Step 1 – FOCUS

Once upon a time there was an architect who needed a new place to live. One day he headed off for a walk through the forest and because he was feeling adventurous he took a path that he'd never been down before. The further he walked, the more he lost track of time, until he came across a village he'd never seen before. As he walked towards the sentiment, he met the mayor of the village. "Hello, what are you doing here?" "I need to find a new home, so I headed out for a walk and lost track of time," replied the architect. "Well, since you're here you might as well visit Archville. Funny thing is, our whole village is made up of architects just like you." The mayor continued, "The village of Archville is like any other village with good and bad [inaudible 00:00:50].

The town is divided up into four quarters." "There is," said the mayor "The old quarter, there's the new quarter, there's the artists' quarter, and then," he said with a smile on his face "There's sunshine island." "One of the quarters is a dior place to live," the man continued. "Two of the quarters have their pros and cons, the final quarter sunshine island, is a place where the sun always shines and people are always happy." The mayor offered to take the architect around the village to see if he could find a place where he would enjoy living.

"The old quarter has the highest rate of divorce, thief and depression in the entire village the main street is called the boulevard of broken dreams and almost every light on the street is broken." "The people look so sad," said the architect. "Well," said the mayor "There are two very good reasons for that, architects who live here have two crosses to bear one they do not make a lot of money and two they can't win fulfilling projects." "That's terrible," said the architect. "It is," said the mayor. "And if that's not bad enough these architects take on any project, no matter how small or soul destroying. Their clients are typically the worst in the land who will take advantage of the desperate situation. These low end clients consistently complain about fees and expect free site visits and sketches." "I don't think this is the place to be for me," said the architect squeaming slightly. "Nope probably not, you might find the next two quarters better," said the mayor.

The new quarter. The new quarter in the village of Archville is a lot cleaner. Along the streets there are newer cars and buildings. Even the street lamps are well maintained. Yet the architect, walking around the new quarter seemed a little depressed. The mayor leaned over and to the architect and whispered, "Architects who live here have only one cross to bear, while they too make good money, they seldom get to work on fulfilling projects." "What do you mean," said the architect. "while there are plenty of projects, the type of available of work sucks the life force out of these architects. Some feel they are only working for the money. They get addicted to the money but never feel fulfilled, financially stable yes but emotionally bankrupt can face the men." "Oh my goodness, is there anywhere else for me to see?" asked the architect.

The artists' quarter. The mayor pointed to a bridge and gestured for the architect to walk across. The crossed the bridge to the artists' quarter. The mayor pointed to a bridge and gestured for the architect to walk across. They crossed the bridge into the artists' quarter. The artists' quarter was a cool part of town with a great design and color. The place had a really funky feel to it. The buildings were not maintained and the cars were old and rusty. The mayor said, "Architects who live here, like those in the new quarters ,also have one cross to bear. They do fulfilling projects that they love, but they never seem to earn the money they want. Kind of the opposite to the new quarter." "Fulfill but poor," said the architect. "You've got it," said the mayor, "The architects who live here love the work they do but they get [inaudible 00:04:21] constantly underpaid and undervalued for the great work." "Better than the new quarters," said the architect, who was idealistic.

"Well," said the mayor with a big smile, "As they say all that glitters is not gold." The mayor explained that the aspiring artists [inaudible 00:04:40] making money from their expertise and creativity. There families suffer and ultimately the artists resent being undervalued and under-rewarded. "To be honest I'm not sure Archville is the place for me," said the architect in a depressed tone. "Hang on," said the mayor with a wink, "We have one final quarter to see, sunshine island."

Both men cross another bridge and immediately came into sunshine island. The sun came out, the architect noticed how happy and healthy everyone looked. The building designs were as cool as those in the artists' quarter, but in much better condition. The lights in the streets worked, everyone drove beautiful cars and wore fine clothes. "I like sunshine island," said the architect, "How do I get to live here?" The mayor paused, Now the architect [inaudible 00:05:32] that getting a passport for sunshine island was not going to be easy. "These people are different, they don't think like other architects," said the mayor. The architect was curious, he leaned forward, as if to demand the answer. "You have to work two jobs," said the mayor. "This is something that none of the architects in the other quarters ever get their heads around, it's the secret to sunshine island." The mayor explained, "Their first job is as a marketer of architectural services and the second job is as an architect." He spoke sternly as if there was only one thing he had said so far about it.

The architect looked shocked. "That's right," said the mayor, "To live here you need to sell and market your services like every other business owner in the world, architects are no different. You'll need to study sales and marketing as hard as you study architecture. "But I was told that if I did great work that would be enough," cried the architect. "That was a lie, but not one that sunshine island residents believe" explained the mayor. "why do so many people believe the lie?" asked the architect. "Well, according to legend, a long time ago a highly respected teacher of architecture told his students that if they did great work they would never need to sell their services. The students who most feared the idea of selling became teachers and continued the lie, architect is a business," the mayor continued, "And every business owner needs to master the art of marketing." He explained it this way, "Effective marketing means having more opportunities than you can deliver which means you can choose projects that you love at a fee that reflects your feeled value."

"The original teacher that lied has caused the entire problem?" asked the architect. "No, the real lies that hurt architects are the other lies they tell themselves. The architects in the old quarters are slaves to their clients because they believe their own lie, that there are no clients who will pay more. The architects in the new quarter sell themselves for money because they believe their own lie that the only way to earn decent income is to churn out buildings like the sausage factory. The architects in the artists' quarter believe their own lie, that being true to their artists integrity requires sacrificing fees. The truth is that all of these architects can do work that they love and that will earn them a great income like the residents of sunshine island, but they need to master the art of marketing. There you go, there's the four quarters, so which one do you want to be in? The artists' quarter, old quarter, new quarter, or sunshine island. You're on the sunshine island express, so we've got the tools and techniques to take you to sunshine island, but it's going to require more than just following the instructions. It's going to require a new way of thinking, you're going to have to think like a marketer first and an architect second. You'll have two jobs now."