About a year ago I decided I wanted to expand my business.
I had been freelancing for years. Being independent was fun. I was building websites on the side of a full-time job, helping small business owners, artists, a wide variety of people establish a web presence. I always had this dream in the back of my head. I wanted to help more people with their websites.
I really like working with people on their websites. I love sitting down, meeting face to face, and helping people figure out what they need and how they want it displayed. I love the team effort of working with a client to figure out a design that will really resonate. I love taking that design, building it, and seeing it come to life on screen. I love the look of joy, or the excited emails I get after my clients see their website in action. I want them to be happy. I want them to love my work. And I want it to work for them. Be successful for them. Take them and their businesses where they want to go.
I had been doing business as “House on Payne Web Design” for a long time, and I didn’t want to give it up. But a couple of people mentioned that I might run into trademark infringement since the name was so close to a name that WAS trademarked. Rather than risk it, I decided to find another name.
About that time, my husband, Andy, who had always supported me, sat down with me to explain that he wanted to be a part of the “new” House on Payne. That was really exciting. Andy’s extremely skilled in development and system administration — areas where I am not as strong. Between the two of us, we have a lot of years of experience and specialization. We just needed a name.
We batted around several — not really settling on anything. Then one morning I was sitting in my office at my computer when Andy came running in.
“Standard Beagle!” he said.
“What?”
“Standard Beagle! Get it?”
It took me a while, but I finally smiled. “Standard beagle” — the term we jokingly used to describe Bennie, our coonhound. Most people have no idea what Bennie is. She looks like a giant beagle. They would ask, “Is that a beagle?” And we would say, “She’s our standard beagle,” with a grin on our faces, because that’s our sense of humor.
When you get to know us, you’ll understand. We love to laugh. We have a dry sense of humor, and we love a good joke.
Bennie is known for her very distinct bark — we took some video:
