Anna Squier and Modern Studio

Entrepreneurial profile

by Miranda Moen

Interviewee bio:

Anna (Jones) Squier
Squier is the owner and architect of Modern Studio, a small Midwest design studio based in Des Moines, Iowa. Established just three years ago, her practice offers custom residential and commercial interiors that are simple, elegant, and refined. Outside her firm, she has been heavily involved in leadership opportunities including the Central States Region Emerging Professionals Committee and Iowa Women in Architecture, which garnered her an AIA Associates Award in 2016.
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While her accolades and design portfolio alone are impressive, I knew I had to share more about her career when I learned she had founded her firm as an unlicensed architect. While she had plenty of experience to support her decision, Anna’s story is encouraging and necessary for other young architects and designers to hear. What follows is a summary of our conversation on how and why she built her business, her goals for Modern Studio, and advice to others on taking this path.

Starting the Business & Licensure

Miranda Moen (MM): Why did you decide to start your architecture firm?

Anna Squier (AS): There were many reasons: I was curious, had broad interests, and wanted freedom and flexibility. Before I started my practice, I found myself pigeonholed at work, bored, and unhappy with traditional firm structures. I desired engagement with a diverse spectrum of fields (architecture, design, business, and marketing just to name a few) and visualized a place that broke away from the norms of traditional practice.

MM: What resources did you turn to during this process? Did you have a mentor to guide your professional and business development?

AS: At the start, I reached out to as many people as I could to discuss how they did it, or how to do it all. I really had no idea what I was doing. Strangely, all of these individuals were outside the architecture profession but in related creative fields — a professional photographer, cupcake shop owner, an art installer. In addition, the City of Des Moines has really great resources for small businesses and is a huge proponent of the entrepreneurial community. I attended free lunch series, speaker presentations, and workshops focusing on starting a small business. It was inspiring to hear others’ stories as well as lessons learned. I quickly realized that I needed a team of experts in areas where I am not — in particular, accounting, contract law, and insurance.

As for a mentor, I had a multitude of individuals in this regard. I especially appreciate those who “volun-told” me into roles that ultimately became amazing learning experiences both personally and professionally. First off, I’d like to mention my parents, both of whom are architects and have influenced me greatly. Each carved their own career path within architecture while raising two kids. My dad took the more traditional route, working at an architecture firm for 30-plus years where he held a leadership role. At the same time, he remained a huge father figure in our lives, coaching us in sports and cooking dinner every night. My mom took the academic route and is an inspiration to many women in the profession. She is currently the Director of the College of Architecture at Clemson University and eventually became the second female president of the AIA.

The Iowa Women in Architecture group, which I led a few years ago, has been a great mentor to me and taught me so many things. The group of women in IAWIA are powerful and amazing, working to empower women in leadership roles and advance the architectural profession in Iowa.

Lastly, although I don’t know her well, I want to mention another architect, Amy Slattery. She is the founder of Odimo, a female-owned architecture firm in Kansas City, and has publicly shared her journey of going from a nationally ranked architecture firm to creating her practice from scratch. She is also one of the leaders for Women in Design, Kansas City, which was a huge inspiration for Iowa Women in Architecture.

MM: You started your practice as an unlicensed architect. What was it like preparing for the ARE while running your own business?

AS: It was an exhausting and stressful few years. Not only was I in the throes of creating, establishing, and growing a business, but I was studying every night and weekend. Prior to starting my business, my AXP hours had been completed for a few years, and I had already started the licensure process. I had two exams completed, and I just knew I had to get it done. At first, I planned a study day into my business schedule for every Friday. I had the flexibility to set my own schedule, and it seems like a great way to consolidate studying into a day of focus, until work picked up, and it didn’t work out as planned.

The biggest and best supporters who helped guide me through the licensure process were the ladies of the Cookbook Club, a group of female architects, designers, and architects’ significant others in Des Moines. We met once a month to discuss the highs and lows of the profession, as well as everything else, and were really each other’s cheerleaders and resources for getting through the exams. Ultimately, I believe I was able to pass the exams because of what I had learned since starting my business and the flexibility it allowed to study.

MM: What have you learned about yourself and your professional motives through the process of starting your firm?

AS: Running a business is a very humbling and eye-opening experience. [Through this process] I have learned what I am good at and what projects interest me as well as the inverse. I am finally at the point where I can make conscious decisions about what I need help with and what projects I can take on.

My professional motives are ultimately to create quality design that is accessible and positively impacts our community. In regard to firm culture, I want to create a place known as “Modern Studio,” where creatives come together in one space to share ideas and collaborate with each other — almost like co-working. I personally know a handful of architects who have broader interests than their typical roles in architecture allow. For example, I am an architect but also a writer. I share time between design projects and writing for Dwell magazine. Just as well, there is a lot of overlap between graphic design and architecture — so why not create a shared space for entrepreneurs to share resources while helping each other achieve their creative pursuits? If I can be an inspiration to other females in the profession while doing so, that’s a win-win for me.

The Business Plan and Financials

MM: Architecture is ultimately a business. How did you go about developing a business plan?

AS: My business plan is an ever-changing, ever-evolving document. When I started Modern Studio, my business plan was a way to formulate ideas surrounding my brand and the studio I wanted to create. It is also where I outlined the financial means I needed to start and run the company. After 2½ years, I have a much stronger understanding of my strategy, and I’m at the point now where I need to go back and revisit the document.

MM: What form did your business first take, and how did you go about finding liability insurance as an unlicensed architect?

AS: I started my business as an LLC, and I obtained professional liability insurance and general liability insurance from the get-go. One word of advice I received early on was, “Always CYA” (Cover Your Ass).

MM: In terms of finances to sustain your business, what proportion of work do you need to break even and then to make a profit?

AS: When I first started the business, I outlined my monthly financials right away. I knew what I hoped to make annually, so I used that number to estimate what I needed to bring in monthly. As a small business, one of the scary things is the ebb and flow of profit. As you would expect, it was much lower in the beginning than it is now. I’m currently averaging about 25 to 30 percent of my projects to break even, and the rest to make a profit. Part of this is due to keeping my expenses low because I am a solo practitioner and work out of my home. I also have a large workload and am working a lot. However, my goal is to create enough savings to bring in an employee and/or have an office space. Ideally both would happen in conjunction while I grow my brand and bring in more business.

Lastly, I am able to stay profitable by diversifying my services. For example, residential projects are really strong in the spring/summer/fall but slow in the winter. My contributions as a writer with Dwell magazine increase in the winter to help make up for that delta.

MM: From your experience, how can architects help stabilize their businesses financially? Or, what do you attribute business instability to in our profession?

AS: We need to charge our worth and our value. When you think about what other professionals in different fields are paid compared to architects, the difference is quite large. I’m not sure what the answer is, but architects need to find a better way to charge for our services — whether that is revamping fee structures or business models. For example, I do a lot of residential projects, and charging my worth can be very tricky. Homebuilders, developers, and drafters charge a minimal fee, which makes it difficult at times to prove my value and sell why I, as an architect, should design their home for a higher fee. I truly believe [architects] have unique expertise and skills that is beneficial to many and that we need to continue to fight for our worth.
Spreading Knowledge to Others:

MM: What would you like to have known before going down this path?

AS: Entrepreneurship is an amazing journey. You learn so much more than you ever expected. It’s overwhelming, it’s enlightening, it’s scary, it’s isolating, it’s so many things wrapped up in your mind and your business plan. You continually second-guess everything, including the sustainability of the business. You work harder than you ever have and have an even harder time turning work off. But in the end, you’re building something so especially unique from the bottom up, and for that, you should be proud. It’s an evolution where a “business plan” is never set in stone and where you don’t really know where you’re going. But, just keep going.

Author bio:

Miranda Moen
Moen is an architectural designer based in Austin, Minn. Moen is passionate about rural design and cultural heritage research, working with artists, economic development leaders, and private clients in Minnesota and Iowa.