How can I reduce the length of my preferred domain name for my business?

I'm setting up a new domain name for my software consulting business, but my preferred domain name is taken (I have tried buying it from the owner), e.g.

My preferred domain is something like:

brightcarrot.com

I'm adding the word software at the end because the above is taken:

brightcarrotsoftware.com

My initial thoughts are that 20 characters in a domain may be too much, how can I reduce this?
Thoughts that I have had so far include:

• Remove the word software and add a hyphen between bright and carrot, e.g. bright-carrot.com
• Instead of the word software have soft, e.g. brightcarrotsoft.com
• Change how bright is spelled, e.g. britecarrot.com
• Use another TLD, e.g. brightcarrot.net
• Instead of software, use something more generic, e.g. brightcarrottech.com
• Stick with brightcarrotsoftware.com, although it's long it clearly reflects the business