Rich the Architect

As I developed my firm principles I started to think that I should also use this as a basis for finding ideal clients. When networking or interacting with people I have started to think if I'm spending my time wisely. In this episode, I'm proven wrong by questioning if i should go to an event, and I also start considering to offer some Revit software advice, but not for free.

Now that I've identified my principles how do I test them on a regular basis. On this episode I go over how I have a weekly meeting with myself (coffee and breakfast provided by my boss, oh wait that's me) to identify certain situations in the past week and test to see which principles were used. Then I go over how I may be able to use these principles to evaluate an ideal team member to work with, whether its an employee, consultant, or client.

Combining the last two principles, which are Principle 7 (Quick Communication) and 8 (Follow the Follow). Both work well together because I want to get information to others as quick as possible, and once that information is in their hands I want to make sure the next steps are being made by others.

The details of a project can be broken down into not only the design of a project, but also the design of the process of a project.

The daily grind of running and operating a business can take its toll over time, so making sure I'm fresh and ready to go is very important. I go over how I can keep it fresh on business operations and processes, along with how I do it on a daily basis.

As a younger professional I worked with a senior project manager who would tell me to always look at the pros and cons of whatever is involved in the design of a project. Today, I still look at that and sometimes it can help me determine if a client is a good fit or not. I also offer my opinions of made up deadlines for designing for the environment that is a sure sign of an groups or individuals pushing an agenda rather than an idea that is beneficial to all.

With my third principle, it's fitting that this is being released in August, since this is the month most people do slow down. I came up with this principle in response to how I've seen stress being created in project with unrealistic expectations to project timelines and expected quality of product. Slowing down has led to better quality and less stress, and I go into detail how I deliver that.

The second firm principle is Simplify the Complex. This principle's basic premise is to take any project and break down into smaller, digestible parts. I give a few examples here, the first is how a project used phasing to simplify a lab renovation project I worked on for construction coordination modeling. I also go into how I break apart a typical residential project into design and approval drawings, and then simplify the fees charged to match these deliverables.

Had an interesting response to a recent project proposal recently, which the title of this episode is a loose quote.  A response like this warrants a no response from me, but this response also signifies a trend I'm seeing this year with my proposals related to years past.  Proposal requests are looking similar but the number of projects that have started from these proposals is significantly less this year.  Is this a sign to come?

It's been a bit. When I say a bit I mean a year and some time.  I'm back now with a new approach towards the podcast.  I'm looking for guests and my hope that you can give me some suggestions.  Looking for people I find interesting and can be curious.  Happy to be back and look forward to getting this rolling again.  See you in a few weeks once I get back from a family trip. 

Have I been operating my company for the past 12 years in love with the idea of freedom?  What is freedom in a business sense?

This past week I finished reading 'Company of One' by Paul Jarvis.  In the latter chapters he discusses operating with ego versus operating with purpose.  I go into that and reflect back on my 12 years in business and realize that I've operated more with my ego.  I then think about how anyone can operate more with purpose in the long and short term.

In the book, 'Company of One' by Paul Jarvis, he speaks about how collaboration is more effective with less instances of communication.  I expand on that topic, which I agree with, with two real world examples I experienced where more communication caused less productivity.    

Let me know your thoughts on this topic.  Do you agree with my thinking, or is there a better way to be productive or creative with more communication.

In the past couple weeks I've been trying to hire someone to help with my projects with little to no luck.  So the question I'm asking myself now is how do I deal with all this work without any help.  In this episode I go through what I've been doing with scheduling my time on a monthly, weekly, and daily level, and how its been helpful with dealing with the stress of having so much work to do.

Last week I received a phone call from someone I had a disagreement with back when I worked for an architecture firm 15 years ago.  When he called he ended the message by saying that he wasn't sure if I would call back.  Ended up I did and it led to a possible project in my town where the client is buying a property from an old client of mine.  This old project was never built so it may give me the chance to complete an unfinished project.  

This experience got me thinking about being open to communicating with others that I may have had disagreements with in the past, and then realized that a project I started a few months ago was a referral from someone else I had a major disagreement with a few years back.  

So here I discuss these experiences, but also dive into why not holding grudges allows you to grow in your business and personally.  Hope you enjoy.

Here's a link to the episode I mentioned about a difficult client I had:

https://anchor.fm/richard-sanford/episodes/Episode-16---Good-project--bad-client-e2fk5c

Today I dive into why I'm still doing architecture.  Rather than talk about my origin story of why I chose to be an architect as a kid, I go into why I'm still an architect almost 30 years later from when I started to take the initial steps of being an architect.  Basically it comes down to enjoying the process of helping people, and I go into three points of time where this occurs on any project.

Today I discuss the concept of Rich vs Wealthy based on the surprise feeling I got once I started hitting revenue goals that I was aiming for.  I also add a recent example of a day I had last week where I took the afternoon off to recharge, leading to my definition of what wealthy is.  I also lose it near the end because of a technical issue that cut off my video because of a spam call that came into my phone.   

I have a long term goal in the next few years to have my own office with a few unique amenities. The question I’m asking myself today is what are the first steps I should take to achieve this goal. I lead into the question by going over some other growth goals I have and what I’ve already accomplished or am working on to get to those goals.

Ryan Harbinson is the Director of Business Development for Clearbridge Branding Agency.  We briefly talk business, but primarily talk about gaming, both video games and board games.  This was a fun one.  Enjoy.

This week I’m thinking out loud about imposter syndrome. How I deal with it and why does it come up in my day to day thought processes.

Lisa Joswick runs a bookkeeping business, Blackbook.  She provides bookkeeping services for many different types of businesses.  In addition to Blackbook, she is also in the process of launching a financial training program called Black Method, which helps businesses and individuals with managing their finances.  Lisa and I had a great conversation covering her business and program, highlighting some of her services, along with some challenges both of us are facing in launching training programs in both of our industries.

There were two experiences that I remember from Junior High that have stuck with me to this day.  Both happened in the classroom and help with my drive on a day to day basis.  I also tried something new with recording this episode and was recording video at the same time. Unfortunately I accidently lost the first clip so my Junior High experience is an exclusive only for the podcast.

In the second segment, I cover my social media approach, and how I use Tik Tok as a testing ground that then is used as a launching pad for what or how to post content on other platforms. I did capture video for this segment, so go to my Youtube channel, Dauntless Design Collaborative, if you would like to watch the video.

Back in 1999-2000 my wife purchased a property in North Philadelphia. Around the same time we met. Eventually I got involved with the renovation of the house, while also starting our relationship together.  This episode is the beginning of the story of this house.  We discuss why she wanted to purchase a property, the few experiences of other properties she looked at prior to buying, and the challenges and mistakes made while we got the home ready for us to move in.  I hope you enjoy our story.  I look forward to sharing the rest of this story with you in future episodes.  

Some of the recent discussions in the Entrearchitect community have centered around the idea of value.  The value of the services being provided and how that value equates to the fees being charged.  I give two examples of a contract I had with a millionaire client and a different contract I had with a billionaire client, where in both cases I billed hourly for my services.  In these two examples I cover what differences I discovered in the clients and what they valued for each contract.  Finally at the end I give an example of factoring in profitability and how billing hourly doesn't mean you are being profitable.

There's a quote on my wife's ballet studio that hit a nerve with me today, and it led me to thinking of when in life should I be more like a ballerina.  I also saw a clip from an X-Men movie that led me to also think that there are other times in life where I should be more like the Dark Phoenix.  In this episode I cover what it means to be either of these figures and when to apply either mindset.    

In the past week or two I have been thinking of how to market my company, brand, and myself.  Initially I was wondering if attraction and marketing are the same thing.  After a few conversations with others online I've realized they are not, but the combination of awareness and attraction is what marketing is about.  In this episode I break down what these two concepts mean to me, and also some steps I'm taking to execute on these two concepts.

This morning I was having an issue finding sweatpants to wear.  This is because our house is having work done on it and all our stuff is not where it's supposed to be at the moment.  I speak about this experience and relate it to some of my BIM Consulting work.  In the consulting work there have been some situations that shortcuts were taken that make the project more difficult to work.  In that case I relate to how my services have become the 'sweatpants'.

Then I announce a new group that I'm launching called Getting Rich with Revit that will be a live session group where Revit users can ask questions and get answers for any issues they may have in learning or using the software (29:40).  

If you would like more information on Getting Rich with Revit, please email me at info@dauntlessdc.com.  

This past week I had to cancel a project with a client due to site and existing restrictions due to the layout of the home.  It's never a good conversation to have, but I cover how being honest with a client is always the best approach.  Then I came across a video from another architect, Eric Reinholdt of 30X40 Design Workshop, where he states that specifying or drawing an element now prevents deferring to someone making a decision for you later in a project.  I expand on this by giving two project examples where this statement holds true. (16:38)  

Here's a link to the video I talk about in this episode from 30X40 Design Workshop:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4SvkO8G3K8&t=2s

In recent months I realized some issues that clients have on projects are centered around not committing to the process to get approvals.  I go into detail from a recent experience and discuss why a municipality may or may not give you all the information when you initially contact that agency (9:26).  I then cover why time blocking and using a scheduling application where people can schedule an appointment with me on their own helps with my own focus (27:17).  

Starting the New Year with some new ideas for the podcast.  I start with some ideas I have for a new format of how I want to structure the podcast.  Then I introduce two new segments (Outsider and Insider) I will have in the this episode and future ones.  In the first Outsider segment (10:00) I cover factors that are involved in how long it takes to get a permit approval.  Then in my Insider segment (36:55) I discuss what is the soul behind the work that I do.  Hope you enjoy, and feel free to comment with any ideas that I could discuss in a future Outsider or Insider segment.    

During the last few weeks, I have been outsourcing some of my workload with some level of success.  I started to notice the need to document what my steps are in my drawing process, which will help in training others, but also keeps me on track when I do the drawings myself.  In this episode, I identify what some of the first processes I have that need to be documented, and how I intend to document them.   

I wanted build on the previous episode, so in this episode I discuss the three main parts of any business.  These parts I call Production, Business Owner, and Entrepreneur.  Recently I found myself in more the Business Owner and Production areas of the business, and not much in the Entrepreneur side of things.  So the question now becomes how do I balance the business out and shift my focus.  

As this current pandemic continues I started to think how are we going to start living with this virus.  This got me thinking about what changes and innovations in the design and construction industry will we see in the near future that is a direct response to the pandemic.  Some of what I cover here are building code related changes, material innovations, and also what construction processes will either change or are entirely new due to new policies put into place to work and live with this new virus.   

This is more of a getting thoughts out of my head in this episode.  I end with this but if you would like to have a conversation on any topics i speak about here, whether its on my platform here or offline, let me know.

I start with covering my thoughts on businesses and communities opening back up from the recent pandemic. Then around the 18 minute mark I start talking about race relations and bring in some of my own personal experiences.  I thank you ahead of time for listening.

Brandon Walker is a photographer and videographer with his business House of Aperture, based in Philadelphia.  We talk about how he went from working in the medical field to starting his business, ways he helps promote his clients, his passion for salsa dancing, and much more.

Justin Deal is the Vice President of Sales for Pay Day Payroll Resources in Washington Twp, NJ.  Justin and I speak about his experience playing football at the college level, arena football professionally, and going through the process of the NFL combine.  We also speak about martial arts, getting an RV to travel, among other things.  This was a great laid back conversation and I can't thank Justin enogh for coming on.

In this episode of What's Next, Eileen Scardina of The First 7, Shana Fannon of SF Design LLC, Justin Deal of Payday Payroll Resources, and Jon Cooper of Perlow Productions join me to discuss ways we can help each other out during this current pandemic.  We also dive into some apps to use to help find ways to provide services in your business.

Excited to start this new series of episodes called What's Next.  This series will simply cover the topic of What's Next, with each episode diving into detail of what is next.  Each episode will be a rountable discussion of 3-4 guests offering their opinions and insights. 

In this first episode of What's Next, I am thankful to have on Betty Maul of Front End Graphics, James Corbett of Project Refit, Elaine Igoe of EBE Events and Entertainment, and Ken Toscano of New York Life.  We discussed what are some of the mental and physical implications to consider of opening businesses and public up as we transition out of this shelter in place phase of the current Covid-19 pandemic.  

I also want to thank everyone in the Legacy Club of Phillyman/Jerseyman Magazine for introducing us all.  All of the guest and myself are members of the Legacy Club, and without them this could not be possible.    

I got on a call with Jeremy Fyfe of GLS Painters where Jeremy and I discuss how he got started, how he's been dealing with the current pandemic, and some ways he uses social media and targetted ads to gain more business.  Jeremy's company, GLS Painters is located in Sicklerville, NJ where they provide interior and exterior painting for residential and commercial clients.  The primary service area for GLS is in South Jersey.  As his motto goes, "Don't stress, call GLS".

I finally broke down and decided to speak about the current situation right now with COVID-19/Coronavirus.  

I first give an update on what I've been doing with work and dealing with being at home.  Then I revisit some thoughts I had about the cycle of the construction industry economics, and if this pandemic is truly the next recession.  

Coming into the new year with a somewhere in between note.  I probably looked at too much social media over the break and I go into some things that got under my skin while online.  Two types of posts I saw a lot of involved people talking about what charities they contributed to or the goals they accomplished or plan on having in the new year.  Both of these I think are good to have, but I don't think they should be shared to everybody on social media.  I then also go into some ideas of thinking about sustainable design and politics that also irk me.  

If you have any comments in regards to my thoughts feel free to message me here or send me an email at:

info@dauntlessdc.com

While my wife prepares for her ballet school's production of the Nutcracker, I was able to sit down with her to talk about her school, the Williamstown Ballet Theater, and her upcoming show.  We also talk about how she started the ballet school and the ways it differs from the dance school she owned and closed a few years ago.  

Then we dive into the challenges we both face as being married with children and also both owning our own businesses.  I'm really glad to have Laurie on and there wasn't nearly enough time for us to cover a number of topics I'd like to discuss with her on the podcast.  Hoping to have her on again in the near future. 

If you would like any additional information, please visit the school's website for more information:  

https://www.williamstownballet.org/