On today’s episode of the Engaging Marketeer, I’m speaking with solicitor Richard Nicholas, who has gone from practicing law to being a business coach. Richard has always wondered within himself as to why would he be qualified to coach businesses so he’ll be explaining how he’s done that, why he’s done that and how public speaking has helped him within his business of helping other people run their businesses.
Have a read of some the episode’s highlights down below, and head over to our YouTube to check out the full interview:
Richard on the power of questions…
Darren: One of the things that you said that you wanted to talk about was the power of questions.
Richard: Indeed, yes.
Darren: Obviously this is this is an interview podcast, so what do you mean by the power of questions?
Richard: Yeah, I think this comes from my background as a lawyer, so I use questions a lot. I’ve listened to an earlier podcast and I hear you enjoy arguing with solicitors, so this should be fun. I’ve been a lawyer for about 22 years now. I’ve found as a business coach that I’ve been able to use the skills in asking questions, and asking the right questions, to help businesses kind of get over the edge. I came to the conclusion, actually, that the coaches job is not to help find the right answers, but to ask the right questions.
…on transitioning from law to business coaching…
Darren: So going from a lawyer to a business coach, is that a natural progression? Do you know anyone else that’s done it?
Richard: It’s funny, I think there are a few lawyers who are business coaches, so maybe it’s not such an unusual transition. Some of the concepts are rather similar, such as the idea of ‘winning’. For me it’s more about actually helping people and trying to be useful to people
Darren: Well that doesn’t sound very lawyer-like at all!
…on business being ‘brick walls’…
Darren: Are there any businesses you’ve come up against that simply cannot see things from a different point of view
Richard: Not so far. It’s all to do with the personality, of course, and you need to get people to a receptive state. You do get some people that don’t think they need coaching, they’re there to sit and to listen to you sternly. You do have to get people into a state where they’re responsive, first of all.
…on public speaking skills…
Darren: You mentioned before that you were doing a public speaking course. What makes a lawyer, somebody who talks for a living, think that they need to go on a public speaking course?
Richard: I chose to do it because I’ve been told many times that I’m actually a really good speaker ‘for a lawyer’. So I think that was a compliment? So I thought I’d see how that compared with all the non-lawyers in the world. And it was great to see all the techniques involved in it. I think you only really learn when you see somebody that’s brilliant at it.
…on his motivations in becoming a lawyer…
Darren: What made you want to be a lawyer?
Richard: It was going into something I didn’t know much about, and wanting to be useful. I also enjoyed studying, to be honest. There’s also a lot of interesting stories from the law industry.
…on his business inspirations…
Darren: So now you’ve gone into business coaching from lawyering up. What other people in the business world and the coaching world have inspired you and you follow?
Richard: There are literally loads of them. One of the things I’ve been doing since March is listening to one summary of a business or personal development book every week. I’ve listened to absolutely loads of them. There are some brilliant writers out there. Because you’re listening to these ideas so regularly, it can actually help you to come up with ideas of your own.
Anybody that wishes to get in touch with Richard to work with him can check out his website community.mindblowingbooks.com, where he presents a book summary service for executives and entrepreneurs to learn what they world’s top experts in a variety of fields have to teach.
Huge thanks to Richard for coming on the show and having a fantastic conversation. Make sure you remain subscribed to the Engaging Marketeer on your chosen podcast platform to ensure you never miss an episode of the show.
