Of course you can read my About page and learn more about me professionally, but I felt that it would be fun to show you the side my clients get to know. I’d venture to guess that if we did a survey, a top contender would be “Casual”. A quote that hit home with me was from Tom Hardy when he said “I was raised to treat the janitor with the same respect as the CEO”. Maybe it’s my mid-Western roots, maybe it comes from my humble beginnings. Even when given the chance to quote someone refined, I’ll choose the opposite. Clients of all walks of life hire me to be their designer. No matter who they are, I always approach them as if I were, until I am, a friend. You wouldn’t take advice from a stranger, but you would a friend. I know that those stripes will never change.
And anyone who knows me likely knows my wife, Brandy, or at least has heard a lot about her. The reason why? As I write this, she’s been attached to my hip for the past five and a half years. She’s never worked in the design industry, but with the exposure she’s had to my projects, award ceremonies, and industry events, she holds her own in conversation and has been mistaken for a designer countless times. She’s never liked being an attorney so I am still waiting for her to abandon that ship!
Together, we have 2 dogs (Oreo & Riley) and despite my allergies, 2 cats (Jax & Meeka). There’s no kids in the picture yet, but those 4 keep us on our toes all on their own. We both grew up in Michigan where our families still reside. We moved to Nashville, TN a few years ago and have been loving every minute of it. It’s the perfect city for me as I currently am working on projects in over a dozen states which requires a lot of travel for both myself and for my clients. When you are working with a designer out of state, where they reside matters because you’ll often be there for long weekends and will need things to do outside of your design appointments. Whether it’s exploring a new restaurant or box seats at Taylor Swift with one of my client-turned-friends, this city never disappoints.
I’ve always believed that you should never stop learning which is part of the reason why I am starting this blog. Fear is often a factor in how successful a project will be. It leads to indecision, which leads to overthinking, which leads to late in the game change orders (yes, this was my Yoda moment). It’s the reason why I am constantly searching for answers, new solutions, and better approaches for my clients. I don’t want them to face those insecurities and if what I learn along the way can helps others, why wouldn’t I share it? The other part is that there are a lot of questions out there that I’ve wanted to know more about and there are way more that I haven’t been asked yet. I’m hoping that I’ll help make your project more successful and you’ll make me a better designer along the way.
“A man who asks is a fool for five minutes. A man who never asks is a fool for life.”
– Chinese Proverb
