Architecture in the Den: Let’s Get Digital with Sara Kolata

Lisa Raynes and Sara Kolata share their insights into how to maximise your online visibility and their favourite tech tools for doing so. This podcast is for architects interested in transforming their practice with digital tools: you may have no idea why you should develop your online visibility; or you may know that you want to, but don’t how to do it; or perhaps you’ve got a website and socials set up but you aren’t getting the response you desire. Host Lisa and her guest Sara Kolata are both strong advocates of digital media and tools. They find that leveraging tools that are literally on the smartphone in your hand is an easy and quick tactic to build profitability. Let’s face it, in the past year most interactions have had to go online, more teams are connecting virtually, and the latest platform, Clubhouse, has come along to offer new ways to get cut through. You could say that we are all digital natives now, whether we like it or not. Pride Road Franchise grew out of Founder Lisa Raynes’ refusal to accept that there was only one way for a woman to have an architecture career and a family life. She built her practice in the domestic sector, and then invested to turn her business into one that other ambitious architects wanting work/life balance can buy into. She’s had a seat on the RIBA Council (2015-18), been Chair of Women in Property NW and founded Manchester Curious, an urban architecture outreach festival. Digital tools are at the heart of the Pride Road Franchise model, from marketing and CRM, to delivering services entirely through zoom. https://www.prideroadfranchise.co.uk Sara Kolata is an architect and digital transformation expert. After running her own architecture practice, she learned the ins and outs of the service-based design industry. It was a beautiful journey but also one of the most powerful life lessons she experienced. After six years, Sara decided to never again rest 100% of her income sources on selling services. Entrepreneurship is about turning what excites you in life into capital so that you can do more of it and help others experience the abundance that surrounds us. Today Sara helps architect and designer experts build a digital presence and position themselves as experts online. She is interested in discovering and testing alternative ways of income generation for specialists in the architecture design industry as well as exploring limitless possibilities of online education. Sara believes that every business in the world has to embrace digital transformation in order to grow and expand.