Back in November 2006 I decided that "Carolina Web Strategies" just wasn't doing it.  It didn't inspire me and it did not adequately reflect my business.  That is when I embarked on the search for a new name. 

Finding a name for your business is not easy.  It's HARD.  Naming our pets is always a multi-day (sometimes week long) task.  "This is our new dog, who has no name.  We're thinking Sophie."  How we got to "Abbey" from "Sophie" I don't know.  I just know that I refused to have a pet named "Precious" because it sounds like the name of someone who would appear on Jerry Springer.  It was also the name Jame Gumb's dog in The Silence of the Lambs, a joke I didn't get when my wife suggested it.

So there I was, looking for another name, dissecting the reasons why "Carolina Web Strategies" wasn't working and how I did not want to make the same change again.  I set up four criteria for a new name:

• It is not to be tied to any geographic region.


• It needs to be unique and memorable.


• It has to rank high on a Google search.


• It must describe the services we offer.

I considered simply renamind the company "CWS [something]" like "CWS Interactive" or "CWS Internet" but that just sounded weird.  And if I was going to go through all of the hassle to change the name (legal, banking, IRS, state) it needed to be completely different from the old name.

So I started pondering, working with the "Version 4" of the Carolina Web Strategies web template placing new names at the top, working with concepts and ideas and seeing how they fit.  Then one day a client sent an e-mail praising a very old application we had developed.  A temp was using it and they remarked how smart the tool was.  I liked that.

So then I started milling over "smart tools" which has been in so many company names that it's almost as annoying as hearing "Web 2.0."

Enter my dog, Supertramp and a keychain.

I had recently returned from a visit back to D.C. where I bought a keychain carabiner shaped exactly like the gear you see in the upper left corner of the web site.  I was fidgeting with it while pondering a programming problem (say that fast) and listening to a random iTunes track: The Logical Song - a wonderful song describing one's growth from wide-eyed innocence into maturity and seeing the reality of the world.  At that moment, one our pugs, Sadie started scratching at my leg wanting to nap on my lap.

See, Sadie's nickname is "the Sprocket" or "Sadie Sprocket" because she can rocket from a sitting position and leap an amazing distance despite being shaped like a compact furry log.

My figeting with my new keychain, the Sprocket scratching and the Logical song all came together: "Sprocket Logic" or, "Smart Tools."  I immediately started searching Google.  Did anyone have it?  Was anyone using anything similar?  Is there a state named Sprocket Logic?  Does it describe what we do?

Bingo!

I talked it over with my wife and she immediately liked it.

So we sat on it.  And the more I thought about it the more I liked it.  The name inspired new designs and innovative approaches to developing web tools.  It has that technical, "shop" sound that I have always liked.

And there you have how it all came to be.  The name was registered New Years Eve and new site development began on the 1st.  Now it's here and I am quite relieved but excited about what is to come.