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Summer 2025 FOUNDATIONS Program

Created to give leaders of architecture firms the basics to succeed.
Check out our new “Summer FOUNDATIONS” designed to accommodate your flexible summer schedules!

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CVG’s back-to-basics FOUNDATIONS Program distills best practices of design firm management.

Enjoy unlimited access to six pre-recorded topic modules designed to help you improve your architecture firm business, that you can follow on your own schedule:

Valerie will help you understand why planning for your long-term business growth is important, what is included in a strategic plan, and how to start. She will walk through planning elements, considerations, and tools that can be used to collect input during the planning process. These short videos will also address defining your firm’s mission, vision, and values and using them to inform strategic decisions.

Short videos on Strategic Planning include:
1. Presenter Introduction and Content Overview
2. What is a Strategic Plan? (14:19 minutes)
3. The Discovery Process (13:37 minutes)
4. Mission / Vision / Values (25:14 minutes)
5. Sharpening Your Vision (11:27 minutes)
6. Putting Your Strategic Plan Together (10:00 minutes)
7. Bonus Session: Creating Your Annual Business Plan (4:05 minutes)

Downloadable and Linked Resources Include:
Mission / Vision / Values Worksheets
SWOT Analysis Template
Strategic Planning Template
Recommended Reading
Dena will explain what is included in a typical marketing plan, and how you can develop one that fits the needs, size, and marketing budget of your small design firm. She will also recommend which tactics firms should use to achieve specific goals with limited resources. Strategic use of social media will be covered, as will website and messaging best practices.

Short videos on Strategic Marketing include:
1. Module Introduction (1:43 minutes)
2. Creating Your Firm’s Marketing Plan (9:37 minutes)
3. Best Practices: Messaging (5:13 minutes)
4. Best Practices: Websites (7:34 minutes)
5. Best Practices: Social Media (10:38 minutes)
6. Your Marketing Plan in Action (3:20 minutes)
Downloadable and Linked Resources Include:
Marketing Planning Exercises
Marketing Messaging Exercises
Website Exercises
Social Media Exercises
Recommended Reading
Lucas will review best practices in business development for small design firm owners, including how to structure your BD efforts, when to invest in a client relationship management (CRM) tool, designing your sales funnel, how to map your customer journey, and tips for developing fees and writing effective proposals.

Short videos on this topic include:
1. Module Introduction (2:43)
2. Business Development 101 (13:25 minutes)
3. What is a CRM and Why Do You Need One? (12:38 minutes)
4. Mapping Your Customer Journey (26:31 minutes)
5. Fees and Proposal Strategy (26:06 minutes)
Downloadable and Linked Resources Include:
Business Development Exercises
Recommended Reading
Rena will introduce you to basic financial management concepts and help you learn to set your firm’s financial goals, annual and longer term. This includes how to develop a proforma with a profit plan and an annual budget. She will review revenue forecasting and key performance indicator (KPI) metrics that should be followed to track operational performance. This session will help you make smart business decisions such as when to hire and how to forecast for earning a profit.

Short videos on Financial Management include:
1. Module Introduction (1:29 minutes)
2. Financial Management Basics (13:02 minutes)
3. Key Performance Indicators: Profit - Loss Statement (8:58 minutes)
4. KPI: Balance Sheet & Cash Management (8:30 minutes)
5. How to Be More Profitable (18:27 minutes)
6. How to Price Services (12:59 minutes)
7. Annual Financial Planning (9:17 minutes)
8. Developing Your Five-Year Pro-Forma (5:58 minutes)
Downloadable and Linked Resources:
How to Delegate or Outsource Bookkeeping While Maintaining Control, a CVG worksheet
A Sample Chart of Accounts
Glossary of Financial Terms
KPFI Formulas: Profit and Loss Report
KPFI Formulas: Balance Sheet and Cash Management
Sample Cash Flow Management Spreadsheet - Excel
Profitability Indicators
Pricing Resources
Sample Fee Worksheet - Excel
Sample Profit Plan Worksheet - Excel
Sample Five-Year ProForma Worksheet - Excel
The Operations sessions focus on efficiencies and systems, specifically how to manage your time to best execute billable and non-billable work. Rena and Lucas will discuss best practices in resource management, project management, and the relationship between fees and time. We’ll explore how using the right systems, processes, and technology directly relates to profitability. We will also discuss different administrative roles and responsibilities, as well as how and when these roles need to be filled.

Short videos on Operations include:
1. Module Introduction (1:08 minutes)
2. What’s Included in Operations? (8:12 minutes)
3. Creating a Culture of Effectiveness (16:00 minutes)
4. Delegating for Success (15:19 minutes)
5. Using Technology Effectively (22:22 minutes)
Downloadable and Linked Resources:
Technology Exercise
Recommended Reading
Todd and Erin will address the fundamentals of building a team, including how and when to hire, salary and benefit development, logistics to consider, and building a strong firm culture. They'll discuss the importance of clear roles and responsibilities to create opportunities for career growth for everyone within your firm.

Short videos on Firm Leadership and Team Building include:
1. Module Introduction (3:11 minutes)
2. Basics of Firm Growth (10:15 minutes)
3. Preparing to Hire (18:24 minutes)
4. Growing Your Team: Roles and Responsibilities (7:39 minutes)
5. Recruiting Talented Employees (21:05 minutes)
6. Building a Strong Firm Culture (5:31 minutes)
7. Retaining Talented Employees (15:13 minutes)
Downloadable and Linked Resources:
Onboarding Plan Template
Responsibilities Worksheet
Job Advertisement Template
AIA Salary Calculator
AIA Guides for Equitable Practice
Recommended Reading

Who FOUNDATIONS is for:

The program is designed for anyone who wants to brush up on the basics of running a small or mid-sized architecture firm. So far, we’ve welcomed principals of small and mid-sized firms, emerging leaders, studio managers, sole proprietors, and those considering starting their own firms. We’ve created the content with the intention of helping you grow, so we’ll cover what you need to know to build the foundations of a healthy firm.

How Summer 2025 FOUNDATIONS works:

Each topic module features a handful of short recordings, so you can binge them all or learn in micro-increments. The total content for each topic module ranges from 45 to 90 minutes. Click on the + in the accordion above to see the descriptions, recordings, and resources available for each topic.

We’ve introduced Summer 2025 FOUNDATIONS to accommodate your flexible summer schedules. For summer, we’re removing the bi-weekly cohort meetings and replacing them with 1:1 coaching sessions you can schedule at your convenience. This means you get all of the classic FOUNDATIONS digital content to watch on your schedule PLUS four personal coaching sessions with a CVG expert of your choice for $1,950.

Summer 2025 FOUNDATIONS digital content and coaching sessions will be available at any point from May 1 through August 29th, 2025.

REGISTER NOW

Questions? Contact Sun Joo Kim at sunjoo@charrettevg.com.

What FOUNDATIONS participants are saying:

“The CVG Foundations felt like a crash course in business college. So valuable!” - Aaron Day, AIA, LEED AP, Lloyd Architects

“FOUNDATIONS provided just that - a solid amount of foundational information related to all aspects of running a small architecture firm. The collective knowledge of CVG’s team and resources provided are a wealth of information.” - Meghan Teague, Teague Studio

”The CVG FOUNDATIONS program covers a multitude of different topics, from strategic planning to finance. The CVG experts were easily accessible to ask specific questions in the Q&A sessions. It was a lot of material but it was nice to be able to go back to it and reference it. The material was helpful for our firm retreat and other internal visioning/future planning excercises.” - Liz Pisciotta, AIA, LEED AP, Neiman Taber Architects

Register Now for Summer FOUNDATIONS

$1,950

Summer Access Includes:

☑️ Unlimited access to video content and resource downloads

☑️ Inclusion in the CVG Foundations peer Slack community

☑️ Four, hour-long 1:1 private coaching sessions with a CVG content expert based on your topic preference

☑️ A FOUNDATIONS Concierge to help curate your experience

REGISTER NOW

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Meet Your Summer FOUNDATIONS Concierge

Sun Joo Kim
Director of Leadership Development / Senior Management Consultant, CVG

Sun brings over twenty years of experience in architectural practice to her Senior Management Consultant role at CVG, where she focuses on helping firm owners improve financial and operational aspects of their businesses. With a passion for developing teams, Sun Joo supports clear communication and building trust. She has led teams and studios in both private and public realms including the Smithsonian Institution, Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and the State of Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality. Her most recent civic engagement is directing a pro bono project for a women's and children's day shelter in Portland, Oregon.

As a published author and contributor to books, magazines, and news blogs, Sun Joo is adept at communicating complex ideas and goals to diverse groups. She enjoys facilitating conversations to reach shared understanding and is often invited as a moderator and speaker for workplace and diversity, equity, and inclusion issues.

An active advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion, Sun Joo co-founded Diversity in Design, a professional resource group for designers of color. She has led and championed DEI committees and task forces for organizations such as the Urban Land Institute and the CREW Network. Sun Joo holds a Bachelor of Architecture with an Additional Major in Social History from Carnegie Mellon University. She is based in Portland, Oregon.