A few months ago, I realized I wanted to name my business. It was an exciting moment for me, because I’ve spent a LOT of time naming other people’s stuff.
For years, when I worked as a copywriter and brand strategist, I helped clients come up with names for their programs and packages.
I always enjoyed the process of gathering threads of ideas, archetypes and imagery, high-ticket adjectives and full-throttle verbs, in the hopes of pinpointing the magic they would deliver when channeling their unique gifts into these services.
I never had trouble naming a standalone service: a coaching package, free download, training, or workshop. But naming a business—that was harder.
I knew how to do it intellectually, of course. I even created a DIY Naming Kit to help people brainstorm their own list of names.
But for me personally, naming a business was less about the science and more about the art. It felt offbeat and wrong for me to engineer or assemble a signifier as important as a business name.
You could argue that I was overthinking it, but truly, my artist’s heart was adamant. If the name didn’t come to me in a flash of inspiration, I just wasn’t going to deliver.
Fast forward 5 years and here I am, pulled by the white-hot desire to name my business and give it a standalone identity.
Because yes, right now it’s me doing all of the work over here, and maybe I’ll always be the face of my brand. But I am clear that my business, the true work and transformation I deliver, is taking up space as an independent force in the world. That force deserves a name.
And guess who can’t think what to call it?
My goose egg results on naming this biz are not for lack of mental effort. Quite the contrary. I’ve got at least 100 ideas sitting patiently in a Google Doc. But none of them feel right. Nothing has HIT. As my mom would say, “They don’t send me.”
So the answer, for now, is simply “not yet”.
Too bad. So sad. I’ve got to wait.
I realized this a few weeks ago, when I made the decision to pry my brain out of its name-generating vortex.
I was walking home from the park, spitballing names under my breath, when it occurred to me I was not getting anywhere. I’d spent a few weeks making a good solid effort to “find the one” and it still wasn’t happening.
Suddenly, I saw myself with perspective, acting like a woman head-butting a wall. I felt not unlike my son when his walker bumps into a table edge: expending lots of cute effort, but going nowhere.
Right then I decided to call off the hunt and accept my business name as it stands right now. Elizabeth Hope Derby—we’ll keep rolling with that. I’ve got the DBA paperwork and everything.
As soon as I made the decision to stop fighting my (lack of) flow, I felt relief followed by a surge of energy. No fruitless pushing! No frenetic force!
Plus I got so much brain space back! Magically, I had the bandwidth to do practical things like remember to write eggs on the grocery list.
I’m sure you’ve experienced the feeling of wanting something to happen so badly you push right past your limits in an effort to make it so.
Maybe you’ve wanted to sell a new service offering, or hire the right person, or book some new clients.
You feel certain you’re ready to receive the thing you want, and gosh darn it, you’re going to make it happen.
So you push and push. You brainstorm and ponder. Maybe you hire some experts to hold you accountable or offer solutions when you can’t think of one. You may try a hundred ways from Sunday to create or manifest the outcome, but it simply isn’t happening.
If you’re a go-getter (and I know you are), you likely double down on taking action.
You troubleshoot what’s happened. You analyze alternate options. You circle back and test different behaviors and on and on and on.
Or if you don’t have enough time to actually do something constructive, you think about it constantly. You mentally review your strategy and imagine new outcomes and worry about what you might have missed.
In short, you obsess, and it’s exhausting. It doesn’t get you anywhere.
You’d be better off letting to go, like I did with the business name, because when the time is right, your breakthrough will come.
The perfect new hire will emerge in your inbox. New client inquiries will land in your lap. You’ll find someone to sell your new service to and they’ll be delighted to buy it.
As the Chinese proverb says, “You may wear out your iron-soled shoes searching for what arrives with no effort at the right time.” (Big thanks to Tosha Silver for that one.)
During this time of new year pandemic languishing, it’s easy to feel like you’re stuck or getting boxed in by the Universe.
If you’ve been going hard after a specific goal and hitting roadblock after roadblock, you might be especially frustrated.
I want you to experience the relief and energy surge that comes with letting go of the push. I want you to delight in the freedom that follows when you release what’s not ready back into the void.
So how do you know if you’re working through a productive push or if you’re caught in a no-breakthrough loop?
The easiest way to figure it out is to ask your inner GPS. The energy I like to call your CEO instinct. It’s the quiet certainty that lives in your gut and the very center of your heart.
You already know. Your CEO instinct knows.
You just have to dip below the mental chatter and get quiet enough to listen.
So go ahead. Right now, think of something you’ve been trying to achieve lately where the result has been eluding you.
Are you starting to feel worn out by the chase? Or frustrated and frazzled because you’re still hammering away at it, but you still haven’t yet gotten what you wanted?
Take a deep breath, or several. Let your shoulders relax. Get quiet and listen inward.
Is it time to let go? Is the answer “not yet” or “keep going”?
Just listen to what emerges for you.
In my next post, I’ll share what to do AFTER you decide to let go. If moving on from this particular goal doesn’t feel easy, I have got you covered.
In the meantime, I’d love to hear if this topic resonates with you. If so, what goals or results have you been chasing, and how are you feeling about them now?
Drop them in the comments and let me know. And of course, you have a loud ‘ding!’ from your CEO instincts, share that too. I’d love to celebrate with you!
