Sharron,
A story concerning the interesting side of your post…About 15
years ago when I decided that I wanted to start my own business, I
began calling around setting up accounts. Most of the larger
companies I called, where your just a number anyway, were pretty
strict about opening accounts, wanting to weed out nontrade people.
Among one of the most memorable calls I made was to a gem dealer on
the East coast. I said “hello, my name is Larry Seiger and I was
wondering if you have any green tourmalines?” Instead of hearing
"why yes, we stock a great number of them," I heard, “Larry, we have
quite a few, why don’t you tell us what you need and we’ll send them
to you today.” I thought, “Great” and told them what I needed.
“OK, we’ll send them right out!” was the response. I hung on for a
moment, waiting for them to get my address and trade information
when the phone went dead. I thought, "Well, she must be new, has
ESP or we got cut off. I called back and immediately connected to
the salesperson. “No,” she said there was not mistake, “we already
have your on file.” Ego got the best of me, I couldn’t
believe that I was already so well known that these guys had already
heard of me. I called another supplier, a small findings company in
Boston or Philly, I don’t recall, and got the same thing except this
time I squeezed in my address before the salesperson hung up and the
guy on that end got very rattled and irritated. “Wait a minute.
This isn’t Larry’s address and phone number! Who are you? Are you
trying to rip us off?” It seemed to be an odd question to ask if I
was trying to commit fraud. I soon found out that there is a
jeweler whose name is Larry Seegers who has been selling jewelry for
a number of years longer than me. This is how I learned that I was
not alone.
I went through a long period trying to decide what to call my
business. The designer trade was really hot back then and it seemed
important to have a person’s name associated with my business, so I
had to come up with a new name. I had decided to use my mother’s
maiden name for the business name but needed to have a first name.
I asked my grandmother if she would like for me to name my business
after my grandfather Ellis. Grandpa had passed away a few months
prior to me asking and I thought it a loving tribute. It also
astounded me that my initials, “LS”, sounded so close to Ellis.
But, my grandmother was always a little odd and much to my mother’s
and my aunt’s dismay she forbid me using his name. Still, I didn’t
want her shortsightedness to get the best of things so I decided to
name the business “LS Hancock”. It still rolls off the tongue
sounding a bit like Ellis, providing a tribute to my mother’s
family, and has kind of a formal look on a letterhead.
So now you all know why Larry Seiger, the goldsmith, has a business
named LS Hancock.
Larry Seiger (pronounced Sea-ger even though using German
pronunciation it should be pronounced Sigh-ger…don’t ask me, it’s
an early American immigrant thing) PS. At the Baltimore ACC show
they always seem to put the two of us in the same aisle. In 2001 my
booth number was 313 and his, 331. I placed an ad in American Craft
magazine, taking advantage of thier special rate in conjunction with
the show. Wouldn’t you know it, even though I specifically left my
name off the ad, they put his booth number on my ad! This year I
was 900 and he was 1000 something. I didn’t place an ad but I still
had people coming to my booth looking for “the other Larry”. To
make things worse, someone came to my booth and said that they had
just met my fiancee in California. Now I’ve been married for 9
years. She thinks there is another Larry, who is a jeweler, who
pronounces his last name like I do, somewhere in CA…the saga
continues!