Business name help, ethics, opportunity

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Permalink Reply by Scott Sandland on December 13, 2010 at 9:11am

my thought is this:

 

People aren't searching for "hypnosis for change in my home town."  they are typing "hypnosis for weight loss" into google, or probably just things like "stop smoking" without the word hypnosis at all (this is just my guess, and other people probably know better).

 

The name of the company isn't anywhere near as important as the reputation of the company.

 

I don't blame you for wanting to change your name and differentiate yourself from positive changes, but I wouldn't look at them as competition.  I don't look at anyone as competition.  I just had a hypnotist in my office the other day and I helped her get some business leads to be more successful.  She's looking at space in my building.  As long as people don't think she and I are the same person I'm confident that her success is mine, and vice versa.  Having similar business names could make things confusing, but that isn't the same thing as competing.

 

You could just add a tag line, "helping people keep the change since 1996" or whatever date is accurate.

 

I've got to cut this short because a client just got here.  Good luck,

Scott

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Roger Moore on December 13, 2010 at 11:32am

God bless Positive Changes! My business doubled when they came to Seattle. Each week I receive phone calls along the lines of "I saw your ad on TV" "or "I heard your ad the radio" (I haven't paid for advertising for almost 5 years now.) Market what people want, not your name.

 

Roger

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Permalink Reply by Kelley Woods on December 13, 2010 at 11:46am

I'll second that! Frequently, new clients will refer to having heard about utilizing hypnosis via radio ads...courtesy of Positive Changes here in Seattle. I'm happy to benefit.

Roger Moore said:

God bless Positive Changes! My business doubled when they came to Seattle. Each week I receive phone calls along the lines of "I saw your ad on TV" "or "I heard your ad the radio" (I haven't paid for advertising for almost 5 years now.) Market what people want, not your name.

 

Roger

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Permalink Reply by Jason Morton on December 13, 2010 at 12:30pm

I appreciate the replies & agree that anything Positive Changes does makes me look better. I too get those calls of people giving hypnosis another chance after PC.

I also agree about marketing what people want. In that vain owning the "changeshypnosis" will make sure almost every positive changes hypnosis search will include me as domain name is the first & most important variable in google SEO.

 

I guess what I really am interested in is the business aspects of the name.

 

Branding "Jason.." or Abstract?

 

The Changes Hypnosis domain will get a ton of hits when people search for positive changes. Now I have a good site, placement, etc but I just can't compete on the keywords. (I focus mostly on net marketing & ads as you can see)

Do I use it or on of my others like SeattleHypnosis.net, again still not marketing myself?

 

Start using changes or which name is better going forward?

 

thanks for your time!

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Permalink Reply by Roger Moore on December 13, 2010 at 10:37pm

Years ago Topher Morrison begged me to use my name as my business name. I didn't and went with the name Abundant Living Resources LLC - it put me in the "A's" when it came to alphabetical listings - almost always at the top. (This LLC now just holds my intellectual property and is separate from clients). What I discovered as I became known is that nobody could find me as they were looking for Roger Moore. After a number of years, I changed my name for the service part of my practice to Roger Moore's Counseling & Hypnotherapy LLC. My only regret is that I didn't listen to Topher back in the beginning. So - I urge you to "brand Jason"

 

Let us know what you decide.

 

Roger

 

Jason Morton said:

I appreciate the replies & agree that anything Positive Changes does makes me look better. I too get those calls of people giving hypnosis another chance after PC.

I also agree about marketing what people want. In that vain owning the "changeshypnosis" will make sure almost every positive changes hypnosis search will include me as domain name is the first & most important variable in google SEO.

 

I guess what I really am interested in is the business aspects of the name.

 

Branding "Jason.." or Abstract?

 

The Changes Hypnosis domain will get a ton of hits when people search for positive changes. Now I have a good site, placement, etc but I just can't compete on the keywords. (I focus mostly on net marketing & ads as you can see)

Do I use it or on of my others like SeattleHypnosis.net, again still not marketing myself?

 

Start using changes or which name is better going forward?

 

thanks for your time!

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Cole-NLPTrainingQuest.com on December 13, 2010 at 10:40pm

• How do you feel about same name practices not in same state? ie Ascension Hypnosis **If you mean creating a chain, I say great... My only suggestion would be not to become a franchise- meaning no "cookie cutter/fast food" approaches please.
  
  
• How do I look keeping my original name "Changes" when everyone will assume Pos Changes was first? **Changes is a very common term. I'd say you're very much in the clear as far as trademark infringement- or any kind of confusion.
  
  
• Should I start marketing my name or are abstract names better? (Mr. Eubanks, I'm looking at you.) **I agree with what others have said here. The name is nowhere near as important as reputation.
  
  
• I don't want to be unethical & I don't want to piss off my peers (not counting pos changes as me peer), but I also need to compete & make money; your thoughts? **Just do great work. If you branch out, create a list of core values for your company and make sure to only higher on staff that fully support and are fully aligned with those values. Nothing unethical about that and so long as you stick to those values (assuming they are values that truly serve your clients) then there's certainly nothing unethical about that and the only people you will end up "pissing off" are those that are jealous of your success- and who cares about that?
  

• Branding "Jason.." or Abstract? ***I made the conscious choice years ago to call my organization Empowerment Quest International as opposed to something like Kevin Cole International and I chose that because I personally didn't want my company to just be about "Kevin Cole"- I wanted it to be about those that I serve and those that help me help those that we serve together. That said, Tony Robbins is pretty much a brand in and of himself, so it's a judgment call.

• Do I use it or one of my others like SeattleHypnosis.net, again still not marketing myself? Might want to ask an SEO expert that one. I'd guess that SeattleHypnosis.net was more marketable- if you're planning on staying in Seattle for quite a few more years (you can't exactly carry that url with you if you move).
  
  

• Start using changes or which name is better going forward? **Again, reputation is much more important than the name. Put your focus into doing excellent work and helping as many people as you can.
  
  

Final note, Scott is correct that weight loss hypnosis is probably searched more than anything else in our field. Build a great reputation (Like Roger has) in that realm- and you'll do fantastic. Just remember, really helping people to lose weight- and keep it off- is a heck of a lot more than guiding someone into a trance and reading them a script. A heck of a lot more...

 

Hope that helps...

 

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Permalink Reply by Jason Morton on December 14, 2010 at 10:16am

Thanks for those recent posts.

 

Kevin, your insight on the IP issues & then your sentence, 

"Tony Robbins is pretty much a brand in and of himself...."

right after readings Roger's lament on not branding his name to start with has led me to think I need to be marketing my name. 

Another person here contacted me privately (someone ridiculously successful) & gave me a good suggestion.

"Brand your name & keep a separate biz name. You can't sell a practice or website with your name but you can sell an abstract nam to someone else.

Keep a personal site like a blog or simple webpage & have a well branded, advertised site for your practice. Neither have to be your domian name as long as you can easily be found in a google search with  "your name, hypnosis"

My next idea was that the second thing people search (after type of hypnosis, smoke/weight) is location so even developing or having the local domain lead to changeshypno should capitalize on the forced "places or local search" google does with each search.

 

I think I may just need to start 3 more website! ugh!  Funny part is I already own the domains. (31 total) I just need to pick a few from the list below.

 

MortonHypnosis.com

ChangesHypnosis.com

SeattleHypnosis.net & .info

IdeaJason.com

AscendWell.com

MeditationSeattle.net

Modern-Hippie.com

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