The launch of Lazarus Designs!

Welcome everyone to The Lazarus Archives, the official blog for Lazarus Designs!!
Lazarus Designs, my new Residential Design Company, was conceived over 21 years ago, and has been in labor since October 31, and was officially delivered February 13,2012!
When I graduated from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1991, I had aspirations of starting my own company. I took the usual path of most architectural graduates, and went to work for an architectural firm in order to gain experience. While that experience has been most valuable, it has ever so subtly kept me from that initial dream of starting my own company. I became satisfied with working for other people, producing construction documents, managing projects and detailing buildings that other people had designed. I begrudge nobody for this distraction as I am responsible for the decisions I make, and the path of my career. Over the past 5 or 6 years however, I was growing increasingly frustrated and longed for the early years of my career when I was moonlighting and designing homes on the side. That was the closest I've ever been (until now) of realizing that initial dream. I have also realized that if I stayed the course I was on, that dream would never become a realization. I could become an integral part of an architectural firm, but it would never be "my firm".
In 2009, due to the economy and back surgery that was desperately needed, I ended up unemployed. During that time I agonized on whether I should stay the course I was on, safe and consistent employment with an architectural firm, or take the giant leap into the unknown and start my own company. I had a brief contract employment stint with an architectural firm in Denver in October of 2011, and during that 4 week period, was left with no doubt of the course I wanted the balance of my career to take. It was watershed moment for me. A moment that changes the course of a career, and I am so grateful for that moment.  Nothing sums it up better then this quote from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. "Most people would succeed in small things if not troubled by great ambitions"!!
Having overcome the inertia of indecision, the momentum for Lazarus Designs has been gaining daily. It started with the investment into new computers and the 3D modeling software program REVIT. Once those investments were made, the momentum went into overdrive during the production of a Residential Portfolio in which I could display my creative ability and design skills. I am proud to say that with completion of that portfolio on February 13, 2012, Lazarus Designs has officially been launched! Let the dream begin!
Please tour the design sketches for some of the projects included in that portfolio. Feel free to contact me with questions, or if you would like to be sent a copy of the portfolio.
Thank you for visiting The Lazarus Archives, the blog for Lazarus Designs.
Ronald B. Paden