3 Ways To Create A Name For Your Freelance Grant Writing Business
Download MP3Welcome to the Grant Writing and Funding Podcast where it's all about, you guessed it, grant writing and funding made easy so you can increase capacity, grow funding, and advance your nonprofit or freelance mission. Now, let's hand it over to your host, grants expert and author Holly Rustic, so you can increase your funding and drive impact.
Holly Rustick:Hey, changemaker. It's Holly Rustic here with grant writing and funding, and I help changemakers grow capacity, increase funding, and to advance mission. To do that, I teach you to gain expertise in grant writing and coach you with systems so that you can become a freelance grant writer and 10x results all from the comfort of your own home. Alright, guys. We are in it today.
Holly Rustick:Now this is an interesting episode. It's a lot of fun, and the audio might be a little bit off. So I do apologize for that. But this was so much fun because it was my first Zoom to Facebook live video that I did. And I did this in the fourteen day foundations to freelance grant writing Facebook group, that we've had going on for almost two weeks now.
Holly Rustick:We're almost at the end. We're fourteen days. But if you wanna check it out, do jump over to grantwritingandfunding.com/137 so you can see all the good stuff that we have going on. We have over a 100 people in there. It's a lot of interaction, people moving through and doing lots of stuff to get ready to launch their business.
Holly Rustick:So that has been a lot of fun. And this was one of the Facebook lives that I did in there. I had so many people responding to it that I was like, I need to put this on the podcast. I think it'd be a really great thing, and it kinda goes hand in hand for the different things that we've been talking about as far as freelance grant writing. And we are gonna pivot just a little bit starting next week.
Holly Rustick:You know, we've really been focusing on this too because I have the freelance grant writing master course that has opened its doors officially. So the early bird special is until Saturday, September 12 at 11:59 Eastern Standard Time PM. So if you wanna get on the early bird prize, please do jump on. And, then it will be open just for one more day till Sunday night, September thirteenth at midnight Eastern Standard Time, and then it closes. Alright.
Holly Rustick:So for the rest of 2020, it will not open again. We are starting our final 2020 cohort where we start on Monday, September 14, when all of the change maker tribe people in there are going to get their first week of material. So every single week for eight weeks, you're gonna get material delivered to you in a very systematic way. So it's really great because we're starting on just getting into the basics of the foundations of opening up a freelance grant writing business in week one. Then in week two, we're really looking at identifying your nonprofit, clients, your service offerings, etcetera.
Holly Rustick:And then we move into your messaging, your branding, and we go into how to prioritize your time and do time management. We also look at how you can get and secure clients, what kind of proposals you can have, and we have sample contracts, just a bunch of templates that you can use. And we go further into setting up your website, looking at your logo, looking at your mission and vision statement for your company, your taglines, doing your sales copy, and much, much more. So it is a lot of fun to specifically get you set up so you can become a freelance grant writer and really 10 x results from the comfort of your own home. And that is so important today, isn't it?
Holly Rustick:And of course, we also have a weekly group call. So we have eight group calls, so we can go through the material together. So this is very different than just a DIY course. In it, you will have the opportunity to go through the videos and the materials and work on your business in your own time. But then we're gonna meet up weekly and discuss it.
Holly Rustick:You can get feedback. And then the next week you will get more material. So you're not getting it all at once, so it's content overload, but it is walking through a cohort, with other like minded individuals. And we have a private Facebook group as well. So it's a really great way to advance and to really get the confidence and clarity that you need to open a business.
Holly Rustick:So go ahead and jump over and get the early bird by Saturday night at midnight. Alright, guys. So we're gonna get into it today. We're gonna talk about what to name your freelance company. What?
Holly Rustick:You might not have even thought about that yet, but once you start thinking about it, it gets real. So I'm gonna go over the three ways that you can name your freelance grant writing business. And this episode, just once again, it was so much fun. We had a lot of interaction at the end, but it's once again, there is a little sound quality is a little bit low, so I do apologize for that, but it is a great episode. I hope to see you guys in the course next week.
Holly Rustick:And you can find out more information by going to grantwritingandfunding.com/13seven. Alright, guys. Enjoy. Alright. So let's go ahead
Holly Rustick:and talk about naming. You know, looking at the different types, some of you guys have already replied in the comments, like, you know, it's going to be my name or I found like another company name for my freelance business, or I'm just not sure. So I'm going to kind of go over those different things. First off, I want to go over the pros and cons basically. And I'm going to tell you, I'm not telling you what to name your company at all, but I'm just going to give you some pros and cons of each of those.
Holly Rustick:So we basically have three categories. Right? We have the category as far as you're going to use your name, right? And then we have the categories you're going to use a company name, like writing and plugging, right? And then of course there's the third one, it's more you're going to use a whimsical name.
Holly Rustick:I'm sure there's more than that, but those are the three main ones that we're going to look at today. So first off, your name. Right? So Holly Rustic Consulting. Right?
Holly Rustick:So think of it like that. Now I'm here to tell you that a lot of people do like to go this way. It's connected to your name, it makes a lot of sense. If you especially have some kind of standing in the community already, people know you, it is a great way to go. The other thing is it's just simple, Like keep it simple.
Holly Rustick:When we're starting up, we want to be as simple as possible. So the other thing of course to think of when you're naming your company is no other names can be out there. So if you went to get Grammar and Unibundi, it's already trademarked, it's already gone, right? So you really want to make sure that you're getting a name that might stand out and your name will always stand out, right? Unless of course you have a super common name.
Holly Rustick:So if you have like, know, if I had like Holly Adams or something like a little bit more common, then I might have to throw in grant consulting. So you might have to throw it, tweak it a little bit. So that's really important as well. It cannot already be taken. So you definitely have to, before you do all your branding and you do all the things, and you spend all the money, and then you go in to apply, right?
Holly Rustick:You go to the Rev and Tax, or you go wherever you need to set up your business license, and that name is already taken, that's going to be awful, right? So that's not going to be any fun because have just spent a lot of time and energy. So check out the name first to see if it's available before you do your branding. So another thing about using your own name for your business is it's you, right? A lot of people like that.
Holly Rustick:I know I had an interview with Rodney Walker and he runs Grant Central USA. And he's been doing this for a long time. And he's a freelance grant writer, owns a grant writing business. And I said, I was interviewing him on the podcast and you guys can definitely check it out, it's a great one. But anyways, he said, You know what, Holly?
Holly Rustick:My number one regret, when I was asking about, if you could go back and change something and make it better, what would you change in your business? And he said, my number one thing, Holly, is that I branded my company with another name and not with my name. So some people, they realize as we're going through social media, as we're kind of having that authenticity with our followers or with your people, he really wanted that personalization and he felt like now he stands behind it, so it's not as intimate. So for him, that was a big thing. However, the con, of course, about that, that's a pro, right?
Holly Rustick:You want to be more personalized. People have a little bit more trust sometimes because they're seeing a name connected. It's not just like our business. So that's a really good thing. On the flip side though, of course, is that you might really, you might change your name.
Holly Rustick:You might say, well, you're always going to have your name, Holly. Well, what if you get married? Men and women are changing their last names, they're hyphenating their last names. That can change. The other thing is a lot of people want distance from themselves and their company because they're like, I might not only always have that company, so I don't want to brand it as me because in five years, I might be doing something totally else, and then I don't want to have to change my social media accounts that are connected to me.
Holly Rustick:So there's that as well. Now, I've gone back and forth on this, and I'm going to kind of give you my example and share my story, because I've actually touched on all three of these in different ways. But yeah, definitely, I like the personalization. Like my handle for Instagram is hollyrustic. I like that more because when I'm commenting on somebody else or I'm following somebody else, it's not a company that's commenting on it, it's me.
Holly Rustick:Right? And it is me. I'm running my social media following and checking other people and that sort of thing. So when I'm organically out there looking at you guys, it is me. And I am making those comments.
Holly Rustick:So I wanted that personalization with my handle. So there are some kind of morphing you can do as well. But the other thing too is if you open a sole proprietorship, your DBA doing businesses could be your company name, but you're always registered as your own name. So you can kind of go back and forth a little more fluid in that manner. Okay, so personal name, you can use it because it's easy, it's low hanging, sometimes it's original, so you don't have to overthink it.
Holly Rustick:You can easily grab the name. You can be more intimate with people. Now, the cons as far as using that is, what if your name changes? Do you really have to rebrand? What if you want to separate yourself from your company a little bit more?
Holly Rustick:Or what if your company, if you don't want to run it? And I do just have to note real quick, social media, social comes first before media. So even if you're out there branding, you still want personalization in it. Even if you have a regular grant money and funding, we still want that personalization. Because social is first, 80% of social media is social.
Holly Rustick:It's not just marketing. So anyway, so that's what I heard from my great mentor, Annalie Porter. I love that. The 20% is media marketing, and the 80% is being social. So number two, the second thing.
Holly Rustick:If you want to have a very simple name, grant writing and funding, that's my business. Why did I choose something so You're like, Holly, that's kind of boring. Oh my God. Okay, so it might sound boring. The reason I went with this, okay, I'm going tell you my story now while I'm in the middle of this.
Holly Rustick:I first started as Wego Consulting, and I still have that business license. And it's an acronym. It stands for Writing, Editing, Grant Writing, and Organizational Development. And of course, I didn't put the D at the end because that would have been we got, and that's like super narcissistic. And I thought, we go, it's easy to tell somebody, it's like we go somewhere, you know when you're explaining your brand name.
Holly Rustick:We go. So some people are like, that's cute. And that's the third one I'm going to talk about is whimsical cute names. I first started with number three. Why do I not use that anymore?
Holly Rustick:Why did I switch to grant writing and funding? Here's the thing. Grant writing and funding, super boring, super basic. That's what people are looking for on the internet when they put in Google. In my town, in Guam, when they put in something, they're looking for grant writing.
Holly Rustick:They're looking for funding. I thought back and I said, let's go simple. Let's go basic. Let's go with SEO driven words. Let's go with what it actually is.
Holly Rustick:Because we don't nobody's looking no one's typing in we go when they're looking for a grant writer. So think about that. Think about if people are trying to find me for what I offer, is it clear in my name? So is it Holly Rustic Grant Writing Consulting? Is it Holly Rustic Nonprofit Consulting?
Holly Rustick:Is it something tied to it if you want to personalize? Or is it grant writing and funding? Is it super basic? Now, the only thing with being super basic you guys is that it might be taken already. So you've got to dig around once again, if that's domain.
Holly Rustick:Because if I have grant writing and funding, I don't want grantwritingandfunding.com is taken. So I'd have to do it. Oh, man. So you kind of got to think this out. If it's super basic, the domain, the URL, or the www.rightdot, you got to check and see if that's available.
Holly Rustick:You can kind of tweak it sometimes. I don't say do.net or do. Anything else. I always say staywith.com. Yes, those are harder, but everything else is a little bit weird unless you're an education company and you're .edu, right?
Holly Rustick:It's specific for those. .Org is okay if you're a nonprofit. But if you're a business, .com is the best. So you do want to go ahead and make sure what your domain is and it makes sense. It doesn't have to be exactly your brand name, but it should really tie it in and it should be simple and it should be something that people are searching for.
Holly Rustick:So that would be the thing, the pro as far as going basic. Of course, the cons of going so basic is you need to make sure you're putting your personalization in it. If I could do grantwritingandfunding.com and I've all stock images on my website, there's no personalization to that. And like I said, that's why I changed my handle even to Holly Rustic, even though I have my grant writing and funding company there, because I wanted more personalization. On my website, if you visit grant writing and funding, it's pictures of me.
Holly Rustick:I want that personalization once again. I want them to know there is a person there. It's not just a company, it's not like a wall. If you have just a broad company name, sometimes it kind of puts up this disconnect or divide. So we don't want to block that.
Holly Rustick:We want to make sure there is personalization still. Okay, and the final one, the whimsical title. I kind of talked about this a little bit when I said I started my company as we go. Yes, it's cute, it's whimsical. There's other things, even my first book, you guys, my first book on grant writing, what did I call it?
Holly Rustick:I did not call it the Beginner's Guide to Grant Writing, which I have now. I called it Wish Granted. Oh, it's so cute. I thought it was cute as pie, and I thought it was super whimsical. But what happened?
Holly Rustick:The people aren't searching for that on Amazon. They're looking for beginner's guides. They're looking for how to's, right? So granted, they're not looking for granted, they're looking for grants, grant writing, grant writer, right? So once again, we have to figure out even though we think it's cute as sugar, we need to make sure that we're touching the people that we want to touch, that the people that are looking for us can find us.
Holly Rustick:So Wego, the same thing. People aren't putting in Wego when they're looking for grant writer. So unless you have I mean, people can be very productive with having cute names and whimsical, but you've got to put strong SEO. So if I put used Wego still, I'd have to be like, Wego, the grant writer or something like that. You still want to tie in some sort of word that makes sense for what your audience is looking for.
Holly Rustick:That really needs to be maybe in the logo, it's a dollar sign or something like that. You need some kind of connection. So don't be so whimsical that you get lost and muddied and muddled up. You want to be able to be found. That is your first priority is to be found, right?
Holly Rustick:And then of course you want to be able to connect with people. So those are my three little kind of basic things and some of the pros and cons that go along to this. And of course, one of the cons to being whimsical is that's really like you're passionate about it and you're like, I just connect with that name so much. Like I said, use it, but just make sure you have a lot of other words that make sense. So that tie into what you do, so you really want to be sure on that.
Holly Rustick:So yes, so that's the three different things. And of course, one way you're like, I have no idea where to start now, Holly. Well, what you can do is remember we did value exercises, so for some of you who might be listening, I have a podcast on doing values, and I also, we have different downloadables. Why I always go back to this and kind of bang that drum is because those are the words that you really resonate with. So if you just take out a blank piece of paper and you start writing down all the words that you love and that resonate with you, some of your values are in there, and you do this exercise, then you might find a name actually.
Holly Rustick:It's kind of funny, my friend, she's an artist and she did this for her business, and she said she just started writing down all these names and things she even said often. So she said one of the words that she said often was indeed, like she'd always say indeed, right, kind of a thing. And of course she's creative and she has all these things, so she two of the words on her list that she had, all of sudden she had these words all over this page, two of the words that really resonated with her were creative and indeed. So she turned her company name creative indeed, and she's an artist. And that's Michelle Pierce.
Holly Rustick:Give her a little shout out. She's awesome. But I just thought, oh, that's really clever as far as like if you're really going to promote something and love something and wrap your branding around it and just promote it to the world, you got to believe in it. You got to love it. So due to if it's too boring, you're like, Holly, I know that looks good on SEO, but I'm so bored with that.
Holly Rustick:I can't even go with that name. I need something a little whimsical. Do it, but really buy into it and make sure you're putting those other words around your branding and on your website and on your copy and all of that stuff so people can find you.
Holly Rustick:Well, I hope you enjoyed that short episode as much as I did. So once again, if you're interested in taking the freelance grant writing master course, which is the last time it will be offered as a cohort in 2020, make sure you jump over to grantwritingandfunding.com forward slash 13seven.
