I am looking to build my brand a little and have been working on a new program with any ounce of spare time (this week, there hasn’t been much free time). This is something as a business owner we are asked to do from time to time.

Because I find it so incredibly helpful, I thought I would share one of my favorite exercises. What I love about it is it helps me to develop my brand in less than 5 minutes.

The exercise asks you to set aside 5 minutes of your time and to be very lean in the words you use. This task of limiting the words you use, helps to fine tune your understanding of your business.

So, once you have 5 minutes set aside, being to think of how you would answer the following question with free association using ONLY ONE WORD. The first word that comes to mind, even if it makes no sense right now, might be incredibly helpful later on, so don’t throw it away.

(you might want a piece of paper and crayon, pencil, pen, marker… you get my point, as well.)

And if you are like me and tend to break “rules,” try limiting yourself to no more than 3 word phrases.

Now, you might find it doesn’t take 5 minutes, that’s okay too. Answer the question several times and see if you can find a new way to talk about your offering, without using lots of words.

The question:

“What do you do?”