Personalize Your Plates Select a name that reflects your business's image.

If effectively chosen, your business name can convey what you do, pinpoint your business's location, or deliver a subtle message of quality and elegance. If poorly chosen, the name can limit your business's growth or, worse, confuse potential customers. Naming a business is more an art than a science, with few hard-and-fast rules.

Originality Counts

"Don't copy or spin off something that worked for someone else. Instead, figure out why it worked well and try to use the idea behind it. Create something to pull people in, to give them an idea of what you do," says Richard McCluhan, owner of several businesses in Mankato, Minnesota, including a restaurant and Richard McCluhan & Associates Inc., a holding company for an Express Personnel Services franchise and for Ergo-Rite, which manufactures and markets an ergonomic cart for offices and factories.