Wise Move: Creating Community in the Window Fashion Industry

Have you ever received a suggestion or advice that you didn’t pay much attention to at first, only to realize later that it would have saved you a bunch of aggravation? Yeah, me too. Today I will be sharing one of those moments with you. Read on to learn exactly what happened and how we got past it.

Last week we launched our subscription service. Its main focus is sharing installation tips, videos and knowledge for our industry. I describe it as continuing education for window treatment professionals. It was really well received and we already have over 50 members signed up!

The original name (as we planned it) was going to be The Nest Community. If you think about it, it makes sense since our logo is represented by an owl which symbolizes wisdom. If you are wondering where I got that from, just go back to your cartoon days remembering all those teachers and professors represented by owls.

Anyway, The Nest Community felt like the perfect name since “nest” is the home of the owl where everyone feels safe. So, off we went with that name! I created a logo, wrote the website pages, created a podcast commercial and even an explanation video about the community.

A few hours after the launch, I had two replies from colleagues concerned that the Nest Community could potentially create a problem for two reasons:

1. If you own a Nest Thermostat (owned by Google), you already know that there is a Google Nest Community that talks about everything thermostat. 
2. If one day our window treatment community becomes something “noticeable”, my office could potentially receive a visit from Google’s legal department.

As far as I am concerned, I don’t believe I have the upper hand to force Google to give up on their name. For that reason, less than a week later, our subscription service was renamed to The Wise Community instead.

To be honest, I think Wise was a great choice and more in line with education and expertise … which as it turns out is exactly what we are providing to our members. Wisdom.

Obviously, I had to spend a few hours revising all the materials, paying for my team to redo the logos and videos with the new name and so much more.

But 

Here’s the funny part about this tale: I was sharing this whole ordeal with my good installer friend Joe Gebara and he said “Roger, I told you about this last year when we first started brainstorming the idea.” He even sent me a screenshot of that conversation from back then. I was embarrassed to say the least.

Here’s the takeaway that I want you to keep in mind: Sometimes in our installation world, we get so narrowly focused on finding a solution that we don’t even look around us. That tunnel vision may cost you extra hours or even money before finding the best outcome for you and your business.

In my case, I did not pay attention to Joe’s suggestion about the name already being used.

Changing all the materials to reflect our new name cost me hours and money that could have been easily avoided.

So, when you get stuck on an install, take a deep breath, look around, listen to your colleague (either the ones in the room with you such as the designer, workroom or dealer) or even your colleagues on Facebook. The solution might be right before your eyes and hopefully without costing you any money at all.

What I can say about this whole ordeal is that I was glad it happened early on and before our brand became a household name. In the end, changing the name was a WISE move :)

More than ever, Never Stop Learning!

Until next time

Roger