Questions

I'm in the process of creating a workshop business which also offers therapy and coaching services. I am debating whether to brand it under my name (firstnamelastname.com) or under a separate brand name (or both?). I've seen people offer similar services using both models and wanted some feedback on what is the best direction to take and why?

I had a similar dilemma recently, when building out my website to help grow my project management and consulting business. I ultimately went with my first name and last name as the domain, mainly because my specific goal for this particular site was to inform people who already know me that I was available to take on new projects.

I'm also offering coaching services. These are separate from my project management and consulting business and are related to the principles I discuss on my blog. I'm using the coach.me platform for coaching, so am using my profile on their site as my primary coaching site and promoting it through my blog. People are more likely to come to the blog based on what I discuss, i.e. mindful wellness for entrepreneurs, rather than who I am. So in this case, I have the blog name as the URL, rather than my name. Once people find the blog, they can find me on coach.me.

Finally for therapy services, as someone who's been seeing a therapist for a few years now, I'd lean toward working with someone who uses their name, rather than a "company" name. I think this builds trust from the outset and I'm guessing most referrals will come via your name, as opposed to a company name.

I agree with another commenter that this could pose rebranding challenges if you decide to grow past yourself and establish a group of therapists under a company or collective name. One example of someone who's been able to pull this off is Jerry Colonna, who is a pretty well known therapist in the co-founder/startup world. Jerry used to work by himself and somewhat recently started a company called Reboot.io, which is a group of coaches and therapists. You can search for Jerry to find his individual site, then for reboot.io, to see how he's pulled it off.

Good luck and always happy to discuss further on a call!


Answered 9 years ago

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