People often asked me how and why I named my company Seven Degrees Communications. Many people confuse the seven degrees with Six Degrees of Separation or the spin-off of that concept, the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.
I hate to confuse people, but there was some logic to this similarity. Here is my story.
I always knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. For a long time I thought I would own a bed and breakfast. I was in high school at the time and this may have been a strange dream for a 16 year-old, but I wasn’t your typical teenager (more on that whenever I write my book). I went to college with the intention of majoring in hospitality because it seemed like the thing a bed and breakfast owner would major in. I quickly realized that while I love to host dinner parties, I didn’t want to do it full-time. About the same time that I realized this, I took my first marketing class. My professor was a former Coca-Cola marketer and after the first week of listening to his amazing stories, I changed my major. This was my calling. During the process of declaring my major I discovered that I could dual major in a program called “Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management.” I signed up.
The funny thing is that, even though I actually have a degree in entrepreneurship, I didn’t start my company on purpose. It happened when I received a call from my friend, Jeff Greene, asking me to work on a social media project. All of a sudden I was in business. That night I went to bed and realized I needed a company name.
Why Seven?
- I always liked the number seven. It rhymes with Levin.
- I threw my first event when I was seven. It was a Valentine’s Day party.
- When I was in high school I really wanted to be on the student council. I ran for office during every election. I lost every time. During my seventh run my slogan was “Don’t Make it Seven, Vote Jessica Levin.” I lost the election, but was always proud that I tried. That slogan stuck with me.
So this takes me back to the six degrees of separation concept. I looked at social media and social networking as the seventh degree. The degree that didn’t exist a few years ago, but turned out to be more powerful than anyone could have imagined. Somehow, as I fell asleep that night, Seven Degrees Communications was born.
So that’s my story. If you have a company, please share your story of how you came up with the name.
P.S. – Jeff Greene is single, lives in NJ and is looking for love. He helped me start my company; I’d love to help him find “the one.” Leave a comment if you are interested in an introduction.