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Feast or famine

Why your firm is eitherslammed or dead.

Nine out of ten architecture firm owners I talk to describe the same cycle. Here's why it happens, what it costs you, and how to stop it.

The feastTurning work awayThe famineMonths of crickets
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Part 01 The problem

It's not the market. It's the waiting.

01 Same story

600+ firm owners. The same story.

I've had over 600 calls with different architecture firm owners, and about 90% tell me exactly the same thing. Most still act like architects aren't allowed to advertise. That rule ended in 1978.

Firm owners I've talked to600+Over 600 different architecture firms
Tell me the same thing90%Busy, then dead, then busy again
02 The real problem

They hand their revenue to the market.

Most people outsource the responsibility for their revenue to things outside their control. Then they complain about it.

📉"The market is just bad."People don't build right now.
💸"Nobody pays for premium."Everyone wants it cheaper.
🦠"Before COVID it was great."Now it's terrible.
03 Call it out

COVID was six years ago. What have you changed?

You're offloading the responsibility for your company, your people, your family and your money onto the market, and waiting for it to get good again. And when it gets bad again? You complain and wait another ten years.

The market gets bad
↓
You complain and wait
↓
It gets better on its own
↓
It gets bad againAnd you're back at the top, with nothing changed
04 Change is a given

What happened is a fact. What you do is the question.

Everything changed after COVID. Nothing you, I, Donald Trump or anybody else can do about it. The question isn't what's happening. It's what you're doing differently, and how you're adapting.

Out of your control

The marketCOVIDThe economy

In your control

How you adaptYour marketingWho knows about you
Part 02 Slammed or dead

Both swings cost you.

05 Why it happens

You're waiting for referrals.

Most firms aren't adapting at all. They keep waiting for referrals, and don't even hit up their old network. So some months are busy and some are slow as fuck, because you have no control over how many people reach you or know you exist.

New projects, month by month, on referrals only
SlammedDeadYou don't pick which
06 The famine

What the slow months cost you.

The famine doesn't just mean less money. It pushes you into decisions you'd never make if the calendar was full.

A team with nothing to do Still paid
Projects you swore you'd never take Taken
Builders you didn't want to work with Taken
Your fee Cut
07 The feast

What the busy months cost you.

The feast feels great, and it still costs you. Mostly the work you never got to do.

Good projects Turned away
The work Rushed
Your team Burned out
Hiring Never, it might not last
08 The lag

Today's famine started during the feast.

Work you start chasing today shows up months later: inquiry, consultation, proposal, contract. So the slow months come from what you didn't do months ago, when you were too busy to look.

🔥The feastToo busy to market
→
⏳Months passNothing new comes in
→
🦗The famineThe pipeline is empty
Part 03 The fix

Turn it on. Never turn it off.

09 The fix

Own your marketing. It compounds.

Learn how to market, or hire a marketing company to do it for you. Ads, content, SEO, whatever, I don't care which. Once you launch it, you don't turn it off. It compounds over months and years.

New projects, month by month, marketing always on
Steady, then growingNo dead months
10 My own proof

Three years in, it still pays.

I've been running my own ads for about three years. People we first spoke to three years ago are reaching back out now and paying me. That only happens if you never turn it off.

~3 yearsRunning my own ads, never switched off
Year 3People from first conversations three years ago, coming back and paying
11 When you're slammed

Don't pause. Get pickier and hire.

Raise your minimum budget, choose better projects, keep a waitlist. Hire more people. And never turn off the acquisition machine, if you're not a pussy.

Pause the marketing Never
Raise your minimum budget Do
Choose better projects, keep a waitlist Do
Hire more people Do
Keep the acquisition machine on Always
12 Steady flow

Steady flow is how you grow.

Steady flow lets you hire and grow, instead of hiring in the feast and letting people go in the famine.

Steady new projects
↓
You hire with confidence
↓
You take on more work
↓
The firm growsNo more letting people go in the slow months
SABCDF
Which marketing methods actually work for architects?Every method ranked, from referrals to Meta ads to direct mail
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