Tatiana Bonneau: Travelling as a Lifestyle, Websites, Branding, Family Business, and Running | Be Yourself Podcast
Be Yourself Podcast · Season 2

TatianaBonneau

Traveler, mother, entrepreneur, runner, and brand strategist — on travelling as a lifestyle, why every business still needs a website, smart naming, family business, and how running became part of who she is

1 hour 1 minute
Travel · Websites · Branding · Family Business · Running · Networking
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About This Episode

What Does It Look Like to Build a Life — and a Business — Around the Things That Actually Matter to You?

Tatiana Bonneau is one of those people who has figured out how to make her life and her work point in the same direction. A traveler, a mother, a business owner, a runner, and a brand strategist behind Markupgrade and SmartBranding, Tatiana brings the kind of grounded, practical wisdom that only comes from having actually done the things she talks about.

Serhii Beverly and Tatiana first crossed paths when Serhii appeared on her podcast. Now, to open the second season of Be Yourself, he returns the favor — and the result is a wide-ranging conversation that touches on everything from the philosophy of travelling as a lifestyle to the surprisingly sharp question of whether your business really needs a website in 2024, to the art and strategy behind naming a brand.

This episode is also a conversation about the human side of building something: how Tatiana found her passion, what it actually means to run a family business with the people you love, why growing your network is one of the most underrated investments a professional can make, and what running — mile after mile, race after race — has taught her about herself and the way she approaches everything else in her life.

01
Travelling as a Lifestyle — not a vacation, but a way of living
Tatiana breaks down what it actually means to build your life around travel, and why the distinction between travelling as a tourist and travelling as a lifestyle changes everything about how you experience the world.
02
Do We Need a Website? — the honest answer for modern businesses
With so much business happening on social media and marketplaces, is a dedicated website still necessary? Tatiana gives a direct, expert answer drawn from years of working with brands and businesses at Markupgrade.
03
Are Blogs Still Legit? — content strategy in the age of AI and social
Blogs were declared dead many times over. Tatiana examines whether that verdict holds up today, and what a smart content strategy actually looks like when you are competing for attention in a crowded digital landscape.
04
Naming Advice — the strategy behind great brand and domain names
A great name is one of the most powerful assets a brand can have — and one of the hardest things to get right. Tatiana shares the principles and practical advice behind naming that works, from first impression to long-term recall.
05
Family Business — working with the people you love
Running a business with family is one of the most rewarding and most challenging things a person can do. Tatiana speaks honestly about what makes it work, what makes it hard, and what she has learned from the experience.
06
Running Discussion — how running shapes identity and mindset
Running is more than a sport for Tatiana — it is part of how she thinks, recovers, and pushes through difficulty. A conversation about what running teaches you about yourself that no other discipline can.

About the Guest

Tatiana Bonneau — Entrepreneur, Brand Strategist, Traveler, Mother, and Runner

Tatiana Bonneau is the kind of person who makes you wonder how one person can hold so many things together — and make all of them look intentional. She is an entrepreneur, brand strategist, traveler, mother, runner, and podcast host whose work spans two companies: Markupgrade, focused on website optimization and digital presence, and SmartBranding, dedicated to brand strategy and naming.

What makes Tatiana remarkable is not just the breadth of what she does but the coherence of how she does it. Travel is not an escape from her life — it is woven into it. Running is not a side habit — it is a discipline that shapes her thinking. Family is not separate from her business — it is part of the foundation she has built it on. Everything connects.

Serhii Beverly first appeared as a guest on Tatiana's own podcast, and the impression she left was significant enough that opening the second season of Be Yourself with her felt like the only natural choice. This is a conversation between two people who understand what it means to build something real — and who are genuinely curious about how the other one does it.

Who She Is
Entrepreneur, brand strategist, traveler, mother, runner, and podcast host. Founder of Markupgrade and SmartBranding — two companies at the intersection of digital presence and brand identity.
Her Companies
Markupgrade focuses on website optimization and digital presence. SmartBranding specializes in brand strategy and naming — helping businesses find names that work for the long term.
Her Approach
Everything in Tatiana's life points in the same direction. Travel, running, family, and business are not competing priorities — they are an integrated way of living that she has built deliberately over time.
The Connection
Serhii Beverly was a guest on Tatiana's podcast before this episode was recorded. Their mutual respect made this Season 2 opener feel less like an interview and more like a genuine conversation between peers.

Episode Chapters

0:00 Intro 2:00 How Are You? 5:21 Travelling as a Lifestyle 10:32 Do We Need a Website? 19:48 Are Blogs on the Websites Still Legit? 24:51 Naming Advice 32:51 Get Every Teammate Involved 35:44 How Did You Find Your Passion? 41:57 How Big is Your Team? 44:28 Family Business and Working Together 50:54 Running Discussion 1:01:17 Importance of Growing Your Network

Key Quotes

"
you're building a website for yourself or you're building a website for your customers it has to be about making the life of your customers easier
Tatiana Bonneau
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the only place that you own and so you own your image the information you put about yourself is your website like everything else you don't control
Tatiana Bonneau
"
when you start getting to you know top 10 top five you're like I think I yeah I think I can do more
Tatiana Bonneau

Full Transcript

BTW: This episode of the Be Yourself Podcast is produced by Beverly Media. Want a podcast that looks and sounds this good? Check out Beverly Production →
0:00 Intro
Serhiy hey everybody Welcome to the second season of be yourself podcast podcast on expressing your true self today my guest is Tatiana BAU she's a businesswoman she's uh traveling the world raises four children running two companies and she actually loves adors running running trails and um in my humble observation she's just living life in heaven a great time in her life so uh taana thank you so much for uh being the guest on my podcast
Tatiana sure thank you for thank you for having me it's a pleasure yeah you're welcome
Serhiy so as I Was preparing for the show I really liked the way you uh described yourself on LinkedIn you know because it's the first thing that we do and similarly to me in your description you didn't put anything pretty much nothing about your business accomplishments or accolades you were really really talking about your personality and this this is such such a great sign I think for such a great example for uh people uh even on LinkedIn on Professional Network to talk about what you believe and some of your personality traits um I would like to start by asking you how are you you live obviously you live in a new country now
2:00 How Are You?
Tatiana well um it's it's been great I mean we've been as a family we've wanted to move here for quite some time and uh for obvious reasons it wasn't uh possible straight away um we visited last in 2021 um and I mean I'm I'm born in Crimea so I've I've been in Ukraine before and it was always um it it it's always been home for me it's always like my father is Bulgarian so I did my studies and lived a large part of my U childhood um in Bulgaria but I I've always felt home coming here so it was very much like when when the summer comes like everybody is going on vacation and I was like going home in summer and you know spending the rest of the time was like not home for me um but also like you mentioned I do and have always liked traveling and and that kind of carried through as um I became an adult I'm an adult now um so we we do travel a lot as a family um and and generally don't like staying long uh in the same place for a number of reasons I for myself like selfishly I feel like you live one time so it's kind of a waste to spend it in the same place um also I feel it's good for the kids to to learn different um languages different cultures uh but obviously it's uh getting harder as they as they grow up so yeah in 20121 when we um when we came and we wanted to stay we decided not to um so that my eldest son can finish his last year in high school and get his exams in University and all of that so we don't just start disturb that um and then the war broke out so um that was um a reason to to delay things a bit and and finally we decided like this year he's been accepted to University he studies in Paris now and uh so we were like free to go um and we decided to come and everybody's been like are you crazy like even at the border they're like what um but we we've we've we we love it we we loved it in 2021 when we all came all the kids like I mean the kids didn't want to leave when we visited back then um I love the seasons for anybody who hasn't been to K it's it's I was missing Seasons so much like we we come from n you know Cod the zero is really like heaven on Earth you I mean for nearly 5 years living there I was still walking around taking pictures like a tourist cuz it is pretty like there's no two ways about it but I did miss you know having Autumn having like leaves you know falling rain all of that that's really I love GI in in Autumn um yeah that was a very long winded way to say I'm good we we we happy we we enjoy being here
Serhiy great so so traveling for you is a
5:21 Travelling as a Lifestyle
Serhiy lifestyle could we could we say that that's the true statement right so you you you know settle you like brushing things up you know and kind of challenging yourself because in a way changing the country is a challenge and that's how you've been shaping your life um
Tatiana yeah and I have to say in a way I actually find it fascinating and I have like a lot of uh respect should I say for people who don't move like for me that that that freaks me out like n already was getting I think we we're joking with my husband sometimes like when you get to a point where you are in the same you know town the same country um and you start getting neighbors talking to you or people in the shop talking to you and recognizing you I'm like okay that's that's the red flags now that we've been here for too long like people people know us that that that's too much like I want I like the that feeling of being able to you know walk out and nobody knows you and if you want to talk to somebody you can talk to somebody uh but but you you kind of yeah and I I do love like I I do have a small list of people um which is very funny when when we lived in N because we stayed for longer than than usual there were there are a list of um people that when we started packing I was like oh I should say goodbye to those people and they're not the people you would think uh normally like U you know my dog for example is um we have a doberman and recently we got another puppy that's a whole other story but um like he's more social than me we used to walk around and and he would walk into shops because somebody said hi to him once and like he would go like every time don't now see those people so people like that that I don't even know their names but I felt like I should tell them we're living I should tell them goodbye cuz they've become like a part of of of our daily life like you know people in the pharmacy next door they were like really nice when we told them they we're leaving they were like oh here's my email you can send us you know pictures um so yeah it is again to answer your question it is a lifestyle and I don't see it as challenging I have to say I I I see the other way of doing it challenging like if somebody was to tell me you know you're going to stay here for the rest of your life I I'd run away screaming I think like with my husband we had that um um funny moment when we at the beginning of of our marriage um we've already had our daughter um and we we obvious because we move around a lot we rent rent uh we don't like we don't I mean again the idea of like buying a property is like what like that's a thing stuck in the ground there like what am I going to do with that yeah um so we had that moment at some point where we we had to choose a sofa the sof in one of the apartments we rented was like old and whatever so we decided we we're going to buy a new one and we were joking that like we were both like we buying a sofa we're buying a sofa that's a huge thing like we can't travel with it you know there was more stress and consideration into buying that sofa than you know when we had our kid like it's literally like that's how crazy it is and I can't imagine how you live in the same place for a long time
Serhiy yeah that's that's a a bold statement say and I really have to give a thought to it honestly for me I've been living in one place and right now I think that I should at least travel Ukraine more across Ukraine because I don't really have other options as other men in Ukraine other UK use your time wisely yeah yeah so it was a good good good opportunity to explore Ukraine more let's talk about the business side of things uh you you already stepped on the toss of your family we're going to get back to it later in the in the episode but uh talk about Mark upgrade talk about smart branding.com actually we we met each other um through um Tatiana's wonderful podcast for smart branding.com and she actually uh is is uh the inspiration was the inspiration for me to start my own podcast and on this podcast uh for the most part Tatiana wants to know how people uh chose the brand names for their their businesses and um that's what you do with both of your companies as far as I'm concerned this is the main focus tell us I got this broad question to begin talking about your businesses do we still need a website in
10:32 Do We Need a Website?
Serhiy our in our day and age and how big of a deal it is for us to really pay attention on how do we call our website
Tatiana okay yeah uh so I I mean smart branding was um in a way a product of Mark upgrade Mark upgrade is um a company that deals with premium domain names and naming um and domain names as brand asset so when when I started that U the reason smart branding was born was because I I talk to a lot of entrepreneurs about exactly what you're just saying you know do we need a website and obviously if you need a website you need the domain name and how much does it matter what the domain name is does it match the name of the company what's the extension all of those questions and even though coming to Mark upgrade I came from a IT background I've had a software web development company for quite some time before that um so I I was in tech myself and I've been working in building you know websites for people for quite some time um when I started getting into domain names I realized that a lot a lot of entrepreneurs sadly the majority don't understand um the importance of domain names and naming but domain names in particular is part of that um and see it as I used to see it myself is just you know technical detail like just buy any domain name you know that will do whatever um so that's how smart branding came around because it's very hard it's impossible to to put all of that information in an email or in a phone call or you know when you talk to people you kind of um you know you have a accumulated that not knowledge and that information and all that research um and you know up there and people are down here with their understanding um and and you can't blame them because you know if nobody has told them they they don't have that information they they can't know um so on the topic of is it important to have a website I think more than ever actually because um when I started with websites it was literally the question then it was do I need a website like we would have we had a call center and we would call people and say know do you want a website do you need a website and people would be oh no I'm I'm on Yellow Pages I'm on whatever like I don't need a website so we used to convince people you need a website um then very quickly that went into uh people started realizing hold on me like everybody has website so I need a website so the calls were no longer about do I need a website it was do I need to what level does that website have to do something you know is it just a presentation can I sell my stuff online uh you know can I even like manage my inventory so the the level of sophistication um and the importance of that at website um that was the next question and then weirdly um people went into that um and businesses you know people and their businesses but as well personal Brands you know we all people uh and if you're working online whatever or you exist online that that is a personal brand however you cut it um so there's that wave of everyone thinking that oh I don't need a website or I don't need to give importance to my website because I'm on Facebook or I'm on Instagram or I'm on Tik Tok whatever yeah yeah um which I guess the simplest answer to do you need a website it's when you think about all of those platforms the really the only place that you own and so you own your image the information you put about yourself is your website like everything else you don't control it can be you literally you can see that everywhere like you put even like you put a brand on Google and you can see often times like the top results are competitors of that brand buying the brand name as a keyword to rank above them not to mention you know all the things about like who owns the information who owns that audience uh the number of businesses who have had troubles in like even going out of business because of you know a change of an algorithm a change of a rule or somebody you know reported them or some rules changed and they no longer have access to whatever um it's just crazy and also I don't I really don't understand like the logic of I'm I'm going to build an audience but I'm like you know I'm going to pay xplatform bring people to that platform to communicate with me so those people come for me but I'm like bringing them to whatever platform and then I'm going to have to keep paying and playing by somebody's rules to access that audience and to keep communicating it and it's always like hanging you know what if they it's not even what if they do change all the time like next time they change the rules can I still access my own audience yeah that's true it's just absolutely crazy um so in that respect you know having your website having your mail list where you are in direct connection with your audience you control the information that you present to them you control that connection is absolutely the way to go and any successful brand does that all the really major successful Brands they have a really serious uh domain name strategy not just one domain name they literally have a domain name strategy where like they would have um all the misspellings of their domain name because you want to make your customers life easy you know if they misspell the domain name by mistake if you know happens often enough they lose time ending up on another website or somebody can abuse that you know get that misspelled domain name and use that traffic um email again you know having an email list and having a direct communication with with your clients there's just nothing better than I mean the only other thing better is you know talking to them in person I guess Global brances but that's the closest thing um and you can see yeah Global I mean I always give Nike as an example but you you can see the same with apple with any iconic Brands they do have a strategy they do use all the other you know channels of communication but they use them as that they use them as a tool you know that is my tool and I'm going to put you know whatever information there that is complying with whatever rules that platform has and I'm still going to benefit of reaching people on that platform but the goal is always to bring those people to your website you know you have your account you have application whatever way to like with Nike again to use them as an example you you know you you have the Nike up you get a personal recommendation they make it interesting and exciting for you to be in touch with them directly so that I don't like if I want to get something from Nike I'll get my phone and I I have the app I don't have to go through Google through Facebook through something else which cost them less money as well yeah so in the long run in the long run I guess to to shortly answer the question if you're building a brand or a business that you plan to you know get some traffic get some sales sell it off you know quickly then yeah probably doesn't matter much even though it would still make a difference you know to your marketing to to investors to it still would make a difference but it's not as important if you're planning to build a brand that's going to last you know for years even more then absolutely you have to be thinking ahead like and you have to be thinking like really ahead like you you don't have you you have to not um Corner yourself with a name that for example ties you up to a product or to a region that you're going to later on have to change so even if you're starting small but you're thinking big you have to adapt that and take that into account with your name and with your domain name
Serhiy and I think what is not nonetheless significant you you mention it shortly is that if you want to sell something or if you want to find investment you want this entity to really be independent and even if you have millions of subscribers on Tik Tok I'm not sure that this can be used you know to say that you know you have such an asset because something changes tomorrow you know your Tik Tok million of your Tik Tok followers will not see your updates anymore and
Tatiana absolutely that happens all the time and in the in the same breath I think like uh blog like content marketing can also be like present on the website just just writing a Blog what do you think blog blogs on the websites are still legit
19:48 Are Blogs on the Websites Still Legit?
Serhiy there still uh they haven't kind of faded away people still still visit your website and still keeping up with the news and updates of your brand
Tatiana I think so um same I mean it's it's all about I think um authentic personal connection with your audience and so it's not a given it's not like to say oh you know I put a Blog out there and that's it everybody is going to come and read it no it has to be you know it has to be quality it has to be well targeted it has to be yes it has to be consistent uh can see a lot of content now is also like you would have the blog and you would have a audio version because a lot of us you know you have your headphones and I was like super against audio books and audio whatever and then once you get into it you're like oh my God I can consume so much more content uh that's useful or interesting on the go so that's you know you you adapt to to whatever is required and whatever people want but definitely and I mean if it's if it's good quality content that's to your audience absolutely and again I mean I would much rather and I think there's a lot more value in you know somebody coming reading something on your blog and subscribing to your email then tens or maybe even hundreds of followers who are I mean there's so so much like fake stuff and and and things you don't control it's just it's I've struggled to to see it as something serious I see it all of those social networks I see them as um tool that's it you know you do you do have to follow them yeah you do have to follow what's going on you do have to pay attention you do you know use them to attract visitors but the ultimate goal should always be to bring those people to your website to your email because then you have that direct connection with them
Serhiy people just flooded with so much data constantly on Instagram or Facebook whereas when you receive an email when you consciously make a choice you consciously first of all you made a choice to subscribe to this Brand's newsletter right so you gave them the permission to send you their updates and then later in on your in your inbox I I I assume that majority of people actually allocate C like some time in their schedule when they read uh emails only and they they much be much much more conscious and uh willing to read updates so that's actually a great piece of advice for because I I work with entrepreneurs who majorly do business uh on Instagram and um a lot of them don't possess a website I do but a lot of my colleagues don't and that's just such a great piece of advice that we should at least think about creating our own website for all the reasons that Tatiana just mentioned and if you want more reasons check Tatiana's website I think just just you got like a resources of for on all of all possible uh formats available uh on the website right
Tatiana yep absolutely yeah we have we have research we have uh just informative content we have podcast we have interviews with different people that offer their experience and advice so yeah that that's the point to it yeah
Serhiy well and and and and thinking Global and thinking wide is such a great piece of advice because you are limiting yourself for example my website is called Beverly in.com and I'm actually um because Beverly English the name of my uh school or communication um um kind of um university whatever is Beverly English but Beverly English wasn't available so I shortened it and I'm now I think that there is some kind of um mystery you know to to this and actually now I can broaden the list of my services because right now we are offering podcast creation which which I never ever thought I would do it wasn't on my list like even close and now I can put it on my website and if I if I called it like learn English online.com right that would kind of restrict me to giving only English classes while now I can do a variety of stuff um so go for brand what would be your advice on giving like how how no
24:51 Naming Advice
Serhiy naming the website it should it be something like smart branding it gives you an understanding of what you guys do because you have this tunnel vision but what would be your general advice on how do should we approach naming our website
Tatiana so it's really depends I mean the one thing is as as we just said you you have to really think about okay where am I now but you have to have that vision of where am I going even if it seems like crazy you know unreachable whatever but you have to you have to have it like you it really helps not only in choosing the name I think it generally helps on your direction and on your the choices you're going to make you know on that path um but on the naming as well so in terms of like to to continue with the smart uh smart branding example that is a educational platform so it was I mean totally okay and we we were very happy with that choice of them because like you said it literally says what it is yeah um it's there for Education we're not really selling anything we're not um in in any way you know limiting ourself to something it's not like there's no even commercial side of it um if we are talking about launching a brand that does something that offers a product or service like in Europe case I would suggest going for something that is less descriptive because the more is descriptive the more likely it is to box you up into um something so um yeah something
Serhiy interrupt but we're not thinking uh search engine optimization here I mean because I have a lot of folks from my business years they when they create a new business they create a new website even if they create a new service they create a new website so they have really narrow in terms of this stuff because they want all the keywords and H1 H2 description to kind of align you know for for the purposes of you know kind of growing the ranking in uh in Google so those things and we've had a lot of guests and we do have like even lined up guests on on search engine optimization I I think my thoughts on that are very much like with um the social media tools it's and I mean SEO rules change and they're going to continue to change so
Tatiana exactly so when you're building a business and you're choosing your name and you're choosing your domain name I think the people go crazy about like Trends or this SEO or that whatever or that platform the ultimate goal of all of it is your customers like it's for them to understand you for them to find you for them to for it to be easy for them to reach you and refer to you and share your name name and write you an email and in the in in in a way that's the ultimate goal of all the platforms and and SEO itself as well like the the the aim of Google is you know they obviously have to make money but ultimately they want to make people's life easier their customers life easier so whatever they do like the safest way to uh continue to be relevant there as well you're going to have your SEO department and they're going to do their thing and they're going to follow what happens but like Google or any other search engine they're always going to be trying to make the end user life easier so if that's your aim as well you can't go wrong there um and I think we we I mean the reason why keywords stuck domain names that have a lot of keywords were like the thing in the '90s and they're not anymore is because Google figured out that people are abusing that so they changed it so it doesn't matter anymore so if you if you if you're thinking about you know I'm going to build a brand for SEO you're going to get it wrong because it's going to change if you're going to you know hack the system and it's going to work for some time it's not going to work forever so the ultimate goal I think is always to you know make it simple make it easy for your customers make it authentic and then yeah you're going to have your you know design Department that's going to fine tune and find you know the best way to make whatever and the SEO department is going to do their thing and the content department is going to do their thing but the ultimate goal is always you know the end user and the ease of and I had that with um when when we were doing websites and software I had that and I think yeah a lot of people have that whatever industry there in you get a client that comes and goes you know build me a website and you go okay so you know what are you going to do who is your Target customer how do they find you what do they need to know about you how do they you know what's what's the process of them landing on the website and ordering or looking for whatever and people are like yeah yeah yeah okay then you present them a website based and all of that and they go oh I actually want that red and I want a picture of my dog there and I I I I I and you're like you're building a website for yourself or you're building a website for your customers it's and and people it's amazing how people that have a lot of experience still can fall into that trap and I get that a lot with domain names now people are going I'm I'm okay with that domain name I'm fine like I'm fine and then you have the stuff of the same like I'd be talking to you know decision maker in the company and you have the assistant who scheduling the meeting getting the domain name of the company wrong and that's that's somebody who works with you they're getting that domain name wrong what about your clients and that's you know like you think I'm fine with that you don't have to spell that on the phone 50 times a day you know that's why you think you're fine with that but are are your you know customers fine are your staff members fine you know your team are they okay with that name so people U forget that ultimately yeah it has to it has to be about making the life of your customers easier and as soon as there's a difference there's there's some mismatch like your brand is called you know I was going to say x but you can't use that as an example anymore like cuz you know Twitter killed it your brand is called but if your brand is called X and and you know your domain name is XYZ it's going to be confusing for people and confusion it it costs money that's like the simplest way to put it you're going to have to pay for people to remember that you're going to have to pay for for that confusion in one way or another
Serhiy so our suggestion here would be do not try playing algorithm that we are never going to be well maybe there are some shortcuts that's what some sneaky SEO people do but that's never a long Play It's always a shortterm income and sooner or later you'll still have to think about the real value and and create the platform for your customers so better start with not analyzing keywords or uh Trends using Google Trends but talk to your customers and build your business based on that and plus I really love that that it's one of the tools that is just one of the tools this search engine optimization is just one of the marketing channels just like Instagram just like Tik Tok and any
Tatiana it is absolutely it is
32:51 Get Every Teammate Involved
Serhiy and I I think that's one of the things that people get wrong where it's like oh the domain name is the job of that and whatever is the job of that
Tatiana and I mean when when we we when I had the web development company one of the best things that we would do and the most effective things was when we are uh working on a project is you get everybody on the team involved everyone because you know if we're talking about a name and a domain name and you get your naming people who say that's a wonderful name it's a great name it's you know goes with that and that and it's perfect for that and then you're going to have you know somebody else who has absolutely different expertise bring in something you know that that the naming people wouldn't have thought of like I mean they they could go yeah but that's hard to spell for whatever or I don't know it's not compatible with whatever so you absolutely the more people you have and definitely you know with the naming but with any part of um building and running a business I think it's it you have to have the the team like in its entirety together looking at things that may not appear relevant to them but you would like to I mean it's simpler to give an example with web development but like anybody who's been in that space you would know like You' give something you know somebody describes a thing you give it to the designers they build a pretty thing like a design and you give it to the programers and they're like oh my God yeah you know that's like that's a nightmare that's not doable so exactly in the same way that runs throughout the whole business and there's only positive SES of um having that channel open of communication within the team where everybody can you know give their opinion on whatever it is the others are doing
Serhiy there a lot of things to for for me actually to think uh yeah to unpack because maybe I have to really uh place a bigger bet on my on my website and for all of my fellow entrepreneurs guys let's create a website and um if we need one you know where to find Tatiana all right so let's shift gears to well you you you you notice that the name of my show is pretty vulnerable you know I'm kind of that person who loves asking vulnerable questions and sensitive questions personal questions uh because I think this is what makes um people uh themselves right and um maybe you can address a few of them for me go ahead first one is um do you do you love what you do right now in terms of
35:44 How Did You Find Your Passion?
Serhiy of your um business and uh how did you come to this point of finding and discovering this type of work that you truly love was there like a pivotal moment was there like a moment of aha was it something that you found found by surprise just if you can um like give us insight into that
Tatiana um I I do um and it it's absolutely not what I planned I mean I I I actually wanted to be a journalist and other things that you can see on my LinkedIn yeah I saw I saw then I I studied U accountancy and international relationship relationships um and then I got into U it and web development because U I was speaking English well and I started working in um in a call center for for which country was in Bulgaria that was in Bulgaria so I started working in that um that call center and then I was like I can I if I can sell websites why why would I sell them to somebody else so you know that's how I started my IT company then I spent some time in England where we were selling websites and software and then so Mark upgrade came around as a follow up on that there was a period where where I got more into the marketing side of it I just I think there was a period where like it just became a bit too much for me it became too too fragmented there was like so many things there were a lot of tools a lot of languages a lot of like everything it just got too much and and also marketing and branding side of it was a bit more creative um and a bit closer to to that you know if you like to journalism even you know the in terms of of like the the content creation but also the communication with people Etc so um I got more into that and then I got into working by accident I guess I had a client who who had premium domain names and it just opened up that window for me of hold on a minute domain names as a thing not just as a technical detail because before that obviously I was dealing with domain names but it was you know get any domain name set it up you know the email the whatever um and then yeah when when we started working um on the presentation for those premium domain names premium domain names there was the two discoveries one was that I discovered for myself that domain names actually matter a lot more Beyond uh just the technical side of it just by and and I remember I spent like months just like reading researching all the content there is like about domain names which is not on that front is not easy to find at all again one other reason why we put smart branding together because there's that you know there's the technical side of it and then there is the domain Market which is domain investors and they have their geeky token domain things and there's nothing in between like you literally you have branding and naming agencies huge marketing agencies who not only don't advise on domain names but they if they do comment on domain names they give like ridiculously bad advice because they don't know themselves and that was like whoa that I mean there's something wrong there um and also the fact that a lot of Premium domain names just have like terrible presentations because there's like people in the majority um who in the '90s or you know were were like Visionary enough to think hold on that's like real estate but on the internet so they got those names but then they're just like sitting on them and thinking you know somebody's just going to come and buy them it's like no they're not going to just well it happens obviously because the market exists but you can't just sit there and wait for people to understand that those things are valuable without educating them it it just doesn't make sense so there was that gap of like people don't understand domain names entrepreneurs don't understand the main names and domain owners don't do much about educating people they they're just you know sitting there waiting for somebody to buy those names um so that's how Mark upgrade came around and and then smart branding as a way to educate people on on the topic uh and yeah I I do I do love what I do I speak to a lot of people you know about their names and Brands so that that's like always interesting uh the educational part of it is fun we do have a small team that works uh on on a lot of content uh which is also fun to fun to do it's interesting for for ourselves and and then to you know present the result to people so yeah I I wouldn't say a big aha moment but yeah I think the discovering that premium domain names and the main names in general matter and our thing and they're so misunderstood and badly presented that was probably uh the moment but similar to to moving around like where I live I don't I I've never it's been a long time i' I've been doing that like coming up to probably eight years now U but I don't see that as you know that's the one thing I'm doing I'm I'm always open to you know other things I'm always like um looking around we do have other projects that we're working on as well that are not you know at the stage where they they public yet but we always have and I always have things going on I always feel like um there's there's more more to do and more to discover
Serhiy so you got a team on remote basis right how how big of is your team
41:57 How Big is Your Team?
Tatiana uh we oh Jesus we have yeah we do have a small team we we are I mean we do try and meet at least like once a once a year but we are yeah we we we do have actually uh one of our programmers is in Kev we've been working for like four years and we met when we we came here that was funny he was actually very helpful hi he was very helpful on uh helping us settle in here because we were looking for a place and he would like go and look at things and take pictures and all that like and now it's like it's a running joke in the family whenever there's something is like colar it's like somebody has to take care of the cat for two days callar like it's a yeah so there's the there's him we do also have another programmer we have the two girls that are uh working on the content they are in Bulgaria so we are yeah we are kind of all over the place
Serhiy yeah that's just an example that you are not tied or bound to a certain place just like Tatiana you can travel the world and um manage your business successfully well I think uh the the fact that you do speak great English helps you a lot right so for all of us Global Citizens this is the language that we should learn guys just to advertise myself a little bit no French is French is French is popular as well French is popular in France is popular in France you just you just lost your French audience there really guys I'm sorry how do I say I'm sorry in French
Tatiana okay all right right all right all right
Serhiy um so no pivotal moment it was all building up on your previous success and you were you you were wide open to New Opportunities and you saw an opportunity and you uh saw a market Gap and you more most importantly you felt like you can deliver and you just um you know took this this opportunity um and capitalize on it so when you say we is this a family
44:28 Family Business and Working Together
Serhiy business do you is your husband involved or he's uh doing completely different things
Tatiana yeah no we do work together yeah he he do he does mostly focus on social media okay so that's when I say we I usually mean the whole team like we are a big
Serhiy but you see I sense that your husband might be involved so and it begs a bunch of questions actually um how do you find working together is this a benefit is this like a blessing or is this a curse in some instances um and maybe you can
Tatiana yeah I I don't I mean well it it can yeah it can go both ways generally it's um I think it's very individual I mean I've seen people who can work together and people who can't and you just have to be okay either way I think but we I mean we do like I mean we live in and work together like we're together 24/7 and still like when I um I had um an interview for French French citizenship and they were they were they had that weird question like what do you do with your husband when it's not the kids or work I'm like do you really want me to tell you but but but the yeah we do spend all the time together and then still we we have that feeling of we don't spend enough time together because there you know there's the kids there's work there's you know all of the things like when all is done and there's like yeah I don't know how people do that there's people that you know like one goes to work and the other one goes to work and then they go and see their friends and then they whatever and it's like I don't even like have time for that I I don't feel I have enough time like we have enough time on our own even though we are pretty much in the same space all the time um so I guess that that helps in in that respect that we just have a good relationship and then that translates to work as well um so yeah like you're in the working mode and you're in the working mode right and you're like have these modes that you kind of turn on and turn off depending on I you have to yeah if you're working with people that are family that are close to you I think you have to have to be able to do that otherwise it's just a huge struggle and there are people who can't do that and I think in that case you just have to be honest with yourself and with that person can't just we can't do that I mean it's not um it's nobody's fault if if you are the type of person who can't separate you know work and and personal life but it just doesn't work and it's not worth it you know if if if you have those two relationships and you're like we're going to mess both up because we're trying to do something that doesn't work you know you're better off just saying no let's not work together because it doesn't work and you know the personal stuff works unless it's the other way around but you know either way there yeah the the the times when it works and times when it doesn't
Serhiy well Simon synic yeah constantly repeats that the best uh the best possible scenario for business is to have two leaders a woman and a man because they complement so much each other so much men gives this required stubbornness women give this empathy that is highly highly important
Tatiana I I would I would I arue that I'm the stubborn one now so
Serhiy any type of character let's say let's say character yeah okay but anyway my actually my my take on that would be I I feel that you better off in an organization with three people whatever the gender is and I I feel that because when there's two there's always that like when you get on an issue where there's two different opinions it's very hard to judge which one is right when you're 5050 when you have three people yeah I think when you have three people it's a really good balance for uh for a business to to you know have that third opinion in whichever case balance out or open some kind of A New Perspective so I do I do strive for that in an organization as a as a number if you know we're going to stick to minimum number yeah but it's like a great um lesson that you don't need that many people as long as these people are really really trustworthy I have a friend who created nft calendar it's like the biggest aggregator for nft drops uh and at the Times where NFD was like ballooning up like going and they made so much money because people would want to like advertise on their website so he bit everyone to the market they were the first one and they were making like $100,000 per month like but having like up to six people on board so and it and he also works with his wife there are ukrainians living in Portugal right now and they're just more and more examples that uh doing B doing business uh with uh your close one is not a bad idea did you watch the documentary about David Beckham that was released recently yet
Tatiana no I haven't I I only saw some clips like circulating like funny stuff I haven't seen it
Serhiy when you look at their story um of David and Victoria how he would kind of rent the entire like Charter or whatever to go to see her for like an hour but they were missing each other so much and it's interesting that you're saying that you're you're together but you still seems like you're missing but you're missing the other uh side of your relationships when the kids are not around or work is not there so it's pretty cool so pretty cool okay let's
50:54 Running Discussion
Serhiy talk about uh one of your biggest Hobbies or I don't know if I can call it one of your biggest Hobbies your biggest hobby tell me how big of a role in your in your life running place and uh when did it all start for you
Tatiana um started actually with my husband and um well I call it a hobby and and he sometimes is like when when we go to a competition and I'm like oh whatever doesn't matter the result I'm just going to run and have fun and it's just The Hobby and he's like yeah it's a hobby you know have you noticed like the number of kilometers we do and like cuz usually when you run Trails they're long so you gone for five six seven hours he has to stay with the kids and animal oh yeah I mean if it's a like depends on the the the terrain what's it called the nivation um in the mountains yeah I mean you can take like easily 5 hours for 30 35 km because you have the you know climbing um so so yeah he's joking about you know that that like at at that level you can't call that a hobby with with that amount of investment both you know in time and travel and dedication yeah it's it's not a hobby but it is a hobby you know I I I don't see like I'm not by any means a professional or anything um it started actually with with my husband as well is um I didn't like when we met I was actually smoking and I haven't run like I didn't even have running shoes and he's way too much at me was we would run a kilometer I think it was a kilometer maybe and a half to a gas station so you go out of town and you run to the gas station that's like after some field whatever and that was the way to motivate me like I would get a coffee and a cigarette there and we'll run back and and I thought I was like proud of myself like oh my God like 3 kilm like wow and um and then when we moved to France actually cuz I was like on and off a bit of running when we go to France um he he likes um biking and I hate bicycles like I he got me a bike I got on it once I fell I still have the scars and I gave it away and that was my story with biking so I hate bikes like they they just stress me out um so I wanted to join him when he was doing the bike so I had to run to you know like so we can go out together um and then it started with that like um I I mean I started running a little bit and that's the cool thing about running is that you don't really need any kind of equipment or anything you don't really need to like go crazy about I'm going to do this or that it just happens on its own and I think you run as well so like anyone who's got themsel into running you start with you know two 3 5 10 km I remember when I first run 10 km that was like wow oh my God and I tried a few times before that um and I was That's a crazy thing but I was like I can't run outside like I'm not a runner like people are going to look at me and they're going to think like you run you know in a stupid way or whatever so I was like until I get to 10 km I'm going to run in the gym and a few times I would and and then I now I know that's just stupid because it's so much harder to run in a gym like both mentally and physically and it's so much nicer to run outside but at the time it wasn't the case so I remember a few times I tried to get to 10 km and there was always something like the machine didn't work uh then the there was one time I had like my brow was falling I was like ah for Christ's sake I'm just sick of this so I didn't like I was just sick of it I didn't get to 10 kilm and then one time I was like wow 10 kilm I was like so proud of myself and now I'm like I mean I did 10 km this morning and I'm like it's a little footing I'm like almost like I'm not going to put it on stra that's embarrassing but it's it's a thing that kind of progresses on its own and I mean yeah I think everybody should run
Serhiy like what what's your record in terms of a distance
Tatiana uh distance 70 70 kilm but that's in Mountain so that counts like more I don't there's some calculations yeah my God you're no in mountains it's cool
Serhiy now the funny thing is when I came here cuz obviously there's no mountains so I'm now running you know flat and everybody's like oh after the mountains that must be easy for you
Tatiana I'm like no no that's actually you know hard for me cuz in the mountains there's like the things around you change and you have the ups and downs so you have a difference in intensity um and I find it a lot easier than like I've done semiotones here a few times now and I found it much much harder because you go quicker and you maintain that speed and also mentally just like the fact that it's you know all flat and often times you do like the health Marathon we did um four circles around the same thing so you just mentally it's very very different like in the mountains you're just like out in nature and things change and so yeah but I'm I'm I'm finding new ways here to to run and new challenges um I'm going to try and do um 100 kilometers competitively by April May so I'm going to get into the preparation for that now so I'm kind of looking forward to that as well
Serhiy going to take place which city I don't know that because my code just sent the you know list to for those who want to participate in that to you know raise their hand so like I've signed up for that and I don't know where where it is I don't know yet so uh yes basically you're you're getting hungrier and hungrier uh as you progress right
Tatiana because you want to with everything I think that's yeah for sure that that applies to whatever we do in life as long as we remain um inquisitive
Serhiy and you know and I think competitive would you call yourself a competitive person
Tatiana um I don't know like we've had those discussions with my husband as I said cuz some sometimes like I would get you know when I started running I would be like no I'm just here for the fun I don't care I'm here for the fun you know I'm not going to stress myself over results it's just fun fun fun and the thing is the more you do it the better you get at it the more you obviously you know get closer to the top the more it's like ah like like when you when I was finishing you know like 20 30th Place you're like yeah it's cool you know I finished that's a great achievement already when you start getting to you know know top 10 top five you're like M I think I yeah I think I can do more you want to do more cuz you're that close now and and you did it without pushing yourself too much you know you did it still with pleasure so you're like yeah I want to do more and and it's a good thing I guess I like seeing it as more like it's nice to see that you put the effort in and then you get the results and and that's kind of that's cool and I I have that Sports teaches you that more than anything else I think I have that like when I mean there was um I don't know how many kilometers we run the last time but there's that feeling of it's that's Beauty about sport where you know you're the limit of your efforts and it's hard and you know and you have somebody passing by like you know like a girl in my case a woman so I know like you know she's um we are in the competing for the same place and when you've done your training you've done everything right you're doing your best you know on the spot and they run past you and finish you know u a better place than you I feel like almost like you deserve it like that's really cool like I feel good for them and and that's always in competitions like we congratulate each other at the end cuz you know that feeling you've been training you know the same and and you feel like you've given it your everything
Serhiy that's the approach that I think a lot of business people should take even though a lot of people compete um using the metrics that they made up you know so like no one's competing you by the same metrics that you competing with everyone you know there are a lot a lot of Obsessed people they're obsessed about revenue or I don't know the number of peoples or how Spacey their office is while there could be a person who's just not thinking in this terms and from this step point forward I think it's so so instrumental and you know important to just be happy for each other because you don't know how much effort the person put in or what are the values that you know people got um for themselves as a priority on the on the point of Social Capital since you run podcasts and obvious ly you have so many different people that you met um throughout your life how important it is to grow our network was a a certain particular Connection in your life responsible for um you know the um success or like you know some some great great result that you obtained and uh should we pursue like uh whatever social Gatherings and you know uh events to to meet new people
1:01:17 Importance of Growing Your Network
Tatiana I'm I'm fascinated with people and with stories and I I had that when when I was little I had that um struggle where I thought you have to be like one person who likes you know one type of music one type of clothing one type of whatever and other ways there's something wrong with you and that I had a long time where I was struggling with that and and then I kind of just come came to terms with it and and decided you don't actually you you know you don't I have a lot of respect for people who can do that but I can't um and and so you know in a way um I realize that I can actually use that to my benefit that I can be a lot of people a lot of different types of people and it allows me to like when I enter a situation ation when I enter a group of people or when I meet some somebody um I'm very open to to who they are and I'm very um how to say it's like a a wi piece of paper I'm like you know just exploring what they are who they are how they go to where they go to without trying to put it in some box or or trying to you know put it against something that I am like say oh you don't do this like me therefore it's you know there's something wrong with it it's it's not like that and and so even though um it's it's always it's an ongoing effort for me to um to communicate with people be because I guess because like it's left from from childhood I do genuinely care about people and I'm interested and it makes it harder like when people ask you how are you they they don't expect you in most cases to actually answer that if you're not that naturally outgoing person you know social person uh when you really want to know how the person is doing it helps a lot to connect right so it's not like you're asking how are you like Americans do just instead of high so it's an effort on your part right you have to uh have some space in your head for new emotions or whatever but it helps so much to build these connections
Serhiy and I'm super super thankful for um your appearance on the podcast it was a great great talk and a lot a lot of wisdom so thank you so much and I help I hope to see you uh soon uh in person in k