Business name

[zan29]

Well I didn't really know where to put this post but here goes: I'm starting a small business of woodworking and carving (of course) and I'm trying to find a name for my business. If you have any suggestions, that would be great! I've ran out of ideas!

[lawrence]

"A chip off the old block" Woodworking

"The Sawdust Factory"

Just my .02 (suggestions)

lawrence

[dbfletcher]

Depending on your state, if you include you name in the Company name it can be easier to get setup for Sales tax. At least in PA, if your name isnt part of the company name (ie, for me Fletcher Computer Solutions and Fletcher Paintball), you have to fill out all the paper for for a fictitious company name. Not saying it is a whole lot more work, but i'm lazy... if i can avoid doing something, I generally try to.

Edit: After i hit submit I noticed you are in an entirely different country... so all of my comments may not apply.

[lynnfrwd]

Well I didn't really know where to put this post but here goes: I'm starting a small business of woodworking and carving (of course) and I'm trying to find a name for my business. If you have any suggestions, that would be great! I've ran out of ideas!

If you are also going to use social media like facebook, you may want to start your company name with the keyword.

Examples:

"Woodworking by Zan" or "Carved Signs by Zan"

[Bigtyme]

I would suggest the name of the business be as close to what you want to specialize in as possible. There are several folks on the forum that have incorporated their specialty into their name such as sign making and I think it makes it much clearer and certainly helps anyone searching the web. I have had my business for a long time (longer than the net has been around) and just got into carving, so my biz name is a little generic these days :)

[Proctorw]

When picking a name, check to make sure the url name is also available, preferably with .net, com. My wife makes quilts and specialtiy fabricc items, so we picked
"Wood N Spool Treasures". We purchased the domain names: WoodNSpoolTreasures.com, .net and also WoodenspoolTreasures. and WoodAndSpooltreasures. We setup email accounts. I would stay away from having "Craft" in the title as I have found when folks see the word craft they think of hobby, and hobby = cheap or negotiable. We also registered the name with our County (Texas rules) and set up our company as a "DBA" doing business as. We didn't go the way of an LLC, Limited Liability Corporation because we don't make items(we think) that we would get sued over, such as an "Bunk Beds", someone falls out and they sue you. Probably too much information, but I did quite a bit of research this summer on the topic. If you want more information let me know and I would be happy to call you and let you know what else we have done. I was hoping we would be further along in the revenue side, but somehow work keeps getting in the way.

[lynnfrwd]

I moved this thread from the MACHINE section to "The Business of Carving" under the CARVOHOLICS section.

[Digitalwoodshop]

IF you put in your name choice.com with a www in front of it that would show you if it was used... If it is available a word of advice... Be ready to sign up for it at that time. To buy that domain name is only about $6.00 if I remember correct. Get one year to decide... But if you decide on that as your final name then buy it for 5 years as once you get a site up and running search engines ignore you unless you have a 5 year name or better....

And the 2nd Jewel of advice... If you don't buy the name when you do the search and come back the next night... You could find what I did in 2006... I was looking at digitalwoodshop.com and wanted to think about it... Next night someone had already taken it for $6.00 and the place mark page said... "You can have this domain name for $1000.00"..... Someone saw my search?????

I did a search for RetiredNavyChief.com last year and it was given up by someone... I snapped it up.... For future development...

And my AccountabilityTag.com site continues to bring me business.... I show up on page 1 of many searches especially Google....

I am getting ready to go to the post office with some Tag Samples for a $38.4K possible order... wish me luck... That is over 200 CarveWright Projects of sheet stock to tags.... :) A previous 2010 and 2013 Fire Tag Customer.... Loves my tags...

Good Luck,

AL

[Dodadd1]

I'm lucky there's no sales tax in Oregon.

[zan29]

Wow such great information.......thanks all and good luck Al. Wish I could get an order like that right from the start! And by the way, I'm in Canada and yes we have big time taxes here...... :mad:

[Proctorw]

One more piece of advice. Credit Cards. Someone had pointed out on a previous post earlier this year that once they started taking credit cards at craft fairs, the number of items purchased increased from 1-2 to 3-5. I took that to heart and signed up for "Square". I cancelled within days for 1 reason. No Phone Support. I needed to find out why it worked on my IPhone, but not my IPad. I chatted with a technician on line who pointed me to a URL that described how to "Swipe" a card across the reader. I dumped them once I found out there is no number to call. I went with Intuit, 24 hour phone support and same fees as square. So we have our next craft show this weekend so I will update you with "Things I should have thought about in Advance".

[PCOutlaw]

"A chip off the old block" Woodworking

"The Sawdust Factory"

Just my .02 (suggestions)

lawrence

My Son has been using "The Sawdust Factory" for the last four years or so in NJ.

[zan29]

Thanks for the advice about the Square. I was actually thinking about it!

[chebytrk]

Someone said that PayPal has a mobile card swipe too. Anyone know if this is true and if the interest rates are the same as Square & Intuit?


One more piece of advice. Credit Cards. Someone had pointed out on a previous post earlier this year that once they started taking credit cards at craft fairs, the number of items purchased increased from 1-2 to 3-5. I took that to heart and signed up for "Square". I cancelled within days for 1 reason. No Phone Support. I needed to find out why it worked on my IPhone, but not my IPad. I chatted with a technician on line who pointed me to a URL that described how to "Swipe" a card across the reader. I dumped them once I found out there is no number to call. I went with Intuit, 24 hour phone support and same fees as square. So we have our next craft show this weekend so I will update you with "Things I should have thought about in Advance".

[Proctorw]

Here is a URL that describes various cards.

http://credit-card-processing-review.toptenreviews.com/mobile-credit-card-processing/


Depending on how much you sell you may want to choose a different company or a different plan. For instance, Intuit has a free plan (which I have) and a 12.95 a month plan. The 12.95 plan gives you a 1% better rate, but right now, I am not selling enough every month to sign up for that. H

[zan29]

This is what I found for paypal :
All card swipes and PayPal transactions have the same 2.7% rate in the US. When you manually enter a card number (type it in or scan it with your camera), the transaction rate is slightly higher.