Starting a business is similar to making a new post. The idea is there, tickling the back of the mind, “hey, I have this urge to blog. I just need to type my thoughts away.” Yet, as the urge is addressed and the cursor is blinking, one completely draws a blank, “Uhmm.. Soooooo, now what?”
It’s the same, really. After I said yes to my boyfriend, we got married, had mini-us, and grew old together. THE END. Fin. Ende. Tapos.
Hahaha. Just kidding. After I said yes (to the online business) my first thought was, “okay? so what now?” Long story short, we had a meeting to talk about when we’ll have our meetings and what we’ll talk about during the meetings (though normal people call it scheduling hihi)
I honestly cannot stress how important schedules and outlines are. I know this sounds totally cliche, but it stops you from stressing out and wondering whether you missed something. It’s effective for me because i tend to be paranoid AND forgetful – not a pretty combination.
The hardest part was thinking of a witty name. We wanted the store to be CUTE and TRENDY and the name has got to speak for itself. We initially had around 20 names and had narrowed it down to 11. We just couldn’t decide so we even made a survey about it. (Here’s a link if you want to check: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/18KaeSspyC6E6SlQjNSKnsPeH0ReAdNxTYNjsdksvERI/viewform)
After all the hardships (finding willing people to answer the survey; forcing/food bribing friends to answer), we ended up with VIXENTRIC. And if you checked the link, you wouldn’t find it there. See, it’s just like the creation post: I gave my boyfriend a list of names, he then suddenly came up with an entire different one.
This was our first logo. After settling for the name and logo, everything else became child’s play: email, fb, blogs, pictures. I then thought of asking random people (meaning my sibling) what VIXENTRIC sounds like. I guess you’d say it too: sexy, daring, bold.
It was a far cry from the image we had hoped to project to the public.
I guess you know what happened next? We changed of course. My boyfriend wanted the logo to fit us, not us to the logo. We dreaded this, changing everything after the initial head start, but like everything else in life: it was easier the second time around. We had looked at words, colors, and images associated with CUTE. After a long drawn extensive research that ran for almost 2 hours (45min 9gagging, 30 min to persuade each other to start and the remaing minutes typing “cute” in google and looking at some fashion stores).
I’ll give you a trick in thinking of a name: when you have found nouns associated with the business, think of a nice adjective and look for its synonyms. Look closely at the words that keep appearing. Don’t use that. Rule of thumb: if you had easily thought of it, probability is it’s already existing (citing my boyfriend here, 2013).
Now, the logo making is easy as long as you have the image in mind. What I enjoy about logo making is that I could easily imagine the logo: what would it look like; the colors, fonts, and shapes associated with it, the works. Look at my work (I am the creative, artistic Paint Master in the relationship)
My boyfriend wanted to edit it a little bit.
There you have it. Frolic Hearts: where fun and fashion intertwined
And to think we did all the changes to the names, logos, account in half a day. I guess when it comes to naming your business, take it a point to NEVER SETTLE FOR LESS. You’d know whether it’s the right logo when you’re actually excited and not just happy.
My next post would be.. hmm, not sure yet but I will definitely post about going to the supplier and getting our store items. Stay tune! And if you want to hear my boyfriend’s side of the story, check his blogs! frolichearts.blogspot.com
Can’t wait for 25 MAY!
love love love,
R