What's Next For Architecture Business Club? | 021

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Oh, you have exciting news about the future of architecture

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business club beyond this podcast.

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In this episode of architecture business club.

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

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

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business that fits around their life.

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I'm the host John Clayton.

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

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

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Forward slash blueprint.

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And download the architecture business blueprint.

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

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technologists and architectural designers.

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

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Now let's talk about the changes coming in.

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Architecture business club.

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Hello everybody.

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

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

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In architecture, business clubs.

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So you might be wondering what is changing.

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Don't panic.

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Nothing is happening to the podcast.

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The podcast is not going anywhere.

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Still going to be coming out.

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Same time, same day, every single week.

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

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business called beyond the podcast?

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

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A bigger vision for architecture business club.

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

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Create wanting to create a community.

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

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

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We've got.

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Our IBA in one corner.

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

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of get together to be able to socialize.

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

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To improve the industry as a whole.

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And.

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That was really.

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

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never intended to just be a podcast.

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And the last few months has been absolutely incredible.

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

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

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And I've heard comments and feedback.

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That's come in.

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And people want more.

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And I know that.

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

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wanted more, podcasts are amazing.

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

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But.

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

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

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How could we make architecture business club much more interactive

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so that we can really start.

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Building a community beyond the podcast audience.

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So with that in mind, what is new?

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What are the new things that I've got?

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Prepared for you already.

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

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

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So.

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There was a previous version of the website.

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

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On our.

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I know that.

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In past episodes.

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

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architectural design clients.

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

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This is just getting a bit confusing for everybody.

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

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

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Can go to online.

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

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any new things that were launched.

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As we further develop the architecture business club community.

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So.

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Go and head over there.

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Go and check out architecture, business club.com.

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And let me know what you think.

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I would love to hear your feedback.

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It is early days.

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

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

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

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

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

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Try and overcome my perfectionism.

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

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This website, I literally made a decision.

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About two weeks ago.

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That we need a new website.

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

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Get the minimum.

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

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

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So go and check it out.

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Architecture, business club.com.

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

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been working on this for quite a while.

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

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been talking about it so much.

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And it is a document that I've prepared.

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Called the architecture business blueprint.

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And I've probably spent.

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

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

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

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

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And not to mention.

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

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

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

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

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marketing conferences, workshops.

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Investing in online training sessions.

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Uh, intensive reading.

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And interviewing some of the smartest people in business and

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architecture on this very podcast.

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So I've tried to distill all of that.

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

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framework that you can use for your own.

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Business in architecture.

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And.

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

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Absolutely free.

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You can download it today without any charge.

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At architecture business club.com forward slash blueprint.

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Go ahead and check it out.

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I think it's going to be really helpful.

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

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on what stage you're at.

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

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

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Process that you can go through.

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

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

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

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maybe it's some of the fundamentals.

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

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that just happened by accident.

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And they weren't necessarily intentional.

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The document also covers some of the foundational stuff

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that you can think about.

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

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you're growing and developing over time.

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

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And what you're going to do is.

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Create a business that fits around your life.

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And not.

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Well, not make a rod for your own back.

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

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

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And I believe that the architecture business blueprint

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will help you to do that.

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

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

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The next thing I wanted to talk about is community.

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I mentioned earlier.

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In this episode.

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

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

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that name that we had the club.

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Aspect of it.

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

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

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

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

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So the vision was to have a place where architecture

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business owners can get together.

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We can support each other, learn from each other.

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Whatever your professional title.

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

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maybe you're an architecture designer.

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

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

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I don't care.

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Like I don't mind.

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That's absolutely fine.

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There's some very talented.

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Designers out there just as there are talented architects and talented

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

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I want to be able to help all of you.

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And to be able to give all of you.

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Access to a community of like-minded people.

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

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

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And not just to.

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Not just to focus on the business side of things.

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Maybe just to like, have a bit of fun.

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To socialize as well.

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

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When you start your own business.

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It can be a really lonely place.

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

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togethers all of those things as well.

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

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thing, faster, spaced on my experience.

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

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

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like to see as part of this new.

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Architecture community.

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

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Do you want like a forum for conversations?

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

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You know, do you want it to be.

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

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Do you want it to be.

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Somewhere, totally separate from social media.

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I can independent discussion forum, like a membership site.

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You can download an app for and have those conversations.

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Do you want.

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

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

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

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

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Maybe like an annual conference.

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Focused on the business side of architecture.

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Or workshops.

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One day events, maybe some regional social events.

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

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weekend retreat with some like-minded architecture business owners?

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To talk about business, but also to.

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Make some memories together to have some fun.

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

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to an exclusive WhatsApp discussion group.

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Join our waitlist today.

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

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

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architecture business club.

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Community is a mastermind group.

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I'm really passionate about mastermind groups.

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

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Such a fantastic way.

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Two.

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

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Masterminds are usually small group of people.

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

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

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that have maybe got like 50 people in it.

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For me, I think probably the sweet spot is.

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You know, maybe.

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No more than maybe 10 to 12 people.

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

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To help each other out in achieving them.

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Mastermind groups offer support, accountability.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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coaching, mentoring, and consulting.

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

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by your side to help you along the way.

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

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

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Or maybe a changing of your services.

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We recognize that something in your architecture business

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just isn't working anymore.

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And you need to fix it.

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So group programs and masterminds can certainly help with those

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

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support is just the best way to go.

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And often this can just be for a season.

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Maybe it's four free months, six months.

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

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

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

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

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Specifically that you need support with.

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The spots are limited.

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

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At architecture business called.com.

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Or message me on social media.

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

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

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

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

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I am starting to feel really excited about it.

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

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

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

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I'm on LinkedIn where I usually hang out.

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

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I effectively.

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I'm at the point where.

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I'm basically firing myself.

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

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That I really feel that.

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

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architecture business club.

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To be able to support other people.

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On their journey in architecture.

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

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

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marketing tool, email newsletters.

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

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

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Or just want to show your support for the show.

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Then please leave a glowing five-star review or rating wherever you listen

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to podcasts, it would mean so much to me and makes it easier for new

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listeners to discover the show.

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And if you haven't already done, so don't forget to hit the subscribe button.

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So you never miss another episode.

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

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platforms, just search for at Mr.

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John Clayton.

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

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

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Remember.

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Running your architecture business.

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

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This is architecture business club.