Join free

Compounding: How Architects Can Diversify Their Reach

November 19, 2023

Tyler Suomala

Founder of Growthitect

A few months ago, I was speaking to a friend from grad school.

After some time away, she had decided to jump back into architecture and pursue her career more intentionally.

But what happened as she began to step back into architecture is a lesson in building an audience and achieving compounding returns for your business.

Here’s why:

She followed normal and predictable steps to test the waters of architecture.

She jumped on LinkedIn and started building a profile.
She explored architecture content across Instagram to see new trends.
She found a few different industry podcasts for listening and learning.

These are all things that people do when they make a decision. They prepare, research, analyze, and expose themselves to more content.

But when we jumped on a call together, she told me, “I wasn’t even trying, but you just kept showing up.”

“What do you mean?” I said.

Then she told me, “Well, after I started my LinkedIn account, the algorithm recommended that I follow you. And then, I joined Henry Gao’s newsletter (iPad for Architects), and he recommended that I join your newsletter. And then, I listened to an EntreArchitect podcast, and you were the guest!”

What’s the commonality between all of these?

I didn’t request to connect. I didn’t send her my newsletter. I didn’t message her the podcast.

I didn’t actively do anything. But she found me. And she kept finding me.

When you build an audience of like-minded people, you (quite literally) become un-ignorable.

Building an audience is a long-term play of compounding actions. Here’s what I mean:

I was a recommended follow because LinkedIn’s algorithm likes me. Why? Because I’ve spent the last 2 years consistently posting valuable content on LinkedIn, which keeps people engaged on their platform.

I was recommended by Henry Gao because, as a result of our shared interest in helping architects, we connected earlier this year. Henry is amazing. He’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. And we both agreed to swap newsletter recommendations since we both focus on helping architects.

I was on the EntreArchitect podcast as a result of the content that I’ve shared on LinkedIn and this newsletter. Mark R. LePage, the founder of EntreArchitect, is an incredible human who I’ve been fortunate enough to meet and collaborate with on multiple occasions. And I loved our conversation on his podcast.

These are all compounding actions:

Posting valuable content builds an audience and gets attention.
The attention leads to new relationships and mutually beneficial networking opportunities.
The networking opportunities lead to access to new audiences.

And so on and so forth…the engine keeps going.

So why should you build an audience? Because your ideal clients follow the same process as my friend. It’s universal.

For example, a business owner decides they want to renovate their office space. What will they do?

They might jump on LinkedIn and look for architect connections. Then explore Instagram for office inspiration. Then Google “office design podcasts” to see what comes up.

And if you focus on sharing valuable content with your ideal clients, then you will also be un-ignorable.

You will appear on LinkedIn.

You will show up in #officedesign on Instagram.

You will be the podcast guest that shows up in the Google search.

Which architect do you think the client will choose? You!

(Mind you that the cost to acquire that client, on paper at least, is ZERO.)

Focus on activities that compound your reach: