For those of you that are self employed how flexible can you be with your schedule? It would also be helpful to know the size of the firm. Are you able to cram 5 days of work into 3 days then go for a long weekend a couple of times per year? Do you take vacations? If any employees have flexibility I would like to hear about that too.
I realize it is a tough road in any business and probably more so in architecture. Am I misleading myself thinking that by being self employed I will have plenty of flexibility in work life? (please don't mis-interpret this question as can I be lazy and work 10 hours a week)
Not exactly self employed, but have a flexible schedule.
4 10 hour days
Fridays off
3 weeks of vacation
Freedom to leave for appointments, kids doctor visits, special events. Typically I make up the time for these by putting in a partial day on a Friday or weekend.
There's no reason you couldn't have whatever schedule you want if you are self employed. The only limitations are meetings with consultants and others working a regular schedule.
If you are self-employed with no employees you can have both total AND no flexibility:
-Absolute freedom to schedule doc appointments, go to kids' soccer games etc.
-Absolutely NO flexibility in ever being able to truly get away from work - you're emotionally on the job ALWAYS.
If you have employees it's really up to you to set the level of flexibility, and probably you will figure it out over several years of experience seeing how loose/casual you can be and still have a good level of productivity.
Self-employment requires a special sort of discipline. While it may be true that one can control one's own schedule to a high degree, it's also easy to let one's personal agenda overwhelm what one needs to do to establish and maintain a successful, and sustainable, business.
I've been self-employed for large parts of my career, but also participated in a corporate environment for significant periods of time. The corporate environment provides a lot of structure - self-employment does not. I quickly learned that if I didn't discipline myself to establish some sort of fixed structure to how I spent my time, I'd end up not achieving what I wanted to achieve.
Isn't it what most architects strive for? I knew before i was even thinking about college that an architect was not dependant on much to force them to work in a certain place or for an employer.
I have had my own office for 8 years and yes, there are lean times and yes, my wife works to make it possible for us to survive the lean times. But, without a doubt I never looked back to say I never should have gone out on my own. Freedom is the major perk.
I have had more opportunites to travel since creating my own business.
As others have noted, there is near-total flexibility for purposes of scheduling appointments, the occasional get-away, etc. The only absolute constraints are fixed project-related appointments (i.e. zoning board, school board, etc.) When you have employees you need to be there to communicate and to supervise, so their schedules can sometimes start to dictate yours.
But where I find less flexibility is in finding enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done by me, as my own firm. I mean, I shoot for 30 to 40 billable hours per week minimum - which means 6 to 8 hours if we're considering a normal 5 day work week. But I also try to get 5 to 10 hours of marketing time in per week (this includes everything from cold calls to working on responses to RFQs to working on the website.) And the "administrative and miscellaneous non-billable" side realistically averages out to at least 2 hours per day, even if you're operating things in a textbook manner (and let's face it, many of us aren't really predisposed to be that super organized and efficient). Since that all adds up to 9 to 12 or more hours per day, it's pretty difficult to "cram" a normal work week into a 3-day week.
Basically I need to ration my vacations the same way I would if I were employed in a firm and got a few weeks of vacation and holidays per year, and when I take them I need to treat them the same way I would if I were an employee (i.e. that time is my earned and planned-for vacation time - I don't need to treat those hours as regular work time that I've stuffed into other days.) But, I need to figure this into my planning as to how much $$ I need to generate to cover vacations and holidays - and if I fall short of those goals then those vacations may need to be postponed.
You have all the flexibility in the world. You will also work every free moment, either on projects or getting new projects.
You can take as many vacations as you want, but the work will follow you. There are no paid vacations, so taking those calls/emails, doing work, etc., while away is par for the course.
Lastly, the $$ is yours, so working that extra 5 hours is $$$ in your pocket, not your employers. Therefore, you tend to work those extra 5, 10, 15 hours...
That said, I wouldn't have it any other way. It certainly is not for everyone. Most won't like it, won't be able to stay disciplined, get tired of work following you everywhere, etc. Understand your own work ethic is crucial.
Thanks for all the great answers. I am actually pleasantly surprised by them. Now if only it was as easy as deciding you want to be the boss. Maybe my next thread should inquire about networking tips :)
Self employed schedule flexibility?
For those of you that are self employed how flexible can you be with your schedule? It would also be helpful to know the size of the firm. Are you able to cram 5 days of work into 3 days then go for a long weekend a couple of times per year? Do you take vacations? If any employees have flexibility I would like to hear about that too.
I realize it is a tough road in any business and probably more so in architecture. Am I misleading myself thinking that by being self employed I will have plenty of flexibility in work life? (please don't mis-interpret this question as can I be lazy and work 10 hours a week)
Not exactly self employed, but have a flexible schedule.
4 10 hour days
Fridays off
3 weeks of vacation
Freedom to leave for appointments, kids doctor visits, special events. Typically I make up the time for these by putting in a partial day on a Friday or weekend.
There's no reason you couldn't have whatever schedule you want if you are self employed. The only limitations are meetings with consultants and others working a regular schedule.
If you are self-employed with no employees you can have both total AND no flexibility:
-Absolute freedom to schedule doc appointments, go to kids' soccer games etc.
-Absolutely NO flexibility in ever being able to truly get away from work - you're emotionally on the job ALWAYS.
If you have employees it's really up to you to set the level of flexibility, and probably you will figure it out over several years of experience seeing how loose/casual you can be and still have a good level of productivity.
Self-employment requires a special sort of discipline. While it may be true that one can control one's own schedule to a high degree, it's also easy to let one's personal agenda overwhelm what one needs to do to establish and maintain a successful, and sustainable, business.
I've been self-employed for large parts of my career, but also participated in a corporate environment for significant periods of time. The corporate environment provides a lot of structure - self-employment does not. I quickly learned that if I didn't discipline myself to establish some sort of fixed structure to how I spent my time, I'd end up not achieving what I wanted to achieve.
Isn't it what most architects strive for? I knew before i was even thinking about college that an architect was not dependant on much to force them to work in a certain place or for an employer.
I have had my own office for 8 years and yes, there are lean times and yes, my wife works to make it possible for us to survive the lean times. But, without a doubt I never looked back to say I never should have gone out on my own. Freedom is the major perk.
I have had more opportunites to travel since creating my own business.
As others have noted, there is near-total flexibility for purposes of scheduling appointments, the occasional get-away, etc. The only absolute constraints are fixed project-related appointments (i.e. zoning board, school board, etc.) When you have employees you need to be there to communicate and to supervise, so their schedules can sometimes start to dictate yours.
But where I find less flexibility is in finding enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done by me, as my own firm. I mean, I shoot for 30 to 40 billable hours per week minimum - which means 6 to 8 hours if we're considering a normal 5 day work week. But I also try to get 5 to 10 hours of marketing time in per week (this includes everything from cold calls to working on responses to RFQs to working on the website.) And the "administrative and miscellaneous non-billable" side realistically averages out to at least 2 hours per day, even if you're operating things in a textbook manner (and let's face it, many of us aren't really predisposed to be that super organized and efficient). Since that all adds up to 9 to 12 or more hours per day, it's pretty difficult to "cram" a normal work week into a 3-day week.
Basically I need to ration my vacations the same way I would if I were employed in a firm and got a few weeks of vacation and holidays per year, and when I take them I need to treat them the same way I would if I were an employee (i.e. that time is my earned and planned-for vacation time - I don't need to treat those hours as regular work time that I've stuffed into other days.) But, I need to figure this into my planning as to how much $$ I need to generate to cover vacations and holidays - and if I fall short of those goals then those vacations may need to be postponed.
You have all the flexibility in the world. You will also work every free moment, either on projects or getting new projects.
You can take as many vacations as you want, but the work will follow you. There are no paid vacations, so taking those calls/emails, doing work, etc., while away is par for the course.
Lastly, the $$ is yours, so working that extra 5 hours is $$$ in your pocket, not your employers. Therefore, you tend to work those extra 5, 10, 15 hours...
That said, I wouldn't have it any other way. It certainly is not for everyone. Most won't like it, won't be able to stay disciplined, get tired of work following you everywhere, etc. Understand your own work ethic is crucial.
Thanks for all the great answers. I am actually pleasantly surprised by them. Now if only it was as easy as deciding you want to be the boss. Maybe my next thread should inquire about networking tips :)
jbushkey:
Just remember -- while you may be the boss, you're also the janitor !
I've met very few properly-prepared professionals who ever regretted striking out on their own.
Good luck.
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