637: with Shane Curry of Studio 1904

    4:39PM Apr 29, 2025

    Speakers:

    Rion Willard

    Keywords:

    Entrepreneurship

    architectural services

    property development

    mindset shift

    social media

    sweat equity

    ADU bonus program

    San Diego real estate

    business strategy

    rendering services

    house hacking

    financials

    network

    actionable steps.

    You can either think about things, what are they doing to me, or what are they doing for me. Hello architect nation, and welcome back. Ryan Willard here, principal partner at Business of Architecture today, you'll discover why being just dumb enough might make you wealthy. If you've ever felt like you're stuck doing low fee work while other architects are out there developing their own projects, making bold moves and building wealth. You're not alone. Have you ever wondered what it really takes to go from being an employee to launching your own practice, or how to break into property development without a trust fund or a fancy business degree? Maybe you've asked yourself, if you're just too cautious, while others seem to be grabbing opportunities by the horns. Well, on today's episode, you're going to discover the one mindset shift that helped a young architect go from laid off to cash flowing a three unit property in one of the most expensive markets in the country in the world, how posting one construction project on Instagram led to multiple deals and sweat equity partnerships with developers, and why? Being just dumb enough to do it might be the smartest business strategy you've never heard of in today's episode, I sit down with Shane curry of studio 1904 a 30 year old entrepreneur leading high quality developments in the competitive and complex real estate market of San Diego, California. Today's episode is sponsored by Smart practice. If you're building everyone else's dreams whilst yours collect dust, it's time for the smart practice method called the EOS of architectural firm management. The smart practice method is your blueprint for eliminating overwhelm and slaying chaos in your architectural practice. It's time to stop drawing up excuses and start designing your ideal practice. Go to smart practice method to get free instant access to the free video training now. All right, for today's episode, get ready, because this one's packed with entrepreneurial, daring, real world tactics and a whole lot of inspiration. Let's dive in. Shane, Welcome to the Business of Architecture. How are you, sir,

    man, I'm living the dream. I cannot complain. How are you?

    I'm very well. A pleasure to be talking with you now. You have been one of a few of our committed podcast listeners over the years. So first of all, thank you very much for doing that. And you reached out in response to the the recent call that we had about architects developers. And I saw what you were doing, and I thought it would be make a very interesting kind of conversation to have, because it's it's relatively parts of it are relatively new venture. You're very young as well. Do you mind me saying that? Oh, yeah, I'm 3030, years old, yeah. So so that that's really inspiring as well for me is, is, is hearing young architects, young designers, and you're kind of breaking the mold of what traditional practice could be, and not afraid to get started with kind of small development projects, making that mix of architect, developer, also, you know, doing your traditional architectural services. And I thought, Great, this is exactly the sorts of things that we'd like to be endorsing and encouraging. So why don't we start with, you know, we've got studio 19, 1904, this is a recent creation you've you you're doing traditional architectural design services. And there's also some projects that you've been doing which are kind of architect developer LED. And you're also serving a lot of developers with architectural services. So that's we start from the beginning. How did it start? Where are you at?

    Oh, man, where do we even start? Okay, so I think we got to start from beginning, right? Well, first off, I gotta say, like, without, without the Business of Architecture podcast, I wouldn't be where I'm at. So it's like, like, like, I've always kind of been one to take life by the horns, you know, and steer where I want to go right, because I'm mutual, but you the value that Business of Architecture, you and Enoch providers just is, is has been so inspirational and given me a lot of the motivation right to make the jump and do what I'm doing. And it's just like, like me seeing that episode is a true, very, very true testament of taking action, right? And what you want to do in this life, right? Because that's all it takes, is grab that shit by the horns and take control, right? Yeah, and if you guys didn't, if you guys didn't reach out, I probably would have emailed you again, you know, because it just it takes that persistence, and, and, and that's just kind of what it takes, or maybe doesn't. Maybe that's not what it takes, but it's worked for me so far. So just taking control, doing it, not even thinking twice, thinking twice, and just and just doing it. So you know that that right there you. Kind of defined who I am as a person, and just taking control at whatever you're doing and just going all in, right? That's one thing that I've realized in the last year, half that I've been, that I've been an entrepreneur solely, you know, solely doing architectural services, design services for developers, for myself, and, you know, just out of line. So let's back up. I should, I should probably tell you a little bit about myself, born and raised in San Diego. My grandfather, as he's kind of a self proclaimed engineer. He's built houses. He built a boat. How do you sail the world with the South Pacific with and that obviously got passed on to my mom. My mom grew up building stuff and super, super creative throughout my entire childhood. And then, you know, that gets passed down from from building Legos to doing drawings to building little train sets. You know, it's just the little creative boy that had severe ADHD, right? But, you know, once I once, I'm not saying that I conquered this ADHD thing yet, but what it has, what it has, you know, allowed me to do is when I get focused, I get freaking focused. I'm hyper focused, right? And something that I want to do. So they

    they often Bill ADHD now as being the kind of entrepreneurial superpower. So

    it, it's, uh, it doesn't always work, but what it does, it does right? Because I can, I'll be, I'll be working and and Michelle, my my fiance will, will try and get a hold of me right? And I'm for hyper focused and what I'm doing, because I have a really good idea, and I need to get it modeled, right? So then I went to design school. I went to interior design school out out here in San Diego, and then graduated from there. Immediately I had this skill of doing renderings. So I used SketchUp and LUMION. I've I learned I was in school, and what I realized is that not many of my colleagues in school or the firms that I reached out to knew how to do rendering. So 2018 I started render San Diego, and that was with the idea of providing quality renderings for everyone. I've always been very inclusive, right? So, and I also saw that renderings were kind of this, this luxury right for some design firms, you know, they were, you know, the bigger design firms were, they either had someone up or they outsourced it, right? And so these smaller, one person entry design firms, or smaller one person architecture firms, I could hit that niche, right and offer that service and work out really well for but at the time I was I was 22 years old and knew nothing about business, but I had a really good product, right? So that lasted. I've actually sold my, sold my, sold my hot rod. I had a nice hot rod car that I sold to start this business. Because right when I graduated, that only last was this, was this a car that you you'd built yourself, presumably, Yep, yeah, I built this. I built this, this hot rod of my stuff that he just, we've just been a building. So it was really sad. But you know, one thing you realize that you can always do it again. So sold that car started running to San Diego. I sold it for $10,000 this $10,000 I was still living with my parents at the time, and got me through about a year. Okay, so I was 2022 going on 23 doing, you know, miscellaneous rendering jobs and again, I knew nothing about marketing, nothing about business, nothing about anything, but knew how to do product. So I learned that the hard way, and that was kind of render San Diego was, was, was a really good learning experience. So 2020 I was 23 I kind of realized that I wasn't really making any money doing these renderings and and also I was like, I didn't know how to charge for these renderings, you know. So just do that really cheap. Like, I think it, I think I did, like, I probably worked. I probably did, like, a project that that I would charge now for like, four grand, I think I charge them, like $300 at the time. It's just, like, I just needed that, you know, I needed the business. I need no idea how to charge. I was scared to charge. You know, that's another thing that the business of our picture has taught me. It's like, like, Dude, we provide so much value as designers like, I think about like this look we charge, personally, like 20, $22,000 for a three unit project here in San Diego, right at $22,000 is minor to what that developer is going to make in the Walmart, right? So we need, you know, we provide a lot, a lot of value that changes people's lives. And so, you know, we should, you should be getting paid for it, you know. So, long story short. Or, you know, it's we provide a lot of value. So that's I gotta, I gotta say, you know, business architecture has really taught me to to not that I still know how to charge or know how to charge now, but best, best believe we provide, we provide a lot of value to the industry, right in real estate and lies in general. So backing up, so 20 was 23 years old. Renderings wasn't really going anywhere, wasn't making any money. Didn't know how to do business, did not do anything so that would go apply for a few part time design jobs. So I worked under a office designer. I worked under a landscape designer, and that's about it for the for the following years after 23 years old. So 23 to 25 were part time under a few different few different people, and these are just single people, firms about 26 years old. I hit up a local architect here in San Diego, local architect, developer, and just hit him up by Instagram. Another testament of taking action, right? Hit him up on Instagram. Hey, do you can you provide it or, you know, I water architecture, went to design school, told him a little bit about my background. Told, you know, the skills that I have. Are you taking 98 interns? He's like, Oh, yeah, 100% come stop by. So we hit it off. Went to work for him for about three and a half years. So that was in 2020 in February, 2020 I started to work for him right during COVID. He took that chance. Those three and a half years were very instrumental to where I am. So I gotta give it up to him. He taught me a lot, a lot about the industry, a lot about architecture, a lot of, you know, and he was doing his own development jobs as well. So small, smaller development jobs. So just a, just a one off here, one off there, type things, nothing that big, just a simple, you know, Adu, or all, a lot of residential projects. Year and a half ago, it was November, or it was October or August of 2023, I got laid off and it was, it was, it was the perfect time to start my own thing, because California, I'm sure you're familiar with this, California decided to push these, this ad you program, accessory dwelling unit program in in hopes of solving the housing shortage that We have California. And it was a perfect time, because while I was working under that architect, being from San Diego, you know, posting on Instagram, people started to see what I was doing, right? I started to get side jobs in that three and a half years, right? Just doing really good work. And then as soon as that three and a half years, or soon as I got laid off. I just started hitting people up, you know, in people up, hey, I'm on my own. I'm starting to, you know, start my own business. And, you know, it's just, it's just gone up from there. So, yeah, so

    that one of the things I like about, you know, the what you're sharing here, and this is something that a lot of a lot of people listening can kind of try and tap into, is your unabashed energy of just reaching out and connecting with people and and when, and when we talk here at Business of Architecture about kind of, you know, business development, I mean, in within the traditional architectural world, business, development, marketing, connecting with people. You know, we like to kind of dress it up as like, you know, developing relationships, but ultimately being able to have the ability to pick up the phone and speak to somebody and expand your network, whilst it sounds like a very obvious thing to do. People turn their nose up at it. I'm too good to do this. I shouldn't have to do this. Or it's there's no shortage of more introverted personalities in architecture who run businesses who that's a very uncomfortable situation to put yourself into, like a kind of micro projection. But that is what I love. Like, literally, you're picking up the phone, you're making stuff happen, and it's, and it's great. That's,

    I mean, that's kind of all it takes, not all it takes, but it's, like, it's definitely the first step is, you put yourself in this situation, then you figure it out, you know? You just, you just figured out a long way, right? And, and you go with your gut, right? You know, if you don't want to work with something, don't want to work with someone, you don't. And you know, if we've all had those share of clients that I just not working out, and that's totally fine, but you know, just, just, just take that action, tell everyone. So like, just, just do it, and you'll figure it out where, you know, that's one of the reasons why I want to start the podcast, because my podcast is going to be interviewing other, other young entrepreneurs you know, that are the space, like a list of other entrepreneurs that I know from here in San Diego. And it's just like, I want to interview, you know, your story, provide that motivation. And it's like, there's just so much value there, no, like, that's, this is what it's about. It's like working at a w2 is not for me, right? I knew that. I kind of knew that early on, and so just had to, just, you know, had to, had to take, take it by the horns, and just send it. They figured out what way. Yeah, you may go broke, but who cares you can you can try it again in a few years now.

    So tell me a little bit about some of the things that you were learning from the previous practice that and particularly about being architect, developer or designer developer. What was the some sort of strategies that you observed and what, what are the strategies that you've been employing now with studio 19, 1904?

    Yeah. So when I was working on the architect, it was very design focused. We are very focused on quality, design and so, but we wouldn't really talk about development, because those were his side things, you know, and and those are umbilical hours, and I understand that, right? And so, yeah, we'll go, go walk his site and stuff like that. But the financials were not spread out at all. There's, there's no financials behind it. It was just, you know, we're gonna build that this x amount of square feet, and we're gonna figure it out what way. So that's one thing that I still lack, is the financials of projects like I can narrow down, you know, how much things are gonna cost, how much permits are gonna cost, the consultants, everything there. But, you know, once we get into cap rate and and return and and stabilization. That's something that I still have to learn, but I'll, you know, conquering that when you get there so, but I learned how to begin a project and get it through permanent issuance. That was, that's something that I really nailed out while I was there, is taking the client through all the different phases, site analysis, schematic, design, design, development, instruction, documents and permitting. I just I nailed that, right? So while I was working there, I was also taking my own projects and figuring figuring out that how to do it like kind of by myself. But the financials of things didn't really learn that I had, kind of had to learn that, right?

    So tell us a little bit about then some of the projects that you've got that what you're doing now, because you're working, you're providing services now toward to other developers and kind of traditional architectural drawing packages to help people get things, but then you've also started your own development wing, if you like, where you're developing your own projects, right? Like, in the sense of Adu, and tell us a little bit about that.

    Yeah, it's a beautiful thing. So I'm just gonna, I'm gonna kind of backtrack a little bit. So when I was working at at, at the architecture firm I was in the process. So we had bought this house, I want to say 2022, it's down in Chula Vista, and we bought it with traditional financing, so a 30 year fixed, right? So bought the house and we bought it. I bought it with Michelle, and then I also bought it with Michelle's sister and my brother, Michelle's sister's husband. There were four partners on this. We bought it in 2022, you know, as designers, we walk into a house, or walk into a lot like, okay, we can do this, this and that, right? Automatically, we see these.

    Sorry, just back up. So you bought the house with four other people. Well, there was a team of four of you and but you weren't buying this as a place to live in. You were buying it as a purely development project. And was this the first property that you bought or had? Did you own your own home or anything like that? You've gone through the process. This

    is the first property, first property that we bought. So we went into it. First things first is we walked it. I knew that the mortgage right to back up. Mortgage is gonna be $5,500 right? A month, a lot of money, right? Greg, okay. How can we afford this? Um, well, we can house hack. We house hacked it. So it's about 1200 square feet. The Master bedder was about 400 square feet with its own private en suite. So we immediately process plans turn that into junior Adu, right with an existing square footage. We have the main house, and then we have the junior adu all within the existing shelf to turn the J to turn that, that master bedroom into the JD. Was about like $25,000 okay, so immediately we had two infos because, well, not two. Michelle and I were living in the master bedroom, and then we wrecked it out the front, so the front unit was bringing in $3,000 and so Michelle and I just had to cover the $25 so that really helped with, with with that bleed, right, with that bleed period, while I was then processing plants to do the adu in the back. Okay, so while I was processing this plants on to do the adu in the back, we were in like, the process of going with a wholesale renovation loan like that took. That was taking forever, because you need a bunch of bids. You need the contractor be at 1099 now that, now that, now the construction price inflated, because now he has to pay taxes on each right. So because he's getting, he's getting a 1099 from the bank and and so it was just like, instead of, instead of me building now at 200 or 225 a square foot. Now I'm building like 275 so it's like, Okay, now we got to figure out a new, another way to do this and and let me think about, think about this. So we were in the process of a home store renovation loan. We didn't go through with it. At that time, I got laid off, so we couldn't even qualify for the home storage loan, but we had a little savings, so I convinced all the partners to, let's to build this thing with cash. So we put our money together. You without a job, um, me without a job. You started the disruption, yeah. It's crazy, but it's worked out so well. So me without a job. We started construction, we had about $150,000 whether it was with cash, credit cards and credit lines. So we just started construction, and it went surprisingly smooth. And thankfully, you know, I love, I do 95% of the trades where it's a friend's dad or a friend's uncle or a friend, you know, just from, you know, tapping into your network and and, yeah, got this thing built with, with about $30,000 or $40,000 credit cards for the appliances, windows and doors, everyone else you know want to get paid in cash, of course. And then, about like eight months ago, no excuse me, we got from back from Japan, April 15. April 15, we started construction about October, we got it rented out. So five months ago, we finished the adu.

    So just the adu is rented out, and then you're living in the other, other part of the house, or not. No,

    not anymore. So as soon as that, so since we had traditional financing, you had to live into you had to live in the property for a year, right? Sure he could rent it out. Yep. So as soon as that year was up, we moved out with my in laws. Yep, just so we could save, you know, sure,

    built the Adu, so with our expenses really well. So all in all, and the other and the other and the other couple, were they living in the house with you, or they moved out

    now, yeah, they never moved in. They never lived in the house because, because, yeah, you need, you just need one owner to live, sure, okay, yeah, for the terms of the loan. So hopefully that made sense, yeah,

    yeah, I'm with you.

    I think that's

    so it's just really great to hear do it like being innovative, and particularly like that was your first house purchase. And when, when, so much of the conversation we talk about is, you know, there's no, there's no starter homes. It's difficult for young people to get to buy property and housing. And here you, you've been, you've just brought some entrepreneur, entrepreneurship to it, done something a little bit, little bit different. You've taken some, some risks, and you've kind of innovated on a on a property to solve a number of different solutions. And also being, you know, kind of just leveraging, you know, what we're developing this house. We're going to live with the in laws for a moment and get revenue to be coming in, and that sort of, that sort of stuff, that's what you got to do.

    Yeah, 100% I mean, I mean, you, you listen to Jonathan Segal, right? He's probably said this on the Business of Architecture podcast, build your own house. Build your own house first, right? And, you know, again, you know, just, just kind of listening, listening and taking action. And, you know, like, we risked it all. We risked it all, and it's paying off fantastic. So, you know, started it like, soon as we got back from Japan, I was unemployed, and, you know, I had these psychics going on, but literally risked all and, and. Now we're in the process of refinancing to get our cash back. So, all in all, I mean, this is, again, this is like, this is back of the napkin, pro formas and stuff, right? So if our mortgage is $5,500 now, it's gone down a little bit safely. So $5,400 now we have 3100 coming in from the front, 1700 coming in from the back, puts us at 48 and then we have 2750 coming in from the adu for a two bedroom, one bath, ACU. So now we're about $7,400 mortgage is $5,400 that means we're cash flow positive $2,000 I don't know how it worked. It's congratulations, great. Yeah, thank you very much. Congratulations. It's pretty awesome. It's pretty awesome. And it's, it's, it hasn't been all smiles, I'll tell you that, but you've gone through it, and now we have, now we have a great asset, and in San Diego. So in this, in this really well up and coming part of San Diego called Chula Vista,

    yeah, and I think it's worth kind of noting the congratulations that was deserved in doing it in probably one of the most sought after bits of territory on the planet. You know, Southern, Southern California is the kind of place where housing is so difficult to kind of get into the get into the market, and that's, uh,

    it's great. And I could not, like, I could not have done it with, with, without the people that I know, you know. And so it's like, your network, they always say your network is your net worth. And that's so true, you know. Like, if we didn't have this really well known realtor that I know personally on our site, we probably wouldn't got that property, because it was, it was, it was a really nice property, you know. And yeah, it's just, yeah, your network has to, has to be good. And you know, from that, from this property, I've been posting, I post on my Instagram, I post the entire construction process on on my Instagram. And so from that, from social media, I met a few other developers, and now I'm in on my second deal in a better neighborhood San Diego called Pacific Beach, right? So now I'm using my architecture, my drawings, as equity, sweat equity, into this next deal. And it's just, it's, it's again, just, you know, taking action. And yes, it's, I'm so let's talk a little bit

    about that as well, because I was watching some of your videos, and you did a lovely video of the, I think it was called the Batista house. The Batista house, yeah, Batista that's in, Yep, yeah, so, but this was a project that you had done traditional architectural services for, produced drawings for a developer, and then, and then done it. So you're using social media. You made a nice film and video there of you walking through and explaining what the kind of thinking behind it was. So you documenting the process of the of this adu build, communicating on social media actually got you in contact with more developers, and now you're putting in your your your sweat equity as your kind of investment into the project, onto this next one. And then what are you still? Are you still providing architectural services, then to other clients to kind of bring in cash, and then you've got cash flow, obviously coming in off the this adu that you've just completed,

    right? Yeah, yeah. So that Adu, you have to split two grand between four people sold with 500 bucks. But it is what it is, right? I'll take it. Yes, I'm still providing traditional design services and to a number of developers here in San Diego. And like I do, do zero advertising. I've never done any advertising. Never done any paid advertising. It's all raw. It's all authentic through social media, through connections. That's like you don't even you don't have to, you don't have to sell, you know, you don't have to sell anything, because when you get that referral, it's like the best it's the best way of getting jobs because someone heard of your services through someone else. They trust that other person. They already trust you because they trust that person. So you already have that, you know, you already have that good connection, at least what I've realized and so, yeah, still providing architectural services, doing a lot of San Diego has this adu bonus program where, when you do it depends on what type of multifamily or single family, but every affordable adu that you provide, you get a bonus adu at market rate. So the affordability is another story, because it's, in my opinion, it's. Not actually affordable. It's based off of the area median income. At San Diego median income, it's quite high.

    You go all these DECA millionaires hanging about in Southern California, which kind of distort the median? Yeah, yeah. 100%

    100% and so that, I mean that has Yeah, just doing a lot of bonus ad program projects, working with this, this, this pool of developers that keep them back. So that's, that's a good thing, right? You know, repeat clients. And, yeah, just doing architecture, I actually hired two people at the beginning of the year. Somehow, some, some they, they just live in TJ, down the down the border, and they come, they come up during meetings and stuff. So hire two people full time, and business is great. And I stay, hopefully that, hopefully that makes sense. I,

    what I enjoy so much about your story is that it's a very kind of raw, authentic expression of your personality. There's been, yeah, you're in, you're in possibility mode, right? It's like, solid. I'm going to try it, I'm going to pick up the phone, I'm going to make that connection, I'm going to stick it up onto social media. And it's not, there hasn't been lots of over analysis, overthinking things. I love the fact that you you know, you know, you were able to enroll the rest of the, the other three people with the first project to like, you know, to to go in with you, like that. And, you know, take a, take that kind of risk. And this, really, these are the skills that we're looking for in in business and entrepreneurship.

    It's, yeah, you can get stuck in analysis paralysis, right? And, and if you, if you, if you go about it like that, that I know, I know a couple people that have really, really good ideas, and they and they like and they just, I don't know they, I talk to them all the time. Look, just do it. Just do it. And they're just stuck in this. Well, what happens? You know, what? If I don't make it, that's fine too. You're going to learn from it, you know? It's just you have to. I think a lot of it is like mindset, you know? And I haven't always, I haven't kind of always been like this, but it's just like, you you just like, I also say this, I'm like, I'm just dumb enough to do it, you know. You know, just because I I'd like, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna regret it when I'm when I'm 80 years old, wishing I would have done it, you know. And if you, if you just over analysis things, then it's just yeah, there's two ways I could go up. So just being just dumb enough to do it, you know? But

    no, I love that sentiment as well, you know? I've, I've, my brother is a partner at KPMG and the kind of big, you know, accounting consulting firm, and he, he's a, he's technically a business owner now, but he's often said to me in the past, you know, he looks at what, what I've done, or what some other our family members have done in terms of setting up businesses, and has often said, I feel like I'm too I'm too smart to set up a business, because I know that. I know the risk. I just look at it, and all I can think about is all of the risk that's involved of of kind of running, running a business. And I think a lot of architects get really caught up in that, because it's we're used to being so analytical about every last decision. You know, you're brought up in the kind of culture of indemnity insurance and your decisions having big consequences. And, you know, a lot of a lot of business is kind of, you know, there is a lot to be said for youth naivety of just what can I don't know what can go wrong, so I'm just going to try it. Yeah, and 100% and you're gaining this kind of experience, like pretty, you know, really early on, you know, you've been, you've been freelancing since your 20s. You're, you've got a piece of real estate that you've made work and cash flow. It doesn't matter if it's, if it's $10,000 a month, for 500 bucks a month, it's a piece of real estate, you're 30, it's bringing you 500k $500 a month. You don't have to do anything really for it anymore. So that's and that's the first one. And now it's like, okay, great. What's, what's the next one? What's the next one? And before you know it, there's 20 of them. Yeah.

    100% 100% so yeah, it's definitely that night. Like, yeah, it could be naive, but you just figure things out while I'm lit and you gotta, you gotta have that. You gotta have that positive, positive mindset. Like, yeah, I, I tell it's, man, it's huge mindset. Like, it's, it's all about your mindset. You can. Either think about things, what are they doing to me, or what are they doing for me? And

    I think, and I think that's like the emotional intelligence right of of being a business person is that you, you're, you've, you've got an ability here, what you're sharing is that you're reframing these circumstances as being your opportunities. And so with the the kind of fear that comes with over analysis, you know, or kind of over intellectualizing something, we end up talking ourselves out of taking action, whereas the ability to be able to read opportunity into the circumstance, it's not happening to me. It's happening for me, kind of my mindset, great. Now there's an opening to take an action and just execute, and then learn, and then the learning that comes from that haven't taken action. You cannot get in a book. You can't, yeah, you can't. There's too much. There's too there's too much stuff. And then, and then to the you know? So, yeah, I love it.

    Yeah. No inspiring. Thank you, man. Thank you so much. I couldn't I honestly, I swear God, I could not have done without the business of our picture podcast. It's so cool to see because, like, I mean, I can't remember what episode it was. It was, it was a young lady and she talks about marketing. I think it was, I think it was, yeah, and it's probably, it was probably eight years ago. I watched this episode. This is crazy, right? And I was 22 watching this episode. I'm like, okay, and it was about, it was a marketing episode, and she was talking about developing your niche. And it's, man, you take little bits here, you take little bits there, and it just all adds up. Starts making sets, and it starts to become natural, because you watched and listened and practiced these, these ideas just over and over. So,

    so what's next? Then, what's next for 2025 you, you shared a little bit. There's a project that you're putting some sweat equity into. You've got developers that you're working with. They obviously are kind of providing traditional architectural services. So you've got cash coming in, in in that sense, yeah, what's the, what's the vision? So I'm vision for the the rest of the year, and for the, you know, your big, your big long vision,

    yeah, so big long vision is, is obvious, maybe not obvious, but obvious to me is to doing my own projects with either one my swag when you or or, or, you know, having a single partner, silent partner, and developing these, these quality developments here in San Diego. Man, you will not believe how many this adu bonus program, and that's why it's currently in city council being possibly reversed, because there's so many crap developers, sorry, not developers, developers that have just been popping up literal stucco box, two bedroom, one bath, 650, maybe 700 square feet, just zero quality design, just a replica, replica of designs. Here I've got in Sandy, and it's just, it's just pathetic, and and I, and I see these, and early on I saw these, I've never been one to just, you know, just do architecture, you know, just just easy where I can replicate these designs. One, because I'm very passionate about design, and two, because I love San Diego and I want to make it more beautiful place. But three, once we do hit that supply of housing that we need, who is that tenant going to go for good quality design, right, even if they have to pay a little bit more or maybe it's the same price or a duplicate of a two bedroom, one bath with a small living space. Who is, you know, who's that person go to? So you got to think longevity as well. And I just saw that. I just saw it early on. And I'm just like, Look, I'm not, you know, I have some developers coming to me. They just, they say, they want these rubber cut design, they send me a floor plan. And I was like, Look, this makes zero sets, you know? I can't, I can't do this for you, you know. So, so what's next is, well, I've quite a bit of expenses, because I hired two people at the beginning of the year. So the expenses for that, for for, for souvy and I to know for, that's the proper design firm name is about $10,000 a month. So need to make that. The goal for the company is about $250,000 in revenue. So minimum, you know, double that. I think the will of stuff is, you want to quadruple that, but we're going to end for double and then, and then I got sweat, sweat equity into a project in Pacific Beach. You know, a big personal goal of mine is, and it's, it's already happening, is to get married, and that is successful. You know, thing in October, because before I now be six months. Down the road. Thank you. So, yeah, just you know, all the money, unfortunately, not unfortunately, maybe we can cut that out. All the money is going to the wedding. All the money, yeah, all the money is going to the wedding right now.

    Tell me about it. As I said, telling you earlier, I got married last year, and it's, yeah, it's, it was, it starts, it starts off, like, as a you've got a little ring fence around it, and then all of a sudden it expands, and you're like, oh, oh, that was, that was an expensive weekend, yeah,

    yeah. But it's gonna be so worth it. I'm so excited. Yeah, so the big focus this year is the wedding. I would love to purchase another property with the partners or or Michelle, my significant, early next year. I think we're gonna be in pretty good shape our next year and do it all over again. And it's, it's, it's, yeah, just, just keep rolling, keep doing good architecture makes making San Diego a more beautiful place. And, yeah, it's, you know, it's a good it's, you brought up a good question. Because, you know, like I said, it's, it's this, year has has been crazy busy hiring two people, you know, making sure, making sure I can make payroll, you know, and, you know, but it's, it's, they gotta start breaking things down. So I'm sure that's what, that's something that's taught that, you know, Business of Architecture, getting that lot once. So, yeah, definitely define those goals a little better. But I know that it's a couple things. It's, it's, have a successful wedding, make payroll, get a lot of architecture jobs, and get a couple more developed jobs. So that's my ultimate those are the ultimate goals this

    year. Are there, um, architectural heroes that you have, or kind of entrepreneurs that you'd like to sort of model yourself on, or, you know that you hold up an early life team? Yeah,

    100% and I actually have a few other people that that you should if you're still looking for the architect, developer, people to interview. I know, sure, quite a number of them. But yeah, I mean, Jonathan Segal has has, as you know, made tremendous influence here in San Diego. Just, you know, because he's, he's from, I don't know, from San Diego, but he moved here early on. Jonathan Segal, Rami Cortez, he's big time. Aaron San Diego, doing really cool developments. Let's see. Let's see. I know another design consultant, Hugo, castanedas, that that is really, is really cool. And he's doing these big, complete community jobs. So he, he's, he's just grabbed life by the horns as well. Um, and, yeah, you know a few others, it's, and, you know, so you just, I mean, you don't really, I don't know if you like model, you know, because you're doing it your own way. But, and also my, my, you know, my, talking about inspiration, like my, you know, my, my fiance really, really inspires me, you know, because I want to do well for us family. You know, we grew up. We grew up pretty, pretty, you know, not how well off or anything, come from rich families or anything. So we're making this by ourselves. Yeah. So awesome.

    Perfect place to conclude. Shane, really inspiring, inspirational. I love your I love your energy. I love the way that you've kind of just grabbing things by the by the horn. I think there's such a valuable lesson for like, no matter where you are in the in your career, or in your in your business, but that just sort of energy and saying yes and giving it a go, postponing all the intellectual, analytical thought until after the action has been taken. That's the game. That's really the game. So thank you very much for coming and sharing your your wisdom and your energy with us. Yeah,

    man, thank you. It's, it's been absolute pleasure. And just, man, I can't believe I'm, I'm here talking to you. It's, it's been a dream of me. I really been a dream of mine for very long time. So, and I gotta give it up to you and Enoch for man, you guys like Man, you guys inspire that. So thank you. I appreciate

    that. Well, I look forward to having you back on the show in a few years time, when you're talking when you're telling us about the multi family residential units that you've been building all over San Diego and you're competing with

    Jonathan.

    Thanks, Ron. And now here's your smart practice tool tip, if you ever worked nights and weekends just to keep your firm afloat, you're not alone. Let's face it, many small firm architects feel frustrated and even burned down buried in admin work instead of design. In this smart practice tool, the delegation roadmap shows you exactly how to get all that busy work off your plate without making a bigger mess, because it didn't start firm to become a glorified task juggler. Wrap this smart practice tool free by going to www Business of architecture.com forward slash delegate. Today's episode of The Business of Architecture show is sponsored by the smart practice method TM, the world's leading step by step solution for running an architectural practice go from chaos, overwhelm and team headaches to calm, freedom and exceptional financial reward. Because you see, it likely isn't your architecture skills that hold you back. It's the business aspects of running a business, managing projects and people, dealing with clients, contractors and, of course, money. So if you're ready to quit being a glorified administrator and get back to architecture again, go to smartpractice method.com to discover the proven simple and easy to implement smart practice method that is revolutionizing firm management for owners and teams. Hey, Ryan Willard here, and I want to thank you for joining us today and remind you that the views expressed on this show by our guests do not represent those of the host, and we make no representation. Promise, guarantee, pledge, warranty, contract, bond or commitment, except to help you conquer the world cup ADM you.