Do you dream of starting your own equestrian and horse photography business one day? If so, you are probably mulling what the perfect horse photography business name would be. In fact, you might already have it picked out. But, what happens after that? How do you make that name your own? How do you find out if your horse photography business name is even available? What if someone else is already using it?
The Importance of Doing Your Own Research
Let me preface this blog post by saying that the information discussed below is good general information, but please remember that I am not an insurance agent, an accountant or a lawyer. As always, I highly advise that you consult with an attorney, an accountant, and an insurance agent before making any legal decisions relating to your business or potential business.
Also, make sure you are doing your own personal research and due diligence to ensure that you are within all the legal parameters of where you want to do business. Every country, state, and city has different laws and regulations.
So, while this blog post is a good general overview of the things you need to consider when starting a horse photography business, make sure you are doing your own personal research to ensure that you are within all the legal parameters of where and how you want to do business.
So, with that out of the way, let’s take a quick overview look at some of the important things to consider when picking out a name for your horse photography business.
Picking out a Name for your Horse Photography Business
Picking out a name for your equine photography business can be hard. In fact, it can be so hard it can actually stop potential photographers in their tracks.
There are several things you should consider before naming your business. And, like most things, there are some pros and cons to each.
Naming your Business After Yourself
A large number of photographers are opting for this. They take their first name, their last name and add the word ‘photography’ on the end. Boom! Done. There are some pluses to this. For example, everyone knows your name right from the get-go.
There are also some cons to it. What if your name is something super common like “John Smith”. There might already be a “John Smith Photography” in your state or even your city. It also doesn’t really tell people what you do. Is John a sports photographer? A wedding photographer?
Choosing something other than your Name
Many photographers go with things that mean something to them or envoke a certain feeling or meaning. Ride the Sky Equine Photography actually comes from the quote, “To Ride a Horse is to Ride the Sky”.
You can choose just about anything to be your photography business name. However, you need to make sure that your chosen name isn’t too similar to something already in use.
Another thing to consider is what your potential name looks like as a website URL. When you use your business name as the website URL, the words all run together. Sometimes, you can accidentally spell something you wish you didn’t.
Bored Panda had an article from several years ago with 30 Unintentionally Inappropriate Domain Names. They are hilarious but definitely something you would like to avoid.
Creating and Registering a Business Name for your Horse Photography Business
First, you need to decide on a business name that you like and that makes sense for you and your industry. Once you have that, make sure to do your due diligence to verify that the name isn’t already in use.
After all, how confusing would it be for your potential clients to have an “ABC Equine Photography” and an “ABC Horse Photography” in the same city or even the same state? You want to make it as easy as possible for your clients to find you.
Once you decide on a name and are sure that it is different enough that you aren’t going to confuse your future clients, you then need to register your Entity Name (sometimes referred to as Legal Entity Name) with your state.
Each state has its own rules and many states do not allow you to register a name that has already been registered by someone else. However, check with your individual state as to the requirements. The U.S. Small Business Administration allows you to look up your state requirements here.
On a national level, you can check your prospective business name against the official trademark database which is maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
One other tip when picking a business name is to check what is available as a domain name (a website URL). Many businesses want their domain name to be the same as their business. For example, I am Ride the Sky Equine Photography and my website URL is ridetheskyequine.com. You can easily see if a website URL is available by searching a site like GoDaddy.
Disclaimer
As I am not a lawyer or an accountant, I highly advise that you talk with an attorney and an accountant before making any legal decisions relating to your business. Make sure you are doing your own personal research to ensure that you are within all the legal parameters of where you want to do business.
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