Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Norma and Gaston Galella. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Norma and Gaston , thanks for joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Success doesn’t come without failure, and this is not only true in entrepreneurship, but also in life. We have tried and failed at many different things before founding our Interior Design and Construction firm, and we believe this is what gave us the confidence and inspiration to take the leap and quit the corporate world. However, that’s not all it takes to be successful at growing and maintaining a business. We believe there are 3 main ingredients to entrepreneurship, consistency, perseverance, and loyalty. First, you must provide excellence in whatever it is you do, and to do this it takes consistency and a constant evolution of your processes. Second, you must have patience, businesses don’t grow from one day to the next, it takes hard work, and then some. Lastly, create a very strong brand and storytelling. This is very important as it will help attract the most loyal employees, clients and followers who will in turn help promote your business.

Norma and Gaston , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Since Gaston and I met we knew we could accomplish great things together. We both had big dreams and our skillsets complimented each other from the very beginning. We were a great team! Fast forward to a couple of years ago, we decided it was time to join forces to open our very own interior design and construction firm focused on the high-end Residential market. We had each been honing our individual professional careers for quite some time and we felt the stars were finally aligning. Gaston had gone from skillful carpenter, to successfully running his own millwork installation company, to obtaining his construction management degree and GC license. Meanwhile, I had mastered my career in Interior design as a licensed professional in some of the most prestigious global design firms.
Most importantly, we saw a need, homeowners were struggling with their home projects by having to manage the process and all the people involved to make it happen. So, we realized there was an opportunity to provide a much better experience. We studied the market and found there weren’t many companies offering a fully integrated turnkey service from beginning to end. So Duoma Atelier was born, out of a market need and the inevitable destiny for us to work together to service our clients the best way we could, by providing bespoke design and peace of mind.
Duoma is a multidisciplinary design and construction studio providing peace of mind and convenience with our concierge-level service and turnkey solutions for their interior design project. Even though we have only been fully operational for a few of years, we are proud we have built a strong presence and being recognized by the local community.

Have you ever had to pivot?

We had to pivot from our personal careers to make Duoma Atelier a reality. Gaston, had to switch from owning his own millwork installation company, to becoming a general contractor in the Residential market. And although I had successful career in the corporate world, I always know I wanted more than that, I needed more flexibility to be with my family. So, after seeing how successful Gaston had been with his business, I got inspired to switch pages and start something new. Now at Duoma, we are also constantly pivoting and adapting to find better ways to run our business, and we have a lot of ideas we want to execute. One of them is expanding our business to various branches. We want to expand the business to Millwork fabrication, Duoma Craft, and eventually to furniture and accessories commerce, Duoma Décor.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

The best book recommendation for our business was “The E- Myth” by Michael E. Gerber. It explains why most businesses fail and how important it is to create processes and provide consistency in the product/s or service/s you provide. This book changed the way we viewed a lot of things but most importantly, to let go of the idea we needed to hire the most qualified and experienced individuals to grow the company. Instead, once the processes are in place of course, we just need to worry about hiring like-minded people who believe in what we do and are humble and willing to learn. Another book that has impacted us was introduced to us in our past corporate lives. “Scrum, the art of doing twice the work in half the time” by Jeff Sutherland. It is a ground-breaking project management method that is simple, effective and can be used in any industry or personal project. It is based on daily team communication with short phases of work that allows the team to catch mistakes faster and pivot as needed. We are currently testing this method and so far, so good!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.duomatelier.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/duomatelier/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/duomatelier
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/duomatelier/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@duomatelier

Image Credits
Jeanne Canto