People often ask me
“How Long have you been a Designer”
Answer:
If you ask my family to answer this… since I was about 5 years old. As a young child while other kids we out playing baseball, riding bikes and running around…
I was taking all of the toys out of my play room, rearranging the furniture and putting it all back in a completely different configuration. Repeatedly.
While other kids were fascinated with electronic games, walkie talkies and transistor radios,
I was taking apart drapery traverse rods to see how that pull cord moved all of those carriers.
As I grew older I became interested in how houses were built. I began drawing up make believe blue prints. My parents encouraged this interest, so I was enrolled in drafting classes leading into architectural studies.
By the end of High School I could complete an entire sets of architectural working drawings.
This was a leaping head start when I was enrolled into the Architecture and Design program at Iowa State university. It all came so easy to me…like I had been doing it in previous lives.
In 1993, 2 years after my college graduation, I began my own firm… living in an attic apartment, having less than a thousand dollars in my only bank account but wealthy with determination to be recognized as one of the very best. A few bumps and a couple of setbacks later, I pressed on and achieved everything I dreamt about when I was 12.
The fame, modest fortune, published recognitions, even a reality television show all followed.
30 plus years later, my determination is to build lifelong relationships with my clients and perform in a way to always try to be better than my best.
The one piece of advise I have for everyone is to find that thing that you are good at and search for the things that make you happy; find a way to do that everyday of your life. Everything else will follow and the bumps and detours will only make you stronger and better than before. Learning from mistakes is the most valuable lesson. Life and missteps are the reality of life. Taking that knowledge of those challenges and keeping your current clients clear of those mistakes is invaluable.
The best feeling in the world for me is knowing what I know, presenting it with conviction and gaining unconditional trust.
I doubt that I ever will fully retire because I’m addicted to what I do.
“How Long have you been a Designer”
Answer:
If you ask my family to answer this… since I was about 5 years old. As a young child while other kids we out playing baseball, riding bikes and running around…
I was taking all of the toys out of my play room, rearranging the furniture and putting it all back in a completely different configuration. Repeatedly.
While other kids were fascinated with electronic games, walkie talkies and transistor radios,
I was taking apart drapery traverse rods to see how that pull cord moved all of those carriers.
As I grew older I became interested in how houses were built. I began drawing up make believe blue prints. My parents encouraged this interest, so I was enrolled in drafting classes leading into architectural studies.
By the end of High School I could complete an entire sets of architectural working drawings.
This was a leaping head start when I was enrolled into the Architecture and Design program at Iowa State university. It all came so easy to me…like I had been doing it in previous lives.
In 1993, 2 years after my college graduation, I began my own firm… living in an attic apartment, having less than a thousand dollars in my only bank account but wealthy with determination to be recognized as one of the very best. A few bumps and a couple of setbacks later, I pressed on and achieved everything I dreamt about when I was 12.
The fame, modest fortune, published recognitions, even a reality television show all followed.
30 plus years later, my determination is to build lifelong relationships with my clients and perform in a way to always try to be better than my best.
The one piece of advise I have for everyone is to find that thing that you are good at and search for the things that make you happy; find a way to do that everyday of your life. Everything else will follow and the bumps and detours will only make you stronger and better than before. Learning from mistakes is the most valuable lesson. Life and missteps are the reality of life. Taking that knowledge of those challenges and keeping your current clients clear of those mistakes is invaluable.
The best feeling in the world for me is knowing what I know, presenting it with conviction and gaining unconditional trust.
I doubt that I ever will fully retire because I’m addicted to what I do.