Bite-Sized Client Experiences (First Date Offers) with Laura Robinson | 011

Jon Clayton:
00:00:02
How would you like to have a chargeable bite sized



Jon Clayton:
00:00:05
one-to-one experience that you can offer your potential clients?



Jon Clayton:
00:00:10
That is quick and fun for you to deliver and helps to sell



Jon Clayton:
00:00:14
your higher price services.



Jon Clayton:
00:00:16
That's exactly what we're going to help you with today in this episode



Jon Clayton:
00:00:19
of architecture business club.



Jon Clayton:
00:00:21
The weekly podcast for solo and small firm architecture practice owners,



Jon Clayton:
00:00:25
just like you who want to build a profitable future proof architecture



Jon Clayton:
00:00:29
business that fits around their life.



Jon Clayton:
00:00:31
I'm the host John Clayton.



Jon Clayton:
00:00:33
If you want to get notified when a releasing your episode and



Jon Clayton:
00:00:36
get access to free resources and exclusive offers, then go to Mr.



Jon Clayton:
00:00:39
John clayton.co.uk forward slash ABC.



Jon Clayton:
00:00:43
And sign up to my free weekly email newsletter.



Jon Clayton:
00:00:46
Now let's discuss first date offers.



Jon Clayton:
00:00:55
In this episode, I'm joined by Laura Robinson.



Jon Clayton:
00:00:59
Laura is a marketing mentor for expertise based businesses.



Jon Clayton:
00:01:03
She's been working in marketing and copywriting for more than 14 years.



Jon Clayton:
00:01:07
And in that time, she's helped hundreds of business owners create



Jon Clayton:
00:01:11
and sell online offers and to make their online marketing more effective.



Jon Clayton:
00:01:16
She's delivered masterclasses for Enterprise Nation, Membership Academy,



Jon Clayton:
00:01:20
and Andrew and Pete's Atomic community.



Jon Clayton:
00:01:22
And she's also shared her expertise as a speaker Bye.



Jon Clayton:
00:01:25
At Erin Wong's Momentum Day and Atomicon, one of Europe's



Jon Clayton:
00:01:30
largest business conferences.



Jon Clayton:
00:01:32
If you're running a business that needs to fit around your other life



Jon Clayton:
00:01:35
challenges, priorities, and adventures, sign up for Laura's free, comfy



Jon Clayton:
00:01:39
business newsletter at weirditude.



Jon Clayton:
00:01:41
co.



Jon Clayton:
00:01:41
uk forward slash newsletter.



Jon Clayton:
00:01:44
Laura, welcome to Architecture Business Club.



Laura Robinson:
00:01:47
Hello.



Laura Robinson:
00:01:47
Thank you for having me.



Jon Clayton:
00:01:50
It's great to have you here today.



Jon Clayton:
00:01:52
I'm a big fan of yours, uh, as you know, hopefully.



Jon Clayton:
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Before we just dive into the topic, we're going to talk about though.



Jon Clayton:
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I've got to ask you about this.



Jon Clayton:
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You're a volunteer marine mammal medic.



Jon Clayton:
00:02:02
Um, could you tell me a little bit about that?



Laura Robinson:
00:02:06
I can.



Laura Robinson:
00:02:07
It sounds like the name feels like it makes it sound like a lot



Laura Robinson:
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more hands on than it really is.



Laura Robinson:
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I volunteer with a charity called the British Divers Marine Life



Laura Robinson:
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Rescue, even though there's absolutely no diving involved.



Laura Robinson:
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It's kind of a legacy name.



Laura Robinson:
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And, uh, we work all over the UK coastline.



Laura Robinson:
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And if there's any marine mammals that are in distress and they need help



Laura Robinson:
00:02:28
out of the water, so they're, they're.



Laura Robinson:
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Then out of the water for some reason, um, I can get called



Laura Robinson:
00:02:34
and go and help with that.



Laura Robinson:
00:02:35
So the people who volunteer up in Scotland, they typically



Laura Robinson:
00:02:38
get like whales and dolphins.



Laura Robinson:
00:02:40
Uh, where I am in East Anglia, I have only been called out to seals.



Laura Robinson:
00:02:43
Um, and that's usually during the pupping season when, uh, seal pups are weaned from



Laura Robinson:
00:02:49
their mums quite early, a few weeks old.



Laura Robinson:
00:02:51
And the vast majority of them go off to fish successfully and gain body weight



Laura Robinson:
00:02:56
and go and live independent, happy lives.



Laura Robinson:
00:02:58
But some of them aren't so lucky and they might sustain injuries, storm damage.



Laura Robinson:
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They just fail to thrive, really.



Laura Robinson:
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Um, and so we get called out to pick them up and take them to a wildlife



Laura Robinson:
00:03:07
hospital where they get fed up until they're a good body weight and



Laura Robinson:
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then released back into the wild.



Jon Clayton:
00:03:13
Oh, that sounds awesome.



Jon Clayton:
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Have you ever been tempted to take one home?



Laura Robinson:
00:03:17
Absolutely not.



Laura Robinson:
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They are so beautiful to look at, but they really smell and they're very bitey.



Laura Robinson:
00:03:23
It's the same.



Laura Robinson:
00:03:25
They, uh, they have a good public image that they don't really



Laura Robinson:
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deserve if you get up close to them.



Jon Clayton:
00:03:30
Yeah, fair enough.



Jon Clayton:
00:03:31
Okay.



Jon Clayton:
00:03:31
So best viewed from a distance.



Laura Robinson:
00:03:33
Definitely.



Laura Robinson:
00:03:34
Yeah, we don't want to get as close as I do.



Jon Clayton:
00:03:37
Okay.



Jon Clayton:
00:03:37
Well, um, we're going to talk about something called first date offers.



Jon Clayton:
00:03:42
So this is something that the listeners probably aren't familiar with.



Jon Clayton:
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This is a concept that, that you've created.



Jon Clayton:
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Could you tell me what is a first date offer and, and how



Jon Clayton:
00:03:52
did you come up with the idea?



Laura Robinson:
00:03:54
It was an accidental invention.



Laura Robinson:
00:03:56
I don't mind doing discovery calls.



Laura Robinson:
00:03:58
You know, you have like a, just a free chat with someone who might be interested



Laura Robinson:
00:04:01
in buying your higher price service.



Laura Robinson:
00:04:02
I don't mind doing them, but they tend to be a bit ambiguous.



Laura Robinson:
00:04:06
They go on for a while.



Laura Robinson:
00:04:07
You give away the whole farm.



Laura Robinson:
00:04:08
Not made any money.



Laura Robinson:
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And sometimes the, um, potential client feels a bit awkward about



Laura Robinson:
00:04:13
booking in for a free chat as if it's a trap or they're just going to be



Laura Robinson:
00:04:16
sold to, or they just don't want to take your time for free because that



Laura Robinson:
00:04:18
feels, um, like unfair out of balance.



Laura Robinson:
00:04:21
I also see people selling these things like power hours or



Laura Robinson:
00:04:24
like one hour consultations, pick my brain type sessions.



Laura Robinson:
00:04:28
And I am not a fan of those at all.



Laura Robinson:
00:04:30
They are definitely way too ambiguous.



Laura Robinson:
00:04:31
They go on forever.



Laura Robinson:
00:04:33
They eat into your calendar.



Laura Robinson:
00:04:34
So you end up with like these.



Laura Robinson:
00:04:35
Messy slots of time that your brain is devoted to this one



Laura Robinson:
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particular person, then you have to switch back to somebody else.



Laura Robinson:
00:04:43
Um, so I wanted something that was kind of in the middle where I could



Laura Robinson:
00:04:47
get to know someone, but they were paying for it and they were getting



Laura Robinson:
00:04:50
something of value from the session.



Laura Robinson:
00:04:53
And it was a good taster of what it was like to work with me as



Laura Robinson:
00:04:55
I've had that in the back of my mind for probably at least a year.



Laura Robinson:
00:04:59
I think knowing that there was this middle ground that I just



Laura Robinson:
00:05:02
didn't know what it looked like.



Laura Robinson:
00:05:04
And then I released a course that was called Marketing Game Plan and I thought,



Laura Robinson:
00:05:09
Oh, it would be fun to offer a 20 minute one to one Voxer chat with people who



Laura Robinson:
00:05:13
had a particular marketing dilemma that they wanted to talk over with me.



Jon Clayton:
00:05:17
Do you wanna just explain what a Voxer chat is to the listeners?



Laura Robinson:
00:05:20
So Voxer is an, uh, it's a walkie talkie base app.



Laura Robinson:
00:05:23
So a bit like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger where you



Laura Robinson:
00:05:27
are able to leave voice notes.



Laura Robinson:
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But on those platforms, when you leave the voice note, the person at the other



Laura Robinson:
00:05:33
end can't hear it until you finished, and then they listen and then they respond.



Laura Robinson:
00:05:36
And so you end up with this weird kind of lag and it's not like



Laura Robinson:
00:05:39
a telephone conversation and it feels awkward and it takes forever.



Laura Robinson:
00:05:42
With Voxer, it's real time.



Laura Robinson:
00:05:44
So they can hear when you're listening, when you're leaving a message, the person



Laura Robinson:
00:05:47
on the other end can hear real time, but they can also choose whether they play it



Laura Robinson:
00:05:52
back and listen again, or they think, Oh, I don't want to listen to that right now.



Laura Robinson:
00:05:54
They carry on with what they're doing.



Laura Robinson:
00:05:56
They come back.



Laura Robinson:
00:05:56
So for my very easily distracted brain, it's my preferred method of



Laura Robinson:
00:06:01
communication because I find it very hard to concentrate when someone's



Laura Robinson:
00:06:05
talking to me, they'll spark off an idea.



Laura Robinson:
00:06:07
And I'm, my brain's going like, Oh, this is great.



Laura Robinson:
00:06:10
Let's think about this thing.



Laura Robinson:
00:06:11
But they've carried on talking.



Laura Robinson:
00:06:12
I don't know.



Laura Robinson:
00:06:12
I didn't listen to the second half of what you said because I was



Laura Robinson:
00:06:15
thinking about the first thing, but with Voxer, I can do that.



Laura Robinson:
00:06:18
I can write notes.



Laura Robinson:
00:06:19
I can go off with whatever the first thing was, and then I can re listen



Laura Robinson:
00:06:22
to the message and pick up the second or third or fourth points before



Laura Robinson:
00:06:25
I get back to them with a more.



Laura Robinson:
00:06:27
Comprehensive message.



Laura Robinson:
00:06:28
So it's a slower flow of conversation than say a zoom chat, but faster than



Laura Robinson:
00:06:32
voice messaging on the other apps.



Laura Robinson:
00:06:34
So I could go on about it forever.



Laura Robinson:
00:06:35
Cause I absolutely love that form of communication.



Jon Clayton:
00:06:38
well that's probably, we could probably do a whole



Jon Clayton:
00:06:40
episode in the future about using Voxer because I love Voxer as well.



Jon Clayton:
00:06:43
So that's, you were using Voxer for that initial offer, that 20 minute



Jon Clayton:
00:06:49
conversation that you talked about.



Jon Clayton:
00:06:51
So let's just swing it back around to that then.



Laura Robinson:
00:06:53
So I'd only made it available to people who'd bought the



Laura Robinson:
00:06:55
course and it was very focused on.



Laura Robinson:
00:06:57
Do you like any kind of marketing?



Laura Robinson:
00:06:59
You're stuck with a marketing dilemma.



Laura Robinson:
00:07:01
You don't, you just don't know what to do next.



Laura Robinson:
00:07:03
You need to make a decision about a thing.



Laura Robinson:
00:07:05
And I just loved it.



Laura Robinson:
00:07:06
Like it, it made me come alive.



Laura Robinson:
00:07:07
I was in a bit of a funk at the time because it was January,



Laura Robinson:
00:07:09
February time this year.



Laura Robinson:
00:07:11
And I'm not good like January, February, not my good times of year at all.



Laura Robinson:
00:07:15
And I realized when I get to talk to people just for a



Laura Robinson:
00:07:18
short period of time, it, it.



Laura Robinson:
00:07:20
It reinvigorates me.



Laura Robinson:
00:07:21
It gives me ideas.



Laura Robinson:
00:07:22
It gives me inspiration.



Laura Robinson:
00:07:23
I love the reaction that you get from a 20 minute intense session at



Laura Robinson:
00:07:27
the end that the recipient or the client on the other end is just.



Laura Robinson:
00:07:31
Totally blown away by what we can achieve in 20 minutes.



Laura Robinson:
00:07:33
And so then that helps like pump me up as well.



Laura Robinson:
00:07:35
So I thought, Oh, I've got something here.



Laura Robinson:
00:07:37
And it turned out that some of those people wanted to go on and buy my



Laura Robinson:
00:07:41
higher priced one to one services.



Laura Robinson:
00:07:43
So I hadn't created it intentionally to fit this gap between a



Laura Robinson:
00:07:47
discovery call and a power hour.



Laura Robinson:
00:07:50
I just made it off the back of this course, but then I realized, Oh, this is,



Laura Robinson:
00:07:53
this is something like I love doing it.



Laura Robinson:
00:07:54
I'm definitely going to do this again.



Laura Robinson:
00:07:56
And it does feel that.



Laura Robinson:
00:07:57
Void in like my offers quite nicely.



Jon Clayton:
00:08:00
That sounds, sounds absolutely fantastic.



Jon Clayton:
00:08:03
It's funny how sometimes these great ideas do just happen accidentally, don't they?



Jon Clayton:
00:08:07
But it's, it's a really good idea.



Jon Clayton:
00:08:09
What I'd like to talk about actually is before we kind of dig more into



Jon Clayton:
00:08:13
first day offers I want to try and focus on how small firm architecture



Jon Clayton:
00:08:19
practices and, uh, sole practitioners working in architecture, how they



Jon Clayton:
00:08:23
can use this concept before we do that, though, I know that you've



Jon Clayton:
00:08:26
had an experience of doing your own.



Jon Clayton:
00:08:28
Home renovation projects.



Jon Clayton:
00:08:30
And I'd like to hear a little bit about the experience that you had working



Jon Clayton:
00:08:35
with the, the architectural firm.



Jon Clayton:
00:08:37
Could you tell me about those first interactions that you had



Jon Clayton:
00:08:40
with the architectural firms when you contacted perhaps one or two



Jon Clayton:
00:08:44
companies when you decided to, to renovate and extend your home?



Laura Robinson:
00:08:49
Yeah, it feels like ages ago now.



Laura Robinson:
00:08:51
When, and the whole process of even getting everyone in place and the



Laura Robinson:
00:08:54
mortgage and the permission and the architect and the builder, I don't



Laura Robinson:
00:08:57
even know how logistically we made that happen, but it took a couple of



Laura Robinson:
00:09:00
years to get everything lined up and my experience with, I contacted a couple



Laura Robinson:
00:09:04
of architects and they came around and they obviously didn't really want to.



Laura Robinson:
00:09:07
Do the job that they were humoring me because I'd asked for them to come.



Laura Robinson:
00:09:10
And initially we were looking at a loft conversion and whether



Laura Robinson:
00:09:13
that would be possible or not.



Laura Robinson:
00:09:14
And it wasn't, um, the architect we settled with was our builder.



Laura Robinson:
00:09:18
The builder we chose is someone that his dad had done my parents extension.



Laura Robinson:
00:09:23
So we live in quite a small village kind of town.



Laura Robinson:
00:09:26
Everybody knows everybody.



Laura Robinson:
00:09:27
And, um, So that was, for me, I wanted it to be someone that I really trusted



Laura Robinson:
00:09:33
and I was going to be leaving my house empty for a good few weeks at a time.



Laura Robinson:
00:09:36
You know, I was coming back every day, but I just wanted to be comfortable



Laura Robinson:
00:09:38
that it was someone that when we moved back into the house, we felt



Laura Robinson:
00:09:42
like it had been a good experience.



Laura Robinson:
00:09:43
We'd enjoyed the process, like that was my top priority.



Laura Robinson:
00:09:46
So I wanted it to be this particular group of builders above anything else.



Laura Robinson:
00:09:51
And so we chose them first and then we went with the architect that they were.



Laura Robinson:
00:09:55
Most familiar with working with, um, because they had



Laura Robinson:
00:09:58
such a great relationship.



Laura Robinson:
00:09:59
It made everything much easier.



Jon Clayton:
00:10:01
And what happened then once, once you decided you were going to use



Jon Clayton:
00:10:04
that architect, what actually happened?



Jon Clayton:
00:10:06
Did they, I'm just sort of thinking about what those first interactions were



Jon Clayton:
00:10:11
compared, uh, so we can try and relate these two things together, really.



Jon Clayton:
00:10:15
So I'm just wondering, like, what actually happened when you picked up



Jon Clayton:
00:10:17
the phone and, and contacted them?



Jon Clayton:
00:10:20
Did they come out and visit?



Jon Clayton:
00:10:21
Did you go to their office?



Jon Clayton:
00:10:23
Did you, they send you a fee proposal via email?



Jon Clayton:
00:10:26
What was the first things that happened when you got in



Laura Robinson:
00:10:28
So I don't, I still don't even know what the fee was



Laura Robinson:
00:10:30
because when you've decided that you're going to do the thing, it



Laura Robinson:
00:10:33
almost becomes irrelevant, doesn't it?



Laura Robinson:
00:10:35
I mean, not totally irrelevant, but in the end there were



Laura Robinson:
00:10:37
just numbers floating around.



Laura Robinson:
00:10:38
I was like, but all together, well, we have enough money.



Laura Robinson:
00:10:40
Yes.



Laura Robinson:
00:10:41
Okay.



Laura Robinson:
00:10:41
Then let's just get on with it.



Laura Robinson:
00:10:43
Um, so I don't know, and I wouldn't know like what the fees were



Laura Robinson:
00:10:46
compared to other people either.



Laura Robinson:
00:10:47
We just decided, I think it was very much like a relationship based project.



Laura Robinson:
00:10:51
So.



Laura Robinson:
00:10:52
We knew we were going with this person she came to the house and



Laura Robinson:
00:10:56
did all the measurements and stuff.



Laura Robinson:
00:10:57
And we chatted about what we, what I really enjoyed was talking about what



Laura Robinson:
00:11:01
we wanted to achieve by doing it.



Laura Robinson:
00:11:03
So, she wasn't, you know, because I had an idea if we're going to put this



Laura Robinson:
00:11:06
extension on the back and these bedrooms are going to go here and she was.



Laura Robinson:
00:11:11
Taking me up a level and saying, okay, you don't need to decide that.



Laura Robinson:
00:11:15
Like, you don't need to decide where the bedrooms go or where



Laura Robinson:
00:11:17
the walls are going to be.



Laura Robinson:
00:11:18
You tell me what it is that you want to achieve when you move back into the house.



Laura Robinson:
00:11:21
So that was a really helpful experience to kind of hand it over a bit.



Laura Robinson:
00:11:26
And then she came back to me with two or three floor plans.



Laura Robinson:
00:11:29
One of which would have been the most amazing master suite



Laura Robinson:
00:11:32
at the back of the house.



Laura Robinson:
00:11:33
With views of the sea.



Laura Robinson:
00:11:35
And the other one was the one where the kids got the best bedrooms at



Laura Robinson:
00:11:37
the back of the house with the best light and the views of the sea.



Laura Robinson:
00:11:40
And I think we can probably, everybody knows which one I went for.



Laura Robinson:
00:11:44
The kids are very happy.



Jon Clayton:
00:11:47
Absolutely.



Jon Clayton:
00:11:48
Um, brilliant.



Jon Clayton:
00:11:49
Thanks so much for sharing that.



Jon Clayton:
00:11:50
So let's, let's talk again about the, the concept of first day offers there.



Jon Clayton:
00:11:54
And, and what I'm really interested to dig into is maybe we could do a



Jon Clayton:
00:11:58
little bit of brainstorming and think about the first day off for that.



Jon Clayton:
00:12:03
architectural practices could use.



Jon Clayton:
00:12:06
So to think about, you know, how could we apply something like what you did?



Jon Clayton:
00:12:10
Just to remind everyone, the, the first day offer that you had, it



Jon Clayton:
00:12:13
was how, what was the price point?



Jon Clayton:
00:12:15
Was it 47 pounds?



Laura Robinson:
00:12:17
It's 47 pounds and it's a 20 minute chat.



Laura Robinson:
00:12:20
To solve one particular marketing dilemma.



Laura Robinson:
00:12:22
And so the concept, the overall concept of the first day offer that I, so far,



Laura Robinson:
00:12:26
we've applied it to a lot of different industries, including I figured one out



Laura Robinson:
00:12:30
with a doula the other day, we're doing photographers, um, cake bakers, like



Laura Robinson:
00:12:35
things that you, you just like, I don't know how this would work, but so far I'm



Laura Robinson:
00:12:38
doing okay with figuring out examples.



Laura Robinson:
00:12:41
Um, the concept is that it's a short one to one interaction where.



Laura Robinson:
00:12:46
The they pay for it, and they get something of value the other side of it.



Laura Robinson:
00:12:50
And potentially, they might go on to buy a higher priced offer from you.



Laura Robinson:
00:12:53
And the interaction is a sample of the experience of working with you.



Laura Robinson:
00:12:58
So it does also need to mirror in some way.



Laura Robinson:
00:13:00
Like, if they went to work.



Laura Robinson:
00:13:02
with you longer term, how would you be interacting with them?



Laura Robinson:
00:13:05
Would you be coming to their house?



Laura Robinson:
00:13:06
Would it be via zoom?



Laura Robinson:
00:13:07
Is it a lot over some other platform that you use to communicate with your



Laura Robinson:
00:13:10
clients so that they can really start to see that reality of having you in their



Laura Robinson:
00:13:15
life and what that bigger project might look like, but equally, everyone's happy.



Laura Robinson:
00:13:19
Like if you just do that.



Laura Robinson:
00:13:21
Bite size offer, that first date offer and the client walks away, you're okay



Laura Robinson:
00:13:25
with that because you got paid, you got something from the experience,



Laura Robinson:
00:13:29
they got something of value from the experience and everyone's happy.



Laura Robinson:
00:13:32
It's not where one person's beholden to the other.



Jon Clayton:
00:13:35
Okay.



Jon Clayton:
00:13:35
So, so this is, it's a bite size, one to one offer that leaves both



Jon Clayton:
00:13:40
the customer and you as the service provider, both feeling really happy



Jon Clayton:
00:13:44
about it and enjoying delivering it.



Jon Clayton:
00:13:47
Even if this is something that doesn't, I mean, ideally I could see how this



Jon Clayton:
00:13:50
could easily encourage people to then go on and buy the higher ticket solution,



Jon Clayton:
00:13:55
whatever that package is, but, but it's something that can stand alone.



Jon Clayton:
00:13:59
You can, it can be a standalone product or service as well.



Jon Clayton:
00:14:03
So it's something of value in its own right.



Jon Clayton:
00:14:05
And I thought that was a really good point you made about it mirroring



Jon Clayton:
00:14:08
the way that you work normally.



Jon Clayton:
00:14:10
So maybe if you, uh, let's just say you're a, an architect that does mainly in person



Jon Clayton:
00:14:16
meetings, then it would make sense that maybe there was a short in person element



Jon Clayton:
00:14:21
to this offer, or if you were using.



Jon Clayton:
00:14:23
Video calls like zoom or teams, something like that, that maybe



Jon Clayton:
00:14:27
the first day offer could include that like a little taster session.



Jon Clayton:
00:14:31
So to have it mirror the way that the, the bigger higher ticket



Jon Clayton:
00:14:35
offers work makes a lot of sense.



Laura Robinson:
00:14:38
Because often those are barriers to people working with



Laura Robinson:
00:14:42
you that you don't even realize exist.



Laura Robinson:
00:14:43
Like they might be totally convinced on your expertise and that you're going to



Laura Robinson:
00:14:46
be able to help them and you can get them to this great outcome that they want.



Laura Robinson:
00:14:50
But if they can't picture like, but what's this going to look like in my life?



Laura Robinson:
00:14:54
Like after I've said yes, and I've handed over whatever money or deposit you want.



Laura Robinson:
00:14:59
They just can't imagine what that might be like.



Laura Robinson:
00:15:01
That's a huge barrier to saying yes to it, because nobody wants to jump



Laura Robinson:
00:15:05
across this like invisible bridge and trust that it's there for them.



Laura Robinson:
00:15:08
So if you can do something to help make that bridge more real, they can imagine



Laura Robinson:
00:15:11
what that experience is going to be like.



Laura Robinson:
00:15:13
It breaks down a lot of barriers to them saying yes to working with you more.



Jon Clayton:
00:15:17
Okay.



Jon Clayton:
00:15:17
So, I mean, some initial, I did have a few initial thoughts, and I'd



Jon Clayton:
00:15:22
love to get your feedback on these.



Jon Clayton:
00:15:23
So one idea was maybe sending an initial appraisal of a property or a building plot



Jon Clayton:
00:15:32
or a building's development potential.



Jon Clayton:
00:15:35
So something like that.



Jon Clayton:
00:15:36
Another idea was maybe to, to give feedback on a customer's own.



Jon Clayton:
00:15:42
Sketch design.



Jon Clayton:
00:15:43
Often people will be on Pinterest collating all sorts of ideas and, and



Jon Clayton:
00:15:47
sketching out their own floor plans.



Jon Clayton:
00:15:49
So I wondered about maybe giving feedback on that, on their design idea, maybe



Jon Clayton:
00:15:55
via a short video, perhaps it could be a little video screen recording.



Jon Clayton:
00:15:59
Um, or maybe.



Jon Clayton:
00:16:02
At one thing that a lot of people's minds is particularly homeowners



Jon Clayton:
00:16:06
is whether to move or improve.



Jon Clayton:
00:16:08
They might be thinking, you know, we, we need an extra extra bedroom.



Jon Clayton:
00:16:12
Like what's the best thing to do?



Jon Clayton:
00:16:13
Do we, do we move or improve what we've got?



Jon Clayton:
00:16:16
So it could be a telephone consultation or a Voxer call using



Jon Clayton:
00:16:20
Voxer to help them decide on that.



Jon Clayton:
00:16:23
aNd the other idea I had was.



Jon Clayton:
00:16:26
Helping them maybe figure out the next three steps to, to get started on a



Jon Clayton:
00:16:33
renovation or a property development.



Jon Clayton:
00:16:35
So do you think, I mean, there's four different ideas there.



Jon Clayton:
00:16:39
Do you think any of those would have legs?



Jon Clayton:
00:16:41
I mean, for an architecture business owner,



Jon Clayton:
00:16:45
Remember, don't forget to subscribe to my free weekly email newsletter.



Jon Clayton:
00:16:50
You can do that at mrjonclayton.co.uk/abc.



Jon Clayton:
00:16:56
And if you are enjoying this episode then please visit podchaser.com,



Jon Clayton:
00:17:00
search for Architecture Business Club and leave a five star review.



Jon Clayton:
00:17:04
Now, back to the show.



Laura Robinson:
00:17:06
I think all of those have, um, have legs,



Laura Robinson:
00:17:09
like they've all got potential.



Laura Robinson:
00:17:11
You wouldn't, uh, you wouldn't do them all.



Laura Robinson:
00:17:12
You'd just like pick, pick an idea or come up with your own.



Laura Robinson:
00:17:15
That is, that's the one that you kind of stick to.



Laura Robinson:
00:17:17
And you trot, trot out every now and then when you want to generate some clients.



Laura Robinson:
00:17:20
But what I wanted to say about all those different ideas is, I love that most of



Laura Robinson:
00:17:25
them, probably all of them, were things that you could do in your own time.



Laura Robinson:
00:17:28
So you actually did it, although it's great to have some element of one



Laura Robinson:
00:17:32
to one interaction so they can get to know you, you also don't want to,



Laura Robinson:
00:17:35
um, you know, block out your diary with having to do this all the time.



Laura Robinson:
00:17:38
So if you have to do some one to one elements to it, I I batch mine,



Laura Robinson:
00:17:42
so they're only available for a couple of weeks, every few months



Laura Robinson:
00:17:44
so that I can get them done and then clear out my diary in this space.



Laura Robinson:
00:17:48
Or for some people it's, you don't want to batch it because you know, in your line of



Laura Robinson:
00:17:52
work, there's a very short window of time when someone's wants to hire an architect.



Laura Robinson:
00:17:57
And if your availability doesn't line up with that, then it



Laura Robinson:
00:18:00
causes all sorts of problems.



Laura Robinson:
00:18:01
So you probably will want your first day offers to be available all the time.



Laura Robinson:
00:18:05
In which case the method of delivery needs to be really flexible for you, that it can



Laura Robinson:
00:18:08
fit around your existing work schedule.



Laura Robinson:
00:18:11
where you said, like, record a video feedback of Leflore Pan



Laura Robinson:
00:18:14
and what's possible for them.



Laura Robinson:
00:18:16
You can do that at 8 o'clock at night or 6 o'clock in the morning,



Laura Robinson:
00:18:19
2 o'clock in the afternoon, whatever you've got time for it.



Laura Robinson:
00:18:21
And it doesn't matter what the client's doing, because then it's asynchronous.



Laura Robinson:
00:18:24
They're not having to be present at the same time.



Laura Robinson:
00:18:27
So I love those ideas.



Laura Robinson:
00:18:28
Um, and I also wanted to point out how.



Laura Robinson:
00:18:30
they would attract very different types of client.



Laura Robinson:
00:18:33
And you need to think about, is that someone I want to work with?



Laura Robinson:
00:18:36
Because I'm guessing for some of you, some architects, you absolutely love



Laura Robinson:
00:18:39
the client that's there with their little, this is me with my grid of



Laura Robinson:
00:18:42
paper, drawing it out quite accurately.



Laura Robinson:
00:18:44
I was very proud of myself and going, but what would happen



Laura Robinson:
00:18:46
if we moved this over here?



Laura Robinson:
00:18:47
And is it very expensive to move this wall because it would have this great impact?



Laura Robinson:
00:18:51
Like you might want to.



Laura Robinson:
00:18:53
Really work with someone like that and there'll be other architects listening



Laura Robinson:
00:18:55
going, no, like you, I will charge three times as much if someone's going



Laura Robinson:
00:18:59
to present a piece of graph paper with me with a sketch of the house.



Laura Robinson:
00:19:02
Like, absolutely not.



Laura Robinson:
00:19:03
So



Jon Clayton:
00:19:04
move away from the graph paper.



Laura Robinson:
00:19:07
so you can use your first day offer to position yourself as



Laura Robinson:
00:19:12
I really want to attract these people.



Laura Robinson:
00:19:14
And I definitely.



Laura Robinson:
00:19:15
Don't want to be working with those people.



Laura Robinson:
00:19:16
And so you'll naturally, um, find that the hot, the people that go on to work



Laura Robinson:
00:19:21
with you and your bigger offers, you've almost created your own filter to make



Laura Robinson:
00:19:26
sure that only certain people get through the gate because you've only attracted



Laura Robinson:
00:19:29
the ones you really enjoy working with.



Jon Clayton:
00:19:31
Oh, I love that.



Jon Clayton:
00:19:32
That's brilliant.



Jon Clayton:
00:19:33
So one thing, it encouraged the idea of doing something that's asynchronous.



Jon Clayton:
00:19:37
So that you've got the flexibility to fit it in to suit your own,



Jon Clayton:
00:19:41
your own time, your own calendar.



Jon Clayton:
00:19:43
So something like, um, feedback that's delivered via a video, via



Jon Clayton:
00:19:49
a voxer message, even maybe like a report or something that gets emailed.



Jon Clayton:
00:19:53
It could even just be a simple report of, um, a sketch plan or



Jon Clayton:
00:19:57
something that gets emailed off.



Jon Clayton:
00:19:58
Something along those lines would be far.



Jon Clayton:
00:20:01
Easier to deliver.



Jon Clayton:
00:20:02
And also as well in terms of price point, like there'd be far less



Jon Clayton:
00:20:06
time to do that than to try and arrange a time to go out and visit



Jon Clayton:
00:20:09
somebody in person with travel time.



Jon Clayton:
00:20:12
And, you know, inevitably getting around there and saying, right,



Jon Clayton:
00:20:16
it's a 30 minute consultation.



Jon Clayton:
00:20:17
And then it's like an hour and a quarter later because you can't get away.



Jon Clayton:
00:20:21
And that does happen.



Jon Clayton:
00:20:22
That sounds like we've got some really like solid ideas there that could work



Jon Clayton:
00:20:26
for, for some practice owners, but how the heck do we decide what to charge for it?



Laura Robinson:
00:20:31
I don't know, I wish there was like a magic number I could



Laura Robinson:
00:20:34
go and every first day offer is charged at 97 and everyone like pays the same.



Laura Robinson:
00:20:38
I think it's going to vary massively with your, um, like for the industry.



Laura Robinson:
00:20:42
So you can charge a lot more because eventually the thing that they're



Laura Robinson:
00:20:45
going to buy is even a higher price than, than what I can charge.



Laura Robinson:
00:20:49
So it needs to be a balance between, it's a really easy



Laura Robinson:
00:20:52
thing for people to say yes to.



Laura Robinson:
00:20:55
Like it's not.



Laura Robinson:
00:20:56
They don't have to think about what's a bit of an investment



Laura Robinson:
00:20:58
like this is a bit hard.



Laura Robinson:
00:21:00
Am I saying yes now or do I wait a month?



Laura Robinson:
00:21:02
It does need to be low so that there's very little friction there because



Laura Robinson:
00:21:06
you've got that potential for them to be a lead for a higher paying thing.



Laura Robinson:
00:21:10
But there has to be absolutely no resentment from you.



Laura Robinson:
00:21:13
For delivering it for that fee now for me, I was, it was easy for me to charge



Laura Robinson:
00:21:18
a very small amount compared to what it would be to work with me longer term



Laura Robinson:
00:21:23
because it's not available at the time.



Laura Robinson:
00:21:24
So it's very small batches.



Laura Robinson:
00:21:25
I release a batch of 10.



Laura Robinson:
00:21:27
They go pretty quickly.



Laura Robinson:
00:21:28
So it's done entirely on my own terms.



Laura Robinson:
00:21:30
It's not trading off.



Laura Robinson:
00:21:32
So people who buy my higher price things don't think, oh, yeah, but



Laura Robinson:
00:21:34
if I bought 10 of this low price thing, you know, I would have paid.



Laura Robinson:
00:21:37
It doesn't work like that because you just can't buy lots



Laura Robinson:
00:21:40
of these lower price things.



Laura Robinson:
00:21:41
They're in a very limited number for very limited periods of time.



Laura Robinson:
00:21:45
But I also get so much more out of it than the money.



Laura Robinson:
00:21:48
So when I'm judging, is there any resentment for me only



Laura Robinson:
00:21:51
charging this small fee?



Laura Robinson:
00:21:53
Absolutely not because I get so much from it, not just the leads that it



Laura Robinson:
00:21:57
generates, but from the experience.



Laura Robinson:
00:21:58
Just really being able to understand what's going on in those



Laura Robinson:
00:22:01
potential clients minds, what are they struggling with every day?



Laura Robinson:
00:22:04
What's the thing that's holding them back?



Laura Robinson:
00:22:06
Even if they don't go on to work with me longer term, I'm using that



Laura Robinson:
00:22:09
knowledge to create content, to come up with marketing ideas, to refine



Laura Robinson:
00:22:12
the paid products that people can buy.



Laura Robinson:
00:22:14
When I'm deciding the price, there's so much more when I'm deciding the price,



Laura Robinson:
00:22:19
I'm looking at the value exchange.



Laura Robinson:
00:22:20
What are they getting out of it?



Laura Robinson:
00:22:21
And do I feel good about what I'm getting out of it?



Laura Robinson:
00:22:23
But it's not just money.



Laura Robinson:
00:22:24
There's so much more on like my side of the equation.



Jon Clayton:
00:22:29
Got it.



Jon Clayton:
00:22:29
Got it.



Jon Clayton:
00:22:29
Now that's given me a really good, I'm already thinking now thinking



Jon Clayton:
00:22:33
like, what, what could I do with these ideas and how much would I charge?



Jon Clayton:
00:22:37
But now that's given me a really good kind of yardstick to work to that.



Laura Robinson:
00:22:41
I want to just to like interrupt you, but it's really



Laura Robinson:
00:22:44
important that it's not that this is why it works so much better



Laura Robinson:
00:22:47
than like a one hour consultation.



Laura Robinson:
00:22:49
When you do something that's ambiguous like that, and you're just.



Laura Robinson:
00:22:53
Giving away an hour of your time, people start to do the maths of,



Laura Robinson:
00:22:56
well, if I bought three of these, would you be able to do this?



Laura Robinson:
00:22:58
And it might not be as much of an issue in your profession, but maybe



Laura Robinson:
00:23:02
it is you're trying to create this.



Laura Robinson:
00:23:04
The first day offer is something that's so standalone.



Laura Robinson:
00:23:06
It's not comparable to the higher price things.



Laura Robinson:
00:23:08
It's not a, you couldn't buy 10 of them and make your big thing.



Laura Robinson:
00:23:11
Cause that's just not how it works.



Laura Robinson:
00:23:13
It's something that's, uh, you know, it's an individual



Laura Robinson:
00:23:15
discrete standalone offer that.



Laura Robinson:
00:23:17
They can't, you know, it's not a component of your bigger thing.



Laura Robinson:
00:23:20
You can't make it up by buying lots of those or having, I'll



Laura Robinson:
00:23:23
have one of those a month.



Laura Robinson:
00:23:24
And then I don't need to buy you a long term package.



Laura Robinson:
00:23:26
It just doesn't work like that.



Jon Clayton:
00:23:28
Okay.



Jon Clayton:
00:23:28
So rather than it, rather than it being framed like you're buying.



Jon Clayton:
00:23:32
30 minutes of my time.



Jon Clayton:
00:23:34
It's like you're getting this transformation.



Jon Clayton:
00:23:36
This is the thing you buy this thing.



Jon Clayton:
00:23:38
We solve this problem and at the end, once you've received it, your life



Jon Clayton:
00:23:43
is so many times better because we've fixed this thing is struggling with.



Jon Clayton:
00:23:47
It's not about the fact that it might only take you 30 minutes to actually do it.



Laura Robinson:
00:23:51
Exactly.



Laura Robinson:
00:23:52
And the example in, in the course that I've got about it, the example I use



Laura Robinson:
00:23:56
is, if you had a gardener come and knock on your door, like a gardener can



Laura Robinson:
00:23:59
see that the garden's a bit of a tip.



Laura Robinson:
00:24:01
You obviously need some help with that.



Laura Robinson:
00:24:02
They could knock on your door and say, you can hire me for



Laura Robinson:
00:24:05
this much money every week.



Laura Robinson:
00:24:07
That's quite a hard thing to say, yes, you're like, I don't know who you are



Laura Robinson:
00:24:09
and I don't know what you're going to do.



Laura Robinson:
00:24:10
And I don't really want to commit to that, or they could say, you



Laura Robinson:
00:24:13
can hire me for an hour and see what I can achieve in an hour.



Laura Robinson:
00:24:16
And you might say yes, but again, it doesn't really like give you this feeling



Laura Robinson:
00:24:20
of what it's going to be like to have someone for long term, or they could offer



Laura Robinson:
00:24:24
you a package that takes them an hour to deliver, but we don't need to know that.



Laura Robinson:
00:24:27
And they come in and they describe, this is what I would do to your



Laura Robinson:
00:24:30
garden to make it somewhere that would be really enjoyable for you.



Laura Robinson:
00:24:33
And this is what that would look like.



Laura Robinson:
00:24:35
And you pay for it because.



Laura Robinson:
00:24:36
You could go away and implement that plan yourself if you wanted, but for the



Laura Robinson:
00:24:39
most part, you're going to say, yeah, no, that's way too much work for me to do.



Laura Robinson:
00:24:42
So yes, if you'd like to come back every week for this amount of money and work



Laura Robinson:
00:24:46
towards this vision of my garden that you've created, that would be wonderful.



Jon Clayton:
00:24:50
Okay, that, that makes a lot of sense.



Jon Clayton:
00:24:51
Are there any, are there any pitfalls that you've come across or your



Jon Clayton:
00:24:55
other clients that have developed their own first night offers?



Jon Clayton:
00:24:58
Is there any, any pitfalls to avoid or any, any problems that you've



Jon Clayton:
00:25:02
found that people have had to kind of work around in creating these offers?



Laura Robinson:
00:25:08
Being too big in scope.



Laura Robinson:
00:25:09
It's 20 minutes, people are going to work with me for 20 minutes.



Laura Robinson:
00:25:11
We're going to tackle one project or one.



Laura Robinson:
00:25:13
Question one dilemma, one problem that's very narrow.



Laura Robinson:
00:25:18
As soon as I've worked with people who have then said, Oh, but you know, I



Laura Robinson:
00:25:21
don't mind it being an hour or like, I'm happy to offer my clients longer.



Laura Robinson:
00:25:25
And then they find that everyone leaves unhappy.



Laura Robinson:
00:25:28
Cause you sort of start pulling other threads and asking other questions



Laura Robinson:
00:25:32
and looking in other places, but you can't ever really make that



Laura Robinson:
00:25:35
much progress in those things and wrap it up in a way that feels.



Laura Robinson:
00:25:39
Comfortable and like, everybody's happy and you've, you know, tie a



Laura Robinson:
00:25:41
nice bow around it and that's done.



Laura Robinson:
00:25:43
So I think making it too broad in scope actually ends up with



Laura Robinson:
00:25:46
everyone feeling a bit dissatisfied.



Laura Robinson:
00:25:49
Um, not having, I mean, this is definitely a mistake I make.



Laura Robinson:
00:25:53
I do not have good enough follow up processes.



Laura Robinson:
00:25:55
So I, I love doing them, but I find them quite energetically draining.



Laura Robinson:
00:25:59
And so then when it's done.



Laura Robinson:
00:26:01
In my head, I'm like, I must follow up with this person and say, if we



Laura Robinson:
00:26:04
were to work together longer term, we would work on this, this and this.



Laura Robinson:
00:26:07
And here's how you do that.



Laura Robinson:
00:26:08
Or here's how you find out more about that.



Laura Robinson:
00:26:09
And that will sit on my to do list for about three days.



Laura Robinson:
00:26:12
And then I feel really embarrassed.



Laura Robinson:
00:26:13
Like, Oh, I have to go back to them now and say, do you remember



Laura Robinson:
00:26:16
that conversation we just had?



Laura Robinson:
00:26:18
So I'm getting better at doing it straight away afterwards, but, um,



Laura Robinson:
00:26:22
really I should leave more time in my diary to recover and then batch.



Laura Robinson:
00:26:26
The replies and get back to people.



Laura Robinson:
00:26:28
But yeah, that's my own personal bit that I fall down with.



Laura Robinson:
00:26:31
And also having them like it, you do need to have some restriction on



Laura Robinson:
00:26:36
the availability just because when something's available all the time



Laura Robinson:
00:26:39
and it's a low price, it's people just don't, they're like, Oh yeah,



Laura Robinson:
00:26:43
but maybe I'll buy it next week.



Laura Robinson:
00:26:44
Maybe I'll buy it next week.



Laura Robinson:
00:26:45
Like, unless they have some internal urgency for why they need to get it.



Laura Robinson:
00:26:49
They'll always defer the decision and, um, it doesn't mean that you.



Laura Robinson:
00:26:53
You know, I sell lots of my things like evergreen where you can buy it



Laura Robinson:
00:26:56
anytime, but for this 1 thing you want it to have to be such an easy.



Laura Robinson:
00:27:00
Yes.



Laura Robinson:
00:27:01
And have such momentum to it.



Laura Robinson:
00:27:03
Ideally, there is some degree of, um, limits to the availability



Laura Robinson:
00:27:07
or when, uh, the timing of it.



Jon Clayton:
00:27:10
Okay, so, so to try and find a way of creating some scarcity,



Jon Clayton:
00:27:13
uh, so that there's some urgency for the customers to, to book it in.



Laura Robinson:
00:27:17
And there will be, because you don't want to do



Laura Robinson:
00:27:19
endless numbers of these every week.



Laura Robinson:
00:27:21
So you're going to just invent your own scarcity.



Laura Robinson:
00:27:23
To



Jon Clayton:
00:27:26
That's been absolutely brilliant, Nora.



Jon Clayton:
00:27:28
Do you want to try and sum it up?



Jon Clayton:
00:27:31
What would you say are the three main things that you want



Jon Clayton:
00:27:34
people to take away from this conversation about first day offers?



Jon Clayton:
00:27:38
Do you want to try and sum things up for us?



Jon Clayton:
00:27:39
I love



Laura Robinson:
00:27:41
be honest, the one main thing is, think really creatively



Laura Robinson:
00:27:45
about how you make it easy for people to say yes to work with you.



Laura Robinson:
00:27:48
Because just, The, you'll have seen in your industry



Laura Robinson:
00:27:51
the same as in every industry.



Laura Robinson:
00:27:53
There's a default way that people do things and that's how we do it.



Laura Robinson:
00:27:56
And that's how we charge and that's how we structure offers



Laura Robinson:
00:27:58
and that's what everyone expects.



Laura Robinson:
00:27:59
And it like, there's literally no reason why it has to be that way.



Laura Robinson:
00:28:03
And if there's a way that works better for you, there will be a subset of clients



Laura Robinson:
00:28:07
that look at your way of doing it and go.



Laura Robinson:
00:28:09
Oh, that is, that's perfect.



Laura Robinson:
00:28:11
That's exactly what I want.



Laura Robinson:
00:28:12
I chose the, you know, the primary driver for me choosing my architect



Laura Robinson:
00:28:15
is that I didn't really have to have anything to do with it.



Laura Robinson:
00:28:17
She was lovely, but I didn't have to be around and fill the appointments and I



Laura Robinson:
00:28:21
could just leave her in the builder and they would sort it out between them.



Laura Robinson:
00:28:25
Other people don't want that.



Laura Robinson:
00:28:26
Other people want to be really hands on and know I'm your direct point of contact.



Laura Robinson:
00:28:30
And so you get to choose who are the people I most want to work with.



Laura Robinson:
00:28:33
Okay.



Laura Robinson:
00:28:33
Well, I will set up a first date offer that really appeals



Laura Robinson:
00:28:36
to that group of people.



Laura Robinson:
00:28:38
And then your business is going to be shaped to the other side of that, that



Laura Robinson:
00:28:41
you're only going to be working with people that you love to work with.



Laura Robinson:
00:28:44
So I see it as a really.



Laura Robinson:
00:28:46
A great opportunity to be very creative in the way that you package what



Laura Robinson:
00:28:49
you do and how you sort of target the people you want to work with.



Laura Robinson:
00:28:53
And it's very low risk because if you try it, so if we go back to our example of I



Laura Robinson:
00:28:57
love working with people who have graph paper and they draw their house and you



Laura Robinson:
00:29:00
create an offer that's based around that and you try it out and it doesn't work



Laura Robinson:
00:29:05
or you try it out and those people go on to be clients and you have a couple



Laura Robinson:
00:29:07
of nightmare projects and you think.



Laura Robinson:
00:29:09
I'm never doing that again.



Laura Robinson:
00:29:10
You just take away the first day offer or create another one.



Laura Robinson:
00:29:13
You haven't completely rebranded your business or made massive



Laura Robinson:
00:29:16
changes that you can't go back on.



Laura Robinson:
00:29:17
You've just run a little experiment that made a bit of



Laura Robinson:
00:29:20
money and learn something from it.



Jon Clayton:
00:29:23
that.



Jon Clayton:
00:29:23
It sounds like a fantastic way to, to differentiate yourself



Jon Clayton:
00:29:27
from the norm from particularly for architecture practice owners.



Jon Clayton:
00:29:32
And there are this, you know, quite a few kinds of common ways that



Jon Clayton:
00:29:36
conventions that people, the way that they work normally, there's a lot of



Jon Clayton:
00:29:40
similarities from practice to practice.



Jon Clayton:
00:29:41
So actually having something like this, creating a first date offer.



Jon Clayton:
00:29:45
Would be a really cool way for them to differentiate



Jon Clayton:
00:29:47
themselves in their marketplace.



Jon Clayton:
00:29:49
So, um, hugely valuable.



Jon Clayton:
00:29:51
So thanks so much for sharing about this, Laura.



Jon Clayton:
00:29:53
Was there anything else you wanted to add that we haven't covered?



Laura Robinson:
00:29:57
I think so.



Laura Robinson:
00:29:58
I think, I mean, just my mantra is it has to be comfortable



Laura Robinson:
00:30:01
and enjoyable for you to do it.



Laura Robinson:
00:30:02
So whatever your first date offer looks like, if it's fun for you to deliver



Laura Robinson:
00:30:05
it, that's a really good place to start.



Laura Robinson:
00:30:06
Don't do something, don't do it because we've said it's a good idea to do it.



Laura Robinson:
00:30:09
Like if you, if you listen to this and think, well, no, I don't, I don't want



Laura Robinson:
00:30:12
to have that blocking up my calendar.



Laura Robinson:
00:30:14
That sounds like a nightmare.



Laura Robinson:
00:30:15
Like it's not the thing that you, it's not the new in thing



Laura Robinson:
00:30:18
that you absolutely must do.



Laura Robinson:
00:30:19
It's just something to try out if it feels fun and comfortable for you to do it.



Jon Clayton:
00:30:24
Cool.



Jon Clayton:
00:30:25
Brilliant.



Jon Clayton:
00:30:25
There's one other question that I wanted to ask and it's nothing



Jon Clayton:
00:30:27
to do with First State Offers.



Jon Clayton:
00:30:29
I love travel and discovering new places and I just wanted to tell you to tell me



Jon Clayton:
00:30:35
one of your favorite places and what you love about it and it can be near or far.



Jon Clayton:
00:30:42
Got a feeling I might know what you're gonna say, but fire away



Laura Robinson:
00:30:45
Is it that, you know, I'm just going to say my local beach.



Laura Robinson:
00:30:49
Is that what you're expecting?



Laura Robinson:
00:30:52
So I



Jon Clayton:
00:30:53
if that's fine



Laura Robinson:
00:30:54
I live one mile from the coast, which is lovely.



Laura Robinson:
00:30:57
I can see the sea from the back of our house where our new extension is.



Laura Robinson:
00:31:01
And, um, I just, I love being there.



Laura Robinson:
00:31:03
I love.



Laura Robinson:
00:31:04
I love walking by the sea and the sound that the waves make, but I also love



Laura Robinson:
00:31:08
the fact that some days it's still and calm, like a pond and other days it's



Laura Robinson:
00:31:14
so fierce and cold and unappealing and you wouldn't ever imagine going in it.



Laura Robinson:
00:31:18
And it's just still the same sea.



Laura Robinson:
00:31:20
I feel like that that's such, um, for me, it feels like such a metaphor for life.



Laura Robinson:
00:31:24
Like I'm in the same place, but it's such a different experience



Laura Robinson:
00:31:27
each time you go down there.



Laura Robinson:
00:31:28
So, yeah, that's my favorite place.



Laura Robinson:
00:31:30
And it's a very lovely beach to come and visit as well.



Jon Clayton:
00:31:33
I'll have to visit one day.



Jon Clayton:
00:31:35
I Love the I love the coast.



Jon Clayton:
00:31:37
I used to live by the coast and we now live about a 45 minute drive



Jon Clayton:
00:31:41
away and I, I didn't appreciate how much I loved living by the coast



Jon Clayton:
00:31:46
until not living by the coast.



Jon Clayton:
00:31:48
And now whenever we go back, I just absolutely love it



Jon Clayton:
00:31:51
for all those same reasons.



Jon Clayton:
00:31:52
It's lovely.



Jon Clayton:
00:31:54
Plus it usually involves like fish and chips and ice cream as well.



Jon Clayton:
00:31:57
So that's obviously a bonus.



Jon Clayton:
00:31:59
Um, so Laura, thanks so much for coming on the show.



Jon Clayton:
00:32:02
Really appreciate you coming on and sharing your expertise.



Jon Clayton:
00:32:05
Where can people go online to find out more about you?



Laura Robinson:
00:32:08
So my website is worditude.



Laura Robinson:
00:32:10
co.



Laura Robinson:
00:32:11
uk, um, that's, and on Facebook, if you just put forward slash



Laura Robinson:
00:32:14
worditude, you'll find me.



Laura Robinson:
00:32:15
I couldn't use my real name because there are so many Laura Robinsons



Laura Robinson:
00:32:19
working online that I would never have been able to differentiate myself.



Laura Robinson:
00:32:22
So I made up a word and I used that instead.



Jon Clayton:
00:32:26
Okay.



Jon Clayton:
00:32:26
And you want to remind everyone how to sign up for your



Jon Clayton:
00:32:29
comfy business newsletter.



Laura Robinson:
00:32:32
So that's at worditude.



Laura Robinson:
00:32:33
co.



Laura Robinson:
00:32:33
uk forward slash newsletter.



Laura Robinson:
00:32:35
And I send two emails out, usually two emails out every week.



Laura Robinson:
00:32:39
Uh, one on a Tuesday is much more story based about my very



Laura Robinson:
00:32:44
comfortable business and life.



Laura Robinson:
00:32:45
And hopefully there's some things in there that you can



Laura Robinson:
00:32:47
learn or just enjoy reading it.



Laura Robinson:
00:32:48
And then on Thursdays, I send the Comfy Business Link Buffet, which is just a



Laura Robinson:
00:32:52
bunch of stuff that either I've created, or I found, or other people have created.



Laura Robinson:
00:32:57
Um, That might be useful or helpful when you're running your business.



Jon Clayton:
00:33:01
Oh, that's awesome.



Jon Clayton:
00:33:01
Thanks so much, Laura.



Laura Robinson:
00:33:03
You're welcome.



Laura Robinson:
00:33:04
Thank you.



Jon Clayton:
00:33:06
Next time, I'll be chatting with architects and architectural



Jon Clayton:
00:33:10
technologist and Vanna about her experience of returning to practice.



Jon Clayton:
00:33:16
Thanks so much for listening to this episode of Architecture Business Club.



Jon Clayton:
00:33:20
If you liked this episode, think other people might enjoy it.



Jon Clayton:
00:33:24
Or just want to show your support, then please visit podchaser.com.



Jon Clayton:
00:33:28
Search for Architecture Business Club and leave a glowing five-star review.



Jon Clayton:
00:33:33
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Jon Clayton:
00:33:36
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Jon Clayton:
00:33:37
If you just want to connect with me, you can do that on most social media



Jon Clayton:
00:33:40
platforms, just search for @mrjonclayton.



Jon Clayton:
00:33:43
The best place to connect with me online though is on LinkedIn.



Jon Clayton:
00:33:46
You can find a link to my profile in the show notes.



Jon Clayton:
00:33:49
Remember running your architecture business doesn't have to be hard.



Jon Clayton:
00:33:53
And you don't need to do it alone.



Jon Clayton:
00:33:54
This is Architecture Business Club.