Did you know Jeff Bezos wanted to originally call his company relentless.com?

It’s true, go put relentless.com in Google and you’ll still find it takes you to Amazon.com, as Amazon have owned the URL since Bezos had the idea.

American journalist and best-selling author Brad Stone discusses this very topic in his book ‘The Everything Store.’

Stone wrote: “Friends suggested [Relentless] sounded a bit sinister. But something about it must have captivated Bezos: He registered the URL in September 1994, and he kept it.”

Other names Bezos mulled over include Awake.com, Bookmail.com, and Browse.com, according to Stone and The Huffington Post.

Eventually Bezos settled on Amazon, maybe because it’s the world’s longest river or because it’s the world’s biggest rainforest, and he wanted to make Amazon.com the world’s biggest business.

Looking back Amazon was the wise choice, as personally we think people would struggle to relate to an online retail business called ‘relentless.’

We’ve no doubt ‘relentless’ certainly forms part of Bezos’ business strategy but choosing Amazon as the company name instead has turned out to be a trump card.

Why? Because everyone in the world has heard the word and what it represents.

If you asked a bunch of school kids what they associated the word ‘Amazon’ with back in 1994 (when Bezos started his company), they’d have said a huge famous river or a massive rainforest.

But ask the same question to a bunch of school kids today and we’re certain they’d say ‘Amazon.com, Alexa, Prime, shopping or even everything.’

Why are we telling you this?

Because in business the name of your company is particularly important, it’s one of the key things that sets you apart from others, and we’ve always believed it should tell people what you’re about, without too much brain power required.

Some trades people are a good example of what not to do. On their van some plaster their own name in huge text, and underneath in tiny text (as they whizz by) will be painter, electrician, or plumber.

People can’t see it and it gives them little chance to understand what service they provide.

This is why when we started our office technology business, we choose ‘MY Total Office Solutions.’

We had a vision (much like Bezos, but just for the office environment) to eventually providing everything a company needed for their office environment in a fixed monthly subscription.

So, the name we chose at the beginning had to reflect this vision, and we added the ‘MY’ to make it personal to people, as when they start to say our name they always begin with a personal ‘MY.’

Although we’ve already developed print & scan solutions, cloud phone systems, laptop / PC bundles with office 365 in fixed priced subscription packages. And have a full range of office supplies and office furniture. We’ve still got some way to go before we realise our final vision.

…but having a name that says what you do will certainly help us on our mission.