I got lucky a few months ago, I came across a box of books someone was throwing out on their nature strip.

Had many of the classic entrepreneur books: E myth, Paul Clithroe etc

Hi Clare, I'm a member of Australia's biggest book group where all the books bought raise money for charity.

I will be reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and The Winds of Dune for all the sci-fi fans, I have read The Brightest Star in the Sky which I felt was not one of Marion's better works.

I am really looking forward to Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

More business books for me including another read of the E Myth revisted.

Good to see that I'm not the only one with a stack of books to read!

@Pamela - I've got a couple of books that I got halfway through that I want to finish - The Whuffie Factor by Tara Hunt, A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle and The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes.

I am reading, Once In A House On Fire, which is a memoir by Andrea Ashworth. So far... very sad.

I will also then tuck into The House Across The Road, by Ann Whitehead (due for release in January) before I interview the author in the New Year.

How about you Clare - what will you be reading?

Hey Clare. I'll (hopefully) be reading:
1) Dragon Keeper - by Robin Hobb
2) Wise Man's Fear - by Patrick Rothfuss
3) True Blood Omnibus - by Charlaine Harris

With the surname Page, I found it a small step to name my editing practice Perfect Pages - especially when one of my editing lecturers said, 'Your aim is for perfect pages every time you edit.'

While I no longer use the tag line 'Perfect pages every time' (because I didn't want to open myself up to legal action if my work was not perfect in the client's eyes), it's still my aim. My tag line is now 'Sharpening your writing'.

From reading previous comments posted, it sounds like naming a business that sells a service may be a little more difficult than a product.

Our babies' nappies are so plush and adorable, that 'Cushie Tushies' easily came to mind. We love the name, it looks good in our logo and it's something people seem to remember!

When choosing a name for a business, it's important that it covers a few criteria: distinctive, brief, easy to spell and pronounce, likable and appropriate. One other criteria I like to add is that it should have a memorable story behind it.

When my business partner and I started our design consultancy 7 years ago, we wanted a name for the business that would cover the criteria as well as reflect who we are and the values of our business.

We came up with 2birds - we were the 2 women who started the business. Our clients never forget our name and we have a lot of fun with it!

I wanted a simple name that people could spell for my PR business.

It gets frustrating for both parties having to spell out or repeat the name of a business both over the phone and at events etc. I also wanted a name that explained what we did.

The fact that the URL was available was also important!

BENCH PR is a no nonsense name which reflects a down to earth PR company that is passionate about what it does: results focused PR.

Respect: It's a very powerful word, but an even more powerful concept. Respect, for oneself and for others, is core to human decency and the nobler traits of humanity.

Respect is something that I always felt was lacking in the recruitment industry and this feeling was backed up by a multitude of personal and contacts related experiences.

I have seen the ugly side of the industry from all perspectives, as a jobseeker, an employer and as a service provider. Something had to be done to address the gap - hence Respect - Search & Selection, and the Respect - Business Services Group was born. Taking a chance on using such a powerful noun could have backfired drastically in a mire of irony, but we have navigated these dangerous waters with few mishaps.

Believing in the philosophy of Respect, and acting accordingly, is the foundation of our business. It's a slow and rutted road on the journey to change an industry, with a lot of learnings on the way. Respect is fragile, open to abuse, but it is also beautiful.

Northridge is my maiden name - I knew that one day i would marry and change my last name and if my business had "northridge" in the name, it would be with me forever!

Well now im married and glad i made that decision 6 years ago :)

Its still early days but the name is now registered. I was having drinks with my mentor and she was quizzing me on my motivations. I replied that I 'lurve' marketing, which when said Kath & Kim style sounds like Olive Marketing - and the name was born.

I love the concept of adding that final touch to businesses ie. the olive in the martini as well.

13 years ago I started a home based office services business and as a play on my name, Tallent, I named it the Tallent Agency.

I have since moved it forward to become a Virtual Assistance business and the play on my name gets lots of comments.

Of course, occasionally, I get phone calls from my yellow pages listing from people who want a Talent Agent for their modeling or acting or other artistic endeavors but for the most part, people "get it" that it is a play on both my name and a business with many talents.

A bit cheeky, but a variation on a theme of a well-known proponent of human change.

Design - that is, create on purpose
Business - that's what I work with
Engineering - the practical side of design and implementation to make things work!

I have developed a career in recrutiment and would often give candidates advice around their jobs, their career progression etc. Over the years I found myself saying 'you need to nourish your career - its like watering a plant you have to feed it' I then developed my career in coaching, business coaching, life coaching..

So nourish was born.

nourish coaching - feed your career cravings : satisfy life's appetite

The name goes down well with everyone (pardon the pun!)

My business name - Snappy Sentences - just came to me one day. I'd been freelancing for years, and felt it was time to take my writing to the next level (to make a living out of it).

As a web writer, I'd been telling clients that short, snappy sentences were best for online content. Then I thought, hey - that could work as a business name.

It's been great. People remember it, and it does sum up nicely what I do. I was lucky that a good friend of mine is a talented graphic designer, and she really developed good branding for the business.

I love saying 'I'm Sally from Snappy Sentences'.

My company, Teak Yew, is a strategy consulting business. The name comes from two trees, the Teak and the Yew.

These trees are both long living and resilient, reflecting the outcomes of strong strategy. The yew tree has special significance because, not only can it live for over 2000 years, but it's wood was used in medieval times to make the long bow, a key part of the strategic armoury of the time.

Yew wood was chosen because it had properties of both strength and flexibility. Again, this reflects the characteristics of good strategy for a successful business.

The Teak Yew logo consists of a teak leaf, with a yew longbow, symbolising growth, strength, and direction.

You can read more about the Teak Yew story on the website.

Originally, I was formalizing my business when a former colleague of mine (who's also a friend) got laid off from her job. 10 years ago, when we had originally worked together, we'd always said we should start a marketing company together... so when she found out what I was doing after she was laid off, we had lunch and talked about the decade-old possibility.

This is how our creativity worked together so stupendously: We were eating lunch, and start talking about what we'd call the company.

We didn't want to use our names - how AVERAGE - so we starting talking about what we really had a forte in - branding, messaging, and everything along with it. Plus, we wanted to try to be at the beginning of the alphabet, for listing purposes - ;-)

We thought about the word "about," and then we looked at each other w/in 30 seconds, and said, almost simultaneously, "About Face!" We thought about it, and the more we turned it over in our minds, the more perfect it seemed - branding, positioning, messaging is all "about face," we could help a company do an "about face," I could visualize the Rorscach (sp?) test, w/the 2 faces, and we'd be partners... it was PERFECT!

We registered the company, developed the brand... and then she chickened out (tough economy, single mom paying the mortgage on her own) and took a FT job. I was never mad at her; I just figured that situation was presented to me to find the PERFECT name for my company! :-)

My wife and I where talking over names and one of the biggest frustrations is people mispronouncing my last name. Second we wanted to have a concept that people could feel was "comfortable" and "personable".

So Hey, Monge! (Moan-hay) was born.

One of Our tagline is: For all your marketing and design needs, Give us a Shout!

To answer your first question - "Is it feasible to start a blog based on an interest that you have..."

Yes.

To answer your second question - "What are the main things to consider when developing your non commecial blog that will lay the foundation for commercialising it at a later date?"

1. Post regularly - they don't have to be essays - they just have to be interesting.
2. Install analytics so you can track the stats of your visitors. I use Google Analytics - it's free and the industry standard.
3. Get your name known in your community/target audience by contributing to other websites - post comments on blogs within your industry and participate in social media and forums.
4. Read about different online business models - don't just rely on advertising. Look into affiliate marketing, creating your own products and more.

I'm putting together an in-depth tutorial on this - will announce it in the members area when it's finished.

In the meantime - spend time researching blogs over at Problogger.

I dont have a business plan or a blog yet but hope to have both at some point.

My question is;

Is it feasible to start a blog based on an interest that you have and that you think others may also be intrested in and develop it as a journal/personal blog first and commercialise in a few years time?

If yes, what are the main things to consider when developing your non commecial blog that will lay the foundation for commercialising it at a later date?