When starting out in the field of architecture it’s easy to work for friends and just agree on terms without anything written down. Do not do this; it is a guarantee for disaster. I got bit by this once. I agreed to a sum of money per week to work for a friend. Turns out we had a different understanding of the value of that money. I divided it by one dollar amount to gauge the minimum number of hours I needed to work. He used a different number. We didn’t share these numbers with each other until the bitterness set in. The work turned out great, but the business relationship and the friendship ended. Vague statements like “I’ll work as much as I can” or “this allows me to focus on your work and a few other things for myself” are traps. Treating people you know differently than people you don’t is bad business. Now I don’t get lazy, nervous to speak up or too eager to say yes. Everything needs to be clear first. Everything needs to be in writing.

Wait; why are you demanding that? I’m a freelancer, not your bitch!

If you don’t define your responsibilities and relationships, then money doesn’t equal time and money doesn’t equal effort and money doesn’t equal value. If you don’t say for this amount of money you’ll get X, Y, or Z (whether that’s time, product, etc.), then you’ve got no ability to fight against misremembering. If your client-I think of anyone I’m freelancing for as a client, not a boss, never a boss. I hated thinking of people who employed me as a regular employee as a boss either. That concept sits wrong with me-say you two discussed 30-40 hours a week, it doesn’t matter that you may have once said “I can’t work 40 hours for you” or “I have 40-45 hours a week to do everything I need to do (unstated: including things that don’t involve you)”. You’re screwed.

If you aren’t in agreement (clear agreement) on roles, relationships, and power, those will be figured out over time. Are the freelancer and the person needing the help equals, each giving the other value? Or is the value proposition of a different sort. I’m not just talking about extrinsic value like money for architectural services (or whatever you’re doing). A coveted freelancer will be able to choose projects for more reasons than just the dollar amount offered. I’m more interested in intrinsic value. What else is the relationship providing beyond money? Stability, design freedom, design credit, connections, collaboration with other driven people… A disconnect on intrinsic value is where misalignment will really destroy relationships. At least that’s what happens for me. Once a boss, employer, or client gets the mindset where I’m their slave because of an exchange of money, things fall apart.

I like to please people. So it’s easy for me to fall into these traps. But at some point, our true selves always come out. At some point all the rationalization of why you’re working for less than you’d like, not getting the freedom you want, not getting the credit you want, stops working. At some point reality trumps the dream. There’s only one end to the Scorpion and the Toad. It doesn’t matter how firm the Toad tries to be or how accommodating the Scorpion pretends to be. We are who we are. And the funny thing is, I think the story should be called the Scorpion and the Alligator. Or maybe the Scorpion and the water Scorpion. Because we are all the Scorpion. And we are all the Toad. Both at all times.

BONUS STORY

My (architecture) business partner David was visiting some of our college classmates in New York City. The main topic was of course updates on anyone they kept in touch with from Rice University. Naturally, I came up in discussion. The friends asked “isn’t Jared working with or for former classmate X”. David caught them up on my recent adventures and told them about that short-lived experience. The confusion of with or for is actually why that relationship failed. I thought I was working with this guy. He thought I was working for him. This linguistic clarification is a clear way to explain why this and many other freelance relationships fail.

On a grander scale this also explains another trouble with architects. When does for turn to with? How do you handle that transition, as a boss and as an employee? How do you hire a for and help them become a with? How does a firm leader see the fresh intern as someone on the path from for to with? Not as a static individual, but as someone always becoming. As a freelancer or contract employee, that distinction helps with understanding the potential of the relationship. With relationships will be stronger and longer lasting. For relationships are more transactional and hierarchical. For relationships are based on convenience.

For more on going from Intern to Architect, read these posts:

• The Architect’s Greatest Fear: The Usurper
• Dear Architecture Firm: why isn’t your intern on your website?
• You’re just a lowly BIM Manager and you’ve got no goals

Subscribe to my blog to read more about the future of BIM and the tricky world of being an Architect in the 21st century: Shoegnome on Facebook, Twitter, and RSS feed. And now you can join the LinkedIN group too!