Need Help Naming My company..

[DaMenaCe]

Background:
Nothing too big but we own some sound and lighting gear. My brother and i are both finishing up our engineering degree from a university. we both started as DJs and apparently we r good enough to be booked almost every weekend of the year at a good rate (working under another company.) We are not qualified but with out experience we are fairly well informed about the sound setup. As we were introduce to lighting aspect we fell in love with that as well. We started investing, and now have a decent amount of lighting gear with moderate to average programming/designing skills.

The twist is, There are few companies that has been asking for our "help" with sound, lighting setup and programming. so i was thinking about setting up an actual company since there is a market for it. i have been "Helping" for a year now and i think its about that time where i NEED to get some cards made and officially put myself out there as a sound and lighting guy, i been asked for my card too many times.

What i am looking for:

Name of a Company. A name thats appealing and catchy (obviously) and also sort of give an idea about wat the company is about. ALSO, we r DJs that caters to most upscale and elegant wedding reception and corporate events. so if we can manage to appeal to the brides as well that would be awesome.

my target is

Other DJ companies ( Provide Lighting , Sound )

Brides ( DJ services, Lighting Services, Lounge furniture etc)


i am well aware of the fact tht this is tough to do but... thats why i am here asking for help.

So far i have managed to come up with..

Luminous lighting ( this one doesnt really appeal to the brides and say we r DJs)

Aura Designs ( lighting and sound solutions) ( same thing, it doesnt speak to brides.)

Some information about that might help:
Our names Dennis Patel & Smith Patel.

Please let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions.






Some of the Gear we own is

24 X ColorBlast 12s

6 X Moving heads

4 X Martin SCX600s

2 X CompuLive DMX PC base Controller

1 X Martin Light Jockey PC Base.

6 X ETC SOUCE 4s

Trussing

etc

6 X 15 inch powerd tops (Yorkville EF500pb)
2 X Subs (yorkvill 800pb)
with plans to get more stuff

 

[derekleffew]

... Please let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions.

Stella Lights.

ALSO, we r DJs that caters to most upscale and elegant wedding reception and corporate events.

Your not gonna git miny contracks riting like that.

 

[DaMenaCe]

thanks for the link man, i am reading it now.. and yes, i try to refrain from using short hand notation but, i feel like its "ok" to do it over forums and threads. apologies.!!

 

[josh88]

Online and on forums you're representing yourself and the product you put out, and with the Google fu many people have, whatever name you settle on this thread could come up if they google you and that's what they'd find. A strong website and communication will matter more than what a name says. So the ideas you listed may not attract brides right away, but make it clear what you do and market yourself and it won't matter as much.

http://www.controlbooth.com/showthread.php?t=8599


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Kelite]

Hi DeMenaCe,
I would do yourself and those trying to Google search your pending company a favor, don't use a commonly used word and misspell it for the sake of novelty. When one bride speaks with another and wants to refer your services to her friend, how embarrassing/frustrating could it be for her to stop the conversation and try to remember how the name was spelled. This may seem trivial, I'm sure. But I think of the number of companies that have contacted Apollo over the years for a variety of reasons, and the ability for me to quickly find them online could have been a benefit to them.

Good luck with your search, Dennis. I wish you and your brother much success!

(PS- as Derek mentioned, any bit of corresponence (spoken, texted, forum comments) you have with potential customers, employees, investors, etc., will certainly influence the way you are viewed by these people.)

 

[Spresley]

I think you should use your last name in the name, since both of you are involved, and worst case, they can always find your personal contact info, if that's the only part they can remember... So I'm thinking like PATEL EVENTS SOLUTIONS (PES) - using the word "event" encompasses the wedding, and corp event demographic you are looking to reach out to. or PATEL EVENT PRODUCTIONS (PEP) something like that

 

[Kelite]

PATEL EVENT PRODUCTIONS (PEP) something like that

That makes quite a bit of sense, especially when one considers the search term 'event production' is likely used frequently...

 

[bishopthomas]

Hey, Dennis, good to see another NJ-er here. I have a small production company as well (Nomadic Productions, nomadicpro.net) and know what you're going through. I started my company in 2007 and will tell you that some aspects get easier and some battles are equally as challenging today as they were six years ago. As far as a name goes, I would refrain from using your name, unless you are trying to market yourself to a strictly Indian client base. Also, pigeon-holing yourself by using the word "Lighting" or "Sound" will mislead your potential clients into thinking that you only provide lighting (or sound).

Where are you located? If you need a hand at any point feel free to give me a call. I'm always in need of good people as well. Whether it's a general tech to help in setup/strike, an A1 for a show, LD for a concert or DJ gig, or I need to sub out another company to cover a gig with their rig, it's always good to have someone capable and reliable.

Anyway, good luck with starting your business. And once you get past the hurdle of naming your company feel free to post here (there are some great people around with lots of experience) or contact me directly.

 

[TheaterEd]

Upon Google searching Patel Event Productions, it seems to be pretty available. Plus, if past contacts only know your name it would be a simple search to find you.

 

[JohnD]

I don't know if this would apply, but some states have restrictions on using fictitous names for businesses. So using your name might be helpful, Something like Patel Brothers Event Productions.
Then there is the old yellow page wisdom which would lead to Aardvark Event Productions. Just to help get the top listing in the yellow pages.
Then there is always Smith & Dennis Event Productions.

 

[museav]

There is more to starting a legitimate company than picking a name and getting business cards printed up. With two owners you are probably initially looking at a partnership and even though, or especially because, you are family you might be well served to have a formal partnership agreement. You might also want to talk to some of the companies you work for and find out what they are required to provide in terms of licensing, insurance, Workers Comp and so on as they may require the same from any subcontractors. Similar with potential venues, they may have requirements for any vendors on their premises.

As far as the company name, do your names name have any established value with your potential client base? Will your potential clients see something like "Patel Event Productions", associate that with you personally and consider that a positive or is it likely to be just another name?

I agree with bishopthomas that "lighting" or "sound" in the name may create an over restrictive perception, however might an "Event Productions" or "Event Solutions" company do almost the opposite and lead people to assume you handle complete, turnkey events? While one conventional wisdom says you want a company name to convey what you do it can also be a tricky balance to do so in a manner that is not potentially misleading for potential clients and especially if you do not know for sure what the company may become.

 

[WooferHound]

I wouldn't use "Patel" in the company name. I think that 3/4 of the people in India have that name. It's way too common.

 

[DaMenaCe]

Hello Guys,

Sorry I been away for a while, I had midterms kicking my rear. On a spring break now, hopefully I’ll have this sorted out.

First of all, thanks a bunch to every single one of you for taking the time out and replying here. I see lot of you guys have suggested that I use my last name and those who tried to get the ball rolling, some of you guys came up with good names. (PES)Patel Event Solutions sounds pretty good, thanks Spresly. However, as WooferHound pointed out, PATEL being the most common name among Indians in US, the number of businesses named with PATE is countless. To name few they have:

PATEL CASH AND CARRY
PATEL BROTHERS GROCERRY
PATEL VIDEO
PATEL TRAVELS
And the list goes on.

Though, the problem is not that they are taken. The problem is there isn’t any form of creativity and it might just seem tacky to the market I am aiming for. Almost every South Asian must have heard about or know of “PATEL SOMETHING” business. Also, majority of these business are own by immigrants that “sounds funny” so there is this sense of humor or “joke like” image associated with that, even among South Asians, (yea, its hard to explain) and majority of my brides or DJ companies being first or second generation, my company might not get the respect it deserves or might get looked down up on.

JohnD I like your second idea better I am thinking along the line of. D&S (DENNIS AND SMITH) Sound And Lighting Solutions.

Please let me know what do you guys think. If you guys can think of something else. If you guys could rename your company. What would you name it? Anything that can help, once again the HELP IS MUCH APPRECIATE and please excuse any grammatical or spelling errors.

Thanks you,
Dennis

 

[DaMenaCe]

Also,

i forgot to address some of the other tips added here. museav You made some really good points. as far as the partnership is concerned,i know its very important to keep things very strick and business like if you dont want to endup hating each other or breaking the family. but, my brother and i are both mutually very understanding and both have this idea of give the other extra $ so, i think i am going to not do that for now.

as far as licensing, insurance, Workers Comp is concern, Majority of the venues we have worked in doesnt require workers comp or licensing. I have been with this one "company" for about 6 years not the guy JUST registered the LLC. and the only thing he has is 1 million dollar Liability insurance, as some venues require you to submit paper work. sir we are technically DJs. however, we provide small scale lighting (couple of 250w moving heads, some color blasts and source 4 fixtures) 6x8 projector screens, plasma tvs mounted on vertical trusses etc. so i am not too sure if we are required much, atlest in my 6 years we are yet to have any issues, and majority of the time after we take the booking we consult the management at the venue and figure out what we need and whats required.

value of our name to other companies? its hard to say.... among majority of the companies that proved servies to south Asian community, we are both known as good DJs and guys that are serious about lighting and knows what they are doing. Patel event production just might not put our faces in their head but Dennis & Smith Event solutions just might. Also, i mention this to bishopthomas in a privet message. i was under the impression that putting/using something like Sound and Lighting solutions might not have such negative effects because, most privet parties or events i get are not through trade shows. its more like people approaching us after hearing or seeing our performance and to help narrow the confusion. i was thinking about, having a DJ name Logo like DJ SMITH or DJ DENNIS Logo on the back of the card so, those who pick up our business cards will know for sure we provide DJ services and on the back they can always find sound and lighting solution options. the card would serve dual purpose. to the other DJs Bands or those looking for sound and lighting gear. "sound and lighting solutions" will speak volume. and for those looking for a DJ will know exactly who we are, or what we do with the DJ DENNIS side of the card.

Sorry if i forgot to get back to anyone of you guys. i read all of you comments and again they are much much appreciated. thank you again.

Dennis

 

[gafftaper]

If you want to have DJ on your business card I would make two sets of business cards, one that says DJ and one that says "lighting and sound" or "event production services". While on one hand you want to continue to get business as a DJ, there is a decent amount of prejudice against the skills and quality of gear used by DJ's. So you want to maintain one business while not being thought of as "Just a DJ" as you expand into another area.

 

[StNic54]

P2 Event Services. Or P(squared) Event Services. Remember right now Geek is chic and it's a quick and easy way to sell yourselves, and what we do is pretty geeky.

As soon as you choose a name and print cards and flyers, contact EVERYONE you've done business with and kindly let them know of the change, and that will help if they want to refer you.

Less is more - easy to remember, easy website and email as contact info. Short, sweet and direct.

 

[DaMenaCe]

3 Years Later and i think i got it done.. D&S Event Solutions. Thanks for the help everyone.

My brother Made the Logo and i am liking it so far.

 

[lwinters630]

3 Years Later and i think i got it done.. D&S Event Solutions. Thanks for the help everyone.

My brother Made the Logo and i am liking it so far. View attachment 13192

Looks professional.
If you are going to incorporate or llc you'll want to add it to your name. DS Event solution Inc.

Business thought
1. Write up an exit plan, and sign it. It is easy to get into business, a lot harder to get out.
2. C corp may offer more tax benefits and protection vs llc.
3. Pay yourself first. It's not a hobby. If you didn't do it you'd have to pay someone to.