from Architecture to PROFITecture

If you're anything like me, it's really easy to get caught up in learning "all the things" about how to market your design firm, listening to podcasts and audiobooks and trainings and Facebook groups, and feeling the need to be omnipresent across the internet and social media to have a shot at as many great clients as possible (all the while juggling life and the work itself!). But let me ask you: When's the last time you pressed pause on all that?  Stopped to "take a breath"? (I mean, don't stop feeding your children or showering or anything like that...) :) If you only take time to evaluate your marketing once a year (usually in the few days of the year, am I right?), I invite you to listen in to today's episode, as we discuss the "power of the pause".

I\'ve just spent an afternoon auditing my time spent in my business this week...\r\n\nOOF.\r\n\nBased on the Clockwork principles brought to life by Mike Michalowicz and Adrienne Dorson, this week I want to share how you can categorize EVERYTHING you do in a given week into just 6 categories...\r\n\nSome of those categories are money-makers...\r\n\nand some are REAL time-suckers...\r\n\nLet\'s talk about how to amp up those money-makers!\r\n

Beautiful photography and graphics aside, the copy we include on our websites, blog posts, emails and social media posts is CRITICAL to bringing potential clients into our world, and bringing the RIGHT ones into working relationships. More specifically, the HEADLINE of your content makes all the difference in whether or not those clients stay on your website or click 'see more...' on your latest Instagram post.

Today I'm talking about productization, and how we can better reach & connecting with our potential clients through selling our design process and services as PRODUCTS.

The marketing content for our design firms needs to: 1. be strictly defined to match our brand for as long as possible; 2. appeal to as many people as possible; 3. be produced as precisely and perfectly as our construction documents, and; 4. teach potential clients about what we do and how we do it, 100% of the time. ...right? Well, this week I'm speaking with messaging wiz and founder of The Video 4X Effect, Brandon Lucero, where we'll BUST those myths and discuss how we can create effective, POWERFUL online content for our design firms that speaks DIRECTLY to our ideal clients.

The vast majority of architecture and landscape architecture firms are making fundamental mistakes with their online content... and they don't even realize it, because everyone else in their market is doing the SAME thing! In this episode, I'm breaking down the 3 common things that lead to content with little to no engagement, AND what to do about them so that you can get out of the 'Underpaid Architect' trap and become today's 'PROFITect'. If your online content is not getting the results you want, I can almost guarantee you’re making at least one of these mistakes, and this episode will help you start creating content that is unique, powerful, meaningful, AND creates demand for your expertise!

There are multiple paths to success in the AEC industry, above and beyond the direct-to-client design services model.  This week's podcast is all about taking CONTROL of your firm's direction and revenue, creating autonomy AND opportunity.  Alex Gore & Lance Cayko of F9 Productions have incorporated a WIDE range of activities throughout their firm's relatively short history, including authoring books, teaching at university, offering online courses, AND funding, designing and building their own projects.  (There's even a feature on HGTV in the mix...)

You probably wouldn't repeat a design project to project, but when it comes to your firm's social media and marketing, repetition is a GOOD thing... ...so long as the intent of your message is crystal clear and your audience specifically-defined. Let's talk about how being a broken record can help to BUILD your business!

Running a successful design firm requires BALANCE. If you nod to every client whim and request, you probably won't get the projects that you'd be proud to showcase in your portfolio... Hold a death grip on your aesthetic, and you'll probably have a hard time getting clients in the door as a startup. If you micromanage every line in CAD, every minute of billed time, you'll have an unhappy, if not unprofitable, staff... Give too much freedom, and projects can easily go off the rails. Likewise... If you have your "head in the clouds", speaking existentially in jargon only your professors would understand, and potential clients will struggle to understand how (or if!) you can help them... If your marketing focuses solely on your concrete skills and experience, potential clients will struggle to make a connection with you and will evaluate your firm primarily on price... Somewhere between "the clouds and the dirt", lies the most powerful marketing you can implement in your business: EMOTION.

As business owners and design firm leaders, we are more often than not juggling multiple balls, wearing multiple hats, putting out multiple fires... it's the nature of running a business. As our minds are constantly tasked with "doing all the things", can you think of a time when you weren't 100% present with a client?  Weren't 100% focused on the design work you needed to complete that day?  Allowed your health & eating routines to slide a bit? Being PRESENT in everything we do isn't always easy, but there are strategies to help strengthen our mental and physical presence, which ultimately strengthens our ability to run a successful, profitable firm.

Stepping out to build your personal brand can be one of the most empowering and fulfilling endeavors, but also one of the hardest things to achieve.  This week, let's talk about 5 tips to keep in mind!

It's a brand new year, and if you haven't started planning out your annual goals, then you've no doubt been flooded with ads for planners on social media... Goal setting is great, but planning an entire year can often feel like "eating the elephant"... (you do that one bite at a time, btw...) In this episode, I share how I plan out my life & business instead in 90-day blocks.

The events of 2020 FORCED so much change in the world, in our lives, and in the way we practice as design professionals. (No, this is not another 'goal setting' session for the new year...) On the eve of the year 2021, we have the opportunity and ability to CHOOSE to change even more, to make 2021 even better (though I would argue 2020 was pretty damn good, just maybe not for the surface-level reasons you might think...) What have been the GOOD changes in your life and business this year? And what changes are YOU going to make moving onward and upward?

If you've got the entrepreneurial spirit to venture out with your own design firm, there's probably a (big) part of you that doesn't want to be tied down to a schedule and workflow; wants to do what you want, when you want; wants to choose projects and clients as you see fit... But you also might start your days asking: What should I do first? Or get to the end of the day and wonder: What did I get done today?  Did I truly move the project and my business forward? Systems and processes actually ALLOW us to be the creative souls we are, allow us to do what we're meant to do: create amazing spaces for people.  Let's talk about them...

We've all had them... the time-sucking client. Whether it's a phone call that went an hour and a half too long, or a ridiculous amount of revisions on a fixed fee contract, the implications of not protecting our time as professionals and business owners can be devastating to our firms' bottom lines. Let's talk about ways to protect our valuable hours (and our profits!)

2020 forced ALL of us out of our comfort zones, in some shape or form.  To continue to build our businesses, further our impact and become leaders in design & construction, we'll need to get even MORE uncomfortable. "You must be willing to do the things today others won't do, in order to have the things tomorrow others won't have." Les Brown Let's talk about how to win in 2021...…

Referrals are often the easiest leads for our design firms, but at some points, that well runs dry... So what are firm owners to do?

Today we're talking about the notion of BEing committed, and how that one word can make all the difference in building the career or design firm you've dreamed about.

Today we're talking about everyone's favorite topic: MONEY! Or... IS it your favorite? Maybe you see money as a "necessary evil", or a byproduct of your expertise, or something you deserve, or a mental burden, or a tool for helping more clients... Whatever IT is - it's just that: a view or belief that only you hold, one that is often tied intrinsically to our value as design professionals and as modern human beings. We'll discuss the external and internal approaches to setting your fees, handling expenses, and of course: PROFIT.

There's just ONE thing that scares all design firm owners... and we'll be talking about it today on this special HALLOWEEN edition of "from Architecture to PROFITecture"!