Buddy Buck Show

Buddy Buck (00:00)
All right, Buddy Buck here with Duvall TV and our new segment Community Connect. And we are here with the one and only Mr. Bill Foreman. Bill is the president of the Duvall Chamber of Commerce as of 2026. So congrats, Bill, on that. Welcome.

William L Foreman II (00:14)
Thank you. Thank you. Happy to be here.

Buddy Buck (00:16)
Yeah,

for sure. All right. Well, let's get this kicked off. So this is the first ever episode of Community Connect. So congrats, Bill. This is our first time doing this interview with this new show. And just to kind of give people an idea what this is, I'm going to be doing interviews for business owners, community members, nonprofits, and also students. So really just anybody in Duvall we want to connect, we want to hear your stories, we want to have some conversations, and then we'll put out some social media content ⁓ afterwards from the interview. So

Basically a podcast style like we're gonna do today, And then we'll pull up some, you know, clips and segments from the interview and we'll put those out on social media as well so people can really get to know their neighbors. So with that, we're gonna come right off the top Bill, I got a very serious question for you. You ready? Okay, what is your favorite smell?

William L Foreman II (01:01)
I'm ready, lay it on me.

My favorite smell, I would think, I like the smell of hickory. Yeah, especially, you know, hickory, you know, especially something coming off of a barbecue grill or something like that. raw wood as well. So yeah. Raw wood as well. Like I like woodworking and that sort of thing. So sawdust. I dig that. Yeah.

Buddy Buck (01:10)
Pickery, okay.

Okay, now here's the million dollar, huh? What's that?

That's really cool. Funny

because my niece, I remember you just triggered a memory already. My niece's favorite smell is bark. So we always got a kick out of that for like, okay, you're super weird, but that's awesome. So is there something from like your childhood or like a core memory growing up? why, why those smells? What did those jump out to you when I asked you? Cause you were, you knew exactly what you like.

William L Foreman II (01:49)
I think, you know, I did a little bit of woodworking when I was a child and I enjoyed that. My first project was building my own waterbed. Now that kind of dates me because nobody does waterbeds anymore. But yeah, I think that, I guess there could be some childhood memories there that kind of spurs that. But I also like cooking and barbecuing, that sort of thing. that's, yeah.

Buddy Buck (01:59)
I know water beds.

Very cool. Yeah.

And you might be at a food establishment right now. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Cool.

William L Foreman II (02:18)
I am. I'm at Cory's Cafe. probably

the best breakfast place in Duvall.

Buddy Buck (02:24)
One of

our favorites man. Love, love Cory. Love Cory's Cafe for sure. All right. So we just had the new chamber board get elected, right? So I'm a chamber member. again, you're the you're the president this year, Bill. So kind of tell us a little bit about like, why you wanted to run for president and you know, take such a big role on and congrats on getting voted in you guys just had your retreat here just in the last couple weeks. So what's on the horizon and tell us a little bit about your experience with the chamber so far.

William L Foreman II (02:46)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, thank you so much. Thanks for the welcome. And no, I'm excited. The reason that I joined and ran for the office of the presidency is the, I felt like I could make a difference for Duvall. I think it's important that we attract not only local people to attend our businesses, but also people outside of the immediate community. I think that we can do some things to attract folks from Carnation.

Woodinville and Monroe and some of the surrounding areas and maybe even beyond. know, could leverage magazines like 425 and some of the social media stuff, some of the things that you do.

and I think really make a difference. Essentially make Duvall a destination spot for ⁓ families and for shopping and good food and that sort of thing. I think that the Chamber in the past has done an amazing job in bringing the community together and ⁓ sharing ideas within the business community. I think we might be able to do just a little bit more as far as attracting business to the area and really brag

about all that Duvall has to offer.

Buddy Buck (03:53)
Yeah, for sure. Okay. And then just a little side, side step here. So for people out there that like, you know, they hear the chamber and you know, the chamber of commerce and maybe they've heard these terms, you know, and they're just like, what in the world is the chamber? You know, because I remember getting asked that a few times and you know, just being a part of the chamber, I'm just like, you just kind of think, everybody must know what this is. But for somebody that's just like a community member that might not know a what is the chamber actually do?

Like what are maybe some misconceptions or what does the actual Chamber of Commerce do?

William L Foreman II (04:23)
Yeah, it's interesting. I'm glad you brought that up. And now that I reflect on it, I guess it would be interesting for a person who's not familiar with the chamber to hear that term, right? They might think it's a dungeon or something, right? You're part of the chamber, but that's not it at all. We're all about community, about sharing ideas. The chamber is an opportunity for people in the business community to get together and understand what each other are doing. There's opportunities to partner with one another to help to ensure the success of each other.

Buddy Buck (04:34)
Yeah. ⁓

William L Foreman II (04:51)
to help enable each other to have the tools and technology and even the training that they might need to be successful in whatever they're trying to accomplish. So it's really about a sharing of ideas and collaboration. It's also about being in the know of what's happening with the city of Duvall and working with the mayor's office.

and understanding what's happening with the surrounding communities and how that might impact their business. And so it also gives them an inroad to knowing what's happening ⁓ outside of just their immediate business.

Buddy Buck (05:22)
Right? No, and kind of a follow up on that. So if we're looking at a business specifically in Duvall, what would be like, in your opinion, again, because you I know your history a little bit, you've got a background in business, and know, you've done multiple business models actively right now. And so I think you're a great person to ask this, but what do you think separates somebody from like a very successful business to somebody that just feels like, my gosh, you know, just always struggling, always chasing that next check?

William L Foreman II (05:48)
Thank

Buddy Buck (05:48)
and just kind

of getting by, you know, because being self-employed is very, challenging for its many, many reasons, right? Anyone that's been self-employed knows this. So in your opinion, Bill, what really, what's something obvious or maybe one or two things that really sets people apart from like thriving versus like just that grind of just getting by all the time.

William L Foreman II (06:06)
Sure, yeah, good question. So I think that it's important to have a vision and to set a plan in place to, you know, it's with some goals, some mile markers, milestones, make sure that you've got some actionable targets and some things that are reasonable, know, essentially smart goals. And then also be willing to take a chance. One of my favorite sayings is progress always involves risk. You can't steal second base with your foot on first.

That's by F. Wilcox. And I think that it's important to be able to do, take a chance, to be willing to go out and maybe take a little calculated risks, if you will. You don't want to go crazy with taking chances. You don't want to go gambling or something and say, here's how we're going to make money. But I think that you shouldn't be afraid to go out and make a big splash or

you know, explore different marketing opportunities and leverage people in the business that maybe...

you know, are just as smart or smarter than yourself, people that you can rely upon. Building a network, I think, is imperative. You can't go at it alone. ⁓ Some people think, well, I'm just going to work hard and I'll make this thing happen on my own. And that's not usually the case when it comes to business opportunities. You really have to be able to leverage your business community and make the right hiring decisions. there's a lot of it depends on the type of business that you're running. But I think that just kind of an overview is kind of a thought.

that I might ⁓ put out there for up and coming business owners.

Buddy Buck (07:32)
Yeah, for sure. And I think that's one thing that I always saw value in joining the chamber. Like whatever the dollar amount was, it just like the pros and cons. Like, Hey, is this a good use of call it $260 for the course of the year? I mean, when you said networking, mean, to me, that just hits home so much bill because really with any business anywhere, I think again, whether you're a masseuse or you're in a restaurant, any business model like the networking piece, and I know you and I have talked about this a lot in private, it's, it's crucial.

Right? It's just, you just don't know where that next introduction or that next connection might come from. And it's not just like, Oh, I got a client and you know, we served them breakfast and they're gone. But maybe those long-term relationships lead to, you know what I mean? Who knows? Like so many cool stories I'm sure you have from this networking over the years. Right? So have you always been like a networker? Would you consider yourself a networker? Or is that just kind of like second fiddle for you?

William L Foreman II (08:25)
No, absolutely. mean, I think networking is essential. It's imperative to master the art of partnering with people. You can accomplish so much more. No matter what you're doing, if you're willing to partner with the person to make things happen or ⁓ convince them or coax them into partnering with you, then it can make a huge difference.

It's the whole teamwork idea, But no, partnering is imperative, really leveraging those relationships. Information is power, knowledge is power. If you have the ability to network and tap into the knowledge that others have, then it can only help you, it can't hurt you.

Buddy Buck (09:02)
Yeah, it reminded me

of some one of my mentors, Marcus said us because we would say, knowledge is power. And he's like, No, the application of knowledge is power. Like you have to actually go do something about it. You can't just, you know, and that's what's that's funny, too, because like, my dad was an entrepreneur his whole life. So I watched him, you know, run a tractor dealership being self employed. And then my mom's like the W two work, you know, get, know, the safe kind of model, right. And they're totally polar opposite. But it's just like,

William L Foreman II (09:12)
Well said.

Yeah.

Buddy Buck (09:32)
cool to see entrepreneurs like in their space, you know what mean? Like just going through the motions. Sometimes it's my point was, like we're feel like we're busy sometimes. But like, are you busy doing the right things? Right? Are you just busy for the sake of being busy? And you just feel like, gosh, I had this big long day today. But you really didn't do the right things. You just felt like you're doing stuff. But you know what mean? It's easy to get caught in that trap.

William L Foreman II (09:55)
It's

interesting you should mention doing the right things. That's something else that might be good topic.

It's important that people understand how to prioritize their day and shuffle off the distractions and the minutiae. You know, often we might be working on a task that's imperative and important and then some salesman comes to the door and they want to talk to you and it's so easy to stop what we're doing and go do the fun thing or talk to the person or engage with that activity when really...

Buddy Buck (10:21)
Yeah, totally.

William L Foreman II (10:26)
you should be able to say, wait a minute, they need to make an appointment. I really don't have time. I've got something that's of a higher priority at the moment. Let me finish this and then we'll get back to you, that kind of thing. And so I think staying on task, understanding what the priorities are and making a list. Make a list every morning, figure out what top three things do I want to accomplish before the end of the day, see if you can knock them out.

and master the ability to take the minutiae set that aside until those tasks get accomplished.

Buddy Buck (10:56)
Yeah, is that part

of your morning routine? Those top three things? Is that something you do or yeah, cool.

William L Foreman II (10:59)
I

I prioritize the list. have A, B, D priorities and then within those A, C's I'll put one, two, and three and then I'll go down the list and knock them off. There are times I'll have a two-page list but by the end of the day I've usually got it down to about half that and all the A and B priorities are typically off that list.

Buddy Buck (11:26)
Well, that's cool. Right on.

Okay. So Duvall, I learned something the other day about you and I was like, wow, that kind of caught me off guard. I just, I guess I'd never really asked you, but how long have you lived in Duvall, Washington?

William L Foreman II (11:36)
We moved here, I think it was 89, and we actually, we first moved over to Lake Marcel for a couple years, then we moved into a new home in Glencairn. So just sort of over near the Safeway area. Not the big brand new homes that you see today, but yeah, we've been here a number of years. We've raised two children here, and now we've got a grandkid. We've got our daughter, Ileana, and so...

Buddy Buck (11:39)
Okay.

VAS.

William L Foreman II (12:02)
Yeah, we love Duvall. I don't think we'll ever leave. It's just an amazing place to live. We love the small town feel and we love meeting or seeing neighbors at the grocery store and that sort of thing. So yeah, awesome place. We've been here quite a while.

Buddy Buck (12:16)
Yeah, that's cool. Okay, so somebody that's been in this town, a small town, right? Call it 10,000 people just for round numbers. But anyway, smaller when you first moved here for sure. But for somebody, there was like out of 3000. Yeah, it's wild. So for somebody that's called 30 plus years, like, what has been your secret sauce to have, you know, carry such a, you know, positive, you know, relationship or a positive, I guess, ⁓ reputation?

William L Foreman II (12:26)
Yeah, yeah, it was about 3,000 times here. Somewhere in that neighborhood, yeah.

Buddy Buck (12:44)
Right? So if we're talking about like your success, yes, you're the president of the chamber and all those things, but like for 30 years, what was your secret to have such a positive reputation in town?

William L Foreman II (12:45)
So just...

Yeah, I think just a willingness to change and a willingness to listen. It's important to let people have air time if they've got a grievance or something that they need to discuss. It's important to just put down the pencil and listen to what they have to say and really get a deep understanding of where they're coming from, try to understand their perspective. There's been quite a few changes in Duvall, as you pointed out, mean, not just with the population growth, but when we first moved here, was a lot of farmer-type community folks.

and some people just trying to raise their family and get by. And then very soon we started getting a lot of folks from Microsoft and that sort of thing. And it was interesting to see even the dynamic in the school system where you had some folks were saying, we need some of the mainstays were saying we need smaller classrooms and more teachers. And then the folks from Microsoft were saying, well.

actually we don't need that, we need computers in the classroom and that sort of thing, we need technology and so it was interesting to see some of those dynamics play out. But I think a willingness to listen and a willingness to be open to change, know, really to, so I think that that's helped to create a positive following, if you will.

Buddy Buck (14:00)
Okay, that's cool. So now for the new person, right? Because you talked about the top about bringing people in and, know, having Duvall be more of a like a, you know, destination for people even locally in Seattle, like anywhere in the state of Washington, right? I think Duvall is really fun to spend a day. So if you were giving advice to a new person, maybe they've just moved to Duvall yesterday, what would be the one thing that you would say, Hey, this is going to be really helpful for you to know Mr. Mrs. Citizen that just moved here.

William L Foreman II (14:16)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, think I refer them to the Chamber Magazine. I'd also encourage them to meet their neighbors. think so many people in Seattle area don't take the time to meet their neighbors. They'll live in the same house for

10 years and never really get to know their neighbors, never invite them over for a coffee and that sort of thing. I think DeVos is a little different in that way. think people are a little bit more willing to open their doors and talk to each other, know, share stories, you know, maybe do a barbecue together. And so the first thing I would do is encourage people to get out and meet their neighbors, maybe just introduce themselves. And then after that or beyond that, would say really explore the community, explore the parks.

check out the know the depot, check out the some of the community events, participate in the Duvall Days activities and some of the fun stuff that that occurs in Duvall, the summer night stage stuff.

sand blast and all the other cool things that do all have to offer. So I think that I would encourage them to get out and really explore what their community is about. I talked to someone the other day that had been living in Duvall for about five years and had never been down to the river park. They just didn't know it was there. And so I would encourage people to explore things like that or go check out Lake Rasmussen. Just all the stuff around the area.

Buddy Buck (15:23)
Yeah.

Right.

Yeah. Well,

and that's funny. Nice little teaser and living in Duvall.com. Right. So the new website that we just rolled out this last year is just kind of for that too, is just, you know, just having one place where it's like, Hey, what do do here? Like, you know, what were the restaurants, the schools, the food, I the chamber has a great site, the city has tons of information on their site too. So there are definitely resources where people can find that and they're all different, right? Like chamber, a more business focused cities.

you know, the government focused with the things they need to have on there. And then livingindieval.com is just kind of like, just call it the everyday person's, you know, website for information. one question. Yeah, what? What's that, Bill? No, you go ahead, man.

William L Foreman II (16:20)
Absolutely. think

some of the stuff that you do Buddy Buck is amazing with WDWALL TV and WDWALL.com and your participation and some of the stuff that Maureen Henley does. It's just really great that we've got some of those resources out there available to folks and I would hope that people would take advantage of some of that.

Buddy Buck (16:45)
Yeah, 100%. Okay, so like a legacy question here. So 10 years from now, right, people are talking, which they'll do 10, 100 years from now, right. But 10 years from now, your name comes up. So what is that? What is something that you want to be on those people's tongues? Like, what do want people to say about Bill Foreman 10 years from now, 20 years from now?

William L Foreman II (17:02)
you

Good question. I want him to say, ⁓ boy, he sure is still good looking. No, I'm kidding. ⁓

Buddy Buck (17:10)
No, you're not. Come on, man. You'll be good looking in 10 years, You already know

it.

William L Foreman II (17:17)
No, no,

think that, I think 10 years from now I'd like to say, you know, Bill was, Bill and his team, his core team at the Chamber was able to make a pretty impressive, pretty impressive splash. They made a real positive difference for the city of Duvall and I like what has happened and, you know, hopefully that trend continues. So I would hope that the conversation would go somewhere along those lines.

Buddy Buck (17:43)
Cool, right on. Okay, so we mentioned, we were talking a little bit about Duvall TV. So that would be for those that don't know my YouTube channel that kind of highlights events, community fun, all the cool stuff in town. But if you can wave a magic wand, so for Duvall TV or living in Duvall Bill, what would be something that we could add to Duvall TV to even level it up or make it better experience for you? Is there anything?

William L Foreman II (18:04)
I think

not for me personally, but maybe for the kid community. Maybe have a little bit of an aspect in there that's something that kids could jump into and say, oh, this is kind of cool in here. so hook them young, if you will. Kind of engage that younger audience. Maybe just something that you can.

Buddy Buck (18:19)
Yeah.

William L Foreman II (18:26)
community events for teenagers or gathering spots or know the summer stage stuff or things that might appeal to some of younger audience might be kind of cool. So not just for the business community. Sure.

Buddy Buck (18:34)
Yeah, no super helpful. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, it's like so two months ago, we did a holiday episode where we gave away a bunch of like, people from town town donated a lot of great prizes. You guys were one of them. Well, I say you guys Corey's Cafe gave couple gift cards, which Corey's just been fantastic. And I can't wait to have her on the show as well. But yeah, with the younger we had faith. So one of the kids from the X Dapa ownership, so Megan and Ramon

their 11 year old daughter faith was like kind of co hosted with me and to your point, like, it was awesome. It was just fun for me. It was just like a breath of fresh air to have some youth and some kids and you know, doing that is she had a passion for she's like not afraid to be on camera, which is not totally normal, I guess, for for the average person. But yeah, faith totally knocked it out of the park. And so great point on getting a little bit younger. You never know. Never know. Get them started.

William L Foreman II (19:01)
Mm-hmm.

Nice. Yeah. that's great. keep up that kind of stuff. That's great.

Yeah.

Buddy Buck (19:29)
All right, so let's go ahead and we'll kind of put a bow on this. So I got a couple of rapid fire a little hot seat for Bill Foreman, the president of the Duvall Chamber of Commerce. So I'm to just say two things and you just pick one. Okay, so it's either or. All right, so coffee or beer.

William L Foreman II (19:39)
Sure.

Okay. Okay.

Ooh, that's a tough one. I love them both. I'll lean towards, I'll do coffee. Yeah.

Buddy Buck (19:47)
You

coffee.

Okay, cool. Sunrise or sunset?

William L Foreman II (19:54)
Sunset, for sure. Yeah, I think the sky is prettier at sunset.

Buddy Buck (19:58)
Sunset? Okay, cool. Tacos or pizza?

William L Foreman II (20:00)
Tacos. Mountains.

Buddy Buck (20:02)
All right, mountains or the, mountains or the river?

Okay, wait, did you have someone say about tacos or pizza? You had a little...

William L Foreman II (20:10)
No,

I think that you get, it's hard to beat a good taco. And when I think of tacos, I think of maybe a margarita and some other stuff along with it. I'm sneaking it in there.

Buddy Buck (20:18)
There you go. So you already got your coffee. So now you're sneaking a margarita and I like I see what you I see

what you did there. All right, last couple here. So early bird or night owl? Who are you? What a bit of both.

William L Foreman II (20:28)
I'm a little bit of both. don't get

a lot of sleep. I'm kind of one of those sleep with your bed guys. But I think, I guess maybe more of a night owl.

Buddy Buck (20:33)
Okay.

Okay, cool. Text or phone call?

William L Foreman II (20:40)
Phone call. know, text messaging is popular. I text a fair amount, but when you get a banter where text is going back and forth too much, at some point you just pick up the phone, know, pretend it's the 80s and just talk to other. Yeah, right. Right. Right.

Buddy Buck (20:53)
Right? Dependence. Yeah. Pretend it's the 80s with your water with your water bed and your pencil. Yeah, exactly. I got that with the pencil when he was like, what's a pencil? It's like, just no, it's a number two

pencil. Just Google it. You know what mean? Okay, last one. Dogs or cats?

William L Foreman II (21:08)
Yeah, right.

Hmm. It's interesting. I had both and when my son went off to college, he took the dogs and when my daughter went off to college, she took the cat. so now I'm left with feeding the squirrels, which is kind of interesting.

Buddy Buck (21:19)
You

⁓

Well, Hey Bill, thanks a lot for coming on, man. Appreciate you so much and good luck this year with being the President of the Duvall chamber of commerce. So congrats again.

William L Foreman II (21:30)
Thank you so

much.