Entrearchitect Podcast With Mark R. Lepage

Using Emotions to Market Your Architecture Firm Our prospective clients learn with their heads but decide with their hearts. After years of research and gathering information, often, when a client chooses to work with an architect, they simply go with their feelings. This week on EntreArchitect Podcast, Using Emotions to Market Your Architecture Firm.  Have you encounter a situation where emotions take over and a decision is made with someone’s heart? You’ve probably seen it happen with yourself and your own clients. “In his book, Descartes Error, Antonio Damasio, professor of neuroscience at the University of Southern California, argues that emotion is a necessary ingredient to almost all decisions. When we are confronted with a decision, emotions from previous, related experiences affix values to the options we are considering. These emotions create preferences which lead to our decision.” Why is storytelling so important? When developing a marketing strategy, stories trigger memorie

How to Overcome the Fear of Growing Beyond You as a Small Firm Architect For years, Sheri teetered back and forth between staying small and practicing as a small practitioner or making plans for growth and executing toward a bigger future. This week on EntreArchitect Podcast, How to Overcome the Fear of Growing Beyond You as a Small Firm Architect with Sheri Scott of Springhouse Architects.  Background Sheri is a member of EntreArchitect, but her and Mark connected online a long time ago and have been supporting one another as architects for a while. As a founder and principal at Springhouse Architects,  Sheri’s mission is to lead clients through the building process with the clients in control and Springhouse as their guide, advocate, and ally. With over 20 years of experience in residential architecture, Sheri brings knowledge and confidence to every custom home project. She’s a graduate of the University of Cincinnati and has her NCARB license. Sheri’s also lead architect on three HOA bo

Finding Your Purpose in the Profession of Architecture with Michael Bernard of Virtual Practice Consulting When we decided to become architects, there was no doubt it was sparked from a desire to design. Maybe you love to draw, paint or build. Maybe someone recognized your talents and guided you toward architecture. All through architecture school and through your career, the definition of architecture revolves around the idea of design. Architecture is so much more than design. Your place in architecture may not be in design. This week on EntreArchitect Podcast, Finding Your Purpose in the Profession of Architecture with Michael Bernard of Virtual Practice Consulting. Background Michael is the founder of Virtual Practice Consulting, where he provides strategic advice to design and construction firms. He collaborates with firm leaders to assure effective growth, enrollment in mission and vision, development of growth models, strategic business development, and mentoring staff to become effective project lead

A New Way to Practice Architecture with Diana Nicklaus of SAAM Architecture The world has changed in so many ways since Mark’s architecture firm, Fivcat Studio, was launched in 1999. The internet was in its infancy. Few architects were using digital marketing and communication tools. Today, we can communicate instantly with anyone in the world. Our entire firm can be launched, built and run without a dedicated office. The world is changing and with it, the practice of architecture is changing too. How can we leverage the power of the internet and the cloud to improve our practice? How can the internet’s new models improve the profession? How can these new models not only allow us to thrive as entrepreneurs, but allow us to be more flexible, more family friendly, more socially responsible, more equitable? How can we live happier lives? This week on EntreArchitect Podcast, A New Way to Practice Architecture with Diana Nicklaus of SAAM Architecture. Background With over 20 years of experience, Diana

How to Use StrengthsFinder to Find YOUR Place in Architecture We all have strengths and weaknesses. If we focus on finding, developing and building our strengths instead of filling in the gaps caused by our weaknesses, we’ll be more successful. This week on EntreArchitect Podcast, How to Use StrengthsFinder to Find Your Place in Architecture with Erin Poppe of Charrette Venture Group. Background Erin Poppe is Charrette Venture Group‘s leadership and strengths expert. She facilitates the development of strategies that allow teams to focus on and invest in their unique abilities. Prior to CVG, she revitalized the StrengthsFinder initiative at Kansas State University and presented on Strength Engagement at Gallup’s inaugural Clifton Strengths Summit. Origin Story Erin is the daughter of an architect who graduated from Kansas State University. Her parents were married on campus and then moved Washington where her dad started working for a small design firm called HKP Architects. Erin was always

Launching and Growing an Architecture Non-Profit Mark is often asked by students or young architects with an idea that might change the world in some big or small way, how might one start a charity; a non-profit organization that serves their community or serves the world. What is the first step? How do you obtain funding to launch and plant that seed of an idea and have it sprout into full blossom? And once you get it successfully started, serving the needs of others how do you keep it growing into an organization that might bear fruit for generations to come? This week we dive into answering some of these questions. In this episode at EntreArchitect Podcast, Launching and Growing a Architecture Non-Profit with AzuKo.org. Connect with AzuKo online at AzuKo.org. Follow AzuKo on Twitter or Facebook. Visit our Platform Sponsors Freshbooks is the easy way to send invoices, manage expenses, and track your time. Access your free 30 day trial at EntreArchitect.com/FreshBooks. (Enter EntreArchitect) Core by BQE

12 Steps to Take Control of Your Email As small firm architects, we’re working so hard to get everything done. Between the many hours we dedicate to building our firms and the time spent fostering strong relationships, there isn’t time for much else. Each week offers us 168 hours, no more and no less. Half of those hours are reserved for sleeping, eating and hygiene. What we choose to do with the remaining 84 hours will determine whether we succeed or fail. How do you use your 84 hours a week? Mark recently looked at his own habits, and was shocked to realize he was spending more than two hours per day sorting, managing and responding to email messages. That’s time away from building his business and being with his family. This week on EntreArchitect Podcast, 12 Steps to Take Control of Your Email. 12 Steps to Take Control of Your Email 1. Turn off ALL notifications All the bells anId whistles that pop up? Turn them off. You don’t need them. Instead, schedule times in the day to check

The Entrepreneur Architect Series: Earl Parson At EntreArchitect, you’re encouraged to share your knowledge. When we share with other architects, we all benefit. We are able to learn from one another and the profession will grow. One of the goals of EntreArchitect is to provide a platform for other entrepreneur architects to share their stories. We want to interview you! What’s your story? Do you want to share your knowledge or the story about how you were inspired to pursue this profession? How do you become an entrepreneur architect? Join us for our series called The Entrepreneur Architect, where each guest has the opportunity to share their story and answer some questions that will provide value to each of you. This week on EntreArchitect Podcast, The Entrepreneur Architect Series featuring Earl Parson. Background Earl Parson is an architect based in Los Angeles, California practicing residential architecture as Parson Architecture and is the founder of CleverModerns.com, an online platform emp

How To Attract and Hire The Best of the Next Generation of Architects with Nick Serfass, AIAS National Executive Director This week on EntreArchitect Podcast, How To Attract and Hire The Best of the Next Generation of Architects with Nick Serfass, AIAS National Executive Director. Background In his role as Executive Director of the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS), Nick Serfass focuses on driving the organization toward relentless “forward progress”, so that it creates a more impactful future for its student members and the profession of architecture.  Nick holds alumni status as a Virginia Wahoo, Miami Hurricane and Auburn Tiger. He is also an architect when necessary. Listen to Nick’s origin story back on EA050: Big Changes with AIAS Executive Director Nick Serfass. Tell us about your role at AIAS? Nick is the operational captain who makes the events, programming and services move forward. He’s also working to bridge the gap between academia and the profession. H

EntreArchitect Live with Alex Gore of F9 Productions This week, Mark held his first live interview using Facebook live. Alex Gore from F9 Productions discussed his work with Daniel Libeskind, his firm in Longmont, Colorado, his podcast, Inside The Firm, sharing the behind-the-scenes with his partner, Lance Cayko, and his book The Creativity Code. This week on EntreArchitect Podcast, EntreArchitect Live with Alex Gore of F9 Productions. Background Alex Gore grew up drawing wars of ants verses bees, playing backyard baseball, and being obsessed with Frank Lloyd Wright. After high school, he joined the national guard as a heavy equipment operator. There, he attended North Dakota State University and received a masters in architecture and construction management. He then worked under the world-famous architect Daniel Libeskind, teamed up with his best friend from college Lance Cayko to start F9 Productions. He’s the cohost of Inside the Firm Podcast and the author of The Creativity Code. How did you get to

Building a Large Firm by Starting Small with Tabitha Ponte of Ponte Health Tabitha Ponte is a licensed architect and builder, a philanthropist, a mother and a wife who’s leading Ponte Health. She’s based in Orlando, Florida, specializing in single source delivery, resources management and best outcomes serving the healthcare sector exclusively. This week on EntreArchitect Podcast, Building a Large Firm by Starting Small with Tabitha Ponte of Ponte Health. Origin Story Tabitha was seven or eight years old when she told her mother how she felt about spacial structures. She felt like she saw the void, not the stuff. In the car in Venezuela, where she spent her childhood, Tabitha’s mom told her all about architecture and engineering. Her mind was made up: she was going to be an architect. Tabitha had family members who were in architecture, one of whom designed and built his own house. She spent significant amounts time in that house and vividly remembers the influence that the fact that he buil

Using Emotions to Successfully Attract the Clients You Want Our prospective clients learn with their heads, but they decide with their hearts. After years of research, often, when a client chooses to work with an architect it simply comes down to their feelings. They choose their team by deciding who they like the most. This week on EntreArchitect Podcast, Using Emotions to Successfully Attract the Clients You Want. Do you ever make decisions based on emotion? We don’t always buy based on price or features, more often we buy because something makes us feel a certain way. When we’re developing a marketing strategy for our firms, we should consider the part that emotions play in the decisions that our clients make. Professor Antiono Damasio at University of Southern California argues that, emotion is a necessary ingredient to almost all decisions. When we are confronted with a decision, emotions from previous, related experiences affix values to the options we are considering. These emotions creat

60 Minute Business Plan for Small Firm Architects Did anyone tell you you needed to know how to run a business when you became an architect? Whether clients come knocking or not, it’s not so easy to keep them knocking. The solution is to write a business plan. This week on EntreArchitect Podcast, 60 Minute Business Plan for Small Firm Architects. Maybe you’ve heard the words “business plan” and you feel yourself shutting down. Before you do that, let me share my vision. It came from years and years spent putting together my own various business plans. Finally, I put together a stripped down, one page version that I was able to put on paper quickly and develop as I went along. “The greatest value in creating a business plan is not the final document.  It’s the communication, the prioritization, the focus, the clarity, and learning that makes the process worthwhile.”  – Jim Horan Where are you now? Where do you want to be in the future? 5 Step Process for a Simpl

Brandon Hubbard, The Architect’s Guide This week on EntreArchitect Podcast, The Architect’s Guide with Brandon Hubbard. Background Brandon is a licensed architect based in  San Francisco, California and the founder of TheArchitectsGuide.com, dedicated to helping architects with their job application and career goals.  He practiced architecture with Foster + Partners in London where he worked on several high profile design projects, including Heathrow Terminal 3, the Bloomberg Headquarters and the Samba Bank Tower. Currently he's a senior architect in Heller Manus Architects in San Francisco working on large scale commercial and residential projects. You may have seen him online posting about architecture careers on TheArchitectsGuide.com as well as a content provider at Arch Daily. Origin Story Brandon was born and raised in New Zealand until he was ten, when he moved to Montana. There he completed his schooling, including a masters in architecture from MSU Bozeman. During his last few years

The Passion, The Process and Problems of Running a Design/Build Architecture Firm Do you want more control? More money? More happy clients? More architecture with better design? Is design/build the answer to our professions problems? Will building your own projects be the solution to success for your small firm? What does it take to run a successful design build firm? This week on EntreArchitect Podcast, Mark speaks with Jim Zack and Declan Keefe about The Passion, The Process and Problems of Running a Design/Build Architecture Firm. About Jim and Declan Jim Zack is based in San Francisco, California as the co-founder and partner at his design build firm, Zack de Vito: Design + Build. He visited EntreArchitect Podcast on EA102: Risks and Rewards with Architect Developer Jim Zack. He’s a current facilitator at EntreArchitect Academy’s Design/Build Mastermind Group. Declan Keefe is a founder and owner at Placetailor and a three-time guest at EntreArchitect Podcast: EA130: How to Build a Successful A

How to Establish a Lasting New Habit Do you have a goal you want to accomplish? A new strategy or business process? A life change you want to make in your personal life? Are you keeping that goal locked away in the back of your mind instead of sharing it with others? Let’s accomplish our goals together! This week on EntreArchitect Podcast, How to Establish a Lasting New Habit. Maybe you’re listening to this podcast in a transitional season: from one season to another, out of a vacation and back into your regular routines, back to school, or otherwise. Recently, Mark began a project to figure out how to live a healthier lifestyle and wrote about it in a blog post: 10 Simple Steps to Develop a Lasting New Habit. It’s not hard to establish bad habits. Mark could roll out of bed and into his comfy computer chair, where he could stay the whole day. Instead, he wanted to create a new, healthy lifestyle. As the summer got started, Mark decided to make some new commitments. Over the last 10 weeks, h

How to Get Started as an Architect Developer This week, enjoy the Best of EntreArchitect Podcast as Mark R. LePage invites Declan Keefe of Placetailor back to share his knowledge about How to Get Started as an Architect Developer. For full show notes and a list of references from the original podcast, visit EntreArchitect.com/EA134. Connect with Declan Keefe online at Placetailor.com and on Twitter @placetailor & Instagram. Visit our Platform Sponsors Freshbooks is the easy way to send invoices, manage expenses, and track your time. Access your free 30 day trial at EntreArchitect.com/FreshBooks. (Enter EntreArchitect) CORE by BQE Software is designed specifically for architect’s project management! Get a free 15-day trial of CORE at EntreArchitect.com/BQE. ARCAT has huge libraries of free content, Specs, CAD, BIM and more. No registration required. Want to collaborate with colleagues in real time? Visit EntreArchitect.com/ARCAT and click Charrette for more information. The post How to Get Started

5 Steps to Success and Relevance in Architecture with Carol Kurth, FAIA Carol is the owner of Carol Kurth Architecture + Interiors in Bedford, New York. She specializes in architecture and interiors, and does some beautiful work. She’s a popular keynote speaker who’s sought after for her insights on architecture, design, sustainability and design trends. She’s won multiple awards and has been featured in New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and more. She’s been featured on NBC News and MTV Cribs. She’s a long time friend of Mark’s and he’s learned so much from her. This week on EntreArchitect Podcast, 5 Steps to Success and Relevance in Architecture with Carol Kurth, FAIA. Carol’s Origin Story Carol grew up in Washington Heights in the northern tip of Manhattan. Looking across the Hudson River, she could see the New Jersey cliffs in the distance. She was really interested in crafts growing up, particularly making dolls and doll houses. When she was 13, she took

Building an Online Media Empire with Devon Tilly Devon is the Denver-based owner of Mountain View Window and Door, a nationally-recognized company providing windows and doors for high-end residential projects. He’s the creator and host of the Art of Construction Podcast and brand, cohosted by Kevin Keefe. There they talk about all things business, success, and building sustainable, thriving business. This week on EntreArchitect Podcast, Building an Online Media Empire with Devon Tilly of The Art of Construction Podcast. Devon’s Origin Story Devon was the oldest of five children whose father began as a contractor and worked himself up to district manager. Every time him and his large family moved, they would buy a house and fix it up. Devon was always interested in the art of construction and the marketing of construction. He is passionately interested in construction and has lived that life long enough to speak the language. Sometimes he felt the industry was too corporate (“what’s you

The Entrepreneur Architect Series featuring Meghana Joshi  At EntreArchitect, you’re encouraged to share your knowledge. When we share with other architects, we all benefit. We are able to learn from one another and the profession will grow. One of the goals of EntreArchitect is to provide a platform for other entrepreneur architects to share their stories. We want to interview you! What’s your story? Do you want to share your knowledge or the story about how you were inspired to pursue this profession? How do you become an entrepreneur architect? Join us for our series called The Entrepreneur Architect, where each guest has the opportunity to share their story and answer some questions that will provide value to each of you. This week on EntreArchitect Podcast, The Entrepreneur Architect Series featuring Meghana Joshi. Background Meghana Joshi is an architectural consultant from Irvine, California. She has six of her architectural exams complete and one to go for her official architecture registr