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Actionable growth hacks to help architects improve their sales, marketing, and social media skills.
Alexander: it's in LA it's
it's just off Melrose Ave.
So it's a very like
prominent retail district
Tyler: If you've been tuning
in, you already know him.
You love him.
And that is Alexander Buckridge,
an architect based in NYC.
He just started his own architecture
firm a few weeks ago, and he
just landed his first project.
Alexander: I'll do essentially 4 weeks of
concept with 2 weeks of detailed content.
Development,
Tyler: So, we reflect on
how it actually happened.
Alexander: it's motivating.
I would say it's actually
quite motivating.
Tyler: And, what he needs to do
next to knock it out of the park.
Alexander: it's like I'm there to
set up a system to create it and let
it run in the best way possible that
Tyler: So last we chatted, you
were about to go into a, promising
meeting, we thought, with a client
That you'd fast tracked into kind
of a week or two, a very immediate
information and a possible opportunity.
And, it seemed like it was
moving in the direction of
maybe being your first clients.
How did that meeting go?
Alexander: Yeah.
it was about five days.
I got, connected to him on a
call and various that led to
going on a kind of a pitch.
And, yeah, it was
obviously it was positive.
So I came out of that and went through
the steps of taking them through.
what I've done previously, what kind of
different tiering options of engagement
we could do and et cetera, et cetera.
And I think leaving the call, I felt
good, but as anything you never know.
And, about an hour later I got a phone
call to say that I wanted to proceed,
which is obviously very positive, and
that we would get into the, nitty-gritty,
specifics and on the following Monday.
So that was really what happened.
I got on a call on the
Monday then to discuss.
A little bit more on the budget,
a little bit more on the contract
specifics and how we wanted to do that.
And, I had sent over a letter of intent
that they baked into the contract.
And so we were just A little bit of
back and forth, a little bit for me
scrambling as well, in terms of there's
stuff in there that is new to me that
I'm dealing with myself in terms of the
intellectual property and stuff like that.
So, I did my best, let's just say right
now with what I could, and then at the
same time, it's a very expedited schedule.
the way this, is formatted is I'll
do essentially 4 weeks of concept
with 2 weeks of detailed content.
Development, which I would work
with a contractor who will step
in and take over drawing sets,
fabricators, shop drawings, everything
permitting won't be too much required.
It's ultimately interior
renovations, some electrical.
and yeah, it's very exciting.
it's in LA it's just off Melrose Ave.
So it's a very like prominent
retail district, in the city.
It's in West Hollywood, which is nice.
for me, it was a great moment to.
actually have flown out there just last
week to see the site, to meet the clients.
It's all happening very fast, but yeah,
it all went through those different
steps and it all happened very instantly.
So yeah, I'm already kicking
off concept today, Monday.
it's all running.
Tyler: That is so awesome.
And, huge congratulations.
And I'm so excited for you.
I know you texted me, he
texted me over the weekend.
I was just getting ready to go on a
trip or else I was like, I would love to
Kind of jump on a call
and celebrate in some way.
But, would text me later
that day, actually, when we
recorded the previous episode and
said that you got it and we were just
getting in the car, getting ready
to go on a road trip, I remember.
And I told my wife, I was like, Alex
got the project and we did a little
celebration as a family for you.
Alexander: it's a nice
moment to get to that point.
even on this journey with yourself
or with anyone else that has been
around me, it's everyone thinks
about taking that leap, right?
taking that jump out
to go out by yourself.
And it's scary.
It's on, it's very, it's challenging.
You don't know what's going to happen.
But for, when these moments do happen,
it's feel a level of this could work,
this can be something, and you're
starting to get a sense of this brand or
this business taking you on a journey.
And that's how I feel actually,
since I've started this, I feel like.
I'm putting this vision out
there and I'm going with it.
And, I've really enjoying the
people that are coming into
it and then being part of it.
I've been sure you could, you
get that journey yourself too.
it's pretty easy.
it's motivating.
I would say it's actually
quite motivating.
Tyler: It should be motivating.
you did, we've talked about this
a little bit before, but I'm not
sure if we've dove into it because.
I get mixed up now what, the mixture
between our private conversations
and our recorded consultations here.
But, you did it right in the
sense that you gave yourself
necessary padding, right?
You saved up money.
And you said, okay, I'm giving myself the
time to start this business correctly.
And you didn't formally launch
that business until, this month.
And so you actually came in
and you landed what I would
consider to be an ideal client.
Like literally your, it's to
me, it seems like we would quite
literally be like a perfect
representation of your ideal client.
Alexander: Yeah.
Yeah.
Tyler: you did it within a month.
of launching your new
practice, which is incredible.
it's so incredible.
And I think that's because you
gave yourself the space, you,
you planned out the launch.
you put a lot of work onto the backend
that people that like, Clients aren't
going to see, but obviously we see now
that we've been doing this podcast for
this long, or these consultations for that
long, but I'm curious to know if you think
that, now you've landed the first project
and there's first of many, but getting
to this first project, was it more or
less work than you anticipated it to be?
Alexander: No, it was definitely,
it's definitely more work.
I think, you need to have
a lot of irons in the fire.
And I think that's something that
will be forever the situation.
I think that's.
of course, it's a lot of hustle, but it's
a lot of conversations and opening doors
and teasing out different opportunities.
And are they really, and
that filtering process.
So it really comes down to a lot of the
fundamentals of what we've been discussing
around the business development,
pipeline, how to initiate that, how to,
Find that niche that you're looking for.
And it's all a discovery
process for me right now.
And then it's a lot of new
information being taken on board.
and this is a good case study of an
example where it did play out well.
And this was due to the emails we had sent
out to the, whatever it was, 90 people.
And, even just following up with
them individually, each person
and then having to, Send them
because of like warm up emails.
I had to send them almost individually
as well It's a lot of work, it's a lot of
thought behind it to get to the point I
think there's a lot of like for me It was
a lot of appreciation of you know also
this client taking as my first proper
project in terms of There's a lot of
appreciation for giving me that chance
because there's a lot of people sitting
on the fence there's a lot of people who
potentially do have stuff going on and are
but they're sitting there and I'm And I
think, that I was glad there was someone
who would take that jump, and then you
go through that journey then with them,
Tyler: you're right.
it does take a little bit of a first
adopter, perspective from those clients.
it's the first adopter for you in terms
of, yeah, you started your own practice,
but this is your bread and butter
Alexander: Yeah,
And also the transition has
actually been quite nice.
I've been discussing it recently.
I was chatting with a friend and then
I was saying that like when you're
in the mentality of over the last
year of thinking about what you're
doing, your business, building it up.
Meeting people as your own entity.
I think the transition was a little
bit more gradual and it was a bit
more seamless in terms of when
I transitioned out to myself,
I already had systems in place.
I already had thought about different
things and yeah, I think that has
all helped with this kind of like
being out by myself and feeling like
bar some, contractual things that
are still a bit out of my wheelhouse
and the more admin end of it.
I think otherwise it feels like
it's the natural progression through
and I think project typology helps.
I think, that obviously I'm
working through that network
that I've, I've loosely known.
So that helps.
Tyler: Yeah.
having the experience that
you've had is perfect, right?
you've worked in a lot of different,
areas of a business and then also having
the chance to be a director and having
people work underneath you, I think is
really important to, especially as you
continue to possibly get more projects
and consider scaling and what that
looks like in terms of managing a team.
Because that's.
a whole nother animal.
that's a whole nother animal
that's, difficult to manage too.
And it is crazy to think that all of these
things, all of these are things that you
have to tackle when you make that decision
to run an architecture firm, right?
You think that you're making the
decision to finally be in a position
where you get to pursue your own
vision for your projects and then.
You realize, it's not totally your vision.
It's more the client's vision
that you're helping to execute.
and you put your touch on and then
you're like, I can run my own business.
And then you realize, you're going
to have to bring in a team and all
of those team members are going to
have their own personality as well.
And you're going to need to find the ways
to adapt that and build that culture.
And then, you got to go
out and get those projects.
People don't just come to you.
And so there's so many parts to it.
a few months into it, I just feel
like you're navigating it so well.
So it's.
It's encouraging to see, and I hope
that it's motivating for everyone else.
That's followed along the process too.
Alexander: Yeah, and it's been nice.
I have had some people reach out, to me
on Instagram and stuff who, who have said
I'm thinking about doing that as well.
And I even reached out and said,
let's grab a coffee when I was in L.
A.
And I met one or two people who
just been following me loosely.
I don't know them at all.
And some of them just got
into, professional practice
now and left education.
And it's been quite nice because
yeah, again, as I'm saying, that
people are feeding into this journey
you're on and they're interested
in also going on their own.
And so I hope it is an example
of it's people were saying like,
Oh, what did you have set up?
And it's, it is true.
There is no right time to do this.
I think you do need a base level of
like understanding of how projects
are run teams or run people.
You need some business acumen
around it, but not all of it.
You don't need it all polished.
You don't need it all figured out.
I think the biggest part is probably
the leap realistically, like
actual jump with a cushion as well.
you'd want yourself a nice little
rainy day for whatever we said, three
to six months, I think, and then
just, give it a blast yeah, well,
you start to feel like it can work,
Tyler: Yes.
When you see the light, not even the
light at the tunnel, that's the wrong way
to say it, but like like a step forward,
Alexander: like
a, it's like a slither, you can see
that there's light further in the
distance that you're walking towards
and you're like, okay, there's a
direction now that I can see a path
unfolding, and then it's yeah, it gives
you that, optimism and enthusiasm to
keep going and these are all small
things, the small things are a big deal.
It's Even if I'm meeting someone and
they're interested in what I do and
supporting what I do, that, that,
makes me feel it's all worth it,
Tyler: Yeah, absolutely.
So now that you've landed this
project, how much of your time.
Are you planning to devote to it?
Because that is a very short timeline.
And basically if you have six
weeks, you have a six week sprint
Alexander: Basically, yeah.
I have a six week sprint and then I have
oversight for the following six weeks to
whatever it ends up actually being, but
that's that's a real challenge right now
because I was overseeing and managing
majority of the time for while I want
to mind my previous role and so I was
dealing with that end of it and now it's
more getting back into the weeds and I've
back out with sketching back out with
drawing back out with getting into 3d
and still fundamentally that shouldn't
be doing as the as Big picture, but I
think for right now it's good for me
to sit down and figure out my systems.
And it's actually a perfect project.
I will say for figuring out how I'm
going to put my decks together and
what that format looks like, and how
am I going to use it's, we're all
workflow, my model, how am I layering it?
How's it going to be?
So then the idea for me is that like
going through all that, I'll be able
to have able to bring people in and
they'll be able to follow a pretty
straightforward system, but I will say
that it's taking up, close to, All my
time in concept if it's six weeks, right?
So I'm trying to figure out.
how to balance that a little bit with
making sure i'm still checking in with
people making sure that i'm still putting
my voice out there on social media so
that it's you know It's not a it's not a
black hole that i've suddenly gone into
which i'm absolutely you can see the
black hole occurring and you're designing
this thing and you're You know and you're
buried under special and you're just
focused on that and I do need this is a
huge priority For me, there's no doubt.
I need this to be executed at a high
level on a short period of time.
And it's a very important, stepping stone.
So I'm trying to balance
that out right now.
Tyler: yeah.
you said something that's really
important though, in terms of
this being your first project.
And I think, I think it's something
that's easy to overlook, but.
I think it comes from two things.
One is that you're thinking about the
future and you have intentions of scaling
the firm to some extent, we haven't
really talked about what you want this to
be yet, but I'm sure you have a vision.
It sounds to me like of some to
the point where you're going to
have maybe five or 10 people total.
And I'm not saying like within
the first year, but maybe within
the first few years, you might
have that amount of people.
and so you're being really operationally
minded about it, meaning that you're
starting something and you're like,
okay, I'm If I'm going to be doing this,
how will I teach someone else this?
and I have a process in place, is
everything that I'm doing possible
to be replicated by someone else?
And I think that's a really
important way to think about it.
And it's not that the way that
you're doing it now has to be the
way that, that it is in six months.
There has to be the way, exactly the
way that it is when you finally do.
Decide to bring on additional support,
but thinking about that way now makes it
so much easier, and helps you skip the
line for in a few months when it does
make sense to bring on that additional
support and you have already been
thinking that way you might already
have, loom recordings or SOPs in place,
like standard operating procedures in
place, some of these things that just
make it significantly easier and more
seamless to bring on that additional help.
So I think that's, I think
that's really important.
you've got like a cheat
code going on right now.
Like you're thinking, this
isn't a one time thing.
I'm going to be doing these same
processes over and over and over again.
So how can I make it more repeatable?
How can I optimize that process?
How can I make it easier for
not just myself to do it, but
for everyone else to do it too?
so that's really important.
Alexander: I think that's
something that I've either been,
always conscious of or reading.
It's it's having.
As the business leader or whatever
you want to call it, it's like I'm
there to set up a system to create
it and let it run in the best way
possible that gives everyone that
comes into it the ability to do great
work to be, contributing to something.
And I feel that's my role now is
to set that line like that kind
of chain for people to come in.
And I am already thinking about,
if I'm bringing people in to help
me with renderings, 3D, putting
the deck together right now.
need to have the right package to
say, make it easier for them to be
like, I get it, that work makes sense.
I can do that exercise without me
losing too much time over explaining.
So the interesting thing right
now is where it's like, it's good.
I'm like, let me get this system
somewhat good and figure out.
And then let me figure out
how I'm going to share it.
Like even the software is that
we're all using right now.
Like it's, it is very different,
whether it's for presentations
or whether it's what I'm using to
render or whatnot, it's a lot of it.
Now you can jump in and
just be on the cloud.
And then I feel like I need,
I want to be as, I can.
Flexible as possible and dynamic.
So everything that I want to use in the
business, I want others to be able to just
jump in and not as much barriers and walls
and, all that stuff, which it was there.
And when I started my journey
in architecture, it was like you
had a hard drive, you plugged
in the hard drive, you had.
all these crack softwares that you
were trying to get in and, it was just
such a much more complicated thing.
And now it's very interesting moment for
starting a business because you just don't
know what the possibility is and what
extent you need people and production in
it because of everything that's going on.
So it's actually.
That's something I'm thinking
about and how I want it to be,
Tyler: Yeah.
You mean like for almost building
out the software stack, right?
You want that to be readily accessible and
Alexander: ready, accessible, easily
for me to call someone and say, Hey,
can you jump in here and do that?
Hey, I'm bringing in someone
that I've not worked with before,
which is a big thing, right?
At the start, it's you're probably going
to bring in people that you've not, have
that much experience, And then it's like,
how can they easily get through the steps?
my first hire won't be, a project manager,
Tyler: Right.
Alexander: it's going to be
somewhere more junior level.
So it's being able to have that structure
for them to be able to do what they do.
And it's just interesting,
again, are we all in studio?
Are we all remote?
These are all bigger questions about
like how this is going to work and
what my lifestyle is and what I want
from this business rather than, so it's
all stuff figuring out as I go here.
Tyler: Yeah.
But it's important to be asking those
questions now rather than later.
I can tell you, I almost, I pretty
much made this mistake because I
was, I went and started my own,
design studio because I was like,
I want to be in control of my time.
Which by the way, don't start a business
if that's your goal, because you're not
going to be in control of your time.
you know, and I also wanted
to be location independent.
and I forgot about the
second half of that.
And I realized like two years
into it, I was like, I'm not
location independent at all.
I'm all of my projects are local.
I actually, like I built all of this
network and these relationships locally.
And, there's nothing like if I leave.
Where I'm at, I don't have work.
even though I knew that, this is one of
the things that I wanted the location
independence, but then I realized I'd
put myself into a position where it was
going to be really difficult for me to be
location independent, in what I was doing.
thinking about it now and being.
Not like not giving up on that
because there is, I think there
is always a way to get to that.
you're doing a bit of
lifestyle design, right?
you're designing around the
lifestyle that you want.
And I think that there
is for the most part.
a way to get there,
there's a way to design
that lifestyle that you want.
It's just that it's probably
not a common path, it's a unique
practice that you're building.
like a typical architecture firm, right?
You're not trying to find an office to
rent in, New York city and growing a local
team and, only doing projects in the city.
Like you're doing projects all over the
world that we've talked about, right?
You've talked about hiring a remote team.
Global team as well.
And so what you're starting is what
I would consider to be personally,
like the future of the practice.
I hope
that more architects are moving in this
direction because I think it's healthier.
I think it's better.
I think this is where the world is going.
I think this is how you get the most
talented team and produce the best work.
and do all of these things,
but it's not a common path.
Alexander: No,
Tyler: forging away a little bit.
Alexander: yeah.
and that's the part where I'm like,
you know, when you're always foreseeing
and looking out for models to look at
and Oh, that, that, looks really good.
And how did they do that?
I think with this one, it's I'm
like, I'm not too sure how this
is going to play out in my mind.
I have ideas around Having some core
people here and then, but ultimately
being a lot more flexible and dynamic
between Europe and the U S and so forth.
And, it's just like figuring out
how that actually will play out.
and, I think it's listening
to what, people want as well.
at my previous role and I would
have dealt with a lot of the ins
and outs with the individuals.
They wanted to have the ability to
work from wherever they wanted to,
have that flexibility and, I think
that will become more prevalent,
that will just keep becoming a thing.
And it's if that's what
they want, why not give it?
And that's what I want as well.
eventually figuring out what that
culture is, how do you sustain it?
It'll be bigger questions down the line.
How, when do we get together?
How do we, so yeah, I've like a lot
of unknowns there going on around
how that's all going to play out.
But then other companies in different
industries have been doing this for,
Tyler: Oh, forever.
Oh my
gosh.
Our architecture is decades behind.
Yeah, for
Alexander: we're decades behind and I
think it's just, again, it's a systems
thing and it's like how I know it's a
tangible thing that we're in terms of
things are getting built physically.
i've been working globally and you land
in somewhere and you work, you know
Therefore you can do sprints of two weeks
and you have very personal relationship
with the client the contractor and you
just you know You leave and you put
all your energy in that period yeah,
it's good conversation because I think
it's one for a lot of people to think
about As they go out at this moment
in time and over the next few years
Tyler: Yeah.
And hopefully who's ever
listening, you didn't hear it.
Hopefully this isn't the first
time that you've heard it, but
let's just make this very clear.
There's a lot of things
that you don't know.
When you're starting a business
and you have a vision for
what you want that to be.
And I think the most important thing
that you're doing is that you're
making progress rather than just
making movements, meaning you're
moving in a direction, right?
you're moving, you're making progress
in a specific direction rather than
just like moving around, but not
actually moving toward anything, right?
It's like sitting in place and, or
it's like running the difference
between running in place and actually.
Walking, in a direction and sometimes
it's better to, to slowly walk in the
direction that you want rather than to
run in place and make a lot of movement.
I'm excited for you.
I'm excited for the, I'm
excited for the vision.