Announcer: 0:00

The following programming is sponsored by Marc J Bernstein. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of this station, its management or Peasley Media Group. Entrepreneur, founder, author and financial advisor, Marc Bernstein helps high-performing business owners turn their visions into reality. Through his innovative work and the Forward Focus Forums, Marc connects entrepreneurs to resources that fuel their success. Founders Forum is a radio show and podcast where entrepreneurs share their journeys, revealing the lessons they've learned and the stories behind their success. Join Marc and his guests for a mix of inspiration, valuable insights and a little fun. Now let's dive in.

Marc Bernstein: 0:41

Good morning America. How are you? So I have Bobby Reed in the studio. He was on a previous show. I saw you bop into the music a little bit. Do you like that music?

Bobby Reed: 0:48

I just you know, I'm in a good mood.

Marc Bernstein: 0:50

Oh, okay.

Bobby Reed: 0:50

Feeling it. Yeah, Nice day.

Marc Bernstein: 0:51

Okay, that was my music.

Bobby Reed: 0:52

That's why I'm asking. I created that music, nice, good job, my original music.

Marc Bernstein: 0:56

It's a song called Should I by the band called Fret, which you can listen to on all your streaming services. I never plugged that, but since I saw you enjoying it.

Marc Bernstein: 1:05

I thought I'd mention it, and we have Tatiana in the studio and we always start out with the topic of the day. And something I've been thinking about a lot over the last couple of days and came up in my conversation with Bobby, as we had a live radio show with him just a little while ago and the idea of that entrepreneurs. One of the themes of the show is that it's never a straight line in entrepreneurship. There's always some struggles, some challenges, struggles. Maybe not everyone has struggles, but everyone has challenges and everybody has ups and downs and you know, business is up, business is down, there's hills and valleys and different people have different ways of dealing with that. I'll let Bobby go first, because I love his answer, and then we're going to ask Tatiana and then we'll get into the rest of our show. So, bobby, how do you approach those kind of hills and valleys?

Bobby Reed: 1:58

Hills and valleys. I mean, I think we talked about this before. It's ignorance is bliss. You know. There's no other option. I don't have a backup plan. There's no like hey, move back in with my parents. There's nothing I'm on an island over here moving forward, otherwise I am out of luck, so there's no other option.

Marc Bernstein: 2:20

So, bobby, if you listen to this show, I won't go through it again. But he's a river person, he has no other options and that's the way he handles it, and that works for certain people. Other people, I'm more like a goals person, which means there's other things I could do, so I have to have goals in front of me and ways of adjusting in order to keep moving in that direction. Tatiana, how about you? How have you dealt with those kind of situations?

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 2:41

Yeah, you were saying and I'm picturing ups and downs and I'm also picturing this zigzag, so how do I deal with both? Right, I think for us, maybe the first crisis is usually very difficult, but then, once you are out of it, then I think you know that these things pass, they come in very quickly and then it's very scary, but then you need to remember that. Give it time and regardless, honestly, with what you do, you can stay calm, you can be very emotional, but they will continue to go and change.

Marc Bernstein: 3:20

And I think, yeah, so I like little phrases, because it always reminds me in the here of this too shall pass, which I think is a biblical phrase. But there's also we were talking about George Harrison earlier there's all things must pass, the same idea.

Bobby Reed: 3:34

Yeah.

Marc Bernstein: 3:35

And almost a spiritual philosophy. But it's, that's great, it's a good thing to and, as you said to me earlier, Tatiana, you'd always know it's going to pass when you're in it. Sometimes it seems like maybe it's never going to end, but from experience after a while you know that's the case, right.

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 3:54

Yeah, but then you think also, what's the opportunity? Because you know that there must be an opportunity related to this crisis, and I know some people are much better in seeing these opportunities. I myself is more of a straightforward person, but my business partner is always spinning it in such a way that look, okay, that's a crisis, but now we need to look for what's the opportunity that's coming.

Marc Bernstein: 4:22

That's another great possibility. With challenges come opportunity. There's no question about that, and I think the more experience you get as an entrepreneur, the more you recognize that. So great little conversation. Let me formally introduce. Well, first of all, bobby Reed is with us again today and he's executive producer and founder of Loaded Pixel, a video production company. Tatiana Barakshina, PhD and MBA, is managing partner at Bazis Americas LLC, a full-service marketing research agency established in 2006. She teaches consumer behavior and marketing communications courses at University of Illinois in Chicago and Loyola University of Chicago. She has four kids, which we're finding is an important part of her story, and a husband who works in IT and a fluffy dog. So I forgot to ask you this, but what's your dog's name? The fluffy dog.

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 5:18

Oh, you know the dog. Okay, he used to be fluffy, but then he got a haircut. Oh, he's not fluffy.

Marc Bernstein: 5:24

He used to be fluffy, but then he got a haircut.

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 5:25

So now, he's so skinny and he looks so sad, but he's a fantastic Irish Witten terrier. His name is Thorin and Thorin is actually one of the dwarves. It's a very glorious dwarf in the Lord of the Rings.

Marc Bernstein: 5:45

My family is a big fan. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 5:47

So we were choosing the name, contemplating for three days, and they wanted a glorious name, but the dog is completely opposite to glorious.

Marc Bernstein: 5:58

Well, I can relate to the hair thing, because my dog is Arlo. He's a Bernadoodle, so he's very fluffy. But when he gets his hair cut he's a Bernadoodle, so he's very fluffy, but when he gets his haircut he's a really skinny poodle. You know, his body is, his face looks like a Bernese mountain dog, his body is like a poodle. So everyone thinks oh he's, you know, he's well-built, he's, you know, husky dog.

Announcer: 6:21

Once the hair goes, he's, he's all bones.

Marc Bernstein: 6:22

Anyway, bones, yeah Anyway. So welcome Tatiana, nice to have you here today, Thank you. So you're originally from Russia. Tell us how you came to America and how your education began and how you eventually came to start Bazis.

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 6:39

Well, we came twice, actually, both times for a degree. So the first time I came I think it was 2000 for an MBA. So I was enrolled at Bradley University it's central central Illinois. It was honestly the fantastic experience for me. The educational system here is different, I think. Here the teachers are really performers and it was the first time I've experienced that. So I literally was just sitting there just shocked on how interesting and entertaining everybody, especially my marketing professors, were. So that's how I fell in love with marketing and I just continued on that path. And then we went back to Russia where I met my business partner, michael.

Marc Bernstein: 7:37

So we started by the way, you said we went back, were you married at the time? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we came.

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 7:42

Yes, I came together with my husband Dmitry, and it it was fantastic because we didn't have anybody else here. So it, um, you know, that's the main support if, if you have a person, uh, close right.

Marc Bernstein: 7:58

So yeah, so you met michael, your partner, and then you all came back to america to start your business.

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 8:04

I guess then right yeah, well, it it, it, it came. Uh, it came about in slightly different ways, but I came back for a PhD because I, you know, the MBA was in Peoria, illinois, and it's a wonderful place, but it's a small town in central Illinois. So everybody is aspiring in Peoria to be in Chicago.

Marc Bernstein: 8:29

Isn't Peoria like the quintessential small town Like you hear it's like, famous for being a small town?

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 8:35

It is here in the US, but it wasn't for me.

Marc Bernstein: 8:38

Right right, right right.

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 8:40

I only learned that I happen to be in a quintessential small town only after you know two or three years in Peoria. So I still get. I don't know if you know what I mean. So when I drive into Peoria there is like a road. You come in. I get this special feeling. It's a very nice feeling a little bit excitement, a little bit nostalgia, but it is very deep in my heart. I really love the place. I get the same feeling when I'm flying into Yekaterinburg, which is my hometown in Russia, but also Peoria gives me the same feeling. But anyway, the aspirations were towards Chicago and that's where I got accepted to a PhD program University of Illinois in Chicago. So we were very excited to come back. So we came back as a family already and my second son was born here. He was born in the first month of the PhD program. So you know the topic of my dissertation. I chose it was about medical decision makings in pregnancy and childbirth because that's what I was experiencing in coming here.

Marc Bernstein: 10:00

So I just have to say in talking to you previously, you're very educated and you're professorial because you're a professor. So I didn't first see your sense of humor, but as the more I'm talking to you I realize humor is very important to you the entertaining professors. We were talking about comedians a little bit before and I see that you see the humor in a lot of the things that have happened to you. I think over over time. Is that a good assumption?

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 10:26

yeah, but you know, I just heard from one of my students recently. He didn't really attend, you know, most of the or some of the meetings, I would say, and he said you know, some of your classes actually felt like a lecture and that's not a good thing. So I learned that they shouldn't be. They shouldn't be a lecture. We always should be doing something hands-on, something entertaining, something focused on how do you do things and discussing, but lectures now, I think, are kind of trickling down.

Marc Bernstein: 11:02

So, yeah, so you're learning to be a performer Performer yeah, got it. Got it Interesting. So let's go back to the company and how you started the company and I'm always interested in you know the challenges in starting a new company. What did that look like?

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 11:20

are actually also different ways starting companies or getting into the business. So we got into this business because we already had a client who was looking for certain services. So we just continued to set up a business around this initial big project or initial big request. So you do something that you know how to do and you turn it into a business right. Then you start offering this service. But I was always curious how people actually come up with the service and idea concept and then set up the business and start selling. So that part we've never managed that well. It's always first the demand, then you build the offer around it. But I know that other ways are also possible.

Marc Bernstein: 12:14

Interesting. So doing it that way, what kind of challenges did you face?

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 12:20

I think the initial challenge is getting the team together, because we are in consulting and research business. So, if you think about it, all we do is really intellectual property. Okay, we need our laptops I don't even need a chair, frankly. So we don't own machinery, we don't own buildings, we don't own newspapers. So all we do is basically talk to people, analyze what they say and explain it to our clients. So it's really all about the team. It's all about the people who are carrying this information. So setting up, finding the right team, was the first challenge. But I think that's actually why we were successful, because we were incredibly lucky in the first three or four people who joined Bazzi's team. We just found really fantastic, dedicated and in research you get people who are really curious, who really like to continue to keep digging, to keep asking questions, and we were really lucky that we got this. We were all a bit younger then, so many of our team members were right out of the university.

Marc Bernstein: 13:40

And I think you're good at retaining your team members. They've been with you a long time, I believe, right.

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 13:47

So, yes, many, many researchers stay with us and actually the first person we hired, ekaterina, is an executive director now, so it's been quite a while and she's working at Bizes and for me it's a huge sign as well. It's a huge compliment or a positive thing.

Marc Bernstein: 14:19

How many employees do you have?

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 14:23

We have now about 15 people.

Marc Bernstein: 14:26

And they're all researchers pretty much.

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 14:30

They are all. Yes, we specialize in slightly different things. There is qualitative research, as what you do now, right, you are asking questions, you are looking for truth, you are trying to understand the attitudes, the true feelings.

Marc Bernstein: 14:48

So I'm a qualitative researcher. That's what I'm going to start telling people. I'm a qualitative researcher.

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 14:56

Yeah, it doesn't sound too glorious for everybody, but I love it. Yeah, I think.

Marc Bernstein: 15:01

I like it. I might start using that. Go ahead, and then you have others.

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 15:04

The other side, sorry yeah.

Marc Bernstein: 15:06

Go ahead. I'm sorry.

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 15:08

Yeah, so the other side is what we call quantitative research.

Marc Bernstein: 15:13

I figured that was coming.

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 15:14

That's about the numbers, that's about modeling, that's about predictions. That's about modeling. That's about predictions.

Marc Bernstein: 15:21

That's really a fun field as well. This is actually a perfect time for us to take a commercial break, because we are more than halfway in the show. I would say time flies when we're having this much fun, so we'll take a quick break and we'll be right back on Founders Forum.

Announcer: 15:35

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Marc Bernstein: 16:22

Hi, we're back on Founders Forum with our guest today, Tatiana, and Bobby Reed is with us in the studio. Tatiana, I wanted to ask you about and we were getting towards this the culture that you've built at the company. I think some of it might be intentional and some of it might be accidental, but I know you have kind of a unique culture.

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 16:45

So if you could talk about that a little bit. Yeah, so I think your question is really about maybe organizational culture or company culture. But for us it turns out that our I don't know background and the country culture makes a big part of who we are as a Bazis team. So it turned out and again, I don't think it was intentional, but I'm so happy that we have it this way now in the US that we have a very multicultural team. So we have somebody from India. We worked with someone from Iran, we have somebody from China. We have I have a colleague who speaks literally she speaks seven languages.

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 17:31

So a lot of our off work conversations are about. So yeah, you know, traditions the word traditions I think it's a big heavy word and it's a big generic word. But, for example, yesterday, the loudest moment in our day and we were all literally crying and shouting and yelling was because the RCB team, a cricket team from Bangalore, won a championship first time in 18 years. So that's the pride I felt, and I've never been to Bangalore, but the pride I felt with my colleague is really what makes our company culture. And I think it's good if you are a qualitative researcher, because you are kind of open this way to everybody else who you're talking to, right? So you're again curious. You're interested to understand what's driving different people to make those different decisions.

Marc Bernstein: 18:42

Yes, and how does that? I know it helps bring the team closer, because you talk about various traditions and I think you've said you go out to different kinds of international restaurants and things like that. Right, celebrate over food and things like that. Am I right about that?

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 19:01

Yes, that's a great point. It's always a big debate which country cuisine to choose. We all have different tastes. And then we always laugh about the spice level. I don't know if it's a conversation around your table or in your team, but for us it's a very deep conversation on okay, what is the spice level? How much can you take it? That always comes along with the choice of a restaurant.

Marc Bernstein: 19:34

Gotcha Bob, you had a question.

Bobby Reed: 19:36

Yeah, I had a question, I mean as a founder, when I started my company and then, as I've grown over the years, I never had anyone to talk to about it. I mean, I had a couple mentors and things, and so when you're going through these ups and downs or different challenges or you want to figure something out, did you ever did you find someone to talk to? Did you find an outlet of people or mentors or anybody that you can talk to that know what you're going through?

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 20:00

outlet of people or mentors or anybody that you can talk to, that know what you're going through. So you know it's an amazing question because we were lucky in the way that I have a business partner. So we together co-founded Vysis and it's been. Of course we argue all the time. Of course we have very different preferences when it comes to design, maybe some wording, maybe sometimes even the direction, but in the most important moments you really need to rely on somebody who knows and who likes the topic you are discussing. And of course, the family is always there to support. But when it comes to the details, maybe they don't always want to hear all the nitty-gritty of your business. So just having a business partner and having very different skill sets and very different even life perspectives, that was a huge plus for me as a co-founder, as a co-partner in the business.

Bobby Reed: 20:59

Yeah for sure. A co founder as a co-partner in the business? Yeah for sure. Yeah, it's hard to you know, to just know you know what to do, or just you know you need somebody just to either vent to but somebody that's been through it before or there's, I guess, going. You use your business partner, I use a mentor, because sometimes my business partner doesn't really he doesn't want to, he's like I'm doing this with, with you, like we're kind of in the we're in the mud together and it's nice to have a outline, an outside perspective of um, you know, hey, when I did this, you know my company, you know, have somebody else say it.

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 21:26

So I, I, I hear you the. The mentorship is an important, uh, definitely an important part, and now you are saying that that indeed me too. I also have a mentor that I occasionally, but you don't even need to sometimes to speak directly. I have this conversation in my head. Yeah, knowing what the potential advice could be just to calm down, yeah, for sure.

Marc Bernstein: 21:55

Great question. I enjoyed that conversation between you guys on this. We only have less than a minute left, so I wanted to ask you I know you're a reader, Tatiana what are you currently reading?

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 22:07

So I just finished, actually Nora Ephron's book.

Marc Bernstein: 22:14

There's the humor again.

Tatiana Barakshina, PhD, MBA: 22:17

I feel bad about my neck and I've heard about Norea Frantz, but she's such a big figure here in the US and through her books I was learning about her. Again, it's the humor. It's how she loved to host, how she loved to cook, and in the background she was switching husbands, growing the career, you know, finding friends. It's a very sincere book for me. So she's talking. She seems like a person who should have everything figured out and yet by the end of the book she opens up and she says that frankly, I still don't know what I'm doing. And I think that was really something that appealed to me, that sincerity, that she was really honest about it. Sometimes I feel I know what I'm doing and sometimes I wonder if it's the right direction.

Bobby Reed: 23:17

That's entrepreneurship right there.

Marc Bernstein: 23:19

And you're full of surprises, Tatiana, because we're first talking to you. I said your humor and your humanity has been coming out as we've spoken more and more and I appreciate that and it was great having you on the show and we are out of time, so I want to thank you both for being here today. Thank you, bobby, for being here again and Tatiana, thanks for being here and thank you all for listening and look forward to speaking with you again next week on Founders Forum.

Announcer: 24:06

We hope you enjoyed your time with Founders Forum today and you found value to take with you throughout your day. Join us again next week for another episode of Founders Forum on WWDB Talk Radio and always at the Founders Forum show page at wwwdbamcom.