You trust your instincts and intuition when it comes to your creative process. What if you trusted it more when it comes to the day to day running of your business?

If you’re not working from the blueprint of an inspired vision, it will feel like you’re throwing a whole lot of things at the wall in the hopes that something will stick. You may have momentum but you won’t have strategy. What can you do today to clarify your design brand’s vision?

I hear this a lot from interior designers, I need a really strong marketing plan. When I ask, What do you want to achieve with that plan? The responses are usually excited and passionate. I want bigger jobs! I want to get myself out there! I want to be visible! I start by getting specific […]

Although I prefer to lurk in online groups as a rule—unless I run them—I recently saw a thread about a publication I used to love and it’s offer for cheap design services so I found myself chiming in. It started out interesting and potentially educational but like a lot of online talk, a couple of […]

I hope your 4th of July (Canada Day for those of you who live in the North) was spectacular and that you took a moment to think about how lucky you are to be free to run a business that is an expression of what you were called to do. Philanthropy and social responsibility are important […]

In 1905, at the age of 40, Miss Elsie de Wolfe gave up her struggling acting career for good and set up residence at the historic Washington Irving House with Miss Elizabeth Marbury, a prominent theatrical agent. The combination of de Wolfe’s style and Marbury’s connections transformed Irving House into the American version of a […]

Most designers are educated enough about the design process to know that getting published is an important part of building their brand. But often in the rush to be seen, they forget that the fastest way to get the media to notice you, is to actually have something to say. I was reminded of this […]

With the rise of the Internet and designers’ increasing savvy to opportunities for licensing and information products, the phrase passive income has created a new sense of urgency. Everybody wants to start earning some, now. I get it. Earning money on the work you’ve already done, in perpetuity, sounds pretty good but unless you get […]

As 2013 comes to a close I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be a leader in creative business.  If you feel like you’ve been on the cusp for a long time, you might start to wonder if magic is required to lift you out of obscurity.  But the truth is, the […]

I was scheduled to go to Fall Market at the LDC yesterday but my cousins, who are on a cross-country road trip, arrived a day earlier so I made the executive decision to play hooky (family is important to me). Of course we ended up on Rodeo Drive and because my cousin’s husband is a […]