Page 42 - 597 Business Ideas You can Start from Home - doing what you LOVE! (Beginner Internet Marketing Series)

Step 2. Bring Your I dea to Life 31

ucts, it's time to finalize the name of your product. As you can imag­
ine, this step is very important. Make a list of several names, since it
is highly likely that your first choice is already taken. As you begin
to think of names for the company and/or product, keep in mind:

• Try to make the spelling easy or distinctive. Moisture Jamzz has
been sometimes difficult with the two zs at the end. However,
people remember the name-and that's the important part.

• Consider whether or not you want to be the face of the com­
pany. If I develop a new soap and call it Sandy's Organic Soaps,
I would have to be ready and willing to promote myself and be
a great representative of the line . Or you can use a generic "face"
for the company, such as Mama's Pasta Sauce or Sweetie's Baby
Shampoo. This way the product feels "homemade" but you are
not the "model."

• Be sure the name isn't a common word in a foreign language

like Spanish or French-languages that many Americans know
pretty well. Remember the Chevrolet car named "Nova"? I re­
member hearing the joke about its name because in Spanish it
translates to "No go." Not a great name for a car! So, you need to
do a little research before you set it all in stone.

In order to see if anyone else has taken the name you want,
again visit www.uspto.gov. but this time. click on "trademarks" and
search that database for similar names. The search should pull up
both "live" (currently held) and "dead" (those that have expired)
trademarks using the keywords you provide. The site will also tell
you the industry associated with a particular trademark, along with
relevant images. (We'll talk more about protecting and trademark­
ing your name in Step 4.)

Trust Your Inner Voice

As you progress on your journey, you will have to make lots of deci­
sions. It's a process like bUilding a home from scratch-you have to