At least once in their professional life, every architect is likely to ask themselves, "Should I start my own practice?" From there, there are countless aspects to weigh against one another, but it begins as a very personal question – what do I want to create, and where?
Longtime Archinector (and tiki-drink enthusiast) David Cole began a discussion in the forum to mull over such questions for himself, as he considers whether to start a firm in his hometown of Cincinnati, or brave new territory in Seattle. We invited him onto the podcast to talk about the process behind such a momentous decision, and swap personal stories from Donna and Ken's experiences working in new cities and running their own practices.
Listen to episode 44 of Archinect Sessions, "Stepping Out":
Shownotes:
The original You can't go home again. Or can you? forum discussion
Aaron Renn's Urbanophile blog
6 Comments
The art historian in me approves of the title image.
Moving to a different city and assuming you can just hang your own shingle is about the worst strategy ever. Networking is key, but in a capacity where people see what you are capable of - specifically building trades - reputation in a community is something that takes time to build, that happens is through the execution of built work and happy clients. References are key, can not stress this enough - especially if you can get contractors/consultants on your side - or clients with money that are happy with your services and have friends with money. All of this depends on executing something - not just going down and shooting the shit with the local AIA, arts commission, neighborhood development board...
Being independently wealthy helps - but most likely you will have to work for somebody else and moonlight till you have enough juice to cut ties - some risk there.
The other option is that you are already a superstar with a huge portfolio of built and published work - then you can just go wherever you want, but I think even then it can be difficult...
Chigurh, if you had listened to the podcast or read the discussion thread, you'd know that I don't plan to just move to a different city and hang out a shingle. I plan to work for another firm for at least several years, and if I get to a point where I feel it's the right thing to do, I'll start thinking more seriously about starting a practice. By that point I'd expect to have established some kind of network in town.
David, that was great. Thanks for sharing.
I think you're holding yourself back by thinking you're "not experienced enough". Maybe you haven't built the right network yet, but experience is a funny construct that the old guard uses to control younger architects. Stanford White was 19 years old when he struck out on his own. Most big name architects were running solo before they were 30. It's mostly about perceiving risk and networking correctly.
Since we linked to Aaron Renn's blog I just want to point out he has his shirts and suits tailored and look at those fucking cuffs, man. Perfect exposure. He is a strong argument for custom-fit clothing, which is also a strong argument for good design.
Null, fair point. I certainly have enough experience for 99% of the small projects that would most likely come my way when launching a new practice from scratch.
Building a network takes time before reaching that point, of course, as does building up a financial cushion.
One of these days I'll reach a point where I can afford a custom-tailored wardrobe... I must be a weird shape, because almost nothing I buy off the shelf ever fits me perfectly. But if I'm out in the Pacific Northwest I'm hoping I can get by with jeans, a button-up shirt, and a tweed blazer most of the time. I appreciate the importance of looking good, but I'd usually rather shoot myself in the face than wear a tie.
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