Two business names or one

markjtrickey

I have registered two business names. One is relevant to the type of photography I am doing now (Pets, dogs mostly). That name is PicturePaws Photography. The other is based of my name, Trickey Photography. I'm considering using that if I ever expand into other areas of photography (i.e. Events, Stock, travel, etc). Do any others run there business using multiple names? Or am I just setting myself up by using the name that is very focused torward one type of photography?

-mark

Art Scott

Why not keep it simple and just your name and then a ;ine stating specializes in..................
Then when you decide to move on up to the People photography all you need to do is change that one line.....

markjtrickey

I was leaning that way, but ....
I was leaning that way, but went the direction I did because the name and web site for the dog photography was easily remembered and associated with what I currently do. I'm leaning towards combining into one, but I'm curious if others do work under two names and what issues and or benefits it might have.

- mark

fredjclaus

How about one business name and two websites? You could have PicturePaws.com for your pet photography, and TrickeyPhotography.com for your photography in general. I agree with Art though. Keep it simple by naming your photography after you. Either your name in full or Trickey Photography. That would be more universal and you can put on your advertisements that you specialize in pet photography.

Digital Illusions

i have one company Digital Illusions Photography, but i created a seperate division called Brian Gailey Photography. they each have thier own website.

Digital Illusions is for all my contracted work (i.e. weddings). while Brian Gailey Photography is for all my other non-contract work (i.e landscapes)

markjtrickey

I like the way this is going. My dilemma is around business cards. I like www.picturepaws.com for my dog photography, but would like to standardize on Trickey Photography for all business needs. Which to some extent I have by opening checking, lines of credit, etc as Trickey Photography, but I can't figure out how to reconcile two web sites on one business card, or should I carry two business cards and hand out one or the other.

-mark

Angelo

markjtrickey wrote:

I have registered two business names...

what do you mean by "registered"?

incorporated? sole owner? DBA?

which ever it is I think you might be setting yourself up for a record keeping nightmare.

two business names (that are each succinct legal entities) will require separate books. co-mingling of funds is frowned upon, how do you depreciate equipment?

Maybe ChatKat will be along to offer advice.

.

markjtrickey

Ugg .... This is why I should ask before I do. They are two DBA'a so I don't think I'm in to deep in an accounting nightmare. As far as book-keeping (what little I do) it is all under Trickey Photography. Checking account, DUNS number, Tax ID, etc is all under the Trickey Photography name. I registered the other name, well, because I liked it , but I don't use that name on anything other than my web site and business cards.

- mark

jdryan3

Angelo wrote:

what do you mean by "registered"?
incorporated? sole owner? DBA?.

I think he means domain name registration:

~ picturepaws.com is to Mark Trickey
~ trickeyphotography.com is to trickey.us
~ trickey.us is to Mark Trickey of North Carolina

All thru godaddy

Art Scott

Angelo wrote:

what do you mean by "registered"?

incorporated? sole owner? DBA?

which ever it is I think you might be setting yourself up for a record keeping nightmare.

two business names (that are each succinct legal entities) will require separate books. co-mingling of funds is frowned upon, how do you depreciate equipment?

Maybe ChatKat will be along to offer advice.

.

This is where it is kinda like being neck deep in a cesspool with hands tied and the tide is rising.....


Man a campaign to turn everyone on to the fact that P-Paws ...... is the same as Trickey and get it known thatP-Paws....com is only a website for the for the viewing of your work and do all selling off of Trickey..........com, even at that the IRS and YOUR STATE IRS maynot allow the deduction of a second website, since you could just have pet galleries on your TRickey......com site ......

Find a local accountant or tax lawyer.....it is no fun being scrutinized by the Central Scrutinizer at any time cause the keep scrutinizing you for a very long time.......case in point.....I did a year of business....buying all my film and having it processed at one place...this was 35mm and medium format (120 & 220 film).....the receipts had no identifier as to what I had bought from the store it just said photo andso did the receipts for my albums and everything......the state of KS and also the IRS said I could not use any of those deductions as there was no store Identifier or product identifier.....bar codes and such were very new at this time and 99% of the sole propriorter stores had not purchased new cash registers that imprinted everything....it sucked big time and for over 5 yrs they kept making me bring all my tax stuff to them for auditing....so I turned to paying higher prices and charging more just to break even at that time........