101: Live From Italy: How to Get Your Creativity Back When You Feel Stuck

This is a replay, and it is one of my favorites.

A while back I was in Italy for Marmomac, the natural stone show in Verona, sponsored by the Italian Trade Agency. I added almost two weeks onto the trip and traveled alone through Verona, Bologna, Florence, the hillsides of Tuscany, Milan, and Lake Como.

I did not bring my computer.

One night in Florence, walking home from dinner past the Duomo, I heard a woman singing in the middle of the street. I stopped, I listened, and then I pulled out my iPhone and started recording this episode. No notes. No agenda. No plan. Just me telling you what was happening as it happened.

I finished it days later in Milan.

If your projects are starting to look like everybody else's projects, this one is for you.

Why designers lose their creativity

Creativity is not a talent problem. It is a fuel problem. Most of us run the business until the creative tank is empty, then wonder why the work feels flat. I talk about what it felt like to be at a crossroads with my business, my life, and my design aesthetic all at the same time.

Social media is a sea of sameness

Someone posts a reel that performs. Everybody copies the reel. Someone builds a room that is easy to design and gets attention. Everybody builds the room. I explain why I took social media off my phone for this trip, and why it is the last place to look when you need to find your own point of view.

Stop copying someone else's signature look

There is nothing wrong with having a signature look. There is a lot wrong with wearing someone else's. When you copy another designer's signature, you devalue your own creativity, your own business, and your own intellectual property.

What Michelangelo's unfinished figures taught me about feeling stuck

I paid for a tour guide just to skip the line and see David. Ten minutes in, she said let's go. I told her to go on without me and stayed another twenty minutes. In that entryway there are half-carved figures still trying to pull themselves out of the marble, sitting there unfinished for five hundred years. That is most of us.

Then the question that reframed the whole trip: did Michelangelo carve David based on what everybody else was doing?

What is your David?

The one thing you do that no one else in your market does. If you cannot name a clear, inspiring distinction between you and every other designer out there, stop what you are doing and figure that out first. Write it down. Then show the world.

What is your Italy?

You do not need a plane ticket. You do need time alone. Not with your kids, not with your husband or wife, not with your clients, not with your trades. Alone. A day at a coffee shop, one night in a hotel two hours from your house, a sketchbook and no phone. That is the magic time.

The expectations you never told anyone about

I walked into that trip carrying expectations that other people did not know I had set for them. Letting those go changed my travel days, and then it changed my client meetings, my calls, and my job sites.

A thought is just a thought. The trouble starts when you turn it into a feeling.

When a contractor told me I was charging too much

Early in my career a general contractor told me I was charging way more than any other design firm in the area. It rattled me enough that I went back and looked at the data. I was not wrong. If someone cannot value what you bring to a project, that is information about the fit, not about your pricing.

Nobody pulls a designer off a rack. Deliverables, skill, and talent come first. Price comes second.

Choosing peace in the middle of a chaotic project

Furniture arrives late. Trades do not show. A big city is loud on a Saturday morning. You still get to decide whether you are the calm one. That is not a personality trait, it is leadership, and your client is watching for it.

What Italy changed about my own work

Greenery spilling off third-story balconies. Vintage plates on a table that looks like it belongs in a garden. Natural materials and a softer, more relaxed hand. I am not giving up my metallics, but I came home wanting to bring more feeling into the work.

Because a beautiful room without connection is not a win for anybody.

The one thing I want you to take with you

If you are 10 or 15 years into this business, go back to the beginning and ask yourself why you got into it. It was the creative part. If that is missing right now, that is fixable.

Your business is built on your specific, very unique artistic genius and your intellectual property. Never turn that into a commodity.

Mentioned in this episode: Marmomac (Verona), the Italian Trade Agency, Michelangelo's David and the Prisoners at the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence, Milan's vertical garden architecture.

Want the longer version of this conversation? It is the whole reason I wrote The Designer Within. Order a signed copy: https://johnmcclaindesign.com/designerwithin

FREE VIDEO TRAINING DIRECT FROM JOHN:

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The business side doesn’t.

Join this free 39-minute training for interior designers and learn the 3 secrets to building a profitable, stress-free design business without burnout or chaos.

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Transcript

The McClain Method Podcast, Episode 101

Live From Italy (Replay): Finding Your Creativity Again

John McClain:

Let's take it a step further, and let's push the boundaries and come up with something more. Come up with something better. Come up with something deeper. Come up with something different. Come up with something that no one else has seen.

And yes, it's going to be a little bit of a push for your clients to do that. They're not going to understand if they don't see a picture in a magazine, or on some regurgitated television show that had the same project and the same look pulled out a million times. You know who I'm talking about.

And there's nothing wrong with having a signature look. Don't get me wrong. But when you are copying someone else's signature look, you are devaluing your own creativity, and your own business, and your own intellectual property.

Hey, y'all. You're listening to The McClain Method Podcast, episode 101, my special replay of my live recording from Italy. I hope you enjoy.

Welcome to The McClain Method, the podcast for interior designers who are ready to stop hiding and start shining. I'm your host, John McClain: designer, business mentor, author, and your branding bestie.

This is not about paint colors or pendant lighting. It's about building a business that's both visible and profitable, inside and out. From marketing and messaging to mindset, systems, and visibility, we cover the front stage and the back stage of your design business, because your brilliance deserves the spotlight and your business deserves to run like a dream behind the scenes.

So if you're ready to be seen, get recognized, and get booked, it's time to let it shine. Welcome to The McClain Method.

The setup

Hey, everybody. How are you? So happy you have joined me today on this new episode of the podcast.

And I'm going to preface this by saying this is a first for me on this episode. This is the first time that I have ever done an episode like you're going to listen to today. It was something that just was inspiring to me. It felt right to do as it came up, and I just decided to move forward with it.

So here's the background behind today's episode. I was in Italy in late September, early October of 2024. I was there for a trade show, a beautiful natural stone show, and had an amazing time.

I ended up adding almost two extra weeks onto my trip, because I was there and I just decided to make the most of it and take advantage of the fact that I was in Italy and there were so many places there that I had never been to before.

It also was a good time for me to travel personally, because we had lost our dog Jax that summer. My husband and I were still sort of dealing with that, and we always will be in some ways, but at that point it was heavy. We had a large move. Last year was just a crazy, crazy year for us in so many ways.

So it just felt like the right thing to do. We had talked about him going with me and decided that it was not the right time for him with his work schedule, and I'm kind of thankful for that, and he knows that as well. It was great for me to take this solo trip.

The first part of the trip was very busy at the trade show, and I met so many people from literally all over the world. It was so wonderful. This trade show at Marmomac, which was sponsored by the Italian Trade Agency. I had a great time, learned so, so much, as I said, and met so many wonderful people in Verona.

And then from there I moved on to lots of different cities and lots of different places, and I talk about those in the episode. Starting in Verona, I spent a lot of time there, and then moving on to Florence, and then areas of Tuscany, and then to Venice and Milan and Bologna and so many places. I packed a lot into this trip. But I knew that having this time by myself in such an amazing country was special, and I knew I wanted to take advantage of that.

And I felt as if I was at a crossroads. I was at a crossroads with my business. I was at a crossroads kind of in life. And I was at a crossroads with design too.

I wanted to freshen all of that up. I wanted everything to feel revitalized. I wanted my personal life to feel revitalized. I wanted my business to feel revitalized after so many changes that I had made in the past year. And I wanted my design aesthetic to feel fresh and revitalized. I just felt like I had gotten into a funk, and I needed to get out of that.

And I can tell you, nothing will cause you to think more about all of the things in life that are going on around you except for when you're in your own thoughts. And that can either be a good method or a bad method, depending upon how you look at it.

I was in Italy. I was able to balance beautiful scenery, beautiful art, inspiration, all the things, with lots of introspective time. And I made a rule for myself that if something was less than 45 minutes away as far as a walk, then I would walk.

So if it was a 45 minute or less walk, and I was not on a strict deadline for a time frame, such as a reservation or something, and I was running late, I would walk there. And I did. So I ended up getting, like, I don't know, 25 or 30,000 steps a day. It was insane and fabulous at the same time.

But I found so much inspiration just by walking, just by looking, just by listening.

The night outside the Duomo

And that's kind of where this podcast episode came from.

I was walking through Florence one night and I had dinner, and I was walking by the Duomo, and I heard this beautiful voice, this lady singing in the middle of the street. Just angelic. And it was free angelic music. The heavens had come down and given me free music.

And I thought to myself, wow. How lucky are you? How fortunate are you in life right now, to where you just had your belly full from a great meal, you are walking through one of the most gorgeous and artistically inspirational cities in the world, and someone is singing, and the echoes of that are resonating off of one of the most amazing architectural structures of our lifetime.

So stop and take this in. Stop and pause, and realize what a wonderful moment this is.

And I did. And I listened, and gave her a tip, applauded, and just really soaked that moment in. And I did try to soak all the moments in on this trip. The little ones, the big ones, silly ones, birds splashing in the fountains. All the things. I really just stopped to appreciate the big things and the small things.

And I think that's what prompted me to pull my phone out and just start recording this episode.

And I didn't know if I would ever even broadcast it. I didn't know if it was something that was going to turn into a bunch of mush, something that you couldn't even interpret once you listened to it. But going back through the edits, there is a rhyme and reason to it.

It does get a little scattered at times, because I go from Florence to Milan, and I finish the episode in Milan. But when I started in Florence, the intent was to relay the message of, first of all, stopping to appreciate life, stopping to appreciate the beauty around us, and then really understanding the fact that as a creative person, as a designer, if you're listening to this, whatever industry you're in, if you're not an interior designer, whatever creative facet of life that you're in, you deserve to be inspired.

You deserve to take these moments to have creativity flow through you, to look at other options, to truly let inspiration find you. And you're not going to do that if you keep doing the same things every single day.

And I talk about more in the episode about some ways to do that. It doesn't require a trip to Italy. I consider myself very, very blessed to be able to even take that trip. I look back on it now so fondly, so happily, and I have so many videos and things in my phone that I still have to put out there for you guys on social media, because I still want to share a lot of things that I found. Some really inspiring moments.

But again, the point of this episode is to remind you that if your creative juices are not flowing as fast as they used to, it might be time for a refill. And there are lots of ways to find that refill, and you're not going to always find that refill on social media.

And I even encourage you to not find it on social media, because social media becomes a sea of sameness, and everyone tends to start looking the same to me on social media. Because someone sees something that someone else is doing that looks successful, or a reel that gets a lot of likes and views, and then they decide to do the same thing. Or a design aesthetic that everybody likes because it is easy to design, and then everyone sort of copies it.

I want you to start to really find your own pathway. If you have found your own pathway, grow that pathway. Nurture that pathway. Nurture that feeling, that creativity. Nurture that outlet. Find something else to truly make you stand out.

And that is what we discuss in this episode.

What I learned about expectations

Other things that I found during my time in Italy, in addition to really this resurgence of creativity and then hundreds of moments of inspiration, was when I did look at myself, I found out that I had preconceived notions about a lot of people. I had expectations that I thought everybody was going to meet.

I had expectations that if I was, for instance, walking down the sidewalk and there were two people coming toward me, and the sidewalk could only hold two people, that of course the person in front of me with two people was going to move.

No. That is not the case.

And that's a very trivial example, but my point is this. When you lower your expectations of expecting other people to conform to standards that you have, because your standards are going to be probably completely different than theirs, when you let that go, your day and your life just becomes so much easier and the flow is better. You don't have these expectations of anyone that are either going to be met or possibly not going to be met.

But when they're not meeting those expectations that you set for them, expectations, by the way, that they didn't even know that you had set, you did it in your own head. You set expectations around things and around circumstances and around other people that you didn't even probably tell the other person about.

So when you do that, you're only sabotaging yourself. It is total self-sabotage.

And I decided that I'm going to not be my own saboteur, and I'm going to stop self-sabotaging myself and let that go. And once I did that, and it sounds, again, so simple to not get upset by these little things, but when I did that, it freed me from these expectations. And it freed me from the day to day of being a tourist in these cities and doing, quote, touristy things.

But I also brought that back with me in my own personal life and in my own business, and decided to stop applying expectations to people around things that were really uncontrollable by me.

Now, not in your business, of course. If you are paying someone to do something as an employee or as a contractor, that sort of thing, yes, there are expectations around that. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking more about the things that you really have no reason to control. Things that you have no business of controlling.

You really can't control the etiquette of other people. You can't control the minds of other people, the mindsets of those people. So just stop doing it. It's going to lower your blood pressure, it's going to lower your stress level, and it's just going to make flowing through life a lot easier.

I just encourage you to try that. It worked for me on this trip when I'm walking around hundreds and hundreds of people, and it has worked for me now when I'm back at home, when I'm literally just doing a video call and having meetings with people, and just really lowering my expectations of things that I have set in my own head for other people.

So ask yourself: are you setting expectations for other people that you have not relayed to them, and expectations of other people that they are not required to meet, and or they are not capable of meeting? Right?

Ask yourself that. It will change a lot. I promise you.

Before we go to Italy

All right, that is kind of the setup for this episode.

I just want you to remember, I am walking through Italy, holding my iPhone in my hand, recording my audio into the phone. So there are horns honking, there are people walking. You're going to hear lots of noise in the background. But again, I just wanted to capture that moment, and that feeling of just speaking with you.

There was no script, there was no agenda, there was no plan. It was just talking to you. And again, I didn't know if I was ever going to release this or not, but I hope you enjoy it. I hope you find some kernels of inspiration in it. And I talk about how it has changed me in so many ways, and I hope that you can find some things inside of it that will help you as well.

And too, that it encourages you to find ways to grow your business and to fuel your creative passions in your life, and just to fuel the passions in your life outside of your creative endeavors as well.

Travel is the thing that does it for me. I love traveling. And the beautiful part about traveling is that you can relive and rekindle those moments in your mind even after the trip, which is what editing this episode has done for me today. I remember exactly where I was when I hit record and I was recording these pieces.

So again, we start in Florence, then I move to Milan. Apparently I got back to the hotel and decided that I needed to stop recording for that night, I don't know. But regardless, there are two different cities here that I record in. I hope you do enjoy it.

All right, now. Grab your cappuccino, grab your vino. Open your minds, open your hearts, and let's take a walk through Italy together.

Part one: Florence

Hello, my friends. This is a new one for me.

I am recording this podcast episode at about 9:00 at night in Florence, Italy. Very strange, right? So I'm walking back from dinner, so you may hear some noise in the background from parties, from people at bars, which is kind of the thing that inspired me to do this recording for you now.

So I'm in Italy. I came for a trade show. Came for Marmomac, which is a stone show that they have in Verona, Italy, and it was amazing. Met lots of wonderful people, saw lots of beautiful products, and was very inspired by the beauty and just the durability and versatility and gorgeousness of natural stone. But that's another episode.

This episode, and the reason I'm recording this walking through Florence, is because I just want to remind you of the power of inspiration.

And I have no notes. I have no agenda necessarily for this. I did not prepare. I just pulled my phone out and decided to record.

So I came to Italy for the show, but I also kind of came for a different reason as well. That is something that I really, really needed. I needed inspiration. I needed a kick in the pants. I needed some motivation. And honestly, I just needed to be inspired. For life, for career, for everything.

And it was not truly an Eat Pray Love kind of a trip. Don't get me wrong, I have been eating a lot.

Sorry for the car noise, but it's Florence and the streets are tight and you're literally walking right beside the cars.

So anyway, I came for inspiration. I came for a break. I came for... hold on, here comes a motorcycle.

I came for a mental break. I came for a physical break. And I didn't even bring my computer with me, if that tells you anything.

So this was literally a trip where I wanted to break away. Break away from the typical. Break away from the everyday. And give myself some time to reflect, to grow, to learn. And it's been happening, for sure.

I have five days left on this two-week journey that I've taken, and that next part of it goes to Milan, and some fun things there, so who knows what I will be inspired by there.

But being in the city of Florence, with its rich history and art and Renaissance and the beaucoup of artists that came from the city, I'm thinking to myself, like, did Michelangelo walk on this street? Did da Vinci walk down this same pathway?

And that's pretty inspiring, if you think about it.

Stop turning out mediocre projects

So if you're in a funk, if you're in a design funk, if you're in a creative funk, if you're looking for some sort of inspiration, maybe your projects are all looking the same, maybe you're just copying, I see you, someone else's design and not really coming up with something original, then this is for you.

This is your kick in the pants. This is your kick in the butt. This is your jump start to tell you to stop.

Stop turning out mediocre projects. Stop turning out a mediocre life. Stop letting yourself down. Stop letting clients down. Stop being uninspired. Stop copycatting and reproducing what somebody else has done. That will get you nowhere.

The reason we are in this industry is because we are creatives. We're here to be creatives. We're here to be creative. We're here to come up with unique ideas. We're here to take our clients on a journey that they didn't even expect.

And if your clients are driving the train, if your clients are directing you on what your design should be and what they want, then you need to stop and reassess what you're doing in your own business, and what you're doing in your own creative business.

It is a business, of course, and you guys know that I love to talk about creativity, and I love to talk about the business side of things, and I love to talk about what to do in your businesses. But it's also a creative business, and you cannot ever, ever, ever let that go.

If you start letting your clients and their sister and their mother and their aunt and their neighbor and everyone else tell you what a project should look like, and tell you what you should do as far as the final decisions in a project, then you need to stop and remember: you are the reason that they hired you. You, and your creativity, your brain, your intellectual property.

And you know that I divide creativity from all other aspects of the business, right? Remember, I take creativity and that's its own fee. And I let clients know that that is what they are paying for, is the wonderful, wonderful, wonderful creativity that we all have.

So this is just a reminder to look at that and say, yeah, I can understand why you are inspired by this. I can understand why you like this. But let's take it a step further, and let's push the boundaries and come up with something more. Come up with something better. Come up with something deeper. Come up with something different. Come up with something that no one else has seen.

And yes, it's going to be a little bit of a push for your clients to do that. They're not going to understand if they don't see a picture in a magazine, or on some regurgitated television show that had the same project and the same look pulled out a million times. You know who I'm talking about.

And there's nothing wrong with having a signature look. Don't get me wrong. But when you are copying someone else's signature look, you are devaluing your own creativity, and your own business, and your own intellectual property.

What's funny to me is I was not expecting this to be a work trip, and I don't consider it a work trip. But when I have thoughts that I want to share with you, and when I have thoughts that I feel are helpful to you and your business and your life, I want to capture them. And that's what we're doing.

So anyway, I've laid the foundation for you to know: you have to value your creativity. Right? You do. And you have to drive the train when it comes to creativity.

Yes, your clients have to buy into it. Yes, your clients have to want it. Yes, your clients have to understand that it's the best thing for them. That's your job.

Don't cave. If you feel passionate that a decision is the right thing to do, do not back down. Tell your clients why. Give them a reason why. Give them a reasoning behind it. Show them a sketch. Show them some inspiration. Right?

Remember, you are driving the creative train. You are responsible for teaching your clients and showing your clients why they should be believing what you're saying.

Standing in front of David

Okay. Now, like I said, I'm in Florence and I'm walking through the streets. If you're fast forwarding this and you just jumped in, you're probably wondering why you hear so many voices behind me and why it's so loud. But that is because I'm walking the streets of Florence.

So I'm headed back to the train station, as I said, and as I was walking, I was just overwhelmed by how many inspirational moments I've had so far. And so far on this trip I've been to Verona, Italy, Bologna, Italy, Florence, the hillsides of Tuscany, which is Siena and Pisa and San Gimignano, and then I'm going to Milan and Lake Como. So it's a very extensive Italian adventure for me.

But what I can tell you is this. When I pulled myself away from my business, when I pulled myself away from the "oh gosh, I've got to get this invoice out," "oh gosh, I've got to send this client a schedule," "oh gosh, I've got to call the contractor," when I pulled myself away from that, when I pulled myself away from the humdrum, from the everyday, and I know everyday is important, but I'm telling you now, so is the fueling of your creativity.

I have seen so many things, so many beautiful things, that I did not even know existed. And I found those, by the way, side note, by going a little off the beaten path. I didn't follow all the tourist things. And I did some tourist things, of course, which were inspiring.

Such as David. Today I saw the David, which was, to me, a very big moment in my life to see that, because I've always wanted to see it. And it sounds cliché, but I'll tell you what happened.

The tour guide actually was there with us. That's how I got in. I wanted to skip the line, so you had to pay a tour guide. So the tour guide was there, and she was yapping about everything. And she said, okay, let's go. And we were there maybe five or ten minutes. Like, not much at all.

And I said, no, no, no, no, no. I'm going to stay.

So I missed half the rest of the walking tour because I wanted to stay, and just really look and admire and go in deep and kind of figure out how and why. What was the thought process behind that?

And if you have ever seen David, you know that in the entryway there are other beautiful carvings that he's done that are honestly modern art. They look like contemporary art. But he did them in, I believe, 1500. Right? Something like that. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Anyway, so he has these figures that are frozen and are trying to remove themselves from their stone, from their marble. And he sort of half carved them, and he did that intentionally, which I think is just revolutionary and amazing and so inspiring.

Because I think all of us feel like we're trying to sometimes break out of this piece of marble. And there's, like, somewhat of a carved figure in the front, and then the rest in the back is like the marble that's not been chipped away yet. And it is the part that we're sort of trapped into, right? The part that we're trying to pull away from.

And it really was something that I wanted to see. So I told her to go. I said, please, please go. I don't need you here. I will stay. I gave her my little headset, and I just stayed probably another 20 minutes. Just again, enamored by it all, looking at everything, checking out all of the details, figuring out, trying to at least, why he did what he did, why he designed the way he did.

And I left there inspired. Right? I left there kind of blown away, kind of just in awe that I was able to witness a literal masterpiece right in front of my eyes.

Do you think Michelangelo was driven by his outside voices when he designed, when he carved David? No. No. He did what was on his heart. He did what was on his mind. He did what he felt was right.

And I believe he carved David when he was 25, because he did want to show the world what he was capable of. Right?

So I want you to do the same for yourself. I want you to think, what am I capable of? What is my David? Right? What is the thing that I can show the world that I am so good at, that I'm so different than everyone else, that's going to set me apart from every single other person out there? What is that one thing that will make me a standout interior designer in the field of every other person that's out there?

Number one: what makes you different?

So that's number one. What makes you different? Figure it out. Write it down. Think about it. Stop what you're doing. Stop your business right now. Stop everything that you're doing.

If you do not have a clear and inspiring distinction that sets you apart from other people in our industry, you owe it to yourself to stop right now and figure out what that is and how to do it. Show the world what that is. But you have to do that. You have to find that differentiation point between you and what everyone else is doing.

Okay. I've beat that down into the ground.

Number two: what is your Italy?

Secondly, as I'm here in Italy, as I'm walking around, I'm seeing things that again have brought me to life, have awoken me, have stirred things in me that I haven't felt in years, and things that I didn't even know were capable.

So I have new business endeavors that I want to do now. I have a new design direction that I want to go. I have something that has been rekindled in me. I found a way to actually relate Italy to my childhood in Georgia. I found connections and connecting points that have brought me full circle, that have shown me what my aesthetic is, that have shown me what my direction is for myself and for my creativity.

And I just want you to know that that is also capable for you. You don't have to travel to Italy to do it, but you do have to take some time to do it, and you do have to take a break to do it.

So what is your Italy? What is your method of figuring this out?

And you're thinking, John, I can't take time away and go to Italy. And I feel very, by the way, privileged that I'm able to do it, and very honored that I was chosen to take this trip and was able to extend my time for some personal time. And this is a solo trip, as I said. So my husband's not here. Peter is not here. This is me. This is just me by myself, and it has been really, really fruitful.

So what can you do? What can you do to do this for yourself? What can you do to give your own self inspiration?

First of all, you have to take time away. You have to figure out some time to carve away from your business and from your daily life, and that is you and you alone.

You are the only person who can show yourself what you're capable of. And you're not going to do that with your family around. You're not going to do that with your kids around, with your husband, your wife. You're not going to do that with your clients around, with tradespeople, with general contractors.

You're going to do that when you're all alone and you're with yourself. That is the magic time. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. That is the magic time.

And if you can't take a trip away for a week or a few days, you can take some time away for yourself. Plan a day at a coffee shop. Find a new environment. Find a new surrounding. Find a new place that is different than where you are now. And let your mind flow. Do sketches. Look for inspiration online.

Pull yourself away from social media, FYI. I would not look at social media as my outlet for research for this. I have actually, at the time I'm recording this, removed social media from my phone so that I'm not tempted by it. And I even let you guys know that I'm going to take a break, and I wanted to take a break, and I needed to take a break. And that break has been wonderful.

I'm not telling you to take social media away. I'm just telling you not to use it for this particular cause and for this particular endeavor, to find yourself and your creative path.

But you can go to a coffee shop. You can maybe spend one night in a hotel in a different city that's a two-hour drive from your home, for example. But find a way to pull yourself away from the everyday, and find a way to be inspired.

Part two: Milan

Okay, well, I totally meant to finish that podcast episode when I was in Florence, but now I'm in Milan. So I am going to finish it in Milan.

Which is probably good, because a few other things have happened since last time we spoke, and maybe a few more realizations.

But Milan is a different city than all of the others. It's very contemporary. It's very, shall I say, bougie. The people constantly have this sort of annoyed look on their faces. And I first had to get over that and realize, like, okay, this wasn't directed toward me. This was something that they are just accustomed to. This is the way that they are.

Smiling at people doesn't get you anywhere. The only return smile I have gotten is when I complained at the hotel about the check-in process. And then now he smiles at me every time, I guess to make up for the crazy check-in process that I had.

But anyway, as I was saying before: inspiration is critical to a creative person.

I don't care what type of creative business you have, you must be inspired, and you must constantly be evolving in what you provide as far as services, as far as your creativity, as far as your intellectual property, as far as amazing ideas that you would not have otherwise.

And by traveling and being in, I guess, like six or seven cities in Italy during this time frame, I have just been overwhelmed with all of the inspiration.

Now, it hasn't changed the basis of my design aesthetic whatsoever, but what it has done is added new layers on top of it that have allowed me to see how I can appreciate and incorporate other design aesthetics that I may not have had my eyes open to before.

For instance, Italy is very big on greenery. You're going to see greenery in parks, of course, but also on homes. You're going to see it literally dripping out of the windows, literally falling down from second and third story balconies all the way to the ground.

And I think that is just phenomenal, and I love that they've incorporated that. Especially here in Milan, there's an actual building dedicated to that, the one that's won all of the awards. You might have seen it in Architectural Digest and all the things, and you can go to my Instagram to see more about that.

But I just love the fact that the indoor and outdoor is seamlessly blended. We use that phrase a lot in the U.S. as far as combining indoor and outdoor spaces. But truly here it has happened, and truly here they have embraced it and figured out a way to do it. Not only to where it enhances your environment physically and mentally, but also just aesthetically. It's phenomenal. I'm just in love with it.

A thought is a thought until you make it a feeling

The other thing that I've learned about myself, and about a lot of other people, is that I don't think people do things intentionally to annoy us, to get on our nerves, to ruffle our feathers. I think it's just more of, this is what they do, and it's up to us to get accustomed to that.

I've really learned to just lower my expectations and not really get upset when it comes to how you're dealing with people and how you react to people, because they're going to do what they're going to do. It is up to me how I take that and how I react to that.

And if I take that thought and turn it into a feeling, that is on me. That is not on them. So a thought can be a thought, but if you make that into a feeling, then that is when it gets a little dangerous. And then you're starting to go into territories of affecting your mindset and affecting how you just kind of go throughout your day.

So I've learned, like, if people bump into me, let them bump into me. If someone pushes in front of me to get their eggs at breakfast, that is totally fine. If someone sneezes and doesn't cover their mouth, then that is a bad thing to them. But for me, it is how I react to that. And that is how I'm going to keep my sanity.

And my point in saying this is to not only remind you in your daily life, but also with your clients, and with your tradespeople, and with anyone that you interact with.

If you go in with preconceived notions and expectations, yes, you should have expectations for them completing their job. But if you let them say something, and then that turns into, of course, a thought and then a feeling for you, how you react to that is going to be how you will determine the success of your project and the success of your working relationship.

Ask yourself if what they're saying was something that is worth turning into an action, or if it is something that is just going to be a passing thought and then you move on.

And my point with that is just, don't take everything that someone says to heart. Let yourself hear what they're saying. Take time to absorb it. And then don't react instantly. Because when you react instantly, to me it has never, ever turned into a great situation.

It is always best to take a break, and take a pause, and take a minute to regroup, and to figure out what they were saying, why they were saying it, and if that is truly worth either turning it into an action or just letting it go.

And I have learned in my life to let a lot of things go that are not worth my mental time and are not worth my physical energy to turn into any sort of action item. And I want you to start to ask yourself that too.

When a client says something off the cuff, when a tradesperson says something off the cuff, when a general contractor says something, I want you to ask yourself what you're going to do about that. And if it is worth moving forward to phase two, next step, which is figuring out a solution. Or if you're just going to say, nope, that is not going to affect me. I'm not going to let that comment ruin me.

The contractor who said I was too expensive

For instance, I had a contractor once who told me that I was charging way too much, way more than any other design firms in our area.

And it kind of startled me to begin with, because I was like, oh my gosh, am I really that expensive? Because I was basing my value, and this was when I was a new designer, I was basing my price on what I was delivering, which, FYI, is the right way to do it.

But this comment startled me. And really, I had to sit down and analyze, like, okay, am I wrong? Is my pricing wrong? Am I not delivering enough?

And I realized, no. After looking at the data and looking at what I was delivering, if that general contractor could not look at what I was bringing to the table to this client's project and value that enough to value my price, then I do not want to work with that general contractor, nor do I want to work with that client.

We have to start putting our foot down when it comes to standing firm on our pricing, standing firm on our deliverables, knowing that we are different, knowing that what we are providing is much more and much better than other people.

And if you're comparing only your pricing to other designers and other creative people, then you are missing literally half of the equation. Because your deliverables and your skill sets and your talents is what you are bringing, not just a price point.

Think about this. Someone's not going to walk into a store and pull a designer off the shelf or off the rack. You're going to find out what that designer has, look at their projects, look at their capabilities, look at how truly talented they are.

That is what is going to differentiate you, and that is what you have to be always proud of and always keep in the back of your mind. So put that first, and then pricing comes second.

Choosing peace in the middle of the noise

Oh my gosh, Milan is bustling today. It is a Saturday morning and everybody is out. I think because it's been raining here for a while and now everybody wants to be out and about.

But even in the midst of all the hustle, and even in the midst of all of the craziness of a big city where I am now, I am still relaxed. I am still at peace.

And that is what you have to remember in the midst of a crazy project, in the midst of a very busy project, a very busy schedule with your clients, a very hectic routine.

It is up to you to choose to be peaceful. It is up to you to choose to find that peace. Find that thing that centers you, so that you're not dragged into every situation where someone is upset, or a tradesperson is late to a project, or a piece of furniture arrives late.

I can tell you it is not the end of the world. I can tell you it is not catastrophic. And I can tell you that you need to be the one driving the train when it comes to letting the client know that this has happened before and that it's all going to be fine.

So in the midst of all the hustle and the bustle and the craziness, you have to center yourself, and you have to take the leadership control to become the leader and show your client, show all the people involved in the project, why you are the designer and why you are going to stay calm when everyone else is upset.

What Italy changed about my design aesthetic

So back to what I was saying before about finding all the inspiration while traveling in Italy, and figuring out that my design aesthetic might be evolving a bit.

I touched on earlier that I love the greenery. I love the fact that they're really bringing the plants and the foliage inside and spilling over to the outside. So that is one thing.

The other thing that I can appreciate, and a lot more so now, is this relaxed design vibe. This relaxed interiors with vintage plates, with a table setting that feels like it could be in the middle of a garden. Natural materials.

Now, I will never let go of my metallics, because metallics, I love metallics, are a part of my design style. But I can say that I want to soften what I'm doing a bit and really sort of bring in the feeling and the emotions that I have found while traveling in Italy and visiting quaint restaurants, visiting quaint home stores, and bring that feeling into my designs.

Because we can design the most beautiful room, if it doesn't have the feeling and the connectivity with your client, and first of all with yourself when you're designing it, then it is not going to be a winning situation for anyone.

Okay. So with all of that, I'm going to sign off from Italy, and I'm going to let all of this and more soak into me while I am flying home, and after I get home, and then I will finish the rest of this podcast episode when I'm sitting at home in front of my computer microphone.

Because I think there's going to be a lot more revelations that I have. Because I can tell you this: when you go into something without making plans, without thinking that you have to come to some sort of conclusion with it, the conclusions come to you automatically.

And that has really been a wonderful lesson this entire time. Is that I wake up every day with a new thought, a new feeling, a new design idea, a new direction of my business, a new direction in life. And that is when you just let these feelings and these experiences marinate with you. And then you suddenly wake up and you suddenly have an eye-opening aha moment that, wow, okay, that is how I can bring this into my life and my business.

And you always hear me say my life and my business, because those two things are intertwined. And the moment we try to separate our business from our life, and our life from our business, when we are a business owner, it is never a good formula.

So remember that formula. And it's very simple. If you do something in your business, remember that it's going to affect your life. And if you do something in your life, more than likely it's going to affect your business. And ask yourself, are any of those situations worth it to me, and should I even care? Consider those, because they're going to have an impact on everything that I do in every realm.

Okay. Signing off from Milan, and I will see you back in the States for the remainder of this podcast.

The close

Okay, everybody. I hope you enjoyed this episode. I won't talk too much anymore, but I do hope that you could glean some insights from my experiences on this trip.

And again, just to remind you that inspiration can come from anywhere. And I hope that you do find the time to bring back moments of beauty, to bring back moments of creativity, to really allow your creativity to flow.

If you're 10 years in business, 15 years in business, look back at the beginning and ask yourself why you even got into this business to begin with. And it is likely because you love the creative parts of what you do.

And if you're missing that now, if you're getting overwhelmed with business, and if you're getting overwhelmed with running operational sides of things, there are ways to manage that. You know, I can help you with that. I have lots of courses, I have coaching opportunities.

But my point is this. Don't forget the fact that your business is built on your specific and your very unique artistic genius and intellectual property. And I never want you to ever turn that into a commodity.

All right, thank you for listening. Thanks for going with me on this short trip through Italy. Let me know your thoughts on this. If it meant something to you, share this episode with a friend.

And if you have not yet, I would love it if you would hit the automatic download button on the podcast platform that you're listening on. It helps other people find it. And if you're so inclined, I would love for you to go and leave a review also on the podcast platform that you listen to.

So thank you guys so much for listening. And remember, to make big changes on the outside, sometimes you have to look within.

I'm John McClain. I'll see you next time, friends.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of The McClain Method Podcast. I'm so grateful you made it all the way to the end, because that tells me that you're ready to do the work that truly transforms your brand, your business, and your life.

If you want more tools, trainings, and behind-the-scenes looks at what I'm building next, head over to mcclainmethod.com. And don't forget to follow along on Instagram @themcclainmethod for even more drops of brilliance.

And remember, my friend, your brilliance is your brand. Don't dim it, design it.

I'll see you next time.