Must-Listen Episodes To Kickstart Your Year + New Episodes Preview | 062

2025 is here.

And I'm sure you want to get your year off to a flying start and

have your best year in business.

So I've handpicked three episodes to help you do just that.

And I'll be giving you a sneak peek at what's coming up on

the show over the next month.

In this episode of architecture business club, weekly podcast for

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

And enjoy more freedom, flexibility, and fulfillment 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.

In October, 2024, 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.

In 2025, we're 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.

I just go to architecture, business club.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 you can join this incredible group.

And if you have any questions, just email Jon that's, J O

n@architecturebusinessclub.com.

Now let's delve into the archives and find those free episodes.

Pay everybody happy new year.

I hope you've had a fantastic Christmas and new year.

And.

Hopefully by now you're over, uh, the hangover.

If you did go out and celebrate.

And new year's Eve with a beverage or two.

But here we find ourselves on the 2nd of January, the date

that this episode is going out.

If you're listening to this on the release date, And, uh, looking towards 2025 and.

I thought.

I thought what will be really useful to help kickstart your year?

Would be to handpick a few of the past episodes that I think would

be the best ones to help get your new year off to a flying start.

So without further ado.

Which episodes are going to be the most useful ones to.

Give a listen to, if you haven't already listened to them before or

to relisten to them, if perhaps you listened to those past episodes.

But perhaps it's been a little while since those episodes were released and.

Like the episodes that we record generally are what we'd call evergreen content that

it's always still going to be relevant.

So it is really worth going back through the.

The archives and looking at some of those old episodes, if you have

missed a few, however, The free that I would recommend that you,

uh, dig out and to give a listen to.

One of those is episode number nine.

Uh, so this was called reflecting on your business and preparing for the new year.

So this was an episode that was released around about 12 months ago.

I think.

Might've just been around.

I think it was the last episode of December 20, 23.

So it was just before the previous new year.

It's a great episode to go and relisten to.

To give you an idea of what we covered in the episode.

We, it did include suggestion to.

I reflect on your previous year.

He talks about setting clear goals and, uh, gave some

suggestions on how you can do that.

So I talked about.

Embracing imperfection and not getting too hung up on.

Being a perfectionist.

That's something that I've struggled with over the years.

And.

To look for growth opportunities.

Also some tips in there about how to break tasks down to make them more

manageable so that you can make progress.

And also talked a little bit about the benefits of quarterly planning.

So it's definitely worth a relisten.

Another episode that I would highly recommend you go and

listen to is episode number 33.

How to write a business plan for your architecture firm.

I think this is really useful, very useful in particular, if you

haven't already got a business plan.

If you haven't got one, this is a great opportunity to write a business

plan that doesn't need to be.

Overly complex.

Doesn't need to be exceedingly time consuming can be quite simple.

This episode walks you through step by step, how to write a simple but effective.

Business plan for your business.

And if you already have a business plan, it's still worth giving

this Alyssa because it's a great opportunity to give it a refresh and

give it an update and talks about the importance of business plan,

some common myths and misconceptions.

How you can simplify your business plan.

it gives you some suggested resources that you can use templates that I would

recommend that you use to write it.

And I'm also gives you some other tips.

In how to get the best out of your business plan by.

Ongoing reviews and.

Improvements.

Getting some feedback.

And how to help keep yourself accountable to those goals

that you set out in the plan.

So it's a really practical episode that I think is really, really

valuable to go relisten to.

The last episode that I wanted to recommend is episode number 13,

which was navigating your business journey with quarterly planning.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, episode number nine, reflecting on your

business and preparing for the new year.

This briefly touched upon.

Quarterly planning and what that is.

Episode 13, this dives into that in more detail.

So it looks at what quarterly planning is.

It helps you to break things down.

To manageable steps.

How to make improvements and how to set some clear goals and focus on

the things that are most important.

He also talks a little bit about How to measure key metrics in your business.

How to stay accountable.

Again, a really useful episode to go listen to.

To help you stay on track.

And keep going in the right direction with your business.

So there's a recommended listing for you that.

The other thing that I wanted to share in this episode is also just to take a

quick look and give you a sneak peek.

On what is coming up over the next few weeks?

Um, throughout the month of January on the show.

Remember, don't forget to join the wait list for our membership community,

where you can meet other business owners who want the same thing as you.

If a thriving business that gives you more freedom, flexibility, and fulfillment.

just go to architecture, business club.com forward slash waitlist, or

click the link in the show notes.

And enter your details.

So you don't miss out on this amazing opportunity to improve

your business and your life.

And if you're enjoying the show, then please leave a five-star review or

rating wherever you listen to podcasts.

Now, back to the show.

Uh, coming up next week, something that I'm quite excited about, um, which

I believe this is going out on the.

The 8th of January.

I will be doing a takeover of C I a.

Where it's at podcast.

CIAT, um, have asked me to.

To do this for them.

and to create an episode for that podcast.

So it's going to be a brand new episode that is going to help kickstart.

The year.

And in the episode, we'll touch upon the three biggest

problems that most architectural technologists in business face.

And to be quite honest, this is going to apply to any service-based

business owners or sole practitioners.

So whether you are an architectural technologist, an architect, an

interior designer, a surveyor.

Or any other service-based business owner, you are going to

find that episode really useful.

And as I mentioned, this is an episode that's going out on a different podcast.

So I'm going to be doing a January takeover of CIA.

Where it's at podcast, and I'll make sure that we have a link in the show

notes so that you can go and find that podcast on your favorite podcast player.

You can go and subscribe to that now so that you don't miss

out on that special episode.

And coming up next on, on this podcast on architecture business club

on the ninth and 16th of January.

We have a two-part guest interview with Angie lions, all about

freelancing and myself and Anch.

We'll be chatting about finding clients and marketing yourself.

We'll be talking about.

How you can be more creative with your marketing.

We're going to be looking up practical things like invoicing and contracts.

You charge out rate.

And talking about the benefits of meeting with the freelancers.

And also some tips on balancing.

Client work with those business admin tasks that we'll still

need to do as business owners.

So it's going to be a really interesting and useful couple of episodes.

Then on the 23rd of January, We have another guest interview this time.

It's with.

Copywriter Ellie Sr.

And the conversation with Allie is to help you get started

with PR in your business PR.

public relations.

If you're not familiar with what the acronym stands for,

probably have heard of PR.

And we're going to be chatting about some common misconceptions about PR

the benefits of PR how you can find the right publications to feature in.

We're going to be talking about newsworthy content for press releases.

Giving you some tips on writing a press release.

And.

Talking about how you can have a successful press release and we'll also be

covering a little bit about advertorials and what they are and why that's something

that can be useful to consider to.

Then at the end of the month on the 30th of January is going to be a solo episode

and I will be chatting all about the.

Architecture business club community.

And this is something that I've mentioned a few times over.

The previous weeks and we did.

Launch a beta version of the community back in October 20, 24.

Uh, with two small group of founding members and the feedback so far

has been absolutely incredible and, uh, really excited for this

to continue and grow for at 2025.

So we have decided that we are going to be opening the doors to

a small number of new members.

very, very soon.

And the episode on the 30th of January, we'll be giving you a bit

more information about what the community is, what problems it solves,

why you might consider joining it.

What the existing members have got to say about it.

What you get from the community, what you can expect and how you can apply to join.

So I'm really excited about that because.

I can honestly say, I mean the community group, it's been one of the best

things I think that I've ever done.

the feedback from the members so far has been just absolutely amazing.

And I'm just really excited to be able to open this community up to

two more members so that it can help.

Positively impact other people, think this is something that's

really needed and something that I've been wanting to do for a long time.

Ever since the podcast launched, but she'd before the podcast even launched.

The thing that I was most excited about was the idea of launching some kind

of community group to be able to help.

So practitioners that are working in architecture.

So I think this is going to be really, really useful for you.

So.

It's a short episode today, but hopefully that gives you a bit of a flavor of what

you can expect over the coming weeks.

If you are yet to go back to work after the Christmas new year break, then enjoy

what remaining time that you have left.

I wish you all the best for 2025 and, Let's make 2025.

An amazing year for you on your business.

Until next time.

Next time.

I chat with Angela lions to talk about freelancing.

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

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Or just want to show your support for the show.

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

platforms, just search for at Mr.

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.