Create your architecture business strategy in 3 easy steps

One of the biggest fallacies in architecture is that good architecture brings good business.

Architects often think that if they do good work, then clients will come walking through the door. Sounds good, right?

In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. There are many other factors that could impact the success of a business. Who is the face of the company? What do the fees look like? What is the culture?

In order for a business to thrive and succeed long-term, there has to be more than just “good architecture” in place. The practice needs to have a clear and well-defined business strategy. 

Honing in on your strategy

If you haven’t put much thought into crafting your business strategy, that’s okay. Creating a business strategy doesn’t have to be all that time-consuming and difficult.

Here are three things for you to consider when coming up with a strategy:

  1. Business is a process of continuous improvement. For a business strategy to be successful, it has to be implemented in a manner that is cohesive and flowing with the rest of the practice. You can’t simply stop everything, focus on your strategy, and start again. It has to be an incremental improvement that is made while the business is progressing.

  2. Forget long term. Planning is great but a business strategy that focuses on what is going to happen ten years down the road is not going to help you make informed decisions on a day-to-day basis. Start by making a one-year budget, or a two-year strategy. If Covid-19 has shown us anything, it’s that life can change in an instant and planning too far ahead in the future is not worth the time. 

  3. Strategy can deliver certainty. We want certainty in our business. In an architectural practice, certainty falls into three categories: certainty of impact, certainty of workflow and certainty of income. In order for architects to have all three, we need to ensure that the business strategy is going to help us run the business so that we can deliver these outcomes. 

Much like architecture projects, it’s normal for your strategy to change along the way. You can revisit and modify it down the line. The important thing is that you start somewhere.

 

At Archibiz, we offer architects the right tools to be able to grow their practices into sustainable, profitable businesses. To receive more tips like these, sign up to receive our bi-weekly Mentor Memos below.