How to Name Your Virtual Assistant Business

One of the first things you'll probably do in your virtual assistant business is decide on a name. It's an important step because it can set the whole tone for your biz.

You also need the name for many other early steps - like creating a logo, securing a domain name and social media handles, and getting a business bank account.

If this is the boat you're in, please keep reading ... because this post is going to totally put your mind at ease AND give you a super easy solution you can implement right now!

Choosing a Name for Your Virtual Assistant Business is SO Difficult

Naming your VA business can end up being a time-consuming, frustrating exercise ...

- because you don't want to get it wrong

- because "everything is already taken"

- because you can't move forward until you decide

You're starting as a Virtual Assistant so you want your profession reflected in your biz name. You mix and match, trying every possible combination of:

your first name
your last name
"virtual"
"virtual assistance"
"solutions"
"services"
"tech services"
"creative"
... and on and on

Nothing sounds right or, if it does, it's already being used by another VA. Sigh. 

"Begin With the End in Mind" for Your VA Business Name

So how do you break through that frustration and finally choose a name? Let's do a quick exercise.

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, ... and look ahead 2-5 years in your business. Think about all the new things you'll learn, all the clients you'll work with, all the classes, courses, and webinars you'll take, all the new software you'll learn, and how much your expertise in your favorite areas will expand.

>>> It's pretty exciting to think about how much you'll grow in that time!

Now think about those VA-specific business names you're considering - names like: "Burton Creative VA," "Allied Virtual Agency," "Totally Tech," etc.

Do they keep pace with your evolution? Do those types of names still match up with what your business has evolved to, or what you want it to evolve to in the near future?

• What if you fall in love with helping clients with SEO? ("creative VA" no longer works)
• What if you decide you don't like managing others and don't want to run a VA agency after all? ("agency" in your name won't work anymore)
• What if you start writing about tech topics, fall in love with being an author, and shift to teaching entrepreneurs to become writers? ("Totally Tech" will be totally wrong)

Do you see what I mean? None of those original names work anymore and, in a really short time in your business life, you're already having to rename your business. Ugh!

Here's just a taste of what making a biz name change would involve:

• Change your domain and hosting
• Update the handles of all your social media channels
• Change the name on your business banking, Stripe, and Paypal accounts
• Do redirects on allllll the links you've built since you started
• Update all your Pinterest pins
• Do a name change for your DBA, LLC, etc.

I know what a completely time-consuming, mind-numbing pain this all is - because I went through it personally.

Speaking from Experience

When I started as a virtual assistant, I insisted on having "VA" in the name (even tho' some business mentors told me what I'm telling you now, and I ignored them. Double ugh!)

After several years in business as a virtual assistant, I realized that I wanted to change my business model. I'd learned SO much about online business, marketing, coaching, websites, branding, and more by helping my clients, that I was ready to:

1. change from being a virtual assistant to being an online business strategist, and

2. capitalize on the (literal) name I'd made for myself by helping and commenting in business Facebook groups under my Profile name (my first and last name, with my business name nowhere to be found unless someone dug for it)

I ended up dragging my feet and not changing my business name because IT WAS SUCH A HASSLE!!! Then I finally had to rip off the band-aid and make the change, including doing allll those things in the list above.

So while you may be balking a bit at my advice, I promise I've "been there, done that" and I'm truly trying to save you the same distress, expense, and trouble I went through. 

Starting Over with Your Business Name and Reputation 

The other big thing you'll lose is the reputation you've built up using your initial business name. Clients and others will come to know and associate you with that name and with the services that it implies.

If you start building your reputation as "Virtually Pinterest Assistant" but then get sick of Pinterest and decide to become an Instagram strategist, you'll have to start from scratch building up your business reputation when you change away from the VPA name.  

If you follow my advice below, this kind of pivot will be much easier to make.

How to Choose the Name for Your Virtual Assistant Business

A version of your actual name

You can save yourself a ton of time, trouble, and expense if - when choosing your business name at the start - you keep it more generic. The best choice is to just use your first/middle, first/last, or middle/last name as your business name!

What if your name is something more common, like Jessica Ann Smith or Jennifer Lynn Jones? All versions of common names are likely to be taken. If the other people using versions of your name (Jessica Ann, Jessica Smith, Ann Smith) are NOT virtual assistants or in a closely related space, perhaps you can still use it*. Your tag line is going to tell people what you do.

If every other person using all versions of your name are also VAs (a really rare situation, I hope), you could play around with your name a bit and find an alias that is meaningful and sounds good to you. Maybe use your beloved grandmother's first name with your last name, or your first name with your mom's maiden name ... that kind of thing.

And don't forget about nicknames as well, e.g., Rebecca (Becca, Becks), Michelle (Miche, Chelle, Chellie).

*Make sure you're compliant with all your business and tax authorities re: similar business names/similar fields, etc.

A "flexible" term or phrase

If you just can't make any version of your name work, a second choice would be to come up with one of those "Feather & Flint" or "Sage and Serendipity" type of names. Okay, I just totally made up those names, then Googled them and they do exist, ha! (but are not VA businesses).

But you know what I mean: two words that sound good together and capture the essence of you, your personality, your vibe. Just make sure neither word is SO specific that it wouldn't lend itself to your flexible business.

You could also choose a phrase from your all-time favorite poem, your mission statement, or your family motto. Something that encapsulates who you are or feelings you want your business to evoke. Just make sure it's short, catchy, and again, flexible for use with any online business you may expand to in the future.

Use Your Name for Your Virtual Assistant Business

If being a Virtual Assistant is your first foray into an online business, it can be really hard to imagine that you'll someday move beyond it much less predict what that "beyond" will be.

So it's really smart to keep your business name as generic as possible and not tie yourself to only doing "services" or "tech" or "assistant" or "virtual" or "digital" work in your business. Over time, I can pretty much guarantee that your online business is going to evolve and change focus, maybe many times.

When you do change focus, it's an easy transition from "Elisa Edwards, creative virtual assistant" to "Elisa Edwards, course and launch specialist" or from "Beachgrass and Palm, Wordpress services" to "Beachgrass and Palm, self-publishing consultant."

So a great tip for success is to use your own name (or a version of it) or a more generic-sounding phrase that will allow you to expand and grow over time without having to start all over when your business model changes.

PS: A little more food for thought ... Many times, people who are starting out as Virtual Assistants and get stuck in the search for the "perfect" name are actually just procrastinating. It's a stall tactic, an imaginary roadblock. Don't let this be your excuse! Use your name and be done with it. Go go go!! You got this 👍🏼