“Should I be doing so much free work as an architect?”
As architects, you may find yourself freely giving away your time, consultations, and knowledge just to land any project. But do you know how to leverage your expertise and position yourself to win the projects that you want?
That’s exactly what Dawn Christine, principal of Dawn Christine, Architect PLLC in Cary, North Carolina felt like before joining the program and attending the Architect Marketing Institute (AMI) Mastermind conference. She had no idea how to communicate her value.
Business growth due to a change of perspective
Ready for radical change to her business, she received clear direction at the Mastermind conference. The beautiful New Zealand landscape helped get her out of her comfort zone, affecting her perspective 100%. The different scenery also inspired in her (and the others at the conference) a renewed inspiration.
Another thing Dawn learned was to slow down and ask more questions. As architects, you are taught to solve problems, but you can step back and see if your intuition is aligning. Gathering more information is crucial to the success of your dream projects.
No doubt, the AMI Mastermind members have fantastic skills, presentations, products, and messaging. The ability to share motivates each of them to recognize areas for growth and ways to improve. As Dawn always says, “You’re never done improving—you’ve got to keep going. That’s my goal, to keep going.”
Practical advice leading to success, clarity on “Should I be doing so much free work as an architect?”
The biggest benefit from AMI was Dawn’s total shift in mindset. Co-Founder, Richard Petrie, talks about how mindset affects where you’re going. Your attitude affects your altitude. If you can shift your mindset, you can raise your altitude.
Dawn implemented some very practical advice that was given to her. By putting her spin on it and using it in a way that fits her business and her way of thinking, she has become incredibly successful. She’s not at the pinnacle but is growing, and to her, that is success.
Thanks to implementing AMI’s core client-relationship-building strategy, her firm tends to receive a lot of repeat clients. A client hires her for one project, and they keep hiring her firm for the next one and the next one. She’s been building her staff to the extent that she has to expand her office space to hire more people.
Dawn reflects on first moving into the office space, which was the size of her dining room. The renter gave her the space based on what she could afford. She never thought she would outgrow it, but now her firm has exponentially increased. “Should I be doing so much free work as an architect?” is not even a question amongst our Mastermind members.
Dreaming big in New Zealand
Coming to the 2024 Mastermind conference in New Zealand symbolized, for her, a leap into the unknown. She’s learning something new about herself, what interests her, and what direction she wants to go.
Amid the compelling landscape—the majesty of the mountains, the water, the colors, the textures, Dawn was overwhelmed by the beauty. She’s already planning paths to return to New Zealand, which could be by networking with local architects and building a practice on both continents (the US and NZ).
Dawn has put the wheels in motion for her big dreams by making contacts. With a license in South Florida, she would like some larger waterfront projects. She connected with an architect in Pennsylvania to help her build a tangential relationship that can springboard her into those larger-scale projects. Though Dawn doesn’t know what the future holds, there are a lot of options on the table.
Gleaning the benefits of AMI
As many of our members attest, the AMI community is different than any other assemblage of architects in the world. Dawn is thankful for the group's willingness to share ideas and thoughts in an industry where everyone is protective. She says, “We all come together with a great synergy of personalities and energy. It’s fantastic.”
If you're asking yourself, “Should I be doing so much free work as an architect?”… Watch Dawn’s short success story on how she went from a struggling solo architect to a thriving business owner. Like this clip and subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive up-to-date notifications on advice for architects looking to win better projects.