Business Of Architecture Podcast

Hello Architect Nation! This morning, as usual, I went to the Crossfit gym where I work out with my wife and 6 - 7 other people. Our coach was explaining today's workout, when suddenly he was interrupted by the deafening noise of the gas-powered blower the yard maintenance guy was using outside. The Crossfit gym where I exercise is housed in a metal building. Both of the rolling doors were up to let in the cool morning air. Coach Devin crossed his arms with a smile, "Guess I'll have to wait until yard guy is done." Eventually the noise from the blower died down as the yard guy walked away. Coach Devin continued to explain the workout and I had a successful session sweating, grunting and in general torturing myself. This experience with the noisy yard blower got me thinking - how often are we interrupted by figurative yard blowers throughout our day? An unexpected phone call or an email sends me on a wild goose chase of being reactionary instead of pro-active. What I'd have you consider today is this - where i

Have you ever done something you regret? Of course not, right?   I did - just two days ago when I blew up at my wife for doing me a needed favor.   As I stood there, looking at my wife with tears in her eyes, I felt horrible for being such a royal jerk to the most wonderful lady in my life, my beautiful queen.   I learned an important lesson that day.   Hear the whole story in today's ArchitectCEO daily update: You Made Your Bed - Now Sleep In It.

Today I welcome Kevin Collins to the show. Kevin Collins is the Underwriting Manager for the Professional Liability program at Victor O. Schinnerer & Company, one of the largest providers of professional liability insurance for architects and engineers. We discuss the top 5 things you should consider when getting professional liability insurance. ► Subscribe to my YouTube Channel for updates: https://www.youtube.com/c/BusinessofArchitecture ******* For more free tools and resources for running a profitable, impactful and fulfilling practice, connect with me on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessofarchitecture Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enoch.sears/ Website: https://www.businessofarchitecture.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BusinessofArch Podcast: http://www.businessofarchitecture.com/podcast/ iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/business-architecture-podcast/id588987926 Android Podcast Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/BusinessofArchitecture-podcast ******* Access

The Theory of Constraints is a management theory developed by Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt. He discusses it in his popular book, The Goal. The theory states that every system's output will be limited by it's weakest link. For instance, if you're doing an exercise - say squats, the amount you can lift will be limited by the muscle that gives out first when trying to lift the weight. In a building structural system, the integrity of the building is limited by the element that fails first. In a business system, if you can identify the constraint, you can work to pro-actively fix it, improving the efficiency and output of the entire system. This theory simplifies the improvement of your business - just find the weakest link, improve it, iterate, then find the next weakest link. Recently on a trip to the beach I had an experience that reminded me of the theory of constraints. My brother-in-law brought a fabric cooler he had gotten at Costco. The lid of the cooler is sealed shut with a zipper. The zipper broke, and now the

What is holding you back? You're working hard to get specific results, but there are so many obstacles in your way. The ArchitectCEO Update: What if I told you that the only thing that is holding you back is you?!? It isn't what's on the outside – your employees, your spouse, your education or lack thereof – You're the one that is responsible for your results in your life. You're the one that is holding you back. This can be a hard pill to swallow, but it's also empowering because you have 100% of the power needed to change your situation and the life you're living. To learn more about how to create your DREAM Architecture practice, go to http://architectresources.org/9mjd7s

This morning as I was doing my daily workout, I looked up and saw a little sparrow chasing a crow. This brought to mind the parable of the crows vs the eagle. Listen and let me know what you think. Enoch

On this episode, you'll discover the parable of "Red on Right on Return" and discover one simple way to differentiate your architecture firm.

This morning as I pulled into my neighborhood, I saw a stack of white papers littering the side of the road. They had begun to blow down the street creating a huge eye-sore. As I drove past I wondered, “who will clean up those papers?” My initial reaction was to leave them for someone else to clean up. Then I realized that no one else would clean them up. They would likely sit there for days littering the street and blowing into adjacent yards if someone didn't collect them up. I realized that if they bothered me, it was up to me to clean them up. So I turned my car around, parked on the side of the street and collected the stack of papers and all the strays. This experience is similar to all areas of life, including business. I have figurative ‘papers' littering my life, my business, my relationships and my health. These are the things that are keeping me from getting the result I want in life. Instead of recognizing them and cleaning them up, I continue to let them blow around in the wind. For example, in m

How you do one thing is how you do everything. The bad (and good) habits that we have repeat through all areas of life. This is a concept that one of my business mentors taught me years ago. Recently I took a hard look at my life and what I'm doing and I noticed this pattern showing up. First let me share an incident that reminded me of this recently, and then I'll share how I saw this pop up in my own life. Two weeks ago I was attending a business seminar. One guy out of our group was continually late to the sessions. When he finally arrived, he sat off to the side at the front of the room. After repeatedly seeing this guy walk in late, the man running the seminar confronted him. “You came to this seminar to learn how to improve your business. But you're showing up late. You're not engaging in the exercises and you're not even taking notes. Do you care about your f**ing business or not? The message I'm getting is that you don't care … you aren't ALL IN.” “How you do ONE THING is how you do EVERYTHING. My gue

"The way we build is stupid," proclaims sustainable evangelist and architect Eric Corey Freed. In this episode of the Business of Architecture Show, you'll discover how some companies are innovating how buildings are built and what's possible in the future. ► Subscribe to my YouTube Channel for updates: https://www.youtube.com/c/BusinessofArchitecture ******* For more free tools and resources for running a profitable, impactful and fulfilling practice, connect with me on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessofarchitecture Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enoch.sears/ Website: https://www.businessofarchitecture.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BusinessofArch Podcast: http://www.businessofarchitecture.com/podcast/ iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/business-architecture-podcast/id588987926 Android Podcast Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/BusinessofArchitecture-podcast ******* Access the FREE Architecture Firm Profit Map video here: http://freearchitectgift.com Download the FR

This morning I did a morning jaunt around my neighborhood. As I was walking, I saw a man coming toward me walking two dogs. The dogs were pulling at the leash, trying to sniff everything. You may have experienced this before. They pulled toward the sidewalk, trying to smell the bushes. When I walked past, they pulled toward me, trying to get a sniff. As I was watching this, I had the thought, “Is the man walking the dogs, or are the dogs walking the man?” If the dogs are walking the man, the man has little to no control over the journey or where he ends up. He's reacting to circumstances. He might end up all the way across town where he doesn't want to be. Or he may end up in the park running after squirrels. 

This morning my 7-year old daughter showed me a drawing that she did of a ‘remote control doll.' Apparently this is what 7-year-old girls like to think about. On one side of the page she drew a picture of the remote, complete with a viewing screen, speaker and microphone so she could talk through the doll. On the reverse side of the page, she had a picture of the back of the doll with an outlet in her head (for charging my daughter told me). Drawing of the ‘rumote cuncurll' Drawing of the doll. Notice the power outlet in the back of the doll's head for charging. You'll notice that she's misspelled a lot of the words. ‘Rumote' instead of ‘remote.' ‘Toc' instead of ‘talk.' ‘Cis' instead of ‘kiss.' At first I was troubled that my daughter who is 7 years old doesn't know how to spell simple words like ‘kiss' and ‘talk.' Then I remembered that she's only 7 years old, and the way that she's going to learn to spell more words is by actually trying! Interesting – the way we grow and progress is by actually doing st

Yesterday I took my kids to their swim meet. It was cool outside with a nice breeze blowing. I stood in the stands so I could watch my kids swim and record their times. In my down time, I was scrolling through Instagram and I came across a post by one of my business mentors who recommended 3 books, The Ultimate Blueprint for an Insanely Successful Business by Keith Cunningham, and How Finance Works and The Wisdom of Finance by Mihir Desai. I pulled out my Android phone and whipped up Google Keep so I could write these books down and read them later. But when I tried writing in my Google Keep note app, nothing happened. I tried pressing enter to go to a new line and it was like my on-screen keyboard wasn't working. I tried typing some letters … nothing appeared. I got frustrated. “Damn you Google!” I tried again, nothing. I thought of what could be the matter. Perhaps it was my phone. Damn Google phone. I restarted my phone and tried the app again. It still didn't work. I thought, “I guess it's time to buy a n

Yesterday I spoke with the partners of a design-focused architecture firm that does commercial, hospitality and residential projects. They reached out to me because their fees are very competitive, but they sometimes get undercut by 40% or more. Many times the clients come back to them with their tail between their legs after these projects go off track – but not always. This is frustrating for these firm owners who feel like they're doing everything right, but still struggling. Let's face it – both you and I know if a client pays 40% less they aren't getting the same level of professional service. It's like getting heart surgery – would you go to the cheapest surgeon? “Excuse me doctor, that seems a bit on the high side. Is there any way you can bring that fee down? There's a doctor operating behind a local bar, and he charges a fraction of that.” “Perhaps there are less expensive sutures? Is all of this equipment really necessary? My brother-in-law says this should cost much less.” “What if we do this at my

The other day I was walking around my neighborhood and I found a stray golf ball on my lawn. This reminded me of an important principle if you want to have it all in business and life. Listen to this episode and let me know what you think!

Many architects are sitting on uncovered profit within their firm. In this episode, podcast host Alex Gore interviews Enoch Sears about key profit levers small firm owners can use to boost bottom line revenue without getting more clients or working more hours. ► Subscribe to my YouTube Channel for updates: https://www.youtube.com/c/BusinessofArchitecture ******* For more free tools and resources for running a profitable, impactful and fulfilling practice, connect with me on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessofarchitecture Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enoch.sears/ Website: https://www.businessofarchitecture.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BusinessofArch Podcast: http://www.businessofarchitecture.com/podcast/ iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/business-architecture-podcast/id588987926 Android Podcast Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/BusinessofArchitecture-podcast ******* Access the FREE Architecture Firm Profit Map video here: http://freearchitectgift.com Download the

Poop in the toilet (business lesson on inspecting what you expect). Recently one of our toilets in the house went out of commission. This reminded me of an important business lesson for any firm owner. Listen and let me know what you think.

Why don't potential clients come running to my firm? If you're delivering exceptional service and value to your clients, you may wonder why clients don't come running to your firm? Why don't more people refer you? There is one key to successful client attraction and business development that we cover in this episode. This is the foundation to growing a successful practice in the future.

Today we welcome Ignacio Rodriguez to the show. Ignacio Rodriguez runs an architecture firm based in Los Angeles, California that specializes in luxury residential homes of $15,000 square feet and more. On today's episode you'll discover the clever way that Ignacio and his wife started their residential design firm, and how they grew it over the course of 6 years to win larger commissions. ► Subscribe to my YouTube Channel for updates: https://www.youtube.com/c/BusinessofArchitecture ******* For more free tools and resources for running a profitable, impactful and fulfilling practice, connect with me on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessofarchitecture Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enoch.sears/ Website: https://www.businessofarchitecture.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BusinessofArch Podcast: http://www.businessofarchitecture.com/podcast/ iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/business-architecture-podcast/id588987926 Android Podcast Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Busin

Today we welcome Dean Lincoln Hyers to the show. Dean helps architecture firms win commissions through interview and presentation coaching to help them communicate their value and win the deal. He and his partner are the authors of the book, "Winning AEC Interviews." The deals they've been involved in have resulted in over $4.5 billion in project wins, including the USBANK stadium, where the 2018 Super Bowl was held. On today's episode you'll discover Dean's top 3 tips for winning your next project presentation. ► Subscribe to my YouTube Channel for updates: https://www.youtube.com/c/BusinessofArchitecture ******* For more free tools and resources for running a profitable, impactful and fulfilling practice, connect with me on: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessofarchitecture Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enoch.sears/ Website: https://www.businessofarchitecture.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/BusinessofArch Podcast: http://www.businessofarchitecture.com/podcast/ iTunes: https://i