After bouncing around the country for the past few years while my better half finished a pHd, it's now time to settle down where I will have the best professional opportunities as a multidisciplinary design geek. Okay, I could probably turn pig's ears into silk purses in just about any frozen cowtown with my overpriced education. That said, I'm looking 5 to 10 years out when I plan on launching my own practice.
So it's down to choosing between sunny California and the post-industrial Northeast - both have great allure for us. Friends in both places, lots of time spent in both places - the big differences is my family and most of my alumni network is in the east, while CA feels to be getting too crowded & expensive to procreate/plant roots there. There seems to be fewer established firms in CA in my intended niche, but before I launch, it would be nice to gain more experience doing exactly what I want to be doing.
yeah, yeah, yeah - we've endlessly discussed NY vs LA, ivy versus UCLA/sci-arc, kramer v. kramer before - but never with the slant towards the best place to run a practice.
Lots of economists predict that cali's population/economy/pollution will continue to grow (until the big one hits), while the northeast is supposedly stagnating/loosing jobs. So what should I be looking at to figure out where I may have better luck/more fun/opportunities running a firm?
Maybe I just need to accept being bi-costal (there I've said bi-costal), and plan on setting up offices in both metropoli. But, I'd rather start local and work towards national domination.
So the big question is do we head east? or do we head west?
there are so many factors that you are not counting and cannot even foresee.
go wherever you'll be more patient, and wherever you like more. realistically speaking - you could move ten times before you have a shot at a sizeable practice.
What's wrong with the Midwest? Cheap to live and start a place to work, just make sure you get into the right region. I'm biased, but Minneapolis would be a great place.
The South and South West are expanding rapidly and are also great places to start a business, but I may not chose those regions on personal preference of market styles (no offense to those that live there).
depends on what you're looking to do, what kind of support you'd like, etc. I can only speak about Boston because its where I am now and its pretty much all I know, but there isn't much of a 'young designer' scene outside of academia. this city seems to have an over-abundance of architects, and I remember hearing once that Boston/Cambridge has the largest concentration of architects per square mile than any other major city in the US. there are plenty of larger firms here but if you find a niche that works around/tandem with them you'll be fine (i.e. there are no straight-up custom arch. fabrication practices around here, so that could work fine)
of course, to me Cali/LA is the complete opposite due to the grass-greener-fence theorem. honestly, I agree with others that are recommending you branch into other areas such as the South and Midcoast.
yeah, you definitely aren't down to earth enough for the flyover states.
let's see:
full of yourself > west coast
use words like procreate and metropoli > east coast
not too worried about spelling (bicostal = bicoastal?) > west coast
big ambitions > not which coast, must be l.a. or n.y.
referencing economists > east coast
referencing economists superficially/no back up > west coast
generalizing northeast as post-industrial > west coast
reducing the rest of the u.s. to 'frozen cowtowns' > either one
is that enough meaningless stereotypes for you to make a decision?
I think you ought to land your butt in a Cowtown like Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Then again there is Aspen Colorado or a number of other Ski Resort Towns in Utah or Colorado. You might also want to consider Scottsdale, Arizona, or Santa Fe, New Mexico. They are all east coast /west coast Cow Towns.
If you want to start a practice in five to ten years, then you are talking about staying 20-30 years wherever you choose. So this is a big decision.
If you're going to procreate, being close enough to family to use them as babysitters is an enormous benefit, and I mean enormous!!! So I say stick close to family.
Also, what is you better half doing with his/her phd - what are his/her prospects? I always thought when you got a PhD you pretty much went to whatever state school for whatever teaching job in whatever frozen cowtown would hire you.
actually, double secret identity, i think there is another option.
stay put. revamp one city. go to town, and do good things.
there is quite a bit of precedent here:
livio vacchini, aurelio galfetti, luigi snozzi, gion caminada... for some reason, i'm only thinking of swiss architects. there are others, though.
i'm the better half with the phd to double secret identity. ok, double secret identity was a bit big-headed in the posting, but we'd appreciate some concrete opinions as to where an architect could start a practice in 10 years given the competition in some areas of the country. i'm completing my training as a psychologist, so i could hang my shingle in any part of the country. we're currently in the upper midwest, which is most likely out for the long haul given the bone-chilling cold and dark winters. the only way we'd stay here is if this is the best place for our careers. we've been talking about either coast, as both of us have lived on both the east and west coasts and have family and/or networks there. any thoughts?
Nice follow-up, psyched. My advice above is totally serious: if you plan to be two dedicated self-employed career professionals AND start a family, live close to your extended family because they can provide the best support system for you.
It is also important for double to ask him/herself as an architect what type of work does s/he want to do and is that relative to geographic location? One can be an architect anywhere, depending what type of work one wants to do.
Mdler- puffy rules!!!! your uber snarky posts are greatly appreciated! keep them coming!!! just leave WK out of this!!
SW - I'll make that a Jack Daniels Private Stock for your excellent parsing/psycho-analysis of this alter-ego. there is a reason why we're leaving fly-over land after such a short experiment.
Didn't think that Psyched would have waded into the jungle of archinect without a trusty guide - but that's why we got married! yeah, I need being married to a shrink to keep my big head in check.
LB - your thoughts about living close to family hit the nail right on. That's why this is such a difficult choice. More opportunities in the west, but family support is in the east.
OF- the cow(bell)town have been tried, including a short stint in nashville and I agree about the depth of place/market being critical for long-range success. My intended market is emerging and global. The existing practices that I greatly admire are scattered about few and far between in SF, C-ville, NYC, Beantown, Austin, Denver, and Philthy to name the better ones. So I could gain experience in NorCal or Philthy, but would be pioneering the market in SoCal (unless somebody beats me to it).
Five to ten years is what I think is needed to get me to that place where all the ducks in a row in either the northeast or SoCal. if we stay put in the middle, then I would be lucky to have such a depth of connections in 20 years from now.
vado- great tune- just cause I like designing places in levelland doesn't mean I want to live there!
You might want to Consider Las Vegas....as it is a blend of everything. It has your New York Themes, and California People all blended into one Crazy City. The Mrs. shouldn't have a problem or is that Mr. shouldn't have a problem as there is certainly a great Client Base in the city where they say, " What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas" It is truely an international city. You will find the best of everything there long as your pulling down the good money.
this is just bizarre question to ask, especially considering that you have both lived on both coasts and have ample friends/family in both places. if the two of you haven't formed an opinion by now as to which is better then i don't think you ever will...and might always be second-guessing whatever it is you choose, especially if it doesn't work out.
hmmm...maybe that's how you should approach it. thinking pessimistically, if you failed in your endeavors, where would you rather be? otherwise you might as well just toss a dart at a map.
That's a good point puddles - I always second guess every geographic decision I ever make, and typically a few years in think "Well, i can always move.". But as Old Fogey points out:
Starting a firm is about leveraging contacts, building a client base, and establishing trust over a number of years. It isn't something you can just go out and do, you have to have relationships in place...
so if you want to start your own firm you need to think about the networking that happens immediately to have it be valuable in 5-10 years.
And no matter which you choose, you will never be able to answer the question "What would have happened if we had moved to the other coast?" So learn to live with that question - we all have them.
yeah, it takes a long time to build a business, especially an architecture practive. also, i don't think that it's a coincidence that if you looked at the leading practitioners in this profession (star architects) many of them are located surprisingly close to their homelands or native regions and even though they practice internationally now, they typically built long legacies at home first before outsiders came calling with all of those fabulous projects.
All this talk about starting a practice got me thinking, since I don't want to an employee for the rest of my life. Like Steven, I don't have much of a hometown anymore. Guess I care more about Los Angeles then Philly, so SoCal has become my adopted hometown.
For all those angelenos who may be reading this thread and want to start a practice, how are you managing to save up enough $$$ to cover the first months of operations of your future firm? It seems that with our six figure student loans and the stratospheric cost of buying a house out west, we'd have to choose between a house and my firm.
That's why moving back to philly is so attractive versus LA, we could do it all - or not?
Old Fogey, good advice that I'm already thinking about. Maybe I should be thinking in a 20 year time frame, not 10 years. Part of my intended business plan includes a partner or two - I've very aware of my weaknesses and gaps in knowledge or interests. Since I really appreciate collaboration and teamwork, this is one way for overcoming the lack of network. (but first I need to find those folks.) If we're still archinecting in 5 years, I'll start asking around!
I'm not going to be in the mid-west very much longer, so count me out of that equation. I don't have time to address a lot of the issues that everyone else has brought up, but I'm going to take my turn at the dartboard and say, Pennsylvania. Philly is very East Coast-ish, close to New York, and Washington, DC, but in PA, which is a great state. OR Pittsburgh, which is farther away, but still east coast accessible, and has greater potential for a good ratio of cost expenditures : value in starting up a practice.
Also keep in mind that PA is the second state in the nation for percentage of LEED accredited individuals, which means they are very sustainably-minded, and this is not going away, so you'd better be on top of it if you think you are going to start a firm anywhere....(CA is first of course)......
All in all, keep your head on straight....it's going to be hard no matter where you go.
just from the text you wrote, it seems like you're slightly in favor of the west coast. don't second guess yourself and go with your gut. you know your situation better than any of us.
Sunny CA is preferred for the weather. Humid, snowy Philly is preferred for family and lower cost of living. we're very, very torn- guess we have a few more months to decide.
wK - if we both end in Philly,let's talk 'bout starting a green firm together!
The LEED stats are part of why Philly is a fertile place for my practice, but so is Cali. I've worked on project certification in both places - nothing yet in mpls...
OldFogey - I just want to make sure that I don't fall once I make the jump. My pro-practice prof pounded some really good advice into my head - so I'm making sure I've gotten all the vital/basic skills of running a business down first - on the optimistic side that will be in about 5 more years as a cad jockey/job captain/project manager. Glad to hear your vote of confidence!
Tree Killer, I have said this before and I don't know if you recall what I said. You need to get out side of the Architecture Field and go volunteer somewhere in your community doing something worthwhile. When you find a fit....go for it get on the board of directors and make things happen. It is the very best way to make connections in a community. Second thing, make friends with a Banker. Even if he or she is a young professional you will find it to be one of the smartest friendships you will ever develop if you want to be in business for yourself. They can teach you things you will never learn in a business class and will help you in your everyday practice.
Snooker- got that covered, I'm on a transit user's group for a new bus station, busy playing with the USGBC, and if I had any time would be over at ULI. the country club will have to wait for later. back in Los Angeles, I was hanging out with the local alumni club- most of them were wharton grads ;-)...
tk, I'd be totally down for starting a sustainable practice w/you! I'll have a master's degree and a license in a few years so I'm trying to lay the groundwork for my big plans right now.....Philly isn't currently on the destination map but damn, I like that city! So it's always a good possibility. Besides, they talk about GarwondLer there.
TK - aren't you in Mpls right now? Why wouldn't you just start your practice there? My best guess is the growth prospects are better for the MSP area than Philly over the next 20+ years.
Double Secret - Like Steven's comment far up this thread, your original post is full of stereotypes and generalizations which make it hard to give you any honest feedback. You bascially are excluding 99% of this country based on East/West coast elitism. When in fact the biggest growth areas of this country are neither.
Remember that starting a practice is going to limit you to very local projects, at least in those first few lean years. While I might sit in an office in Mpls and work on projects from CA to FL to International, you probably won't do that in a 1-3 person outfit in year one or two.
So back to growth areas, I say go where the people are going. That excludes the NE right off the top. Stagnant population and business growth. So Cal is growing largely from an immigrant population, but LA does have decent business growth. The real influx areas are your so-called "cowtowns." Not sure they are all ice boxes though. Texas has been booming for a decade plus now and shows no signs of slowing. Florida the same. Atlanta all the way up through Virgina all show good signs for growth. None of those places I'd call ice boxes.
My favorite rapid growth "cowtown" is Calgary Alberta. For one everyone calls it a cowtown so it qualifies, but unbelieveable oil wealth has been tempting me to go carpetbagging to that place and get my peice. Foster is doing twin 60 story towers there for EnCana. Where else in N. America is that happening?
So, long story short, do you want to be a whisper in the crowd of an already established elitist scene? Or do you want to be a major player in an evolving scene?
Feb 27, 07 9:36 am ·
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left or right coast to start a practice?
After bouncing around the country for the past few years while my better half finished a pHd, it's now time to settle down where I will have the best professional opportunities as a multidisciplinary design geek. Okay, I could probably turn pig's ears into silk purses in just about any frozen cowtown with my overpriced education. That said, I'm looking 5 to 10 years out when I plan on launching my own practice.
So it's down to choosing between sunny California and the post-industrial Northeast - both have great allure for us. Friends in both places, lots of time spent in both places - the big differences is my family and most of my alumni network is in the east, while CA feels to be getting too crowded & expensive to procreate/plant roots there. There seems to be fewer established firms in CA in my intended niche, but before I launch, it would be nice to gain more experience doing exactly what I want to be doing.
yeah, yeah, yeah - we've endlessly discussed NY vs LA, ivy versus UCLA/sci-arc, kramer v. kramer before - but never with the slant towards the best place to run a practice.
Lots of economists predict that cali's population/economy/pollution will continue to grow (until the big one hits), while the northeast is supposedly stagnating/loosing jobs. So what should I be looking at to figure out where I may have better luck/more fun/opportunities running a firm?
Maybe I just need to accept being bi-costal (there I've said bi-costal), and plan on setting up offices in both metropoli. But, I'd rather start local and work towards national domination.
So the big question is do we head east? or do we head west?
are any of these economists from cowtowns?
the future of architecture is in nebraska
there are so many factors that you are not counting and cannot even foresee.
go wherever you'll be more patient, and wherever you like more. realistically speaking - you could move ten times before you have a shot at a sizeable practice.
what would puffy do?
Puffy should be looking for emergency exit instructions tattooed strategically on her buttocks.
detroit has alot of open land........
i say west
What's wrong with the Midwest? Cheap to live and start a place to work, just make sure you get into the right region. I'm biased, but Minneapolis would be a great place.
The South and South West are expanding rapidly and are also great places to start a business, but I may not chose those regions on personal preference of market styles (no offense to those that live there).
which coast? does it even matter where you're working? you should be thinking more about which car you're going to drive...bentley or rolls royce.
depends on what you're looking to do, what kind of support you'd like, etc. I can only speak about Boston because its where I am now and its pretty much all I know, but there isn't much of a 'young designer' scene outside of academia. this city seems to have an over-abundance of architects, and I remember hearing once that Boston/Cambridge has the largest concentration of architects per square mile than any other major city in the US. there are plenty of larger firms here but if you find a niche that works around/tandem with them you'll be fine (i.e. there are no straight-up custom arch. fabrication practices around here, so that could work fine)
of course, to me Cali/LA is the complete opposite due to the grass-greener-fence theorem. honestly, I agree with others that are recommending you branch into other areas such as the South and Midcoast.
yeah, you definitely aren't down to earth enough for the flyover states.
let's see:
full of yourself > west coast
use words like procreate and metropoli > east coast
not too worried about spelling (bicostal = bicoastal?) > west coast
big ambitions > not which coast, must be l.a. or n.y.
referencing economists > east coast
referencing economists superficially/no back up > west coast
generalizing northeast as post-industrial > west coast
reducing the rest of the u.s. to 'frozen cowtowns' > either one
is that enough meaningless stereotypes for you to make a decision?
I think you ought to land your butt in a Cowtown like Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Then again there is Aspen Colorado or a number of other Ski Resort Towns in Utah or Colorado. You might also want to consider Scottsdale, Arizona, or Santa Fe, New Mexico. They are all east coast /west coast Cow Towns.
If you want to start a practice in five to ten years, then you are talking about staying 20-30 years wherever you choose. So this is a big decision.
If you're going to procreate, being close enough to family to use them as babysitters is an enormous benefit, and I mean enormous!!! So I say stick close to family.
Also, what is you better half doing with his/her phd - what are his/her prospects? I always thought when you got a PhD you pretty much went to whatever state school for whatever teaching job in whatever frozen cowtown would hire you.
cowbells from a COWTOWN!
Is there cowbell in Van Halen's Dane the Night Away? Why yes, there is. That's reason enough to mve to the left coast, I reckon.
You can call yourself a cowbell kinda designer!
keep heading towards any coast and when you find the edge, keep going
that's a terrible photo.
i thought the NW + NE were left...
The SW + SE were right...
actually, double secret identity, i think there is another option.
stay put. revamp one city. go to town, and do good things.
there is quite a bit of precedent here:
livio vacchini, aurelio galfetti, luigi snozzi, gion caminada... for some reason, i'm only thinking of swiss architects. there are others, though.
i'm the better half with the phd to double secret identity. ok, double secret identity was a bit big-headed in the posting, but we'd appreciate some concrete opinions as to where an architect could start a practice in 10 years given the competition in some areas of the country. i'm completing my training as a psychologist, so i could hang my shingle in any part of the country. we're currently in the upper midwest, which is most likely out for the long haul given the bone-chilling cold and dark winters. the only way we'd stay here is if this is the best place for our careers. we've been talking about either coast, as both of us have lived on both the east and west coasts and have family and/or networks there. any thoughts?
Nice follow-up, psyched. My advice above is totally serious: if you plan to be two dedicated self-employed career professionals AND start a family, live close to your extended family because they can provide the best support system for you.
It is also important for double to ask him/herself as an architect what type of work does s/he want to do and is that relative to geographic location? One can be an architect anywhere, depending what type of work one wants to do.
the midwest has LB and Vado...and DubK
Mdler- puffy rules!!!! your uber snarky posts are greatly appreciated! keep them coming!!! just leave WK out of this!!
SW - I'll make that a Jack Daniels Private Stock for your excellent parsing/psycho-analysis of this alter-ego. there is a reason why we're leaving fly-over land after such a short experiment.
Didn't think that Psyched would have waded into the jungle of archinect without a trusty guide - but that's why we got married! yeah, I need being married to a shrink to keep my big head in check.
LB - your thoughts about living close to family hit the nail right on. That's why this is such a difficult choice. More opportunities in the west, but family support is in the east.
OF- the cow(bell)town have been tried, including a short stint in nashville and I agree about the depth of place/market being critical for long-range success. My intended market is emerging and global. The existing practices that I greatly admire are scattered about few and far between in SF, C-ville, NYC, Beantown, Austin, Denver, and Philthy to name the better ones. So I could gain experience in NorCal or Philthy, but would be pioneering the market in SoCal (unless somebody beats me to it).
Five to ten years is what I think is needed to get me to that place where all the ducks in a row in either the northeast or SoCal. if we stay put in the middle, then I would be lucky to have such a depth of connections in 20 years from now.
vado- great tune- just cause I like designing places in levelland doesn't mean I want to live there!
dsi....almost csi....
You might want to Consider Las Vegas....as it is a blend of everything. It has your New York Themes, and California People all blended into one Crazy City. The Mrs. shouldn't have a problem or is that Mr. shouldn't have a problem as there is certainly a great Client Base in the city where they say, " What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas" It is truely an international city. You will find the best of everything there long as your pulling down the good money.
oh ya....and it is a cowtown....to boot!
this is just bizarre question to ask, especially considering that you have both lived on both coasts and have ample friends/family in both places. if the two of you haven't formed an opinion by now as to which is better then i don't think you ever will...and might always be second-guessing whatever it is you choose, especially if it doesn't work out.
hmmm...maybe that's how you should approach it. thinking pessimistically, if you failed in your endeavors, where would you rather be? otherwise you might as well just toss a dart at a map.
and if we're talking cowtowns then somebody has to suggest amarillo, texas.
That's a good point puddles - I always second guess every geographic decision I ever make, and typically a few years in think "Well, i can always move.". But as Old Fogey points out:
Starting a firm is about leveraging contacts, building a client base, and establishing trust over a number of years. It isn't something you can just go out and do, you have to have relationships in place...
so if you want to start your own firm you need to think about the networking that happens immediately to have it be valuable in 5-10 years.
And no matter which you choose, you will never be able to answer the question "What would have happened if we had moved to the other coast?" So learn to live with that question - we all have them.
yeah, it takes a long time to build a business, especially an architecture practive. also, i don't think that it's a coincidence that if you looked at the leading practitioners in this profession (star architects) many of them are located surprisingly close to their homelands or native regions and even though they practice internationally now, they typically built long legacies at home first before outsiders came calling with all of those fabulous projects.
Good point puddles, kinda makes me want to move back to atlanta after finishing school in NYC...
puddles, that's a pretty insightful and useful observation. of course it also means there's no hope for me. i don't know what my hometown is anymore.
but I see the point and it's somewhat depressing, going back to the hometown. you build alot of contacts where you grow up.
boy, this is really actually getting tempting the more i think about it.
All this talk about starting a practice got me thinking, since I don't want to an employee for the rest of my life. Like Steven, I don't have much of a hometown anymore. Guess I care more about Los Angeles then Philly, so SoCal has become my adopted hometown.
For all those angelenos who may be reading this thread and want to start a practice, how are you managing to save up enough $$$ to cover the first months of operations of your future firm? It seems that with our six figure student loans and the stratospheric cost of buying a house out west, we'd have to choose between a house and my firm.
That's why moving back to philly is so attractive versus LA, we could do it all - or not?
Old Fogey, good advice that I'm already thinking about. Maybe I should be thinking in a 20 year time frame, not 10 years. Part of my intended business plan includes a partner or two - I've very aware of my weaknesses and gaps in knowledge or interests. Since I really appreciate collaboration and teamwork, this is one way for overcoming the lack of network. (but first I need to find those folks.) If we're still archinecting in 5 years, I'll start asking around!
I'm not going to be in the mid-west very much longer, so count me out of that equation. I don't have time to address a lot of the issues that everyone else has brought up, but I'm going to take my turn at the dartboard and say, Pennsylvania. Philly is very East Coast-ish, close to New York, and Washington, DC, but in PA, which is a great state. OR Pittsburgh, which is farther away, but still east coast accessible, and has greater potential for a good ratio of cost expenditures : value in starting up a practice.
Also keep in mind that PA is the second state in the nation for percentage of LEED accredited individuals, which means they are very sustainably-minded, and this is not going away, so you'd better be on top of it if you think you are going to start a firm anywhere....(CA is first of course)......
All in all, keep your head on straight....it's going to be hard no matter where you go.
east coast of course...
i mean very the very east China!!!!
since no one's said it...
just from the text you wrote, it seems like you're slightly in favor of the west coast. don't second guess yourself and go with your gut. you know your situation better than any of us.
Sunny CA is preferred for the weather. Humid, snowy Philly is preferred for family and lower cost of living. we're very, very torn- guess we have a few more months to decide.
wK - if we both end in Philly,let's talk 'bout starting a green firm together!
The LEED stats are part of why Philly is a fertile place for my practice, but so is Cali. I've worked on project certification in both places - nothing yet in mpls...
OldFogey - I just want to make sure that I don't fall once I make the jump. My pro-practice prof pounded some really good advice into my head - so I'm making sure I've gotten all the vital/basic skills of running a business down first - on the optimistic side that will be in about 5 more years as a cad jockey/job captain/project manager. Glad to hear your vote of confidence!
Yes please, Left or Right just stay the hell out of the middle cause I got that covered.
Tree Killer, I have said this before and I don't know if you recall what I said. You need to get out side of the Architecture Field and go volunteer somewhere in your community doing something worthwhile. When you find a fit....go for it get on the board of directors and make things happen. It is the very best way to make connections in a community. Second thing, make friends with a Banker. Even if he or she is a young professional you will find it to be one of the smartest friendships you will ever develop if you want to be in business for yourself. They can teach you things you will never learn in a business class and will help you in your everyday practice.
Snooker- got that covered, I'm on a transit user's group for a new bus station, busy playing with the USGBC, and if I had any time would be over at ULI. the country club will have to wait for later. back in Los Angeles, I was hanging out with the local alumni club- most of them were wharton grads ;-)...
is that drooling?
RonJon- those be fighting words! I'll see you at high noon- twenty paces and draw when the clock strikes...
Maybe I'll stay in the land of bland food, just to thwart your dreams of global domination!
TK- are you hijacking my thread?
tk, I'd be totally down for starting a sustainable practice w/you! I'll have a master's degree and a license in a few years so I'm trying to lay the groundwork for my big plans right now.....Philly isn't currently on the destination map but damn, I like that city! So it's always a good possibility. Besides, they talk about GarwondLer there.
treekiller and WonderK: Lemme know when you want to go regional. I'm going to be in DC for quite some time, I reckon.
my hometown has almost 400 people and 2 new buildings in the last 10 years! One of which I drew interior elevations for!
TK - aren't you in Mpls right now? Why wouldn't you just start your practice there? My best guess is the growth prospects are better for the MSP area than Philly over the next 20+ years.
Double Secret - Like Steven's comment far up this thread, your original post is full of stereotypes and generalizations which make it hard to give you any honest feedback. You bascially are excluding 99% of this country based on East/West coast elitism. When in fact the biggest growth areas of this country are neither.
Remember that starting a practice is going to limit you to very local projects, at least in those first few lean years. While I might sit in an office in Mpls and work on projects from CA to FL to International, you probably won't do that in a 1-3 person outfit in year one or two.
So back to growth areas, I say go where the people are going. That excludes the NE right off the top. Stagnant population and business growth. So Cal is growing largely from an immigrant population, but LA does have decent business growth. The real influx areas are your so-called "cowtowns." Not sure they are all ice boxes though. Texas has been booming for a decade plus now and shows no signs of slowing. Florida the same. Atlanta all the way up through Virgina all show good signs for growth. None of those places I'd call ice boxes.
My favorite rapid growth "cowtown" is Calgary Alberta. For one everyone calls it a cowtown so it qualifies, but unbelieveable oil wealth has been tempting me to go carpetbagging to that place and get my peice. Foster is doing twin 60 story towers there for EnCana. Where else in N. America is that happening?
So, long story short, do you want to be a whisper in the crowd of an already established elitist scene? Or do you want to be a major player in an evolving scene?
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