Overview: “Practicing as a Rural Architectural Designer" is a series I developed to provide insight into the development of a rural architectural practice in the Upper Midwest as an emerging professional working towards licensure.
——
03 The Past Few Months and What I’ve Learned
Well, it certainly has been a while since I posted on this blog, but that is alright in my books. Today I’m writing about what the past few months have been like for me as I go forward in developing my rural practice and what I have learned along the way.
First off, let’s address the elephant in the room. It is now April 21st and since November (my last post), A LOT has happened. Needless to say, my mind is jumbled just thinking back over the past 5 months.
Progress
November
Multiple meetings for the Yes House project and progress on other projects, my sister’s baby shower, Thanksgiving.
December
Continued projects, set up my own retirement fund, discussions with Austin-area executives on project ideas that would benefit local housing initiatives…and I met a wonderful person and community-connector named Benya Kraus who is the head of Lead for MN, a chapter of Lead for America. (Check it out!) She is an amazing advocate of nearby Waseca, MN, her hometown and a real change-maker. I will likely talk about this in future posts as well.
January
Visited MASS Design Group in Boston with Benya - we also learned about their Fringe Cities Design Lab and drove out to Poughkeepsie, NY to visit their office. (Another topic in the future). Tweaked my back, signed up for chiropractic care. Site visits for an artist grant I received - site pictures, light measurements, dreaming up renovation ideas that would be carried onto my watercolor sketches. I was named a Fulbright semi-finalist for my proposal to Norway, was selected to be on the Austin Culture and Arts Commission, and my niece Bluma was born!
February
Busy with three projects, continued chiropractic care, received the ARE 2020 Scholarship from AIA MN to help pay for my ARE exams which amount to somewhere between $1500 if I don’t fail one (uffda). I am very grateful and blessed to have received this. Had our second Austin Culture and Arts Commission meeting.
March
COVID-19 “fun.” Staying informed, getting a little depressed, working on ways to improve my mental health and physical health. Meditation, yoga and other activities including semi-daily walks enter my routine. I don’t think it’s possible to do all of this in my day but it is and its adding much-needed sanity!
April
COVID-19 extensions of MN shutdown. Still working on mental health and physical health and the continued architectural projects, artist grant work, and collaborations on grants with Austin organizations. So far, the month is shaping up well and I may have excluded one exciting element that I’ll announce at another time :).
I write down all of the above to share with others about my progress, but also to remind myself all that I’ve done in the past five months. It’s been exciting, exhausting, and very new but I continue to press forward towards my goals in becoming an asset to the community I live in.
Now for a progress update on business (notably excluded from the above updates)…
Setting Up My Business: Delays and Indecisiveness
In my last blog post (02), I wrote about some resources for setting up your business. Needless to say, this aspect of my work has been on the back burner while I I have been doing necessary architectural work, networking, and brainstorming potential projects with local organizations.
This doesn’t mean that setting up my business formally is unimportant. On the contrary, my stagnation has been because I haven’t been able to decided on a name, which is probably one of the oldest excuses and stumbling blocks to many a new business. Part of this was because I jumped head-first into creating my own practice without really having a business plan and spending time prepping for this large step. I don’t necessarily feel this was bad for myself, but I would caution others to do so, just in the name of making a sound business. My own motivation for starting my practice was born out of seeing the lack of design services available to small towns, and the huge amount of need for them. Simply said, there was literally no other architect or designer in Austin, MN. Because of this, I could not get hired at an office in town, and had to pave my own way. I think this is a very real issue for many emerging professionals who would like to move back to small towns to do work and provide a necessary service.
Since November, when I last posted, I have taken several steps to move forward through these stumbling blocks in a variety of ways. I suggest doing these in the very likely event you find yourself in the same situation.
Create or find a community where you can find support and camaraderie.
Digital Happy Hours
Online support groups - Facebook is a great source!
Local community organizations - don’t reinvent the wheel if it’s already there.
I will continue this topic in a later blog post, while I refine the formatting, length, and direction of these posts. It’s safe to say that COVID-19 life has allotted some time for introspection and a needed check-in. In the meantime, please let me know:
What are you interested in learning about?
Best,
Miranda
