"Is this a carpet cleaning business?"

When I tell people the name of my company,  they have one of two reactions. Some crinkle their nose like they've just made an unpleasant discovery at the bottom of their kid's gym bag. But others just smile as the words enter their ears, ricochet through their brains and exit the body through the corners of their upturned lips.

It wasn't my first attempt. In fact, to make sure I had a unique domain name, I ran so many ideas past GoDaddy that they locked me out of their servers. From "Write the Ship" to "Blah, Blah, Blacksheep" I tried every word play there was. I even stumbled on a great name for a bar, which is funny because I don't drink. "Random Genius" was another early candidate. It was a name I originally tossed around years ago. Now, I learned, it could be mine for just under $3,000. But I liked eating too much to give it up for any lengthy period of time. So, in desperation, I typed in a random pair of words — and the monkey was born. I liked it because it was funny. And different. And, like the latter half of my test subjects, it made me smile.

A few days later I was in the county clerk's office watching a helpful civil servant type up the necessary forms. I expected her to smile as the odd name punctuated what was surely another dull day of dealing with the public. But I got bupkis. At least the lady typing up my legal ad ventured a guess. "Is this a carpet cleaning business?," she asked dryly, handing me my receipt.  The short answer is, "No, it is not." The long answer is that it's really a blank slate. Something new, different and memorable. Like Facebook and Red Bull, it's a combination of words that didn't exist until it was created in the recesses of mind that's not quite properly balanced. And I look forward to turning it into a trusted brand.

In the meantime, if you need your carpets cleaned, you'll have to talk with someone else. I've got all I can do teaching the monkeys to type.