This business has been a work in progress for only a few short months now, but it’s amazing how quickly you can become attached to it along the way. We had a very interesting learning opportunity this week. As a start-up entrepreneur, you can only really look at these moments as “learning opportunities” anyways!
Pacific Design Lab has found its way into our hearts. Holiday pieces are being built as I write this, we have our website under construction with logo designs finally confirmed, and we have some special branding pieces on their way to finish off all of our goods. This week was all about the business stuff – applying for the business name, registering the business, the tax numbers – that sort of stuff. Well, how disappointed were we when we received a letter saying our name of Pacific Design Lab was not available as it conflicted with an existing name! Very, to say the least.
But just as it should be for any strong passion, we weren’t ready to give up. We had to fight for our beloved PDL! We had done our research and knew what this business already did. We firmly believed that there would be no conflict, and I appealed this decision – both on the phone (to some poor soul in Victoria) and via email. Oh, and I also wrote a letter to the other business to try and obtain their consent. To be honest, given what I know about government institutions I wasn’t holding my breath. We had also spent the past two evenings brainstorming new names and trying to figure out how we were going to proceed.
I’m not sure what did it in the end, but today we received a new note – the appeal had worked and after second review we were approved!
The lesson for this week, and I imagine it will be one we encounter again as we continue this journey, is don’t give up. There will be setbacks and that we know. But with enough conviction, and perhaps a little luck, this just might work out…
-A