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Peter hello and welcome

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to another episode of the traveling introvert with our career

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conversation segment that we do once a month.

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I am really excited to speak to this

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following human because they popped up in my feed. I have

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a I have a feed where I stalk other introverts and

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I sent out a message on their web sibing like, yo, you

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don't know me, but can you come on my podcast? And the said

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yes. So I am now going to pass it over

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to today's guest. Duval, how are we

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doing? Yay. Hello, I'm well.

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Thank you so much for having me on. My name is Duvall.

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I am a residential interior designer in Fairfax, Virginia,

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based just outside of Washington, DC. And I am an

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introvert. Well, that's my first question out the window.

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Now I'm going to be scrambling. What does introversion mean to you when you

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say you are an introvert? Yeah,

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obviously I think the main definition that most people know is that just we get

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our energy by being with ourselves and by ourselves

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and so where others can relatively drain

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you out of your energy. I think for me, introversion is really just

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I find my peace and my calm being

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centered within myself and with myself. I think that's what my

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introversion looks like. All right, thank you.

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Interesting that you said you think most people know that introversion

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is this, but if you look up the Cambridge dictionary, there's a whole other

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definition there that is not that. Really?

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Yeah, I've got a personal vendetta against the Cambridge dictionary. It's been

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ongoing for years. It's updated slightly and then I went and looked

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and I was like, no, why are you still doing this? But it's one

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of the reasons why people feel the way they do about introversion is because there's

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a lot of outside stuff that says things

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that might not be correct.

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I know, right. So with that in mind

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and you said it's being with yourself, from

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what I'm gathering, it's also knowing yourself and what you can do. Is

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there something that you do regularly that has improved

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your business?

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Yeah, I mean, there's a number of things I do in regards

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to my introversion. I do have set times in my

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schedule that I'm by myself. So I am married for about five years

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now and we have a little dog and I

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love my wife and I love my dog, but there are times

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in our schedule that several hours out of the week is just for me

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and so that's just for me to recenter. I just need space by

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myself. I don't need anyone needing anything from me. So

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that's definitely really big. And even my wife, she's very good about

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like, hey, you need your time alone because I can get irritable.

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Also, I time block my schedule pretty well, so I'm

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a very big person on time blocking, so that my time. I feel like

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I have control over it because I think also, again, as an introvert, when you

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have too much spontaneity, and I think that can be draining for me. I can't

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have too much of just like, anything goes and we go anywhere and do

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anything. Even though I seem like a fun person, I'm not really a spontaneous

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person, so I think I do that a lot. Yeah. And it helps. It helps

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my business. Okay. I want to go in two different directions. One,

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you mentioned you have a partner, and so

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how did you communicate with them, your needs as

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an introvert? I was like, I need to be

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left alone. I love you, but I need you to leave me

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alone. That's pretty much what happened.

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And then, of course, we have therapy.

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We don't have one now, but we've been through a lot of therapy. Just

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because I'm a person who I don't feel like I feel like I need

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help expressing kind of what I need just within

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myself, for myself and with someone else. Right.

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And I think that I read as an

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extrovert, so I think it looks contradictory when

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it seems like I want to be left alone. But the if you put me

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around people, like, I seem very lively and social, but then by ourselves, I seem

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like I don't want to be social. So that was a long we had to

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learn how to communicate my

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actions, basically. I don't know if that makes any sense. It does.

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And so many more people should do therapy

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just to do therapy because everyone

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needs it. We're not born and we don't automatically know all the things, and then

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we meet different people, and different people communicate differently or not.

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We all have stuff and things. So yes, do that.

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And really quick. She communicates very differently where she

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is an identical twin, and she has always had

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someone. So she's from birth to when we got married, she was always with her

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twin. I know. And then we got married late in life. So for

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35 years, she was

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with someone sharing space, always having space. So then putting

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that with someone who's a massive introvert,

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it was a very tricky conversations we were having.

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Yeah. You all can't see my face, but I'm doing the shocked Pikachu. Oh, no.

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That's that you all should see her face. Oh, no.

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Okay. And then the other part of that was you mentioned time

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blocking. Did you always do time blocking? Or how did you figure

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out that that was the method that would work for you and your business?

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Yeah, I didn't always time block. I knew

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I was always pretty good about my schedule, so if I have events or

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things to go to, that was always pretty good to be in my

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calendar because I don't like to miss things. I like to be on time, I

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like to be early where I can, and I'm very good about commitments. If I

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say I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it, like, no questions asked.

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And then as work got busier and the I think the demand

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on our brand was getting bigger, and it still

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is. Time blocking makes sure it helps me make sure that I'm

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not forgetting to do work that I've already committed to, but it

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also acts as a protection. I can just put time in the office, and

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if someone asks me something and I don't want to do it, I'll just be

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like, actually, it's not available. I don't have capacity that day to do

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it. So I think that also kind of protects me just from,

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again, my own space and the need to recharge.

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So it's been super helpful. And so

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with running your own business, do you have colleagues?

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Yes, my team consists of it's five of

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us, and then her team is now two of them, and

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then we have three ancillary team members

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that come in and out of the business, kind of like as an

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independent contractor. So it's a total of was it

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310, maybe ten of us, 1011, something like that.

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And so with the amount of people that you have on

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your team, how do you go about setting boundaries

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with them and their needs?

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Good, thoughtful questions. Look at you just being awesome.

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Well, my team knows how I am, so at this point, they are

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all kind of like, I don't know, I'm pretty good. I don't know, I'm pretty

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good about, like, at my desk, I will wear my headsets so

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that I can just kind of focus, and I don't want to be involved in

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a lot of conversation and then days and weeks

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where I think I'm pretty good

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about just setting my boundaries. Right. If I'm feeling

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overwhelmed, I will work from home so that I'm not bothering and I'm

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not disrupting someone else's good space. Right.

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And then when we have to socialize a lot for our job, so whether we

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travel for work or we're having to do events for like a week or so,

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I usually will take the next week, and I'll work from home

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just to kind of have my own space. So I think everybody kind of reads

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me pretty well, but I think for the most part, most of the

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team well, half the team is probably introverts.

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Okay. And so when you're onboarding, when people don't know you, how do

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you express what the culture is like in

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your organization? Yeah, I talk to them

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about culture a lot, actually. Culture is very big for me. I'm very crazy about

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my culture because I want everyone to want to come to work.

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So we cultivate that very heavily. And as far as, like, introversion goes, as

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far as that, I do kind of let them know up front, I'm like,

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okay, I seem very social and I'm very personable, but

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I'm not a really social person, so don't misread it. And sometimes

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I think my facial expressions, because I might be deep in thought, will

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look more concerning than I am. So I always try to prep client new

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people, just like, hey, just don't worry about my face. Anything you need, I'm here

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for you. And then I think over time, just being around me,

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I think people can see the dichotomy, I would say,

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of my brand and what we offer

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clients versus how I manage my time in the office.

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So, yeah, that brings us on to clients. How do clients handle the

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boundaries that you may put up for them?

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All of our clients are pretty good, but also we have a pretty good onboarding

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system, and I'm pretty good about

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managing their expectations. So most clients just kind of read us as

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extroverts, but they would think nothing different, and we don't have any reason to not

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tell them otherwise. And then our system is set so that our

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customer interface for an entire project can be

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as little as five interactions, which is how I

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structure the business to

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minimizing and draining me. I know she's laughing at me

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and giving happy hands. Happy hands, happy hands.

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No, you can relate. I'm sure you can relate. I'm sure other listeners can

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relate. I used to have a lot of touch points with clients,

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a lot of interaction. And after realizing this is my

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business and that's not something that gives me life, it drains me.

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We've set our business up. We have touch points, and in each one of the

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touch points, I have my team members all

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with me almost on every visit so that I always have an escape.

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And my team also knows I sound crazy. The more I talk about this,

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I think they get it. The can start seeing my facial expressions. Hey,

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we need to get me out. And it's not because I can't manage it, but

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it's also because running a business and we're everywhere all

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the time, I have to reserve energy,

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and so I can't just give it all at every moment. I have to

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be strategic with it. And I think that's another thing. Probably most

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people can relate. Like, every day, I start out with a certain level, and I

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try to give as much as I can throughout the day strategically.

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And the when I'm out, I'm out. I don't tell

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you that's it. And so with your business and your

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career and the brand that you're building, can you tell me one or two misconceptions

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that people might have about it?

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Oh, yeah, we have a ton of misconceptions. My business

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is we do interior architecture and design. And I

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think most people, when the think about interior designers, it's just like, oh, pillows

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and fabric and window treatments, and that is exactly what we do.

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That's not uncommon, and that's what we do. But I also

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tell people, like, for us and many other designers, we do full new builds. We

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work with developers and architects. And what that means is, any

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house that you walk in, someone had to make decisions for everything in that house,

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and that's what we do. So your floor color, your window treatments, the trim

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details, your crown molding, your lighting, your window

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framework, the cabinets, the knobs, the tile work. Where did

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it start? Where did it stop? What color is the grout? How tall is the

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tile? I think a lot of people think builders do that, and I think they

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think the contractors are doing that. And that's actually not true. That's what designers do.

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Like, we make every selection where your lighting is placed, how high the lighting

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is placed, the color of your light bulbs, and then we also

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come back in with furnishing. So we're doing area rugs, sofas, and

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chairs. But I think people don't realize how holistic our work

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is. That's a big misconception.

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Can I give you one more? Can I give you one more? I think another

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misconception is that we do this as a hobby, which there are some

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decorators who do. And so I've had a

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lot of people well, not as so much now, because we're much more

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established, but starting your career, they're like, oh, my God, you should help me with

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my house. Oh, my God. Come over here. I don't do this for

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fun. I do this and I get paid for it. So

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it's a very different thing. Yes.

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Don't get trapped on the friends and family train where you're doing everything at a

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discount and the yeah, don't do it.

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Correct me if I'm wrong. Does this mean you deal with commercial properties

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or residential properties or a mixture? Correct.

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So we mostly stick with residential, and we can do what we call

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light commercial. So if it's just FFE, fabric finishes,

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and we will do that. Like, I can put in chairs

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and change the walls and colors and flooring, but when it

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comes to construction of a commercial building, I'm less likely to

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try that. But inside of a home, I can move anything in the house. I

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can turn your whole house any

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kind of way. We rip out the kitchen, stairwells, flooring, all of your

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lighting, all of your plumbing, and we can put everything back.

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Wow. That is awesome. And so

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with the business and the misconceptions,

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one of those misconceptions probably is the type of people or the amount of

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people that you have to deal with, many people, because they might assume what you

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mentioned, that it's just like pillows and floors, but you only deal with one

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person. I'm assuming from what you've said

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that that is not the case. So how do you deal with networking

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for your business and needing to meet different people for different things in different

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ways? That's fantastic question.

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Now that we're a team, I can actually delegate our work. And

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so we have a lot of touch points with a lot of people.

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So just putting together, let's just say a

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sofa that alone has several touch points, because

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as designers, we don't just buy off the floor. So I'm not going to

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creighton barrel and buying a sofa. I'm actually going to the

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manufacturer. We're buying the frame. We'll buy the fabric from a different

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vendor. I'll buy trim work from a different vendor. That has to go to one

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location for the sofa to be assembled. Then that has to be

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shipped to a carrier, who will take it to a receiver, who then delivers to

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us. There are a lot of touch points just for one piece of furniture that

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doesn't include, like, your tile work and your contractors and then your lighting

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people and your HVA specialists. So one, if you can

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delegate, I have different team members working on different things. So I have one team

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member. She's a purchasing agent, so she manages all of our

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accounts. So all of the conversations with where we buy materials, she handles that

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for me. And then we have our project coordinator who kind of navigates, and then

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our design whatever design team. And then as far

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as with just conversations, I tried to

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minimize again, how many wait,

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was this a part of the question? I feel like I just lost the rest

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of that question. How do you build your network?

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Because you have to deal with so many different humans. Sorry about that.

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Okay. I was rambling my

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network. Yeah,

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it's a great question. I'm drained by the

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question. Good Lord. Okay, so I am very good at networking.

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That is something that I have put a lot of time into. I'm

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extremely strategic about that. I'm not a

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haphazard kind of person. And I've

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learned that networking has built my company. It has sustained

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my company. It is what's growing my company. So in doing

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that, I do try to minimize how much

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massive interaction I have to have for networking through the week. So I may do

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one or two events or one or two touch points of something like that to

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kind of make sure that I come in with enough energy.

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I also am pretty good about follow ups, staying on top of things

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and in building my networks with people, just

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staying on the forefront of people's minds, or just kind of

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making sure they had a good experience with me, even if they don't remember what

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I said. How did I make them feel and how do they feel around me?

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That's very important to me. I guess that's one of the ways I

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navigate, I guess, networking. So follow up question. You

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mentioned about being good at follow up, and a lot of times I get

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clients who are very much like, I don't want to network because then how do

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I follow up? How do I keep in touch, how do I keep track and

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then get overwhelmed and then don't want to do it? So how do you

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keep track? Yeah, I get that. I learned

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that some of the follow up doesn't have to be as big as I think,

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because sometimes it is one of those things that

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you can feel like, oh, God, here's another relationship that I have to cultivate for

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a long time. I don't have the capacity to manage this. I very much

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understand that. So moving conversations to emails is very

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good so that it kind of gives you that space. It doesn't feel like a

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phone call. I'm also very good about sending small gifts, so

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like a little thing to an office, whether it's chocolates or

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wine bottle or florals arrangements, I think that's always a way

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to show people that you're thinking about them without feeling like there has to be

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an additional follow up conversation that's been good.

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Yeah, I think those are some ways. Oh, man. Gifts and

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cards, if you have that information.

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All right. So

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thinking about everything that you've done with

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your brand and your career and your business, what

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is something that you would tell or what is something

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that you wish you had known and would have taken action on

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ten years ago?

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Ten years ago, business wise, right? Yeah.

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Ten years ago. Well, one, I didn't have my business at that time. I would

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have told myself to start sooner. I wish I had started sooner because I feel

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like I would be further along. I think in my business, my

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brand, I think we're doing well for where we are.

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For the few years that we've been in business, I think we've gained a lot

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of traction. Very grateful to that whole

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situation. But I wish I had started sooner. And then in

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starting the business, learning to

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create systems and processes that navigate

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the business is so vital

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because it can protect our personal energy, it can protect our

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capacity to manage relationships

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and the process of our business at whole.

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I think that's something that a lot of people don't talk enough about, is when

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you have your own business, you need to know how the business is run

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and how you want it to run and set systems in place to. Make

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sure it does to support that. Or you can't scale.

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Or you can't scale. That's right. You can't get any bigger, can't take on more

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clients. There's only so much energy you have. Very true. Thank you for all of

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that. Final question is, in your

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opinion, is a hot dog a sandwich?

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First off, the fact that you are so serious about that

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question, I love it. Secondly, before I

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answer, hot dogs are my favorite food. Actually,

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I love hot dogs. And then third, I've

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never thought about that. And I'm going to go

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with yes, it is a sandwich. It's a sandwich. What is your

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reasoning behind hot dogs being a sandwich?

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Now you have me second guessing. I don't know.

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I'm going to stick with I will go with no. Okay. It's not a

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sandwich. I love

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it. Okay. That's a great question. Yeah,

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because you get engineers who are very much it's about the structure and how many

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pieces of bread. It's one of those questions that, depending on how your mind works,

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depends on where you filter into what you think about it.

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Yeah. It does have the same applications. There is

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bread surrounding meat, and there are additional condiments and

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vegetables attached to it either way, so sounds like a sandwich

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to me. Wait, how do you wait,

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what's your answer? Oh, no, I do not have an answer. This is an ongoing

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question in our household, that is a thing. And if

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you pick a side, then all bets are off.

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Got it. Well, if you view it this way but then if you view it

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this way, is an ice cream sandwich or sandwich? It's a very slippery

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slope. It's a very slow okay. Does it

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have to be bread? Does it have to be vegetable? Does it have to be

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meat? It's a Calzona sandwich.

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I'm literally going to go back into the office, and I will ask my team

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this. It's a great conversation thing. I used to do a lot of

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online sort of co working

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back in the day, and it was supposed to be a five minute break, and

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that question would break everything every time. People just keep messaging

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in the chat about it. So it's a great I love that.

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So thank you so very much for sharing your time, your expertise, your

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knowledge, your warmth with us here today. Can you let

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people know where they can find more about you and the

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awesome work that you do? You are very kind.

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Instagram is usually where you guys can find us. The handle is

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Duvalldesign, LLC. That's

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D-U-V-A-L-D-E-S-I-G-N

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ll c. Everything is there that we have our website,

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Duvallrenals.com, which is my personal last name. Yeah, we

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would love to connect. All right. Thank you so very much.

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And, listeners, you can do anything that you

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want to do. Just manage your energy. Thank you for listening. This is

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Janice@thecareintrovert.com helping you build your brand and get hired. Have

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a great rest of your day.