Initally after I had decided that I was going to set up this business I decided that I needed to get some sort of image for the business. So that when I was chatting to people about it, that at least I had a name and a logo. A name is a name – I was happy with Baba Beag – it was Irish (which some people thought was a bit restrictive in terms of take up outside of Ireland – and for the nearly 4 million people who dont speak the language in Ireland. But we decided that it wasnt going to be a huge issue – as most of the business was going to be from Ireland inititally and that most people could understand what ‘baba’ meant – its pretty universal and Beag – well even if you dont know what that means you could probably hazard a guess). In fact baba beag was what myself and my wife called our first baby – Maya. So at least it meant something to me. I find a lot of online businesses come up with these generic names – lile babygifts – or somesuch – probably for search engine reasons and possibly lack of any other ideas – so I like a name that isnt generic and it represents an idea etc…
Anyway, having decided a name – I then got a graphic designer to draw up the name and create a logo with it. He was very good – paul@judodesign.ie – he’s living down in Sligo – really nice guy and very good – you discuss with him what you want in terms of the meaning, tone – all that stuff – and he interprets it and comes back with great ideas. Well worth the money. Some designers you have to hand hold them all the way through – but not with this guy. So we were very happy with the outcome on that. Then got biz cards etc.. printed up. Maybe look around for cheaper options on the cards, letterheads, comp slips and even things like flyers and other printware – I spent quite a lot of cash on these – and could have gotten a better deal (for slightly less quality) – depends on what you’re looking for.
Then you go register the Logo and name as a Trademark. This was a piece of P. You could have gone and got a patents lawyer to do this for you (and they will tell you that you should have) but the truth is you can do it yourself with minimum hassle. Just print off the logo, choose the category(ies) that you are trading in and send it down to the Patents office on the HEBRON Road on the West Bank (more commonly known as Kilkenny). They come back to you in a couple of months, you pay €177 and its all yours.
After that the next step was to look at developing the website. Assuming you’ve got some money to do so.
More on that later.
