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Webinar: Cash Flow Essentials: How to Calculate Burn Rate & Runway for Your AE Firm
Wednesday, May 15th, 2024 | 1PM ET | 10 AM PT | Register Now

Upcoming webinars

Wednesday, April 17th, 2024 | 1pm ET | 10AM PM

Part 4 of the ‘Blueprint for Success’ Masterclass Series

The proposal is the pivotal part in the client onboarding process, a gateway that holds the power to set the stage for a successful project journey. However, in the world of architecture and engineering, there's no one-size-fits-all proposal. Join Founder of Teiger Consulting and architectural entrepreneur Douglas Teiger, FAIA, in this comprehensive course where he’ll dive deep into the art of crafting compelling proposals that resonate with each unique project and client.

Wednesday, May 15th, 2024 | 1pm ET | 10AM PT

Part 5 of the ‘Blueprint for Success’ Masterclass Series

In the dynamic world of AE firms, understanding your financial runway and burn rate is akin to having a GPS for your practice's financial journey. Your gross burn rate is a crucial metric that measures the rate at which your firm consumes capital before generating positive cash flow. It's the answer to the pivotal question: “How long can we stay in business without signing another project?”

Wednesday, June 12th, 2024 | 1pm ET | 10AM PT

Part 6 of the ‘Blueprint for Success’ Masterclass Series

In the AE world, great project managers are sometimes under appreciated and overlooked. While they may not be the ones designing the buildings or producing drawings, they are the linchpin that holds the entire project together. It's a role that demands a unique skill set and finesse. However, for many AE firms, proper training and mentorship for project managers are often lacking.

Wednesday, July 17th, 2024 | 1pm ET | 10AM PT

Part 7 of the ‘Blueprint for Success’ Masterclass Series

Join Douglas Tieger, FAIA, as he unravels the vital KPI of profitability, the cost rate multiplier, and explores the crucial distinctions between utilization rate and efficiency rate. He'll explain precisely how to define your breakeven multiplier and unveil your true cost rate, ensuring that financial clarity guides your decision-making.

Wednesday, August 21st, 2024 | 1pm ET | 10AM PT

Part 8 of the ‘Blueprint for Success’ Masterclass Series

In today's dynamic landscape, staying ahead requires a real-time view into the heartbeat of your AE firm. Dashboards, reports, and scorecards offer critical insights into employee performance, projects, and financials. Learn how to create a system that tracks these metrics month-over-month, reflecting your firm's unique trends and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

Wednesday, September 18th, 2024 | 1pm ET | 10AM PT

Part 9 of the ‘Blueprint for Success’ Masterclass Series

Designing your AE firm's success is more than choosing an entity type; it's about architecting the perfect organizational structure that drives alignment and fuels peak performance. Whether you're a solo practitioner, lead a small team, or command a larger organization, Douglas Teiger, FAIA, who has 30-plus years of firm management experience, will be your guide on this journey to excellence.

Wednesday, October 16th, 2024 | 1pm ET | 10AM PT

Part 10 of the ‘Blueprint for Success’ Masterclass Series

Though it may seem aspirational, your AE firm's core values and mission can define the trajectory of your firm. Are your clients aligned with YOUR story? In this session led by Douglas Teiger, FAIA, we'll embark on a journey to sculpt a value-centric practice that resonates with your identity. Discover a step-by-step process to define your firm's core values and craft mission-vision statements that reflect your biggest goals. 

Wednesday, November 20th, 2024 | 1pm ET | 10AM PT

Part 11 of the ‘Blueprint for Success’ Masterclass Series

For AE firms, a strategic plan isn't a luxury—it's your financial roadmap to success. Yet, how many of us truly dedicate the time to create, update, and review our firm's strategic plan? The answer is often not enough. But it doesn't have to be complicated. It's about planting your flag in the ground, defining your destination, and steering your firm towards prosperity. It's the blueprint that answers critical questions: Who is your ideal client? What are your firm's strengths? How do you measure success?

Wednesday, December 18th, 2024 | 1pm ET | 10AM PT

Part 12 of the ‘Blueprint for Success’ Masterclass Series

Most AE teams are extremely thoughtful when developing their designs, but often let communicating their brand or actively pursuing ideal clients fall to the wayside. Marketing and business development are the twin engines that fuel your AE firm's ascent, and understanding their synergy is paramount. Join Founder of Teiger Consulting Douglas Teiger, FAIA, as he unravels the secrets to sustainable growth and revenue predictability.

On-demand webinars

Small and mid-sized architecture firm leaders often fear becoming too “corporate” when faced with practices, systems, and policies used by big firms. But to get big, larger firms must be doing something right. Join CVG to learn which large firm business practices are most applicable to smaller firms – and why. We’ll discuss how larger firms approach project delivery, strategy, business development, operations, and organization, and which aspects of these approaches might be instructive to smaller firms. Lastly, we’ll explore how this understanding creates opportunities for smaller firms to effectively compete, successfully differentiate themselves, and strategically partner. 

This engaging, bootcamp-style webinar is designed to enhance the financial acumen of AE executives and professionals, offering foundational knowledge and practical strategies to empower your financial management skills. During the session, you will learn how to interpret crucial financial statements, harness technology for efficient financial management, and master the art of budgeting and forecasting. Additionally, you will gain insights into project cost management and optimizing profitability, while also discovering strategies for improving cash flow management through client relationships and automation.

This session will also focus on identifying the right clients, winning them over, and positioning your firm uniquely in the market.

Prepare to be inspired by one of the most accomplished and forward-thinking experts in the AE industry! We invite you to attend this dynamic webinar led by Steven Burns, FAIA, a visionary with nearly 40 years of entrepreneurial and AE business consulting experience. As the founder of The Well-Designed Firm and former Chief Creative Officer of BQE Software, Steve has witnessed the full spectrum of the industry – from the best to the worst.

As we approach the final months of 2023, we've rounded up some of our most successful customers, who have become more efficient, profitable, and organized with BQE CORE's real-time insights for better decision making.

Join BQE's Training & Consulting Manager Scott McKissock as he interviews four different CORE customers (with four different job functions) to discuss their experience implementing and utilizing CORE, as well as the wins, losses, and lessons learned along the way. At the end of the session, we’ll take questions from the audience, so you can hear answers and feedback from real customers.

Prepare to be inspired by one of the most accomplished and forward-thinking experts in the AE industry! We invite you to attend this dynamic webinar led by Steven Burns, FAIA, a visionary with nearly 40 years of entrepreneurial and AE business consulting experience.

This webinar reviews each step of the ideal project process and includes 10 strategies your firm can implement to achieve financial stability and increase profit margins, which will not only alleviate financial stress but enable your firm to recruit top talent, attract the right clients, and grow. 

Join us for an engaging, live webinar presented by entrepreneur and founder of The Well-Designed Firm, Steven Burns, FAIA, as he explores 10 project performance KPIs that, when tracked properly, will transform the way your business operates, and subsequently how profitable each project is.

Industry surveys show that many AE firms rely on outdated software or spreadsheets to manage their business information, leading to inefficiencies and reduced profitability. In the webinar, we'll cover new business automation technologies, beyond CAD & BIM, that boost efficiency and engagement for all firm members, regardless of size. Join us to learn how you can break free of these obsolete tools, eliminate repetitive, mundane work, and return to doing the work you enjoy most.

The primary objective for every firm is to generate value. This value stems from the loyalty and trust you cultivate with your clients. This webinar reviews each step of the ideal project process and includes 10 strategies your firm can implement to achieve financial stability and increase profit margins, which will not only alleviate financial stress but enable your firm to recruit top talent, attract the right clients, and grow.

In this session, we will learn the fundamentals of all successful AE firms and provide the basis for making well-grounded business decisions. We will learn how firms can transition from being professionals providing services, to highly tuned businesses that can identify the needs of the marketplace and create services and products that are appropriately priced and yield consistent and greater profits.

Most consultants strive to collect cash for their services within 30 days, but many wait 60, or even 120 days, to receive payment from their clients. In this training, we will examine the complete project lifecycle to understand how cashflow can be increased or decreased. Participants will gain valuable tips to improve cashflow by improving timesheet practices, reducing the billing cycle, and improving client relationships and collection practices.

Business intelligence opens up a world of possibilities for A/E professionals. It gives you unprecedented visibility into your practice and makes it simple to identify—and seize—opportunities for growth. Discover the practical applications of this cutting-edge technology, which boosts profits and positions your firm as a leader in the years to come. Learn how principals, partners, CFOs, and other managers are using business intelligence to streamline their daily tasks, gain a competitive advantage, and grow their organizations like never before.

Join Steven Burns, FAIA, Founder of The Well-Designed Firm, as he walks you through how smart technology can help you save time on repetitive tasks and unlock the meaning to your valuable stream of data. During the webinar, Steven will share the lessons he’s learned while working with over 1,300 AE firms and demonstrate how your firm can leverage this mine of precious data to achieve greater organization, efficiency, and profitability by adopting best practices and taking advantage of modern, user-friendly, and affordable computing technologies.

This free, live professional development webinar reveals a simple approach to end the chaos of business and get back to what you love: architecture. 

 Join four seasoned AE thought leaders as they review the facts, give advice, and take your questions about how to keep your firm thriving during uncertain economic times.

Ready to start mastering fees and better understand what they mean for your bottom line? In this course, you will learn how to define your project scope, develop a Rough Order of Magnitude of construction cost, and estimate your project hours. 

Join us as four different CORE customers discuss their experience implementing and utilizing CORE, as well as the wins, losses, and lessons learned along the way. At the end of the session, we’ll take questions from the audience, so you can hear answers and feedback from real customers.

This session will share techniques and technologies that your firm must embrace to have the highest efficiency and profitability. Your firm can apply the same rigor and discipline you apply to your projects but focused inward. Learn best practices for Client Relationship Management (CRM), marketing, project management, billing, and accounting.

This session is based on the new book by June Jewell, RAISE Your Value: 5 Steps to Uncover Hidden Value, Design a Winning Advantage and Charge More. You will discover that with the right approach, understanding and language tools, it is possible to transform your client relationships and business practices away from accepting unprofitable work towards a value-based business partnership.

All AE consulting firms want their projects to be as profitable as possible; however, most will identify their biggest project management pitfall as: doing work outside of the scope (aka scope creep), which greatly reduces profits. Depending on the size of your firm, scope creep could cost you thousands, or even millions, of dollars annually.

While this is a common and debilitating challenge that MOST firms face, the reality is that by installing a few simple processes you can greatly reduce scope creep on your projects.

Join experts from ActionsProve, LLC and the Engineering Management Institute as they review an in-depth study of the state of the A/E industry and talent market.

The new research uncovers key workplace issues in a fast-changing world and how employers can attract and retain top talent amidst the Great Resignation and position themselves for greater growth and prosperity.

Culled from experiences working with more than 3,000 AE firms over 25 years, this session will examine the seven common denominators of every successful firm. Success comes in many flavors. For some, it’s money; for others, it is peer recognition, awards, or fame; for most of us, it’s having access to challenging or exciting projects.

Regardless of how you measure success, by adopting these Seven Pillars you will create the framework from which you and every member of your firm can achieve their professional goals.

Most A&E firms don’t apply the same rigor, discipline, and consistency that they use when executing their projects. We will show how easy it is for your firm to be well-organized, efficient, and profitable by applying best practices and utilizing modern, effortless, affordable computing technologies.

Join us for an engaging, live webinar presented by Steven Burns, FAIA, Chief Creative Officer at BQE Software, as he shares lessons learned over 35 years working with over 1,000 A&E firms.  

Key performance indicators (KPIs) track project success by measuring how your projects (or team, clients, and so on) are performing. Because each architecture and engineering firm has different goals and ways of working, your vital KPIs will vary from project to project.

Within the world of project performance and finance, certain KPIs should always be used to monitor and improve your success.  

On demand: Blueprint for Success Masterclass Series

Time Management Strategies To Increase Your Firm's Profitability
Part 1 of the ‘Blueprint for Success’ Masterclass Series

In this foundational session, Douglas Teiger, FAIA, Founder of Teiger Consulting and former managing partner of his own architectural firm for 30-plus years, shows you how to execute advanced time management strategies, including budgeting time to align with project activities rather than just traditional phases, and analyzing the impact of non-billable time on firm profitability.

The Chart of Accounts: Your AE Firm’s Path to Financial Control
Part 2 of the ‘Blueprint for Success’ Masterclass Series

The chart of accounts is the bedrock of financial insight for your AE firm. In this course, Douglas Teiger, FAIA, demystifies some often-confusing, essential accounting terms and equips you with the power to wield them effectively. Discover the art of creating a customized chart of accounts, tailored to the unique needs of your AE firm, and dive deep into its organizational prowess, understanding how it can illuminate the flow of money within your practice.

The Art of Estimating Fees: Unlocking Profitable Projects for Your AE Firm
Part 3 of the ‘Blueprint for Success’ Masterclass Series

Ready to master the art of estimating fees and gain profound insights into their impact on your bottom line? Join Douglas Teiger, FAIA, on a journey that begins at the very inception of a project—when that initial request for a proposal lands on your desk or in your inbox. In this comprehensive course, you will not only learn to define project scope, but also develop a Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) for construction costs and estimate project hours.

A Guide to Client Onboarding: Crafting Winning Proposals and Contracts
Part 4 of the ‘Blueprint for Success’ Masterclass Series

The proposal is the pivotal part in the client onboarding process, a gateway that holds the power to set the stage for a successful project journey. However, in the world of architecture and engineering, there's no one-size-fits-all proposal. Join Founder of Teiger Consulting and architectural entrepreneur Douglas Teiger, FAIA, in this comprehensive course where he’ll dive deep into the art of crafting compelling proposals that resonate with each unique project and client.

On demand: Designing Your Business Masterclass Series

Time Management Strategies To Increase Your Firm's Profitability
Part 1 of the ‘Designing Your Business’ Masterclass Series

In architectural and engineering practices, time is money. Without proper tracking and allocation of time there is no way to understand and manage profitability on your projects. In this webinar, we will discuss time tracking via buckets, calendar blocking, and a work-life balance.

The Chart of Accounts is foundational to understanding your firm's finances. In this course, we will review basic terminology used in accounting, analyze a typical Chart of Accounts that will work for most small firms, and show how this chart of accounts can assist with understanding your flow of money and help to create your budget for the coming year.

The Art of Estimating Fees: Creating a Simple Process for Success
Part 3 of the ‘Designing Your Business’ Masterclass Series

Ready to start mastering fees and better understand what they mean for your bottom line? To do so, let’s start at the very beginning—when you receive a request for a proposal. In this course, you will learn how to define your project scope, develop a Rough Order of Magnitude of construction cost, and estimate your project hours. We’ll finish off with how fees are broken down and explore a simple system to improve your overall project profitability.

Building a Better Proposal: How to Get Clients to Say Yes
Part 4 of the ‘Designing Your Business’ Masterclass Series

The proposal is a critical part of the client onboarding process. While there are multiple types of proposals, there is never just one that works for every project. In this course, we review what is included in the proposal, the difference between a proposal and contract, and terms and conditions to turn your proposal into a contract. We also highlight the importance of linking to your project setup and the valuable benefits of using AIA agreements.

Understanding Runway and Burn Rate: The Key to Cash Flow
Part 5 of the ‘Designing Your Business’ Masterclass Series

Gross burn rate is an important thing to measure. Burn rate is the pace at which a firm is running through its capital ahead of it generating any positive cash flow. It allows you to answer the question: “If we don’t sign another project, how many months can we stay in business? How long is our runway?” This webinar looks at the key performance indicators associated with your runway and burn rate and teaches you how to estimate your projected income.

Strategies for Successful and Profitable Project Management
Part 6 of the ‘Designing Your Business’ Masterclass Series

Great project managers are sometimes underappreciated and overlooked. They are not the architect who designs the building or produces the drawings, but they are an integral role for any A & E firm. Most small and medium firms rarely have proper training or mentorship for project managers. In this course, we will discuss an overview of the skillset and training necessary to hire or manage an effective project manager.

There are many ways to analyze profit and understand profit. Typically, principals and accountants alike look at how much money is in your firm’s bank account at the end of the year. In this webinar, we will go much deeper and review the metrics and tools necessary to understand both your project profitability and your firm profitability. We will define a critical KPI, the cost rate multiplier, and review the difference between utilization rate and efficiency rate. We will also define what your billing target per month should be in order to reach your goals.

Management Through Measurement: Essential KPIs to Optimize Your Firm
Part 8 of the ‘Designing Your Business’ Masterclass Series

A real-time view into the activity of employees, projects, and firm financials through dashboards, reports, and scorecards is required to maintain a profitable practice. Tracking this information shows trends over time and provides critical information you need to adjust your business decisions around staffing, business development, and even firm culture. During this course, you will discover the most important KPIs to look at and learn a system for tracking this information month-over-month to reflect your firm's trends.

Structured For Success: How to Build an Org Chart That Increases Alignment and Improves Output
Part 9 of the ‘Designing Your Business’ Masterclass Series

Creating your ideal business structure is more than just deciding if you are an S Corp, LLP, or sole practitioner. This webinar dives into the various options of business structures and the benefits of each type. Equally as important, we’ll develop an accountability chart and define the difference between an organization chart and an accountability chart. Douglas Teiger, FAIA, will guide you through this process whether you are a 1-person firm, 5-person firm or 25-person firm.

Aligning Your Firm to the CORE: How to Create Core Values & Mission Statement
Part 10 of the ‘Designing Your Business’ Masterclass Series

Establishing core values and a firm mission is a critical step to define who you are as a firm. It determines the type of staff you want to hire and, as importantly, it qualifies your ideal client. During this session, Douglas Teiger, FAIA, shares a step-by-step process to define your core values and mission-vision statement. He will talk about storytelling and how your story reflects your values. Are your clients aligned with YOUR story? In addition, he will discuss using an analyzer tool to confirm if your employees, clients and projects are in alignment with your core values.

Your Business Blueprint: Creating a Plan to Succeed
Part 11 of the ‘Designing Your Business’ Masterclass Series

How many of us take the time to create, update and review our firm’s strategic plan? This does not have to be overly complicated, but you do need to put a flag in the ground and define where you want to go. Your strategic plan defines the overarching vision of your company and ensures that your team members know what they can do to make a difference and help your firm achieve its goals. It helps answer questions like: Who is our ideal client? What are our strengths as a firm? What are our leading and lagging indicators to track success along the way? During this session, Douglas Teiger, FAIA, will teach AE firm leaders how to select, tweak and manage essential KPIs in their strategic plans to set their firm up for success for years to come.

Marketing & BD Essentials: Creating Sustainable Growth & Predictable Revenue
Part 12 of the ‘Designing Your Business’ Masterclass Series

Most firms are extremely thoughtful when developing their designs, but often let communicating their brand or actively pursuing ideal clients fall to the wayside. Although marketing and business development both contribute to firm growth, there is a big difference between the two. While marketing establishes your brand and (hopefully) generates qualified leads, business development focuses on strategically developing relationships with potential, new and existing customers. During this session, Douglas Teiger, FAIA, will reveal his system for gaining and tracking leads and sales opportunities that works for teams of all sizes.

Additional resources

Improve your efficiency and profits with expert advice on project management, billing, top KPIs and more. Whether you want an inside look at how to measure project performance or you’re looking for stronger ROI, our E-Books are free to download.

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