Reply To: Made the jump and gone on my own

[Calico]

Absent a huge trust fund and wealthy spouse, the most direct way to survive the first few years is by snagging your former clients – especially those shining few who both have money and pay their bills in a timely manner. These will be your best leads because they hopefully know and love you / your work, know that you were the brains behind your old firm’s brilliance, and will pay you when you invoice them. However, they will probably only be willing to pay you less than what they paid your former employer because they know you will starve otherwise.

I don’t do trade shows and networking events if I know other landscape architects will be there.