Lynn K. Peters, President & CEO, LK Design Group Inc | Powering Creativity

A lover of art, science, and building things, Lynn K. Peters knew from her middle school days that she wanted to be an architect. At 28, she started her architectural and interior design firm LK Design Group Inc. “As odd as it sounds,” she says, “I didn't have a lot of aspirations to be an entrepreneur, and to necessarily start my own business. I started it because I didn't feel like I was in control of the service level I wanted to provide to clients.”

Lynn’s passion for superior service and efficiency is reflected in her firm’s rate of referral and repeat business—a staggering 95%. Those satisfied clients include everyone from Texas Partners Bank and H-E-B to CVS Health, Methodist Healthcare System, and La Cantera Resort & Spa.

“It's building relationships with people. Part of it is doing good work and being conscious of that aspect, the technical and the architectural part. And then part of it is building a relationship with people, and they can depend on you. We've made it easier, where instead of going to a new city and hiring a new architect, they find it easier that they can just send us.”

“One thing is to know who you're doing business with, whether it's a client or someone you're partnering with, [and] to get to know them well and make sure that they're sound and have the same kind of goals and ethics that you have. For us, it makes sense to know who our clients are. Are they going to pay us? And are they sound? And if you're a young entrepreneur or business owner, that you can get in trouble fast if you don't do that type of research.”

“I would tell [entrepreneurs] to look at the market and study the market and make sure that there was room in the marketplace for that type of business; to build a relationship with a bank; and a bank loan would be probably a good idea, to get a line of credit established. Then it's going to be a lot of hard work. It doesn't come easy. I think there's some people that think having a business is an easy thing and you don't have to work as hard, but it's quite the opposite.”