The experiment of ‘Practice’ continues to evolve. 28 years “practicing” architecture with a myriad of firms, and 3 years as a Sole Proprietor (with staff) has lead to some great education and learning “opportunities” that continue to task and put me to work everyday. Due to lack of progression and profitability, coupled with a slow-down in work, I’ve had to let my 3 staff go on to (hopefully) greener pastures (which looks to have worked out for all).
Now I find myself having to pick up the pieces of a handful of projects, revise them, wrap them up, burn the midnight oil and so on in order to keep them moving forward. While this has been a tough transition for all, thankfully most clients have been understanding, if not patient.
It’s an unknown journey ahead. But one that I know I can and will navigate successfully.
First Lesson Learned: Managing and Office and Managing Projects and Being an Architect are completely different things, that need to be done by different people. Otherwise, you end up working 3x as hard and as much. We all do Project Architecture and Management at the same time. It’s just a fact of our business. That’s self-evident in the hours upon hours we work well above and beyond the norm. But adding Business Development, Firm Management, Marketing, Accounting, etc. to that is just too much. I had hoped and expected a new or existing staff person to be able to help out in one of those roles, but it just didn’t/couldn’t happen.
Second Lesson Learned: I hired too many inexperienced staff at the same time without the help of experienced staff to help guide and manage them. In my naiveite, I thought I could educate and elevate them all to profitability. One Principal can manage 2-3 Project Managers/Architects. And those PM/PA’s can manage 2-3 projects with a staff of 2-3 and so on. This is nothing new to the profession, but in a small firm environment that is running on a shoe-string budget trying to make a name and reputation for themselves, coupled with a lack of veritable candidates, that is hard to come by. I knew that going in. I was looking for and ready to hire that more seasoned and experienced professional, there just weren’t any available or looking. And the one’s I had did not or could not move up into that role. This added more to my plate when it should have taken away.
Third Lesson Learned (which was really the first): I should have listened better to the priceless advice I got from a peer, and also my super-awesome wife, when they said to take it slow, don’t grow too fast, don’t move out of your house and into an office too fast. There will be time for that later. Well, I thought enough time had passed, we were bursting at the seams in the home office / dining room. But we should have stayed there at least a year, and not hired that 3rd employee.
Bon voyage to my former employees. You were all awesome and I’m sorry I failed at keeping you on task and individually managing you or getting the help we needed to do the same. But now you are all at places that can & will do that for you and hopefully move you in the direction you need to go as I now go in the direction I guess I needed to go. Smaller is better, but first to tackle this mountain one rock at a time.