It is the start of 2026, so in this episode, I'll be

doing a quick reflection on 2025.

I'll also share what I've been up to over the Christmas break and remind

you of what's in store for this show in 2026 and stick around to the end where

I have a special gift to share with you.

Welcome to Architecture Business Club, the show that helps you enjoy more

freedom, flexibility, and fulfillment whilst running your architecture business.

I'm John Clayton, your host, and if you're joining us for the first time, don't

forget to hit the follow or subscribe button so you never miss another episode.

So first things first.

Happy New Year.

I hope you've had a fantastic festive break and that you did manage to take

some time off, uh, of the festive period.

I wanted to begin by just doing a really quick reflection on 2025.

So, look, I'm gonna be honest, 2025 has not been one of my favorite years.

Personally and professionally it's been quite a challenge, um,

particularly over the summer.

But there's also been some good stuff too.

Aside from the architecture business called podcast, I also started producing

CIAT's where it's at Podcast back in May, which I've really enjoyed

working on that show too, and I've also helped several of other people

to get started in podcasting, which.

I, I absolutely love podcasting.

It's something I'm very passionate about.

So that type of work really fills my cup, so to speak.

And that help has been through, uh, one-to-one VIP days through

group workshops and podcast strategy and coaching work.

This show also passed its hundredth episode milestone.

That's a milestone that less than 7% of podcasts reach.

So I'm really proud of that achievement.

We've also recently, passed 25,000.

Downloads and counting.

Another amazing achievement this year, which I'm, I'm really proud

of and personally, I had an amazing family holiday in the summer and

a couple of nice short stays away as well, which were memorable.

Um, One at the Norfolk Coast, which I thoroughly enjoyed later in the year.

And I managed to attend some fantastic events, uh, including the podcast show.

You are the media's Creator Day and Atomic on a amazing conference up in

Newcastle for small business owners.

I also got to see one of my favorite bands Live Iron Maiden at London Stadium.

That was some epic show.

Well, if you also managed to attend that, if you did, you were very lucky.

It was a, it was a real treat for, for any fan of that type of music.

So what have I been doing over Christmas?

So the Christmas holidays for me have been a mix of some dog walks,

bit of Lego building, some family board games, Christmas movies.

So we've watched a few classics.

Uh, home Alone, love actually.

Elf.

Um, I couldn't manage to convince my family to watch Die Hard this year.

For some reason they seem to think it's not a Christmas film, so we were very

much in disagreement on that point.

Um, but anyway, I digress.

I also ate too much food and enjoyed a festive drink or two with some friends.

My parents visited us for a week, which was really lovely and.

I even managed to go to a gig, um, with my wife and some friends.

We went to watch the Scar band, bad Manners in Cambridge,

which was an awful lot of fun.

I've also been developing a new service, which will help you stand

out online so you can attract better clients and bigger opportunities.

I'm really excited to share more about that in the coming weeks.

So looking towards the future, what can you expect from

Architecture Business Club in 2026?

I did talk about this a few episodes ago, so I'm just going to quickly go through

some of the changes that we're making.

So there's now gonna be full video and audio episodes for you to enjoy.

The edit on the episodes is gonna be a little bit.

Tighter.

Uh, so the episodes are gonna be better suited for YouTube, so we're

going to be able to produce an episode that we can put on YouTube.

So there's video and there's also audio too.

So, which means that we're just making this content more accessible, so we're

gonna be able to reach more people and help more people through this show.

It might mean that there's a few more ums and ahs that we choose to

leave in the episodes, but nothing distracting, there isn't gonna be

anything noticeable in terms of like, oh.

Well, it's now terrible quality or something like that.

That's not gonna be the case.

It's still gonna be good quality, good content for you to enjoy, to be

able to help you with your business.

New episodes will now be released fortnightly from January, 2026

onwards for the foreseeable future.

It may change, it may go back to weekly.

I don't honestly know, but right now.

It's gonna be fortnightly.

The episodes are going to be interview based, so that's the main type of episodes

that we have been producing anyway, so there's not much of a change there.

But the solo episodes, if they do occur, may be a little bit more occasional than

the monthly episodes that I used to do.

And also there might be some ads.

So we might have a few ads once we secure a suitable sponsor.

But again, nothing incongruous.

Any ads are gonna be something that's gonna be helpful for you.

So it's not going to be something that's gonna be hugely distracting.

And to kick off the new year, have a, a little bit of a.

A gift for you, a special gift, a little bit of a bonus.

So what I'm going to be doing to kick off the new year on our focus on YouTube,

as well as this audio show, we will be publishing some of our previous audio

only episodes as full video episodes on our YouTube channel in January.

Now.

I honestly don't know yet exactly what days these episodes are going to drop,

and we haven't completely finalized exactly which episodes it's going to

be because in all honesty, some of the video edits are done already, but some

of them haven't been finished, so.

It's gonna be a bit of a surprise for me as well, I guess.

So the best thing to do is to head over to youtube.com/at Architecture Business

Club, so that's youtube.com/then the at symbol Architecture Business club.

Go and do that right now.

Hit the subscribe button so you get notified as soon as

those episodes are out and.

As for what else is in store for 2026 for this show?

Honestly, right now, I'm not 100% sure, so life has thrown

me a few curve balls in 2025.

So as I'm recording this episode at the very end of 2025, I'm not quite as

organized as I'd usually like to be.

Like you, I'm, I'm only human.

In any case, I've always wanted Architecture Business Club to

be something that is led by you.

So why don't you tell me what's the biggest challenge for you right now?

What would make running your architecture practice easier?

What would you most like help with and how can I help you further?

Drop me an email at John, that's JO n@architecturebusinessclub.com

to let me know.

Or if it's easier, you can send me a voicemail, send one in via architecture

business club.com forward slash voicemail, or just click the link in

the show notes to send your message.

So to wrap things up, remember our next new episode.

We'll be released a fortnight from now, so that's going to be on

Thursday the 15th of January, 2026.

You can still listen to episodes here, but if you'd like to watch

new episodes or at least have the option to watch new episodes, as

well as listen to the episodes and get access to the video versions

of some of our previous interviews.

Then head over to youtube.com/at Architecture Business Club right

now and hit the subscribe button.