Your Business Name – Own it… or Lose it!

As a business advisor, I have spent many sessions with business intenders and start-ups, where I have sat down one on one – or with family and friends piled around a table, fervently brainstorming ideas, each of these sessions, with a clear purpose in mind…

To decide on a new business name!

It’s an emotional and exciting time, choosing a new business name and somewhat similar to the process of deciding on a name for a child! Choosing a business name can be great fun.

But before deciding on a business name, it is important to do a bit of research.

For anyone planning to come up with a new name for their business, it’s imperative that the appropriate searches are carried out to make sure that their intended business name is available to purchase and own and to then legally use.

There really is nothing worse than putting hours and countless dollars into printing out your business cards, building a website and starting a Facebook Business Page, etc, only to find out that someone else already owns or is advertising that business name –  then stumbling across the cold hard facts – that there is absolutely nothing further you can do… other than to start from scratch!

So your first stop on the way to seeing if a business name is available for you to own; is to visit the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) Website. Click here to search now

http://asic.gov.au/for-business/registering-a-business-name/before-you-register-a-business-name/business-name-availability/.

Secondly, before purchasing your business name, make sure to check and see if the domain name (website address); ie ‘www.mynewbusiness.com.au, is also available.

The best way to check domain name availability, is online.
I prefer to use www.godaddy.com.au because of their user-friendly search feature found on the home page.
However, to see a full list of accredited Australian Domain Name Sellers visit .au Domain Administration www.auda.org.au.
There are two more searches I highly recommend carrying out before purchasing your business name; and they are using Google and Facebook. Simply type in your intended business name to carry out a general search and see what comes up. This is also really important, as it can be frustrating, time consuming and also quite costly, battling it out with somebody who is already operating under your intended choice of business name, whether they legally own it or not.

 

In summary, choosing a business name is a very exciting time, but I cannot stress the importance of legally owning your business name… and for $35 a 1 year, or $82 for 3 years,
it’s a small price to pay for peace of mind.