As some of you may know if you followed my previous posts over the last few months I am in a bit of a dilemma.
I run a very small, but relatively successful landscape architecture business in Colorado. We have earned better projects and do enough volume to keep myself and my wife and partner very busy. our projects are mostly small, and lots of odds and ends to pay the bills, including signage, art installations, graphics/illustration, etc.
We are in an area, geographically, where we feel extremely isolated. We live and work in a small valley with lots of wealth to keep the local construction industry chugging. We are both relatively young, mid 30's and eager to keep learning, experimenting with new ideas, new types of work, etc.
The dilemma is that we are doing OK here. We are making a decent living, work is coming in, and we are surrounded by beautiful landscapes. The problem is that we are not getting the types of projects we are passionate about--mostly residential, private, and others our hearts are not really in. The nearest urban center (culture, art, universities, etc) is a grueling 4 hour drive in often heavy traffic. And even still, that city is essentially landlocked with limited access to the aforementioned. Housing in our area is completely unaffordable for regular middle class folks, even despite the fact that we are doing well financially.
To make matters more complicated, we lucked out two years ago and purchased a condo bank owned for well below market value. Unfortunately it is a very small condo (approx 800sf). The real estate market is surging in our area and there is almost zero new construction on the horizon. Hence, we are very tempted to sell our place, take the cash and split.
We want kids and a bit more space and we also want to raise kids in a lace where they are not so sheltered. We want them to experience different cultures, like my wife and I did. I am afraid our little valley is a little too lily white. We want to be near a city or in a lace where we can have a littlre more mobility, accessing nature, recreation, several small towns (where we could set up shop), and bigger cities for lectures, learning, access to an employee pool.
We've gone as far in our thinking to consider closing our business and finding employment in a place where we think we could be happy, at least until we build up a network and feel comfortable going on our own again. We really want to find an area where we can access all kinds of different work and push creative boundaries, whereas in our current area, we feel a bit stifled.
I grew up in northern New England, wife is from Chicago area. We are considering both areas, though Chicago is kind of a bummer as we both love the mountains, skiing, hiking, biking, etc. Parts of Massachusetts, NH, and even VT seem like viable options??
Its very scary to me to think about giving up our business to take another leap of faith, but I also hate to think about the possibility of regretting not taking the leap to see what was out there. Who knows, maybe we could be even more busy elsewhere?
Anyone have experience with a similar situation? Any experience working in the areas mentioned?
I'm really confused about what to do. Any insight would be VERY much appreciated.
As some of you may know if you followed my previous posts over the last few months I am in a bit of a dilemma.
I run a very small, but relatively successful landscape architecture business in Colorado. We have earned better projects and do enough volume to keep myself and my wife and partner very busy. our projects are mostly small, and lots of odds and ends to pay the bills, including signage, art installations, graphics/illustration, etc.
We are in an area, geographically, where we feel extremely isolated. We live and work in a small valley with lots of wealth to keep the local construction industry chugging. We are both relatively young, mid 30's and eager to keep learning, experimenting with new ideas, new types of work, etc.
The dilemma is that we are doing OK here. We are making a decent living, work is coming in, and we are surrounded by beautiful landscapes. The problem is that we are not getting the types of projects we are passionate about--mostly residential, private, and others our hearts are not really in. The nearest urban center (culture, art, universities, etc) is a grueling 4 hour drive in often heavy traffic. And even still, that city is essentially landlocked with limited access to the aforementioned. Housing in our area is completely unaffordable for regular middle class folks, even despite the fact that we are doing well financially.
To make matters more complicated, we lucked out two years ago and purchased a condo bank owned for well below market value. Unfortunately it is a very small condo (approx 800sf). The real estate market is surging in our area and there is almost zero new construction on the horizon. Hence, we are very tempted to sell our place, take the cash and split.
We want kids and a bit more space and we also want to raise kids in a lace where they are not so sheltered. We want them to experience different cultures, like my wife and I did. I am afraid our little valley is a little too lily white. We want to be near a city or in a lace where we can have a littlre more mobility, accessing nature, recreation, several small towns (where we could set up shop), and bigger cities for lectures, learning, access to an employee pool.
We've gone as far in our thinking to consider closing our business and finding employment in a place where we think we could be happy, at least until we build up a network and feel comfortable going on our own again. We really want to find an area where we can access all kinds of different work and push creative boundaries, whereas in our current area, we feel a bit stifled.
I grew up in northern New England, wife is from Chicago area. We are considering both areas, though Chicago is kind of a bummer as we both love the mountains, skiing, hiking, biking, etc. Parts of Massachusetts, NH, and even VT seem like viable options??
Its very scary to me to think about giving up our business to take another leap of faith, but I also hate to think about the possibility of regretting not taking the leap to see what was out there. Who knows, maybe we could be even more busy elsewhere?
Anyone have experience with a similar situation? Any experience working in the areas mentioned?
I'm really confused about what to do. Any insight would be VERY much appreciated.
Thanks
^good advice.