Business of Architecture Podcast

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 FREE Architecture Firm Profit Map video here: http://freearchitectgift.com Download the FREE Architecture Firm Marketing Process Flowchart video here: http://freearchitectgift.com Come to my next live, in-person event: https://www.businessofarchitecture.com/live Carpe Diem!

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 entire cooler is useless. The cooler fell prey to the Theory of Constraints. If the manufacturer had designed a sturdier zipper, the cooler would have lasted longer - and another part would have failed first. What I'd have you consider today is what is the constraint in your business that is holding you back from getting the outcome you want? Identify this constraint and fix it. If you don't know how to fix it, consult with someone who does. If you want help fixing the constraints in your architecture firm, apply for the DREAM Practice Accelerator. Go to https://www.businessofarchitecture.com/reviews to find out more.

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 my business one team member has the duty to fill out a spreadsheet at the end of the day. The reason for doing this is so that I can see where the business is headed and make corrections if necessary. Well, yesterday afternoon I noticed that the spreadsheet hadn't been filled out. I had an internal conflict. Should I point this out to this team member and risk making this person feel annoyed or defensive? Or should I just let it go? Then I realized that if I ignore the small but important things, big things follow. New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani cleaned up Manhattan by cracking down on small offenses like littering and jay-walking. Because of his attention to the small things, New York City saw a steep decline in both violent crimes and quality-of-life crimes. Attention to the small stuff created a new culture in New York City. The same principle applies in your business. What culture are you creating by either ignoring or not ignoring the small stuff – both for yourself and your staff? The question I'd have you consider today is this: Where across the domains of body, being, balance and business do you have figurative 'papers' blowing around that need to be cleaned up? Where are you driving by and letting them litter your neighborhood without taking action? Write that thing down and make a decision, do you want this part of your neighborhood littered or clean? Then take the steps to make it happen. If you know you have a lot of papers blowing around and you want a shortcut to cleaning them up and building the firm of your dreams, you may be a fit for my DREAM Practice Accelerator. Go here to find out more and discover if the DREAM Practice Accelerator is for you. Carpe diem. Enoch Bartlett Sears

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 guess is that this habit shows up in other areas of your business and life. And this is one major reason why you aren't getting the results that you want." Boom. I felt bad for the guy that was on the receiving end of this fire – he was stone-faced and silent, but he knew what the trainer was saying was true. How I Saw This In My Life Yesterday was Sunday, and I was at church with my family. One of my church responsibilities is to find someone to give an opening prayer and someone to give a closing prayer for the church service. I was sitting up on the stand waiting for the service to start with about one minute left. Suddenly, the Bishop (leader of the congregation) leans over to me and asks me if I had asked anyone to offer the prayers. Doh! I hadn't. It was all I could do to keep from letting loose an expletive there in front of the congregation – that would have been a meeting to remember! Feeling a temporary burst of embarrassment, I quickly stepped down from the stand and found two unwitting, but willing, victims in the congregation and asked them to give the prayers. Fortunately, they obliged. So what lesson did I learn from this? How you do one thing is how you do everything. I've always told myself that I'm not a 'details' guy. This is the story I tell myself about who I am. I realize that lack of attention to the details is a repeated pattern for me (no surprise here). But my attitude changed when I considered how this habit is showing up in other areas of my life. Fortunately, I can change. So this moment of recognition allows me to take some actions and change my ways. If I can achieve what I've achieved without attention to the details, imagine what I can do when I become the person who handles not only the big picture, but the attention to details! This is how I like to think about things. What I'd have you consider today is this: Where in your business or your life do you have a pattern of doing something that is sabotaging the results you want to get? Perhaps you aren't even aware of this thing. Write that thing down in your journal and ask yourself the question, how is this pattern showing up in other areas of my life? What can I do to change it? That's all for today. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Carpe diem. Enoch Bartlett Sears

"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 FREE Architecture Firm Marketing Process Flowchart video here: http://freearchitectgift.com Come to my next live, in-person event: https://www.businessofarchitecture.com/live Carpe Diem!

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. 😄 What I'd have you consider today is this: where in your business, your relationships, your health and fitness or your faith are the dogs walking you? Where are you reacting to circumstances in your life instead of creating the circumstances that you want which lead you to where you want to go? As you've read this parable, something may have come to mind. Write it down, and figure out what you can do to be intentional so you don't end up across town or in the park chasing squirrels ... Carpe diem.

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 stuff – even if we get it wrong! Seth Godin writes about this concept and calls it 'shipping' (refering to 'shipping the product). Here's an excerpt from a post that Seth Godin wrote talking about this: Shipping is fraught with risk and danger. Every time you raise your hand, send an email, launch a product or make a suggestion, you're exposing yourself to criticism. Not just criticism, but the negative consequences that come with wasting money, annoying someone in power or making a fool of yourself. It's no wonder we're afraid to ship. It's not clear you have much choice, though. A life spent curled in a ball, hiding in the corner might seem less risky, but in fact it's certain to lead to ennui and eventually failure. – Seth Godin Where in your life or business are you holding back because you're afraid to ship something and get it out to the world? Where in life or business are you figuratively curled up in a ball trying to avoid risk, but putting yourself on the path to failure? Where in life do you have an idea, a project or a product that you need to ship? Let's get after it today. Enoch Bartlett Sears