There’s two versions of this post. The short version and the long version.

First the short version:

Shoegnome Architects is looking for help

The work at the moment is project based, so freelancers make the most sense-to begin with. I would love to hire full time employee(s) sooner rather than later. I have a lot of work and more coming. I’ll be able to use help as soon as the right person comes along. The ideal candidate would be:

• Proficient in ARCHICAD
• Interested in residential and mixed use projects
• Excited to research and write about ARCHICAD
• Determined to be a licensed architect working for themselves in 3 to 5 years

Knowledge of USA construction methods/imperial units and proximity to Seattle, Washington are both pluses. I’m open to all levels of experience as both ends of the spectrum offer great potential.

If you are interested in applying, e-mail me. Resumes, cover letters, etc. are great but what I really want to see is a PDF set of drawings and/or .PLA of a recent project with a description of what you were in charge of. While ARCHICAD proficiency isn’t everything, I’ve looked at enough ARCHICAD files over the past dozen years to be able to know a whole lot about the author very, very quickly.

Now the long version:

Two Years Ago

In early 2016, I promised in a post about an online popularity contest to start writing less. It was time to turn Shoegnome into Shoegnome Architects. I knew the next major blog post I wanted to write was called “How to Start an Architecture Firm”. It’s a post I started writing years ago. It’s sitting in my drafts, half completed. It’s not a single post anymore. It’s probably four or five. When it’s complete, it’ll maybe be a dozen. Perhaps a book. I have all these great ideas and observations. I haven’t shared anything yet because it was all theoretical. For the longest time I knew conceptually HOW to start a firm, but I didn’t feel like I HAD started a firm. That’s changed. Shoegnome is without a doubt an architecture firm now.

I have as much work as I can handle right now. There are a number of prospective clients that are eager to drop the prospective descriptor. There’s a lot of untapped potential I’m just too busy to chase. I’ve been away from writing long enough that I really miss it-both here and on BIM Engine. I also have a good friend whom I’ve been scheming a lot with recently. We’ve worked together for years and for almost as long we’ve talked about something bigger. That bigger thing was always just beyond our reach; one step too far from possible. We’re now sitting on the cusp of that bigger thing. If the opportunity breaks, it’ll transform our businesses. It still might not happen. The projects could dissolve. But we’re both committed to the path, to being prepared to evolve. If we lose this opportunity we want to have everything ready so that we won’t lose the next one.

I’m sorry that I’m being so vague. I do hate the lack of specificity when talking about plans. If it’s so great and wonderful… share, right? Sorry. Not yet. But soon I think. Very soon. Especially if I can get help.

In 2016 I had 8 projects. In 2017 I had 18. I have no idea how many projects I’ll have in 2018, but I do know the limiting factor has changed. In 2016 and 2017 it was finding the work. Now it’s my own capacity. In 2018 and beyond I must have a new motto (kudos goes to Cary Westerbeck for coming up with this during one of our many Slack discussions):

Delegation will now be Survival

That motto is what’s still preventing me from finishing my blog posts on how to start a firm. I can confidently say I know how to start a sole proprietorship; I can share how to go off on one’s own, get projects, and make a living. I’m excited to write about that, too. But I want to learn and share how to go from me to us; from solo warrior to army.

Two Years from Now

An architect visited my first grade class and I knew that’s what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was seven years old. I’ve written about that before. But that’s only half the story. It was also around that time that I started dreaming about having my own business. I was going to have a store and it was going to be called JEBco. Oddly enough now that I think back on it, I can still close my eyes and picture the building I was envisioning. What the facade looked like. How the shop was laid out. The company itself wasn’t that ambiguous either; it was a direct copy of what was going on in real life. When I was five or six, my dad quit his job. At the time he was a high powered buyer for a very large, now defunct big box store-New England created a lot of competitors for Wal-Mart and Target, but very few survived the 1980s. The job made him a lot of money but didn’t make him happy. He got so fed up one day that he quit. The exact details are fantastic, but it’s not my story to tell. Suffice to say my dad quit by telling his boss to fuck off. Newly unemployed, my dad immediately pursued his lifelong dream: to have his own business. His store, The Bargain Stop, had two iterations and lasted about two years. By the time I was about eight, he had closed the store and gone back to working for other people. Seeing my dad chase his dream and be his own boss imprinted on me. I knew that would be my destiny too.

By the time I finished first grade, I knew I wanted to be an architect and own my own business. Those two things have always been linked. And I’m always surprised when that’s not the case for every architect I know. I think I’ll write about that more another day. But for now, as I think about this next endeavour, and who I want help from, my ideal employee (or freelancer) is someone who sees things the same way. Being an architect is about both the creation of buildings and entreneurship, about design and business ownership. I would love nothing more than to turn Shoegnome Architects into a generator of other architecture firms. It would be amazing to grow to five or eight or twelve (whatever right set point allows for stable work and growth, and the ability to invite every employee and employee’s family over to my house for a BBQ or holiday party). I’d like to grow but not necessarily add more leadership. Not because I can’t share power. Rather because I’d like to hire people who don’t want me to be their boss forever. I’d like to teach people to not need me. And I want collaborators who crave ownership. That sounds wonderful. It’s what I’ve been trying to do for years with sharing my ARCHICAD knowledge. I want to continue to give away all my secrets. Within two years I want to spend more time getting work and coaching others than modeling.

I want to teach fishing, not provide fish.

No that’s not right.

I want to mentor fishermen (and women) not make them dependant on my own fishing prowess.

So yeah. That’s the long version. If you think teaming up with me for a few months or years sounds like a great way to get where you want to go, e-mail me. I’ve got the work and the dream. Let’s do this.

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