Where did you come up with that name?

Ever since I launched this little website of mine, I have been asked so many times, where did you come up with that name?  

So here, for your reading pleasure, is the answer:

When I was thinking about this new business venture of many months ago, I knew one thing from the start; it had to have a catchy name.  Think, Target, FaceBook, Walmart.  I had read enough business books and blogs to know that having a catchy name was paramount in launching a new business if I wanted people to remember me.  And, personally, I also knew I wanted a .com name.  Not too difficult a task I thought.  Boy was I wrong!

On the day I was ready to purchase my new domain name, I had three names ready to go.  Three name that I had given a lot of thought into.  As I entered the first name, imagine my surprise when I came up “taken”.  Ok, then I entered second one in, “taken”. Wow I thought, that’s crazy.  Third one has to be available, but no, third name I had was taken also.  I was shocked that all the names I had selected were taken already (obviously I hadn’t done my homework, otherwise I would have realized that there are like a bazillion websites out there in the internet world).  

Anyway, at this point, I literally walked around my house…looking at everything trying to come up with some clever names.  And every name I came up with was taken.

I was so frustrated I decided to shelve the idea for a while and go take a shower.  It was in the shower that I noticed a small green rubber frog that had been in there for years, one of the kid’s toys that somehow never left the bathroom. I looked at that frog and something just came to me and I thought, yup, has to have frog in the name.  I thought Pink Frog, Purple Frog, Blue Frog…all taken. Then I thought up numbers, and again, something just popped into my head. In Feng Shui, the numbers eight and nine are lucky (as are frogs).  And as I stood in the shower, saying it out loud, it just sounded perfect, NineFrogs.  And there you have it, the name of my business. Oddly enough, since I picked that name, the number nine has become more significant to me.  After picking the name, one of my girlfriends reminded me that there are nine of us in our group, I hadn’t even thought of that.  And when I go to a particular gym, they always give me locker #9.

I wish I could say everyone loves the name, most people do.  But have also encountered certain people who haven’t liked the name.  Some have gone so far as to say, “that is the best name you could come up with? I could have done better than that” (and if you are reading this, you know who you are). Lesson here, there are always going to be people who won’t like your shit, so don’t worry about it.

For me, I am very happy with the name and at the end of the day, that’s all that counts!

Till next time…

Patti

www.ninefrogs.com