal with. I want to deal with people who are enthusiastic, who are light-hearted, who have a similar sort of approach to life. And as you said, before, it's my business. I've learned how I want to run it. And the work you get from me comes from who I am. So you have to sort of accept that. 

L: Just to wrap up, then Have you got any more exciting plans on horizon? 

M: I'm gonna continue paying my mortgage! I'm just cracking on shifting my focus slowly in the work I do. Not entirely 100% sure how I'm doing it. But that's the plan really, is to be even more creative with the clients that I take on that approach of being myself, I want to whittle down the type of work that I take on. It's very easy to get caught in the trap of like, “I'll take anything,” because that’s what’s being thrown at me. But in actuality, I want to do the stuff that makes me happier. That makes me more comfortable. And it makes me want to show up at work that bit more every day. 

L: Yeah. And sometimes that means saying no to things as well, which can feel a bit scary.

M: That's the next stage of personal growth. 

L: Yeah, that's exciting. Well, it's an iterative process, isn't it? So thank you so much for your time today, Mark. I'm sure that it's been really helpful for people who are maybe pondering whether to use a brand name or use their personal name. 

M: If anybody has any extra questions, I'm always available to chat on Twitter, just give us a shout. 

L: Thank you. We'll put your information in the show notes so people can find you. And of course, if anyone wants help figuring out a name, I'm sure they can always hire Mark to help. 

M: At very reasonable rates!

L: So if people want to connect with you and follow what you're up to, is Twitter the best place to find you?

M: Let's say Twitter and LinkedIn. 

L: And if people want to have a sneak peek at your logo and your branding on your website, what's the address? 

M: It's actually just blossomtreecopy.co.uk. 

L: Great. Okay. Thank you so much, Mark. 

M: Thanks. 

L: Thanks for listening, everyone. We'll see you again next week. Bye.

Outro

You've been listening to 15 Minute Freelancer with me, Louise Shanahan, freelance health copywriter and content marketer at thecopyprescription.com. If you enjoyed this, please hit subscribe, leave a review or share it with a freelance friend. And if you've got a freelancing question you want answered on the podcast find me and say hi on Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram. Thanks, and until next time, happy freelancing!