Solutions Architecture Celebrates its 10th Birthday With Pride
1 October 2019Wow… I woke up this morning feeling a little nervous, why? you ask. Because it was 10 years ago today, that Solutions Architecture was born. It was October 1st, 2009 and I woke up and started the day firing up my computer on my dining room table, trying to figure out what I was going to do for the rest of my life. I thought to myself, how did I get here? Where would the road lead?
For seven years before, I’d been a Partner at another firm, doing my thing and building relationships. Then, the economy tanked in what would later be compared to the 1929 Great Depression; 401K’s became 201K’s and companies began to scramble and change. Money, or the lack thereof, can have a detrimental effect on people and businesses; it can make the best of friends or the worst of enemies, just like that. With the economy in a state of flux, and the firm in a bigger state of uncertainty, I decided it was time to make the jump; to start my own firm and practice my brand of Architecture, my way.
So, just a month after my 40th Birthday - October 1, 2009, Solutions began. Only people close to me know that a little over a month later, I called my mother crying hysterically, asking her what the hell I had done; there was all this money being spent to fit up an office, but very little coming back in. I didn’t know how to run a business; didn’t know if I would make it. But as Mothers are so good at doing, she talked me off the ledge and told me that everything was going to be alright – that “we were going to look back on this in a year and laugh.” She and my father were so right, so supportive and I know she’s looking down on me, proud of what we’ve done.
Wow, 10 years, TEN years, over that time the company has grown exponentially, we’ve moved out of a 900 square foot windowless office on the second floor of a masonry supply warehouse in Newark, into a beautiful 3,700 square foot office in Verona. We’ve got an amazing team that has and continues to grow; we’ve developed numerous and amazing relationships over the years; even made lasting friendships that I’m so grateful for. I dare say that none of this would have been possible without the love and support of my parents, wife and family, and certainly not without the hard work, grit and determination of our Team at Solutions Architecture, and finally the support and confidence of our clients and relationships.
I’m so proud to say that we’ve completed some truly landmark projects, and created a good name and a solid reputation for ourselves. Our vision will continue to add to the Solutions body of work, the Solutions Team and the Solutions Family, and I am definitely looking forward to the next 10 years.
Love and respect!
Frank
Principal/Founder