What's Next For Architecture Business Club? | 021

Oh, you have exciting news about the future of architecture

business club beyond this podcast.

In this episode of architecture business club.

The weekly podcast for solo and small firm architecture practice owners,

just like you who want to build a profitable future-proof architecture

business that fits around their life.

I'm the host John Clayton.

And if you want a business in architecture that gives you more freedom,

flexibility, and fulfillment, and go to architecture, business club.com.

Forward slash blueprint.

And download the architecture business blueprint.

It's the step-by-step formula to freedom for architects, architectural

technologists and architectural designers.

And it's absolutely free as a gift from me.

Now let's talk about the changes coming in.

Architecture business club.

Hello everybody.

And welcome to the show today on really excited to get the chance

to chat with you about some of the changes that are coming up.

In architecture, business clubs.

So you might be wondering what is changing.

Don't panic.

Nothing is happening to the podcast.

The podcast is not going anywhere.

Still going to be coming out.

Same time, same day, every single week.

But what is changing is what else is on offer from architecture

business called beyond the podcast?

It was never really intended to just be a podcast I'd always had.

A bigger vision for architecture business club.

And really, I think a lot of that comes down to.

Create wanting to create a community.

Something that I didn't feel that I had, and I still don't feel that we really have

within the architecture industry, that it does still seem to be very fragmented and.

We've got.

Our IBA in one corner.

and then all sorts of other organizations and nowhere central for everybody to kind

of get together to be able to socialize.

To share what we know to support each other with our businesses.

To improve the industry as a whole.

And.

That was really.

The whole reasoning behind starting or parkitecture business club, it was

never intended to just be a podcast.

And the last few months has been absolutely incredible.

I've had such an amazing reception to the podcast itself.

But I've reached out and spoken to some of the listeners.

And I've heard comments and feedback.

That's come in.

And people want more.

And I know that.

In my own experience, as particular as a sole practitioner that I

wanted more, podcasts are amazing.

They're amazing resource to be able to, to hear from other people.

But.

They're essentially a broadcast it's one way.

And what I wanted to look to do was to look up.

How could we make architecture business club much more interactive

so that we can really start.

Building a community beyond the podcast audience.

So with that in mind, what is new?

What are the new things that I've got?

Prepared for you already.

And what are the new things that are in the pipeline?

So the very first thing is a brand new website for architecture business club.

So.

There was a previous version of the website.

Which was essentially just the podcast episodes on a simple web page.

On our.

I know that.

In past episodes.

I have directed people to my, my older website, which is more from

architectural design clients.

And I was making changes on the uninterest thought, you know what?

This is just getting a bit confusing for everybody.

What we really need is just a brand new website, architecture business club.com.

So there's just an easy, memorable place to people.

Can go to online.

And not only find the podcast, but find any other new resources or

any new things that were launched.

As we further develop the architecture business club community.

So.

Go and head over there.

Go and check out architecture, business club.com.

And let me know what you think.

I would love to hear your feedback.

It is early days.

So the site is still, um, You know, it might not be perfect.

In fact, actually you can go and test the site.

Like if you find anything, if there's a link that doesn't work,

if there's something that doesn't make sense or whatever, Drop me a

message and let me know, because I am testing things, but I, I wanted to.

Try and overcome my perfectionism.

As the last website took an awful long time to launch into the world.

This website, I literally made a decision.

About two weeks ago.

That we need a new website.

And I just wanted to get it done as quickly as possible.

Get the minimum.

Viable version of the website out into the world so that people can start

using it, start finding it, and then we can further develop it as we go.

So go and check it out.

Architecture, business club.com.

The next thing I wanted to share is something that I've, I've actually

been working on this for quite a while.

It's not necessarily been a secret, but I've not really

been talking about it so much.

And it is a document that I've prepared.

Called the architecture business blueprint.

And I've probably spent.

Good chunk of time over the last two or three months.

Getting this ready to release into the world and, and to give to everybody.

It is based on over decades, experience working as a sole practitioner.

And my experience says I'm working in collaborating with other small practices.

And not to mention.

Yeah, I'm not going to say that I know everything here because this is

a journey, you know, every day's a learning day, but not to mention my

expanding knowledge about business sales and marketing that I've developed over.

Probably over the last five or six years through attending business and

marketing conferences, workshops.

Investing in online training sessions.

Uh, intensive reading.

And interviewing some of the smartest people in business and

architecture on this very podcast.

So I've tried to distill all of that.

And to put it into this document, which essentially it's like, it's like a

framework that you can use for your own.

Business in architecture.

And.

People often charged for this, but I'm giving it to you.

Absolutely free.

You can download it today without any charge.

At architecture business club.com forward slash blueprint.

Go ahead and check it out.

I think it's going to be really helpful.

Everyone's going to get something different out of it, depending

on what stage you're at.

I think if you're at the startup phase, there's going to be lots

of useful things in there that you can work through to step by step.

Process that you can go through.

But equally, if you've been in business for a while, and maybe there's a

part of your business that isn't working so well maybe that's could

be, to do with not getting enough leads or a new marketing strategy, or

maybe it's some of the fundamentals.

But when I started my business, there was, there were certain things

that just happened by accident.

And they weren't necessarily intentional.

The document also covers some of the foundational stuff

that you can think about.

Really to make sure that the business that you've created and that your

you're growing and developing over time.

Is one that's aligned to your own values and your goals and your aspirations.

And what you're going to do is.

Create a business that fits around your life.

And not.

Well, not make a rod for your own back.

And create a business that you end up falling out of love with.

So, this is what we want to try and avoid.

And I believe that the architecture business blueprint

will help you to do that.

So go and download it today, go and grab it.

If you've got any questions about it or any feedback for me, then do let me know.

The next thing I wanted to talk about is community.

I mentioned earlier.

In this episode.

Architecture business group was always intended to be more than just a podcast.

The clues really in the name, like the reason, but I love

that name that we had the club.

Aspect of it.

Was that, that was what I'd always envisaged it to be that it would be

a club of people in the architecture business world, working together,

we were all learning architecture business A's we understood each other.

We understood the challenges that we had to go through in this industry.

So the vision was to have a place where architecture

business owners can get together.

We can support each other, learn from each other.

Whatever your professional title.

So whether you're an architect or an architectural technologist, Or maybe you,

maybe you're an architecture designer.

Maybe you very, maybe you're very experienced in the industry, but

Maybe you're not registered to all of those professional organizations.

I don't care.

Like I don't mind.

That's absolutely fine.

There's some very talented.

Designers out there just as there are talented architects and talented

architectural technologists, I don't care what your professional title is.

I want to be able to help all of you.

And to be able to give all of you.

Access to a community of like-minded people.

So that you're not segregated into our IBA or CIAT.

This can be a central place where all of us can get together.

And not just to.

Not just to focus on the business side of things.

Maybe just to like, have a bit of fun.

To socialize as well.

I mean, I think that's one of the things that's really missing.

When you start your own business.

It can be a really lonely place.

And you miss out on all those opportunities for social events and get

togethers all of those things as well.

So what I'd really love, I could talk, I could talk all day about this sort of

thing, faster, spaced on my experience.

What I would like to hear about is I want you to tell me about your experience.

And I'd like you to tell me what features and benefits that you would

like to see as part of this new.

Architecture community.

For example, like, do you want, do you want a discussion group online?

Do you want like a forum for conversations?

And if you do, like where would you want it to be?

You know, do you want it to be.

So we're like a Facebook group, not everyone's a fan of Facebook.

Do you want it to be.

Somewhere, totally separate from social media.

I can independent discussion forum, like a membership site.

You can download an app for and have those conversations.

Do you want.

Webinars or online courses on specific topics to help you with your business.

Would you like us to ruin Q and a sessions with guests, experts,

speakers, or maybe even me, maybe you'd like to pick my brain sometime.

Well, maybe you'd like to see more in person events.

Maybe like an annual conference.

Focused on the business side of architecture.

Or workshops.

One day events, maybe some regional social events.

Or maybe even a weekend retreat, like how amazing would that be to have a

weekend retreat with some like-minded architecture business owners?

To talk about business, but also to.

Make some memories together to have some fun.

So to have your say on the architecture business, cook community and get access

to an exclusive WhatsApp discussion group.

Join our waitlist today.

You can find a link to join the waitlist in the show notes.

One thing I'm absolutely certain will form a part of this new

architecture business club.

Community is a mastermind group.

I'm really passionate about mastermind groups.

I've been in several over the years and they are.

Such a fantastic way.

Two.

Achieve your goals in business and, and to get some support.

Masterminds are usually small group of people.

By small, it could be anything from two or three to maybe a dozen or so there

are some mastermind groups that I've seen that are, are much larger than that,

that have maybe got like 50 people in it.

For me, I think probably the sweet spot is.

You know, maybe.

No more than maybe 10 to 12 people.

These are usually people that have got similar goals who be on a regular basis.

To help each other out in achieving them.

Mastermind groups offer support, accountability.

And motivation to really make things happen and they can be a lot of fun too.

To learn more about mastermind groups, go and listen to episode 18, where I chatted

with expert business mentor Chris Ducker about masterminds in much more depth.

And again, to be the first to hear about the architecture business mastermind group

and to get the opportunity to be part of its formation, please join the waitlist.

And remember you'll get access to that exclusive WhatsApp discussion group.

You can find a link to join the wait list in the show notes.

There's another thing I wanted to talk about today, and that is one-to-one

coaching, mentoring, and consulting.

It is hard doing everything on your own, and sometimes you need somebody else

by your side to help you along the way.

Particularly if you're in a time of change, like, you know, maybe you're

just looking to start your business or you've recently started up.

Or maybe a changing of your services.

We recognize that something in your architecture business

just isn't working anymore.

And you need to fix it.

So group programs and masterminds can certainly help with those

issues, but there are times when investing in some one-to-one

support is just the best way to go.

And often this can just be for a season.

Maybe it's four free months, six months.

Maybe it could be a year, depending on the nature of the changes, but.

Usually it's not something that's a long-term solution.

So I offer a mixture of coaching, mentoring, and consulting.

Depending on what stage you're at in your business and what it is.

Specifically that you need support with.

The spots are limited.

You can email me at Jon that's, J O N.

At architecture business called.com.

Or message me on social media.

To learn more about working with me on a one-to-one basis.

So there's quite a bit to run through that.

I hope you're feeling as excited about all of this as me, because.

It is now I'm trying to talking about it and sharing it with you.

I am starting to feel really excited about it.

There's been a lot of work I've been doing in the background over

the last couple of months that I haven't really shared about online.

I haven't really talked about it on the podcast or.

I'm on LinkedIn where I usually hang out.

But I am, I am really excited about this and.

I effectively.

I'm at the point where.

I'm basically firing myself.

From my old job, that's the best way to describe it.

That I really feel that.

I want to put a hundred percent of my energy and my time into

architecture business club.

To be able to support other people.

On their journey in architecture.

So I look forward to sharing more news with you about all of this very soon.

Next time I'll be chatting with Nikita Morel about probably the most underrated

marketing tool, email newsletters.

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

If you liked this episode, think other people might enjoy it.

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.