How you pick your name?

My old company was Pankey Plant Health Care. I was the product, as a contract arborist. I wanted to differentiate pruning and plant healthcare contracting vs a removal guy.

Blue Pine Works was different. I didn't want my name attached because I'm not the product. I'm a tool for the business to use. I used my initials (BWP) and my stump tag for my logo. It's got bits of me without it being obvious.

Considerations were brand ability (Blue Pine rolls off the tongue, from the PNW with pine beetle blue stained wood, works was about a feeling of productivity), separation of the business from me (liability, sellability, more investable), and whether or not this company was my last stop or a step in my greater career goals. Being a step, I didn't want it to be dependent on me.

Other considerations are copyrights, competition or prevalent businesses with similar names (if we shortened to BP, that could be problematic), SEO strength (tree in the name helps), recognizable, and simplicity.
 
We are called Detroit Arborist Collective. We decided on this because we wanted to signal professionalism, as well as a focus on tree knowledge. We also wanted clients to know that we function as a group, and this is one of our strengths. We're structured as a cooperative and wanted something that was a nod to that without being too obvious.
 
Canopy Tree Care

Some ad advertising was organized alphabetically so I wanted to first letter close to the beginning of the alphabet

The first name I chose was canopy Tree Service but I change that to care. Subtle difference.

The first client to acknowledge the difference between service and care was a woman who was legally blind, but she could get around. The Tree work we did was a blur to her. She said that she wanted to have somebody care for a tree, not service.
 
Heartwood Tree Care

I think I had the name picked out 10 years before actually starting things. Tried to go with something simple, marketable, and related to trees. I've had numerous customers give positive remarks about the name, so I think it worked.

Only downside is the biggest company in town also has _____wood in their name, so occasionally I get confused with them.
 
Started with a friends and family brainstorm, where we wrote down all the names we could think of.

Crossed off the obvious bandit corny names, and all the names I recognized from competitors, plus all the names that seemed especially irrelevant.

Did a corporation search for the remaining names, and axed those that were already in use.

Looked through the rest for Biblical references that seemed relevant to both the name and our core values.

Chose the name Reaching Higher because it fit all of the requirements above, and also seemed to denote a quality tree care company. Also, did a search online for web addresses that could relate to the company name and still be short and easy to remember, hence www.RHTree.com .

As mentioned above, I did not want my own name in the company name, because I am not the company. I am not what is being sold, I'm just the guy in charge at present. Some day I hope to have the company at a point where it will run itself, whether I'm there or not.

If you have a common, spellable name, you might be able to use yours in the company name. Brickman was the biggest landscaping companies in the country for a long time, long after Mr. Brickman departed the earth. Locally, Martin Tree Service is the biggest around, but everyone knows Jeff Martin runs it. On the other side of our service area, Jake's Tree Service is pretty big, but there's no one named Jake involved with the company. The owner has a long Italian name (and plenty of reasons to keep his name out of public view), so he used a different moniker.

So in short, use whatever you want, but it's probably best if people can say it, spell it, and remember it.
 
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Njdelaney said:
We are called Detroit Arborist Collective. We decided on this because we wanted to signal professionalism, as well as a focus on tree knowledge. We also wanted clients to know that we function as a group, and this is one of our strengths. We're structured as a cooperative and wanted something that was a nod to that without being too obvious.
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that's a rad name. I like arborist in the name.
 
Flying moss had started in the stone world. Was hitting a stone in the early spring morning. It was reclaimed, had moss that flew up in the air as I hit it. I thought damn that is a feeling right there.

When my Goliath sized good friend of mine and I did a few stone jobs together and I realised he was meant for handling stone and I was meant for the squirreling around in trees nimbly like, I left stone masonry and got more involved with wood work. Hence my spoon carving endeavor flying moss treen. (Treen being wooden utensils made by hand) fast forward six years and I started Flying Moss Tree Preservation. It’s a mouthful but so far people have been able to remember the name quite well. Flyingmosstree.com is easier I suppose to go and find online. Preservation being the key to staying small in what I can tackle and focus on keeping trees mitigating risk and preserving trees for generations :)

I’m only 6 months into the small business world… IMG_5026.webp
 
data farm 26 said:
Really cool, I dig your style! Preservation... that's a good one.
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Haha thanks man. Always liked your original logo and small axe idea. I’ve seen a few guys on the buzz with preservation in the name. But everyone around my neck of woods is some combo of initials followed by tree service. I wanted to separate myself from that a bit. Time will tell, and the quality of my passion/work if people will start to get the bigger picture of a smaller operation :)

Still working on how to advert on the truck. Currently it’s a too small magnet on the door. Might just have to stencil name and number on the side boards. But I want it to still look sleek and not amateur IMG_7398.webp78613690771__EDD3D0B8-F466-4A89-A7CA-A07AF9036CA0.webp
 
Working :

Tree preservation
Tree care
And/ or
Arborist


into the name with:

Tree removal
Grinding
Planting

If you do it all.



If I rebranded---

Steamboat Arborist Care and Tree Removal Services

Or

Olympia Arborist Tree Care and Removal Services

What will be the short versions of the name?

Steamboat Arborist Care
Steamboat Tree Services
Etc.


A simple website name on a pro sign with a phone number should be inexpensive enough.


I ended up working for my sign maker. Not a trade. Just Dollars and Dollars.
 
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