$250 BILLION COMPANY USES THIS TECHNIQUE

Could you embrace the change necessary to emulate the A/E firms that achieve exceptional profits?
Are you tired of working IN you’re A/E business or startup just to pull out a meager income?
Or are you ready to start working ON you’re A/E practice to produce solid growth-enabling profits?
Hi, I’m Dennis Matula – founder and principal business coach for Small Firm University - a strategic educational and business coaching company focused on small Architectural, Engineering & Design firms worldwide.

EVERYBODY WANTS IT

Everybody WANTS to be successful & profitable in business, but few Architects, Engineers, or Designers have known the secrets to a profitable A/E Startup or expansion.
In this report, I am going to share this important information to demonstrate the principles I have engaged in my own Engineering practice.
This information will enable you to quickly assess your present business model against the 4 simple, but profound, profit principles I detail in this report.

A PROVEN, HIGH PROFIT APPROACH

Would you be willing to implement a Proven APPROACH to increasing your Architectural, Engineering, or Design Firm profits?
Well, this is a proven methodology that even the global behemoth, Wal*Mart uses to increase profits.
I want to take you behind the scenes to uncover the science behind Wal*Mart’s success.
I’ve personally been to W*M’s HQ in Bentonville, AR on several occasions and have seen firsthand how they operate behind the scenes.

107 SUPERCENTERS IN 35 STATES

I was a Professional of Record for a top ENR-rated A/E firm in Tulsa, OK overseeing the design and rollout of 7 SuperCenter Prototypes. I have personally sealed, as the Engineer of Record, 107 SuperCenter projects in 35 States.
Not knowing these profit secrets could be costing you big time. But, stay tuned and read the report as each insight is sent directly to your email.

VALUE OF A PROFITABLE STARTUP

When you study each section of the report, you will then be able to make a better informed decision about the important value of a profitable startup.
So, why are we doing this?
It’s because we want to show you how helpful Small Firm University can be to you in your startup or expansion journey in building a highly-profitable Architectural or Engineering business.
So, let’s move forward to learn how to turn your Architectural, Engineering, or Design business into a lean and mean profitable machine.

UNCOVERING THE SCIENCE….

Would you be willing to implement a simple 4 step approach to increasing your Architectural Engineering firm profits?
Well, this is a tried and true proven methodology that even the global behemoth corporation, Wal-Mart, uses to increase their profits. I want to take you behind the scenes to uncover the science behind Wal-Marts success. Many refer to this simple 4-step process as a Productivity Loop.

4 STEPS TO INCREASED PROFIT

SECRET # 1-REDUCE YOUR INTERNAL COSTS

Now, the obvious choice here is to reduce your overhead - which is fine, but cost-cutting measures like cutting back on business overhead- a stapler for each desk or reduction in writing pads will get a small firm nowhere but disgruntled and frustrated workers.
So, some key area’s I am going to recommend may seem radical, but they work. I have implemented these very techniques to take a small (as in solo) MEP engineering start-up to an annual revenue in excess of $350k in four years.

KEYS TO SECRET #1 COST REDUCTIONS

Some of these keys are so radical to a typical A/E start up that I highly encourage you to take advantage of my free ½ hour consultation for the principals/owners that may be interested in my personal coaching program. This FREE ½ hour consultation is open for any questions for this seasoned mentor and business coach. Give me your best shot!

(CLICK HERE for More info on A/E Coaching)

I also go into a full, in-depth presentation of the critical success factors for your small A/E firm or start-up in my ½ day Live Seminar called
“The Six Pillars to A/E Success – How to Startup and Build a Profitable Architectural, Engineering, or Design Firm”
(Click Here for Info on live seminar/webinar)

3 CRITICAL AREAS FOR SAVING DOLLARS

Reducing your small firm costs is done through primarily three crucial areas

• Outsourcing your design and CAD labor
• Learning how to negotiate fees from your outsourced staff
• Pursuing a deal-making mind set

As Secret #1 unfolds, many Architects and Engineers are frozen by what to do because they are so involved in the design aspects that they fail to grasp the business-building aspects of the Productivity Loop.
Most small A/E owners want to earn a respectable living at $30-40/hr ($75 to $80K/yr) but never stop to calculate how to “push” this hourly salary to $50/$100/hr by judicious use of their time.

I “buy” labor anywhere from $10/hr to $75/hr and yet make exceptional yearly profits in excess of 25 to 40%/yr.

FOCUSING YOUR TIME

How do I do it? I focus my time on critical money-making activities and farm the rest out. I typically have 15-20 personnel on 1099’s in a years’ time - Hey, you may be one of them in the future if we join ranks on a project (let me know).

So, I may engage an outsourced CAD firm (whether local or offshore) at a nominal rate of $18/hr and while I am getting a restful night of sleep, I have 6 to 20 man-hours of CAD ready for my review by 6 AM the next day.
If I tried to do all my own CAD- which many of you do (and it is costing you more than you think), It would reduce my profit margin substantially.

I trust you have discovered that I am in business to make money and not stay busy doing A/E design!
I sometimes hire extremely talented and savvy Engineers at $75/hr for consults or forensic work, but again, the profit can be made by how we reduce our firm’s operating costs and business approach.
Principle of Managing Your Firm for Greater Profits
Whoever controls the means of production, controls the amount of profit.


Think about that statement when applied to your old job, your days in the military, or working on government-subsidized projects. We will go in-depth on this subject at the Seminar: “The Six Pillars of A/E Success – How to Startup and Build a Profitable Architectural, Engineering, or Design Firm”.

SECRET #2 - WITH A TWIST

Wal-Mart’s Secret #2 is to famously reduce prices. They call it Roll-Backs and the marketing tool is used extensively in TV and print ads.
Now here is when my coaching and training will come in real handy. Because most new A/E Firms are such low cost/no cost startups, they try to lower their fees to attract work. I hear this all the time. “I can charge lower fees because I work out of my home and I don’t have the overhead (rented office space, utility bills, employer insurance, FICA taxes, etc.) like my old firm has, etc,…Ad Nauseum, Ad Infinitum.”
I say, SO WHAT!

DRIVING YOURSELF OUT OF BUSINESS

You are driving yourself out of business with that kind of thinking. This is why most Small A/E firm fees are commoditized. In other words, driven to the lowest rate possible by unwitting participates who set unrealistically low fees.
In fact if you keep doing this low fee “thing”, you will help me and a few other savvy small firms because you will be out of business sooner.
Why not keep the projects? Act like the big firms, look like the big firms, produce work better and quicker than the big firms, and get paid handsomely for the added value you bring to the client.
I can show you how to do this!
Since I work with Small Firm startups and have personally ramped up satellite offices from scratch, I know the ropes. You can be paid the same or maybe even more than the Big Boyz.

WE ARE GOING TO UP-SALE

So, we are actually NOT going to cut prices but we are going to UP-sale (get bigger fees for similar work going forward). We are going to RAISE prices - and amazingly I can show you how to effectively increase your fees 5 to17% per job - on every job going forward, following my insightful techniques on setting fees. Yes, that was 5 to 17% on every job! (Hal, please calculate that number and extrapolate it for 5 years into the future)
Yes, I actually practice this to a tee. I have refined my fee-setting techniques to train my clients to pay me a proper fee, but by judiciously setting the fee amount, they sign the contract and improve my profit margin in one fell swoop.

SECRET #3 INCREASE SALES

Wal-Mart brilliantly reduces the price which causes an increase in per unit sales (pay attention to those price points – because there is Billions of dollars in transaction wisdom in those price points). But when Wal*Mart gets done over the millions of transactions, their bottom-line profits soar.

What I will coach you to do is increase your revenue by expanding your niche market. Many small firms are operating under self-imposed limitations. They don’t think they can tackle a certain type of building project or the scope of work challenges their perceived abilities.

You need to think how you can have a “product extension” – like the typical retailer does.
I used to work for a Fortune 100 company, Pillsbury, (think Doughboy here) as a Packaging Engineer – working closely with the Marketing arm of this major food manufacturer. When you have your signature cake mix flavor holding significant market share, you extend the power of the brand by adding “flavors” to your product line. So instead of just Angel Food or Devils Food, you add Lemon, Chocolate, German Chocolate, Lemon Poppy Seed, Carrot Cake, etc… until you capture even more sales.

As an MEP Engineer, I extend my brand by focusing on the light commercial building industry – but amazingly; this is 85% of the built environment. I was educated in a top Engineering school (U of Minnesota, 1972) with a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering, but I regularly seal other disciplines because I needed to EXTEND my capabilities and offerings to my clients
So, my expertise now includes: Electrical (I have even sat for the PE exam in this discipline), Plumbing – I have held a CPD – Certified Plumbing Designer designation in the past, and I practice Fire Protection Engineering (Performance Designs). I review and seal Fire Protection Contractor submittals and Fire Alarm Contractor Permit drawings from other small firms who market the work, then bring it to me for Professional review and sealing.

Do you see how this has greatly expanded my professional services – in fact, I can offer full service MEPFP services in-house. I can provide turn-key services to my clients.

Yet, I know numerous small firms who are limited by their willingness to extend their brand through relational partnerships (a discipline who works for me via 1099’s). Yes, it take some effort to become proficient in another Discipline, but if you are a small firm that wants to produce increased revenues you will need to increase the number of projects or extend your service offerings and leverage your time to make sure the engineering and design meets the Standard of Care required by law.

SECRET #4 INCREASE PROFITS

When Wal-Mart and other exceptional retailers reduce their costs, then reduce their prices, they increase their sales, which results in increased profits. So young engineering A/E firms or fresh, new A/E startups can do likewise.

We will judiciously negotiate and outsource labor to reduce our internal production costs (Secret #1)…
then we will skillfully, adjust our fees to get our clients to “see” perceived value and improve our contract pricing (Secret #2)…..

then we can expand our business expertise by developing a broader niche of our professional services (Secret #3)….
which will result in increased revenues and exceptional profits (Secret #4).

Are you ready to level the playing field with the bigger firms and march to the beat of a different drummer? Small Firm University is a catalyst for solo entrepreneurs and small firms that want to set their own agenda….who want to establish a solid reputation based on performance results so that they can compete on the larger playing field of the A/E industry. I encourage you to go for it.

Take the first step and come to the next Seminar of “The Six Pillars of A/E Success – How to Startup and Build a Profitable Architectural, Engineering, or Design Firm”

It could change your business career.

See dates and locations here...