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 […]

Wouldn’t it be nice if every decision you made, every change you experienced and absolutely everything else you ever did, was right? In other words, perfect, high-five, fantastic, ideal.Life would be a whole lot easier wouldn’t it?I’m not going to lie, the moment you realize you made a mistake, a bad choice, went in the […]

Join me at the Laguna Design Center on October 30, 2013 for my 1-hr CEU Image 360°: Branding, Visibility And Money For The Design Industry. Ideal clients, consistent income and seemingly miraculous opportunities show up when you get the story of your business right.  But it’s not just what you say, it’s who you tell that […]

It was a packed day of clients yesterday and during the course of my google+ chats, one theme became abundantly clear. What you do in your business and your life ultimately boils down to two choices. Yup, just two. You can focus on what you want or, you can focus on what you don’t want. […]

Some people won’t get the value of what you do no matter how well or often you explain it. You don’t have to worry about those one-off conversations; sometimes it’s not about you. But if you find yourself having the same conversation — sales, employee, spouse or otherwise — over and over again, guess what? […]

So why do some interior design firms thrive, while others barely survive?  The answer lies in one powerful, little word:  brand. On August 21 & 22nd, join an inspired conversation about branding, visibility and money.  This compelling series of interviews combined with live sessions for interior designers and product makers will bridge the gap between what […]

I just got my media accreditation for  Dwell On Design  and between that and a slew of interviews I’ve been doing for an incredible event – more on that later – it feels like I’m back in pre-production again. The Los Angeles Design Festival 2013 kicks off this weekend and Dwell is just one of the […]

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery or so the saying goes and I suppose copycats are par for the course when you’re successful in creative business but I’m not going to lie, they bug me. One of my clients recently had her design ripped off by a fellow blogger. Now that design had already […]

My mentor Michael Maschio was the Production Executive in charge of The A-Team in the 80s. He rolled his eyes when I gushed. He’s old Hollywood. His dad was the packaging agent for Casablanca, so piecing together epic creative projects was in his blood. He managed all kinds of personalities with ease, dealt with situations […]

The one thing that’s standard among interior design professionals is that pricing their services isn’t. Whether you charge hourly, by the square foot, with markup or without, or as a percentage of the overall budget, every job and every client is unique and coming to consensus can be tricky. You’ve probably heard a lot of […]