Annabelle Mastalic went from trained nurse to interior designer in pursuit of her passions

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[00:00] SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Countless Podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_00: Hello, I'm Mario Tonogusi and this is Calgary's podcast on Canada's podcast network.
[00:11] SPEAKER_00: Joining me today is Annabelle Mastalek, who is founder and principal of ADM interiors
[00:17] SPEAKER_00: in Calgary.
[00:18] SPEAKER_00: Thanks Annabelle for joining us today.
[00:21] SPEAKER_01: So, having me, Mario.
[00:23] SPEAKER_00: Well, let me just start by asking you just a little bit about ADM interiors, what it
[00:28] SPEAKER_00: is and what you do.
[00:29] SPEAKER_01: Sure.
[00:30] SPEAKER_01: So, my company is an interior design from here in Calgary and we specialize in residential
[00:37] SPEAKER_01: projects and we focus on anything from renovations to bills to decorating projects.
[00:46] SPEAKER_00: Okay, and when did you start?
[00:48] SPEAKER_01: I started my business in May of 2019, so two and a half years into business.
[00:54] SPEAKER_00: Okay.
[00:54] SPEAKER_00: And just curious, what is ADM stand for?
[00:58] SPEAKER_01: That's my name.
[00:59] SPEAKER_01: So, the initials of my name.
[01:01] SPEAKER_00: Your middle name.
[01:03] SPEAKER_01: A bath actually goes off of my name, which is Degouzman.
[01:07] SPEAKER_00: Okay.
[01:08] SPEAKER_00: All right, super.
[01:10] SPEAKER_00: Tell me a little bit about the history behind setting up the company.
[01:15] SPEAKER_00: Like, what's your background and why did you want to go into this field, I guess?
[01:23] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so my background, you know, my first career started in the healthcare industry.
[01:28] SPEAKER_01: So, I nursed for quite a long time, 17 years before coming into the design business.
[01:36] SPEAKER_01: And, you know, it started with my own renovation at home and we have renovated our entire home.
[01:45] SPEAKER_01: That was so, probably about 10 years ago now.
[01:49] SPEAKER_01: And then we outrew that home and built our home that we're currently in now.
[01:54] SPEAKER_01: So, that was kind of the impetus to look into this a little bit more.
[02:00] SPEAKER_01: I always had this passion for interior design and really loved that process of building our home and thought, I'm going to explore this more.
[02:11] SPEAKER_01: So, I went back to school while I was still nursing and loved it and ended up getting a job with one of my interior design props at the university.
[02:23] SPEAKER_01: So, that kind of started all of this.
[02:25] SPEAKER_01: I got a job with her and it just turned out fantastic.
[02:30] SPEAKER_01: I loved the experience left nursing, worked with her for a little bit and then got some experience with another design firm and then went off on my own after that.
[02:40] SPEAKER_01: So, that's kind of the background, how I got started and how I fell into this curious, what kind of nursing did you do?
[02:48] SPEAKER_01: Well, I did a whole gamut started out in medicine and then moved my way into surgery where the bulk of my my profession was focused in.
[02:59] SPEAKER_01: So, that was in the operating room and then did the last five years of my nursing career in research with one of the neurosurgeons here in Calgary.
[03:08] SPEAKER_00: So, I'm curious about this.
[03:11] SPEAKER_00: What the nursing career, what do you think you learn from that career that is helping you in the current business?
[03:21] SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, I think the principle of how I do my business now with promoting health and preventing injury and illness has spilled over.
[03:31] SPEAKER_01: You know, it kind of gives more meaning to what I do now and not how I create my designs and how I design my spaces always has a focus on how is this impacting my clients of health?
[03:46] SPEAKER_01: How is it going to optimize their help later down the road say 10 or 15 years when maybe their lifestyle changes and their needs changes.
[03:57] SPEAKER_01: So, there's a lot of, you know, team collaboration is another thing. So, my nursing background I collaborated with a lot of different disciplines docs occupational therapist, respiratory therapist was very collaborative.
[04:10] SPEAKER_01: And in this industry where we're collaborating with contractors and builders and trades, you know, there's a lot of collaboration that happens there.
[04:19] SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, I'm kind of focusing this now on I love to open the conversation up in industry as far as, you know, how can we design homes better in today's environment so that they are serving our clients and homeowners well in the future.
[04:36] SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you about the industry itself like, you know, why is it interior design? Why has that become more popular today?
[04:45] SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know, 10 years ago, maybe 20 years ago, nobody really thought about this, you know, you had a home and that was the home, right?
[04:55] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[04:56] SPEAKER_00: Why has that changed do you think that?
[04:58] SPEAKER_01: Well, I think it's especially in this last year with with COVID, everybody's home now more often and my business in the last year in 2021 has been super busy.
[05:11] SPEAKER_01: You know, everybody is staying put so the investment that would have been, you know, put into travel say is now kind of in the home.
[05:20] SPEAKER_01: People don't want to buy, you know, part of the reason for that also is the economy.
[05:25] SPEAKER_01: And so why not renovate the home that you're already in and make it useful for you so that it lasts longer for you.
[05:31] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
[05:32] SPEAKER_00: And a lot of them are a lot of people obviously working from home either offices are now from home and, you know, they they come to the realization that oh man, you know, my home's not equipped or not set up properly to do this.
[05:49] SPEAKER_00: And especially if this is the reality going forward for many people, right?
[05:53] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, I think the biggest thing that's kind of coming out as we're coming to and then here in 2021 is the adaptability factor in homes, you know, like you said, people are at home.
[06:06] SPEAKER_01: There's also clients that have their parents moving in with them.
[06:10] SPEAKER_01: So you're seeing multi generational housing and needing to, you know, make space for parents that they're taking care of.
[06:19] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so, you know, I have seen a lot of renovations in this past year with people wanting to expand to make space for offices or to make space for incoming parents.
[06:31] SPEAKER_01: Just more people in the home.
[06:33] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
[06:34] SPEAKER_00: I'm going to switch gears a little bit talk a little bit about being an entrepreneur.
[06:39] SPEAKER_00: What was the, who was the biggest challenge that you faced in setting up your own business?
[06:46] SPEAKER_01: Well, with a background in healthcare and all of a sudden coming into business, you know, I think the biggest challenge there was the mindset shift that, you know, I came from a career of serving patients to now trying to figure out a business model I'm serving clients from a business perspective and trying to navigate that world.
[07:08] SPEAKER_01: And what comes with all of that. So there was a lot of, you know, business coaching that happened in that timeframe to kind of get my head wrapped around what does the business model look like and how is that going to carry you forward with the skill set that I have and the new skill set that I think.
[07:26] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, when, when you look at being an entrepreneur, what are the kind of things that you like about being an entrepreneur, what are some of the positives for you on that side of things?
[07:42] SPEAKER_01: Well, definitely the flexibility, you know, it gives me some flexibility is posed to, you know, again, I come from doing shift work where you're on from 730 to 330.
[07:52] SPEAKER_01: Where is this, you know, I mean, it has its pros and cons. You're, you know, being a business owner, as we all know, you could be working all hours.
[07:59] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[08:00] SPEAKER_01: And there is no break, right, which I've found in the first year of business.
[08:04] SPEAKER_01: And now, you know, it's getting better.
[08:07] SPEAKER_01: But I can schedule, you know, when I want those projects to happen versus, you know, something that's continuous and I don't have to look it out.
[08:17] SPEAKER_01: So definitely more control, more flexibility, a little bit more freedom. That way that kind of comes along with that.
[08:24] SPEAKER_00: Now, when you were setting things up and even to this day, do you recall any specific advice you were given by anybody about being an entrepreneur that's helped you or anything you're read that's really helped you in this journey.
[08:43] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, and I've read quite a few books and one that stands out for me would be, it's called Deep Work by Cal Newport.
[08:53] SPEAKER_01: Are you familiar with that author?
[08:55] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[08:56] SPEAKER_01: Yeah. So he's a fantastic author and he writes very much about, you know, getting rid of the distraction.
[09:04] SPEAKER_01: And we all know in today's world with technology so readily available to us that, you know, to really have some clarity in the direction that you want to go in your business.
[09:14] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, really focus in on that.
[09:16] SPEAKER_01: And, you know, don't worry about what everybody else is doing. You stay in your own lane.
[09:20] SPEAKER_01: You know, have the end goal in mind and just just stay in your lane, you know, and you are where you are.
[09:27] SPEAKER_01: Because that's where you're meant to be at the time.
[09:30] SPEAKER_00: When you look at like being an entrepreneur, I think it's for everybody, right, there's two elements of it, right, is that the, the things that you do, right, you know, so you're an interior designer, but there's also the business side of things.
[09:45] SPEAKER_00: How do you juggle both of them, right, because you really do need to spend time in both, right, that to be successful.
[09:51] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, there's that saying that it's for interior design that 80% of it is business and 20% of it is design, you know, and it is so true, because in this world, you know, and when you go to school, you don't get taught that business stuff in interior design school.
[10:10] SPEAKER_01: You don't, you kind of learn it as you go and how do you marry the two, it's just kind of learning as you go and tweaking and refining your processes as you go along.
[10:23] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's always an educational journey along the way, right, then it is learned by experience, right, yeah, and having a mentor, you know, like I said, I had my interior design prof hired me on and to this day she is still a mentor for me so often.
[10:40] SPEAKER_01: And you know, she's got years of experience behind her with her business that she's a great resource for me to go back to ask questions and because of her experience, she guides me.
[10:51] SPEAKER_00: So what do you do, you know, obviously, as we said, you know, being an entrepreneur takes a lot of time, but could take 24 hours a day, the seven days a week really for people, what do you do to take a break from it, and how do you do that.
[11:09] SPEAKER_01: Well, I've got two kids to girls that are 9 and 11 and so they keep me pretty busy outside of work, so they are really involved in sports, my husband coaches their soccer team and so I'm often driving them around to soccer.
[11:26] SPEAKER_01: So, you know, my kids keep me busy, we also get away to the mountains whenever we can, so we love to do outdoor stuff for hiking, biking, skiing, you name it, we're very outdoorsy people, and that's a good kind of refreshed just kind of get away from things.
[11:41] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're dead, you know, it's interesting you mentioned some of the activity stuff, you know, it's just having conversation with another entrepreneur the other day and you know, she talked a lot about going outdoors and how.
[11:55] SPEAKER_00: Even like for walks outside that ideas come come to her like where do your ideas come from.
[12:03] SPEAKER_01: Definitely nature. Yeah, so yeah, you do go out on a walk and I actually do try to make a conscious effort if I if my time allows bird in the day is you know at lunchtime I will go outside for a walk just to kind of get some fresh air.
[12:18] SPEAKER_01: And I'll see things whether it be like the texture or pattern and something by the lake or you know something that I'm just seeing outside in the trees it's inspiration for me so I pick up on those colors I pick up on those textures and then I can translate that into something and create something.
[12:38] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so are you from Calgary?
[12:41] SPEAKER_00: Yes, born and raised.
[12:42] SPEAKER_00: Oh, well, yeah, I know I get that a lot.
[12:48] SPEAKER_00: So you've obviously seen how the city has evolved over the years, you know, a million plus now, whatever it is, 1.2 million plus.
[13:01] SPEAKER_00: What is it about doing business in Calgary that you like? Is it, do you think it's any different than anywhere else?
[13:09] SPEAKER_01: Well, I've never done business anywhere else or lived anywhere else has always been Calgary so I guess it's kind of part to compare that but what I love about Calgary and the community here is that our community and the design and build industry.
[13:28] SPEAKER_01: You know, we're very tight knit group and some of the groups that I belong to here is another business design groups were very open and sharing ideas and collaborating with one another, you know, everybody's always talking about, you know, lessons that they've learned in their business and sharing that information so you know it's great and the people here like to do business here as far as my clients go.
[13:56] SPEAKER_01: It's good news here, you know, they're looking for unique stuff, you know, you know, like I would say, like if I was comparing design in Toronto and Vancouver Toronto is definitely more forward thinking that way.
[14:13] SPEAKER_01: Calgary catches up all the time I find with some of the stuff that happens more out east, but Calgary is open to change.
[14:20] SPEAKER_01: I like different stuff, creative things.
[14:22] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay, just going to backtrack a little bit, I want to go back to your nursing career, what, what was the appeal or attractions to get into that career initially?
[14:35] SPEAKER_01: I love sciences when I finished high school and my mom was a nurse so you know that also to kind of plays a role there.
[14:46] SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I went into nursing right after finished high school and got my degree at UC.
[14:52] SPEAKER_00: Was there anything else you were thinking of to do as a career?
[14:57] SPEAKER_01: Architecture actually, yeah, I had always actually had that kind of in the back of my mind and I guess because my mom was a nurse and I come from a family of nurses that just kind of natural progression in my world.
[15:10] SPEAKER_00: Okay, can I ask you a couple personal questions? What's your favorite drink?
[15:16] SPEAKER_01: Oh, Moscow Mule.
[15:21] SPEAKER_00: Okay, favorite food.
[15:23] SPEAKER_00: Favorite food sushi.
[15:25] SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay. Any, kind?
[15:28] SPEAKER_00: All of it.
[15:29] SPEAKER_00: I love all of sushi.
[15:31] SPEAKER_00: Me too.
[15:32] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm Korean. I would have to say I love Korean food too.
[15:35] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, those barbecue ribs.
[15:37] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're like having.
[15:41] SPEAKER_00: What about a movie? Like what's your favorite movie?
[15:46] SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's a tough one because I love movies.
[15:53] SPEAKER_01: You know, the Avengers movie, that last one and game. I did like that movie.
[16:01] SPEAKER_00: Okay, and I know you mentioned the book earlier, but do you have a favorite book?
[16:07] SPEAKER_01: I just finished reading Robin Sharma's the 5 a.m. club.
[16:11] SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
[16:12] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's a Canadian author and I just finished it is fantastic and actually I'm in any business owner out there.
[16:19] SPEAKER_00: Do you get up?
[16:20] SPEAKER_01: Do you?
[16:21] SPEAKER_01: I do get up at 5 a.m.
[16:23] SPEAKER_01: I do get up.
[16:25] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's game changer for me to be able to get up at 5 and really?
[16:30] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I get my exercise in at 5 a.m.
[16:34] SPEAKER_01: And do a little bit of, you know, just short meditation before I start my day.
[16:40] SPEAKER_01: And it just gets my day up the right start.
[16:42] SPEAKER_00: No, it's interesting to say that because years ago, I remember I've never always been an early riser, even though.
[16:49] SPEAKER_00: My hours in the media industry have like fluctuated up and down over the years, right?
[16:56] SPEAKER_00: But when I had settled into sort of regular hours, that was the same way.
[17:01] SPEAKER_00: I was out 5 a.m.
[17:04] SPEAKER_00: And I usually would go out for a walk and I just.
[17:08] SPEAKER_00: I have always found like how deathly quiet it is.
[17:12] SPEAKER_00: Oh, I love it.
[17:19] SPEAKER_00: I do that now, but I still get up at 5 and I find that period of time.
[17:23] SPEAKER_00: Again, like so peaceful and quiet.
[17:26] SPEAKER_00: I have to smart enough because I, you know, what do you do immediately?
[17:31] SPEAKER_00: I do, I wake up, get on the phone or get on the computer, right?
[17:35] SPEAKER_00: And I have to kind of retrain my brain, I think, and into doing stuff like other stuff, like whether it's a
[17:49] SPEAKER_00: but yeah, it is a, it is an interesting period of time.
[17:53] SPEAKER_01: It is.
[17:54] SPEAKER_01: No, my best mornings are, you know, now it's, it's a bit too dark to do that now, but in the summer, I love getting up at 5 and going for my run and the sun's just coming up.
[18:05] SPEAKER_01: Nobody's out.
[18:06] SPEAKER_01: It's the best part of my day.
[18:09] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[18:11] SPEAKER_00: Funny how, how is that how still everything is like and there's hardly anybody around.
[18:16] SPEAKER_00: There's no hardly any vehicles driving in what's that's a perfect time.
[18:22] SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
[18:23] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so what did you get out of that book?
[18:25] SPEAKER_00: Like what?
[18:27] SPEAKER_01: Balance for sure.
[18:28] SPEAKER_01: Balance, you know, trying to balance out.
[18:32] SPEAKER_01: Personal family life with business and how you can do that effectively and be productive and still feel like.
[18:42] SPEAKER_01: You're safe.
[18:43] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know.
[18:45] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[18:46] SPEAKER_00: Okay, then.
[18:47] SPEAKER_00: And what about vacation place?
[18:49] SPEAKER_00: I have a favorite vacation spot.
[18:52] SPEAKER_01: We haven't been able to go to Hawaii.
[18:55] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, COVID, but we do like to go to Maui.
[18:59] SPEAKER_01: But locally, we do go out to a place in BC, a cap and just out in the mountains just right before.
[19:08] SPEAKER_01: And we go there every Christmas and we cross country skater.
[19:12] SPEAKER_01: So that's.
[19:14] SPEAKER_01: Yep.
[19:14] SPEAKER_01: Favorite place of ours for sure.
[19:16] SPEAKER_00: Last question I have for you is if you were offering advice to entrepreneurs or would be entrepreneurs.
[19:24] SPEAKER_00: What would you say to them?
[19:27] SPEAKER_01: I would say that, you know, no matter how hard it is at the beginning, stick with it.
[19:34] SPEAKER_01: Stick with it.
[19:35] SPEAKER_01: Get rid of the distractions.
[19:38] SPEAKER_01: Right down on a piece of paper, why you got into it?
[19:41] SPEAKER_01: What is the reason you got into business?
[19:44] SPEAKER_01: Tuck that away somewhere and on those days that you feel like everything's going to explode.
[19:49] SPEAKER_01: Pull it out.
[19:50] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[19:50] SPEAKER_01: And, you know, ground yourself and bring yourself back to why you're doing this in the first place.
[19:54] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[19:55] SPEAKER_01: And you do that.
[19:55] SPEAKER_01: It keeps you grounded and focused.
[19:59] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[19:59] SPEAKER_00: And you know, it's interesting.
[20:00] SPEAKER_00: You say that because you know, I don't know what the statistics are.
[20:04] SPEAKER_00: You know, exactly.
[20:06] SPEAKER_00: But I know having read over the over the years, the number of businesses that close in the first year or whatever.
[20:15] SPEAKER_00: And it's usually because of that, right?
[20:17] SPEAKER_00: It's that, you know, they find the challenge to daunting and they just, they just give up too early, right?
[20:22] SPEAKER_00: And, you know, we all probably heard tons of stories about some people just persevered and over that first hurdle or first challenge.
[20:33] SPEAKER_00: And they're now like mega companies or whatever, right?
[20:37] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[20:37] SPEAKER_01: And if I could just add to that, that, you know, if you find some things or whatever that business journey might be, you know, you've got a really, really dig deep when you start to really figure out what that purpose.
[20:52] SPEAKER_01: And what this is because in those times where it seems hard.
[20:58] SPEAKER_01: Nothing can shake you.
[21:00] SPEAKER_01: Because you've got a deep purpose for why you're doing it.
[21:03] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
[21:05] SPEAKER_01: That's like you said on it, but you know, I think if something that you're really passionate about and something that's really meaningful to you.
[21:15] SPEAKER_01: Even when times are tough, you'll just persevere through it because it means, means a lot to you.
[21:20] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
[21:22] SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you very much, Annabelle, for joining us today.
[21:25] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thanks for having me.
[21:27] SPEAKER_00: All right, super. That was Annabelle, Mastalek, who is founder and principal of ADM interiors.
[21:34] SPEAKER_00: I'm Mario Tonoguzi and this has been Calgary's podcast on Canada's podcast network. Thanks for joining us today.