Hidden Gems: Meet Curran Walia of Conscio Marketing

Today we’d like to introduce you to Curran Walia.

Hi Curran, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’ve always had a very healthy curiosity to seek out new ventures, learn new concepts, and try new things. I went to college for Computer Science, found out it was nowhere near my passion and got pulled into Philosophy after two years of college. Despite changing my major, Philosophy had such a draw for me that I was able and willing to transfer any credits from Comp Sci that would work towards my new degree, start a minor in English (minors were required in conjunction to a philosophy degree at my college), and finish in 1-1.5 years from that time.

As you’ll see, if I really enjoy and value something, I will make it happen – hell or high water. All of this is to say, I had a real and sincere interest in Philosophy, thinking, and the different aspects of human existence. This will play in a bit later. So, now I’m out of college, and I’m looking for what to do with my life while holding a degree that is useless to a corporate world. I took some jobs, did some work, and all that led me to a conversation with my brother one day. He says something to the effect of, “Have you considered becoming a copy and content writer? And, also, doing social media marketing?”

Apparently, he had been networking with enough people to gather that there was a definite void of people, offering copy/content writing and/or social media marketing, who were actually good. I had always been interested in the human mind, and marketing is, at its foundation, the ability to understand the human mind and appeal to it. On top of that, I was, and still am, incredibly interested in writing. Short stories, music, you name it. So, copy/content writing was just a bit more technical version of this. I started learning everything I could possibly learn. I read books, I did research, I took courses… everything.

Eventually, I developed a confidence that allowed me to really feel like I was able to execute on what I learned. So, I set out to start freelancing/contracting. I had some success, but, ultimately, I really hated the freelancing world. After some years, I discovered that I hated a few particular things.

1. I typically didn’t work with my clients long-term. It was usually one-offs because that’s usually what you hire a freelancer for.

2. I had to compete globally. People all over the world could claim to do what I was offering at a fraction of the cost because their cost of living was substantially lower than mine.

3. I couldn’t do it my way. I was forced to really be another cookie from a templated cutter. People didn’t come to freelance marketers or copywriters for innovation. They came to us to delegate a task that they didn’t want to do themselves or hire an employee for.

4. I never spoke with a single inspired person. Everyone was just trying to make money. Which, to a degree, is fine, but I could not settle for this being my only goal.

At the start of 2020, I was still freelancing. By April of 2020, Covid really hit and stay-at-home orders were in effect. Shortly after, like with many people during this time, I decided I was going to try building a business. I won’t lie. By this point, I hadn’t found my way quite yet. It was miserable. I was trying to fit into the industry in a way that I thought people would perceive value in me. I was not trying to find a way to make it mine. I was just simply trying to succeed and break past my “freelancer” title and into “business owner.”

At this point, I’d like to note something about myself. If I don’t enjoy what I’m doing or find value in it, I truly struggle to do it. Sometimes I spend a lot of time trying to find the value or the enjoyment, just so I can complete that task. But it’s a struggle. If I have a responsibility, that’s one thing. But if I’m simply trying to grow and evolve, I have to have a more internally gratifying reason to do it.

Perhaps, with that in mind, it goes without saying that I didn’t start my business at that point in time. I tried on multiple occasions, but I couldn’t get over that barrier that was keeping me confined to my self-imposed, entrepreneurial misery.

By the way, self-imposed misery is a tough one to wrestle with when it comes to self-esteem. I just didn’t feel alignment or harmony. I got so frustrated, I just dropped the project altogether. I spent the next nine months thinking. I spent the next nine months aligning myself again. Returning back to my roots of philosophy, what I found meaningful, and what would make this business feel meaningful too. I focused a lot on my writing at this point. I also focused on music quite a bit. I expressed really emotional, somewhat dark concepts and thoughts in my writing and my music. But I took another, much-needed look at the world and myself.

In a pandemic, it’s not hard to do so. I realized a few things. 1. The world is shit in so many ways. 2. I was not fulfilling my potential, nor was I living in alignment with myself and the universe around me. 3. Marketing was not solely going to be a way for me to make money. It was going to be a way I brought forth what I considered worthwhile to spread awareness about.

I started to think about what I would want to market and how I would like to go about doing it. I knew that I wanted to be different in my approach. After a lot of deliberation and nine months passing, I birthed a business. Everything started to fall in place after granting my business this much attention, focus, and soul. I’ll be honest, though. Some of my methods in finding this alignment may be frowned upon or ridiculed, but hell… it worked.

Let’s take naming for example: When I was naming my business, I was simply trying to find a domain name and social media handle that wasn’t taken. I knew it was going to be “something – marketing.”

So, I just started trying different words that had meaning to me. Enlightened marketing, soulful marketing, and even conscious marketing. All taken. But, for some reason, I kept coming back to conscious marketing. I tried “be conscious marketing”, “get conscious marketing”, “marketing conscious”, etc. Either those were too long or just didn’t feel write. I started looking at the etymology of “Conscious.” That’s when I found “Conscio.”

It had an awesome ring to it. Then, almost right after, I said out loud, “Conscio Marketing. Conscious Marketing for Conscious Business.” And let me tell you.. I GASPED. I actually loved that so much and I felt in perfect alignment. I should also mention, at the point before I named my business and found my tagline, that I did not know my niche. Everyone says that a successful business, especially a marketer, needs to have a particular industry that they target. Well, hell, how do I choose that, right?

Finding this name and tagline chose it for me. I decided that I was just entirely too curious and interested in too many industries to just choose one. So, I went with a philosophical niche instead – Conscious Businesses. Now, remember what I said about not being able to do something if it doesn’t bring me joy or perceived value, but if it did, then it was the complete opposite?

Yeah.

This business took maybe 1-2 weeks for me to get it off the ground. I mean everything. Naming the company. Forming an LLC. Designing my logo (myself). Expressing my business through its website. Creating and beginning my social media plans. Setting up my own marketing. Networking. And so forth.

And, that is how I knew I was in alignment.

So, where I am now. Conscio is up and running. We’re always searching for conscious businesses that deserve to be marketed, see awareness of their business grow, and have their success skyrocket. Conscio is using Conscious Marketing for Conscious Businesses.

And let me tell you.. This is only the beginning. BIG plans are under way.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Yes and no. Everything leading up to the development of Conscio has been a lot of hell in comparison to where I’m at now. I don’t know if I believe in God. I don’t know if I believe in an absence of one. What I do believe is that the smoothest times of my life occurred, and continue to occur, when I am in alignment with what I really feel – at a soulful level – I’m supposed to be doing.

I trust my intuition. I trust when a plan has been laid out in front of me when I exist in a flow state. Trust me when I tell you that I have gone through innumerable obstacles and challenges with my personal life and professional life. Further trust me when I tell you that it will never stop.

Life is not meant for the faint of heart. Everyone you will ever meet has had to face something of their own and perpetually will continue to do so. So, in summary, yes I have faced plenty obstacles and challenges before Conscio was born. Yes, challenges continue to present themselves. But I know what alignment feels like, and these challenges are not insurmountable.

I’m rather confident to say that if Conscio faces an insurmountable challenge, I’ll either be faced with a alternative, more pressing opportunity I have to accept or I’ll be dead.

Figuring out a complex system of business ownership
Finding a way to fulfill a purpose through this business
Finding alignment in the work I do (pre-conscio)
Defining a new section of marketing that has very little attached to it (conscious marketing)
As a solopreneur, balancing work and life
Growing a business from the ground up

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Conscio Marketing helps Conscious Businesses retain their current patrons while attracting more through the means of Conscious Marketing. It’s Conscious Marketing for Conscious Business. We cover the full spectrum of online marketing.

This includes, but is not limited to, Social Media Marketing, Email Marketing, SEO, and more. Essentially, if it’s related to marketing and online, we have you covered. For a while now, marketing has been used as a tool to manipulate people or perhaps trick people into buying something that they will regret doing so later, and Conscio is determined to change that narrative. Through Conscious Marketing, we can ensure that all patrons will be treated with respect and transparency while still guaranteeing promising Growth and ROI.

To align with our values, we only work with Conscious Businesses. These businesses typically fall into 1 of 3 categories.

1. The Inherently Conscious. The very essence of what they are and do makes them conscious. i.e. nonprofits, wellness centers.

2. The Deliberately Conscious. They offer conscious products or services meant to serve a greater purpose and improve lives. i.e. b corporations, eco-conscious companies.

3. The Capitalistically Conscious.

They contribute to a greater good through their profits. Treating all stakeholders (employees, patrons, etc) with high respect, integrity, and transparency. i.e. restaurants with consistent charity nights, businesses with consistent community involvement.

4. The Not Yets… Those who have not become conscious yet, but, with Conscio, is willing to fix that.

To even further our mission, we as an organization are a member of Conscious Capitalism – a non-profit organization and movement centered around bringing conscious practices into business. In other words, their words, “Elevating Humanity Through Business.” As an individual, I am on the volunteer team, too.

I have definitely touched on this, but I want it to be known that Conscio is conscious in all aspects – how we treat our clients, how treat their patrons, how we treat our employees, and more. One of the benefits of being such a purpose-driven and philosophically-based business is there should be little no question of what we stand for.

It’s rooted in the name and tagline. It’s rooted in the business setup and structure. It’s rooted in me, all we employ, and all of whom we work with.

What matters most to you?
Being Conscious. To me, it is the most primordial force in the existence of life. In tapping into our consciousness and acting in accordance with it, I believe that we can produce more good than bad can even exist in the world. It starts with the individual. It moves to the group. It grows to the organization. It develops into the structure. It finds its way into the community. It meets the society. It rises to the nation. It spreads to the world. Be conscious. All else that is good stems from that.

Contact Info:

• Email: curran@consciomarketing.com
• Website: https://consciomarketing.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/consciomktg
• Facebook: facebook.com/consciomktg
• Twitter: twitter.com/consciomktg