Why I name things in our business

Design & Development

Compass Calls, Managed Websites, and CREST, oh my!

These terms mean very little to most people (virtually everyone), but they are significant pieces of my business and my life.

There is a particular art and virtue in naming things.

Jason Fried once tweeted:

Giving features catchy names is like giving something a handle – it lets someone pick it up and run with it. It’s a good idea.

Thomas Friedman (also via Jason Fried) wrote:

In the world of ideas, to name something is to own it. If you can name an issue, you can own the issue.

To be completely honest, I am basically obsessed with naming things.

Frameworks, ideas, products, services, and initiatives take on a new life when they are given a unique name.

They become more contentful and less esoteric.

There is, for example, a massive difference between a “website” and a “Managed Website.”

I sell the latter. With zero additional context, someone could deduce that we do not produce websites that sit around waiting for a reaction.

We produce websites that are looked after, kept up, optimized—in other words, managed. Something that is managed is proactively taken care of.

That’s the idea.

I don’t conduct “Discovery Calls.” I conduct “Compass Calls.”

I want to go a step beyond discovery, even during initial contact. To the extent possible, I genuinely want to point potential clients in the right direction, even if they don’t do business with me.

This is consistent with the fact that we have hundreds of thousands of words and hundreds of hours of audio and video content in our Learning Hub and across our various social platforms.

A compass points in a direction. We do too. Whether or not you work with us—see the difference?

Name your stuff. Make it mean something. It’s all part of becoming a more truthful and efficient communicator.

Sep 15, 2022

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Hey, I'm Steve — a Christian, entrepreneur, thinker, and creator. Thanks for stopping by!

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