Three years in and I can't stand my LLC name. I picked 'Crimson Otter Media' because I thought it sounded clever at 2am. Now I'm a one-person video production shop and clients keep asking what otters have to do with anything. Worse, everyone assumes I do something with animals. Anyone else stuck with a name they regret?
Naming
I wish I had thought more carefully before choosing my LLC name
Crimson Otter is honestly not that bad. It's memorable. I named my landscaping LLC after my street and now I get mail for the neighborhood association constantly.
I did the opposite and chose something so generic that it's forgettable. 'Premier Solutions Group.' Two other businesses in my town have almost the same namme. At least nobody asks me about otters.
The otter questions I can handle. It's the discovery that a kids' show used a similar name and now I share search results with a cartoon that's apparently very popular.
You can always rebrand later. Is DBA not an option? Just file a fictitious name and use that on yoru website.
Filing a DBA is easy but keeping the LLC name while doing business under another name means you sitll answer legal paperwork under the old one. Also customers who google your old name might get confused. Not impossible, just a chore.
That's kind of where I landed too. I don't want to start over with a new EIN and bank accounts but I also don't want to repeat the mistake when I eventually do rebrand.
The real real mistake was not searching the name before filing. I did that with my second LLC and saved myself a lot of pain. First one took an extra month to fix.
I used a name generator site and then went with the first result because I was in a rush. I wouldn't recommend that.
Honest question, how many people actually care what the LLC name is? Most of my clients just call me by my personal name anyway. The LLC is what's on the invoice, not the relationship.
I think it matters more for some industries than others. Video production, probably less. A law firm, much more. Your otter is not hurting anyone.
Tell that to the internet. Naming is public-facing whether we like it or not. But yeah, if the work is good people stop noticing.
This thread is going to cost me money isn't it. I'm now building a rebrand spreadsheet.
At least you have a story. Mine is just boring. I'd trade you.
Wait, you can't trade LLC names. That would be too easy.
Just lean into it. Put an otter in the logo and call it a brand mascoyt. Two years later nobody will even question it.
Crimson Otter Media does sound like a company that dunks on bad dates though. I mean that in a good way.