(thank you, David Cole, for prompting this thought via this quote in your other thread)
"I’m of an age when very young architects sometimes ask me, “When do you go out and open your own practice? And where do you practice?” My answer is, when you’re no longer capable of taking instructions from another architect, you should open your own office. ...
Thought process I've been mulling over after reading this quotation:
-Am I no longer able to take instruction from another architect? Check. 17 years experience. Licensed. For a litany of additional reasons I won't go into here for risk of upsetting the peanut gallery and getting them distracted on unrelated points. (Balkins please don't poop in my thread!)
-But don't I need clients to go out on my own and open my own practice? Obviously. I have lots and lots of ideas on this one and very deep list of prospectives.
-But don't I need a partner given my predilection for a close friend to provide synergy? Obviously. Working on this too, albeit slowly and steadily (hence my thread dedicated to thinking this through and figuring out where to start looking).
Therefore, if the above is true. And at present I am incapable of taking instruction from another architect...how to survive faking it and pretending I give a care what another architect (partners in the current firm I'm with) attempts to instruct me to do? Besides a staff of drafters at my disposal, lack of clients (working on), and lack of a partner (yet), how can I possibly pass myself off as being subservient long enough to make a transition to starting my own firm?
Obviously, its not as black and white as Tigerman is making it out to be (not that his remarks don't have a lot more context than is obvious at first glance).
Anyone else out there been in the midst of this predicament? How to fake it in the presence of the ego of the existing partners at the firm I'm with until I make the leap? I feel a lot of fake smiles are going to be necessary to satiate egos (including my own) in the meantime?
bowling_ball
Nov 12, 15 2:02 pm
Uhhh, welcome to working for somebody else? I've never NOT had this feeling.
no_form
Nov 12, 15 2:08 pm
When your ego is big enough you're usually too self absorbed to notice everyone around you thinks you're an asshole. So just put on a smile and get out there!
geezertect
Nov 12, 15 2:25 pm
Better hone your acting skills now! If you think it is difficult to fake respect for another architect who outranks you in the food chain, wait until you deal with the idiot clients who can't understand why a window frame won't hold up a steel beam, or why water on the site can't be made to run uphill. That's when you will really be biting your lip.
Donna Sink
Nov 12, 15 2:34 pm
Nice response, geezer. And yes, Good_Knight, being able to feign enthusiasm will sometimes be necessary when you have your own business.
ON the other hand, will it be that necessary to fake it? Do you despise your current co-workers, or do you wish them well but are just tired of working with them? If it's the latter, it shouldn't be hard to keep doing good work for the good of the team, profession, and world while you slowly more of the focus of your actual mental energy on your own gig.
If you really despise the place you work, then maybe quit or get yourself fired, collect unemployment for a couple months, and go like gangbusters getting your own gig up and running?
tduds
Nov 12, 15 3:28 pm
How to fake it in the presence of the ego of the existing partners at the firm I'm with until I make the leap?
And so the hegemony spawns another generation.
Good_Knight
Nov 12, 15 3:34 pm
Nice responses so far, most everyone. Much appreciate the intelligent posts. The peanut gallery posts are repulsive to me as usual. Mixed bag on the interwebs, no? Oh well, its not expensive to post here so what should I expect? I'll take the good and ignore the rotten.
Personally I'm not tired of working with other people. Its not about that issue. I like people in general and especially the people I work with.
The trouble is I didn't become an architect only to be pigeon holed by the marketplace in a cubicle merely producing design and construction drawings, specifications and reviewing submittals 9-5 for the next 30 years while my employers skim off the top and take home all the profits. There is no leverage in this. There must be a better way to practice the profession and be profitable and experience self actualization. As an idea goes, starting a firm from scratch with one or two close partners would offer a way out and up.
I recognize that the cubicle farm animal is the reality for the majority of the profession and always will be. Its the status quo and for whatever reason human nature is what it is.
My being is different. I need an equity position in a firm and/or my own thing because I want to put in 100% 24/7. I scored in the 99th percentile on a recent IQ test. (cue the insecure/ jealous inhabitors of the peanut gallery!) I'm super motivated. But it feels like I'm stuck in office/ marketplace/ architecture profession (lack of advanced placement paradigms) politics too often. In this respect it feels like I'm stuck in rushhour downtown traffic with no end in sight. It feels like a life long immutable sentence to attend high school all over again. A place where I would just bring a good book to class everyday to survive the boredom/ torture.
I have experienced firsthand, for many years, the stifling effects of being an employee. Not being allowed to think on my own terms and being stuck 12" behind a computer screen mostly isolated from regular socialization activities with folks of my own choosing feels like I'm drowning slowly.
Additionally, I have no reason to be passionate about being expected by an employer/ the marketplace in my current position of clock-punching employee. There is no risk opportunities to experience a reward commensurate with 100% effort and time invested.
I want to experience self-actualization in my professional life more than anything. I'd do whatever it takes to put myself in such a position.
For now its feign contentment apparently while I plan and then eventually execute my escape from the 9-5 cubicle drudgery.
Good_Knight
Nov 12, 15 3:36 pm
*folds hands and earnestly looks heavenward* Dear god, if you exist, please hear my plea that Balkins doesn't start pooping in this thread.
Good_Knight
Nov 12, 15 3:37 pm
And dear Lord, please, if there is a god, keep the peanut gallery idiocy to a minimum in this thread. you know...all the Beavis and Buttheadery/ Family Guy/ shallow stupid commentary which is so old and tired (and is usually spewed by the young and wonderfully energetic yet woefully ineffective)
mightyaa
Nov 12, 15 3:52 pm
Silly advice. "My answer is, when you’re no longer capable of taking instructions from another architect, you should open your own office. .."
Or lol... the other side of that coin. Get out, make your own company and having employee after employee who are unwilling to take your direction and think it's easy street to run a firm. Afterall, you aren't designing much, just critiquing, and haven't kept up on the latest trends, technologies and standards in buildings. You'll find, as most do, running a business is a lot different than being an architect; No one in the office understands exactly what you do (because it isn't what they are doing) Welcome to the world of spreadsheets, quarterly reports, and overhead factors. Also enjoy having most of your interaction on a project being more of a 'fireman' putting out fires or making sure your wonderful employees aren't going to get your butt sued. Your spouse will also thoroughly enjoy watching you deplete personal funds to make ends meet at work from time to time.
So take everything you know about detailing and how buildings go together and put it to the side. It won't help you that much.
The caveat; You can do fine as a tiny or single proprietor without a lot of business savy. I found though, about 4 employee's on up, you'll be running a business most the time and leave the architecture to your employees. At 9 or so, inner office politics and a set heirarchy starts kicking in where you'll also don the human resources and in-house counselor hat. But if you don't 'go big' you'll wither on the vine with the tiny projects. So... figure out what you enjoy and do it.
curtkram
Nov 12, 15 3:55 pm
ok, so you note how most of the profession is a cubicle farm animal, yet you have decided that for whatever reason you should rise above the rabble. you took an IQ test (hopefully a proctored IQ test rather than on the internets) that told you you're real smart. like in an office of 500 people, the break room is half full of people equal to your genius. that's right, your break room holds 10 people. you also note that for whatever reason you're reaching out to an internet peanut gallery for guidance on how to get someone to help you be the success you see yourself as, rather than just doing it.
in my humble estimation, i think you're missing a big part of the picture here. you could almost sum up what you're saying, is that you want to be the guy skimming off the work of others, and you deserve it because you're a special snowflake?
ask yourself why your bosses are in the position they're in, and you're not. what did they do to get there? perhaps the skills you possess are not what's valuable when running a business or something like that. maybe they have something other than a high IQ that makes them more suitable for the positions they hold, or maybe 1 in 100 doesn't really put you at the top when you're in a crowd of 1,000.
i would also like to do better than i'm doing now. i would also like to be in a position where putting in some effort and giving half a shit meant something. you're not alone in experience what you're experiencing. i think a pretty good chunk of the animal farm is right there with you.
tduds
Nov 12, 15 3:58 pm
Non sarcastic reply:
It seems to me like you're stuck in a toxic work environment, but that doesn't necessarily correlate to the *institution* of being an employee. Why not look around for existing firms where you think you'll be appreciated and listened to?
Taking you at your word, you have the experience and skill to forge out on your own, but not the partnership or client base. It's a good economy and I'm sure there are plenty of young small or mid-size firms who are hungry to bring in high-level talent. Rather than jump ship and assume a massive risk with little chance of success (tempting though it may be), why not seek out an opportunity to transfer laterally to a place where you can climb higher? The risk/reward balance is tipped much more in your favor.
Just a suggestion that there are many more than two options. Entertain them all. Good luck!
Carrera
Nov 12, 15 4:11 pm
^ That's about it....people who are half-cogs (not saying the OP is) would do better finding an associate or partner position in an established firm, but the latter usually requires some rainmaking ability.
chigurh
Nov 12, 15 4:20 pm
If you have clients you go out on your own. period.
Speculation on a "very deep list of prospectives"....ha! despite your disdain for your superiors, it sounds like you are going to be there for a long time, better suck it up. Bragging about your recent IQ exam results on an anonymous forum? Give me a fucking break, you must be a real joy to employ and work with...
null pointer
Nov 12, 15 4:26 pm
only illiterate pricks brag about their IQs. So you have an aptitude for learning, good thing you've read enough to know how IQ scores say very little about business acumen.
no_form
Nov 12, 15 4:27 pm
"The trouble is I didn't become an architect only to be pigeon holed by the marketplace in a cubicle merely producing design and construction drawings, specifications and reviewing submittals 9-5 for the next 30 years while my employers skim off the top and take home all the profits."
I'm not sure if you're new to capitalism, but that's basically how it works. You have a few choices though, find a new job, start your own, or find a company that is cooperatively owned, has more equitable profit sharing, or at your new job negotiate for better raises or annual bonuses. When you can demonstrate your value you can demand more. If the employer doesn't want to budge, then move on.
But if you've been in this industry for a while now you must know contractors, subs, non-architecture community members, friends, former colleagues. All people who could potentially have projects you could do on your own and begin the process of breaking free from being an employee.
Good_Knight
Nov 12, 15 4:36 pm
kudos for your insight tduds
gruen
Nov 12, 15 4:49 pm
It was mentioned by geezer, but I'll say it again - when you are an employee, you have one boss. When you are the boss, you have many bosses - all your clients. The good thing is that you can fire (or never work for in the first place) bad clients. Or at least they go away eventually.
I am a sole proprietor. About the same amount of experience as you.
I am self employed for 2 reason:
1) because I was tired of my future being at the whim of someone else (the boss man)
2) I wanted more flexibility in my day in order to better take care of my family
I do work more hours than I used to. Probably about 60 hours a week now compared to 40-45 before. I make about the same amount of money although I'm getting better at getting bigger jobs and doing jobs more efficiently. I do have an upper limit on how many hours I can work and how much I can produce.
Although I work more hours, I now can deal with all the BS that life throws at me - when my child has a day off school or is sick, when I have to meet an appliance repairman, whatever it is isn't an panic anymore. The trade off is that I'm working pretty much every day of the week, most nights, etc.
I do not have employees or a partner. I'm just not ready for it yet. I don't understand my business well enough yet and I know that both a partner and employees can be a very expensive mistake if you don't know how to make money off them. That's fine for me, for now. I hope to hire in the next year or so but plan on being very careful about it.
I do enjoy all the different tasks I get to do. I might miss it if I spent all my time with spreadsheets and marketing.
I could use a bit more socialization - having someone to pick up the slack when I can't, or to bounce ideas off of. The good news is that I'm running the business in the black and have only had one negative month out of something like 30.
Good_Knight
Nov 12, 15 5:04 pm
sounds like a promising future gruen, thats terrific thanks for sharing!
geezertect
Nov 12, 15 5:30 pm
Everybody has to answer to somebody, unless of course you are a dictator. There may be an opening for that in Syria in the next year or so. Good pay and perks. Job security questionable.
Good_Knight
Nov 12, 15 5:39 pm
^ I understand the phenomenon of projecting one's own fears and insecurities onto others and into conversations...but seriously its tiring once one sees it for what it is. Still thanks geezertect for at least not adding the additional repulsive flavor of wrapping your point in that noxious millennial packaging of slapstick/ low brow/ cutting sarcasm which they pass off as humor.
(i.e. thanks but why inject the idea of questioning the reality of a food chain being existent in all endeavors/ occupations? This is not an issue that needs to be addressed in the spirit of the OP. Its irrelevant, at least from my perspective. Been there. Done that. Check that box. Agree. Lets move on. Not picking on you because other posters seem to be zeroing in on this point as well. Most obvious conclusion is they themselves are still wrestling with this fact of life. Which is fine but please start your own thread to discuss this separate issue)
x-jla
Nov 12, 15 7:22 pm
"You either spend your time trying to create your own wave or riding someone elses."
b3tadine[sutures]
Nov 12, 15 11:55 pm
Good_Knight, I'm looking for the same.
Donna Sink
Nov 13, 15 8:46 am
Nice post, gruen.
So when I was doing my own thing I never had employees, in part because I never had big enough jobs but also because I didn't pursue those kinds of jobs specifically because I didn't want to have to spend all my time managing people I was committed to for their livelihood. My husband now has 17 employees and everything everyone has said here is true: you stop being able to do the work you wanted to do in the first place because you have to spend all your time managing the people who are doing it instead. If good things happen, you might get to enjoy them, but if bad things happen, you are absolutely first - really, only - in line to take the abuse and fix it. You'll work a day shift, take a break for dinner and maybe time with your family, then do the "third half of the day" shift which is working until you collapse then do it all over again the next day. No weekends, either, and no real vacations.
That said, doing your own thing can be fantastic and in many ways is. As tduds said, some people just aren't meant to be employees; they're not good at it. My husband is a leader and has always been too independent a thinker to be a great employee. I, on the other hand, am a fantastic support person but don't feel the need to be the leader, usually.
whistler
Nov 13, 15 3:14 pm
Max number of employees before you get bickering and need to "manage" staff and deal with real human resources is ten people. I had as many as seven and could see the tide rising to the point where It just wasn't getting better ( and I wasn't making any more money. I have settled on five and find the balance to be pretty good, we are working on a great range of projects but nothing smaller than a major home renovation and that's only for an existing client. We are capable of scaling up and when we get too busy and have resorted to outsourcing the contract documents to another technical service provider. We say no to projects we don't want and keep billings high on a regular basis with everyone about 90% billable hours and mine roughly 70% billable. Don't waste time on volunteer stuff and design panels as it doesn't suit our needs for running a lean, low overhead business and pay everyone quite well including myself. I have tried to find a balance between doing a variety of work at different scales and have resolved that fact that there are just some project types we aren't ever going to get because of size and experience. Pick your battles with what is realistic and possible and comfortable enough to say no to bad clients or projects which are a waste of time or offer little personal interest.
Good_Knight
Nov 13, 15 3:30 pm
Thanks for the valuable insight whistler.
Would you break your 5 member team down by task/ title?
Good_Knight
Nov 13, 15 3:31 pm
whistler what are your primary sources for clients?
null pointer
Nov 13, 15 4:17 pm
whistler, you speak of my dream. (it's taking a lot of effort not let clients staff me up into oblivion, these days. -- which is what happens when you know a certain sort of knowledge in this market)
Carrera
Nov 13, 15 5:47 pm
“Size does matter” – to clients. Chased a lot of university work and the first thing they asked was “how many people do you have?” One of the first questions on most RFP’s….it’s inescapable…bigger work brings better work (generally) and they use that question to measure your capacity to deliver, regardless of how flawed the question is.
The more I think about it the more I like the new model (Chakrabarti/SHoP) of outsourcing CD’s. What we do is so damn cyclical and once you’re past 10 it’s tiger-feeding time. Think people are more open-minded about outsourcing today, trouble is you need to be Chakrabarti-like to pull it off….they know he has the ability to manage a big project….leaving a partnership with a significant portfolio would work, but starting out from scratch would be almost impossible.
(thank you, David Cole, for prompting this thought via this quote in your other thread)
"I’m of an age when very young architects sometimes ask me, “When do you go out and open your own practice? And where do you practice?” My answer is, when you’re no longer capable of taking instructions from another architect, you should open your own office. ...
-- Stanley Tigerman, as recently quoted in Architectural Record
Thought process I've been mulling over after reading this quotation:
-Am I no longer able to take instruction from another architect? Check. 17 years experience. Licensed. For a litany of additional reasons I won't go into here for risk of upsetting the peanut gallery and getting them distracted on unrelated points. (Balkins please don't poop in my thread!)
-But don't I need clients to go out on my own and open my own practice? Obviously. I have lots and lots of ideas on this one and very deep list of prospectives.
-But don't I need a partner given my predilection for a close friend to provide synergy? Obviously. Working on this too, albeit slowly and steadily (hence my thread dedicated to thinking this through and figuring out where to start looking).
Therefore, if the above is true. And at present I am incapable of taking instruction from another architect...how to survive faking it and pretending I give a care what another architect (partners in the current firm I'm with) attempts to instruct me to do? Besides a staff of drafters at my disposal, lack of clients (working on), and lack of a partner (yet), how can I possibly pass myself off as being subservient long enough to make a transition to starting my own firm?
Obviously, its not as black and white as Tigerman is making it out to be (not that his remarks don't have a lot more context than is obvious at first glance).
Anyone else out there been in the midst of this predicament? How to fake it in the presence of the ego of the existing partners at the firm I'm with until I make the leap? I feel a lot of fake smiles are going to be necessary to satiate egos (including my own) in the meantime?
Uhhh, welcome to working for somebody else? I've never NOT had this feeling.
When your ego is big enough you're usually too self absorbed to notice everyone around you thinks you're an asshole. So just put on a smile and get out there!
Better hone your acting skills now! If you think it is difficult to fake respect for another architect who outranks you in the food chain, wait until you deal with the idiot clients who can't understand why a window frame won't hold up a steel beam, or why water on the site can't be made to run uphill. That's when you will really be biting your lip.
Nice response, geezer. And yes, Good_Knight, being able to feign enthusiasm will sometimes be necessary when you have your own business.
ON the other hand, will it be that necessary to fake it? Do you despise your current co-workers, or do you wish them well but are just tired of working with them? If it's the latter, it shouldn't be hard to keep doing good work for the good of the team, profession, and world while you slowly more of the focus of your actual mental energy on your own gig.
If you really despise the place you work, then maybe quit or get yourself fired, collect unemployment for a couple months, and go like gangbusters getting your own gig up and running?
How to fake it in the presence of the ego of the existing partners at the firm I'm with until I make the leap?
And so the hegemony spawns another generation.
Nice responses so far, most everyone. Much appreciate the intelligent posts. The peanut gallery posts are repulsive to me as usual. Mixed bag on the interwebs, no? Oh well, its not expensive to post here so what should I expect? I'll take the good and ignore the rotten.
Personally I'm not tired of working with other people. Its not about that issue. I like people in general and especially the people I work with.
The trouble is I didn't become an architect only to be pigeon holed by the marketplace in a cubicle merely producing design and construction drawings, specifications and reviewing submittals 9-5 for the next 30 years while my employers skim off the top and take home all the profits. There is no leverage in this. There must be a better way to practice the profession and be profitable and experience self actualization. As an idea goes, starting a firm from scratch with one or two close partners would offer a way out and up.
I recognize that the cubicle farm animal is the reality for the majority of the profession and always will be. Its the status quo and for whatever reason human nature is what it is.
My being is different. I need an equity position in a firm and/or my own thing because I want to put in 100% 24/7. I scored in the 99th percentile on a recent IQ test. (cue the insecure/ jealous inhabitors of the peanut gallery!) I'm super motivated. But it feels like I'm stuck in office/ marketplace/ architecture profession (lack of advanced placement paradigms) politics too often. In this respect it feels like I'm stuck in rushhour downtown traffic with no end in sight. It feels like a life long immutable sentence to attend high school all over again. A place where I would just bring a good book to class everyday to survive the boredom/ torture.
I have experienced firsthand, for many years, the stifling effects of being an employee. Not being allowed to think on my own terms and being stuck 12" behind a computer screen mostly isolated from regular socialization activities with folks of my own choosing feels like I'm drowning slowly.
Additionally, I have no reason to be passionate about being expected by an employer/ the marketplace in my current position of clock-punching employee. There is no risk opportunities to experience a reward commensurate with 100% effort and time invested.
I want to experience self-actualization in my professional life more than anything. I'd do whatever it takes to put myself in such a position.
For now its feign contentment apparently while I plan and then eventually execute my escape from the 9-5 cubicle drudgery.
*folds hands and earnestly looks heavenward* Dear god, if you exist, please hear my plea that Balkins doesn't start pooping in this thread.
And dear Lord, please, if there is a god, keep the peanut gallery idiocy to a minimum in this thread. you know...all the Beavis and Buttheadery/ Family Guy/ shallow stupid commentary which is so old and tired (and is usually spewed by the young and wonderfully energetic yet woefully ineffective)
Silly advice. "My answer is, when you’re no longer capable of taking instructions from another architect, you should open your own office. .."
Or lol... the other side of that coin. Get out, make your own company and having employee after employee who are unwilling to take your direction and think it's easy street to run a firm. Afterall, you aren't designing much, just critiquing, and haven't kept up on the latest trends, technologies and standards in buildings. You'll find, as most do, running a business is a lot different than being an architect; No one in the office understands exactly what you do (because it isn't what they are doing) Welcome to the world of spreadsheets, quarterly reports, and overhead factors. Also enjoy having most of your interaction on a project being more of a 'fireman' putting out fires or making sure your wonderful employees aren't going to get your butt sued. Your spouse will also thoroughly enjoy watching you deplete personal funds to make ends meet at work from time to time.
So take everything you know about detailing and how buildings go together and put it to the side. It won't help you that much.
The caveat; You can do fine as a tiny or single proprietor without a lot of business savy. I found though, about 4 employee's on up, you'll be running a business most the time and leave the architecture to your employees. At 9 or so, inner office politics and a set heirarchy starts kicking in where you'll also don the human resources and in-house counselor hat. But if you don't 'go big' you'll wither on the vine with the tiny projects. So... figure out what you enjoy and do it.
ok, so you note how most of the profession is a cubicle farm animal, yet you have decided that for whatever reason you should rise above the rabble. you took an IQ test (hopefully a proctored IQ test rather than on the internets) that told you you're real smart. like in an office of 500 people, the break room is half full of people equal to your genius. that's right, your break room holds 10 people. you also note that for whatever reason you're reaching out to an internet peanut gallery for guidance on how to get someone to help you be the success you see yourself as, rather than just doing it.
in my humble estimation, i think you're missing a big part of the picture here. you could almost sum up what you're saying, is that you want to be the guy skimming off the work of others, and you deserve it because you're a special snowflake?
ask yourself why your bosses are in the position they're in, and you're not. what did they do to get there? perhaps the skills you possess are not what's valuable when running a business or something like that. maybe they have something other than a high IQ that makes them more suitable for the positions they hold, or maybe 1 in 100 doesn't really put you at the top when you're in a crowd of 1,000.
i would also like to do better than i'm doing now. i would also like to be in a position where putting in some effort and giving half a shit meant something. you're not alone in experience what you're experiencing. i think a pretty good chunk of the animal farm is right there with you.
Non sarcastic reply:
It seems to me like you're stuck in a toxic work environment, but that doesn't necessarily correlate to the *institution* of being an employee. Why not look around for existing firms where you think you'll be appreciated and listened to?
Taking you at your word, you have the experience and skill to forge out on your own, but not the partnership or client base. It's a good economy and I'm sure there are plenty of young small or mid-size firms who are hungry to bring in high-level talent. Rather than jump ship and assume a massive risk with little chance of success (tempting though it may be), why not seek out an opportunity to transfer laterally to a place where you can climb higher? The risk/reward balance is tipped much more in your favor.
Just a suggestion that there are many more than two options. Entertain them all. Good luck!
^ That's about it....people who are half-cogs (not saying the OP is) would do better finding an associate or partner position in an established firm, but the latter usually requires some rainmaking ability.
If you have clients you go out on your own. period.
Speculation on a "very deep list of prospectives"....ha! despite your disdain for your superiors, it sounds like you are going to be there for a long time, better suck it up. Bragging about your recent IQ exam results on an anonymous forum? Give me a fucking break, you must be a real joy to employ and work with...
only illiterate pricks brag about their IQs. So you have an aptitude for learning, good thing you've read enough to know how IQ scores say very little about business acumen.
"The trouble is I didn't become an architect only to be pigeon holed by the marketplace in a cubicle merely producing design and construction drawings, specifications and reviewing submittals 9-5 for the next 30 years while my employers skim off the top and take home all the profits."
I'm not sure if you're new to capitalism, but that's basically how it works. You have a few choices though, find a new job, start your own, or find a company that is cooperatively owned, has more equitable profit sharing, or at your new job negotiate for better raises or annual bonuses. When you can demonstrate your value you can demand more. If the employer doesn't want to budge, then move on.
But if you've been in this industry for a while now you must know contractors, subs, non-architecture community members, friends, former colleagues. All people who could potentially have projects you could do on your own and begin the process of breaking free from being an employee.
kudos for your insight tduds
It was mentioned by geezer, but I'll say it again - when you are an employee, you have one boss. When you are the boss, you have many bosses - all your clients. The good thing is that you can fire (or never work for in the first place) bad clients. Or at least they go away eventually.
I am a sole proprietor. About the same amount of experience as you.
I am self employed for 2 reason:
1) because I was tired of my future being at the whim of someone else (the boss man)
2) I wanted more flexibility in my day in order to better take care of my family
I do work more hours than I used to. Probably about 60 hours a week now compared to 40-45 before. I make about the same amount of money although I'm getting better at getting bigger jobs and doing jobs more efficiently. I do have an upper limit on how many hours I can work and how much I can produce.
Although I work more hours, I now can deal with all the BS that life throws at me - when my child has a day off school or is sick, when I have to meet an appliance repairman, whatever it is isn't an panic anymore. The trade off is that I'm working pretty much every day of the week, most nights, etc.
I do not have employees or a partner. I'm just not ready for it yet. I don't understand my business well enough yet and I know that both a partner and employees can be a very expensive mistake if you don't know how to make money off them. That's fine for me, for now. I hope to hire in the next year or so but plan on being very careful about it.
I do enjoy all the different tasks I get to do. I might miss it if I spent all my time with spreadsheets and marketing.
I could use a bit more socialization - having someone to pick up the slack when I can't, or to bounce ideas off of. The good news is that I'm running the business in the black and have only had one negative month out of something like 30.
sounds like a promising future gruen, thats terrific thanks for sharing!
Everybody has to answer to somebody, unless of course you are a dictator. There may be an opening for that in Syria in the next year or so. Good pay and perks. Job security questionable.
^ I understand the phenomenon of projecting one's own fears and insecurities onto others and into conversations...but seriously its tiring once one sees it for what it is. Still thanks geezertect for at least not adding the additional repulsive flavor of wrapping your point in that noxious millennial packaging of slapstick/ low brow/ cutting sarcasm which they pass off as humor.
(i.e. thanks but why inject the idea of questioning the reality of a food chain being existent in all endeavors/ occupations? This is not an issue that needs to be addressed in the spirit of the OP. Its irrelevant, at least from my perspective. Been there. Done that. Check that box. Agree. Lets move on. Not picking on you because other posters seem to be zeroing in on this point as well. Most obvious conclusion is they themselves are still wrestling with this fact of life. Which is fine but please start your own thread to discuss this separate issue)
"You either spend your time trying to create your own wave or riding someone elses."
Good_Knight, I'm looking for the same.
Nice post, gruen.
So when I was doing my own thing I never had employees, in part because I never had big enough jobs but also because I didn't pursue those kinds of jobs specifically because I didn't want to have to spend all my time managing people I was committed to for their livelihood. My husband now has 17 employees and everything everyone has said here is true: you stop being able to do the work you wanted to do in the first place because you have to spend all your time managing the people who are doing it instead. If good things happen, you might get to enjoy them, but if bad things happen, you are absolutely first - really, only - in line to take the abuse and fix it. You'll work a day shift, take a break for dinner and maybe time with your family, then do the "third half of the day" shift which is working until you collapse then do it all over again the next day. No weekends, either, and no real vacations.
That said, doing your own thing can be fantastic and in many ways is. As tduds said, some people just aren't meant to be employees; they're not good at it. My husband is a leader and has always been too independent a thinker to be a great employee. I, on the other hand, am a fantastic support person but don't feel the need to be the leader, usually.
Max number of employees before you get bickering and need to "manage" staff and deal with real human resources is ten people. I had as many as seven and could see the tide rising to the point where It just wasn't getting better ( and I wasn't making any more money. I have settled on five and find the balance to be pretty good, we are working on a great range of projects but nothing smaller than a major home renovation and that's only for an existing client. We are capable of scaling up and when we get too busy and have resorted to outsourcing the contract documents to another technical service provider. We say no to projects we don't want and keep billings high on a regular basis with everyone about 90% billable hours and mine roughly 70% billable. Don't waste time on volunteer stuff and design panels as it doesn't suit our needs for running a lean, low overhead business and pay everyone quite well including myself. I have tried to find a balance between doing a variety of work at different scales and have resolved that fact that there are just some project types we aren't ever going to get because of size and experience. Pick your battles with what is realistic and possible and comfortable enough to say no to bad clients or projects which are a waste of time or offer little personal interest.
Thanks for the valuable insight whistler.
Would you break your 5 member team down by task/ title?
whistler what are your primary sources for clients?
whistler, you speak of my dream. (it's taking a lot of effort not let clients staff me up into oblivion, these days. -- which is what happens when you know a certain sort of knowledge in this market)
“Size does matter” – to clients. Chased a lot of university work and the first thing they asked was “how many people do you have?” One of the first questions on most RFP’s….it’s inescapable…bigger work brings better work (generally) and they use that question to measure your capacity to deliver, regardless of how flawed the question is.
The more I think about it the more I like the new model (Chakrabarti/SHoP) of outsourcing CD’s. What we do is so damn cyclical and once you’re past 10 it’s tiger-feeding time. Think people are more open-minded about outsourcing today, trouble is you need to be Chakrabarti-like to pull it off….they know he has the ability to manage a big project….leaving a partnership with a significant portfolio would work, but starting out from scratch would be almost impossible.