| Back in 1982, I
started a mail order company called "Heavy Leather" (click
here for details). When I went to create a website, I looked for the
name "heavyleather.com", but found that someone already had
it. The people that have it make serious gay male bondage stuff, which
is fine, but it's not what I do. So, I added a hyphen and took
"heavy-leather.com". Through the years though I would find
that people remember the name of my business, and try to go to my
website by using that name and typing it in, usually forgetting the
hyphen, which means that they would go to the other site. I would hear
about that from so many people!
I'm
divorced and have sole custody of my daughter. When you're in that
situation, you're always in fear that perhaps the ex would cause
trouble. That's what I thought had happened one day when Child Protective Services came to the door.
"Are you Mr. Lorimer?" they asked.
"Yes". I replied.
"Does your daughter live here with you."
"Yes."
"Do you run a leather business here?"
"Yes."
"Does your daughter help you out with the leather work?"
"Sometimes." I replied. They looked at each other. "She's
been working on making some drink coasters lately."
"Does she go with you to your shows?" they asked growing more
concerned.
"Yes, sometimes. She loves to go and play!"
At that point they pulled up a clipboard with a printout from a website.
It was a picture of a cock ring, in full use. "Is this the stuff
you make?"
"Oh my God" I exclaimed, "You've got the wrong website!
You went to heavyleather.com, my website is heavy-leather.com, with a hyphen
in between!"
As it turns out, it was a neighbor that
had called in the complaint. They saw the signs on the side of my van,
and like many people, forgot to put the hyphen in. They went to the
wrong website, and got a shock!
It was at that point that I decided that I
needed to change websites. I came up with a few names, and landed on
"LeatherLore.com". I liked it, and everyone around me liked
it, and it was open! So I got it!
And now, I've recently found out, there is
someone that is calling himself "leatherandlore.com". People
have already confused me with him. Don't confuse us! We're worlds apart.
So, as it stands right now, my official
business name, as filed with the state and my banking accounts is
"Heavy Leather", and the official website for "Heavy
Leather" is "www.leatherlore.com". If you were someone
that bought something from me and used a credit card, your statement
will show the business name as "Heavy Leather". My listings
with different ren faires will show one of these combinations:
"Heavy Leather", "Leather Lore", and "Heavy
Leather Lore." My banner at any faire now reads "Heavy Leather
Lore"
I am considering changing my business name
to "Leather Lore", but that's not in process yet. |
