What’s in a Name?

Misao, cranky as ever. After 18 years, she is deaf, too, so these days she cranky and LOUD. Photo credit: Harmnd Rull

Oh technology, how I love/hate thee.

Allow me to expound…

Luckygirl Designs has been the name under which I have operated my business for many years, dating back to when I waited tables at The Earle, tended spa at Bellanina, taught myself HTML in my spare time and picked up graphic design work on the side (sleep has always been negotiable for me).

When I landed in Los Angeles 4 months later, I was on my way to the Big Time!
I had a website.
I had my little apartment.
I had my cranky cat.
I had a little business coming in here and there. Although I had yet to manifest a complete vision of how my business would evolve, I still lived in gratitude. Feeling like the luckiest girl ever, I was determined to learn the tools of the trade without a fancy business degree. Self-actualized woman coming through, people!

Fast forward 12 months to me pulling my hair out because my cutely-named, self-designed website (thisluckygirl.com) that SO embodied my sense of where I was going; That first website address I’d proudly printed on 500 shiny new business cards (and had already passed them all out!) was BLOCKED on the local library computer! WHAT! THE! Effff!!!???

You see, it is not uncommon for some websites to be blocked by corporations and various other entities because they may be thought to include adult content. Malicious malware? No. Guilty of excessive spamming? But Little ‘Ol Me? Luckygirl Designs? Uhhhh no way.

My emails were not being delivered to school teachers, librarians, casinos and other establishments that chose to filter “luckygirl” in all it’s connotations. Potential clients could not email me. The space time continuum was likely affected. I know, back then I wished I could have traveled back in time to do business the old fashioned way – mailing letters and making calls from a rotary phone with a twirly cord that would not have reached far enough to the coffee pot (just kidding! This is, of course absolutely false).

I LIVE by my technology (that’s the “love” part) but I am also shamefully dependent on it working seamlessly (that’s the “hate” part). It wouldn’t be so bad if something failed to work because of something I did. But I was insulted that “they” thought I would be in charge of an enterprise that would be up to no good. Their firewalls had offended my good sensibilities. Didn’t those jerks know how grateful I was!!!???

Then the Entrepreninja in me kicked in.

In business, you have to get over your personal feelings and move toward solutions that give you the results you need/want/have to have. So I changed my website name… a whoppin’ four times! And had different issues with each iteration. Every single time I would be optimistic about my chances (“I think I’ve figured it out. It’s because our office is now based in Las Vegas. Let’s buy a Latvian domain!”). And every single time I felt like I was being accused of something for which I was not guilty. I’d curse the heavens, blame my cat and then… well, then I would come up with another domain name (“You can review my portfolio at LG Designs dot com without the vowels. That’s l-g-d-s-g… No, it’s l-g-d without the e, then s… Not f…it’s S… as in Sam… nevermind, I’ll text you.”) .

Recently I settled on LGDesigns.co and no problems with the domain thus far! Yes, I miss the “m” that would make me a dot com. Am I ashamed that I cyberstalked the owner of LGDesigns.com for four months (if you know him, please ask him if he is willing to let go of his domain name)? No. Does it bring up feelings of inadequacy because it took me a few years to simply have things function the way they should have all along? A little, but I DO believe in luck – the kind you create for yourself. And I also believe that there are valuable lessons to be learned in every challenge we overcome and I’m grateful for every one.

I love what I do. I love the name of my company – LG Designs – and as for the new domain name, let’s just put it this way; We get along fine even without the “m.” My new domain and I get things done. We cultivate luck and we make it work in our favor. We’re a team and we can help you and your business have a relationship like ours.

Let me and my team help you create a lifestyle that you will love. At LG Designs, we help you create your OWN luck!

Follow us on twitter for tips and news about how you can increase your ROI and grow your online presence.

Love this blog post? Be generous and share the info. Use the social media sharing buttons to share this with your friends!

-Christina

Founder, Luckygirl LLC

702.900.3419