Landscape Architecture for Landscape Architects › Forums › GENERAL DISCUSSION › Experience necessary before starting your own practice? › Reply To: Experience necessary before starting your own practice?
Mike TupaI’ll agree that you need professional skill and real world experience to become successful. I also offer that to start your own practice you must have a network of clients and that network takes time to build. Unless you are blessed with instant knowledge of the industry you are consulting in you need to know people and they need to know you. And it takes times for one contact to lead to several others and some of those leading to work which puts you in touch with others who can use your skill. So, typically when working in someone elses office you gain those contacts and build your own network. The faster you can help those within your known network the faster that network grows and the sooner you can build your own practice. (does this sound like a video game?)
My experience is that it takes a minimum of 3-5 years to get that up and running during good times. And I wouldn’t count on it supporting you until after 10 years.
Lots of design skill and professional experience means nothing if you don’t have clients and clients are what makes a practice (Professional Office) function.