Today is Flag day. It is also the 16th anniversary of starting my architectural firm (Spaces, Design & Architecture, Inc.). And it is also the 16th anniversary of getting "fired" for the first time! In 1993 I was working for a Tulsa firm. I had been there 2 years. When I went back to work with a guy that had been my partner for 6 years, he told me that after one year we would talk about becoming partners again. At the time he asked me to rejoin him, he had a firm of 8 persons and a couple of contract workers. A year later we had added 5 additional people that I recruited from the firm I left to join him. About 40% of the work in the firm was work that I had brought in. 18 months past and no talk of partnership! I had opened a Muskogee office for his firm and had successfully marketed 4 projects worth $600,000 in fees. I asked him about the agreement, he said no deal. I commented that I would have to leave when these new projects were finished and he responded by saying to leave now. June 14.
I was living in Bixby, but all my current contacts were in Muskogee.
A new firm was born that day. No office. No projects. No staff. No money except for severance pay. Weird day! I wouldn't trade it for the world! These events caused me to realize a dream that is as fun today as I ever imagined.
P.S. 2 of the projects that I had brought in for my former firm ($400,000 in Fees) fired my former boss as soon as it was known that I was not there.
The day I got fired my employer got fired too!
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