Naming your lash business can be one of the most difficult parts of building your brand—at least in the start-up phase.

These six tips will save you hours, and prevent you from making some colossal business naming mistakes. 

1. Think beyond the box. So let’s not beat around the bush and sugar-coat this—“Lashes by *your name*” is one of the most generic names going around. Look, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it—but practically, every other lash business around the world is using this. Be creative; it’ll pay off.
   
   
2. To use my name, or not? Good question. It depends if you want to grow your business and employ a team in the future. When your brand name includes your name, clients more often than not will forever be wanting to book you to do their lashes. And let’s face it, there’s only so many hours in a day, and you don’t have enough to scale your business and do everyone’s lashes—plus you may not want to.
   
   
3. Keep it simple. Avoid words or names that are hard for people to pronounce, or have weird spellings. Make finding your business EASY—a one-time search. Visualise your brand name in logo-form. Overly long names may be harder to conceptualise. Keep it as short and simple as you can, without compromising your brand personality.
   
   
4. Pick a standout name. Keen to be successful and stand out? Avoid copying others. Using identical or similar competitor names is like walking into legal troubles with eyes-wide-open. Don’t do that. You don’t want to launch a brand, and then have to change it (after investing money into branding, marketing and signage) because you’re infringing on another’s business name. Secondly, you don’t want your business to be confused with a competitor. You could get a bad wrap based on a competitor’s poor review.
   
   
5. Research your name. Run a Google, Facebook and Instagram crosscheck with your shortlist of business names. Is the domain name available? If taken, cross it off the list. Review the ASIC business names register to see your if your desired name is taken. Next, use IP Australia to check for trademarked business names. If yes, say goodbye. Do NOT use anything that’s trademarked—EVER! It seems straightforward; you may even laugh, but trust me, people do it (and in walk the lawsuits).
   
   
6. I’ve got my name, what’s next? Register it, buy the domain name(s), set up your social media handles and ensure everything is consistent. If one social handle isn’t available, but everything else is registered, adjust it to be as close to your name as possible. Aim for brand consistency, so there's no confusion for future customers.

Follow these six basic steps and you’ll have successfully navigated the most important part of starting your lash business. Now go, make your mark on the lash industry!