Building Your Architecture Business with the Power of Community | 066

It's no secret that I struggled as a sole

practitioner in architecture.

I had nobody to bounce ideas off, making business decisions was hard,

and at times I felt incredibly lonely.

What I didn't realise at the time was that building a business

should really be a team sport.

Even if you're a freelancer or sole director of your own micro sized practice.

If you've ever felt the way that I did, the good news is that all

of those problems can be fixed.

You just need to surround yourself with the right people to support you.

Which is where the Architecture Business Club community comes in.

I'll reveal more about how it can help you.

In this episode of Architecture Business Club, the weekly podcast for

small firm founders who want to build their dream business in architecture

and enjoy more freedom, flexibility and fulfilment in what they do.

I'm John Clayton, your host.

I know that building an architecture business can feel hard, especially

if you're a sole practitioner.

The good news is that you don't have to do it alone.

Last year we launched our membership community to a

small group of founding members including architects, architectural

technologists and interior designers.

We meet online each week and occasionally in person to support

each other in building our businesses and to have some fun along the way.

On the 1st of March 2025, we are opening the doors to a

limited number of new members.

If you'd like to join this supportive group of like minded

professionals, now's your chance.

Just go to architecturebusinessclub.

com forward slash waitlist or click the link in the show notes and enter your

details so we can let you know when and how to join this incredible group.

And if you've got any questions, just email john, that's j o n

at architecturebusinessclub.

com.

Let's find out.

How being part of a community can help you and your business.

Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in today.

Today we're going to be talking about communities, specifically the

Architecture Business Club community.

But we're going to start by looking at communities in general.

I mean, we all know what a community is, but you may have heard or

been part of an online community.

Now the, the Cambridge Dictionary says that, a community is people living in

one particular area or people who are considered as a unit because of common

interests, social group, or nationality.

It's much the same for an online community.

Usually, rather than it being people living in the same place, it's usually

people that have got a shared interest.

Sometimes people online will talk about their community that they're growing, but

what they actually mean is their audience.

There is a difference between an online community and an online audience.

Key differences.

If you are part of an audience, you usually would only have access to

the content creator, or the person that is building that audience.

If you're part of a community, you also have access to the other members too.

So, as a listener to this podcast, you are part of my audience, but you may not

yet be part of my community, and that is a key difference between the two.

Why would you join a community?

Communities can give you a sense of belonging, support, they provide

opportunities to learn and to grow, give you access to a network of

like minded people, or the chance to contribute to a shared cause or mission.

And they can definitely improve your mental well being and fulfillment through

building some meaningful relationships.

So what is the Architecture Business Club community?

You might have heard me mention this a few times in previous

episodes over the last few months.

The moment we have a group of small business owners who are working in

and around the world of architecture.

So this is people like architects, architectural technologists, interior

designers, planning consultants.

Structural engineers are coming together to share knowledge, to support each other

and build their businesses together.

Our aim is to help you build your dream architecture business and

enjoy more freedom, flexibility and fulfilment in what you do.

And I believe being part of a community is a big part of doing that.

I mentioned in the intro that building a business, it's really a team sport.

So even as a freelancer, sole practitioner, or solopreneur, whatever

you prefer to call yourself, this really is something that you should

be looking to do with other people.

So what problems does the Architecture Business Club community solve?

Well, there's a few different things that this can solve for you.

So one of those problems is just not finding space and

time to work on your business.

This gives you a slot in your calendar where you work on your business,

which I think is very important.

Another problem is not having a sounding board to talk through your

ideas or to make business decisions.

This can be really difficult when you're working on your own.

So this is a really valuable thing about being part of a community.

Another problem is perhaps if you have a lack of experience or knowledge in

a particular area, or maybe a lack of experience or knowledge on how Other

practices and practitioners operate.

It can be really useful to find out and learn how other businesses do things.

There can be things that you can then apply in your own business.

And one of the big problems, I think, is loneliness and social isolation.

That it can feel Like a really lonely journey when you are building a

business on your own or you're simply working alone most of the time or

working from home, being your own boss.

That can feel quite lonely doing all of that on your own

and you really don't have to.

So why should you join the Architecture Business Club community?

Well it's an opportunity for you to make new connections

with other people like you.

to give you some prioritised time each week to work on your business

and to feel supported in what you do.

To also gain access to resources and trainings to help improve your business

and also to be part of something bigger.

A community of people like you all working towards a shared goal of having

an enjoyable, successful business in architecture built on your terms.

But Don't just take my word for it.

Here's what some of our founding members have had to say about their experience

of this exciting new community.

Here's Joe Wright of Joe Wright Architects sharing his experience of Architecture

Business Club's community group.

Part of the reason that I've joined the group was I, I was

looking at business development, I was looking at marketing, the we

were have and have been and, and, and are relatively quiet work-wise.

And I, I was just getting very anxious about it.

And, and the, the kind of ups and downs of the just general, you know, the

economy that we're so affected by that, that was the kind of the motivation.

But the contrast, I think, to now, or the end of last year, even though

the work trailed off a bit, is that I feel much more empowered.

I felt that I needed something to help me focus.

The idea of being able to bounce things off, so in a way, having

your inputs of the guided, more CPD like things have been really good.

But then to be able to kind of bounce ideas off and see what others are

doing it helps you one Reflect back and understand think about what you're doing.

But so obviously you can kind of You can get support from from others as well.

So I mean, I found it really really valuable having a group of

people You're kind of answerable.

I've got a plan for what I want to do and that feels really awesome empowering.

I think in terms of my, my kind of feeling about the business is

a lot more positive than it was pretty, pretty jaded about it all.

Now I'm kind of just a lot more excited about the business and the

possibilities and feel as though I'm kind of more in control of it.

I think it's been really, really good.

Here's Liz Morrell from Zing Interior Architecture talking through

some of the benefits she's experienced since joining our membership community.

And just struggling generally with business.

I didn't know what I was doing and I just need to make it work financially

and I just feel like I've got this little helping hands with the group and I think

what's good about it is the fact that we don't all live together near each

other so there's not that competition because then I'm a little bit more open.

When you suggested the group I thought yeah that's what I need because I just

feel quite lonely like in my business.

It has really helped me and um.

I would rave about it meeting you and the others, and I came away buzzing

because I just felt like, oh, there's other people like me, and it just gave

me a bit of a boost swapping ideas like from them to me and what they do.

And I think the most beneficial thing is just.

Having the chats with everyone, just knowing that there's other people like

me out there, it's a support network.

I just think it's really beneficial especially if you're working for yourself.

Two heads are better than one basically.

You can just get ideas from other people.

Socially it's good, it's good for your mental health to talk to other people

who are like minded and especially if you work alone at home like I do.

Yeah, beneficial.

I've learned a lot.

And also things that we've talked about, like the Building Safety Act, you know,

I didn't really know much about that, and when people mention these things,

I'll then go and research a bit more, and things like that are really helpful.

That's something that I can get from this group as well.

Here's Vlad Borislavov from Monochromo Design Studio explaining

what he's got out of Architecture Business Club's community so far.

In our initial, meeting before we started, I

was struggling quite a lot.

My main thing was, um, connection, the social, social networking.

And I was looking for something like this for a while, but most of the

services that I found, they were more like wanting to sell me things.

But with our sessions, it's quite different because there

is still a social element.

So, I'm really, really satisfied with this, this aspect that,

uh, the networking stuff.

And meeting some people in person was even better for me.

Now I feel more like, uh, that I have a community.

I'm part of a community, uh, in terms of work and hear other people's opinion,

what they struggled and how they find the solution, like real world examples.

So that was really helpful.

Your kind of a contribution, it's quite, quite big to the group

because you have lots of experience and, uh, give us some direction.

I can consider you like, uh, mentoring us.

I think that.

Can kind of contribute to your growth, like personal.

And because this is not only work, but, um, you know, personal growth.

The other thing is that not only the sessions, but the chat, this

is a valuable thing as well.

Cause during the week, you can simply just put their question or some thoughts

and other people, if they have the time, they can, they can answer and help

you, which is again, brings to the link of the, of the community and also is.

Like you have somebody all the time on your side that you can, you can rely on.

So it's kind of a sense of security.

That's another benefit.

So I've talked a little bit about what this community is,

what some of the benefits are, and you've heard a little bit from

some of those founding members.

But what is it that you get?

You know, what is actually included?

So, currently, we are running a weekly

session that's held on Zoom.

The sessions are varied throughout each month.

To date, we've had sessions on business planning, networking, group

discussions, and reviews and audits of members websites, and we've also

looked at their sales processes.

And we shall be introducing more training sessions with guest

experts, along with a number of other improvements based on member feedback.

You also get access to a chat group that is currently hosted on WhatsApp to stay

connected with all of the other members to continue the conversation after

group sessions to ask questions, to get feedback on your own ideas or support

when maybe you're feeling a bit stuck.

Once we outgrow that platform, we'll be moving it to another

more appropriate chat forum.

You get access to a member directory so you can connect

directly with other members.

We've shared interests to help each other out, to collaborate on

projects, or just to talk through something with someone that's at a

similar stage of business to you.

You could use it to connect with other members that use the same software,

maybe you both use Vectorworks or ArchiCAD, or to find a member to fill

a skills gap in your own practice.

We also have a shared resources library.

We've set up a shared drive online for members to share

resources with each other.

And this is also the place where you can access any resources

that we create for you throughout your time in this membership.

And there's more.

You also get access to meeting recordings and summaries.

So if you can't make one of our weekly group sessions, No problem.

Those sessions are recorded and they are stored in the cloud.

So just like on BBC iPlayer, you can catch up on what you've missed at any time.

This has also proved really useful following training sessions and deep

dives where we've covered so much in the hour that the sessions just

really warrant a re watch later.

And last but not least, in person meetups.

This is something I think that, moving forward, I think this is going to

be really important because whilst online communities are great, and

this is primarily an online community, we don't want to keep this online.

We want this to be in person as well.

the opportunity for members to meet in person.

We had our first in person meetup during London Build 2024,

where we met at a nearby pub.

We went and had some food, we had a few drinks and a few laughs,

and it was an absolute blast.

Like, myself and the other members, we had a really good evening, it was really cool.

We plan to run more meetups like that at least a few times each year.

At different locations around the UK, our next meetup, in person meetup, is

likely to be during Future Build 2025 in London, and I'll share more details

about that once it's been finalised.

And also, if there's enough demand, we may run a one day event later in the year.

So maybe by now you're thinking, this sounds intriguing, yeah, this sounds

good, I'd like to be part of this.

Probably the next question is, how much does it cost?

Let me just say, it doesn't cost as much as you might think.

We've intentionally kept the prices low, so that this community is accessible for

most business owners and freelancers.

But why join now?

What's so important about joining this community right now?

Well, as a new community we currently have fewer members.

So for now at least, you get more access to me, and as an early member, you

also get the chance to shape what this community becomes, so it best serves the

needs of you and of the other members.

I will also be running an in person evening social in London during the

first week of March 2025, so you can meet both me and your fellow members

in person, just days after joining, to get this off to a really great start.

So if you'd like to be part of this and apply to join, we'll be opening

the doors to a maximum of 10 new members on the 1st of March 2025.

Once those seats are filled, the doors will be closed again until further notice.

You might be wondering why we're doing this, and there's a genuine reason.

The reason is that It gives us time to then properly onboard

and settle in new members to give them a really great experience

before bringing in more members.

So that is what we're going to do.

It's going to be open for a short period of time.

Once we've got 10 members in, those doors will close.

You won't be able to join the community until such time that

those members are settled in.

So to make sure that you have a chance of securing one of those ten seats,

just go to ArchitectureBusinessClub.

com forward slash waitlist or click the link in the show

notes and enter your details.

And if we think that you're a good fit, I'll reach out to you personally

during the next few weeks to arrange a quick chat with you where I'll answer

any questions that you have and provide more information about how to join.

So if you haven't already done so, join the waitlist so you don't miss

out on this amazing opportunity.

time I chat with Beatrice Ronchetti about how to stand out on LinkedIn.

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of architecture business club.

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If you want to connect with me, you can do that on most social media

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John Clayton.

The best place to connect with me online, though is on LinkedIn.

You can find a link to my profile in the show notes.

Remember.

Running your architecture business.

Doesn't have to be hard and you don't need to do it alone.

This is architecture business club.