Starting an Architect Business at Home

Source: http://www.internetbasedmoms.com/
If you're an architect you could easily create an architect business from the comfort of your own home. You'll want to read more about this option in the information below.

Architect Business
What you will be doing. Architects are professionals who work with structure and aesthetics. Architects specialize in a number of areas: landscaping, building design, residential, and commercial.
As a licensed professional, you can run an architectural business from their home, providing your service to firms and individual clients.You would be responsible for drafting designs to client specifications, creating scale models, using computer graphics to present the ideas, and overseeing the work. As an architect, you can concentrate on one area of the process or begin a business that is full service. The possibilities are endless if you have the skills and the talent.You can provide a way for firms to outsource some of their work to an accomplished professional. If your specialty is modeling or creating designs, you can sell your designs to firms. With graphics, you can turn any project they send you into an efficient 3-D model to their specifications.How to start. An architect needs to have the appropriate years of school and apprenticeship training. Customers will trust you more if your credentials are strong. Time spent working in an office builds a rapport with other members of a team and introduces you to the daily running of an architectural firm.Maintaining close business contacts will help you to find clients and companies to partner with. Setting up a home office space is a key to what you can do with your business. As a home based operation, all the equipment and computing software needed to integrate all parts of a project should be a part of your office.

Start up costs.
Start up costs for a professional home based architectural business can be hefty. The equipment alone can run into the thousands of dollars. Taking out a small business loan gives you the cash needed to outfit your home office with everything needed to deliver a finished product to a client.

Skills needed.
Professional licenses are needed for an architect. Communication skills are important keys to translating your work into a language that customers can understand.
If you work with residential customers, you need to explain the designs for their homes to them. With builders, you will be telling them why your designs are perfect for their new development.
Marketing skills help you to get your business up and running. Translating your skill into profit takes advertising savvy. Convince people why they should go with you and not a larger firm.

Marketing.
A website of your own allows you to explain all about yourself and what you can do for customers. It can be as fancy and interactive as you can afford. Affiliate programs with builders and other architects that specialize in other areas provide advertising for you and additional resources for your website viewers.Use the free advertising on MySpace. Developing videos that showcase what you do and provide useful information to viewers will bring traffic back to your website. Writing architectural articles for content sites with links to your business website also brings more traffic and possible customers.Architectural design can be seen in city planning, homes, and public gardens. If you are tired of the office, take your business to a home office. With the Internet, your service could help people halfway around the world.