¶ Episode Intro
I think it would be a bit more of a letter of intent and requesting, a down payment as well to get things moving.
That is Alexander Buckeridge, an architect based in NYC that just started his own architecture firm, and he has a few potential projects in his pipeline, including one that he's meeting with in just a few hours.
then get on a call today, which is this afternoon with the further stakeholders
but it turns out there's a lot of stakeholders coming to the meeting.
I've never actually worked with the entire family the brother sister the mother everyone's on the call.
a game plan to help close the deal.
How do you want this meeting to go exactly? Cause I'm happy pull out the bells and whistles and all that.
So listen in as I advise him on how to approach the conversation. you and I haven't had a chance to catch up in probably
¶ LinkedIn Strategies
a few weeks. I guess now, partly my fault because I could not get my, I could not get my setup figured out. tell me what's the update on the developer project and on the distillery project that we talked about a couple of weeks ago.
Yeah, so, both I'm in touch with, and one, essentially meetings in August, are planned out. One will be back in Ireland and it'll be more of an informal touch base. And then the other one I'm waiting to get that on the calendar. But ideally, again, another kind of like launch or something, and just to check in to see where we're at with, the scope and the potential of it coming online in the fall, which was what they said.
yeah, a bit of keeping an eye on it and keep, making sure I follow up and finding that right rhythm. Yeah. not like following up weekly per se and knocking on the door consistently, but what fields, And I think everyone has to gauge that, isn't that right? It's I'm using different channels, As well. And actually just another thing I'm just thinking about as well as obviously by posting on LinkedIn and Instagram and whatnot about what you're doing, that's essentially
¶ Setting Up Your LinkedIn Business Page
how I would see is you're keeping yourself active. People are still looking at that. They're, Seeing what you're doing, therefore, you're keeping on their radar, which is ultimately the big thing here.
Yeah. You the appearance of working and of being busy and of having clients, I think is good. And important right now, especially like I saw, I think it was just yesterday on Instagram. I think I loved your post, right? It was, or it was your story. It was your story on Instagram. It was
yeah. I had that on the back of my head to do for a while.
Yeah. Which is great. I thought that was brilliant. But, two questions, the distillery project, Which is happening. You said you're meeting with those guys in August. Have you been able to do disco yet? Like, have you been able to? Have that
No, it's been
like what the scope is and
quite challenging to, to nail them down for that formality, which that's the hard part I'm finding with the nitty gritties. And, maybe that's a bit of an indication in some ways, like that they're happy to informally catch up, whether it's via lunch
¶ Maximizing Personal Profile Engagement
or, a drink or a coffee. Yeah. But getting into the nitty gritty seems a little bit more challenging,
Do you know when that project will begin roughly or not do they have a timeline Okay, Yeah, it might be hey before we meet in August. Do you guys have any more? Information that you think I should know about the project because I can come with some ideas for you Right? and you could be like, for example, do you know when you're planning to start, what kind of work you're looking for, things like that, or how you're planning to scope out the project, just something like that so that you
Yeah,
say, Hey, I can come just with some ideas. I know we're still, I know we're just meeting, but I'd love to show you some ideas that I have, I think just a soft question like that. And then on the developer project. Which sounds like you said you haven't nailed down a time
¶ Leveraging Creator Mode
yet. But you have your friend there, right? Do you have her number?
have like, you know, the usual LinkedIn, uh, email. Um, I'm not sure I have her number. I can check. I haven't texted her or anything yet. I haven't used that.
I think you do have something you can use to help move this along. And it's important because, you do want to feel things out. But I think generally, if you rely too much on feel, things are going to go too slow.
like you want to feel pressured on your side Like You want to get a little bit uncomfortable with how much you're reaching out to someone And how much you're guiding that, guiding that timeline forward, because you said something that I think is really important, which is that you said, they said that they want to get started in the fall or that they have a fall timeline or that's when they would want to do this.
And so you have that actually to fall back on and you have the knowledge for how long these things take. So you can go back to her and say. I was just thinking, I know that you mentioned this is something that you want to do in the fall. If that's the case, these few things need to happen. So I'd love to, have a conversation with so and so soon so that we can make sure it feels right, like we can get the project completed and started and completed when you want to.
so it's just reminding you of how long these things take. it's not just going to be like a, you can't really push it off if you want to get these things done, so I think leaning on that would be good, but that's it. that's exciting. just keep nurturing and ideally, in an ideal scenario, I think you and I have talked offline about this, but like you said, you can probably take on Depending
¶ Building in Public and Content Strategy
on the size of the projects, you're thinking like you want maybe three to five,
Yeah, I think that's right. I think in general,
and if that's the case, I think you probably want about double that in your pipeline, right? So right now it sounds like you have maybe about three, like opportunities in your pipeline something along those lines that you're nurturing. And I'd say a goal, a healthy goal is probably to get to around 10, just that you're continuing to nurture and that might fall at any point. And you can then you're just in a much more comfortable position,
yeah.
but exciting things have happened, right? Since you, you launched, you, you did like a formal launch of your brand, a formal launch of your website, a formal launch of your firm and the studio. And you, And you have an opportunity that came in. So I'd love to hear about how that opportunity came in and where it's at.
Yeah. reached out to I think let's say 70 to 90 roughly people the whole warm up email situation was complicated. So that had to be 25 per day It's a good thing for people to know when they're setting up their business and using their email It's seems to have all worked. Anyway, I didn't get flagged by google or anything. So that's great You yeah, sent out, each day last week, actually, I guess it was, or the pre, no, the one
Two weeks ago. Yeah.
Two weeks ago. sent out each day, 25, and some of them are still coming in, obviously, so I'm still getting responses on some of them, but yeah, I got about, I don't know, 10 to 15, somewhere in between that around responses back, one couple of just meetups probably, and then one particularly where it was like, Yeah, we need some help. again, can we, could we have conversation? So I got LinkedIn to chat to someone in the business. it's a small kind of like a retail, new brand.
And that's moved very fast, and that's, I find true, previous experiences.
So when it moves that fast, there's obviously intent, like There's no messing around and yeah, so last Friday I jumped on the call and so we're Friday today and We just established I just listened, let's say a bit of a discovery call I can only get so much some of this was under NDA So that's an interesting one to navigate actually I couldn't get nitty gritties around certain aspects of it yet Now I have signed one since and today apparently the book's being opened.
So that's also interesting but, yeah, so we'd one discovery call, second call with, another person in the business, which was, one of the, with one of the founders, and I took them through my deck and took them through projects I've worked on previously, took them through stuff I'm interested in pursuing and my vision,
what type of project is this again? Sorry.
It's retail. And so then they had requested, some ideas around a proposal and some experience. So I did all that. And that seemed to on that call went down. Well, I use some of the advice that you'd given around how to, structure the proposal from our previous conversation that I did for the Parisian apartment. And that was really helpful because I gave options, I gave different options. Ways of engagement that would allow for more flexibility and less, pressure, all
them to choose how to work with you. Essentially.
Yeah. And I, And I, think that was really helpful. And I actually went back and I re listened to the whole episode, and I think that's important, like anything you got to go back and, you've got to re go through your notes and bring them back up. And so I did that. I ended up presenting three options, consultation, straight up, hourly and I tiered it by three different tiers.
If it was gonna be a shorter span of time, it was at a higher price, and again, and it worked its way down the more they brought me into it. and then the second option was a bit more in between full services and consultation. It was like a part, it was like a partial services, I would say. It was more like, do the design and get out I can't be in all of it, if you're not willing, if you're not willing to fork that out.
and I just put that as a monthly retainer for the initial one to three months. And then there was the full services that had a bit more traditional about it. It had the option of a percentage of it, or I would say a retainer based on the percentage that we agree on what we agree on a fee for the entire thing. so overall they were very happy with it.
they didn't want, and they said, send it through, and it was straight away after the call because then they wanted to send that to other stakeholders and then get on a call today, which is this afternoon with the further stakeholders Which turns out to be an entire family. So going to be an interesting dynamic. I've never actually worked with the entire family the brother sister the mother everyone's on the call. That's that's interesting. and so feeling good about it, feeling positive.
I feel like it's aligned with exactly the kind of thing I should be jumping straight into because my expertise from previously is totally and utterly, I can see myself doing something here with them. So a few things to know, there's already a GC, so there'll be no bidding, there's someone, there's a, there's an opening date for November, which, is six months away, in one way it's great, because I could have a build project by the end of the year.
In another way, that's, we that there's a separate conversations to have about how well the management, just in general of my time, and stuff. I have ideas around that, which we can talk, but, budget stuff still is TBD. And they said, again, with sending a being signed, there's a lot more going to be opened up today about the conversation and. I actually requested this morning. I signed the NDA.
I sent it over and I asked for an agenda for this meeting to be more specific around what, because it could go very different ways. It could be like, are we going into negotiation? are we doing a big sales pitch? I requested one guy to particularly, you know, How do you want this meeting to go exactly? Cause I'm happy pull out the bells and whistles and all that. But, so anyway, that's super positive. And I mean, it's only been two weeks, right? Since I launched.
So I'm here again in the driving seat, going through the process. Now I have a full deck built out last time. I had only a letter now I've got a deck. So I don't see a lot of time went into that to get it right. Dialed in. I'm feeling confident, I would say, in what I can do here and what I've done. we're all going to make mistakes as we go, but I, what I have right now feels like I'm solid foundations going into it, you know?
Yeah. Yeah. Do you think the deck that you created, do you think that's like repeatable or that's like a system that you can use for future
Oh, yeah, Oh, no, 100%. I would always see these things as things you evolve, but it's, the deck is evolving throughout the
Oh yeah, absolutely.
solid, it's,
But it takes that push. Like you need the push that, before we started recording, you were telling me that you feel like you've been spending all of your time. Which is generally how these things work. you're getting started out and it's like, I've got a hot lead. I've got a hot lead. I'm just
yeah, you've got to
all of my, yeah, you gotta jump on it. And especially when you don't have another active project, I think that all makes sense. But just to reiterate, cause this is perfect. I think it's so picture perfect. this whole opportunity and this whole situation. Because it literally came out, I think Any architect can do this and any architect has this, like this exact situation sitting in their network somewhere, because you launched and you did all of the right things.
You were public about the launch. you're still sending out, launch emails and launch announcements across social and these different things, but you specifically decided to target your close network of colleagues or people that you've. Worked with or maybe worked with or
Touched around
yeah, switched around and you were like, I've got, about a hundred of these people, 70, 70 to 90, I think is what you said. And you just sent out a really short, warm email. It was like three sentences, hey, I've launched. This is what I'm focusing on. You happen to know anyone that might be interested. 10 or 15 responses, which is great. that's a really high reply rate. I don't think people don't generally realize,
¶ A Word From Our Sponsor
you think, oh, I sent out 100 emails, I hope I get 100 responses. realistically, if you get a 5 percent reply rate on that's amazing. even for warm emails. So it sounds like you got closer to it was between 10 and 20%. So that's amazing. so that means these were great relationships that you've already been nurturing. And then of course, you get potential project that pops out of this and you're already, it's like already flying down the highway.
Like you are, you've met with them a couple of times. You've done discovery, you've signed an NDA and now here it is this afternoon. You're meeting with the family and you don't know exactly where you're going to, but you've got you've got a great
mean, I'm at this point, right?
yeah, this is, exactly how you like, it's perfect. It's perfect. This is exactly what should be happening. So I'm really excited for you. I think this is just a testament to, you know, well planned execution, putting yourself out there, doing the uncomfortable things, taking a little bit of extra effort to learn how to warm up an email address, how to send a warm email, how to, nurture these relationships. And so I think, it makes a big difference. So that's just exciting.
I just wanted to say awesome job. that's, that's really great.
¶ How To Launch A New Brand
Cool, so let's talk about, what do you know so far about this project?
what I know about the project is someone was brought in. I know there's a layout done. I know there was some kind of interior experience, let's say atmosphere created that they were unhappy with and didn't feel like was aligned with the brand. And it just didn't seem to work. I know, he mentioned it's at SD level, which, that's quite pushed along, so, for me, again, it's good that there's a bit of legwork done here so I can deconstruct it or completely, start with a blank canvas a little bit.
That's going to be part of figuring this out together. I think once we can all agree. This makes sense for us to collaborate on it. I think it'll be a process of dissecting the project a little bit to understand and also the different voices. From what I'm understanding, I can already see lot of chefs in the kitchen. that's what I'm hearing from them. And I think the other part of having the GC on board is helpful. I think, that process can take a lot of time if they have someone they trust.
it's my job to, to build that relationship with him. with short deadlines, you've got to have such a close relationship. it's like you're sending over information when required to them. You're getting things moving where you can. that part, I know, I think the budget is a big question mark, which I need to know because, you know, I'm going into this meeting, not about me finding what my price will be. It's me finding out what am I designing towards?
am I designing towards something that's going to be a couple of interesting millwork pieces, or am I doing, an entire environment? so I need to have that conversation to figure out. what is the level of scope here, And again, that will then adjust to my involvement. It sounds like they'll want to bring me on probably more or less. we'll see on the call of course, but to follow it through, because I took them through everything, right?
I said, look, I can give you a concept deck, but someone's gonna have to bring the contractor through that process, right? And then you're gonna have to deal with stuff that's coming up in field. And that is a lot of work. any of us architects that gone through that, it's one thing, packaging it and making it the feel good, but then to execute it, and under a short period of time. So I know all that stuff essentially.
I think a lot more will come out of the call today because they seem very locked up about like sharing so much. They haven't shared the layout or the design. I think they didn't feel comfortable unless I did sign this NDA. I think this meeting is pretty critical, obviously, if we've got everyone on at this point, and I think, more information coming out, look, there's stuff already said that the dad's going to be in L. A., blah, blah, blah, in in two weeks, and also, what's my availability?
Can I work on it straight away? So there is, there's all that stuff floating around, but, with anything, whether it's employment, whether it's jobs, nothing is given until there's a contract signed.
amen to that. yeah, you can't. Yeah, it's not there until you have that signed. and maybe even until you get that first, retainer payment really. so there's a few things to talk about here. one, the way that you just explained that to me is so perfect I think it's important to kind of speak almost in the same way when you're talking to the family today, because.
What I was going to ask you, and it sounds like the answer is definitely yes, but in your previous experience, have you, picked up work like this before that's it's been, it was covered by someone else and then they weren't happy with it. So you guys
it is quite common in the industry. Yeah, it is. Yeah,
So I think it's important to say that, to say, I have experience in this, this is relatively common, I've done this so many times, and here's how this generally works, you all were unhappy with that, you have a deadline that you want to hit, there's these different things that need to happen, I have experience with hitting these deadlines. Making this happen.
And I think, the best option for you based on everything that you've told me, is probably this option because it, allows these things to happen. And, specifically, it's great that you guys already have a GC in place. and that makes it a lot easier for me as well, be assumptive with the way that you're talking. Don't say, just say this is the things that should happen, with working with the GC I know this is going to have to be a close relationship.
He and I are going to be, Discussing the project probably on a daily basis
Yeah. Yeah. It
that these things happen if you want to hit this November deadline Like these are the things that need to happen. And that would be my goal
I did try a timeline as well, actually, just to note that. So I did put in project stages and basically what we need to happen. So already I've outlined, it's tight. It's tight.
yeah. It's tight. So I think that's important. like leaning on that just in case, it sounds like it's hard to tell from what you're telling me, I would say that they're probably not talking to anyone else,
I don't think so. Actually. I did feel like I should have pressed on that, but I'm not getting that sense just because it's been so many over the week and they just, they trust what I've done before.
Yeah. So I don't think it would be disingenuous. As you reverse engineer it, especially given the timing, November is actually, it's not six months, like that's four months away, ish. it's not too, it's not too far away, or five months, whatever. That's not too far. so to like reverse engineer that timeline, that's listen, we got to start like next week. if you
no, a hundred
it's this is no joke. you gotta get going now if you want to hit this deadline. and so I think, timing it that way and saying, I'm ready to start then. that's like you, you're teeing yourself up and it sounds like you don't have to do that much teeing up because it is actually the situation that they're in.
Yeah, it is.
I think that's important. now the other thing, two other things, right? One is, I would try to remove budget from your vocabulary a bit in this conversation. I think more about investment, right? I think what you want to understand first, before you want to, I know that you want to understand, Hey, what's their budget for your work? But I think first you want to understand globally, what's the investment that they're planning to make into this store, into this retail
That's Right. Yeah,
because then you can figure out where you want to fit in. that's an opportunity for you to shine your knowledge, right? So, Oh, cool. So if you're planning to invest, whatever, 2 million into this retail project, that generally means this amount of money can be set aside for this interior experience that you want to do. And if you do that, this is what you can expect. these are the outcomes that you can expect.
However, if you're concerned about that, and you're only thinking about something smaller, probably talking about a couple of millwork pieces here, and this
Yeah.
And so that's like an opportunity for you to shine and just educate them and walk them through what that, what those outcomes are, I think. So that's really good. Sounds like the most dangerous thing though. I actually don't think that the budget is that their budget, their investment, what they're planning put is. Is the biggest challenge for you, based on what you've said, because they're already doing it.
Like they have, if they have a deadline in place, if they saying they want to go in November, if they already had someone that they were hired, like there's, listen, they have an investment set aside for it. And there's an opportunity, like there's work for you to do. There's work to be won. And there's, there's scope for you to take in that. So that's almost less concerning, right? Because the project has already started.
I think what's most concerning now is the amount of stakeholders that are That you have, in it and specifically the fact that it's all one family.
Absolutely. I think that's gonna be the biggest challenge of this project, honestly,
those are, family dynamics. And that's, that's, it's like doing a residential project, right? that's. difficult. So I think, part of this is you comforting them in this conversation, making it clear that you understand the situa empathizing with them, right? Making it clear that you understand the situation that they're in and the pressure that they're feeling. I think that's really important. But I think the other important thing is that as you're talking, you have a lot of pauses.
And you have a lot of questions back that say something like, how do you all feel about that? It does that align with your experience? and you wait to see like how, who's responding, how they're
Yeah. Yeah.
I think it's important to understand who's got the loudest voice in the room, so to say, right. And even maybe even at the beginning of that call, probably will be really important to be like, Hey, I'm Alexander Buckridge. I'm really excited to meet with all of you. I know I've been talking with so and so for a while. I'd love to just learn about who's in the room really quick and what your role is in the process.
I think that'll be important for you to have, especially if you're, even if you're recording the call or just make a note, like you just want to know, what's their role in the business? Are they just, are they just an influencer, so to say, in the sense that they're just the decision and they're just part of the family? Or are they, do they actually have like formal roles in the project itself.
And so I think you understanding that you have to be, you are quick on your feet, so you'd be able to adjust to that, but you want to know that kind of upfront, a super helpful question, cause everyone's already going to be in the room and, it might just be maybe towards the middle of the conversation whenever it feels right. But like, or, if it gets into the negotiation phase, like help, help me understand how you all are going to make a decision.
On this project, Or help me understand how you make decisions. cause then someone's going to walk through the process and be like, we'll meet as a family and then so and and then we'll meet with you and we'll let you know what our decision is. you'll get some kind of sense of what that decision making process is. And you want to understand that too, because you might find out who the main stakeholders are, who the champions are, and that's something else to listen for on the call as well.
It sounds like you might already be connected with, the Can't tell if it's the decision maker or if it's the champion.
I think the dad has a lot of gravitas here. So I'm getting that impression, but at the same time, that's an impression, as you said, so it's better to have a open conversation to figure that out.
Yeah. And so that might even be, if you have your champion it turns out, and maybe the dead is the final decision maker. that is someone that I would maybe consider reaching out to shortly after your meeting today. And just being like, Hey, felt like that went well. I think we're all in agreement here. What did you think? or I don't know if you have their phone number yet. Like I'd just give them a call and just be like, Hey, what'd you think? Like, how did it go?
just want to make sure, it seems like these things are moving, right? Is there anything else you think I can do to help impact, to help influence the decision here, or make it easier for you all to move forward? Cause you have, you have that person in there, but I think those are the main things it sounds like, you are in a really good position, and maybe there is the potential to have a verbal agreement from them on this call that they're willing to move forward.
I think that's probably the end goal. that you have some kind of agreement that says to make forward and even that yeah, cool, I'm going to send over this after we jump off the call. and if you sign it by this time, then I can get started by this time,
yeah, I'd need to definitely put together a bit more of a, formal or even a letter of intent more so I think it's a bit more simple with this situation. I think it's with this pace. It's moving up. I think it would be a bit more of a letter of intent and require, requesting, a down payment as well to get things moving. So wherever we land on that monthly retainer, I think I would just request, 10, 20%. Thanks. another one for you.
So it seems like they want to negotiate the monthly, I'm getting, I'm definitely getting that five from the last call. again, I was happy. It was really bad to catch up with someone yesterday. I had a coffee at their office and, I didn't actually play the situation out. We just gave me advice around. If people are looking to negotiate the fee, what do you make it a two way thing? So it's you want to get something out of any negotiation. We both got to get something.
And I thought was pretty good. he was like, you got to take off your architect hat. You've got to put on your business hat. And you've got to sit there and you've got to defend your business and you've got to go. So one strategy he was like, Hey, how about I take 10 percent off every invoice. If you agree to paying me by seven days, if I seven day working or whatever, five working days or seven normal days or whatever.
And so I will take 10 percent of each invoice, which whatever, let's say that's a thousand bucks per invoice. Let's say it's, let's hypothetically say we're invoicing 10 K a month. I'm just, I did, there could be a negotiation in this conversation. It could be a family, but it could be a family that are all working as like a business, obviously together. So they could be used to each other, negotiating them a hundred percent.
it's a difficult situation, I think, but I think it's less necessarily about, I think defending might not be the right word. The question is why do they want to negotiate? Do they just want to negotiate because they like to negotiate and they're like, there's, this is something that they do as business people, that there's always room to negotiate and they're just trying to save as much money as possible.
Or do they want to negotiate because there's things in that package that you have that they don't think are necessary.
Yeah.
And so I think that's where it's leaning. It's Oh, that's not necessary. You know, then we can remove this. I think it's, what's important for you to know going into that, like you need to know what your absolute minimum is. And I would even maybe add like a 20 percent padding to that. going into that because. You can say, that's just not, it's not, it's literally not sustainable for me to do that, at that.
And I don't think you'll get the best outcome for it, in this way, but when they start pushing it, I think what's important to know, help me understand, why you want to negotiate. Help me understand what's not sitting right with you about this price.
Yeah, it's true. it's not outrageous.
I think this is fair given what's, I think given what's delivered, given the timeline that you have all in place and, my ability to begin the project right now. So help me understand how you're seeing this, give them the space to justify the negotiation because they might not have a reason if they don't have a reason. like, there's no, there's no negotiation. they almost have to sell you on their need.
and so hopefully with that, in doing that, what you, you come to understand what the actual objection is, right? Maybe their budget is smaller than what they need it to be. And so there's different things that need to be taken off. And so I think in terms of I'm not sure that I would do the, pay within seven days, only because. they don't pay within that.
that's not anything because you can say you'll get paid within seven days, but realistically, if they pay within 14, like you're still going to be happy. And so I think, like you just want to get the money. So I think that's, I think that's a harder one to do. I think it'd be
The scale of it is not appropriate.
yeah, we can do that, but I don't think it's realistic that we can finish that project by November. Okay. if you're negotiating, then you have to move with the things that they care most about.
Yeah. And the more investment in terms of financially having me there, the more time I can spend on it. Is the main thing. Therefore we'll move through it faster, but you know, the minute we start to reduce it, I've, got to guard my time and I've got to guard what I'm doing. And so
Those other projects that are going to take over my, these priorities for me and these, and these different things. And so if you want my full attention, if you want my best attention, then this is that. If you need to reduce it, I, I understand that, but there's a definite possibility that this could push back the timeline.
yeah, look, it's a simple thing. It's it's either I'm on a three day, you're either on two days a week, you're on a three days a week, you're on a four days a week, yeah. And that's how I have to manage it currently.
And from that, discovery call, those discovery calls that you've had with them, I do think, I can send over the, I can send over the article, and I can link it here, but there's three great questions that you should ask yourself going into this meeting that you should know. The first one is, what is their priority? from all of the conversations that you had, what is their top priority? Is their top priority, opening the store in November? Is their top priority staying within budget?
Is their top priority, having a space that perfectly reflects their brand? what is that top priority? Because that is your negotiation. that's the top of line negotiation for you. Whatever their priority is, is the thing that you should be referring back to constantly if they're negotiating with you, right? I'm focused on perfectly reflecting your brand as closely as possible and the way that you want. And that's generally what this requires.
So if we remove that, there's a chance of these things being pulled away,
Yeah. Yeah.
So that's the first one. The second one is what objections do you anticipate? And I don't know if there's that many of them. it sounds like you've maybe already addressed them. maybe there could be one on size. Maybe there could be one on timeline. it's hard to say. There might not be any.
The only objection that I tried to get that I earmarked was the fact of working in LA, but I really have a lot of covering on that. I've done two projects there already and I think it's, I'm not in LA sure, but I always work in that method. just finding something locally to support on the code compliance stuff and all that. That's about it.
Yeah. Okay. And then the other one is what, what reasons do they have to say no? Basically. If they say no, why are they going to say no? I think you want to know that going into it. Based on the knowledge that you have because you want to avoid that outcome as much as possible. You want to stray from it. You want to keep them. those are the things. It's a little bit different.
It's like the heavier thing than an objection, An objection is just it's more like a hesitancy, but the reason that they're going to say no is going to be, it's going to.
I'd say really pissed them off on the call would be the
yeah, exactly. so with them and and things. But I think, I, think you're in a great position. I think, these are just the things to watch out for. But even the way that you've been talking about it with me is honestly exactly how I would talk about it with them.
know I'm in the right frame of mind for it. I do feel in terms of, it feels right. that's just the way it is. Sometimes things you're pushing things you're forcing things and that's not how this is. I feel now. Let's see I don't know the dynamics.
we'll see how that plays out But it could be a shouting match between the all family members on the call, which should be right, It's interesting and look I think there's stuff I can always play back on like I come from a family of five five kids so I haven't
Oh, perfect thing.
a very much so helpful thing of like understanding, that there's a ton in my family,
that's the perfect way to build rapport at the very beginning of the conversation. I don't know how many people are going to be on that call.
five.
Oh, perfect. Then you just, you start and be like, this feels a little bit like my own family gathering. I'm, one of five, It's fun to be on a call with all of you as well. that's a great way to just make a connection right at the beginning of the call. So I'd probably start it that way if I were you.
Yeah. Yeah. And I think the call is about making the connection, making sure people feel somewhat comfortable. I think we can obviously get into what happens after let's say this does move forward. I think there'll be a bit more. Signing up, get running on it. and one thing I've noticed from, my previous position, is really getting to know them quickly and getting them to trust you quickly as well.
And so getting a bit of face time with them person to person is going to be really important initially. it's something that I saw was an issue with some projects we had where we didn't build that relationship as well as we could have, and you got to a point in the project where. There wasn't the stable footing there should have been to get through those solutions that we needed to find together.
And I feel like with this family in particular, once I understand more about them and their decision process and their communication and who is the, going to be the final decision, I just think there needs to be They might ask me, on this call, which is potential, okay, what will happen next, after we agree to start this? And I think
I'll fly out there.
no, that's already been mentioned. It's already been mentioned that I will go straight out there and meet with, we meet with as much of them as possible. See the site, which is critical before I get into the weeds. and just, yeah, just give them that assurance that look, we're going to make this happen and, somewhat enjoy the process. And, I don't want to be pulling my hair out for the next six months, and, I want to enjoy this and make sure we all understand each other.
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. That's a great, that's a great
So that's really, so that's where I'd like to get to just with like roughly that, informal verbal agreement, then some kind of letter of intent. And then I think figuring a date to actually meet there ASAP, because just initially meeting in person, getting dinner after building a little bit more relationship beyond what the brand is and beyond what I am as a business, as people, I think this is a huge important point that I've obviously learned over the last decade.
Parking is People want to work with people and at the end of the day, I can come in here at this and I can tell them, Hey, I've done all these incredible projects and they actually are stuff you want to do for your own brand. But the GC is just, it's a person that I have to be in communication with every day. Your dad, he's got his own issues. at the end of the day, we all have to just work together here and find a nice balance of, the symphony or whatever you want to call it.
Yeah. And I think that's especially important for you given you're like global, you're taking on, you're, you have potential projects all over the world at this point. you, you know, you have to be willing to make that jump and to go see, and to, Have the face to face, kind of relationship building experience as early as possible in that project. So I think that's good. The only, so at the very end, the next steps are going to be important.
Like you said, like they might ask what's next after this signed, but in terms of, I think it's also important to give them a deadline and when you need a decision, if they want to. Hit their deadline, right? Hey, you know, I'm gonna put this letter intent together and Hey I'll probably need this decision by Monday or I will need this decision By Monday if you want me to start by then and I'll book a flight and I'll be in so that we can chat About it at that
Yeah, because I think that's right, because I think, even if we, they send a letter over and, it could take a few days just to iron out that, right? So we're already, you're already using a bit of next week. So the realist fee, the earliest I could be out there is the following week, which is the 22nd. So for me, that's what I'm considering as like a start date for this.
Yeah, I think you're right. I think you're right
give next week to iron out any nitty gritties. But Yeah so look, that's really exciting. And I feel like if that's, if this all goes ahead and, it will be great and it will be a great opportunity to just, get my hands in on something and get it built by the end of the year, which would be astonishing, actually.
That'd be great. And it does sound like the perfect project based on your experience too. I mean, this is like, this is your bread and butter, right? So it's it's a, it's your exact project. Yeah.
So yeah, that's exciting. And obviously we can have a follow up on, on where that's all going to go now next. I think I'm well prepared for that call and I just have to, as you said, listen, take stock a lot and just see where this is all, where is it all landing, right? And who's it, find a way forward and stay solid with what I'm coming to the table with.