What Chris Learned From Coaching Will Help You

Developing the Next Generation of Rainmakers What Chris Learned from Coaching Will Help You Chris Cheatham is one of the lawyers who came to Dallas the last weekend in January for coaching and a group meeting. Chris is a very active LexBlog blogger.  He just recently started a new blog ConstructionClaimsPlaybook. Chris also has a blog GreenBuildingLawUpdate. I frequently brag about Chris to lawyers I coach because he has over 5000 followers on Twitter. I have under 1000 followers, so if you are Twitter please follow me, so I can have a chance to catch up. After our coaching session in January, I asked Chris to share what he got out of the time he spent with me and his coaching group. Here is what he said: The most important part of the entire coaching program was coming up with a business plan for myself.  With a business plan, I no longer have to come up with ideas for marketing.  I just review my plan and my 90 day goals to execute on my plan, and I go from there. My mantra in 2011 is “plan your work, work your plan.” Ninety nine percent of lawyers do not come up with a yearly business plan.  I used to be one of these attorneys.  As a result, I would take on whatever potential marketing activities that came my way.  In retrospect, this seems like a mistake. Targeted marketing to selected audiences creates better results. When blogging, attorneys need to think about writing for their audience, not writing for themselves.  I was prepared to launch a new blog based on federal case law that is released.  But you pointed out to me that contractors don’t want to read case law analysis. They want to read about how to successfully prepare claims that can be resolved without ending up in court. This makes sense â€" clients don’t want to learn about how to be a lawyer, they want to read about how to improve their business. I really enjoyed hearing about Kevin O’Neill and seeing what he did with his podcasts and Capital Thinking Internet Radio Show.  He decided to ignore what conventional attorneys are doing and he just went for it.  Now he has an impressive radio program that substantially increases his profile.  The lesson I took from him was to think big.  And then think bigger. Several lawyers have asked me to start another coaching group that will come to Dallas to kick off the program, have coaching calls thereafter, and conclude with a program back in Dallas. If you are interested in joining a new group, let me know. I practiced law for 37 years developing a national construction law practice representing some of the top highway and transportation construction contractors in the US.