Choosing the RIGHT Business Name

There are really only 2 choices you have when deciding on a business name.

1. You can either choose a business name with “your name” in it, or…

2. You can choose a more corporate business name

There are clear benefits to both and the pros and cons that I’ve outlined below should help you decide which way to go when naming your new business.

Personalized Business Name Benefits:

When you choose to use your name in your company you are personalizing your business to let people know who is ultimately running the show. This allows your current and future clients the subconscious peace of mind of knowing that an actual person stands behind the business itself. It lets people know who they can turn to with questions or if anything should ever go wrong with billing , etc.

I think a lot of people like the idea of buying into a personalized philosophy, system, or concept and by placing a name and face with the business it puts their analytical mind at ease.

To me, it just seems like people enjoy doing business with other people.

I think people are also more willing to part with their money when they know it’s going to a small business that is trying to fit in and improve the community… instead of it going to “the man.”

There are some downsides to having a business in your name though. For one, now that my studio business has grown and is doing over 700 sessions a month in our small studio I am not able to personally speak with every client who works with us. Often times after the initial complimentary session time set up with a member on my training team I may not see them again ( if they are training at times when I am not at the studi o). Of course, I do check in by email, but I must rely on my qualified CPT team to implement our style of training and keep them happy.

Also, when your name if is synonymous with the business you may have a slightly more difficult time selling the business if that is your end goal (more on that in a minute).

And, while I don’t think you’ll have any issues with expansion and owning multiple studios under your name, you may find that people will still want some type of access to you since you are the person running the show. The way I combat this is by holding events, seminars, workshops, client appreciation parties, and sending out weekly video/content newsletters where people can still interact with me. It’s not always ideal, but if you want to continue to grow and help more and more people you have to come to realize that you must just keep developing systems and putting them in place so that you can expand.

Here’s another interesting tip : If you do include your name in your business name just be ready to become known as “THE Personal Trainer” in your city. Whether it be good or bad, whenever I go to a restaurant or event in Boston someone always recognizes me and says, “Hey, aren’t you that personal trainer who…”

Some final notes:

Now that my studio has been opened for 3+ years and we were able to take right off since we opened I can happily say that I would keep the studio name exactly the way it is if I were to do it all over again. I will say, though, that if people (store cashiers, wait staff, etc) just see my credit card that reads “Stephen Cabral Studio” they often think I own a photography company… that’s why I make it a point to always include my tag line under my studio name in ALL of my marketing and business pieces.

It reads:

Stephen Cabral Studio
“Inspired Personal Training & Weight Loss”

Alright, so now that you’ve seen the pros and cons to naming a personal training business under your personal name, let’s talk about the “2nd choice.”

Corporate Business Name Benefits:

When consulting with gyms, independant health management companies, or franchises I always recommend to them that they structure their business with the end in mind – and this most definitely includes the name of their business.

If I were to name my business “ Results-Only Personal Training Solutions ” instead of “ Stephen Cabral Studio ” I would have achieved a few things.

1. It would give off the impression that I am well established and professional (of course, your message and marketing must match that)

2. I am poised for easy expansion and roll out within my area, state, or world wide

3. Corporations like to work with other corporations (they feel like you must have your act together) and you may have an easier time getting into large businesses to do bootcamps, wellness seminars, etc before you become established.

4. It will make it easy to replace yourself with a manager and systems that run the show

5. Once the company has grown to the size you’d like you can sell it

Those are the big benefits to creating more of a corporate name and now let’s talk about a few of the downsides. The cons basically include all the pros of the personalized business name. For example, with a corporate business name you lose the small business appeal and the sense of doing business with another person (instead of with a corporation).

To me, the bottom line is that if you ever plan on walking away from your business by either selling it or not coming in on a weekly basis I would go with the corporate name. However, if you’re like me and love to train and see yourself doing it for the foreseeable future then there’s no reason NOT to name it in your own name (you could even just use your last name).

I hope this post shed a little light on how to choose the right name for your personal training company and how important it really is depending on your end goal.

P.S. One last note… Although I do have Stephen Cabral Studio as my main training hub and studio location I did develop an in-home and corporate identity separate from the studio called “Personal Trainer Boston.” As you’ve read in my other online marketing posts I did this for SEO purposes, but you can also see how it is more of a corporate name and structure. In a way, it allows me to appeal to a larger audience by 2 very different means. The great thing is I can tie them both together and let people know (when they visit the Personal Trainer Boston website) that they can train with our partner, Stephen Cabral Studio , or with Personal Trainer Boston for their in-home and corporate needs.