White label naming? What on earth is that? And how is that different from just hiring a freelancer for a naming project? (Yeah, leave it to the namers to come up with a name for what they do…) I’m one half of StokeSignals — a micro-agency specializing in naming and…

And why I think there’s a better way. No one likes contracts. They’re full of confusing legalese, confusing clauses, and stuffy addendums. You know you’re supposed to have one, because (as a client or as a contractor), you need to cover your ass. …

I’ve interviewed countless independent contractors and clients, done boatloads of research, and experimented with different approaches to contract-based work. When my co-founders and I first started to have these conversations and think critically about contracts between clients and contractors as we were building Ditto, we were focused mostly on finding…

The difference between “she does great work” and “we love working with her” can be super simple. It can also be the difference between repeat business (or not) and getting referrals (or not). Here are five unbelievably easy ways to delight your clients. 1. Save them time. Don’t send files…

(I wrote the post below for StokeSignals, hence the “we” instead of “I” — but it’s information that people struggling with naming their product or company may benefit from, so please forgive the repost and the royal “we.”) There’s not a Unicorn out there with a less-than-Unicorn-worthy name. Which is…

Authenticity has always been a cornerstone of brand development, and it’s only going to get more important. There’s a reason your customers like your brand. But that reason is not how you beat your competition — it is how you attract more customers away from your competition. Semantics? …

When I first started naming professionally, I was working a full-time job as the Marketing Director of a small company. Naming was a side hustle, and I kept it on the down-low, fearful that my employer would question my dedication to their company. Around the same time, I also started…

When it is determined that an offering is to be named, the first step should be establishing a core team — the four to six individuals charged with running the project and selecting the short list of names. This team could include representatives from marketing and product development and/or other…

Last week I was chatting with a serial entrepreneur (a label I aspire to earn). He founded — and subsequently shut down — a company serving the same target market as Ditto, my current venture, so I was very interested in understanding what had gone wrong. He clearly enumerated all…