If I were a famous figure from history I'd be...

STEP #2 - What Do You Do? ---------------------------------------------------- Once you've got a good list of names you can start asking what you actually do. Spend a good time on this. It may seem a challenge at first to think entirely in terms of what you do so use your lists of people, animals and things for inspiration. What do they do? Here's some ideas...

- Coaches... encourage, listen, support, reflect - Trainers... share, instil, empower, guide, teach - Tigers... leap, hunt, run, survive, inspire, stalk - Birds... fly, soar, see, dive, migrate - Leaders... lead, inspire, persuade, encourage - Chefs... cook, create, nourish, feed etc

You'll notice a pattern here, you'll have created a big list of doing words (or verbs).

Time To Write... ------------------------------------------------------ Go through your lists and play word association by answering question... "What does an XYZ do?" for each one.

STEP #3 - How Do You Do The Things You Do? ---------------------------------------------------- Once you've got a good list of names and doing words it's time to add spice to mix...

As song goes, "T'Ain't What You Do It's The Way That Cha Do It"

Discovering HOW you do something will give your brand a lot more clout than just knowing what you are and what you do.

We use adjectives to describe how we do something, how we compare to others, what makes us unique or what makes us easy to identify. For example...

A Tiger is... big, bold, fast, fearsome, stealthy

This is good, but it's not all, you can go further by adding adverbs if you're struggling by linking a noun with it's verb to see what happens. Here's another example...

A Tiger Leaps... stealthily, quickly, decisively, smoothly

you can take "ly" ending off most words to create more appropriate adjectives for your brand. So in this case you'd have a list of words as follows: stealthy, quick, decisive and smooth.

Time To Write... ------------------------------------------------------ How do people describe you and what you do?

How would you like people to describe you?

What sets you apart as different? (think about your appearance, voice, manner, style etc)

How do you do what you do? (are you slow and methodical? fast-paced and energetic?)

Now, do same for your list of animals, cars, roles, famous figures etc until you have a really big and full list of words.

Summary ------------------------------------------------------ You've now collected all information you need to discover your unique coaching identity. You may already be getting a feel for how this process can give you a lot more ways to view and describe yourself but this is just first step. There are two more steps covered in my f^ree mini-course. Details below.

Writing Final Draft 20.You’ve done rough draft, 1st draft, and are into 2nd draft. You’ve put everything in your own words and are observing your outline structure. The article is starting to sound less like something you’ll get blamed for, and more like something you might actually claim. 21.Edit for readability, grammar and style. 22.Use active voice in all your writing. “Active voice” is a sentence construction where subject performs verb action. Don’t go to sleep on me, this is important. Example: “The dog bit boy.” Quick, active, easy. Here’s an example of passive voice: “The boy was bitten by dog.” Yikes! 23.Technology writing is full of hideous passive voice construction. Here’s another example from a technology marketing document: “This successful vendor interoperability was demonstrated at Summit in Chicago.” Ack! Instead, write: “Vendor teams successfully demonstrated interoperability at Summit in Chicago.” See how easy that was? PLEASE use active voice. Everyone will be so much happier. 24.If you learn nothing else about business writing in all your born days, learn to write in active voice. Subject all of your sentences to this simple little exercise and you will improve your writing 100%. 25.Please don’t be boring, but don't get too cute. I will stick in something funny every once in a while -- mostly because I get a big kick out of myself -- but don’t get too chummy.

Final Draft 26.You’re almost there – you see light at end of tunnel, and it isn’t a train. Now is time to polish sentence structure and word choice, and punch up your paragraphs. 27.Polish your opening paragraphs. Add a snappy lead, define what you're talking about and why it's important, and list three or so points you’re going to make. 28.Read through your article and make sure you’ve made those points. If you did an outline, main points should already be subheads. (See why an outline is so great?) 29.Polish your conclusion. The conclusion doesn’t have to be undying prose, but do restate your points and conclusions. 30.Read through one more time for overall readability. 31.Run your spelling and grammar check. 32.Save and send – but be careful to send right file! I accidentally turned in my rough draft once instead of completed final. Luckily this was with one of my oldest clients, so they contacted me and asked me for real article. A new client would simply have assumed complete incompetence on my part. 33.And for final tip: everything gets easier with practice. Good thing, too.

Christine Taylor is president of Keyword Copywriting, which helps marketing and PR pros leverage their relationships with technology clients. E-mail her at chris@keywordcopy.com, call her at 760-249-6071, or check out Keyword’s Website at www.keywordcopy.com.