When Martha Stewart ran into legal trouble in 2004, her media company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, took the heat. She built the company—and the brand—around her image and name, and investors worried about what would happen when she wasn’t around to helm the ship.

Well, many of us would give just about anything to build a brand as large (not to mention resilient) as Martha’s. But this is the kind of risk you take when you are your own brand—when you name your business after yourself, pepper your advertising with your likeness, or serve as the “face” of your company to customers. It’s a decision not to be taken lightly, says Alina Wheeler, a branding consultant and author of the new book Brand Atlas.

“There are certain businesses that don’t lend themselves to having your name on the door. You wouldn’t want to go to Howard Schultz’s Café, for instance—you want to go to Starbucks. Your name is one of your most important business assets, so it’s important to think this through.”

Other businesses, namely service-based ones, are regularly named after their owner and founder because that person has a reputation for doing that one thing—whether it’s graphic design, filling cavities or landscape architecture–better than anyone else and wants to capitalize on that.

No matter which category you fall in—and it’s entirely possible you’re not so sure—here’s a checklist of things to consider:

• The name itself. It should be easy to say, easy to remember, easy to Google, and fairly unique, says Wheeler. That means it is distinctive from the competition, but also that it isn’t connected to something you don’t want to be connected to (try putting your name into Google and see what pops up—if it’s clean, you’re probably good to go). You also want to make sure that you can get a URL.

• Your family. Do they want to be associated with the business?  If you’re married, did you take your husband’s name, and, if you were to get divorced down the road, would you want to continue to use it? This doesn’t seem like a huge issue, but if your business is fairly well known or you plan on rapid expansion, you definitely want to consider the impact that might have on young children. Just ask Paris Hilton.

• Your future plans. If you’re building something that you think could take off, beyond your immediate area, or you’re priming a company that you plan to sell down the road, you likely want to think twice before making your name the focus of the operation. Why? “Say you’ve sold your business, your name is still on the sign, and you’re not confident that the future owners will do a good job building the brand and deliver on the promise you made when you started that company. Your reputation could be tarnished even though you’re no longer associated with the business,” says Wheeler. If you anticipate a case like this, you’re generally better off keeping your name out of the spotlight from the start. Note: Another issue that tends to pop up as businesses grow, particularly in service businesses, is that when your name is on the door, clients might expect to deal directly with you. “Sometimes clients have what I call 'partneritis'—they don’t want to make a decision unless the person whose name is part of the company is in the room. So if you want to grow, or retire, or give other people power in any way, naming the business after yourself can be really hard,” says Wheeler.

• Other iterations. Maybe you want to keep it personal, but you’re not comfortable building a whole brand around yourself because you’re not sure where the future is going to take you. In that case, you might use another iteration of your name—think Oprah’s Harpo—to split the difference. A middle name or an old family name might be a good compromise.

• Compatibility. In some cases, this whole discussion can be a no-brainer. Steve Ells, the founder of Chipotle, was smart to keep his name out of his branding and go with something that was more indicative of the food his restaurant would serve. If you have a similar situation, you’re nearly always better off going with a name that will tell potential customers what they can expect from your business. The major exception here? As I mentioned earlier, if you have a reputation in the field that is already tied to your name, you’d do well to milk that.

No matter what you decide, keep in mind that in this age of Facebook and Twitter, so you constantly need to be monitoring your personal brand, and as an owner, you’re representative of your company, whether your name is on the door or not. One mistake can spread fast, so keep your interactions professional at all times.

Jean Chatzky is financial editor of NBC's "Today" show, a contributing editor at More magazine and author of "Money 911: Your Most Pressing Money Questions Answered, Your Money Emergencies Solved." She recently launched the Jean Chatzky Score Builder in partnership with smartcredit.com. Check out her blog at jeanchatzky.com and follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

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