She was clear, my accountant.
Could not be clearer.
“Andrew, you have to cut down on your coffee. The expenditure is obscene!”
Now, you can advise me to curb:
Our modelling expenses. Reuse Boxboard verse the crisp new sheets …
Sprinkle in the odd Zoom over our 100% on-site in-person meeting reference to save on petrol…
I even balance the $45 presentation tracing paper with the Coles $1.30 rolls from time to time…
But I draw the line at that spiritual liquid.
It all began Rome.
After months on end sketching accross the US and Europe, the tail end of my Eric Parker Memorial Travelling Scholarship 2002 ended with a relaxing week in Rome devoid of tracking down and drawing architecture - purely enjoying the city.
We stayed with my girlfriends Aunty - Moroccan - her husband - Italian - and their young kids. It was pure madness! (in the best way!)
Not a word of English was spoken. Some Italian came back (we were taught Italian and English in Melbourne in my early childhood) - but certainly never this word….
Francesca, their 2 year old, asked for “latte! latte!” over a bottle in the mornings, and a weak, but huge caffeinated milk drink was her kickstart.
Latte. What on earth is that?
Espresso x Rome = Happiness
Similarly, after enjoying every carb known to man on the streets of Rome, I was introduced to the post-meal espresso for the the first time. Hated the taste, loved the ritual with the chef / staff / or friends after the meal.
After a week: I was hooked!
Flat White x Mint = Network
Returning from the trip, I braced for my first go as employed architecture student. Terrigal, on the Central Coast, certainly had no espresso bars at that time and I took the train to Central to begin my 1st Job, with Architect Marshall in Surry Hills (see Note 016: How I got my 1st job in architecture).
I walked down Crown Street to the big, largely vacant Marlborough House warehouse (site of future Dojo), and circled back to the main road. That’s where I stumbled into the just that week opened, Cafe Mint.
Over the next decade Surry Hills would go from that single cafe, and vacant warehouse to the epicentre of what seemed like every creative practice in Sydney.
What started as a simple daily reminder of far away lands before work, became a very enjoyable ritual, - that over time - revealed itself to also covertly be an incredibly valuable, network generating machine over the course of 10 consistent years.
Management literature would call it the water-cooler effect - the sum of friendly, relationship building adjacent to but not part of your practice life (employee life for me at that time).
A Community of Practice (you have many).
Who’s working with who… Projects… Who’s looking… Comparisons… Balance… Characters... Partnerships... Alliances… Dissipations… Camaraderie… Finger on the Pulse…
This space and ritual, (*very much helped by my love of coffee, conversations, helping anyone I can, and meeting new people generally - work on this if it is not natural to you yet) was the incubator for my network of the rapid expansion of Sydneys young creatives in that time period.
The 2nd very important ‘condenser’ was Marlborough House, the lifts and corridors themselves over that decade, where the same predisposition of general friendliness as an ‘architecture student’ engendered close, friendly contacts with a ton of agency and firm owning directors (within and far beyond architecture).
A network which became valuable beyond initial friendliness once I had started my own practice a decade later .
I briefly recount some of these interactions in: Note 006: Space
Long Black x Freestate = Community
In 2017, we moved the family to the beach I grew up in, Terrigal on the NSW Central Coast.
Brutal for a period of transition (I had to commute TO my staff in Surry Hills for a year or 2 in transition) - but a peculiar thing happened.
Unlike the year 2000, there was now 1 very good barista (2017 - there are more now post pandemic and regional population growth).
Enter a strange new world of fit people, surfers and early risers, meant all the action happened at 5am at the cafe’s… we’re not in Surry Hills anymore…
So, rinse and repeat.
Over a slow period of 6-7 years, through being friendly, loving good coffee, you will eventually become a lynchpin in your current community - and I recommend it.
For bonus points, I often had my sketchbook out working on various project ideas while having my coffee (I still do - 20 years daily habit now - and over time, people take interest, and you will be known as ‘the architect’ (if in a smaller non-city region).
By 2017 I had been a studio owner for 5 years, with the 10 years career growth in Surry Hills prior. Combine that with continuous teaching at Newcastle University for the full 15, my architecture-industry network was well and truly self-expending by that point.
Help enough people - the word gets around.
You! Now!
As an owner, (which I cover in Note 001: Networking for any new readers), the networks you must now tend to are:
Potential Clients!
And Potential Clients, are very likely to be found everywhere except your architecture industry community network from employment days!
Can you think of a better, cheaper, visual demonstration of what an architect actually does, personality-vet potential clients through conversation, and general visibility as an architect within your community? I can’t.
My love letter to Coffee would go so long I would never complete it, here are some other memorable highlights…
Goldbergs / 3 Monkeys in Newcastle, where we would all meet to debrief and philisophically argue over all our daily architecture lectures and studios, students, graduates, current staff, professors, strangers - in etc great egalitarian city of Newcastle.
Twig in Redfern, where Hannah Tribe in the space of 24 hours told me meet here, here’s what you need to start a practice, here’s your 1st lead… Jump!
??? (i’ll keep the private!) where 6am post-workout a group of diverse business owning fathers laugh for 30 mins - a current sacred mental health ritual!
Which brings us back to my accountant…
“….Andrew, you have to cut down on your coffee. The expenditure is obscene! This is $12-15 per day!”
I thought for a moment. I run a company now, and if not yet, you will soon, that’s why you are reading. The responsible thing would be to look into this financially….
What price would you pay per day for your Mental Health?
What price would you pay for a brief, kid-free, business-free time with your partner?
What price would you pay for that conversation that launches your business?
What price would you pay for an extensive network of confidants?
What price would you pay to have the fact that architects draw, design, and do many things that a draftsperson or builder does not, known by everyone, and not fought for in fee proposals?
What price would you pay to have perception go from aloof and expensive to friendly and giving local professional?
What price would you pay to meet 10’s of strangers per day?
What price would you pay to have an ear on the ground for all projects and big moves on within your community before they are formalised?
What price would you pay to have worked of mouth marketing work for you before you have built (in an area, or at all!)?
I don’t know about you, but a business analyst would respond: “Almost anything.”
So go for a walk.
Grab a coffee (make it black).
Fork out $4.
Get to know your Barista.
Sit Down.
Take your Sketchbook.
Smile.
Meet your community.
Life is Good. Coffee is an Investment. It is the Vice that Gives.
Andrew :)
Hey, thanks for reading!
If you found any value in this note, and have a friend or colleague you know is busting to start their own practice eventually - Id be super grateful for a share! Keep paying it forward!
If it’s of the mark - all good! Drop a comment and let me know what topics you desperately want covered - I know you have questions! Ask and you shall receive!