Interior Options started in 1998 as a decorating company but gradually has added project management services to the mix of paint samples and fabric swatches it shows clients.

Espy's company, now called Momentum Group, can help clients lease, purchase, build, and even equip commercial space. The company generated $1.5 million in revenue last year.

Woven into the business plan are lessons that Espy took away from some of her most trying experiences - a battle with cancer and liquidating a business in bankruptcy court.

Espy spent 15 years with Delta Air Lines, much of the time as a flight attendant. Her career with the airline dated back to the days when the job title was stewardess and women faced mandatory weigh-ins meant to keep them slim and attractive.

She launched a business on the side in 1991. Cary-based As You Like It supplied fixtures, flooring, carpet and interior design services to home builders. The business grew to 22 employees and was handling fixtures and finishes for some 2,500 jobs a year. In 1993, the company added a lighting showroom called Illuminations.

But the venture began sputtering by the mid-1990s. Lean margins, aggressive growth, uncollected bills on the books and a narrow focus that left the company no safety net led to $562,000 in debt for a business with $320,000 in assets, according to court documents. As You Like It declared bankruptcy in February 1997 and was liquidated.

"Bigger definitely doesn't mean better," says Espy in hindsight. She admits to not making good hiring decisions. "I didn't bring on people who were smarter than I was in that field, " she says.

While it was painful for all involved, Espy says the bankruptcy taught her those lessons and to keep a closer eye on the books, tracking numbers daily to assure targets are not being missed.

After the liquidation, she dusted herself off and took a job as a field analyst with George S. May International, a Park Ridge, Ill.-based consulting company. There, she was trained to analyze the finances and operations of small companies and to sniff out weaknesses, says Laszlo Zala, who was Espy's boss at May and remains a sounding board for her business ideas.

Zala says Espy has a knack for making clients feel at ease: "She lights up a room."

In Espy, Zala also sees tenacity and "a passion for being independent at any cost." That drive propelled Espy to found Interior Options in September 1998, about 20 months after As You Like It filed for bankruptcy. "A failure is a person who gets knocked down one time and doesn't get back up," Espy says.

With the new business, she sought a niche that would be steady even in a down economy. "Medical was what I figured out," she says. She had one client, a medical practice, and one employee. Espy forced Interior Options to live off its profits. "The medical aspect grew fast. One doctor tells two friends," she says.

The company had three employees and eight projects under contract in May 2001, when Espy was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 42. She never missed a day of work during her treatment but had to delegate - something she admits having trouble doing even now. "I had to back off," she says. "I just had to have faith."

Her clients, who were mostly doctors and dentists, were supportive. Espy says the business doubled in size during her illness.

In January 2002, the company's name was changed to Momentum Group, which Espy feels better reflects the project management work her employees are doing. Interior design work for clients and the customers of local architects remains a revenue stream, but the company also is helping clients project their break-even points, secure financing and establish vendor relationships. "The last thing I ever want to do is open the door for someone to fail," she says.

Lately, Momentum has been dabbling in medical park development. Espy says lenders prefer to lend money to doctors and dentists to buy rather than lease their offices.

In one instance, Momentum helped four doctors assemble 13 acres in the Harnett County town of Erwin. The land was split into individual lots protected by development covenants.

Espy says the company is in the final stages of negotiating an agreement with Raleigh-based developer Jim Anthony that would make Momentum the construction and project manager for a professional and medical building in the Brier Creek area of northwest Raleigh.

Espy hopes to grow the business to the point that development work is generating half of the company's revenue. She expects revenue to reach $1.75 million this year, and she's mulling expansion into Atlanta or Chicago, but only if she can find the right employees.

"My fear is growing to the point where you're growing out of control," Espy says.