Latest / Glovisor Podcast / How He Built a Water Business From Scratch | RKIN | Eric Kurbanov (Ep 68)

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How He Built a Water Business From Scratch | RKIN | Eric Kurbanov (Ep 68) · Glovisor Podcast

• Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: This is the story of building a water business from scratch and making every drop count. Welcome to the Glovisor Podcast, where we explore business growth, communication, and personal development through real conversations with people that make an impact. Our guest built his company from the ground up in one of the most challenging economic periods with a vision to make pure drinking water more accessible. He is the CEO of RKIN Water Systems. Glovisor welcomes Eric Kurbanov Eric Kurbanov: Thank you for having me on, Joe. It's my pleasure. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: likewise. Looking forward to the conversation. So, Eric, let's begin. Please share with us a little bit more about what you do. Eric Kurbanov: We do water systems. And that's the main focus of our company. We also have air purifiers, but that's the newest addition to our family of products. And basically anything that has to do with water for your home or for your business, we do it. We have countertop water systems that people who rent can use because they don't need any installation or connections. And we also do whole home water systems for people who own their house. And would like to have the water treated throughout the entire home as well. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: I want to talk about a lot of those, but let's begin with the first question I have for you that I've been meaning to ask you this whole time is where did you come up with the name RKIN? Eric Kurbanov: The name Arkane, it's it's a journey and it it has quite interesting story, at least for me, that I would like to share how it ended up with name RKIN So a few years back, we were kind of on a crossroads and I had to make a decision. We had a partnership with a manufacturer that that made some of our products in the past. and now I had to make a decision, we're gonna create our own brand. Because we wanted to expand into whole home systems and also kind of differentiate and have that mark as a new stage in companies' evolution. And most of the time, what new companies do when they when they change a name or create a new brand name is they register it. And I thought that I'm quite creative and that. I would be able to come up with a cool name and have it registered in with the US government for patents and et cetera as a brand name. Well, it turns out that all the cool names already taken. And I spent like weeks trying to figure out what would what what what should we do? What should we call this company? And I came up with this one name. I went out there, I looked it up. Yes, nobody has registered yet. And also the website was also available. I could we could get the domain name. And I thought to myself, you know what? I'm just gonna think about it one night before I pull this trigger and we're gonna do it in the morning. I came in the very next day, 9 a.m. I'm like, all right, let's do it. And as soon as I went to the website, try to put the name in. Someone else had registered that night. I'm like, no way. No. It crushed me emotionally, it crushed me physically. I'm like, I spent so much time and somebody beat me to it. Pretty crazy. And then I thought to myself, well, you know, a lot of companies are named for their founder's name, right? And my Uzbek name is spelled. Erkin, E-R-K-I-N. But when I was in high school and some early college years, you know, people would make fun of me and they're like, Erkin, Jerkin. I'm like, yeah, we're not we're not doing Erkin because people would mispronounce it and I still have those cars from way back in the day. I'm like, okay, so what do we do? I'm like, thought about it a little bit longer. Well, we'll just take the E off of it and it's gonna be four letter word, a good one. Hopefully. and the domain was also available. I'm like, I'm not sleeping on this another night. We're doing it right now, today. I went out there and registered it, and that's how we ended up with a name. A lot of people have trouble pronouncing it. And I completely understand why. The easiest way that I can say or communicate how to pronounce it is just imagine if a pirate was saying that and You're just going to say RKIN. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: That's a good way to remember it. Sounds to be like a good commercial for you, locally. Eric Kurbanov: There you go. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: Now, Eric, what inspired you to get into this path? Eric Kurbanov: So water systems and water in general kind of ties in into my childhood as well. Growing up in the former Soviet Union Republic, Uzbekistan, during those years, right after the collapse and when our country, the Republic, had become independent, a lot of infrastructure had started to fall apart and started to fall apart fast. Now I grew up in a small town. And a lot of small towns were the first ones that that lost that infrastructure support. So when I was growing up, we would get water only once or twice a day in the morning and in the evening, and that's only for 30-40 minutes at a time. And the water quality also wasn't really that good. Every once in a while, it wasn't uncommon to see a little like. Creepy crawlers kind of swimming around in the water as well. So, and what we used to do, we would you you never drink water directly from the tap. You always boil it. And even when you did boil it, you would kind of put it in a in a glass jar, you know, like one gallon glass jar. and you let the water settle because the the water was so hard, there are so many minerals in it, that one after you boil it, you can see on the bottom. There's this like kind of layer of things kind of just settling off. And you would only drink the top part. So that's my childhood in the background. And then when I came to United States, you know, things were great. There was no shortage of water, there was water always on and there's no no problems with it. So I found that quite enjoyable. And I also got used to it very fast. A little bit further. fast forward I started working and after I college. and I bought my first house and I wasn't even 21 yet. and that that home was a little bit outside of town and it had its own like well water system where the water was coming out, that portion was working great, and then in the kitchen under the sink. It had a drinking water system, which kind of filtered it even more and gave it this great drinking water. And we started using it, kind of got used to it, and you know, it was great. Again, like you you don't we don't have to buy bottled water anymore. And didn't think much of it. So a couple years down the road, sold that home, ended up buying another house now in town. And I thought I was moving up in life. And you know, we moved in and I found myself drinking buying bottled water again. I'm like, what's going on? That doesn't make sense. What what's happening here? And then like, yeah, we had that water system. And I started doing research, what it was, found out that it was a reverse osmosis system. And started looking for, you know, where I can buy one, put one in, or have someone come in and install it. couldn't find it anywhere. This is like 2007, 2008 era. You know, it's it's very early. The internet was around, but it's not as robust as it is today, and you could find things, but it's it wasn't as easy. then one day, by pure chance, strolling around in Costco, I saw a box that had a picture of the system that looked like just like we had one in the previous home. I'm like, this is it. put it in, absolutely loved it. I was so excited about it. And I was working at local mining company here at the quarry. We were digging rock and sand and et cetera that was used for for building the homes around that time. And Everybody, all my all the people that were on my on my crew, they all ended up buying one from me. Not because, you know, they couldn't go out there and get one from Costco themselves. They just wanted one to support me. And also they want someone else to to do the work for them because they didn't want to become a water expert. You know, they they were technically inclined people. They could have done it themselves, but it does involve, you know, doing your research, reading all the manuals in detail and making sure you have all the tools, et cetera. So they had me do it. I'm like, wow, that there may be something to it. And that's how that's how it all started. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: what's interesting is that you went from a poor water quality situation to what's considered to be a really good quality situation, right? The opposite end of it. Eric Kurbanov: That's correct. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: Yeah, but some people don't realize that even the great water system that we have, they have a lot of impurities in it. There's a lot still a lot to filter through in order to have the best quality. So that's great that you did your research and put it all together. But Can we go back to one thing as you had mentioned that you have you found a system that was reverse osmosis? Can you just give us a short explanation of what reverse osmosis is? Eric Kurbanov: Sure. So the reverse osmosis originally developed by, well, as as far as the water system is concerned, I believe by NASA, for astronauts to kind of filter and reuse their pee on a long, on the long journeys. So that's how powerful it is. And what it's the only process for water filtration that gives you both the quality and the most cost effective way of. It does wastes a little bit of water because it kind of splits the water in two sections. On one side, you have pure, pure water, and on the other side you'll have some impurities, and that portion goes into the drain. But even with that, when you calculate everything in, it's the most efficient way to purify water. And that's all people need to know. There's a lot of you know articles out there, opinions out there by companies that selling different filters. other filters than reverse osmosis that try to kind of give different perspective on the on the technology itself. But when you boil down to dollars and cents, it's the most efficient way to to filter water. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: a regular filter really only filters out the bigger particulates. It doesn't really filter what's dissolved into the water. And that's where reverse osmosis can really get down really deep into that what's dissolved, which is much, much smaller. that's my understanding of it. Eric Kurbanov: Yes, Joe, you're absolutely correct. So why don't like we gotta look at what's out there and being used for water filtration to compare. Way back in the day, in early 80s, people used to have distillers. And what distillation does, it kind of evaporates, boils the water, and then collects the steam. And steam is like one of the most purest ways you can get water. There's some VOCs that escape, but you can filter them out afterwards with carbon filtration. So, but the problem with with distillation and distillers from back in the day, number one, they're very energy consuming. And number two, they require quite quite a bit of maintenance because the the water you're putting in is not that great quality to begin with. And if you notice like if you have a kettle or like a something where you boil water constantly, you will notice that buildup on the inside. and it gets really thick really fast. The same thing happens in the distillers as well, because it's the same process. So you have to constantly maintain, clean, and scrub and etc. So very inefficient process. That's what reverse osmosis replaced. And other filters out there that are now being used, quite often is carbon filtration. And carbon filtration uses carbon media, which is basically in the easiest way to explain, just charcoal. you what it does it it pulls the contaminants out of the water and holds on to them. So once the carbon is full of contaminants and kind of it's it no longer has the ability to pull stuff out. It no longer functions. So you have a limited capacity in the media itself. With reverse osmosis, because reverse osmosis does not filter water in technical terms, but it purifies it. Only a certain only the water is big enough to pass through the membrane cell. And anything that's bigger than water molecule itself gets rejected. It doesn't get through. So you would only get technically just nothing but water coming through it. And that's what makes it wonderful. And also the membranes last very long time, anywhere between two to four years, sometimes even longer. Why? Because they're not technically holding on to the contaminants. They're just rejecting them from coming through the barrier on the pure water side. And that's what makes it so amazing. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: Interesting. You know, I was just thinking that I have a water system that's in my garage and then every night what it does is or every other night I hear it flushing out. What is it doing? Eric Kurbanov: So you most likely have a backwashing carbon filter or a water softener. And both of them, we don't do backwashing carbon filters because we have found a way to achieve the same or similar result without using the power head. So I'll cover the water softener a little bit more in detail because some you cannot avoid that in a water softener. But in carbon filters, you can. So, with a water softener, when it regenerates, do you use salt in your water system? Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: Yes. Eric Kurbanov: They put salt? Okay, perfect. So then it's 100% water softener. And what it's doing when it's using the salt, it's regenerating the media inside the water softener to recharge it and replenish it with salt ions. So next morning or the next day, when you go back to using the water. The media is recharged and ready to go for the following process. When the water is flowing through it, those little tiny beads, the media inside, they look for calcium and magnesium, which are hardness minerals, and they're pulling them out from water. But now the water is out of balance because when it came in, it had the calcium and magnesium. You pulled it out. And it needs to replace it with something, and it gives that salt back. And this way you physically removing hardness minerals and doing it in a very efficient and replenishable way by exchanging it with salt. So the water will taste a little bit salty, but it will not have hardness minerals in it. And a benefit of that is hardness minerals will build up in plumbing, on appliances, inside of water-bearing appliances. on your fixtures, on your shower doors, the tubs, et cetera, you name it, it's it's gonna build up everywhere. But because salt is different in its chemistry and how it reacts with surfaces, it doesn't build up. So you don't you don't have that negative effect of having hard water and you have salt water. Now one question that I may have is why is it regenerating every two nights? It it seems like if you're on city water, it probably should be a little bit longer in in between regenerations. Depending on the size and how many people in a home and the usage in in home, we have our water systems, our water softeners, what we call a smart or metered softeners, and they will only regenerate based on usage. So let's say you have one, two, three bathroom. Size water softener and it can handle, let's say 3,000 or 5000 gallons based on the hardness that's water that's coming in. It will only regenerate when it's coming close to that limit. There are still systems out there that don't have that functionality where you just set it, let's say every two days, every three days, or however period that they that. installer determines and it just runs nonstop and you it's costing you more in water because every time the system regenerates it uses water and it's also costing you more in in salt because you're just using it up even though that you may not need it. the one one clear way to demonstrate why this is important. So for example, let's say whole family goes on a vacation, right? And you you're out for a week. There's no water usage. But those timer-based systems, they will still go on and regenerate and use that salt and go through that cleaning process every two, three days or or whatever. Now, with a metered system or a smart system like ours, it will estimate the gallons and it'll know, like, hey, nobody's using it. I don't need to regenerate. My I'm still full of capacity. I'm gonna wait. Now, the opposite of that, let's say You know, it was set up for every three days and it's really close in timing for what your system needs. But you have people come over and now you have two, three more people in a household, everybody's taking showers. Now your usage, let's say, double and you need to regenerate every day instead. the system will not know it. But a smart system will be able to say, Hey, I'm now I'm running low. I need to do it sooner. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: you you had mentioned at the very beginning all the different products that you offer, which is a lot more than a lot of other competitors or people that are out there. So can you share with us a little bit more again? Because you mentioned one that I I know a lot of people that are renting need to acquire because they just can't have an installation. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? Eric Kurbanov: Yeah, so this is this was one of our first products that kind of made a lot of sense to me because I spent a lot of time on the phone in my early days with with customers. Somebody calls in, I would answer, I would help them figure out which system they need, what is the best way to to install it, and et cetera, et cetera. And every time the People would come back, hey, I really want your system, but I'm not allowed to put one in. I'm still renting. Okay. Then we came out with a countertop system that would have like lines, the tubing that would connect to the faucet. Right? You can use those little adapters that would connect to your faucet, and then you have one tube going into the system, another tube coming out of the system for the for that reject water or bad water with all the contaminants in it. And then talking with customers, you know, I I I really like your system, but my faucet doesn't use the same adapter. What can I do? Or the adapter is great, but it really gets on the way every time when I'm using the the sink because I'm washing dishes and it's and it's not the best experience for me. So based on that, like how can we make a system that doesn't require any plumbing, doesn't require you connecting it to your faucet, to kitchen faucet. And it's just standalone, very similar to coffee maker concept. And it was really one of the first in the US market that fully accomplished that. And we still do have it. It's the same model. it's almost 20 it's almost like over 15 years now that we had it on the market. And works great. The does what it needs to do. The design is very friendly. For longevity, meaning that it has been specifically designed to have to be able to replace any part in it that fails. Anything that fails, and you can you can replace it. And we had customers that have been using it for like 10, 15 years. And it's as an amazing product. It will stay alive. It will not die if you're willing to support it. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: Let's just say I own my own home. What are the products that you offer? Eric Kurbanov: So we usually recommend the number one thing, and it's kind of interesting, there is a little bit of twist to it, because whole home water systems cost quite a bit more than a drinking water system, like you would install, for example, for under the sink. So when customers ask us, if I get the whole home system, do I still need an undersync drinking water system? And I think they may be expecting an answer that we're gonna say no, because you know, you just get the whole house system and it takes care of everything, don't worry about it, just buy the most expensive thing. Which is, in my opinion, is not the case, because the whole home systems, right, they do a great job at filtration and and treatment of large volumes of water. If you think about it, more than probably 90% of water usage in a household doesn't get consumed. You're washing dishes, washing clothes, flushing toilets, showering and it and et cetera, et cetera. So the water that goes into entire home. Can benefit from being filtered? Yes, of course. But does it have to be absolutely purified with reverse osmosis, which is kind of like the top-notch level of cleanliness you can get in a in a home setting? No, it doesn't. So The general recommendation is first and foremost, take care of drinking water system, because whatever you're consuming goes inside of your body has to be the best quality you can get, period. And then once that's taken care of, think about whole home filtration. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: you've taken that step further and now you added also some type of air filtration. Eric Kurbanov: Air purifier, that's correct. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: Verifier. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? Eric Kurbanov: Yeah, so air purifier, it kind of came out of my personal pain with air purifiers. Again, you know, kind of you can see the pattern there developing. So Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: Yeah. Eric Kurbanov: I myself had severe allergies up to about two years ago. And like taking Claritin D every day for like 10, 15 years. Crazy. So we always used like very high end filter. Filters for the AC and then also for the air purifiers at home, trying to minimize that, the the allergies. And then my middle child, who is now nine, also ended up having allergies out of nowhere. So we we we got like air purifiers again that I bought in Costco. In every room, in every bedroom of the of the house for for all the family members. I probably should have bought the Costco stock many years ago. I still haven't Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: I think so. Eric Kurbanov: done it. I probably should do it. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: I know where I'm gonna find you this weekend. Eric Kurbanov: my goodness. Yeah. So and we got these air purifiers, and this was years ago. And every time when I go to replace the filters, you they do have an app, right? I go to the app and the they don't list the filters. I can't find the model number. So I had to go Google it, and then there's like three different layers. I don't know which one to get. Setting up schedules. That's what I like to do with my air purifiers. I just set the schedule up. Hey, turn on at night, and then everybody, when everybody leaves in the morning, just go ahead and shut yourself off because there's really no need to filter air when nobody's at home. that's very cumbersome and you almost have to have like a computer science degree to set one up. if I have this problem. A lot of people probably have this problem. So we developed an air purifier that takes care of all of that. One single filter, you don't have to remember what it is. It's listed in the app. You just click on it, it takes you directly to the page when you need to order it. And setting the schedules, super easy. Boom, you're done. Putting a time that you want it on, put a time that you want it off. And the ones in my house, I haven't touched. logged in in an app now probably more than two years. So it just kind of runs on its own. And that's what I believe the the the product the great product is is once you have it and you start using it, you forget that you have You're just getting the benefit out of it and it doesn't get in the way. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: Now if a customer calls RKIN today, would they be able to just go through their situation with you and then you'll be able to provide them and ship to them the right product? Eric Kurbanov: Yes, yes. So we do have a customer service team that handles all the incoming calls. I do participate in certain whole home consultations up to this day. I want to stay connected. And also, we ship all over the United States and even into Canada. We may even do be shipping into Mexico as well. So the option is out there. If you if you look into get something. We will get the right product to you. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: I'm sure after all these years you have at least one amazing story that someone has had great success using your products. Do you mind sharing one of those? Eric Kurbanov: Yes, of course. So I got two. One is a personal anecdote, and the second one is about the customer. So I'm gonna share the one that's my personal one first, if that's okay. So I used to have eczema on my hand and kind of felt felt a little bit, you know, concerned about it, what people see it, it doesn't look good. So I used creams and all that. And then I also had on my on my feet as well. But once we have moved into and I was able to put in a water system within like a couple years, cleared up and it's gone. Now I don't have it. Is it related to water system or something else? I'm still in the same area. I don't know. But now it's gone. And so that's that's the first. And you know, some some people may may want to know further into it. I know a lot of people when they call us, they have they mentioned that they have some skin issues, potentially due to chlorine or hard water, and et cetera, et cetera. So I believe it. Help me. And I can also help other people. Now that's a personal side. Second side involving one of our customers. And this one is very near and dear to me because my grandparents are still alive on my mom's side. And the one gentleman called called he he he must have been like 80 years old. He goes, you know, Eric, I'm I'm you know kind of living up my my last what seems like full last few years and I want to enjoy it. And he goes, I always wanted, you know, I like to take baths. And but my water is just really bad around here and around this area. I want a water system that I that will make my baths, you know, water nice and soft and so I can enjoy it. So okay. We went through, we figured out exactly what he needs. The system got shipped. It got installed. The guy did a great job installing the system, someone else that he hired. and then later on he calls. And he said, I want to talk to Eric. And I get on the phone. He goes, Eric, you know what? The first time in my life, I took a bath yesterday, and it was the best bath I ever had, coming from an 80-year-old person. And I said, you know what? I thank you for sharing that. I needed to hear that. Because I personally myself like to take baths as well. You know, you I I go to the gym, I work out, you know, sometimes a little bit of elbows get or joints get a little bit of sore, put a little bit of epsom salt in and the soak for twenty, thirty minutes. Feels good. So I can't relate. I'm like, this is one of the stories, you know, I wish I could do the same thing for my grandparents. and I just made my day for so many, like for weeks on after that that episode that that That this happened. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: Well, it sounds to me like an amazing review. Now, Eric, if listeners remember only one thing from today's conversation, what do you hope that message is? Eric Kurbanov: maybe I could share two two things. One on the on the business side. And in the business side is when you're just starting out, or even in the hardest moments when you when you're kind of laying down, you know, at 4 30 in the morning or three o'clock in the morning, can't sleep, thinking about different things that you need to take care of and how how to solve them is Believe in yourself. Because nobody else will. You know, people may say, Yes, I support you, or your family, you know, your close friends will support you, I believe in you, and etc. However, when the evidence out in the market kind of says otherwise, it's hard for other people to believe. So as a person who needs to be the The strong person in this situation needs to have the strongest belief. And that's the only way to make anything happen, is to believe in yourself, make a plan, do all the right things, like all the homework, et cetera, et cetera, and then just believe in yourself and execute. So that's that's what I would like to share with all the business owners that maybe starting up. Or facing some challenges and et cetera. So just believe in yourself. That and be be a little bit delusional. It's okay. because nobody else will. That's that's our job as business owners. and on the water system side, one thing that I would like people to to know is about everybody has a refrigerator, and the refrigerator most likely has a filter in it. And a lot of people think that this little tiny filter in the refrigerator is good enough. Most of the time it's not. So, and what I would love to do for people if they would like to know their local water quality, they can message me on my Instagram, which is Eric W007, Eric Double007, with the code word report. And I'll reply back with their local water quality. And if they would like me to, I can also go through it and break it down, see what they have, see what they may need or may not need. and I would just love to help people. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: Well, the first was great advice. The second is extremely helpful in your community. Eric Kurbanov: Thank you. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: Now, Eric, y you know, where can the audience connect with you? Find out more about what you're doing and continue this conversation. Eric Kurbanov: Instagram to connect with me personally. our website is RKIN.com and it's spelled with only four letters, rkin.com. Or you can just Google RKIN. that would be the best way to check out our products if anybody is interested. We also have social media accounts as well for for our brand, for the for the company. But like I mentioned, if you like me personally, check out your water. water report and give you advice like what do you need or may not need, just message me on Instagram, Eric007. That's my handle. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: Eric, I think we're gonna have to have you back on, but not for the water, but for Eric being double seven. I did not know that about you Eric Kurbanov: no. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: till now. thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate your time and and the value you've shared today. Eric Kurbanov: Thank you, Joe, it's my pleasure. Joe Abreu - GLOVISOR.com: Thanks everyone for listening. If this episode inspired you, make sure you share it with someone who needs it. And don't forget to follow the Glovisor podcast for more conversations that make an impact. Till the next time.