[NJARC] business names

[amagoun]

John,

You've gotten lots of good suggestions and it sounds like you've done your research.  My only
suggestion about names is that you ask yourself who is buying your radios etc. and who would you
like to buy your radios?  Are they people who like the concept of an antique radio in their home,
without playing it very often (and which will need converters with the digital transition, right?)?
Are they buying them as gifts for older family and friends?  Are they decorators for McMansions?
Are they under the age of 40 and fascinated by the styling, the tubes, the smell?

Philcoguy is going to mean very little to people outside specialists, and it limits you.  Names
involving death are subconsciously offputting.  John's Antique Radios or John's Antique Electronics
are simple and identify you and your products for what they are.  A subtitle, Restorations and
Repairs, can be added or used as talking points with passersby.  With the recent rise in interest in
vinyl, you might use Electronics to show your broader product line, or you might insert record
players prominently on your business-related website, which will drive physical traffic to your
store.  If you aren't already, do your market research by asking customers how they found out about
you and track that by categories (impulse/just browsing, word-of-mouth, website, etc.).

Also on your invoices you should add that disclaimer that Nick or one of the others added about the
durability of your restoration and the release of your liability.  That generally won't be an issue
until you're running 100 shops across the country and show the deep pockets that make you worth
suing, but it helps to state your disclaimers and terms of purchase up front.

The next time you don't want a small percentage of your hard-earned money going to the state, try
running a business or living your life without a government.  People have complained about taxes
since the beginning of civil society 10,000 years ago, and we're no closer to determining a fair
level of taxation than we are the just price of bread or oil.

Alex