04/02/2025
15 years ago today Vector Collaborative (fka Sebern Structural Services) became an official company. I didn’t really know what to expect. I think I had dreams of growing into a large engineering firm. I for sure didn’t know the first thing about running a business.
I’m thankful for the people along the way, in particular Todd Reding and CVG who taught me the foundation of building a business and fostering relationships. I’m also thankful for the clients that have trusted VC with structural engineering needs. When VC started, I had just moved from Colorado to central Iowa. I did not have an established local professional network. Looking back now, I feel really lucky to have awesome clients and colleagues that I love working with, many that have become friends too. I have a vibrant professional network of people that I truly enjoy spending time with and working with.
So what have I learned over the last 15 years?
1. Be clear with expectations and what is possible. Don’t over promise and under deliver.
2. Spend time getting to know your clients.
3. Be prompt in your correspondence. Read through your emails before you hit send.
4. Don’t take life (or your jobs) too seriously. It’s OK to laugh and have fun sometimes. This does not discredit your intellect.
5. ‘No’ is a complete sentence.
6. There will always, always be more work to do. Be clear and intentional with yourself on boundaries.
7. Vacations, with full detachment, are necessary. Nobody wants to work with someone that is crabby and burned out. The only way you can fully recharge is to fully disengage.
8. Sometimes you get the job, sometimes you don’t and you may not know why. But looking back, it all works out exactly as it is supposed to.
9. Owning a business means you really do have the autonomy to meld and customize it into whatever works best for you and outputs the best service for your clients.
10. Things are always changing. It’s important to stay on top of innovative concepts in the field.
11. Competitors are colleagues. We are the collective, and by working together we raise the bar of the profession.
12. Take time to build your network. Have lunch with someone who inspires you. Mentor someone. Ask someone to be your mentor. Get to know others doing the same thing as you. This career is not an exercise in gatekeeping or a solo endeavor.
13. It’s important to take time to get organized. Not every hour is going to be billable.
14. Hobbies are important.
15. Mental health needs to be a priority for all of the other things above to fall into line. Feelings are important, even at work.
Some of these things come easy and some have been hard-learned lessons for me. Many of them I’m still working on every day. I hope that this inspires you to keep chasing your own dreams and to maybe assess ways that you can hone your own craft. You are capable of so much more than you think.
In celebration of 15 years, here are a few pictures of favorite projects:
