| Back in
1982, I started a mail order company called "Heavy Leather" (click
here for details). In 2000 when I went to create a website, I looked
for the name "heavyleather.com", but found that someone
already had it. The people that had it made serious gay male bondage
stuff, which is not what I do. So, I added a hyphen and took
"heavy-leather.com". Through the years though I would find
that people remember the name of my business, and try to go to my
website by using that name and typing it in, usually forgetting the
hyphen, which means that they would go to the other site. I would hear
about that from so many people!
I'm
divorced and have sole custody of my daughter. When you're in that
situation, you're always in fear that perhaps the ex would cause
trouble. That's what I thought had happened one day when Child
Protective Services came to the door.
"Are you Mr. Lorimer?" they asked.
"Yes". I replied.
"Does your daughter live here with you."
"Yes."
"Do you run a leather business here?"
"Yes."
"Does your daughter help you out with the leather work?"
"Sometimes." I replied. They looked at each other. "She's
been working on making some drink coasters lately."
"Does she go with you to your shows?" they asked growing more
concerned.
"Yes, sometimes. She loves to go and play!"
At that point they pulled up a clipboard with a printout from a website.
It was a picture of a cock ring, in full use. "Is this the stuff
you make?"
"Oh my God" I exclaimed, "You've got the wrong website!
You went to heavyleather.com, my website is heavy-leather.com, with a
hyphen in between!"
As it turns out, it was a
neighbor that had called in the complaint. They saw the signs on the
side of my van, and like many people, forgot to put the hyphen in. They
went to the wrong website, and got a shock!
It was at that point that I
decided that I needed to change websites. I came up with a few names,
and landed on "LeatherLore.com". I liked it, and everyone
around me liked it, and it was open! So I got it!
And now, I've recently found out,
there is someone that is calling himself "leatherandlore.com".
People have already confused me with him. Don't confuse us! We're worlds
apart.
So, as it stands right now, my
official business name, as filed with the state and my banking accounts
is "Heavy Leather", and the official website for "Heavy
Leather" is "www.leatherlore.com". If you were someone
that bought something from me and used a credit card, your statement
will show the business name as "Heavy Leather". My listings
with different ren faires will show one of these combinations:
"Heavy Leather", "Leather Lore", and "Heavy
Leather Lore." My banner at any faire now reads "Heavy Leather
Lore"
I am considering changing my
business name to "Leather Lore", but that's not in process
yet.
2008 UPDATE!
Just recently, the original
"HeavyLeather.com" came available, and I was able to snatch it
up! Soon I'll be using both "HeavyLeather.com" and "LeatherLore.com"
to take you to my website! |
