Written by two leading experts in the field this essential volume offers a step-by-step guide to understanding and evaluating the goals, risks and the rewards of starting a firm. Covers the basics of firm organisation, personnel requirements, legal considerations, fee setting, marketing issues and the essentials of strategic and business plans Addresses how to get started including how to create your first business plan, evaluate initial needs and costs, create a budget and a produce a list of action items to get started This volume is practical, applied, concise, portable, affordable and user-friendly

Written by two leading experts in the field this essential volume offers a step-by-step guide to understanding and evaluating the goals, risks and the rewards of starting a firm. Covers the basics of firm organisation, personnel requirements, legal considerations, fee setting, marketing issues and the essentials of strategic and business plans Addresses how to get started including how to create your first business plan, evaluate initial needs and costs, create a budget and a produce a list of action items to get started This volume is practical, applied, concise, portable, affordable and user-friendly

Want to make it big on Broadway—as a techie? Or how about working in smaller regional theater? Careers in Technical Theater explains more than twenty different careers from the perspective of successful theater artists. Included are specialties that have been around for decades, as well as those still emerging in the field. Concise information is provided on job duties, estimated earnings, recommended training, examples of career paths, and the insights are given of working pros in management, scenery, audio/visual, costumes, video and projection, engineering, and theatrical systems. There’s even a detailed appendix on finding on-the-job training as an intern, apprentice, or paid worker. For anyone interested in a behind-the-scenes life in the theater,Careers in Technical Theater is a priceless resource. Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, publishes a broad range of books on the visual and performing arts, with emphasis on the business of art. Our titles cover subjects such as graphic design, theater, branding, fine art, photography, interior design, writing, acting, film, how to start careers, business and legal forms, business practices, and more. While we don't aspire to publish a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are deeply committed to quality books that help creative professionals succeed and thrive. We often publish in areas overlooked by other publishers and welcome the author whose expertise can help our audience of readers.

Part narrative, part business book; Architect + Entrepreneur is filled with contemporary, relevant, fresh tips and advice, from a seasoned professional architect building a new business. The guide advocates novel strategies and tools that merge entrepreneurship with the practice of architecture and interior design. The Problem:Embarking on a new business venture is intimidating; you have questions. But many of the resources available to help entrepreneur architects and interior designers start their design business lack timeliness and relevance. Most are geared toward building colossal firms like SOM and Gensler using outdated methods and old business models. If you're an individual or small team contemplating starting a design business, this is your field guide; crafted to inspire action. The Solution:Using the lean startup methodology to create a minimum viable product, the handbook encourages successive small wins that support a broader vision enabling one to, "think big, start small, and learn fast." It's a unique take on design practice viewed through the lens of entrepreneurship and is designed to answer the questions all new business owners face, from the rote to the existential. Questions about: - Startup costs - Business models (old and new) - Marriage of business and design - Mindset - Branding & naming (exercises and ideas) - Internet marketing strategies - Passive income ideas - Setting your fee - Taxes - Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) - Securing the work - Client relations - Software - Billing rates - Contracts Building a business isn't a singular act; it's a series of small steps. Using the outline found in Architect + Entrepreneur you can start today. The chapters are organized to guide you from idea to action. Rather than write a business plan you'll be challenged to craft a brand and you'll sell it using new technologies. Follow the guide sequentially and you'll have both the tools and a profitable small business.

Written by a cost-control expert with more than thirty years of design and building expertise, this volume in the Professional Practice Essentials Series gives you practical, user-friendly guidance on how to better manager costs through all phases of a project. Dell'Isola first explains the basics of cost management-from estimating costs during the design phase to managing costs during construction and even after occupancy. He then covers all of the tools and techniques available to architects/designers and explains how best to use them. A number of useful case studies clearly show how the author's principles work in real-life situations.

The majority of architecture and design firms employ fewer than ten people. As with any small business, the owner/principal of these firms must make plans for all of the eventual transitions that will impact the practice and any or all of the people therein. This book in the Professional Practice Essentials Series offers comprehensive advice on the subject, specifically tailored to the practicing design professional. Here, a noted consultant who specializes in architecture firm management addresses a host of vital transition issues, including growth, expansion, management changes, internal transitions, mergers, acquisitions, liquidations, retirements, and much, much more.

Coverage addresses all aspects of getting started, from preliminary analysis of personal skills and resources preceding a startup (including creating a business plan and evaluating initial costs) to business and marketing strategies to keep your firm going.