George,

If the teaching option is not attractive...which I can understand.. a year's teaching at Virgina Tech was a times very painful...then you have a couple of options...

1) Physically move to a location where there is current and future work.. note its the future work that is more important in reality...too many architects fall into the trap that survival is everything.. not looking forward to the damage 'survival' (by doing Cr#p work) can do to future prospects. (We are having that fight right now...every day in our office...those who will take any work to survive versus those who see the damage that will do..probably irreversible, when the market picks up again).

The ME is still a source of work and whilst there may be slow down there are onger term prospects..say for the next decade plus. But you have to go there and get an 'in' somehow...I'd look carefully at non US firms based out there...
Going to China would need you to join a big firm (again not necessarily a US one) who are looking to proivde leadership in China for their office out there staffed by locals.

2) Create your own market...you have skills and abilities that perhaps nobody else has locally or regionally...aesthetic sense/ functionality/ Green issues.. don't know. Teaming up with somebody like Rob may make sense.
We do plenty of 'quick and dirty' studies for Clients who are looking to sell or buy plots and would like an idea of what the plot is worth.. sure is only a few K but we can zoom them in a week or so of work.

One thing you have to research very carefully is the skill set you can bring to a larger organisation. You have to 'sell' that skill above all others as the chances are that you, as a self employed sole practitioner are a 'Jack of all trades' rather than a specialist. We have people who join us who 'boast' they are 'great designers', 'great managers', 'great job getters'' yet when it comes down to it they are average at best at all of them and often crap designers...so why employ them when good design is our bread and butter.

Just a few thoughts.. we only have a couple of hundred staff now..and it will be interesting to see how we can increase those numbers in the next few months.

What MFAFF says.

Also, my wife is in this biz, and she tells me the "green" stuff is the future. If you can take a year out and re-tool for this at some serious school, you would know more about this than almost everyone out there.

Not just high end homes, but government contracts etc are all moving in this direction.

Green/sustainable design is an excellent thing to get some experience in. My #2 priority right now (behind getting the CA registration exams under my belt) is getting full LEED AP certification; I hope to have this done by middle of next year. It can't/won't hurt. For the short-term, you may consider going after corporate or commercial interiors - companies always remodel whether they're upsizing or downsizing. It's one of the most stable places to be and it can provide you with a lot of exciting design opportunities. Just a lot of architects don't embrace it because of ego - they somehow think interiors are "for girls" or whatever. I say B.S. to that. It's a fantastic opportunity to really learn the ins and outs of different finish materials and have a ball when it comes to design. Clients give you a lot more latitude (generally) with interior TI stuff than with exterior building look - and you can typically do a lot more with the budgets you're given. My experience anyway. Our office is trying to push more in this direction.

Another thing to consider is commercial remodels - particularly those dealing with ADA compliance. Our office is up to our eyeballs in these right now so we're quite brisk/busy. The only downside is the fees on those types of jobs is rather poor, but it keeps the doors open and keeps people busy/employed.

Best of luck to you - seriously. I really feel for you guys in Michigan - it's ground zero for the decimation of American industry and manufacturing, and I've no doubt the ripple effects are horrendous. I wish you well; if you ever want to throw it in and come to CA, I'm sure I could get you a job out here... ;)

George, it seems that your luck might change if you were in a different location. Especially in these hard times companies are much more prone to hire locally vs from a distance, especially when you consider relocation expenses, etc. Why not move somewhere that has a strong economy (they do exist), vs. Michigan where it is non-existent? TX immediately comes to mind.

Sorry about your hard luck.

Thanks for all the input, it's spot on regarding options open to me.

The work I'm doing now with my "mentor" is downsizing suites. Businesses are giving up half their lease space in this strip mall because their business (and income) is down 60%. I went though this myself just over a year ago, it's a stop gap measure.

Most businesses will have to make a major shift sideways to survive, others will simply fail staying the course.

There are two things admire or I wish I was better at doing.

1. Getting the big fee, or at least what the big guys get.

2. Getting built progressive designs, need progressive clients to pull off.

I can design, and know code, and I know for a fact that this is an uncommon skill set. I also know that I might be too nice of a guy at times which is a flaw my clients enjoy to their benefit and sometimes take advantage of. I can also be very tough when I have to, and I have to right now.

All good advice here, George. I myself have became a casualty of the profession last month.

If I may suggest:

-Become a LEED AP. It's not getting any easier, and this will open or create doors for you if you want to pursue sustainable design. Especially in progressive AA this surely is worth pursuing.

-Compete. With your added downtime, maybe this is a good time to showcase your design sense, not your past client's. Hire a hungry kid at UM to handle the graphics and churn the work out. Anything you create, get it up on your site.

-Firms. word on the street is that Hobbs+Black needs people. Ditto Neaumann Smith. Might be worth pursuing.

Good luck!

George...I think you have the challenge right there. The challenge is to take a Client..and make them progressive.. and hence allow you to get your ideas built.

It ain't easy...but it is possible and that challenge may be the one that makes the difference..

George, come on down to Texas. You missed the great Michigan migration in the late 70's, but what will one more hurt.