Building Collabed with Alex Ramsden

EP 009

Alex Ramsden is the Founder of Collabed, a social media platform for built environment professionals across the globe.

The platform offers Jobs, Events, Networking, and support for people working or studying in the new year.

Alex started Collabed in the Pandemic, and has grown the community to in excess of 11,000 members globally.

Visit Collabed: Collabed.co.uk 

EVERYDAY DETERMINATOR PODCAST

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Transcript

https://www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/9FqBG_CaZBFJOu-NOa0gGK9MiGimk1XaUjt-p4oPaRnwMCdGt4YTy1JS6waZ91T8cl1WEgV_w5BAsMAz07Wc9MkHfcU?loadFrom=SharedLink

Speaker 1 (00:00):

Welcome to the Everyday Determinator Podcast with your host, Anne Okafor founder of the Determinator Collective. We want to help you get off that hamster wheel of life and turn you into an Everyday Determinator by sharing stories from our guests who have overcome varying challenges in life and careers, and by reviewing and signposting you to helpful resources to start you on the journey to achieving your goals.

                For more information on the Determinator Collective, please visit www.anneokafor.com.uk. Thanks for listening, Determinators.

Anne Okafor (Host) (00:50):

Hello, Determinators, and welcome to the Everyday Determinator Podcast. In this episode, we're joined by Alex Ramsden. Alex is the founder of Collabed, which is a social media platform for people in build environment disciplines. He also sits on advisory boards of the Chartered Institute of Building and the Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists.

                It's great to have you here, Alex.

Alex Ramsden (01:12):

No, thanks for having me. Yes.

Anne Okafor (Host) (01:13):

It's great to be chatting to you looking. I'm forward to learning more about Collabed and what you're doing in general with your career, understand you, [inaudible 00:01:22] about going into architectural technology. What attracted you towards that career in the first instance?

Alex Ramsden (01:28):

Yeah, so, well originally I wanted to be an architect. This was back when I was probably 10 years old or so or even younger. I've always wanted to design stuff. I like doing that. I used to have a Lego set and all that, which I enjoyed doing.

                And then, I learned about how long it would take to be an architect. It was seven years and felt like a long time, and that was about [inaudible 00:01:48] start. And then I realized it was more conceptual design. I know it's a bit of everything, but then I came across architectural technology when I started working. I did a two-year apprenticeship course first in construction management.

                And then after that, I joined into practice called Domestic Designs, and they did [inaudible 00:02:07] versions and extensions, stuff like that. And then, that was when I spoke to all of them. All three of them had done, they'd gone through the architecture technology suite. So it was more technical design. And they said, "Oh yeah, it's three years."

                And yeah, it was a bit condensed, and it was just to build or make sort technical stuff, not so much the conceptual design. And I realized that's kind of what I liked more. And then, yeah, ended up going University of Northampton and did it part-time to start with, and then finished it last year, going full-time for the last couple years.

Anne Okafor (Host) (02:37):

Sometimes it's not until we're presented with the options that we actually understand what it is about, something that we're drawn to more. So for your instance, you were more drawn towards the technical side. And for me in the construction side, it wasn't until I was really presented with planning as an option that I was like, "Yeah, that's what I want. That's exactly the things that I like to do," so yeah, I think it's sometimes not until we get shown all these different options, isn't it?

Alex Ramsden (03:05):

Yeah, yeah.

Anne Okafor (Host) (03:05):

I think you mentioned that you had people that worked at the company that had kind of maybe influenced that slightly?

Alex Ramsden (03:12):

Yeah. It was just by hearing about it, really. So I know [inaudible 00:03:14] isn't something that see it themselves. Instead it's that they're not as well-known, even in the general public. Everyone's heard of an architect, but not everyone's heard of an architecture technologist. And yeah, it's something that I'm hoping is getting there. I think it is. I think more people are becoming aware of it. It's a different profession to just an architect. And yeah, it's something, if I didn't join it, I probably wouldn't have heard of it at all. So I only heard that three colleagues.

                And yeah, so I ended up joining the course. Well, the person, one of the people I was with actually did exactly the same course. She had just finished it the year before I started and recommended it. It was nearby, so I could keep working and doing university.

Anne Okafor (Host) (03:54):

Yeah. I mean, that's always good as well, isn't it? Learning at the same time, which makes things a little bit easier.

Alex Ramsden (04:00):

Yeah, definitely. And I'd definitely recommend doing it as well. I was never planning to do it, but I did my A-levels. I didn't do well. So I saw the apprenticeship rate, and I realized that you could get paid as well as learning as well as get experience. So I thought, why not? And then, yeah, that's why I joined peer living for two years, apprenticeship week and yeah, got paid at the same time. So yeah, that's obviously great to be 17, 18. And then managed to get a level-3 BTEC from that and then went into university afterwards.

Anne Okafor (Host) (04:31):

It's tough. So tell us a little bit about Collabed. What was your thought process behind taking the action to start Collabed to begin with?

Alex Ramsden (04:41):

Okay. Yeah, so Collabed, it started off during the second lockdown in the UK, which is November, 2020. And then, we wanted to create an online space to do CPDs. That's how it started, really. So normally in any architect practice, someone will come in during lunchtime. I'd sit in with an hour and just go through a CPD session, which is a requirement for most institutes anyway, but it's also, it's just continued professional development.

                And then that was stopped because of lockdown, so a lot went online, and I thought, well, there's no real limit how many people you can have on an online CPD. So I thought it was a good idea to try and get an audience together and then get people to come to present to us. And I think we did one every week for a couple of months. And yeah, then that's where it started. And then we expanded that a little bit more into a natural social network, a bit more of a community, going a step further.

Anne Okafor (Host) (05:33):

So tell me about the things you're doing just now. And I know you're doing some events and competitions, and then you have job boards, and you're kind of almost advocating for that sort of digital expansion and construction. So do you want to tell me a little bit about what you're doing with Collabed at the moment?

Alex Ramsden (05:49):

Sure, yeah. So since November, 2020, when we launched our idea, we did a couple launches of just CPDs. And then in February we started working on the actual website, which launched in March. And then that was kind of a standard, a simplified version of a website, of a social network.

                And then we started working on another more advanced website, which we [inaudible 00:06:11] funded a bit for as well, which we raised a couple 1,000 pounds for. And then that went to creating more detail social network, which had competition to, say, events, CPDs, had some more social network elements. So there's a feed. There's groups, there's a directory. Everyone has their own profile, so you can add your own CV, you can add your own portfolio.

                And yeah, we'll keep posting events, and yeah, so it's a bit of everything, and we're still bringing out new ideas, and yeah, we're looking at creative community now, design stuff and to almost freelancing work, and a few other things which will come out over the next few months.

Anne Okafor (Host) (06:47):

Yeah. That's excellent. So lots and lots going on. So what would you say is the benefit to your users of joining the platform?

Alex Ramsden (06:55):

Yeah. So it's works completely free. It's easy to join. It takes a couple of minutes, if that. It's a bit like LinkedIn. So, it's the same idea, the same features. Obviously not as advanced yet, but we'll keep working on it. But our kind of niche is that it's just construction. It's a bit more specific so the content you see is more relevant to you rather than just anything that comes up in LinkedIn. And yeah, so it's a bit more communities, more aimed at graduates, so I say at the moment. We have a lot of people there looking for graduate jobs. And yeah, so it's just a closer-knit community online, rather than just LinkedIn, which is just for everyone.

Anne Okafor (Host) (07:30):

Are you posting jobs fairly regularly?

Alex Ramsden (07:33):

Yep. So yeah, we're partnered up with [CiA 00:07:37], so we're able to share their jobs on site. We're looking at the same with a couple more companies, hopefully, and yeah, just posting jobs directly as well, which we've had a few on. And yeah, so it's quieting down a bit at the time of recording, because it's almost Christmas, but yeah, during the new year we'll have a lot more coming on every week. And yeah, we'll be working on that.

Anne Okafor (Host) (07:56):

Good. So across your academic career or even starting the business, have you had mentors involved in the process, and if so, what has the impact of those mentors been to the process?

Alex Ramsden (08:11):

Yes, since we launched the website, June, 2021 in the last month, say in October, we've put on a few mentors for a company called Dawn, which is [inaudible 00:08:21] scheme, I guess. We've had three or four people on board now, and yeah, it's been a big help, because this is the first time I've done anything business-wise, and there's a few people involved as well. It's probably five or six us, and we're all in construction, but not done businesses before. And especially as it's social network, it's not technical side as well, software development, yeah so that's been a big help to get advice from that side of things as well. And now we're looking at [crosstalk 00:08:47]

Anne Okafor (Host) (08:47):

Well, and different expertise too, to supplement what you have within your admin team already.

Alex Ramsden (08:54):

Yeah, yeah. And yeah, so we're advising on their aspects, like the tech side, but then also advising, got some co-founders aboard, so on technical side or the content, community management side, and again with recruitment or B2B side of as well, which we're lacking at the moment, but hopefully we'll have on board soon.

Anne Okafor (Host) (09:12):

Excellent. So yeah, things are looking up. Lots and lots happening, and lots and lots in development as well.

Alex Ramsden (09:22):

Yeah, definitely. It's going to be a good few months, hopefully. Yeah, it's starting to pick up properly now. And since running kind of set a space since June now, hopefully trying to take it to the next level, trying and grow it a bit more, trying to get some more money behind it, essentially. And take it to the next [crosstalk 00:09:38].

Anne Okafor (Host) (09:38):

You've had quite a good growth anyway, in terms of your signups and things like that, looking at your social posts and things. So I take it the intention is to heighten that even more and get more people signed up and so that more people get the value of what you offer in the website, the job boards [crosstalk 00:09:56].

Alex Ramsden (09:56):

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, 100% Yeah, so our target for this year, 2021, was to get 10,000 users by the end of the year. And we've hit that already. We have 10,500 now.

Anne Okafor (Host) (10:07):

[crosstalk 00:10:07].

Alex Ramsden (10:06):

And yeah, it's been great to see people signing up. As I say, it's all free. People are liking the idea, I think. And it's something that's missing at the moment. So hopefully we can keep working on that.

Anne Okafor (Host) (10:17):

Excellent. So, while that's all well and good and wonderful, what would you say is your biggest challenge in launching a new business?

Alex Ramsden (10:26):

It's definitely getting, well, it's like trying to start getting new revenue in, I guess. At the moment, it's a social network rather than an actual business, but it's trying to get trust out there as well, just because there's a lot of different online brands out there. Because it's all online, it's harder to trust, because you've never met the person. A lot of people I worked with, I've never actually met them first. And yeah, so trying to get businesses on board, try getting them enough trust to post jobs on the site. That's probably what we're struggling with at the moment. But then once we can get past that stage, which I'm sure will happen, it's getting easier each day, and working with CiA and CIB and other companies as well. Yeah, it takes time, but it's definitely getting there now.

Anne Okafor (Host) (11:07):

Just building that presence, isn't it? And that's tough to get a community. And like you say, you've been doing all this through lockdowns and various lockdowns. People haven't been able to come out. You haven't really been able to meet with people or engage with people in the ways that you might have usually attempted in the past.

Alex Ramsden (11:25):

Yeah. And it's a bit strange as well, because obviously lockdowns and all that, it's a new thing. No one had heard of it before 2019 really, 2020. And yeah, so actually start off a business as well, it's quite different, because no one's really got any advice for you as well, because no one's done it before.

Anne Okafor (Host) (11:43):

Yeah, [inaudible 00:11:44], isn't it?

Alex Ramsden (11:44):

Yeah. Yeah, and there's advantages to it as well. It's a lot easier. So, I can talk to anyone across the world because of the Internet access. So, there's less time traveling around as well. So that's been a helpful thing, and because it's online, the whole business idea, it's all online, has not really stopped us growing. And we thought it might be slightly different once lockdown had finished, but it's not slowed down at all, which is really good.

Anne Okafor (Host) (12:06):

That's really good to hear. Is there anything you would maybe do differently to what you've done? Any lessons you've learned along the way?

Alex Ramsden (12:13):

Definitely now, yeah. Now that I've gone through all the steps, I realized if I did it again, I could definitely condense it, because it's taken us 12 months to get where we are now. And if I knew what I was doing at the start, it probably would have only taken three months, just because I know the process to take now. But because we had to figure out as we were going along, because we'd not done it before, it was all, yeah, well, business side, it's completely new learning curve. I mean, I've done business studies back in A-level or GCSEs, but I've never, obviously, this is actually doing it in real life. And yeah, it's completely different to what I thought it was, but it's been fun. I've enjoyed it. And it's something I didn't realize I would like that much, and starting it. Yeah, so it's been good.

Anne Okafor (Host) (12:51):

Yeah, I think it's always that extra time built in when you're learning something new, isn't there? Just to find your feet, and you don't know what you don't know, I think. That's the thing. And I'm similar with doing the Podcast, is that it's learning, but you leave yourself enough time to make sure that you've got time for something that comes up.

Alex Ramsden (13:10):

Yeah.

Anne Okafor (Host) (13:10):

Just in case something comes around that you don't know about, you haven't allowed for.

Alex Ramsden (13:15):

Yeah, yeah. As you say, it's a learning curve, and it's nothing really to compare it against as well. It's not like there's a track that, "Oh, after three months, you need to be at this stage," because every business is different. There's no real guide. And you can get advice, but it's difficult for social networks as well, because there's not that many of them. You've obviously got the big ones like LinkedIn and Facebook or whatever, but obviously, it's quite hard to have a chat with him. And yeah, you can't really, to do it for your own social network ,and because it's construction-related as well. That's another [crosstalk 00:13:42].

Anne Okafor (Host) (13:42):

It's very much about building relationships, isn't it? What you're trying to do, and that takes time. It's not just a case of selling a product and buying something, "Oh, I like that. I'll buy that." It's about building a relationship so that people want to come and join, but also want to stay.

Alex Ramsden (14:00):

Yeah.

Anne Okafor (Host) (14:01):

And that does take more time, I guess, as well.

Alex Ramsden (14:04):

Yeah. As we've had lots of users, it's just trying to, okay, getting them interacting with the site. Competition has been a great way of doing that. We've had people keep entering images. We've done a come of competitions so far on the new site, and yeah, it's been a great way of keeping the community interacted.

Anne Okafor (Host) (14:21):

It's a great way for people to showcase their portfolios and stuff as well.

Alex Ramsden (14:24):

Yeah, yeah.

Anne Okafor (Host) (14:25):

I've seen some of them, and some of them are absolutely incredibly talented.

Alex Ramsden (14:29):

Yeah, Definitely. That's one of the things we've been doing as well is just sharing portfolios, as well as doing through competitions, so having a sort of social network on social media and LinkedIn or Instagram, which has been a free thing we can do to help out communities. So yeah, why not? If we can help people get jobs, that's one of the reasons why we're set up. So, yeah. [crosstalk 00:14:49]

Anne Okafor (Host) (14:48):

No, I'm sure there'll be people that benefit from being part of the process.

                So do you have a go-to app or a go-to resource that makes your life a bit easier? Something that you found along the way? And how does it make your life easier?

Alex Ramsden (15:02):

Not so much. Don't really have an app now. I mean obviously use Calendars and Tasks, writing down stuff like that. It's not on paper, do it on Google Drive, I use quite a lot, spreadsheets through that. But in terms of other apps, not really. Obviously, LinkedIn and social network apps, I've used a lot, because that's how we're getting our message out there. But apart from that, to organize, not so much. Just yeah, Google Drive or One Drive I use as well.

Anne Okafor (Host) (15:29):

Okay. Cool. So lots and lots going on with clubs, and you're building and growing the community. What's your ambitions for the next sort of say maybe five years for yourself and for the social network? What do you see Collabed being in five years?

Alex Ramsden (15:47):

Yeah, I'm hoping we can keep growing it. In five years, I'm hoping to get a full social network, a lot more complex, a lot more work had gone into it. [inaudible 00:15:58] app as well. Hoping to bring this amount of money in and, well, hopefully try and, while we're looking at building as almost like matchmaking thing between job seekers or candidates and job [inaudible 00:16:12], so you have Indeed and LinkedIn and stuff like that at the moment, which are job boards. Or LinkedIn, obviously is more of a social network as well, but trying to take it a step further, trying to actively match users to jobs, but recommending courses and stuff like that.

                So it's a more complicated social network we're trying to meet to, I guess. And then yeah, hopefully in five years that'll be easy set up. Definitely in construction, perhaps more in other industries as well if we can get it working. But yeah, that's where. We're right at the start of that journey now. We'll see how the next few months go. If we can get investment behind the idea, then that will definitely give it a kick and allow us to do or allow myself to work on it full-time as well.

Anne Okafor (Host) (16:55):

And obviously that allows you to offer something a lot more tailored and personalized for your users, to the end users.

Alex Ramsden (17:02):

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And we want keep it personalized. Even if we go into other industries, we want keep that focus of you can filter what you see rather than Facebook and LinkedIn. Automatically, it's never what you want, but we hope that our actual feature filters to social feed, so you can filter out what industry you want to look at, what parts of that. You can narrow it right down. And then, it's more [inaudible 00:17:26] power to the user, I guess, rather than trying to just rely on automated systems.

                And then yeah, just filtering out what you don't want to see, really. A lot of people complain about on LinkedIn, especially, always seeing that post and random posts. And people know how the algorithms work, so they exploit it just to get more views, and then everyone's seeing posts they don't want to see, and it's not relevant to them. So if we can fix that issue, I think that'll be a big thing to do, and hopefully that'll get a lot of traction as well.

Anne Okafor (Host) (17:56):

Yeah. Sounds very exciting. Lots of hard work to go, though.

Alex Ramsden (18:01):

Yeah. Yeah. Trying to get my head around that at the moment on how much is involved. But yeah, as I say before, we're at the start, so we'll see how it looks in a few months. [crosstalk 00:18:08]

Anne Okafor (Host) (18:08):

Well, if we're still recording Everyday Determinator in five years, we'll come back and do a check-in and see how you've gone. Tell me, what inspires or motivates you on a daily basis or who? It might be a person. What or who inspires you?

Alex Ramsden (18:24):

More the community as well, just getting messages and interacting from them, say a few people we've spoken to. I've never met them in person, but just talking to them online, just seeing them interact with all the things we're doing, like events, competitions. That always motivates me as well. Seeing people apply to jobs as well, and showing that hopefully we are helping out.

                We had a instance where our company worked for Resolution Studios. Jamie, who is the director there, he sent a thank-you note once, because we managed to get him a few applicants for his job position, and we're helping him again now. And yeah, that's been a massive piece, actually seeing that we're actually are making a positive difference.

                Yeah. And it is hard to see right now, because everything's online. You don't really see what you're doing. It's not almost not real, because it's obviously your screen, you're not actually interacting with people that much. As the time goes on, we will. Obviously we're doing more in-person events soon. And yeah, so that should help. Yeah, just more motivation as well, but that's what I've found motivating as well, seeing what we're doing to actually making a difference.

Anne Okafor (Host) (19:24):

That's great. I mean, that's really good to hear, obviously, because that's why you set this thing up, to make a difference and to add value to your community. So, that's really good to hear that it's having that impact.

                And what about hobbies? Do you have hobbies away from what you do with the construction industry? What do you like to do in your downtime?

Alex Ramsden (19:43):

Yeah, I do. Yeah, obviously, you've got to take time out. Maybe so often, you've got work constantly. One of the advisors thought to actually, she just basically was saying, "Don't work on the weekends," whichever, which I started doing before, especially as I'm working full-time at the same time as doing Collabed. Definitely trying to take more times out. So, days out over the weekend, and yeah, then spare time, just trying to stay [inaudible 00:20:06] really. Just a weekend away, trips out, can see different places. We've just come out from a trip to Chichester, south of England, which was really nice, Christmas markets and stuff like that.

                So yeah, that's what I kind of like doing, really, just taking time out. And days out.

Anne Okafor (Host) (20:22):

Well, I think it's important. It is really important to get some time out away from this. And especially when you're working full-time and doing Collabed as well and trying to build that. There's a lot of work involved in both of those tasks. So, it is really important.

                What would your top tips be, from your experience, for someone who may be in a similar situation to you, just now maybe working and maybe trying to set up something or work towards another goal on the side?

Alex Ramsden (20:49):

It is difficult, definitely. I guess it's give an organized 100%, because if you don't, it would just, you end up working on two different things in life, you're doing anything. If you try and set the hours, you're actually going to work on something. So obviously, during the day, you'll be working on your day job issues. Working full-time as well, you'd be working on that. And then anytime apart from that during the week, you'd be focusing on your side project, I guess. Yeah, keeping organized, definitely top tip.

                Another tip, it is difficult, because it is so just trying to keep the two separate as well, I guess.

Anne Okafor (Host) (20:49):

Yeah.

Alex Ramsden (21:24):

So I'd say organization, definitely the top one.

Anne Okafor (Host) (21:27):

So can you please tell our listeners where they can connect with you and-or Collabed if they wish to know more, like your social handles, so that we can then we'll include them in the show notes?

Alex Ramsden (21:37):

Yeah.

Anne Okafor (Host) (21:38):

On the blog [inaudible 00:21:39] company, but if you just tell them so they can hear as well.

Alex Ramsden (21:43):

Of course. Yeah. So the actual Collabed, so we're on all social networks. On Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, it's @collabedsocial. So C-O-L-L-A-B-E-D, social, all one word, no spaces or anything.

                And then LinkedIn, if you just type in Collabed in Company Pages, that should come up. And then for myself, yeah, LinkedIn will be the best one apart from Collabed itself. So yeah, just Alex Ramsden, search for that. Hopefully I'll come up. And then yeah, the actual website is collabed.co.uk. And then yeah, as soon as you get there, just see which is the right one. I think if you type in Collabed on Google, we're the first one that comes up as well.

Anne Okafor (Host) (22:19):

Good so far. Well we'll include those links into the show notes so that people can direct to the website and to the socials as well, to keep with things like your events and your competitions that are not coming. You know, I know you do them regularly, so that'll give people a chance to see what you're up to and to get updates on, on all the new stuff that you're in development with as well. So that was great, Alex, thank you so much for sharing your experience and telling us about Collabed. It was really great to have you here. It sounds like a fabulous platform. We really appreciate you joining us today. You're remarkable. Definitely. Whenever you're bouncing back from a challenge or storming forwards, the Determinator Collective is here for you. Stay remarkable Determinator.

Speaker 1 (23:04):

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe so you don't miss when new episodes are posted. We will continue to deliver real-life insights on overcoming challenges, practical tips and advice on becoming unstuck with a collective of people just like you, our Everyday Determinators. Until next time, take care of yourselves and your friends. Thanks for listening, Determinators.