BSLA Fieldbook BSLA 2015 Spring Fieldbook | Page 14

BSLA

/ MEMBER

HOLLY BEN-JOSEPH, ASLA
CHANGING OVER TIME

W

hile there are many advantages to breaking
away from an established landscape firm,
such as setting one’s own work schedule and
choosing your own clients and jobs, the downsides
are well known and common amongst us solepractitioners. These include a lack of support, the
unpleasant task of chasing after overdue bills, and
probably most difficult, the isolation—the loss of the
synergy that comes with working on a team. In my
case, collaborating with other landscape architects,
designers and artists on projects has helped to
alleviate the loneliness issue.
When I first set out on my own in 2005, I didn’t
bring any clients over from my previous job and
therefore was essentially starting from scratch.
Through networking I gained jobs assisting other
sole-practitioners with drafting and design as a consultant. Luckily for me, after a couple of years, the
economy boomed, and many sole-practitioners had
too much work to handle. My firm was the happy
recipien وZ\