What's in a name?

The show must go on

Hello, and welcome to February! It’s my birthday month and I’m trying to get excited about that but there is… a lot going on here in America right now. As much as shit sucks, this was something I was more or less prepared to face, and I remain resolute in continuing this work. To continue to rebuild the site, doubling down on my commitment to bringing resources to independent creators and marginalized workers who just want to do their jobs—our jobs—and feel secure in our lives. Thank you to those who have continued to voice your support of that mission.

I’ve really been looking forward to writing out this particular newsletter, sharing with you the process I went through to find a new business name that resonated with me (and thankfully, with all of you too). I think it can be really interesting to see these kind of deep-dives on rebranding work, not just from a process standpoint but also the founder’s mindset and their motivations to engage in the work that we do. So this will be a longer read but, if you’re the type to get really nerdy about those business details, I think this will provide a lot of insight.

So let’s get into it! Below I cover how I identified the need to rebrand, my process in finding a new name, and the steps I took to get it locked in. Plus, some conversation about what the name “Hustle to Hire” means to me…

The (Potential) Problem at Hand

This is going to gloss over a lot of the early days, but to summarize: upon acquiring the SWRolodex website, one of the things I needed to do was legitimize it as a business… I’m talking business registration, banking accounts, etc. None of this stuff existed yet for SWRolodex as an independent entity; it had been operating under the owner’s accounts and payment methods for her other business. As the new owner, continuing that approach was going to put me personally on the hook for anything that went wrong with the business. I needed to get this registered ASAP for both my protection and the users’! And as much as I appreciated the cleverness behind “SWRolodex,” I realized that nobody in their right mind would try to register a business with a name that riffed on a beloved, trademarked American brand that’s existed since the 1950s!!

And also like, realistically, how many people under 50 know what a Rolodex is? Do you? (It was a rotating device for storing business cards and contact info, way back in the days of rotary phones. Using one was like swiping your way through a paper card catalog. Lots of rotation-based innovation happening back then, as was the style at the time.)

I had zero interest in risking legal action from a major established brand. Brazenly, I thought it would be easy to come up with a new name, and I began mulling over my options once this realization hit (this is in early 2022 btw). A week of mulling became a month, became a quarter, a year. In my head, it was irresponsible to promote a business where I was putting myself at legal risk operating as an unregistered sole proprietorship, winging it with my own financial accounts (SCARY). Plus, new users had reasonable and basic expectations of the site that I was unable to deliver without registering the business. So, my promotion work slowed to a halt, which impacted the site’s growth and active userbase.

It All Started Here

Another hurdle to all this: business registration usually requires your legal name and sometimes even your address to be attached to the business in the state’s business directory. And uh, no thanks? This meant I couldn’t operate as a sole proprietorship (the cheapest, fastest option) and needed to pursue an anonymous LLC registration in one of the few states that allows them, which would require access to other professional human resources and oof, the chain of “but first I need to…” kept growing. But all the things I needed to do to legitimize the business so that I could feel secure in promoting still hinged on finding that new name!

I was doing some brainstorming in May 2024, workshopping anything that felt like it may apply, trying it on to see how it fit. I started with writing out a list of keywords that I felt applied to the business’ goals and customer base, single words and catchy combos. Then I took that list and started plugging names into a domain registrar to see what was available, as well as checking popular social media platforms for username availability. If a domain was already registered, I crossed it off, or wrote down the brokerage fee if it was for sale and within my budget. I think I searched up at least 4 dozen names and word combos, with a lot of back and forth during this process!

I was determined. After a few hours(!) of this, I finally landed on a name that immediately resonated. IMMEDIATELY. You know that feeling when you’re like, ah, there it is!! A name that not only made sense in terms of the goals shared between business and user, but also told you what to expect from the business, or gave you an inkling of what it was about. After hours of synonyms and SEO and admin research, I finally had it: Hustle to Hire.

It was a “eureka!” moment that kicked things into motion again.

What’s in a name? (Everything, actually.)

I know I said that arriving at “Hustle to Hire” was an immediate “yes” from me, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t take the time to assess whether this name truly resonated with my goals for the business, or would land well for the userbase. So I want to discuss how I slowed down to make sure these words matched my intentions.

Hustle

This term has undergone its own rebranding in more recent years namely in the context of a “side hustle”. The gig economy has taken hold and so many wage-based workers are trying on side hustles and gig work to get some extra funds in their bank accounts, or to start building something that they hope will become their primary income.

While it used to have negative connotations (being a “hustler” was synonymous with “grifter”), the word is now perceived in a more complimentary light, describing someone who is driven, passionate, and talented in their industry. The word is often utilized by sex workers and civilians alike to convey the amount of skilled customer service that goes into being successful on the job. Think of phrases like “the art of the hustle” or “getting your hustle on”.

(to) Hire

Where there’s hiring, there’s a business! And vice versa. In the case of this site, we’re talking about outsourcing work that needs to be done, hiring contract workers or freelancers for labor you don’t want to do, don’t know how to do, or don’t have the time to do. So either you’re coming to the marketplace either needing to hire someone for your own business needs, or you’re wanting to get hired for your specialized skills and experience. You’re here to hire/to get hired. And yes, I floated “Hustle FOR Hire” as well but… eh? The word “for” felt passive, like you’re waiting for something to happen, whereas “to” feels proactive and full of intent.

Maybe as an indie creator or contract worker you don’t often stop to consider that you yourself are a “business entity”, but I assure you, you are, and even paying someone to do your taxes is considered a form of hiring outsourced labor! And I like having a name that reminds the site’s users what we’re here to do: to work, and to get shit done!

…and beyond!

The website’s original name, SWRolodex, was a logical and clever way to explain what the business was… but only if you knew the acronym “SW” to mean “sex work”, and only if you knew what a Rolodex was. But there was one final sticky point that encouraged me to change the name, and to a degree shift the entire direction of the business, and that’s this:

While SWRolodex was a site intended to be by sex workers, for sex workers… I want Hustle to Hire to be an amazing resource by and for sex workers, yes, but I also want it to be for everyone, whether they’re a sex worker or not. Expanding our userbase to include creators from every and any niche—Twitch streamers, cam models, influencers, tarot card readers, Etsy sellers, small businesses in general, etc.—I think this will become one of the strongest features of the marketplace.

Growing a more diverse userbase will benefit our freelancers, who themselves are often active or experienced in the sex work industry. It will also serve to create a true sense of sex work being real work, presenting it alongside any other type of creator or trade skill.

Plus, you know, look around. Sex work is under attack in America right now via Project 2025, via credit card processors and banks, via FOSTA/SESTA. Then look at a lot of the largest names in spicy content distribution… many of these websites have started pushing Safe For Work content in recent years. Look at recent comments from Justice Alito wondering if PornHub has educational or editorial content (and yes, it does!). Many sex workers maintain SFW profiles on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and Twitch as a form of outreach/marketing, so I want to make sure we are fostering growth and opportunity in the greater creator economy, not just on swork-friendly platforms.

Diversification will help shore up the business against those trying to take down a very legitimate, consitutionally-protected industry, and embracing SFW content and creators is a smart move. My hope is that between the new name and the business’s owner (that’s me, hi) being active in digital sex work, Hustle to Hire can stand its ground as the first and only(?!) microgig marketplace that is actively working to welcome and protect of sex workers alongside other creative industries.

The state of American politics has me feeling a little spicy lately, and I could absolutely go on about the steps I am taking/plan to take to maintain access to professional resources for the marketplace’s sex work-focused userbase. BUT there are future newsletters to write, and I will definitely return to the subject in time!

Now that you’ve heard my thoughts on the name Hustle to Hire, I’d love to hear about your own interpretations of those words and what they mean to you. Do you consider yourself a hustler, in any capacity? Does the thought of hiring someone to enhance your own work seem… alien, or exciting?

That’s it for now. Stay strong, stay adaptable. Check in on your neighbors and your community. Remember that we keep us safe. Talk soon,