<p>I was going to add a similar thought. In order to run your own business, it helps to be an extrovert (Gwathmey, Eisenman)–or at least an introvert with a talent for socializing (Meier, Pei, Rossi). If you’ve met any of the top architects, you would quickly realize that they have a gift for making strangers feel confident and welcome. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, architecture school draws many introverts who have no capacity for marketing because they are genuinely uncomfortable trying to make strangers comfortable; ie selling their talent to strangers.</p>
<p>For the record, I did not have a trust fund but the first year I started the practice, I made three times the money I made working for a famous architect. It is not only possible to do what I did, it is relatively easy. In fact, I have moved the practice twice–once overseas where we didn’t know a single soul–each time with the same success as the first start-up in Manhattan. Funnily, the move overseas–where we got our first project through the bank teller–has proved to be the most lucrative.</p>
<p>I’ve thought about writing a book on how to open and run a successful practice–becasue I think it’s pretty darn easy.</p>