I'm a big music fan, so when I see one of my favourite
Jon Clayton:bands is on tour, I immediately start to feel FOMO about it.
Jon Clayton:I want to get that ticket.
Jon Clayton:Just imagine if you could create FOMO, that fear of
Jon Clayton:missing out for your business.
Jon Clayton:If you could generate a buzz about the events that you run,
Jon Clayton:or build genuine excitement and urgency about working with you.
Jon Clayton:I'm joined by the original FOMO creator, Mei King Zhang, who will
Jon Clayton:share her proven strategies to build a buzz and excitement about what you
Jon Clayton:do on this episode of Architecture Business Club, the weekly podcast for
Jon Clayton:small firm founders who want to build their dream business in architecture
Jon Clayton:and enjoy more freedom, flexibility and fulfillment in what they do.
Jon Clayton:I'm John Clayton, your host.
Jon Clayton:I know that building an architecture business can feel hard, especially
Jon Clayton:if you're a sole practitioner.
Jon Clayton:The good news is that you don't have to do it alone.
Jon Clayton:Last year, we launched our membership community to a small
Jon Clayton:group of founding members, including architects, architectural
Jon Clayton:technologists, and interior designers.
Jon Clayton:We meet online each week and occasionally in person to support
Jon Clayton:each other in building our businesses and to have some fun along the way.
Jon Clayton:On the 1st of March 2025 we are opening the doors to a
Jon Clayton:limited number of new members.
Jon Clayton:If you'd like to join this supportive group of like minded
Jon Clayton:professionals, now's your chance.
Jon Clayton:Just go to www.
Jon Clayton:architecturebusinessclub.
Jon Clayton:com forward slash waitlist or click the link in the show notes and enter your
Jon Clayton:details so we can let you know when and how you can join this incredible group.
Jon Clayton:And if you have any questions, just email john, that's j o n
Jon Clayton:at architecturebusinessclub.
Jon Clayton:com.
Jon Clayton:Now, let's find out how to build some FOMO in your business.
Jon Clayton:Mei King Zhang is the original FOMO creator, generating buzz and excitement
Jon Clayton:to help sell out your next event.
Jon Clayton:FOMO means the fear of missing out, and in business, that is a good thing.
Jon Clayton:FOMO helps raise your profile, sells your products and services, gets
Jon Clayton:people to your expo, and increases footfall to your trade show booth.
Jon Clayton:Mei King has been helping clients generate FOMO since 2012, both
Jon Clayton:online and in person, and she is available now to help you too.
Jon Clayton:You can connect with Mei King Zhang on LinkedIn,
Jon Clayton:LinkedIn,
Jon Clayton:just click the link in the show notes.
Jon Clayton:Mei King, welcome to Architecture Business Club.
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: How are you, John?
Jon Clayton:It's so lovely to see you.
Jon Clayton:I'm very well thank you, yeah.
Jon Clayton:It's a shame this isn't in person, but you know, online is, online is good too.
Jon Clayton:But yeah, it's, it's a pleasure to have you here.
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: Well, thank you so much for having me.
Jon Clayton:Awesome.
Jon Clayton:May King, before we get stuck into our topic I've heard that
Jon Clayton:you've got a, a growing interest.
Jon Clayton:That you've, do you like that?
Jon Clayton:The pun.
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: I do.
Jon Clayton:I do.
Jon Clayton:Do you want to tell me about that new, uh, interest outside of work?
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: Absolutely.
Jon Clayton:Well, we have something in common, don't we?
Jon Clayton:We tell to kill plants.
Jon Clayton:not
Jon Clayton:anymore.
Jon Clayton:Because this year, I've decided, well, last year, actually, I've decided.
Jon Clayton:Steve, my partner, potters around in the garden all the time.
Jon Clayton:My garden looks amazing, or our garden looks amazing, and it's
Jon Clayton:because I've not touched it.
Jon Clayton:But I thought, you know what?
Jon Clayton:I really ought to get involved.
Jon Clayton:Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Jon Clayton:So, whilst Steve is tending to his bonsai, um, I'm helping him a
Jon Clayton:little bit and we are doing little bits around the garden and he's
Jon Clayton:teaching me stuff and it's fantastic.
Jon Clayton:So yeah, that's my hobby outside of work.
Jon Clayton:Oh, that sounds really cool.
Jon Clayton:Um, as you sort of alluded to there I am not very green fingered.
Jon Clayton:My, my wife is the one that sort of tackles the garden and the planting.
Jon Clayton:And, I have even managed to kill a cactus on my day.
Jon Clayton:I, I over,
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: Really?
Jon Clayton:watered it.
Jon Clayton:Who knew?
Jon Clayton:Who knew?
Jon Clayton:I just thought, plants, they need water, but apparently you can very
Jon Clayton:easily overwater and kill a cactus.
Jon Clayton:So, um, I've got one now that's hanging in there.
Jon Clayton:I've not killed it yet, so maybe things are looking up.
Jon Clayton:Anyway, we are going to talk about something that I'm really
Jon Clayton:excited to talk about this.
Jon Clayton:And it's something that some of the listeners, they might
Jon Clayton:not be familiar with it.
Jon Clayton:So, I think it's going to be a really interesting topic.
Jon Clayton:We're going to talk about FOMO, so that architecture firms can build a buzz.
Jon Clayton:They can build some excitement about what they do.
Jon Clayton:I think really, the best place to start is for you to just explain
Jon Clayton:to everybody, what is FOMO?
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: Well, uh, thanks for asking the question, John.
Jon Clayton:FOMO, for those of you not Danwick kids, uh, means the fear of missing out.
Jon Clayton:Now, it is part of everyday parlance because, um, we often look on
Jon Clayton:Facebook and we think, Oh gosh, our friends are going on holiday again.
Jon Clayton:Oh gosh, that person's got a new car.
Jon Clayton:You know, and all that kind of, and we feel a little bit sad, don't we?
Jon Clayton:We, we, we feel the sads a little.
Jon Clayton:However, In business, as you alluded to in my bio, it is
Jon Clayton:actually a really good thing.
Jon Clayton:If you've built that buzz, that hype, and that excitement in your business,
Jon Clayton:and other people are talking about you and their, um, and your, uh, business,
Jon Clayton:that generates that fear of missing out.
Jon Clayton:And then people think, Oh my gosh, I better not miss out.
Jon Clayton:I better buy that thing, or I better go to that stand, or I better go
Jon Clayton:and talk to that architecture firm.
Jon Clayton:So in.
Jon Clayton:business, FOMO is actually a really good thing.
Jon Clayton:And so that's what I do.
Jon Clayton:I teach people to, um, well, I explain and teach people how they can do it.
Jon Clayton:And I'm also hired to create that FOMO for people too.
Jon Clayton:And I have had the pleasure of seeing you in action at conferences
Jon Clayton:and events creating that FOMO live, and it is pretty amazing to watch.
Jon Clayton:If anybody meets Mei King in person, you need to check out
Jon Clayton:how fast she can use her phone.
Jon Clayton:It is unbelievable the speed that she can tweet at.
Jon Clayton:I've, I've never seen anyone be able to tweet as fast as Mei King.
Jon Clayton:It must be a record.
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: Can I, can I share my personal best?
Jon Clayton:yeah, go on then.
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: It is, it's 1, 276 tweets.
Jon Clayton:It reached 31 million people.
Jon Clayton:Um, I was also at that conference we met, I spoke twice.
Jon Clayton:Um, so not only was I a public speaker, I was a FOMO creator.
Jon Clayton:Did all the tweeting, as I've just said, I also created Instagram posts and stories
Jon Clayton:and, uh, did lots of interviews as well.
Jon Clayton:And because of that hype, that FOMO that I generated, um, that particular
Jon Clayton:conference, they sold 55 percent of their tickets for their next event.
Jon Clayton:At this event, so that's why FOMO works.
Jon Clayton:It works not just for conferences.
Jon Clayton:That's my specialty, but not just for conferences, but that's why it's
Jon Clayton:important to create that buzz and hype by creating live social media content.
Jon Clayton:So it can help you to sell tickets or sell your products and services.
Jon Clayton:Yeah, absolutely fantastic.
Jon Clayton:Which I guess this leads nicely into the next question I wanted to ask
Jon Clayton:because state the obvious, not everybody is going to be organizing a big
Jon Clayton:conference or a big event, particularly for a small architecture firm.
Jon Clayton:They might be organizing some events, but who is FOMO for?
Jon Clayton:Can you sort of tell us about the, who is this for?
Jon Clayton:Because it's not just for people that are organizing big conferences, is it?
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: No, absolutely not.
Jon Clayton:Um, it is for architects.
Jon Clayton:It is for architect firms.
Jon Clayton:Uh, it's for anyone who is involved in the architect industry um, to gain their
Jon Clayton:presence and gain more visibility online.
Jon Clayton:So, uh, before you, you know, um, the end result is to Um, you know,
Jon Clayton:get that, gain that customer, but how do we gain that customer?
Jon Clayton:Well, you can't just thrust a business card at somebody, can you?
Jon Clayton:No, we don't like to be sold to.
Jon Clayton:So how do you do that?
Jon Clayton:How can you get people really buzzing, excited about and hyped
Jon Clayton:about who you are and think, Oh, I've got to talk to the architect
Jon Clayton:or I've got to talk to that firm.
Jon Clayton:Well, this is where FOMO is really, um.
Jon Clayton:You know, uh, where it's all at really.
Jon Clayton:And so I have a five step process, John,
Jon Clayton:to generating that FOMO.
Jon Clayton:And it all begins with your brand.
Jon Clayton:Now, John, you're amazing online because you are everywhere.
Jon Clayton:And, you know, uh, I worked for Google for a year and, uh, with Google, they
Jon Clayton:said that, um, you have seven seconds to impress somebody when they're
Jon Clayton:looking at you from their desktop.
Jon Clayton:And that's reduced to four seconds if they're looking
Jon Clayton:at you from their smartphone.
Jon Clayton:So people are not just Googling, they're looking at your socials.
Jon Clayton:And if you haven't posted for like, you know, three months, then that leaves a
Jon Clayton:bad taste in someone's mouth, you know?
Jon Clayton:So.
Jon Clayton:You know, for architects and people involved, um, you know, in a firm, your
Jon Clayton:branding is so important, getting your presence online, um, showcasing that you
Jon Clayton:are an expert in your field, um, building relationships with people online and in
Jon Clayton:person, letting the world know what it is you do on a daily basis, you know, a
Jon Clayton:day in the life of an architect firm or an architect, um, you know, these are the
Jon Clayton:kind of things that you can post about.
Jon Clayton:If you've got glowing testimonials from your clients, you definitely
Jon Clayton:need to share them as well.
Jon Clayton:Don't keep that to yourself, get them shared.
Jon Clayton:And then when the time is right for your lurkers, because let's
Jon Clayton:face it, John, we've all got lurkers on the socials, right?
Jon Clayton:Ha ha ha
Jon Clayton:Absolutely.
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: When the time is right for your lurkers, they will
Jon Clayton:slide into your DMs and then you can get the conversation started.
Jon Clayton:So, that's my five step process to, uh, FOMO in a nutshell.
Jon Clayton:Ha ha ha ha!
Jon Clayton:B R A N D. Anyway, um, but, um, yeah, a lot,
Jon Clayton:dig into that a bit
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: yeah, yeah,
Jon Clayton:sure.
Jon Clayton:we've got, we've got an understanding of now
Jon Clayton:what FOMO is and who it's for.
Jon Clayton:So let's, can we dig into that a little bit more about how we can create this
Jon Clayton:FOMO for ourselves and for our business?
Jon Clayton:Do you want to take a little bit more time to talk us through
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: ha ha
Jon Clayton:Yeah, sorry, I get so hyped.
Jon Clayton:I just go blah blah blah talk a hundred miles an hour So I talked about the five
Jon Clayton:step process, which I just mentioned which is B for branding So, you know
Jon Clayton:getting your socials all perfect, not perfect, but you know getting your bio
Jon Clayton:up your you know your Pinned post or your featured post, you know, wherever
Jon Clayton:you are on the socials, make sure that that tells the world what it is you do.
Jon Clayton:As I say, if you, if people are looking at you and you've only got seven seconds
Jon Clayton:before they switch on to something else, make those seven seconds or Four
Jon Clayton:seconds on your smartphone counts, you know, that's what we mean by branding.
Jon Clayton:So making sure that wherever you are, and you don't have to be on
Jon Clayton:all socials, but where you are on the socials, just make that count.
Jon Clayton:Try and look at your profile and your content as an, uh,
Jon Clayton:you know, um, objectionally.
Jon Clayton:objectionally.
Jon Clayton:And see if people, if you think people will be interested in that.
Jon Clayton:Then R is, the second step is relationship building, R. And it's
Jon Clayton:not just about posting on socials.
Jon Clayton:It's about getting into conversations.
Jon Clayton:Can you get into conversations with people?
Jon Clayton:Not to sell your business card and, you know, and say come buy, buy my stuff.
Jon Clayton:But genuinely have conversations where you can help people.
Jon Clayton:Is there an opportunity to showcase your expertise anywhere?
Jon Clayton:There are loads of conversations that are being had on LinkedIn
Jon Clayton:or Instagram or wherever you are.
Jon Clayton:Can you get involved in some of them and maybe steer people your way?
Jon Clayton:Then A, The third step is for authority.
Jon Clayton:You've got to show that you're an expert.
Jon Clayton:You can't tell the world that you're an expert with your business card.
Jon Clayton:So writing about what you've done, uh, where you've helped people, you know,
Jon Clayton:um, John, you're helping people all the time with this incredible podcast.
Jon Clayton:You're sharing your expertise, your knowledge.
Jon Clayton:You're bringing all these fabulous guests on.
Jon Clayton:So.
Jon Clayton:sharing that with the world, your expertise on what you do, that gives,
Jon Clayton:you know, your lurkers, you know, give them a bit of credibility because
Jon Clayton:they'll think, Oh, this person really knows what they're talking about.
Jon Clayton:And then, as I mentioned earlier, um, you know, to share your
Jon Clayton:testimonials, N is for notoriety.
Jon Clayton:Now, I don't mean be famous and be like a Kardashian, but
Jon Clayton:definitely share your testimonials.
Jon Clayton:Don't keep them to yourselves, explain to the world how you got the testimonial,
Jon Clayton:what kind of work you did for them.
Jon Clayton:And this is the result, you know, tell that story.
Jon Clayton:And then, as I mentioned, when your lurkers, when the time is right for
Jon Clayton:them, they will slide into your direct messages, D. So D is for direct messages.
Jon Clayton:And so, uh, it means that you no longer need to.
Jon Clayton:actively go out and do the cold, cold calling because your lurkers will
Jon Clayton:get excited and slide into your DMs.
Jon Clayton:That's how a lot of my clients come to me because they've seen what I've shared
Jon Clayton:and they think, Oh, she's an expert.
Jon Clayton:Um, she might be good for, um, you know, my, uh, firm, slide into her,
Jon Clayton:her DMs and that's what's happened.
Jon Clayton:Does that make sense?
Jon Clayton:Absolutely.
Jon Clayton:Yeah.
Jon Clayton:I love the way that you've explained it.
Jon Clayton:And I love the fact that there's a framework there.
Jon Clayton:I love a framework, you know, the acronym, acronym's brilliant.
Jon Clayton:Um, What kind of Information or content that we, we could share
Jon Clayton:with people constitutes as FOMO.
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: FOMO?
Jon Clayton:any opportunity that you can show, showcase your expertise
Jon Clayton:and also the way that you can talk around your subject as well.
Jon Clayton:So, um, you know, as you know, people don't buy from you
Jon Clayton:because of your price point.
Jon Clayton:People buy from you because they like you, they've gotten
Jon Clayton:to know you, they trust you.
Jon Clayton:So how can they buy from you?
Jon Clayton:Build that, you know, how can they get to know you?
Jon Clayton:How can they build that trust and how can they, you know, like you?
Jon Clayton:So you don't have to talk about just architecture and
Jon Clayton:just your work all the time.
Jon Clayton:Talk about you as a human being.
Jon Clayton:And this is where people can get to know you.
Jon Clayton:Now, um, my dad always told me never to laugh like that.
Jon Clayton:Cause he said it would get me into trouble.
Jon Clayton:But out of respect for my dad, I don't laugh like that when I'm in front of him.
Jon Clayton:But I know that when I laugh like that, it makes other people laugh.
Jon Clayton:And so I want to make people feel at ease.
Jon Clayton:So out of respect to my dad, I don't laugh when I'm with him.
Jon Clayton:But in that way, but I'll laugh everywhere else because this is my genuine life and
Jon Clayton:people either love it or they hate it and it's part of my, you know, personality.
Jon Clayton:And in fact, there was one time where Steve cracked a joke and I thought it was
Jon Clayton:hilarious, started laughing my head off.
Jon Clayton:Um, he recorded it because he thought it was ridiculous and I just put it up on, on
Jon Clayton:the socials and I got so many DMS for it.
Jon Clayton:Is that going to get me sales?
Jon Clayton:No.
Jon Clayton:But it will get people to know who I am as a person and that know, like
Jon Clayton:and trust factor is so important before we get to the salesy bit.
Jon Clayton:So um, you know, share human stories, not necessarily related
Jon Clayton:to your business all the time.
Jon Clayton:Um, but you know, obviously share about your, um, um, your business as well.
Jon Clayton:Yeah.
Jon Clayton:And, and when we talk about sharing some personal stories and that
Jon Clayton:type of content doesn't have, it doesn't have to be super personal.
Jon Clayton:Like it can be, it can show, share part of your personality, but you
Jon Clayton:get to choose, you know, what, what you share and what you don't share.
Jon Clayton:So we're not talking about airing your dirty laundry online, I suppose it's
Jon Clayton:just sort of picking out the kind of some strands from your life or your personality
Jon Clayton:that are things that you're comfortable to share that, you know, will help build
Jon Clayton:a bigger picture of, of you so that you are like people can connect with the human
Jon Clayton:side of it, that you're not just some work You are actually a real person behind this
Jon Clayton:business because people buy from people.
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: Absolutely.
Jon Clayton:And, um, you know, there are people who do choose to, um, share
Jon Clayton:stories about their children.
Jon Clayton:Um, I'm a pet parent, so I will talk about, uh, Missy.
Jon Clayton:But then there will be some people who do not talk about their, um, family.
Jon Clayton:And this is what is powerful.
Jon Clayton:You get to decide what you want to put out onto the socials.
Jon Clayton:And with regards to airing your dirty laundry, um, you know, I know
Jon Clayton:some people who do bang on about their life all the time, but it's
Jon Clayton:what makes them feel comfortable.
Jon Clayton:And for me, um, I talk about my mental health journey sometimes, you know, I
Jon Clayton:want to bang on about it because it's.
Jon Clayton:Boring!
Jon Clayton:But, um, a few times where I have shared, um, you know, where things went, you
Jon Clayton:know, didn't go well for me, um, I have had people who have sent me DMs and
Jon Clayton:said, Thank you so much for sharing that.
Jon Clayton:I'm going through this too.
Jon Clayton:And we've had a great conversation.
Jon Clayton:And, you know, from a human level, that's, you know, that's really, really important.
Jon Clayton:Um, And I have managed to win a couple of clients that way.
Jon Clayton:That's not why I did it though, you know.
Jon Clayton:Um, so, not everything that you put out online has to be calculating and
Jon Clayton:towards your, you know, to your goal.
Jon Clayton:It's whatever make, whatever makes you feel comfortable.
Jon Clayton:Um, so, um, but ultimately people want to know you as a human first before you
Jon Clayton:as an architect firm or as an architect.
Jon Clayton:Yeah.
Jon Clayton:I like the way that you framed that.
Jon Clayton:Thinking back at some of the posts that I've put out on the socials on
Jon Clayton:like, LinkedIn, for example, some of the posts that had had the most
Jon Clayton:engagement have been the fastest.
Jon Clayton:posts to put together.
Jon Clayton:It's literally just been a
Jon Clayton:quick
Jon Clayton:quick selfie and I'd be out somewhere and maybe it was just something I
Jon Clayton:thought of I wanted to share and it was just really quick and easy and then
Jon Clayton:it's like those have been the ones that have really resonated because they've
Jon Clayton:been, I've not overthought it too much so it's been authentic and it's shown.
Jon Clayton:a little bit of me and, um, that that you mentioned about talking about mental
Jon Clayton:health that it's showing a little bit of vulnerability and that's something that
Jon Clayton:really does help to build connection with people and that's something that
Jon Clayton:depending on who you are, like there's going to be, you mentioned about, it's
Jon Clayton:about what, what feels comfortable to you.
Jon Clayton:So there's going to be some people that might feel more comfortable than others.
Jon Clayton:To talk about those sorts of things, but it's finding that
Jon Clayton:balance for yourself, isn't it?
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: Absolutely.
Jon Clayton:Uh, and I think as well, uh, we are in danger of, uh, comparing
Jon Clayton:ourselves to other people.
Jon Clayton:Um, and thinking, oh gosh, you know, look at them, look at what they've
Jon Clayton:done, look at what they've shared.
Jon Clayton:You know, they're having such a great time and, you know, uh, and then
Jon Clayton:you look at yourself and you think, oh no, you know, what do I think?
Jon Clayton:Listen, do not compare yourself.
Jon Clayton:You know, do not compare your journey with anybody else's journey.
Jon Clayton:You do what is right for you.
Jon Clayton:You do what is comfortable for you.
Jon Clayton:Um, there's a fabulous lady that I follow because I've helped people create
Jon Clayton:FOMO in the pet, uh, business industry and she swears like a trooper online.
Jon Clayton:Now, I think it's hilarious, but for me, and I swear like a trooper when,
Jon Clayton:you know, when I've had a few drinks and stuff, but for me and my branding.
Jon Clayton:I don't feel comfortable in my branding to do that.
Jon Clayton:I'll laugh like a silly person, but I won't swear with my branding.
Jon Clayton:Um, but that's no judgement against this fabulous lady who swears like a trooper
Jon Clayton:because that's her branding and it helps her to get, you know, lots of sales.
Jon Clayton:And it's all, you know, all hats off to her.
Jon Clayton:It's amazing.
Jon Clayton:So do what is comfortable.
Jon Clayton:for yourself.
Jon Clayton:Um, and, and like I say, don't think about it too much.
Jon Clayton:I mean, it's quite frustrating, isn't it, John?
Jon Clayton:Where we think, oh, we'll do this post and we, we think, oh
Jon Clayton:yeah, this is going to be great.
Jon Clayton:And we, you know, we thought really hard, long about it.
Jon Clayton:And we, you know, done the video, posted it up, two likes.
Jon Clayton:We take a selfie, you know, yeah, crickets, yeah.
Jon Clayton:And then we take a selfie just.
Jon Clayton:Pop it up there and then we get loads of engagement.
Jon Clayton:Uh, it's crazy.
Jon Clayton:Uh, it actually happened to me yesterday.
Jon Clayton:I created a, um, um, uh, a video, uh, I'm part of a 30 day challenge to do.
Jon Clayton:A video every day, so I've decided to create a tip, a FOMO tip
Jon Clayton:every day for 30 days, and I'm gonna convert that into a book.
Jon Clayton:And, uh, I just did it quickly off the fly, no edits or
Jon Clayton:anything, just posted it up there.
Jon Clayton:And it was the biggest engaged video that I've ever done!
Jon Clayton:And the ones I've thought really long and hard with.
Jon Clayton:Crickets, like you say.
Jon Clayton:It's just how it happens at
Jon Clayton:how it works out, isn't it?
Jon Clayton:Yeah, I recall, chris Doe, he published a video that I saw on his socials not
Jon Clayton:that long ago in the last couple of months, um, and it'll still be up there.
Jon Clayton:I wouldn't know where to find it, but it's on there somewhere.
Jon Clayton:He was talking about, um, showing up authentically, and how people talk about
Jon Clayton:authenticity, and you know, be authentic.
Jon Clayton:And
Jon Clayton:He was talking about the gap, like this authenticity gap between how, like how you
Jon Clayton:show up versus how you are in real life.
Jon Clayton:And he was saying that the differences between like how you show up online
Jon Clayton:versus like how you are in private.
Jon Clayton:And he said that the narrower that gap is, You know, if you show up
Jon Clayton:more like you, you are in private, then that gap is much narrower and
Jon Clayton:it's going to be more authentic.
Jon Clayton:Because often when we do decide to start making content and showing up online,
Jon Clayton:we're, like, sometimes we'll try to present, like, to be somebody else or to
Jon Clayton:present a different version of ourselves because we think that we need to be
Jon Clayton:that way because that's how we think we need to show up for other people.
Jon Clayton:And you think, what, you know, what could be easier than just being yourself?
Jon Clayton:But that's the thing is actually being yourself and being really comfortable in
Jon Clayton:your own shoes to show up can actually be quite difficult for many people.
Jon Clayton:Bizarrely, and you'd think it would be the easiest thing in the world.
Jon Clayton:I remember going to some in person networking events where I didn't
Jon Clayton:know anybody and I remember like I went and I, I dressed differently.
Jon Clayton:I turned up and I presented myself differently because I, I expected,
Jon Clayton:oh, I need to come across a bit more professional and a bit more businessy.
Jon Clayton:Whereas like the usual me is just like t shirt, jeans, hoodie.
Jon Clayton:And that's how I am, you know, and I'm, I'm a lot more kind of relaxed about
Jon Clayton:like the most sort of non businessy person that you probably would meet.
Jon Clayton:So that, I just thought that was something interesting to mention
Jon Clayton:actually about, you know, when we're talking about sort of showing up and
Jon Clayton:Being yourself online ideally if you can
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: Yeah.
Jon Clayton:Absolutely.
Jon Clayton:so Hey King, let's get back on track to talk about FOMO
Jon Clayton:because I know that I've heard you talk about different types of FOMO.
Jon Clayton:So I'm wondering if you could just share with everybody what those
Jon Clayton:different types of FOMO are and if you could perhaps give some examples?
Jon Clayton:Remember, don't forget to join the wait list for our membership community,
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Jon Clayton:Now, back to the show.
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: Absolutely.
Jon Clayton:So before we recorded this podcast, I did what's known as pre FOMO.
Jon Clayton:So before the thing that you're going to do.
Jon Clayton:So as I say, as we've mentioned before, it's not exclusive to
Jon Clayton:events, it's what ever you are doing.
Jon Clayton:Um, so before the thing that you're going to do, you know, if you're about
Jon Clayton:to head into a meeting, uh, if you're about to, um, I don't know, potentially
Jon Clayton:partner up with somebody, I don't know, I'm giving terrible examples, but
Jon Clayton:whatever it is before you're about to do, that's the pre FOMO, um, period.
Jon Clayton:And so you can do a quick selfie or a quick, uh, note, uh, And make it about the
Jon Clayton:event that's going to happen, you know, so you can make an event out of anything.
Jon Clayton:So, you know, I've spoken to lots of product based businesses and service
Jon Clayton:based businesses and helped them to understand how they can create an event
Jon Clayton:out of anything by generating that.
Jon Clayton:Pre FOMO, you're setting up the anticipation.
Jon Clayton:Oh, we're just going to get started.
Jon Clayton:Oh, we're just going to meet.
Jon Clayton:We're just going to do this.
Jon Clayton:Um, and you can remind people, you know, if it's a three weeks time, you're
Jon Clayton:about to meet the person, you can post about that and then a day before, so
Jon Clayton:excited to talk about, um, that person, talk to that person, so creating lots
Jon Clayton:and lots of posts in the lead up to the thing that you're about to do.
Jon Clayton:That's a pre FOMO.
Jon Clayton:Live FOMO.
Jon Clayton:is, as it suggests, live.
Jon Clayton:So, not exactly in the meeting itself, because that would be wrong, but if you've
Jon Clayton:had a meeting, you know, just after the meeting, uh, you can do a quick selfie,
Jon Clayton:or if you feel brave enough, uh, if you're ready to, you can do a quick, um,
Jon Clayton:video and say, just had a great meeting.
Jon Clayton:You obviously don't need to the ins and outs because you want
Jon Clayton:to generate that FOMO, right?
Jon Clayton:But share a few points from, you know, from the meeting that you've had and
Jon Clayton:then post FOMO, that's the last period you could say, Oh, this time last week
Jon Clayton:we had a great, you know, meeting about la la la, or this time last week went
Jon Clayton:to a fantastic trade show when, you know, I met up with all these people.
Jon Clayton:So this is the pre.
Jon Clayton:Live and post.
Jon Clayton:Um, and you can do that for anything.
Jon Clayton:Um, absolutely anything.
Jon Clayton:It doesn't need to be exclusive to events or meetings.
Jon Clayton:It's whatever you're doing in your business life.
Jon Clayton:Oh, I love that.
Jon Clayton:So I think if we were to try and give a simple example for an architecture,
Jon Clayton:an architectural designer, it could be something as simple as, let's say
Jon Clayton:you were visiting a property, you, you'd got a new client, or you had a
Jon Clayton:project that you're going to look at.
Jon Clayton:Maybe it's somebody that's thinking about doing something to their home.
Jon Clayton:So the pre FOMO could be a post.
Jon Clayton:A text post or an Instagram story, anything like that
Jon Clayton:to say, I'm just outside.
Jon Clayton:I'm in the car.
Jon Clayton:I'm just outside this property.
Jon Clayton:I'm about to go in.
Jon Clayton:I'm really excited.
Jon Clayton:The homeowners, they're thinking about doing this exciting extension
Jon Clayton:and I'm really looking forward to discussing it with them.
Jon Clayton:Or it could be some some photos about like the before photos of the property.
Jon Clayton:And then the live FOMO could be the, like, immediately afterwards.
Jon Clayton:It could be, Oh, just got out of the meeting.
Jon Clayton:It went absolutely amazing.
Jon Clayton:I'm so excited to start working on this design and to share my ideas with you.
Jon Clayton:And I suppose then the post FOMO could be, you know, a week or two later, maybe
Jon Clayton:you've done some sketches or you've got the design prepared for the customer.
Jon Clayton:You're taking the audience on this whole journey, aren't you?
Jon Clayton:There's this story arc from the pre FOMO to the live FOMO to the post FOMO.
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: Absolutely.
Jon Clayton:That's something that would be really simple for
Jon Clayton:people to do in whatever way they decide to create the content.
Jon Clayton:Whether it's text, or photos, or little videos, depending on
Jon Clayton:what they're comfortable with.
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: Yes.
Jon Clayton:But that would be a really simple way that they could start creating
Jon Clayton:some buzz about what they're doing.
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: Fantastic.
Jon Clayton:Yeah.
Jon Clayton:Um, and, uh, thanks for, um, uh, creating that, uh, illustration.
Jon Clayton:Obviously, we need to gain permission from the customer, of course.
Jon Clayton:Um, but if the customer actually has a business, I mean, you're
Jon Clayton:supporting them as well.
Jon Clayton:You know, if you tag them, they'll absolutely love it too.
Jon Clayton:So it's a, you know, it's an absolute, uh, win win.
Jon Clayton:Um, so And remember that on social media, all your followers or fans or connections,
Jon Clayton:they're not going to see everything that you do, you know, what we still we've got
Jon Clayton:far too much time to stalk on, you know, a particular person see everyone's post.
Jon Clayton:So, you know, you can never post too much, you know, you can do lots
Jon Clayton:of pre FOMO, you can do lots of.
Jon Clayton:Live FOMO, you know, you can say in case you missed it.
Jon Clayton:These are the designs that, you know, we came up with.
Jon Clayton:So creating lots and getting into the habit of creating
Jon Clayton:content for your lurkers.
Jon Clayton:Cause that's one of my phrases, create content for your lurkers there kids.
Jon Clayton:Um, because you never know when the time is right for your lurker,
Jon Clayton:they will slide into your DMs.
Jon Clayton:And it's interesting.
Jon Clayton:You talk about a story arc because, um, I know, um, listeners
Jon Clayton:won't be able to see this.
Jon Clayton:But, uh, John, you can see the Truman Show poster that I have behind me.
Jon Clayton:We have the power to create our own Truman Show.
Jon Clayton:We can decide what we want to put out onto the socials.
Jon Clayton:Unlike, um, Jim Carrey's character from the Truman Show, he didn't
Jon Clayton:know he was being recorded.
Jon Clayton:Everyone was hooked, you know, they wanted to know his trials,
Jon Clayton:tribulations, ups and downs.
Jon Clayton:And when he decided he didn't want to be recorded, he escaped and then
Jon Clayton:everybody went on their own merry way.
Jon Clayton:And that's the same with us.
Jon Clayton:If you don't create your own Truman Show, if you don't post on the socials,
Jon Clayton:socials,
Jon Clayton:people will ignore you.
Jon Clayton:They'll find someone else who is visible on the socials.
Jon Clayton:So that's why it's important to create that story arc. Pre
Jon Clayton:FOMO, Live FOMO, Post FOMO.
Jon Clayton:Yeah.
Jon Clayton:that's fantastic.
Jon Clayton:Well, firstly, that's a timely reminder that I haven't seen the Truman Show
Jon Clayton:for ages, so I'm gonna have to dig the DVD out and watch that again,
Jon Clayton:because that is an amazing movie.
Jon Clayton:I love that
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: Way ahead of its time.
Jon Clayton:It's amazing.
Jon Clayton:Amazing.
Jon Clayton:Yeah, I think sometimes as well, I think one of the things that
Jon Clayton:will hold people back is thinking, well, who's going to be interested in this?
Jon Clayton:Like, honestly, who is going to be interested?
Jon Clayton:But people love this stuff.
Jon Clayton:Like, the things that we do in our day to day working life
Jon Clayton:that we find, or maybe think,
Jon Clayton:other people
Jon Clayton:find mundane.
Jon Clayton:People will absolutely love it.
Jon Clayton:They like to see behind the curtain, behind the scenes, to understand
Jon Clayton:what goes on in businesses.
Jon Clayton:and
Jon Clayton:You've mentioned again about lurkers.
Jon Clayton:It's so true that there are so many lurkers out there, and particularly
Jon Clayton:with something like architecture.
Jon Clayton:If you think about how, if you're making a purchasing decision, so
Jon Clayton:if you were thinking about buying something, let's just say on, on Amazon
Jon Clayton:or another, there are other online retailers available, but let's say
Jon Clayton:you're thinking about buying something.
Jon Clayton:If I, I might think a while.
Jon Clayton:Even for something that costs less than, less than a hundred quid, I might spend
Jon Clayton:ages researching it and thinking about it.
Jon Clayton:And if I was making a bigger purchase booking a holiday or buying a car
Jon Clayton:or something like that, like I would spend a long time thinking about it and
Jon Clayton:researching it, same for architecture.
Jon Clayton:Like people are, they're not just whether it's.
Jon Clayton:a person and they're doing something to their home, or whether it's a business,
Jon Clayton:potentially that overall project could be tens of thousands of pounds.
Jon Clayton:You're, you as an architect, the fee might not be all of that, it may just
Jon Clayton:be a small proportion, but they're going to be thinking about this for
Jon Clayton:a heck of a long time potentially.
Jon Clayton:So those Lurkers, you could have people on your socials that are lurking around
Jon Clayton:for a long, long time, like it could be over a year before they decide to
Jon Clayton:slide into the DMs and to get in touch.
Jon Clayton:So it is so important, isn't it, to be making content to keep people's
Jon Clayton:attention and keep them interested.
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: Absolutely, because everyone, uh, is on a different journey.
Jon Clayton:Um, you know, every lurker You know, we're all lurkers, aren't we?
Jon Clayton:We lurk on other people's stuff, you know?
Jon Clayton:It's okay to be a lurker.
Jon Clayton:Not a stalker, but a lurker.
Jon Clayton:Um, and You know, lurkers are on different, um, parts
Jon Clayton:of the journey with us.
Jon Clayton:You know, some of us have known us for years.
Jon Clayton:Some of us have only just met us.
Jon Clayton:So creating that constant stream of content, um, you know, is really
Jon Clayton:important to let people know.
Jon Clayton:Uh, and sometimes, you know, those, in case you missed it posts, you know, I
Jon Clayton:see why am I posts are really important because, you know, there will be people
Jon Clayton:who didn't see it, so it's, it's okay to.
Jon Clayton:Uh, share your story again and again, we call it repurposing,
Jon Clayton:you know, repurposing our content.
Jon Clayton:Um, you know, I did it this week, you know, I had a video, uh, that I thought,
Jon Clayton:Oh my God, this is actually really good.
Jon Clayton:Even if I might say so myself and I shared it and it's from an
Jon Clayton:interview that I did four years ago.
Jon Clayton:Actually, it was.
Jon Clayton:ChatGPT, John, is amazing.
Jon Clayton:My sister and I were, were fiddling on ChatGPT, um, and, um, she just
Jon Clayton:put in, um, what, uh, are there any FOMO consultants out there?
Jon Clayton:Now, consultant's not a word I normally use, but chat, ChatGPT
Jon Clayton:actually recommended me and cited a source, which is an interview
Jon Clayton:that I did four years ago with, um, a company in America, uh, lately.
Jon Clayton:ai.
Jon Clayton:So, you know.
Jon Clayton:That is really important.
Jon Clayton:So I've been creating content for such a long time and you never know
Jon Clayton:when you can reuse it again And
Jon Clayton:And uh,
Jon Clayton:I'm telling you now, I'm milking that Quite a while.
Jon Clayton:The fact that ChatGPT thinks I'm the number one expert in FOMO, of course
Jon Clayton:Of course you are.
Jon Clayton:Absolutely.
Jon Clayton:Yeah.
Jon Clayton:Yeah.
Jon Clayton:The one and only,
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: Absolutely.
Jon Clayton:yeah, we've talked and shared some great ideas.
Jon Clayton:There's some simple things that people can do to start creating
Jon Clayton:some FOMO in their business.
Jon Clayton:What equipment do we need?
Jon Clayton:You know, what equipment do we need to get started to create some FOMO?
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: Your phone.
Jon Clayton:That's it.
Jon Clayton:Okay, and I would say we've all got one.
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: Yeah, exactly.
Jon Clayton:We don't need to procrastinate and think, oh, we need the latest video
Jon Clayton:equipment we need a mic and all that.
Jon Clayton:No, your phone!
Jon Clayton:How hard is it to take a photograph?
Jon Clayton:It's not.
Jon Clayton:That's it.
Jon Clayton:Just get started.
Jon Clayton:You know, take a photograph.
Jon Clayton:Be brave.
Jon Clayton:That's it.
Jon Clayton:That's the thing that's holding us back from, you know, creating content.
Jon Clayton:Be brave and think, this is going to help me.
Jon Clayton:This is going to help my firm.
Jon Clayton:You know, this is going to get me out on socials.
Jon Clayton:I'm going to gain a reputation online just as good as the one face to face.
Jon Clayton:That's what I'm going to do.
Jon Clayton:That's all you need a phone.
Jon Clayton:That's, let's just leave it at that.
Jon Clayton:Brilliant.
Jon Clayton:So we just need a phone.
Jon Clayton:So that's nice and easy for everybody to get started.
Jon Clayton:What would be the main thing you'd like everybody to take
Jon Clayton:away from this conversation?
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: I would just like people to Get started.
Jon Clayton:It doesn't matter where you are.
Jon Clayton:Get started.
Jon Clayton:You know, breathe.
Jon Clayton:Be brave.
Jon Clayton:And start.
Jon Clayton:That's it.
Jon Clayton:Um,
Jon Clayton:that.
Jon Clayton:And is there anything else that you wanted to say about FOMO that we, we haven't
Jon Clayton:already covered in the conversation?
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: Um, no, like I say, I want you to give it a try, and
Jon Clayton:maybe message me if you're not sure.
Jon Clayton:Just, you know, send me a DM, slide into my DMs on LinkedIn, and just
Jon Clayton:ask me, May King, is this okay?
Jon Clayton:Remember, my first name is May King.
Jon Clayton:Is this okay?
Jon Clayton:And, you know, and we can have a bit of a chat, and, um, and,
Jon Clayton:uh, you know, I can help you.
Jon Clayton:Uh, but Getting into the habit of posting something about your life
Jon Clayton:as a person, as well as, um, a business, um, and just write something
Jon Clayton:and you never know who's watching.
Jon Clayton:And like John said earlier, you know, we might think it's boring, you know,
Jon Clayton:what we do, but it will be really interesting to the untrained eye, to the
Jon Clayton:person who is looking for an architect.
Jon Clayton:So, you know, showcase your expertise, um, and, uh, and don't be afraid.
Jon Clayton:Thanks making there was another question I want to ask you.
Jon Clayton:It's something I like to ask all of the guests on the show.
Jon Clayton:It's about travel.
Jon Clayton:I love to travel.
Jon Clayton:I love to discover new places.
Jon Clayton:And I was just wondering if you could tell me about one of your favourite
Jon Clayton:places and what you love about it.
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: That's like choosing one of your favorite children, isn't it?
Jon Clayton:And they
Jon Clayton:don't
Jon Clayton:Tuffy.
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: even have children!
Jon Clayton:Um,
Jon Clayton:Um,
Jon Clayton:I Oh, golly.
Jon Clayton:Um, do you know, I'm gonna be a bit biased here.
Jon Clayton:I guess Hong Kong.
Jon Clayton:Um, because my, uh, my dad is, uh, from Hong Kong.
Jon Clayton:My mum was born in China.
Jon Clayton:Um, and it's just a magical, magical place.
Jon Clayton:Um Let's just leave it at that.
Jon Clayton:It's just, it is literally a 24 hour city.
Jon Clayton:There's lots of cities that claim their 24 hours, like London and, you know,
Jon Clayton:they close up at two, three o'clock.
Jon Clayton:But, but Hong Kong, literally a 24 hour city.
Jon Clayton:And it's just so magical.
Jon Clayton:Fabulous.
Jon Clayton:Kong,
Jon Clayton:what a fantastic place.
Jon Clayton:I, um, I had the good fortune to be able to visit there.
Jon Clayton:I think it was back in
Jon Clayton:2006
Jon Clayton:I want to say so crikey.
Jon Clayton:It's like nearly 20 years ago.
Jon Clayton:That's making me feel old.
Jon Clayton:But it was only a short visit.
Jon Clayton:It was a stopover and I was part of a bigger Backpacking trip and I had a
Jon Clayton:few days in Hong Kong and I absolutely loved it and one of the things that
Jon Clayton:made it really special was at the time I was part of a A community is
Jon Clayton:probably still going it was called
Jon Clayton:couchsurfing
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: oh
Jon Clayton:And it was a bit of a precursor to Airbnb, where you could
Jon Clayton:like go and couch surf, you could go and stay at somebody's home and
Jon Clayton:it was, it was free, or you could meet somebody and they would just
Jon Clayton:act as your like local tour guide.
Jon Clayton:And I, when I went to Hong Kong, I was only there for a few days
Jon Clayton:and I thought, well, it's such a big city and I don't really know.
Jon Clayton:Where I'm going and everything.
Jon Clayton:And I, I managed to find a couple of people that lived in Hong Kong.
Jon Clayton:There was a lady that lived there.
Jon Clayton:She was from Hong Kong.
Jon Clayton:And then there was another guy that was a. Chinese American student that
Jon Clayton:I then was studying over in Hong Kong.
Jon Clayton:I was on some kind of work placement.
Jon Clayton:And I met these people and it, we'd never met before other
Jon Clayton:than a few messages online.
Jon Clayton:And it was amazing.
Jon Clayton:Like they, they were like my personal tour guides around Hong
Jon Clayton:Kong for this weekend I had there.
Jon Clayton:And it was so much fun.
Jon Clayton:I got to just experience a little bit of culture and.
Jon Clayton:You know, I went to visit some places that I wouldn't have found otherwise.
Jon Clayton:And I, you know, I had some really nice food as well.
Jon Clayton:And like street food and things that I wouldn't have known what I was ordering.
Jon Clayton:And they're like, Oh no, we'll, we'll order this, try this and try that.
Jon Clayton:And it was so much fun.
Jon Clayton:So yeah, I'd, I'd love to go back one day, be a good place to go and visit.
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: absolutely.
Jon Clayton:Yeah, cool.
Jon Clayton:Well, look, thank you so much, May King.
Jon Clayton:I really appreciate you bringing the FOMO to the show today.
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: You are welcome.
Jon Clayton:Where is the best place for people to connect with you online?
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: Yeah, it's probably LinkedIn actually.
Jon Clayton:So making sang, that's M A Y K I N G T S A N G. Uh, that's probably
Jon Clayton:the best place you can catch me.
Jon Clayton:Awesome.
Jon Clayton:And if they want to learn more about you, could you remind everyone
Jon Clayton:of your website address as well?
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: It's FOMOcreator.
Jon Clayton:social.
Jon Clayton:Perfect.
Jon Clayton:Fantastic.
Jon Clayton:Well, thanks again, May King.
Jon Clayton:May King Tsang: Thanks, John.
Jon Clayton:John!
Jon Clayton:Next time, Sarah Noelle Block shares how businesses with
Jon Clayton:tiny or non existent marketing departments can build a lean marketing
Jon Clayton:engine to grow their business.
Jon Clayton:Thanks so much for listening to this episode of architecture business club.
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Jon Clayton:If you want to connect with me, you can do that on most social media platforms,
Jon Clayton:just search for at Mr. John Clayton.
Jon Clayton:The best place to connect with me online, though is on LinkedIn.
Jon Clayton:You can find a link to my profile in the show notes.
Jon Clayton:Remember.
Jon Clayton:Running your architecture business.
Jon Clayton:Doesn't have to be hard and you don't need to do it alone.
Jon Clayton:This is architecture business club.