The Last Invoice

Last December was the first month in over 30 years I did not send an invoice to a client. In 1992, I met with the president of RTKL, the architectural firm where I was the Director of Marketing, and asked if I gave up my benefits package could I become a consultant to the firm. An architect with the mind of an accountant, he quickly did the math, 30 percent of my compensation, and agreed.

Trading my paycheck for agency I never looked back. I escaped the long Amtrak commute that took me from Philadelphia to Baltimore and back everyday and learned to be a consultant. Finding clients and doing the work turned out to be the easy part. Relying on my reputation and allying myself with exceptional collaborators, I found terrific clients in design firms large and small around the country and even in the U.K. Teaching at well recognized institutions, speaking at professional events and writing for design and real estate journals have been a part of my portfolio.

The greater challenge was to learn how to manage the business side of my practice—invoicing, paying taxes, paying assistants and the rent. It took time, multiple calls with the IRS and hiring a good accountant but I managed. I managed to buy an apartment in New York City and later a condo in Santa Monica. I managed to pay for trips to Europe and Armani ensembles. Computers. Health insurance and chiropractor bills. Chinese take-out and champagne.

The first of every month brought a reckoning, needs and wants to be balanced—year after year, with only a calculator and common sense. For 14 of the last 30 years, it was just me and the invoices and the bills. When I married Jeff, a man who knows his way around a spreadsheet, he took over the management of our finances and does a wonderful job. I never worry anymore. But I kept my invoicing, my small point of pride. 

More than my retirement and the end of my consulting days, it was not sending that December invoice that marked the beginning of a new chapter. Wish me luck.