EntreArchitect Podcast with Mark R. LePage

Take Action! Every once in a while I need to look inward at my own life and remind myself how blessed I am. I often find myself falling into a mild depression, stressed and discouraged by what I have not yet achieved. It is important for me to look to the good things in my life. The blessings that I have been granted and the great achievements I have already attained. Life is good and sometimes I need to stop and smell the roses… or in my case I need to stop and smell the high octane racing fuel. That always brings me back to good times! I find that the best way to snap out of my occasional funk is to get to work. Refocus on what matters and get stuff done. Be productive and make progress on the things that matter most. Even though we still struggle from time to time, over all, I have an amazing life. I am blessed with an amazing family, I enjoy an integrated life and spend lots of time with my kids and I have been successful in business and in leadership. Every day I continue to pursue my dreams and work to achieve greater success. And that it what makes me happy. The journey making progress and knowing that I am making a difference in the world. I want you to reach for your dreams. I want you to be successful in your own life so this week I will share **My 10 Steps to a Successful Life**.   Please review this podcast on iTunes. Referenced in this Episode The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller (book) The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy (book) *** Photo Credit: Pixabay.com / DrCarl The post EA067: My 10 Steps to a Successful Life [Podcast] appeared first on EntreArchitect // Small Firm Entrepreneur Architects. Mentioned in this episode:Build SmartFrosty & Fired Up

Click the podcast player button above to listen or subscribe to the show on iTunes. Last week on the podcast, I had the great opportunity to speak with Emily Hall, a senior associate with Union Studio Architecture and Community Design. We had a chat about how to take a very well known architecture firm with a recognized established brand and successfully rebrand that firm with a new name, a new logo and a new identity. If you missed that show, you should go back a take a listen. Emily shares some great insight for not only firms considering a rebranding exercise, but every one of us small firm architects. I think your firm's brand is so important frankly, I think it may be one of the most important factors in your success or failure as an architecture firm. This week I am going to expand on my thoughts from last week and share My 10 Rules for a Powerful Brand in Architecture. Please review this podcast on iTunes. *** Photo Credit: Andrey Armyagov / Shutterstock.com The post EA066: My 10 Rules for a Powerful Brand in Architecture [Podcast] appeared first on EntreArchitect // Small Firm Entrepreneur Architects. Mentioned in this episode:Frosty & Fired UpBuild Smart

Click the podcast player button above to listen or subscribe to the show on iTunes. When Annmarie and I launched our residential architecture studio in 1999, we made a very important decision about the name of our firm. We wanted to be sure that our name was unique and would clearly separate our studio from the many other residential architects in our region. We wanted a name that would be easy to remember, endure and outlive the firm's founders when the next generation might take the lead. We wanted a name that would not burden us as principals, forcing us to be the only people that prospects would want to meet when developing new business and interacting with clients. If our names were on the door, would we be the only people qualified to represent the firm? We wanted a name on which we could build a brand. We named our firm, Fivecat Studio and succeeded in building a successful brand of high-end residential architecture in the lower Hudson Valley of New York State. This week on the Entrepreneur Architect Podcast, I am speaking with a person who understands the how important proper branding is to the success of every architect. She’s responsible for rebranding multiple New England-based architecture firms. Emily Hall is a Senior Associate with Union Studio Architecture & Community Design based in Providence, Rhode Island and we had a fantastic conversation about how to successfully rebrand an architecture firm.   Please review this podcast on iTunes. Referenced in this Episode Union Studio Architecture & Community Design Donald Powers Architects Rhode Island School of Design Durkee Brown Viveiros Werenfels Architects Society for Marketing Professional Services University of Rhode Island Congress of New Urbanism Donald Powers, AIA, LEED AP, CNU Douglas Kallfelz, AIA, LEED AP, CNU Charrette Venture Group StatCounter Analytics Software Google Analytics Robert Troutman, Highland Standard (graphic design) Nail Communications Cote Renard Architecture Dig Architecture Using a design brief Definition of “Brand” Importance of brand continuity Operations manuals and brand guidelines (the brand book ) Chris McRobbie Design + Illustration (web design) Contact Emily Hall @UnionStudioArch on Twitter Episode Transcription (Transcript) How to Successfully Rebrand An Architecture Studio with Emily Hall Episode 65 Mark R LePage: This is the Entrepreneur Architect podcast episode 65. (music) Mark: Welcome back to Entrepreneur Architect podcast. My name is Mark R. LePage and this is the podcast dedicated to a successful life as a small firm architect. Whether you have plans to someday start your own firm, you're in the process to start up or you might be an experienced small firm architect just trying to make a difference, this podcast is for you. My goal is to inspire you to build a better business, so that you may pursue your purpose with passion and live the life of your dreams. Mark: When Annmarie and I launched our residential architecture studio in 1999 we made a very important decision about the name of our firm. We wanted to be sure that our name was unique and would clearly separate our studio from the many other residential architects in the region. We wanted a name that would be easy to remember, would endure and will outlive the firm's founder when the next generation might take the lead. We wanted a name that would not burden us as principals, forcing us to be the only people prospects would want to meet when developing new business or interacting with our clients. If our names where on the door would we be the only people qualified to represent the firm? We wanted a name on which we could build a brand. We named our firm Fivecat Studio and we succeeded in building a successful brand of high end residential architecture in the lower Hudson Valley of New York State. This week on the Entrepreneur Architect podcast, I'm speaking with a person who understands how important proper branding is to the success of every architect. She is responsible for branding and rebranding multiple New England based architecture firms. Emily Hall is a senior associate with Union Studio Architecture based Providence, Rhode Island and we had a fantastic conversation about how to successfully rebrand an architecture firm. (music) Support for everything we do here on entrepreneur architect is provided by our platform sponsor FreshBooks. The easiest ways to send invoices manages expenses and track your time for free 30 day trial visit freshbooks.com/architect. (Convo starts) Mark: Emily Hall welcome to the Entrepreneur Architect podcast. Emily Hall: Thank you thanks for having me. Mark: Thank you for taking the time to join me, I appreciate it. Emily: (Uh huh) Mark: You are a Senior Associate at a firm formerly known as Donald Powers Architects based in Providence, Rhode Island – my old stomping ground. I went Roger Williams University in Bristol, which is not too far from there. I'm heading back up there tomorrow to give us small talk to the A.I.A.S. up there So I'm excited to go back to, to where it all began. But in 2011, with your guidance, Donald Powers Architect successfully rebranded as Union Studio Architecture and Community Design and that's certainly, I'm sure we'll talk about it but it's no small feat to take an established firm with a principal's name on it and rebrand it successfully so it works and I'd love to discuss that. But before we get into that, I want to know a little bit more about you. I'd like to understand where you came from and where did you start, so if you could give us your origin story. What was your path to where you are today? Emily: Sure! Well, like a lot of people who are in architecture marketing, I've never went out with this in mind as end career goal. I think a lot of people find themselves in the field of architectural marketing through a lot of different passing channels. Personally, I have an undergrad degree, an undergrad experience in art history in studio art that took me into New York City. After that, for five years working in the art gallery world and I went on talking a lot about art for five years. And I then I wanted to do some more design work, so I went back to school at Rhode Island School of Design where I got a master's degree in industrial design. And, then I got pulled into the architectural world because I wanted to do a simple job so I can have my own time – my time to do my own studio work in industrial designs so got a job for small architecture firm as a receptionist. And then (background noise) I'm sorry. Mark: That's ok. (Laughing) Emily: That's my rabbit actually causing some damage over there. Mark: You might hear my dogs barking in the background. Emily: (laughing) I apologize. Mark: We roll really casually around here, so no worries. Emily: Yeah. So then I was a receptionist in a small architecture firm and gradually just took on more and more responsibility and over the course of nine years at that firm which was Durkee Brown Viveiros Werenfels Architects also in Providence. I got a window into absolutely every job in the firm that was being not an actual architect. So, office management, doing the billing, accounts payable/receivables, then I got into the marketing from business side and then was able to educate myself in marketing through SMPS, The Society Marketing Professional Services – a great organization. Really taught me a lot about the new ones of marketing for architecture firms. Worked with them through rebrand, or at least a change of logo on website and then was asked to join Union Studio of Donald Powers Architects at the time. I've been there for 4 years and recently, last May I got my MBA from the University of Rhode Island which I was doing at night for the past 3 years. Mark: Congratulations! Emily: Thank you. Mark: That's big deal. Emily: Yeah. Well, you know, there's a lot of math involved and I didn't had much about my recent professional task but I'm glad I did it. I really I needed to round out my knowledge about marketing and business. It was kind of that final piece in the puzzle because I've been doing a lot of it over the years. I've always been somewhere between business and design and an operator within that margin, very left brain/right brain. So that's how I wind up where am I on today. Mark: Yeah, it sounds like you are the every architect's dream. (Laughing) Emily: (Laughing) Oh I don't know about that. I might be someone's nightmare. Mark: (Laughing) No. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Some would consider that but I think, from my point of view every architects needs to run their firm like a business and many of them either don't know how to or don't want to and to have somebody an onboard like you would be so great to be able to handle the business and the things and the let architects be architects. Emily: Well, I've been fortunate to work with two firms that had a very strong business sense and I know it would be much more of a challenge to work with principals who didn't have that knowledge. So I've been very lucky that my opinion is being respected and considered and I'm lucky that there hasn't been much ego involved in the principal side on any firm that I worked with. So far, they've been very willing to change when they needed to change. Mark: Yeah, I mean, Donald Powers Architects was a pretty established brand itself before they rebranded so, to have a firm that understood how to get to that point was unique in itself. Emily: Absolutely! Donald did a great job from the very beginning at building a national client-base through thought leadership and membership in the Congress for New Urbanism which is an excellent organization which very much aligned with our mission and he was able to join that and earn a national client that way. Sometimes it's easier I think especially a small firm and a small state like Rhode Island to have that national credibility. To be an expert in a way, from a way essentially. He did a great job at building that. I commended him from knowing, and his partner Douglas Kallfelz, knowing that at that time, about the point that they reach ten years that is was time to make a change and that looking into the future of the business 10, 20 years later didn't need to be Donald Powers Architects anymore and that wasn’t in clear alignment with where the firm was going. Mark: So let's talk about that. Talk a little about, first of all what does your firm do so everybody can the understands the type of firm, the size of the firm, that kind of thing and then talk about, you know, what was the trigger to change? Emily: Sure! So, we are about 20 people which believe it or not is in a mid-sized firm in the state of Rhode Island. Our largest firm is about 30 people on a state. We do architecture and community design, so we're different as we look at architecture in the context of planning and master planning and, really the, 3D experiences in spaces so it's a combination of, that is a connective tissue that brings site together with the building and everything is in context or response to each other so it's a great mix of a pedestrian experiences is very friendly and walkable. So, we do a lot of housing, we do prototype housing and private residences, multi-family and affordable housing. We also do academic work, adaptive reuse, mostly full spectrum architecture. Mark: And it's national. Everywhere. Pretty much you serve everywhere. Emily: Yep! We're a boutique firm that works nationally. We've been lucky enough to have few projects in the Seattle area, we have one in California now, we had one in Texas, Virginia, New York State, Oklahoma We had a project in Oklahoma last year and oh, Canada! We had our first project in Canada last year. So, yeah we do work I guess you could say, internationally. Mark: Yeah and are you growing? Emily: Yes, we are. We just hired somebody and they started last week and we're looking to grow and that's part I think most rebrands that is the impetus, you know is an idea for around growth. Mark: So, what was the trigger? What was the reason for the rebrand? Emily: Well, 10 years old, looking into the future, I think Donald and his partner, Douglas knew that just having that one name on the sign didn't really reflect what we were about is a firm that was very much about collaboration, layering of efforts, community, the intersection of community and design. So, Union Studio and we're also located in Union Street, so that was an easy suggestion of a name but it also means so much more than that because it's really the intersection of so many things. And that's exactly how we view, with our broad holistic prospective on architecture and the built environment. That's how we view it. So, I think it was more of hitting that 10-year point and saying where are we gonna be? and how are we going to grow in 10 and 20 years? -and that really does reflect more about who we are as a culture and where the next generation of leadership's gonna come in. We didn't want to just add more names on. Mark: Yeah. I think it's important when architects establish their firm from the beginning or if they're in that position now where they've started their firm and named it after themselves. To really consider that name, I think the name is so important. I don't think its ok to just open the firm and just name it after yourself because in the future it becomes an issue. Todd Redding, who is the COO of The Charette Venture Group, who introduced you and me, he and I have had a conversation about many of the architects that he's speaking with.. He's talking to many architects for what he is doing with the Charette Venture Group and so many architects are overwhelmed with the amount of work they're doing. Their own responsibility, the principals in their firm and so many of them are out, getting the work. And the reason they're out getting the work and not behind the drafting board designing is because their name is on the door and nobody wants to talk to anybody except for the guy with the name on the door and and so… the solution to that is to not put your name to the door. (Laughing) Emily: Yeah, that's a good point. I hadn't really thought about it that way, in terms of business development, but it absolutely opens up your options and makes it easier for everybody in the firm to market on behalf of the firm. (music) Mark: Let's take a quick break to thank FreshBooks for support has a platform sponsor. As a platform sponsor, FreshBooks has provided funding and support for our mission to become an influential force in this profession of architecture. They recognize the need for small firms to build better businesses in order to be better architects? So, who is FreshBooks? FreshBooks is the easy-to-use invoicing software designed to help small business owners and yes, that's you and me, small firm architects. FreshBooks will help us get organized, save time invoicing and get paid faster. For more information and access to a free, 30-day trial, go to freshbooks.com/architect and enter EntreArchitect in the “how did you hear about us” section. (music) Mark: So what was the process that Donald Power Architects had to go through to get to where you are now? Emily: Well, they had decided on the name by, you know about 90%, they had decided Union Studio as the name at the point that they had brought me in to help with the rebrand. So, I came in with that advantage that the name was chosen but we were really starting from scratch and we set our calendar and our time frame and knew that we wanted to launch within a year, which is actually a pretty aggressive schedule. Believe it or not, it sounds like a lot of time but there's a lot to be done. We started with a metric curve view and you know just based on the analytics about the existing site, they didn't have any analytics installed at that point. So we made sure to install the right tracking with the existing site to see where people are spending time and weren't so at least we got a, you know, base line of how much time of people spending on the site, what they were visiting or pages they were visiting. Mark: What you are using to do...

Click the podcast player button above to listen or subscribe to the show on iTunes. After years of contributing to the profession of small firm architecture through my weekly post here at the blog, my weekly newsletter and at the Entrepreneur Architect Podcast, I wanted to make Entrepreneur Architect even more interactive; even more influential. I wanted to create a place where small firm architects could go to learn directly, face to face, from one another. I wanted a place where I could invite experts on specific topics of success in business, leadership and life to meet with us and teach us the fundamentals of success. So… this past summer, I launched Entrepreneur Architect Academy. Each week, dozens of small firm architects, members of Entrepreneur Architect Academy come together on a private GoToMeeting video conference. We have become fiends and we actively work to help one another become successful. I have learned so much from these people and so much from the experts who join us. Recently, the topic of our weekly meeting was Partnerships and I invited our friend from Episode 12 of the podcast, Rena Klein, to join us. We had a great discussion and we learned what it takes to enjoy a successful small firm partnership. This week on the Entrepreneur Architect Podcast, I want to share what we learned. This week, I share 7 Truths of a Successful Small Firm Partnership.   Please review this podcast on iTunes. Referenced in this Episode RM Klein Consulting The Architect’s Guide to Small Firm Management: Making Chaos Work for Your Small Firm Episode 012: How Business Consultants Will Help Small Firm Architect Build Better Businesses Entrepreneur Architect Academy Share Your Thoughts What are your thoughts on partnerships? Did I forget anything? Do you disagree with my “truths”? What are your “truths” for a successful partnership? *** Photo Credit: Shutterstock / Greg Epperson The post EA064: 7 Truths of Successful Small Firm Partnerships [Podcast] appeared first on EntreArchitect // Small Firm Entrepreneur Architects. Mentioned in this episode:Frosty & Fired UpBuild Smart

Click the podcast player button above to listen or subscribe to the show on iTunes. Have you ever put all your heart and soul into a architecture project? Have you ever worked from inception at Schematic Design, developed all the details during Design Development, assembled the construction documents, bid it out and then handled it off to some unknown contractor to build? How often do we do this? How often do our ideas get revised, simplified and value engineered , just to make it easier for the contractor to build? Have you ever thought “I could do better? I wish I could control the project all the way through construction? I wish I could make certain that my ideas are fully executed and every detail is exactly the way I want it?” Have you ever considered how beneficial it would be for you as the architect, to control quality, manage the expectations of your client and assure that they are “raving fans” when the project is complete . and then they tell all their friends how you, the architect, built their home instead of the contractor basking in all that glory? This week’s guest on the Entrepreneur Architect Podcast did something about that. This past year, with a new modern home on his boards, he pitched the idea of constructing that project for his client. The client agreed and Dig Architecture was born. Today on on the Entrepreneur Architect Podcast, I am speaking with my friend Nicholas Renard about his architecture firm, Cote Renard Architecture, how he is marketing his Florida based firm and why he launched Dig Architecture, his new construction management company.   Please review this podcast on iTunes. Referenced in this Episode Cote Renard Architecture Dig Architecture (Construction Management) Maria Chrissovergis Public Relations Buildertrend The post EA063: Residential Construction Management with Architect Nicholas Renard [Podcast] appeared first on EntreArchitect // Small Firm Entrepreneur Architects. Mentioned in this episode:Build SmartFrosty & Fired Up

Click the podcast player button above to listen or subscribe to the show on iTunes. This week on the Entrepreneur Architect Podcast, I have a very special guest. He's a friend of mine and a rising star in the profession. Elected as the current president of the American Institute of Architecture Students in December of 2013, I met this man at a small reception following my speech at the organization's annual convention in Chicago. Within minutes of meeting him, I knew that he would be elected the next day and would continue on to do great things for the profession. As president of AIAS, Charlie Klecha is in the process of doing great things. I am excited to see where his journey leads and I am happy to share his story with you here on the Entrepreneur Architect Podcast.   Please review this podcast on iTunes. Referenced in the Episode AIAS Forum AIAS National University of Michigan The Art Institute of Chicago AIAS Roger Williams I Fight Dragons Episode 50 with Nick Serfass, AIAS Executive Director Society for Design Administration AIA Convention Architecture Registration Exam (A.R.E.) AIA Detroit AIA Michigan Follow AIAS National on Twitter Follow Charlie Klecha on Twitter The post EA062: Emerging Leaders with AIAS President Charlie Klecha [Podcast] appeared first on EntreArchitect // Small Firm Entrepreneur Architects. Mentioned in this episode:Build SmartFrosty & Fired Up

Click the podcast player button above to listen or subscribe to the show on iTunes. Sylvia Montgomery is a senior partner and head of the Architecture, Engineering and Construction practice at Hinge Marketing. When she's not traveling around the country for speaking engagements or client meetings, you will find Sylvia creating marketing and branding strategies for clients, supervising her A/E/C team, developing new business, or working on her personal brand. With a 20-year career spanning visual communications, strategy, and marketing, and over a decade working in the A/E/C sector, Sylvia brings a creative, business-focused approach to her client engagements. She specializes in agile marketing for professional services firms, creating actionable, research-driven strategies tailored to helping businesses grow. I've been following Sylvia for years on the Hinge Marketing blog and I've connected numerous times on Twitter. Sylvia always has something interesting or thought provoking to share with us architects on how we can get noticed in this very noisy world.   Please review this podcast on iTunes. Referenced in the Episode HingeMarketing.com Hinge Marketing on Twitter Sylvia Montgomery on Twitter Visible Expert (book) <<— Free Download Quote of the Week Art is what we call…the thing an artist does. It’s not the medium or the oil or the price or whether it hangs on a wall or you eat it. What matters, what makes it art, is that the person who made it overcame the resistance, ignored the voice of doubt and made something worth making. Something risky. Something human. Art is not in the …eye of the beholder. It’s in the soul of the artist. – Seth Godin The post EA061: Marketing Trends for Architects with Sylvia Montgomery [Podcast] appeared first on EntreArchitect // Small Firm Entrepreneur Architects. Mentioned in this episode:Frosty & Fired UpBuild Smart

Last winter, the founder and CEO of Charrette Venture Group, Matt Ostanik contacted me and inquired about my interest in being a jury member of his new Architecture Business Plan Competition. I receive emails and requests all the time asking me to buy things or participate in surveys or to join a networking group or just notification that I am a winner of the million dollar grand prize. So when Matt contacted me, I was skeptical. And when he mentioned that the grand prize for his “no-strings attached” Architecture Business Plan Competition was $10,000 alarm bells went off in my head. But as I researched Charrette Venture Group and learned what Matt was trying to do, I became interested in learning more. Matt was coming into New York for business and asked if I could meet for coffee. Last March, Matt and I and Matt's associate, Todd Reding met for coffee in Pleasantville where my office was before we moved it back to our home office here in Chappaqua. It was at that meeting when I learned of Matt's mission and his plan to help architects build better businesses. His mission is similar to mine we just want to give back and help the profession grow. After that meeting I was all in. I was invited to join Matt as a member of the competition jury. I also became sort of an informal advisor to help them connect with small firms and specifically you, the Entrepreneur Architect community. The 2014 Architecture Business Plan Competition was a huge success. I talked all about the results back in episode 36 and wrote about it in several posts. You may find links to these posts below. This year, I've been asked to join the jury once again and this week on the Entrepreneur Architect Podcast, I am speaking with Todd Reding, who since that first coffee meeting with Matt and me, has become the Chief Operating Officer of Charrette Venture Group. We talked about, not only the business plan competition, but also about Charrette Venture Group, it's purpose and how the competition is helping the profession grow.   Please review this podcast on iTunes. Referenced in the Episode Episode 36: A Call to Action for Small Firm Architects Giving Back is Good Business (Results from 2014 Business Plan Competition) Architecture Business Plan Competition Contact Todd Reding, COO of Charrette Venture Group The post EA060: Architecture Business Plan Competition with Todd Reding [Podcast] appeared first on EntreArchitect // Small Firm Entrepreneur Architects. Mentioned in this episode:Build SmartFrosty & Fired Up

There is an invisible force occurring with every project we start and it is working against us. It’s working against me. It’s working against you. It is working against every small firm architect, at a very rapid pace. You need to get things done before it shows up and finds your client. This week on the Entrepreneur Architect Podcast, I will share my experience with the I.P.S., also know as the Inevitable Priority Shift. Please review this podcast on iTunes. Referenced in the Episode My Rules for Creating Systems for Success (Episode 30) This Week’s Homework This week homework is to create 1 new system. Pick one task from your current process and break it down to it's essential elements. Document each small step and create a simple system to complete that task. I am not asking for an entire operations manual just one simple system for one simple task. Once you are done, share what you did here in the comments below. Share which task you chose… and how it is working for you. *** Photo Credit: Shutterstock / Stasique The post EA059: The Invisible Force Working Against Every Small Firm Architect [Podcast] appeared first on EntreArchitect // Small Firm Entrepreneur Architects. Mentioned in this episode:Build SmartFrosty & Fired Up

In this episode of the Entrepreneur Architect Podcast, I talk about my goals for 2015 and how I will accomplish each one. Please review this podcast on iTunes. Referenced in the Episode The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness by Dave Ramsey (book) EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches by Dave Ramsey (book) Zig Ziglar’s Wheel of Life Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World by Michael Hyatt (book) The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller (book) Lewis Howes interview with motivational speaker Eric Thomas on School of Greatness Podcast “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe. Then you will be successful.” (video) Rich Dad Poor Dad: What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert Kiyosaki (book) This Week’s Homework This week's homework is to work smarter for one week. Turn off the TV. Limit your internet. Turn off the notifications on your phone. Eliminate everything that is unnecessary and not leading your to your ONE Thing. I want you to calculate how many hours you found to work harder? Please leave a comment below and let me know how many hours you found. Episode Sponsor Entrepreneur Architect Academy *** Photo Credit: Shutterstock / new photo The post EA058: Work Harder [Podcast] appeared first on EntreArchitect // Small Firm Entrepreneur Architects. Mentioned in this episode:Frosty & Fired UpBuild Smart