We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Arsine Sargsyan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Arsine, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

The business was founded by my husband, Gary, and his brother. In a short amount of time I left my corporate job and joined the team, along with my sister in law making it a true family venture. Our vision from the start was to provide great quality products with fast turnarounds and personalized service, specifically tailored for small business owners who did not have a huge marketing team behind them. At the time, we noticed a gap in the market: small print shops often specialized in one service, while large-scale printers focused on mass production. This left a void for businesses needing smaller, customized orders. Our mission was to fill that gap by making original, high-quality prints accessible to everyday business owners-helping them bring their ideas to life. When you are working in an industry where every product is customizable the biggest challenge is to scale and standardize. If you do not, you will not be able to stay consistent. This was the biggest challenge we were facing.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I initially started my career in the health industry and shortly realized that I am not the best fit for this role. I found it incredibly challenging to emotionally detach from the patients and their situations. Delivering bad news, witnessing families lose loved ones, or watching them make difficult decisions took a significant emotional toll. It takes a special kind of human to work in the health industry and that was not me. I was searching for a new career path and soon realized I wanted a job where I can create something whatever that may be. I enjoyed the process from idea to an actual tangible product. Initially, my husband was hesitant about me joining the business. However, it took a lot of persuasion—and some great sales skills on my part—to convince him that I was the right person for the role. I started in customer service, and gradually worked my way through different areas such as Human Resources, Sales, Production, Accounting and in a short amount of time started these departments and eventually delegated the tasks to other talented team members.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

This is very common for small businesses, especially when some things are out of your control, like government policies that impact your business, global pandemics, recessions, and other challenges. There have been many times when we operated month to month, payroll to payroll. What helped us through these scenarios was knowing we weren’t alone—there were four of us. During tough times, we always come together, strategize, and execute. We cut where we need to, add where we can, and stay consistent. Giving up is not in our DNA, we push forward with the Yes We Can attitude and this too shall pass. When you believe in the products and services you are offering and stay true to your vision you can battle through it. It is also important to note that as a business owner when tough times come you must be the first person in and the last person out, you must put in overtime, weekend, miss personal events but you have to push through. You cannot be selfish in your needs, especially when you have a team that counts on you to put food on the table for their family. During the toughest times when we undertook projects we were not ready for, we had our parents, cousins, and friends step in and volunteer their time for us to execute. Remember, great things are never achieved alone. There’s always someone, somewhere, helping you along the way. Accept help when you need it, but take responsibility and never take that support for granted. As a small business owner, there’s only so much you can plan ahead. Most of the time, you need to think on your feet and tackle challenges as they arise to prevent them from escalating and jeopardizing your business.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Over the years, I’ve realized that my top priority, even before my clients, is the people I hire. They are the ones working behind the scenes to make our company vision a reality. I’ve read many books on maintaining positive morale and giving honest, constructive feedback. However, the greatest lesson I’ve learned is this: when respect and open communication are present, everything else falls into place. Take the time to listen to your team, value their experience, and work together to find solutions that benefit both the business and the people who help it thrive. it is constant work, sometimes you may not get it right, learn from it because these are the most important relationships to thrive at work. Conflict arises when your team does not feel comfortable coming to you and expressing their needs. Make sure you set up times to be available to your team. As business owners, we’re often consumed with countless tasks, but it’s crucial to take the time to meet with departments and individual team members at least once a year—ideally, even twice. Use these opportunities to acknowledge and praise a job well done, while also providing honest feedback, even when it’s tough. Don’t put off addressing important issues; it’s unfair to leave your team members uncertain about where they stand. If concerns are allowed to pile up, they will eventually spill over and negatively impact your relationships. Consistent communication and accountability are key to maintaining trust and a strong team dynamic. I am proud to say that we don’t always get it right but at this time we have the BEST team anyone can ask for.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.axiomprint.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/axiomprintla/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/axiomprint
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arsine-s-52b14b269/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AxiomPrintInc
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/axiom-print-glendale?osq=axiomprint&override_cta=Request+quote+%26+availability