Introduction
Mark R. LePage, founder and CEO of EntreArchitect and Gābl Media Group, returns to The Power of Design Podcast five years after his first interview, which was recorded online during lockdown. This time he sits down with Jack Ossa in person in Charlotte, where Mark has lived since 2019, to talk about the business education architects rarely receive and the community he has built around it.
Both hosts also compare what they have learned from interviewing hundreds of guests.
About the Episode
Mark and his wife started an architecture firm outside New York City in 1999, doing residential additions and alterations. In the mid-2000s he began blogging to attract clients, then started a second blog to document what he was learning about business. Other architects found it, commented on it and formed a community. Mark launched EntreArchitect on December 12, 2012 as a resource for small-firm architects, together with its podcast, which is now past 630 episodes.
He explains how the community grew during the pandemic, when architects wanted to connect, and how he eventually stopped practicing to focus on EntreArchitect and on Gābl Media, a podcast and video production company for architects and engineers. He describes the network today: a free Facebook group approaching 9,000 members, monthly webinars with continuing education credits, and some 30 mastermind groups. He announces a new Entre Architect Academy, a business school for architects.
Jack asks why architects struggle with the business side, how to tell the profession's story, and what podcasting does for a career. Mark also describes how he hired his director of operations through a long application letter that tested attention to detail, and Jack closes by sharing his own dream of building a business that runs with limited time from him.
Key Takeaways
- Business is a gap in architecture education: schools teach design, then graduates launch firms without business fundamentals, and the fundamentals can be learned without an MBA.
- Financial health helps design: architects who are not worried about money can give more time and energy to great architecture.
- Community grows from sharing: a personal blog became a network because readers commented and kept returning.
- Masterminds work because they are private: small groups meet weekly and each member commits to helping the others.
- Tell your story: architects complain that people do not understand what they do, and Mark says each firm should share its story consistently through blogs, social media, video or podcasts.
- Podcasting builds familiarity: your voice goes directly into the listener's ears, and weekly consistency builds a dedicated audience.
- Test for attention to detail: asking applicants to complete tasks inside a long job description reveals who follows instructions.
Highlights from the Conversation
Financially successful architects are better architects.
Mark R. LePage
Architects become architects to change the world.
Mark R. LePage
I'm giving people something that is very scarce today which is attention.
Jack Ossa
Topics Discussed
- Blogging as a way to attract clients and build community
- The origin and launch of EntreArchitect
- Moving from practice to running media and community businesses
- Why architecture schools do not teach business
- Mastermind groups and professional webinars
- Helping architects tell their own stories
- Podcasting, consistency and building a network
- The new Entre Architect Academy
Why This Conversation Matters
This episode speaks to architects and designers who want to run a stronger practice, and to clients who want to understand how a firm works. Mark's point that firms should tell their own stories matches how we approach branding for design and engineering companies, as in MSW Engineers and the podcast identity for Gohjo Podcast Production. It also reflects how we practice architecture at Ossa Studio: a design is more valuable when the client understands the thinking behind it.
About the Guest
Mark R. LePage is a licensed architect and the founder and CEO of EntreArchitect, Gābl Media Group and Gābl Technologies. He and his wife started their architecture firm in 1999 near New York City, and he moved to Charlotte in 2019. He launched EntreArchitect in 2012 and hosts its podcast, and he leads a community of small-firm architects around the world.
Connect with Mark R. LePage on LinkedIn | Visit EntreArchitect | Visit Gābl Media Group
