AP 0585: Will My Name Hurt My Business?

AskPat 585 Episode Transcript

Pat Flynn: Hey what's up everybody, Pat Flynn here and welcome to Episode 585. 5-8-5 of AskPat. Thank you so much for joining me today.

All right, here's today's question from Daryl.

Daryl: Hi Pat. My name's Daryl Hall. I'm a regular listener. I have a smart passive income and AskPat. I'd like to thank you for everything that you do. I don't yet an online business, or any business for that matter, but it's something that I've always wanted to do and something that I intend to do at some point in the future, and I'd like your opinion on whether or not I should use my somewhat famous name or not, and whether that's more of a positive or more of a negative, or if it's neutral. I'd love your thoughts. Thanks.

Pat Flynn: Hey Daryl, thank you so much for the question today. I think it's a very question actually, and one that's actually really important, because a lot of us have names that other people have too. And the number one thing you want to do is stand out and be different, and I know a lot of people who have had names of famous people in the niche that they were getting into, and they've actually changes their name or actually used some variation of it so that they could have something unique, and I think this is a very smart thing to do. You don't ever want to try and piggyback off somebody else who has the same name because you're always going to be second to them online in terms of search engine rankings and findings, and you don't want to have people be confused. You want people to know you for who you are and the value that you have to offer.

The example I want to share with you is Sean Wes, which isn't actually his real name, but you can find him at SeanWes.com, S-E-A-N-W-E-S dot com. His real name is Sean McCabe but in his space, the creative space, Sean McCabe is a very famous creative who he wouldn't have been able to compete with and it just made sense for him not to have that name, so he took the first part of his middle name, “Wesley,” and made Sean Wes. And that is actually a name that is a lot easier to spell then Sean McCabe, and just more memorable too I feel. Not that a name has to be memorable before people know it, because people can get to know you and have it become memorable, so that's not as big of an issue. But Sean Wes is a name that is now known, and he is known for that.

I actually found this out when I did an interview with him, and it's on SPI-TV, you can see it, episode 43. At the beginning, I say, “Hey you guys, I'm here with Sean Wes,” and then my camera guy, Caleb says, “His name's actually Sean McCabe.” And I'm sitting there, we actually kept this in the video, and I'm like, “Wait, really? Can you…what?” And he's like, “Yeah he's real name's Sean McCabe but he goes by Sean Wes,” and Sean interrupts and he tells me the story, and it was essentially because there was this other creative, Sean McCabe, in the space that he was in and he wanted to be different, and I think it was a very smart move because it's worked out really, really well for him.

So Daryl, that's what I would recommend. It's more on the neutral to cautious side, not the something that you should to use to your advantage I think. So that's my answer to your question, and I wish you all the best. Perhaps there's some variation of your name, or maybe just using an initial or “D. Hall,” or “Daryl H,” or “DH,” or I don't know. There's a lot of different ways to go about it, but I would avoid trying to piggy back off somebody else's name for sure.

So thank you so much for your question, I want to send you an AskPat t-shirt for having your question featured here on the show, and I also want to thank everybody else out there who's asked a question, because the show wouldn't exist without you, so I appreciate you.

Here's a quote to finish off the day as I always share. And this quote today is from Scott Able. That quote is, “Content. There is no easy button.” Cheers, take care and I'll see you in the next episode of AskPat. Bye.