You Can Make Whatever Name You Choose Mean Something Over Time
Have you heard of Gary Vaynerchuk, aka Gary Vee before? Chances are you probably have if you’ve been paying attention to the social media / entrepreneur scene.
I feel like he is a dude you either love or hate due to his bravado or profanity. One thing is for certain, people know of him because he made his name mean something.
As an immigrant from the Soviet Union, Gary helped his dad transform his notable Wine Library business to a powerhouse though YouTube vlogging.
From there, he’s gone on to build the multi-million dollar social media business, Vayner Media.
Vaynerchuk or Gary Vee wouldn’t mean anything to anyone if he didn’t bust his ass and pour his soul into what he was passionate about.
Picking a name for your brand or business can be hard and really frustrating, I can totally relate.
I’m here to convince you that you can make whatever name you choose to operate under mean something over time.
You have what it takes.
The Need for a Name
It was early March 2014 when I thought my co-partner DMac (DSTN) and I were going to take our clothing brand, Daydreamin’ Clothing to the next level.
We were steadily building for 4 years and had:

a warehouse lined up to make our prototypes
an investor willing to give us a shot
a shit ton of ideas and passion to “make it”

However, I was creating so much work on the side and not all of it fit the style of the brand. I needed a way to share this work separately.
During this time, I was getting heavy into hand lettering. I thought maybe I could become a big time freelancer and I needed a business name to house all my work.
The first thing I went to was the typical Scotty Russell Design, Russell Studio, Russell Graphics, Russell Design Co. but they all sounded super douchey.
I despised having my name a part of it as it didn’t have a nice ring to it. All my colleagues I knew at the time had their names a part of their brand but to me, it never clicked.
I decided to explore a more abstract route instead.
Massive Brain Dumps
I had a massive brain dump session (I love using that phrase) and began throwing words I liked on paper. Anything that came to mind I put it down and started to make connections.
The words Collective, Collection and Perspective kept coming up.
First, I was sold on the word Perspective first for 2 reasons:

Drawing and seeing perspective always came naturally to me.
After attending my first festival in the past year, Electric Forest, my perspective on life had dramatically changed.

Next, the word Collective and Collection sounded cool as it could mean all my drawings fell in this collection. Otherwise, down the road, it could mean I have a team under me.
After a month of throwing ideas around, Perspective-Collective was born in April 2014. However, it wasn’t until a month later in May when I gathered up the courage to announce it publicly with the branding I had created.
There Will Always Be Doubt
When you’re just starting off, it’s easy to feel stupid and doubt yourself.
If you’re like me, more specifically the old me, you want everyone to love your work and you’d be crushed if someone thought it was stupid.
I feel that’s what holds so many of us creatives back is we are afraid to have someone not approve of what we are doing. We see it as failure and that we don’t deserve a slot within the creative community.
I hesitantly began sharing through this moniker on Facebook and Instagram. This was the same time that my partner and I had some issues coming to agreements with shares and the future of Daydreamin’ Clothing.
Reluctantly, I stepped away from the brand and began putting all my spare time into Perspective-Collective. In the early days, I heard crickets when I posted my work. It sucked but I was having a lot of fun pursuing my work with no limits.
Over time, things began to pick up.
Make Your Name Mean Something
After posting consistently and studying how to utilize the former platform of Instagram (pre-al