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Bill Keehn
06-08-2009, 2:56 PM
This might be a little off topic, but there isn't a forum for woodworking business discussions.

I need to decide on a name for my business. I think I've narrowed it down to two choices:

Keehn Edge Woodworks OR Keen Edge Woodworks

The first choice has appeal to me because it has my name and gives people a clue to pronunciation. The second choice might be better if I choose to sell the business someday and the next owner doesn't want such personalized name.

Opinions? First choice, second choice, or none of the above?

Chris Konikowski
06-08-2009, 3:11 PM
First choice. Hands down. Companies with names associated with it make people feel warm and fuzzy. Makes people feel as if the owner puts his stamp of approval on everything he does.

JMHO...

Bill Keehn
06-08-2009, 3:16 PM
Thats a good point.

One of my facebook friends pointed out that "Keen Edge" might teach them how to say my name correctly, but it might also teach them to spell it wrong.

Walt Nicholson
06-08-2009, 3:22 PM
I agree with Chris. Your name personalizes the company. A future buyer can drop the h and still have the name that people remember (and associate good products with ;)) just by changing some signs and letterhead.

Kyle Iwamoto
06-08-2009, 3:25 PM
Um, Keehn Edge makes me think of a sharpening business..... Why "edge" and not just Keehn Woods, Woodworking or Woodworks?

Just my opinion, and you asked..... Oh, most definetely not Keen, if that's your main question.......

Richard M. Wolfe
06-08-2009, 3:26 PM
The first choice, no doubt. Keen Edge is just.....keen edge. Keehn draws the eye and most people would draw an inference with that and your name.

Regards,
Richard
Cutting Edge Wood Works

And by the way, I've never completely decided if it should be Wood Works or Woodworks :D

Chris Padilla
06-08-2009, 3:33 PM
I think I'd do:

Bill Keehn Edge Woodxxxxxxxxxxx get your whole name in there...best for recognition I think and it kinda flows, too....

Bill Keehn
06-08-2009, 3:36 PM
Um, Keehn Edge makes me think of a sharpening business..... Why "edge" and not just Keehn Woods, Woodworking or Woodworks?

Just my opinion, and you asked..... Oh, most definetely not Keen, if that's your main question.......

Good question. I wondered if people might get that impression too. I'm not a sharpening business.

While I intend to primarily do custom woodworking, I've been wanting to make and sell some woodworking tools as well, infill planes for example. "Keehn Edge Toolworks" sounds ok, but it loses the idea that this is about woodworking.

Would you be more likely to buy a plane from a place called "Keehn Edge Woodworks" or "Keehn Woodworks"? I could go with "Keehn Edge Tool and Woodworks" or some permutation, but it seems a little cumbersome.

Bill Keehn
06-08-2009, 3:38 PM
The first choice, no doubt. Keen Edge is just.....keen edge. Keehn draws the eye and most people would draw an inference with that and your name.

Regards,
Richard
Cutting Edge Wood Works

And by the way, I've never completely decided if it should be Wood Works or Woodworks :D

Nice name. And I take it you are NOT a sharpening business? :D

Bill Keehn
06-08-2009, 3:40 PM
I think I'd do:

Bill Keehn Edge Woodxxxxxxxxxxx get your whole name in there...best for recognition I think and it kinda flows, too....

Ummm.. sure.. :rolleyes:

Kyle Iwamoto
06-08-2009, 3:40 PM
Ah, that will work then..... Sell planes..... Made by a pro..... By hand....

Lee Schierer
06-08-2009, 3:40 PM
How about Keehn Custom Woodworking, it says what you do and what you want to do, plain and simple. Do I win the prize??? I could use a custom shop cabinet..:D

Matt Ocel
06-08-2009, 3:47 PM
If you go with "Keehn Woodworking" and you incorporate, you can save time and money by not having to do a name search.

Bill Keehn
06-08-2009, 3:49 PM
Lee, that was the name I started with, but there are just so many "<your name here> Custom Woodworking" shops around here. I wanted to be a little catchier.

Funny thing though. When I was looking for shop space, everybody I talked to assumed I was a cabinet shop or doing millwork. When I tell them it's custom furniture, they actually seem a little interested.

Pat O'malley
06-08-2009, 3:57 PM
Just a thought, I'm opening a service business soon and will incorporate as an LLC. I have read several articles stating not to use your name in the business' name because if you are sued your personal assets can be attached because you are also considered the business and not only the products you provide. Good luck. Pat

Chris Padilla
06-08-2009, 3:59 PM
I think your name is the same as the guy for the Family Circus, right? Or, at least is pronounced the same way!!

Bil Keane!

Chris Padilla
06-08-2009, 4:01 PM
Just a thought, I'm opening a service business soon and will incorporate as an LLC. I have read several articles stating not to use your name in the business' name because if you are sued your personal assets can be attached because you are also considered the business and not only the products you provide. Good luck. Pat

So what is the name of your biznitch, Pat? :D

Bill Keehn
06-08-2009, 4:07 PM
And by the way, I've never completely decided if it should be Wood Works or Woodworks :D

Here is my take on it, FWIW.

Woodworkers do woodworking to produce woodworks in a woodshop. I think "wood works" implies a woodshop, whereas "woodworks" implies "wooden works".

Pat O'malley
06-08-2009, 4:08 PM
I’ve got one which is PMR Properties, we flip houses part time and the new venture will be name "Peace Of Mind ..." which I don't want to let the cat out of the bag just yet on what type of service, there currently no one else doing this in my area yet.

Matt Ocel
06-08-2009, 4:09 PM
Just a thought, I'm opening a service business soon and will incorporate as an LLC. I have read several articles stating not to use your name in the business' name because if you are sued your personal assets can be attached because you are also considered the business and not only the products you provide. Good luck. Pat

Your personel chattel is out of bounds if you are a LLC or S corp.

Bill Keehn
06-08-2009, 4:17 PM
I think your name is the same as the guy for the Family Circus, right? Or, at least is pronounced the same way!!

Bil Keane!

Yup yup. Well, at least I think so. Unless he pronounces "Bil" as "Beel". That's how a lot of southerners say my name. Some even draw it out a little more... "Beeeel" (imagine droopy dog saying it).

Bill Keehn
06-08-2009, 4:23 PM
Your personel chattel is out of bounds if you are a LLC or S corp.

Assuming you actually conduct business like a seperate legal entity, and are properly capitalized, and don't co-mingle your funds. You also want to make sure that when you sign documents that you are signing them as an officer of the LLC and not as you yourself.

A correct signature block on a contract should look like this...


Pat O'mally, LLC. <--- Make sure this is precisely the way your articles of incorporation document it.

____________________________
Pat O'mally, president

Richard Dooling
06-08-2009, 4:47 PM
Hi Bill,

Maybe you need a tag line as well as a name.

The Keehn Edge
Custom Woodworks and Handcrafted Tools

Eric Larsen
06-08-2009, 4:56 PM
How about "Half-Day Bill's (Wood Putty'll Hide That) Furniture Shoppe?"

No, that's what it'd be called if I opened a shop. :D

I think you need to have "furniture" in there somewhere if that's what you're going to specialize in.

Unfortunately Keehn Edge Furniture sounds painful.

Keehn Edge Design
Custom Wood Furniture

Better?

Tom Hamilton
06-08-2009, 6:01 PM
Hi Bill:

Free advise is worth what you pay for it.

It seems to me that your primary customer will be a customer furniture buyer. They're are interested in design and finish. Whether you edge is Kheen, Keehn or Keen is not their focus.

Thus I would suggest you use Bill Keehn Custom Furniture or some variation as your primary business name. Perhaps a tag line could be "specializing in 19th century Philadelphia style Highboy's, or Bookcases, or Cabinets, or what ever you want to focus on.

Then, another division of BKCF, might Bill Keehn Custom Tools....specializing in planes, spoke shaves, and fine custom knives, or whatever you do will.

Two different customers, two different names.

Best regards,

Tom, now in Georgia

Bill Keehn
06-08-2009, 6:04 PM
Hi Bill,

Maybe you need a tag line as well as a name.

The Keehn Edge
Custom Woodworks and Handcrafted Tools

Has a ring like the Porter-Cable commercials. I'll probably have a tag-line on my signs and cards.


How about "Half-Day Bill's (Wood Putty'll Hide That) Furniture Shoppe?"

No, that's what it'd be called if I opened a shop. :D

I think you need to have "furniture" in there somewhere if that's what you're going to specialize in.

Unfortunately Keehn Edge Furniture sounds painful.

Keehn Edge Design
Custom Wood Furniture

Better?

Keehn Edge Design
Custom Wood Furniture
Hand Crafted Tools
We Also Walk Dogs

:D

Bill Keehn
06-08-2009, 6:11 PM
Hi Bill:

Free advise is worth what you pay for it.

It seems to me that your primary customer will be a customer furniture buyer. They're are interested in design and finish. Whether you edge is Kheen, Keehn or Keen is not their focus.

Thus I would suggest you use Bill Keehn Custom Furniture or some variation as your primary business name. Perhaps a tag line could be "specializing in 19th century Philadelphia style Highboy's, or Bookcases, or Cabinets, or what ever you want to focus on.

Then, another division of BKCF, might Bill Keehn Custom Tools....specializing in planes, spoke shaves, and fine custom knives, or whatever you do will.

Two different customers, two different names.

Best regards,

Tom, now in Georgia

I see what you are saying. Actually, when I get down to marketing I'll probably use a Doing Business As name to distinguish one activity from the other.

Don Bullock
06-08-2009, 9:26 PM
...
Keehn Edge Design
Custom Wood Furniture
Hand Crafted Tools
We Also Walk Dogs

:D

Now, that looks like a winner.:D

Jim Becker
06-08-2009, 9:30 PM
Da first one, for sure...taking advantage of your unique name and the play on words is very nice. I'm not sure about what Pat mentions...speak with a a business attorney to clarify.

Bill Keehn
06-08-2009, 9:50 PM
Da first one, for sure...taking advantage of your unique name and the play on words is very nice. I'm not sure about what Pat mentions...speak with a a business attorney to clarify.

Thanks Jim. Using my name seems to be universally agreed upon between here and my facebook friends.

Quite a few people liked the play on my name, so I'll keep the "Edge" in "Keehn Edge Woodworks, Inc." It's short and hopefully easy to remember.

Thanks for your input everybody. It was kinda fun and it helped. I'll post pictures of my new shop when I take possession.

Dan Mages
06-08-2009, 9:56 PM
Bill Keehn Precision Sawdust Company...

I don't know. It has a great ring to it. :rolleyes:

Dan

Bill Keehn
06-08-2009, 10:07 PM
That's my automatic response when people ask what I make.... "Sawdust.. and some other stuff".

Richard M. Wolfe
06-08-2009, 10:16 PM
Definitely not a shaprening service, Bill. We have a Woodmizer and are starting work on a kiln. And shaprening would mean working with metal :rolleyes:. I don't think it was mentioned but a possibility could be Keehn's Edge Woodworks, and I do like The Keehn Edge Woodworks.

Bill Keehn
06-08-2009, 10:53 PM
Definitely not a shaprening service, Bill. We have a Woodmizer and are starting work on a kiln. And shaprening would mean working with metal :rolleyes:. I don't think it was mentioned but a possibility could be Keehn's Edge Woodworks, and I do like The Keehn Edge Woodworks.

Cooool. :) I've been daydreaming about an LT50 and my own kiln someday. I'll paint the sawmill green and call my business Keehn's Green Machine. Seriously :D

Bill Keehn
06-08-2009, 10:57 PM
And shaprening would mean working with metal :rolleyes:.

Wait a second. Of course you are working with metal. How else you gonna cut wood.. teeth? :eek:

Stephen Tashiro
06-08-2009, 11:09 PM
Imagine this nightmare. You open your business with your chosen name. Then competitors start the following businesses:

Wood-Keene Edge Works LLC
Wood Edge Keen-Works INC
Work Wood Keen Edge
Woodwork Edge Keen
and
Work Edge Wood Keen

Karl Brogger
06-08-2009, 11:20 PM
Two rules that I set when choosing a name. I didn't want my name in it. If I ever sell off the shop, I don't want my name attached to it forever. Your selling blue sky, not your identity. Although yours does have some whit to it.

Never include custom in a name, its like saying soft pudding. Its just assumed when working out a phone booth sized space. Its pretty obvious you aren't mass producing box cabinets and shipping them across North America.

Most won't be able to pronounce my companies name. Sogn Cabinet Co.
I live in an area known as Sogn Valley, my shop is currently located on Sogn Valley Trail. Pronounced sew-gan. Sogn, as in "so" what.



I have to ask, what in the name of all that is holy do you think you are doing starting a shop when the trades are so far in the crapper?

Jim Kountz
06-08-2009, 11:37 PM
The first one works for me!!

Mat Ashton
06-09-2009, 1:19 AM
Keen edge woodworks is better for remembering, emails and web searches as that's how it's spelt - it's intuitive. Also much much easier for people to pass on the name and email address when it's easy to remember. I find oddly spelt or pronounced names to be a hinderance when it comes to trying to remember businesses I want to continue using in the future and often end up going with someone else when it's hard to find them relatively quickly.

Larry Edgerton
06-09-2009, 2:55 PM
Most won't be able to pronounce my companies name. Sogn Cabinet Co.
I live in an area known as Sogn Valley, my shop is currently located on Sogn Valley Trail. Pronounced sew-gan. Sogn, as in "so" what.

?

And I will add that most people are basically illiterate, so don't use a word that a second grader can not understand. The name of my company is "Crooked Tree Joinery"

I assumed most people knew what "Joinery" means. I assumed incorrectly.

Eric Larsen
06-09-2009, 10:28 PM
Keehn Edge Design
Custom Wood Furniture
Hand Crafted Tools
We Also Walk Dogs

:D


A little bit of whimsy in your name is a good thing, I think. There was a candy maker in my hometown that proudly proclaims "We make the world's best candy, since 2000 & 1/2."

Every year, it becomes a little less funny and a little more respectable.

Burt Alcantara
06-10-2009, 10:49 AM
Keehn Kustom

Belinda Barfield
06-10-2009, 11:11 AM
Bill,

It seems you've made up your mind but I would like to give you a little different view of using Keehn (I vote for number 1 by the way). Others have opined that this might be confusing, or difficult to remember, or misspelled in a search query. I think on a sign it will catch the eye because the viewer will pick up on the additional letter in what the are reading as "Keen" and will do a double take. It also implies, to me, that you have a sense of humor, and that you are intelligent, two traits I look for when I am doing business with someone. That said, I'm not in the market for custom furniture right now so it doesn't really matter what I think. :D

Bill Keehn
06-11-2009, 10:43 AM
Thanks Belinda.

Yeah, I've pretty much decided. My wife likes "Keehn Edge Woodworks" too. I can tell she's excited, since she has been talking about getting some shirts made :).

I've got to move fairly quickly on the incorporation, since I'm about to sign a lease after the building permit for the buildout plan is finalized, which should happen by the end of next week. It's poor form to sign as the president of a company that doesn't exist yet ;)

jim carter
06-11-2009, 1:46 PM
make it something that people will remember. i went with PERCH ON THIS for my pet bird products[ perches, swings , ladders etc...].

Prashun Patel
06-11-2009, 2:01 PM
Keehn is good because when people Google it, you'll come up at the top since it's unique.

Keen is good, though because if they forget your number and need to ask for info, it'll be easier to remember.

All told, I'd go for Keehn.

Prashun Patel
06-11-2009, 2:04 PM
Too bad yr not a doctor, or you coulda named your practice:

Keehn Bill of Health.

Too bad you're not a farmer, or you coulda named your orchard:

Peachy Keehn

Too bad yr not a swimwear designer or you coulda named yr company:

Itsybitsy Teenyweenie Yellow Polkadot BiKeehnies

Matt Hankins
06-11-2009, 2:07 PM
Or "Beel Keehn Beeld Furn-ee-ture" :D With Droopy Dog of course.

Matt

Prashun Patel
06-11-2009, 2:10 PM
How about:

Keehn Billt Furniture

Steve Jenkins
06-11-2009, 5:31 PM
reminds me of the cutstom furniture maker that won the lottery and was asked what he would do. His reply was " Just keep making furniture 'till I run out of money."

Danny Thompson
06-11-2009, 10:04 PM
Keehn Edge Design sounds like you design more than produce.

Two companies:
Keehn Custom Woodworks
Keehn Custom Toolworks

Keen Edge sounds like the Kola to Czeck Edge's Coke.

If you seriously think you may spin off the toolworks, then maybe go with:

Keehn Custom Woodworks
Makers of Keehn Edge Woodworking Tools

(Think Lee Valley/Veritas or TFWW/Gramercy)

Bill Keehn
06-12-2009, 5:13 PM
reminds me of the cutstom furniture maker that won the lottery and was asked what he would do. His reply was " Just keep making furniture 'till I run out of money."

I'm going to have to use that Steve :)

Bill Keehn
06-12-2009, 5:22 PM
Too bad yr not a doctor, or you coulda named your practice:

Keehn Bill of Health.

Too bad you're not a farmer, or you coulda named your orchard:

Peachy Keehn

Too bad yr not a swimwear designer or you coulda named yr company:

Itsybitsy Teenyweenie Yellow Polkadot BiKeehnies

If I was a farmer I'd be outstanding in my field. I'd call it Keehn Acres. :D
If I was a doctor I'd be an opthamalogist, cause I got a Keehn Eye. :D
If I was a swimwear designer, I'd say "Buy Peachy Keehn swimsuits and make your peaches look keen. All bikini's half off". :D