comeupwithaname.com

The other day, last week to be exact, as I was engaging with an entrepreneur on Twitter, I asked her if I could brainstorm names for a new marketing tool she is developing for other entrepreneurs.

Taking such a proactive step is very important. It's not that we should create something, make an announcement on social media, and hope for the orders to flow in. It doesn't always work like that. Whether a newbie or an established player, you always need to be on the lookout for an opportunity to share your work, product or service, in a non-pushy and conversational sort of way.

She said, "Go for it. Name it. It has to fit into the moonshot ventures vibe …"

I was elated! My first official, "order" from Twitter.

I was thankful and wanted to do the best I could, in coming up with a name.

Step 1: I went through her company website - all the pages. Read everything there.
Step 2: She had just started a newsletter on Substack, and so I went and read the one article there.
Step 3: I read some of the posts on her company's Twitter profile.

All of this gave me a deeper understanding of what her company was about, and I was more hopeful about coming up with a name for them.

While reading, something stood out for me - the moon.

Yes, her company name, the images posted, the colours - all were connected with the moon.

Step 4: I decided to brainstorm 10 names for her that were also connected to the moon. That way, the company vibe would be maintained.

Step 5: I read about the moon - its history & folklore, geography & terrain, the gases & the atmosphere, explorations & experiments, reality & controversies. It was fun. I was learning so much about the moon that I hadn't learned in school.

Step 6: I shortlisted the 10 names I felt were modern, easy to remember and in some way connected to entrepreneurship. That was the mystery element, just to make it interesting.

Step 7: I put them all in a presentation on Canva, and shared the link with her on Twitter, all in the name of #buildinpublic! i could've just posted the names on Twitter but I wanted to make it special and professional.

Here is the presentation if you want to take a look: https://t.co/uJdPC3kHiy

I went to bed and the next morning I saw the client had responded:

"So fun!! I’ll review more in-depth soon. The deck is great and the name ideas are super fun."

That's all I wanted to hear. Words of satisfaction. I felt so good, for a few reasons:

• I used an inherent skill within me (which I didn't know I had). Noticing it meant I didn't let it go to waste. Always observe your strengths and weakness. Something unique will stand out about you.

• I proactively reached out to someone without prejudging. Reach out without fear and shyness, and results will follow.

• I worked hard on the order. Never hurry up when it's time to deliver! Patiently, work on it, package it well and deliver it with love!

Sometimes, those 3 are all that you need to succeed in a startup world. Everything else is out of your control.

All the best with your own idea!