Jeff Wortham is a Residential Landscape Architect in Pleasanton, California. He also is a licensed Landscape Contractor in California. He is the Principal of Jeff Wortham & Associates. His firm has focused on mid to high end Landscape Design for over 20 years. Jeff received his BS degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in Landscape Architecture in 1986. Jeff is the founder and host of Design Pro Success Stories. He discusses his construction background and how it affects his design approach, the importance of updating one’s business strategies, sources for inspiration, building a business, and setting yourself up for the future. Enjoy!

Nicole Mason is an attorney with a corporate background. She is the CEO of  Omnivantage Business Professionals in the Bay Area near San Francisco, California. Her business focuses on helping smaller businesses focus on growth, and running their businesses more smoothly so they can better enjoy what they do. She is also my business coach for my Landscape Architecture business. I asked her to do this interview because she has helped me understand how to run my business better and help me understand how to deal with parts of the business I have always struggled with. This interview deals with setting expectations with clients and discusses the 3 Pillars of Setting Clear Expectations with some examples from my own business.

Amy Connor Murphy is an Architect in Ashville, North Carolina. She is the Principal at ACM Design Architecture & Interior Design.  Her firm is focused on Custom Residential Design. Amy received her Bachelors of Science degree in Architecture from Auburn University. This conversation covers a wide variety of topics ranging from getting started as an Architect, balancing family and business, construction administration, managing relationships with clients and the importance of having a good mentor. Amy talks about setting up her business at a size that allows her to stay connected to the part of the work she enjoys most, avoiding the temptation so many of us struggle with. Enjoy!

Tim Alatorre is an Architect and partner in De Jesus & Alatorre Architects. They have two offices in Northern and Central California. He is a graduate of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and does a podcast for the Architecture department there. His Architecture firm is currently going through a growth phase as the economy recovers in 2014. The partnership does project types ranging from churches, multi family residential, custom residential and restaurants. I thought this conversation was good from the perspective of talking to an owner that has just started to recover after the recession and showing how fast things can change when things pick back up.

Kate Stickley is a Partner in Arterra Landscape Architecture in San Francisco, California. They are focused on higher end Residential work. She shares some of the secrets of a long lasting partnership and the power of collaboration. We discuss her love for field-work, hand drawings, the need for clear vision for a business, apprenticeships and many other interesting topics. Kate’s firm has been featured in some popular publications and she shares some of the ways we can get their attention for our businesses. This was a longer discussion because we found so many great things to talk about. I hope you enjoy it half as much as I did.