The Power Transformation Podcast
The Power Transformation Podcast hosted by Alethea Felton, celebrates the resilience, determination, and hope of entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and visionaries who have conquered adversity and various challenges to create meaningful lives.
With her own inspiring journey of living with autoimmune disease since birth (and now thriving), overcoming severe stuttering, and more, Alethea's authenticity adds depth to intimate conversations with her guests who have overcome extraordinary obstacles.
Alethea's heart-centered, introspective, and engaging style elevates this podcast into a movement that inspires listeners to embrace their inner strength, cultivate empowerment, and rise wiser, stronger, and more courageous to achieve their next level of success.
The Power Transformation Podcast
116. Mastering Sales, Storytelling, & Copywriting with Brian Kurian
What if you could revolutionize your entrepreneurial journey with the perfect blend of sales, storytelling, and copywriting? In this episode, Brian Kurian shares his inspiring journey as the child of immigrant parents who instilled in him the values of resilience, hard work, and self-sufficiency. From childhood lessons to launching a business in just four days, Brian’s story highlights the power of authentic communication and empathetic copywriting to stand out in a competitive market. Discover how the principles of scarcity, adaptability, and community support have shaped his entrepreneurial path and his mission to mentor others. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or seeking practical business advice, this episode is filled with insights to elevate your journey.
Connect with Brian:
Episode 116's Affirmation:
I am capable of learning, growing, and stepping into new opportunities that align with my purpose.
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What if your biggest setback is actually your greatest setup for success? Welcome to the Power Transformation Podcast, where I, your host, alethea Felton, the Resilience Architect, have inspiring stories and real conversations with people just like you, those who are determined to rise above and thrive beyond life's challenges. Here we celebrate the courage and hope that it takes to reclaim your power, rewrite your story and step into the life that you were destined to live For. Now is the time to create your power transformation. Welcome back to the Power Transformation Podcast. I am so glad you're here and I truly appreciate you tuning in. And today we are diving into an amazing conversation with someone who's mastered the art of blending sales and copywriting to help entrepreneurs thrive. Brian Kurian is not only the owner of Brian Kurian's Business Services LLC, but also the creator of the Copywriting Fundamentals course. Brian's lifelong passion for entrepreneurship shines through in everything he does. Brian's lifelong passion for entrepreneurship shines through in everything he does, and his dedication to mentoring others makes him a standout leader in his field.
Alethea Felton:But before we jump into the interview, I have an exciting update for you. Starting in February, the Power Transformation Podcast will release two episodes a week every Tuesday and Thursday, instead of just once a week, on Wednesdays. You see y'all, I have so many inspiring interviews to share and a wait list of incredible guests eager to join the show, and this shift will allow me to honor them and provide you with even more valuable content. I will see how this does. I'm not saying that this change will be permanent, but it could be. So let's dive into this interview and set the tone today with our positive affirmation. I'll say the affirmation once and then you repeat it, and I want you to carry the energy of this affirmation forward so that you can continue to grow and flourish. I am capable of learning, growing and stepping into new opportunities that align with my purpose. I am so excited today to have Brian Curian here on the Power Transformation Podcast. Hi, brian.
Brian Kurian:Hey Alethea, how are you? Hi everyone out there, yes, indeed.
Alethea Felton:Yes, yes, yes, I am doing really, really well. It's so glad to have you here as a guest and we're going to jump right into this episode because there's so much to talk to you about, so much about your incredible journey, and let's just go ahead and start with something lighthearted. Sure, just a fun icebreaker question, but, brian, if you can think back to your childhood, what is one cartoon or television show that you absolutely loved, and why?
Brian Kurian:Oh man, there were several. I hate to say it like this. It sounds super old and, like my father, they just don't make them like they used to, all right. So one of my, one of my favorite cartoons back when they used to have saturday morning cartoons um, I think it was on abc we we never really had cable for the majority of growing up, if you guys can believe it um, and there was no netflix or streaming platforms and stuff back that it was recess. That was one of my favorite cartoons yeah, remember that because it was literally when I was in elementary school.
Brian Kurian:I mean, I I think I watched that cartoon, maybe from the time I was like I think I was in first or second grade until like fourth or fifth grade, right. So for those those couple of years I was in elementary school. Um, so the way those kids would play and get into their little mischievous, mischievous acts or adventures, that was pretty much me and my friends. You know when we'd go to the park and play or when we'd, you know, hang out and play games, you know, during recess and stuff, and use our, our imagination um playing kickball, football, any other sport you can think of, tag, um, so it just I don't know. I I really felt like I was one of those kids. You know that was that I was watching, that you know that I was watching.
Alethea Felton:That was. You know what that didn't. I didn't think about that until you actually brought it up. I was like oh so, but I will agree with you, they don't make TV like how they used to. It was so much fun.
Brian Kurian:I even remember growing up when the Wizard of Oz came on TV once once a year and he got like excited about it, right something to look forward to so yes, in copywriting and marketing, especially this is something I learned.
Brian Kurian:There's a lot to go with that along the the ideology of scarcity, right. Um, when something is hard to come by or hard to get, that item's perceived value goes through the roof, right. So, even if the now now, the wizard of oz is a phenomenal show, so I'm not saying the quality couldn't back up the scarcity or the perceived value, but what I am saying is you, unlike today, you can't just click on, you know, netflix or whatever disney channel, whatever, just get immediate access to it. You had to wait until that day. That time, and you know so it would start to develop.
Brian Kurian:They were brilliant for doing this, I'm sure it's a marketing strategy um, you know, they built that cult following right because everybody would be like, oh my god, wait, sunday 7 pm, you know exactly time on abc, we're going to be able to watch the wizard of oz together as a family. I'm gonna. I'm gonna schedule it and I'm gonna go to my friend, my best friend's house. We're gonna watch it together. This is kind of what we've been doing for the last few years. It's kind of become a tradition now.
Brian Kurian:Yeah, my household or with me and my friends, and we've been a fan for years, right and then as the world around us changes and now you can watch whatever you want, exactly you can reflect on those previous core memories that you have of those amazing moments in time when you sat around the television together as a family or best friends or what have you um, to watch that show, even though it's been a long time since you've done that, but you still remember that right.
Alethea Felton:So, exactly, strategy there and it's a classic movie and I just remember there's certain things about childhood that I remember and it was all of the buzz in school and it came on on CBS and there was a certain time. So that was a lot of fun and we'll definitely talk more about this idea with whole copywriting, everything like that. But this is my next question if someone were yourself, what would you say? Who are you?
Brian Kurian:I swear we're on the same wavelength this morning. So this is I can't believe you asked that question. Wow, I've literally been thinking about that question for the past few weeks as I've dealt with different challenges in my business and different successes and wins I've had, and new clients I've been able to work with, and hearing about their story and being in the battle with them, so to speak. I've really had to reflect, as I've had the space to do recently, to think through that question who am I? What do I stand for? What's my elevator, elevator pitch about, right, like why should someone get to know me or give me an opportunity to be in their life?
Brian Kurian:I think the easiest, most direct way that I can tell you who I am is that I can tell you um, I'm the son of immigrant parents. Um, I think that's a lot of times all paths, all roads lead back to that. Um, that really has become like my, my guiding compass or my north star, so to speak. Uh, as I've gone through life, especially now that I'm a little bit older, um, I, you know, have a family of my own now. So I have my wife and my four-year-old little boy. So I think about my parents a lot when I'm just trying to be a decent husband and a decent dad the best I can be.
Brian Kurian:I reflect on my parents a lot and I think deep, deep down. Ever since I was a six-year-old boy um, I'm an entrepreneur through and through. I I always have been.
Brian Kurian:Um, I've literally any time anybody would ask me what I wanted to be when I, when I grow up, right when I become an adult, what's my dream? I'd always tell them the same thing I I want to win a business someday. I've been telling people that for 30 years, seriously, um, I've had a writing coaching business in the in the past, for you know, it was a brief period that I had that um. Before that, I tried to open a brewery. That was like a decade ago. Um couldn't make that happen. It just didn't work out for us for a variety of reasons. But now this is the first business thatetheia that I've been able to do full-time right. It's not something I've done on the side, as I've had, you know, a corporate job or working for one of my startup companies that I used to work at, um.
Brian Kurian:Easiest way to describe me is I'm the son of immigrant parents and I'm an entrepreneur through and through. Someday, my hope is that when people think of copywriting and business and the way I believe business should be done, if there is some sort of gold standard for that, I hope they think of me, or I hope I'm one of the people that come to mind. I strive for that every single day. It might be damn near unattainable, but I don't. I don't think that's going to stop. It's not going to stop me from chasing after it. You know, it's what keeps me. It's one of the things that keeps me going every day.
Alethea Felton:Wow, thank you for that loaded answer because it gives us a huge overview of who you are. And what I also like is the fact that you emphasize and you actually say it with such pride and it brings me joy about you are the son of immigrant parents. Tell us about how having that in terms of being the son of immigrant parents, how that young journey in your life when you were younger, how has it shaped you to be who you are today?
Brian Kurian:yeah, and please bear with me if I start getting emotional at this point, oh please get emotional, be you, this is just a conversation, be you. It always ends up happening to me, uh, when I start talking about my, my mom and my dad. So I think the easiest, the easiest thing to describe it is um, you know, with my, with my dad especially, I'd like to take a minute to give him his flowers. With him, um, I've never met a human being in my entire life that worked as hard as my dad did Never.
Brian Kurian:I'm 36 now, I'm 37 in three months, so my dad used to work like 80 to 90 hour weeks when I was a kid for most of my childhood. Sometimes he would work even more, sometimes it would be just a little bit less, depending on the amount of overtime that his supervisor would have available to have him work. So now, the positive of that because I did try to look at the positive positive of that is that it was really easy for me to understand what it meant to have a phenomenal work ethic, what sacrifices look like, when you're trying to make sacrifices for the people that you love so that they can have an opportunity to have even a remotely decent life, a better life than the one that you were able to live until you had. Your family came to America and everything. My parents came to America just before they had me and my sister, so my sister and I were born and raised in the metro Detroit area.
Alethea Felton:And your parents are from.
Brian Kurian:South India, so we're South Indian.
Alethea Felton:Okay.
Brian Kurian:Yeah, yeah, the state that we're from is Kerala, okay, and so, yeah, you know, it was just easy to be in awe of my dad, because rarely did I ever hear that man complain. I, I don't think there was even like a single moment in time where I saw or heard from my dad or from anybody else that of him making an excuse, heard from my dad or from anybody else that um of him making an excuse. Um, I I never once saw him or heard him tell me he was going to do something, whether it was from here my sister, my mom or one of his friends or someone in church or anybody in our community and not follow through on, not once, um, you know it's, it's, it's easy to take all that stuff for for granted, aletheia, because you know it's, it's, it's easy to take all that stuff for for granted, alethea, because you know I was really, I was really spoiled, I think, in that sense, um, because I just I just started to assume that, like everybody works their ass off, like my dad does, everybody is willing to make sacrifices for their kids. You know, like my parents do, and everybody, um doesn't lean into making excuses, and everybody, you know when they, when they say they're going to do something, they do it. They hold themselves accountable for it.
Brian Kurian:I, I just, I really took that for granted for a long time, um, and you know, as I, as I started to get a little older, well, even in my childhood, I mean, one of the best things about my dad, I think, was, you know, that's how he carried himself, um, and so that's what he demanded and expected out of me, especially because I'm, you know, it's just me and my sister as far as the kids go. So, you know, my dad's biggest thing and it was kind of hard to grow up like this, especially in this country, but my dad's biggest thing, the thing that he would lean on all the time is, you know, if something happens to me, um, he, he always wanted to feel comfortable, that if something happened to him, that I could step right in and I could take care of my sister and my mom.
Alethea Felton:That's powerful.
Brian Kurian:Yeah, that was his biggest thing, um, and that's. It was hard because you know it's a a lot of pressure when you're a kid.
Brian Kurian:Um you know it's like the. The standard that you're being held to is incredibly high. You just, you know, I felt like for a long time I could never, I could never like achieve, you know, that expectation standard. But when I left, when I left home, I went away to college when I was 19. And I went to Central Michigan University to get my business degree. It's wild man. As I got older I started to realize that, thanks to me having to be so self-sufficient, my dad made me always want to be ultra competitive. And again, if I say I'm going to do something, I need to follow through on it. There can't be any excuses. There can't be any griping or moaning or complaining, pointing the finger at anybody else. You know I need to be able to show initiative. When I want to go after something, I need to have a tremendous work ethic. So you know, all these like little intangibles that were kind of built into me and instilled into me. That's what I mean, that's what carried me through.
Alethea Felton:Exactly.
Brian Kurian:All these trials and tribulations and I told you a little bit about my story when I got let go at my job, you know, for the third time in two and a half years, back in January.
Alethea Felton:Real quick, let me jump in here. You've said something that really made me think about what your father expected of you, poured into you. It's just so amazing to me to see who you are now as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, as someone who helps people, that all of those little lessons that he was teaching you then, the way it's shown up in your life now, and that's really, really fascinating to me. But also it seems as if something sparked inside of you, perhaps even if you couldn't put words to entrepreneurship.
Brian Kurian:Right right.
Alethea Felton:The fact that you, even as a kid and you're such a humble person and you don't brag on yourself, but I'm just going to call you out is that, even as a kid, you had some entrepreneurial ventures, from running lemonade stands all the way to now guiding other entrepreneurs through copywriting and sales. And so that leads me to ask is, in addition to your father and your mother, brian, what has kept that passion burning throughout your life, and how did those challenges that you faced early on shape who you are today, specifically as a mentor, as a business owner?
Brian Kurian:Yeah.
Alethea Felton:Take us there.
Brian Kurian:Yeah, so that's a terrific question, by the way. Yeah, so there's, there's, that's a terrific question, by the way. There's several instances of very core memories that I have as a kid. I always think about it. They bring me so much joy, even to this day, as telling a former client that was pretty much a friend of mine now, about one of the memories when I was a kid, my dad being my dad, um, he never wanted to ask my dad for money if he wanted something.
Brian Kurian:Uh, that was like a big no-no. I found that out the hard way. Uh, when I one time I cut the grass, all my friends got allowances. You know, they'd clean, do chores around the house, mow the lawn r, rake the leaves, et cetera, et cetera, just standard stuff. You know, little kids chores, and they'd get, you know, 10 bucks from their parents a week, or 20 bucks, five bucks, whatever it was. I was like man, I haven't gotten an allowance ever. I do all this stuff. I cut the grass, I rake the leaves. I do these things. I help my mom out, you know, take care of my little sister, watch out for my little sister. I'm doing everything I'm being told, I'm doing everything I'm being asked to do, but there's no like um in our culture.
Brian Kurian:Unfortunately, we're notorious for especially my parents generation of uh not offering much positive enforcement or positive okay that's kind of just how it's been right, and, and so one time I asked my dad I think I must have asked for like five bucks for mowing the lawn. I just cut the grass and I hated doing it. I hated cutting the grass so annoying it was like a waste of an hour to me, to me, waste of an hour of my time. I could have been playing this time right, um, or doing something else I love doing. Friends. That's my dad for five bucks, so he cut the grass again. Um, you know so, and so their parents give them like five bucks every time they cut their eyes. Can I ask five dollars too so I can go and play? And I think this time I want my friends.
Brian Kurian:Some of my friends in the neighborhood were starting to get really into like street hockey. So they play around about a block away and their hockey stick, the roller blades, the hockey nets up, and they they'd play in the summertime and I really felt like I was missing out. I didn't have rollerblades, I didn't have a stick, I never played before, but I wanted to learn. It was a really physically active kid. Sports was really how I learned, doing something physical right With my hands, being involved in the game, so to speak.
Brian Kurian:My dad lost his marbles on. Lost his marbles. I'm not going to repeat all the things that he said out of respect, out of respect for him and for your show. Um, yeah, what? What I will say is that at the end of that very stern talking to my dad's vocal message that I tried to take away from that conversation, I listened for key takeaways. That's also one of the things I gleaned from my dad, not from him teaching me, but from me having to learn that. It's a survival skill, I think, and I learned it in sales.
Alethea Felton:Obviously, I sharpened exactly yeah, sales career, but the key take.
Brian Kurian:The key takeaway was if you want to do something, or if you want to be able to participate in something, you need to grow up, you need to be independent and self-sufficient and figure it out yourself, because one day I'm not going to be here anymore and there will be no handouts, there will be no allowance, there will be no great job for just barely meeting the expectations that people have of you anyways. You're not even going above and beyond. You're simply just doing what I'm expecting you to do. And unless you want to start working these 80 to 90 hour work weeks and switch roles with me so I can have a beautiful summer day and cut the grass and get your $5 to whatever, then find ways to go above and beyond. If you don't know5 to house whatever, then find a place to go above and beyond. If you don't know how to go above and beyond, that's okay.
Brian Kurian:But you want to go play street hockey? You want to have fun with your friends? Figure out how to earn the money for the hockey stick. Figure out how to get someone to trade you something for the rollerblades, or find the money to pay for the rollerblades. Figure it out. There's a way to solve this problem and I'm not going to just hand over the 20 bucks of hockey stick or the 20 bucks a little bit, whatever. It's not about the money, right, the money is such a it's such a nonsensical thing, because you can make money doing a million different things it doesn't matter it's about.
Brian Kurian:It's about not looking to someone else to make your life easier or spoon feed you the solution to a problem or challenge that you're facing. That was the point of why my dad lost his mind on me. It wasn't because he was upset that I was asking him for money. It didn't matter if I asked him for a dollar or a thousand dollars. It's not about the money. It's about you're dealing with something and you're expecting someone else to take care of it for you. It's not about the money. It's about you're dealing with something and you're expecting someone else to take care of it for you. That's not okay, because you're going to become more and more dependent on that person and everybody else that you're asking for help from right.
Alethea Felton:Well, let me ask you this when did you learn to really value that lesson?
Brian Kurian:Because as a kid you learn to really value that lesson Because as a kid you hear it but you might not value it as much then.
Alethea Felton:But is there a moment when you grew older where it really struck you like a ton of bricks, Like wow, I see what dad was saying.
Brian Kurian:I didn't need to grow older, I got it right away. Oh, I got it right away.
Alethea Felton:That's deep Wow.
Brian Kurian:I it right away Because I was so hurt. I was a kid man, I was my. My dad would. I know there was a method to it because he knew he needed to. It was what was required of him as far as how to raise me and how to communicate with me. My dad was super harsh with me, super harsh with my sister, um with me, super harsh with my sister. It was a lot more gentleness and let's not do that, or oh, I yelled at you and you cried, and now I feel kind of bad and I'll apologize to you in my own way, without admitting that I was wrong and saying I'm sorry, he's a girl.
Brian Kurian:She was his daughter, yeah right, I'm supposed to, I'm supposed to be the one that replaces my dad yeah, um, wow and for for a big chunk of my dad's life, um, the world is really harsh towards him. So I think he just wanted to make sure that I could be resilient and take it and do better from it. So I did. When we had that discussion, I got really pissed like I tended to do a lot when my dad would scold me and not just give me what I was asking for and not just give me what I was asking for I got really pissed off. And when I stopped being angry which I don't know how long that took I got tired of not being able to play hockey and so I started going around to my neighbors and I saw that they were raking leaves, which I was already doing for my parents free. So I would offer hey, can I rake your leaves for you for like two bucks, five bucks, whatever. Can I cut your grass lemonade stand? Some of my friends are doing that. Maybe I can do that. Oh, look, I'm getting a dollar today. Yeah, okay, next day comes I'm getting three dollars.
Brian Kurian:A couple days ago I only got a dollar, shit, okay, maybe if I keep doing so. I'd stack money that way, right, really, really simple stuff. I'm not like hearing I'm not carrying world hunger here, but but I was doing things for other people and, my god, aletheia, it wasn't the exchange of money that made me happy. What made me so incredibly happy is that feeling of looking into the other person's eyes and seeing how much I mattered in that moment to them, because I was doing something to make their life better, easier, a little bit more convenient. Wow, not not because they told me to or they asked me to, but because I took the initiative to step in and offer a helping hand. I wouldn't, I didn't care if it was a dollar or a million dollars. If I, if I didn't need that hockey stick and those oil blades, I would have done it for free.
Brian Kurian:It made me so happy, you know, I'll never forget that feeling, and so I was able to. I was able to rack up enough for my hockey stick. I think it took a few weeks. I got. I got enough money for the hockey stick and my neighbor across the street. I can still see their faces, her and her husband. They were so nice to me. Everybody was. That neighborhood was amazing. A lot of the people that lived there. They immigrated here from a different country, just like my parents. Um, a lot of the kids grew up in america, just like me and my sister. Some of the kids they immigrated here, you know when they were a little bit older.
Brian Kurian:Um, they grew up in greece or iraq or india, vietnam, wherever. I had friends from all over the world. It was awesome, um, it was like a little melting pot. And um, the lady across the street when I told her about my dilemma that I didn't have rollerblades, um, she was so sweet. She was like oh bye, that's an easy fix. Come here Thanks for telling me that. She takes me into their garage, looks through a box. Sure enough, there's an old pair of rollerblades in there. Oh, my goodness, she's like me and my husband used to rollerblade all the time. We're a little older now. I haven't worn these things in years. Wow, maybe, wow, maybe, maybe they'll fit you. If they don't, I'm sorry. I tried to help, but time on, purple rollerblades with yellow wheels, I'm telling you, I still remember it because it impacted me that much, I, sure enough, I took off my shoes, put the rollerblades on.
Alethea Felton:They fit, dude, they fit perfectly and I was like they were meant to be. They were meant to be for you oh, I was like this.
Brian Kurian:This was one of the biggest problems I was facing Because I would have had to save up another $20 or $30 probably, I don't know how much rollerblades cost back then. But I didn't have the money. Man, I didn't have the money. And I had the money for the stick, but I didn't want to run around. I wanted to build a rollerblade. You can go faster, have more fun.
Brian Kurian:This lady gave me the roller blades. I had the money for the stick. I told my dad about it. I was like Dad so-and-so, gave me roller blades and they fit. Look they fit. I got $20, $25. I was like I think this is enough for a hockey stick. Can you please take me to the sporting goods store and I will pay for the stick? I just need a ride. That's all I'm asking. Can you? Can you do that? And he's like oh my God, I'll never forget the look on my dad's face. He'll never tell you he's proud of you. So read into the facial expressions I think my dad's told me yeah, my dad told me he's proud of me literally one time in my life.
Brian Kurian:So this is a monumental moment for me. He looks at me and just the look on his face was incredible, because it was like he looked at me as if I got it, like dude, you did it. This was the point. And he was like, yeah, I'll take you to the store. We went on a Saturday or Sunday when he didn't have to work. Take you to the store. We went on a Saturday or Sunday when he didn't have to work. Take me to the store. I'm like a maniac in the store.
Brian Kurian:I'm like touching every hockey stick, making sure it's durable. It's got to be perfect, because I worked so hard, I worked so hard to earn the money for this freaking hockey stick. I can't afford to have it break.
Brian Kurian:When know when I'm in the middle of playing. It's got to last a couple of summers until I outgrow it. It's got to be as perfect as possible because I earned it. This isn't my dad handing over his credit card saying go ahead, pick whatever, it doesn't matter, you swipe here, let's hurry up and get out of here and you can go and play and have a good old time. No, this was all me. Um, so I found the perfect stick for me. I'm so happy, ran out of the store with my dad, you know, after paying for it, got home and that was one of the best summers of my life, because oh my gosh playing with the stick that I bought and I earned.
Brian Kurian:I was. I had the rollerblades on my feet that I showed initiative enough to ask for from the world and speak into existence that I needed these. Not that I needed, I wanted these, you know.
Alethea Felton:But I think it also speaks to your power of resilience. Power of resilience and I like to have conversations with my guests and I had a direction I thought I was going to go in. It'll still get back to the core of what you do professionally, but again, the premise of this is you know, I interview so many different people, from entrepreneurs to teachers. It doesn't matter the profession, but it's really about sometimes people see an entrepreneur or just anybody in general. They see where you are now, but I'm always interested in the story.
Brian Kurian:What's the?
Alethea Felton:story. What is the resilience factor? What kept you going? And I'm just blown away at how, not only did you take the lesson the harsh lesson that your father taught, but the fact that your neighbor already had what it was you were seeking, but you took the initiative to go towards it. And I want listeners, viewers, anybody out there who hears this. If you don't quite get what I'm saying, just think about it, and I think this can be applied to our own life. But I'm even more impressed, brian, as to your resilience even from that harsh lesson that your dad taught you, despite the pain and the hurt that could have shut you down completely, but it didn't. You went harder and you decided to bounce back from it, and I'm sure that you've needed to do that throughout the work that you do. And so, in terms of you as a full-time entrepreneur, you've mentioned copywriting sales. Let's just break this down in layman's terms.
Brian Kurian:Yeah.
Alethea Felton:Exactly. If a person just was ignorant, which isn't a bad thing, but if a person's ignorant as to what you do describe for us, what you do, but also with the clients you have, how do you incorporate empathy into your business?
Brian Kurian:Yeah, good, question man, you are on it today. Wheels are turning for me. Yeah, um, question man, you are on it today. Oh, wheels are turning for me, yeah, um.
Brian Kurian:The best way I can, I can describe what we do here and the value of what we do for our clients. I always tell everybody I am I am at the intersectionality of where sales meets copywriting. I'm in the middle and I say that because I've done sales for over 18 years now. I still do it every single day in my business. There's no salesperson here, there's no sales team, there's no lead generation company working for me in the background.
Brian Kurian:I don't run paid ads, none of that stuff. It's just this is it. This is what you get when you want to work with us. It's usually me talking to you face-to-face or virtually, so what we do is with everything we create for our clients. They tend to revolve around that client or that business's story, story of their entrepreneurial journey, their products, their services, why other folks should work with them. Right, like their value, prop and empathy is a huge part of it because and I tell everyone this a lot of times folks I work with at Leithia they think, oh, I need to have the best product or the best service.
Alethea Felton:It's going to solve the problem Real quick, I'm sorry, can's going to solve the Real quick. I'm sorry, Can you explain to a person I know what it is, but what exactly is copywriting Sure?
Brian Kurian:Yep, let's take a step back. That's a very good question because a lot of people don't know what it is You're right.
Brian Kurian:Yeah, I'll explain it super, super in layman's terms. I'll break it down. Copywriting is the practice of writing messaging which is labeled as copy right Messaging that tends to be sales or marketing oriented. So I'll give an example. When you see a commercial for Pepsi right, and you know there's actors in the commercial that are running on drinking their Pepsi, they're having a great time, they're saying certain catchphrases, certain buzzwords, certain you know story of why they're drinking this Pepsi, what they're about to do, how great their life is, et cetera, et cetera. There is a copywriter that wrote the lines of every single word that each one of those people are saying.
Brian Kurian:They all have a purpose. It's not just words to fill in the airtime, it's to try to convey the value of Pepsi's brand, how delicious and refreshing that Pepsi is, why you should go out and go buy some. Or if you already have one, now is a great time to drink one, right? And hey, you made a smart decision by getting another pepsi today. So that reassurance that you're making the right decision by purchasing pepsi and not coke. And then coke has their own messaging and their own stuff, why they try to tell you they're better than pepsi, etc. Etc. They're trying to sell you on the idea or market you on the idea that this is the brand for you Alethea for Brian for my son Braylon, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Brian Kurian:That's copywriting. Now, I'm just giving one example, though that's in the media, right. But you know, a client might come to me and say, hey, I'm having such a hard time landing my ideal clients. I try to to use chat, gpt, try to use these other AI tools to write my content for me, write my AI for me. It's free or it's super cheap, but it all sounds vanilla, it all sounds robotic, it's redundant. This isn't who I am. This sounds just like everybody else's stuff that's in my industry, that's who are also probably using AI to write their content.
Brian Kurian:So if I'm sounding just like everyone else, brian, how am I supposed to convince people that I'm the right person for them, that I'm the right vendor? Right, they could go to 20 other people in my community. Why should they choose me? Oh, then they start thinking, well, I gotta have a better product then, or I gotta lower my prices, because then I can get them on price because we're the cheapest ones. My prices, because then I can get them on price because we're the cheapest ones.
Brian Kurian:And no, it's because your content isn't saying the right story about you. You're not showing even remotely how you can empathize with your prospects. You're just another faceless person out there and so, no, your prospects don't feel comfortable with doing business with you, because they don't feel like you can resonate with them and their challenges. Because, even though I'm sure you can and you're able to, it's not showing it online. So when they look on your facebook profile, your business page, or they google your business and see your google my business profile or see you on linkedin or whatever instagram, wherever you're not saying the right things, that's actually landing with your people and so your your people are going somewhere else and taking their money elsewhere, right?
Brian Kurian:so yes, that's copyright without and I really appreciate that.
Alethea Felton:Yeah, and thank you for breaking it down like that b, because people hear terms all the time and while I knew what it was, I always keep in mind. I'm the type of a person if I don't know something, I'm going to ask. But I also am so glad you explained it that well because it connects with that question of empathy. When a company or a client comes to you really needing your help, how does empathy on your part play a role in your business?
Brian Kurian:Yeah, so it's easy for me to be extremely empathetic again because of how I was raised.
Brian Kurian:But on top of that, you know my, my story is this a quick, quick background for those of you out there that are listening that you know it might be your first time seeing me or hearing my voice and you don't know anything about me. Back in January January 12th of this year, 2024, I was let go from my job. I'd only been working for about seven and a half months. It was an extremely toxic environment. I hated working at that place. I explained this to Alethea when we last spoke. It was miserable. I dealt with some workplace bullying and harassment there. I won't go into all the details but, long story short, I was not happy there. Even with that being said, I was still able to overshoot my metrics. I performed very well, at least on paper, which is seemingly all anybody ever cares about. When you work for them is that you perform on paper, and I did. I exceeded all my sales metrics that they put into place for me.
Brian Kurian:These people not only fired me unexpectedly on a Friday, they had put it and it's my fault too they had put it into the contract that I signed that if you are no longer an active employee, you're not eligible for any bonuses or commissions. They owed me $7,500 in bonuses that I had rightfully earned over the last two quarters of working there. They fired me to get out of having to pay me out on that. Then they strung me along telling me oh, you need to schedule your exit call. Basically they called it a release call with our person from our legal team so we can go over your final payout, severance bonuses, etc. When I tried several times to reach out to that person on the legal team, on their legal counsel, they ignored my emails, they ignored my phone calls, my text text messages, just run me along to run out the clock. Basically, needless to say, they didn't give me a severance, they didn't give me anything. They just paid me for.
Brian Kurian:I think I had maybe I don't know eight or nine days if that, of PTO that I had saved up, not because I didn't need time off. There were times I needed time off. I was scared, alethea, to even use any of my PTO days because I had a feeling that if and when they let me go, this PTO is all they're going to give me because legally they have to pay me out on PTO. They're going to find a way to screw me over and everything else. And they did so. I was scared to take time off. So I never did.
Brian Kurian:I never took a day off in seven and a half months, even if I was sick or something was going on with my son and my wife. I just I dealt with it right. This was the third job I had lost in two and a half years. I launched my business four days later after losing this job. You would not believe how many clients I've talked to who have been treated in some ways very similarly to how I was in their career. Some of them were laid off. Some of them, like me, were solopreneurs. They're doing the best they can, they're working hard in their business, they're trying to support their family, just like me, and they're dealing with different challenges that go along with that, just like I am every single day. So, yeah, I can empathize with them and their life and where they're needing help, where my skill sets can actually serve them, and where I might not be able to serve them because I don't have the resources or I don't have the necessary skills. I have deficiencies there because I'm a person and I'm not perfect, but, with that being said, I'm very transparent.
Brian Kurian:I get all that on the table right away and chances are, because I like to think I'm really good with people and I love meeting new people, I love communicating, I love building out my network and serving other people. I probably know someone that I can introduce to this human being that can help them, even though I can't At least not right this second with this particular situation. So I do that all the time. I send out referrals, all the time I bring old coworkers of mine to the table to help on projects that I'm not able to help with, so they can earn some money.
Brian Kurian:My client can get what they need. Everybody wins, even though maybe I don't stand to gain all that much besides, just a good deed and some good karma out there. But I love doing stuff like. It always comes back around tenfold when you show people that you're a good person and you genuinely want to help them and you, like I did with my neighbor all those years ago, you take the initiative and you're proactive in trying to help and you show them you're just, you're trying to do the right thing, you're a good person, you're honest, you're hardworking. It makes it harder for people to blow you off or not help you when you need it.
Brian Kurian:And sometimes I haven't even had to ask. The right person will find me exactly when I needed them.
Alethea Felton:But, brian, this is what's blowing my mind. And you just so smooth with it. Just so smooth with it. You said it so casually but I'm like uh-uh, I'm not letting this brother slide past saying this. You said four days later, I launched my business and so and so and so. Wait a minute, brian, pump the brakes, hold up. Four days later Okay, somebody out there is listening or watching, who may just be as such, may have a successful career, might have their back up against the wall, might have something burning inside of them and, oh my gosh, I wish I could talk to you all day, because I'm not even going to touch the surface of a lot of the business stuff. I feel like your story is so powerful, the business stuff. I feel like your story is so powerful. Four days later, what gave you the guts? Or how in the world did you have?
Alethea Felton:the audacity to say that you could start a business in four days. What in the world? That's incredible.
Brian Kurian:So there's a lot to unpack there, of course, uh-huh Back in. So in my mind, subconscious, subconsciously, and just throwing it out there in the universe too, on december 27th, literally two days after christmas um, last year yeah, last year, so 2023 I had filed for my llc for my business. Um, I was like things are not going well at this job. I have a feeling that it'll let me go for nothing. Um, any day now. I had felt that way for months, honestly, just because of how much worse the treatment was getting like week to week. It felt like there was another instance of them treating me awfully. Um, so I had my llc. Two months before that I had gone. Now this is me manifesting stuff again, like when I was a kid, intentionally, but also unintentionally, I guess. Um, I went.
Brian Kurian:I had happened to go to a men's conference that my wife told me about at her church. Never went to one before, um, not really a churchgoer, so so I went. I wanted to make some new friends. We had just moved to the area a few months prior. I wanted to meet some new people and get out of the house and go do something in the community, which I love to do. One of the guys that sat at my table. He just happened to mention when we were doing our introductions that him and his wife on the side they build websites for their clients and they're really good with graphic design.
Brian Kurian:I had this business idea. I don't have a website. I don't know the first thing about building not my forte. I could write all the copy for, and I did. I wrote all the copy for my website by hand. Um, so I pick his brain. After the conference I was like, hey, I got a business idea. I think I could use your help. And so we went to lunch like a week or two later then had a call about it and I was like you guys would be perfect, you can do my website. So they're working on my site in like late December-ish, right after I got my LLC, I initially thought I was just going to do my copywriting course and just be a copywriting coach and that was going to be my main service. Well, when I'd lost my job, literally the day I got let go aletheia was my was supposed to be my last scheduled meeting with him and his wife to finish my website.
Brian Kurian:Well, now wait, it gets better. I tell them what happened four hours ago. Guys, you're not gonna believe this. I've lost my job. I need this website to get done. This weekend I got to go on my business. I'm not getting a bonus. I'm not getting my severance, I'm just getting my little bit of PTO. It's nothing. And you have a wife and a child and I have a wife and a kid. I was like I have to go, I don't have a choice.
Brian Kurian:They said no problem, we got you. So sorry you're having to deal with this, but we will do everything we can to help. The next day, on a Saturday, they worked their butts off, made the final revisions on my website. It went live Tuesday. So now we're three days later. I make my business launch announcement, get out there and I decide I'm not just going to do copywriting. There's so much more I can do. I've done ghostwriting in the past. I've blog posts for other clients.
Brian Kurian:I was a freelance writer, it all started flooding my brain of all the ways I can help people. It's like I've been in sales for over 18 years. I can probably help people with organic lead generation. And I was like, wait a minute. I used to be a business coach. Three years ago I was a master coach at a high ticket business coaching company. I taught these people sales marketing strategies. I taught them copywriting. I ran the group clinic, the copywriting coaching program. I was the guy that ran it. I'm the one that taught these people. I'm still friends with a lot of them. We still talk. I'm like what are you doing, dude? You?
Brian Kurian:can bring so much value to the world and you're sitting here limiting yourself to only doing copywriting, coaching. That's nonsense. And so I, you know, opened up more service offerings, got my first client even like a day or two before I launched one of my old students, wow. So I had her. Then I launched my business and I've never looked back and I've already served. I believe I'm proud to say this. I don't like bragging about myself or speaking about myself that much, but I do want people out there to know that I am credible, I am reputable, I am legit, I can help you. We have already landed in the wow. It's only been eight months eight months that I've had this business. We've already landed 33 or 34 clients in this short amount of time, with no sales.
Alethea Felton:What a blessing, what a blessing so.
Brian Kurian:I just want everyone out there to know that, besides the fact that I'm a good person and I'm empathetic, I like to think I'm a nice guy, I'm easy to work with, fun to work with. I think the most important thing that people should know about me is that I am the one that is proactive. I will find the challenges in your business that I can help solve with my skill sets. If I don't know how to solve it, I will bring someone into your life who probably can solve it. Um, I'm very, very maniacally obsessed. You can ask my wife about it. I'm maniacally obsessed about helping people. I've been that way for most of my life. I won't say I've always been that way, I had to learn how to be that way?
Brian Kurian:I think, the way I was brought up the self-sufficiency sometimes maybe it was a little too much at times. Sometimes I would have a big ego. It would just be the Brian show, it would be all about me. What can I do? How can I? A big ego? Uh, it would just be the brian show, it would be all about me. What can I do? How can I better myself? Um, and I wouldn't focus enough on helping others because, um, you know, a lot of times I didn't feel like anybody was interested in helping me.
Brian Kurian:if I'm being honest, and as I got older, you know, I was very blessed, very fortunate, to find certain people who were interested in helping me without expecting much in return, because sometimes I I didn't have much to give um, and they still help me anyways. So you know, these days I'm very much in the in the business of solving problems, helping other people, um, through you know the sales training that I provide the the copy that we write. I have a really top-notch copy editor on my team as well. Shout out to hadley, she's amazing um, she just joined the team a couple months ago.
Brian Kurian:She's helped me on several projects with giving the copy of facelift um, and it's been a variety of projects, not just blog posts or just articles or just social media captions, but several things. She edited a customer's poem the other day and made it read way better Essays. I mean, she's just a wizard and thanks to her I'm able to focus more on the higher level things in my business, like taking even better care of our clients, growing our accounts, finding new clients, being able to do stuff like this with you, you know, getting myself out there and spreading the word about how we serve people, getting some face time out there with people who may not even know that I exist Right.
Brian Kurian:That's right being more of in that leadership role and not always in the trenches doing the actual writing or editing, because up until I had her, 90 of the work, 95 of the work, I had to do it all too. So I had to find the clients and I had to do all the work and keep it going, keep it going, keep it going. Um, it's just a lot. So I just want people to know like that I truly, it's not just that I can't help, I genuinely want to.
Alethea Felton:And how can they find you? How can they contact you?
Brian Kurian:Easy, easy. So I like to think I'm very accessible. So I'm even happy to give my phone number if people want to reach out and text or call. My cell phone number is 810-841-1504. That's 810-841-1504. You can email me. It's just my first dot last name at gmailcom briancurian. At gmailcom I'm on linkedin same name brian curian. If you look me up, there shouldn't be one of me out there. I'm on facebook, instagram. You know I'm trying to be a little bit everywhere. My website is super simple. You can reach me on there to fill out a contact form or you can see more of our services that we offer. The website it's briancurriansbusinessservicescom.
Brian Kurian:So I try to keep everything simple and straightforward so people don't have to do any guesswork.
Alethea Felton:Yeah, and I'll put that in the show notes and in the description, and we don't have a lot of time left. But one thing I want to mention to people and correct me if I'm wrong in terms of thinking about, you know your company, in terms of Brian Currian and all of your business services. You also, and tell me if this is still something that you still have. I think you do, but you have a copywriting fundamentals course, right? I do, yes.
Brian Kurian:It's an online course that I had created a couple of years ago when I was working as the master coach of that high-ticket business coaching company towards the end of my tenure year. Yes, I created the course. It's got several videos in there, lots of modules, uh, resources, templates, different things I created. Everything was done by me. Everything you see in there I wrote or it's a video literally of me explaining it.
Brian Kurian:Um, I made some updates to it a few months ago where I added a little bit more training about ai, since ai is so common now uh, put in some, I think, pretty decent, you know, training on a fundamental surface level of how to use chat, gpt and letting it be your assistant and building out rough drafts and templates and stuff that I do before we put on our copywriting hat and build that beautiful product for that client.
Brian Kurian:So, yeah, I have that as well and I plan on making more updates to it, and I also want to create more courses here in the near future of like a advanced copywriting course and a fundamental sales course and then advanced sales course. So there's a lot of things, you know, that I can build on. Um, you know, to keep serving people so they can also learn from me in a passive way, to where they don't have to feel like you know we have to work one-on-one, but they can learn from me in the background as their schedule allows. Um, but you know, as of right now, I do have a couple slots open still for one-on-one clients as well. Um, we do a lot with the copywriting of the sales and then somehow, a lot of times it always ends up turning into or a lot of times it ends up turning into consulting. So they'll end up saying, hey, you pointed this other thing out about my sales strategy or my funnel flow or my pipeline not being where it needs to be. Can you look at the marketing content? Can you offer some advice here? Because I've done so much of my career that the answer typically is yes.
Brian Kurian:Here's what I did at this job. Here's what I learned is, yes, here's what I did. It's this job, here's what I learned. Let's try it here. Or here's something I'm doing in my own business. It's working really well. I'm seeing you're not doing that. Let's try it and if it works for you, too great. If it doesn't, we can make some experimental you know decisions and we can try something else. We can, you know, figure it out, and a lot of times I really love doing it with them. Uh, yes, we do a lot of done for you stuff, but I love the coaching and the training and the showing you how the sausage is made, showing you how the meal is actually prepared.
Alethea Felton:Yeah, I like that.
Brian Kurian:So that, and my dad was big on this right, so that if something happens to me, god forbid you will be better than just fine.
Alethea Felton:That's right.
Brian Kurian:You will know who to look for when you hire another copywriter or assistant writer or a marketing person or you. You'll be able to do it yourself If you want to, if you're passionate about it, you feel like it's a good use of your time. I don't ever want anyone to feel like they're chained to me Because I'm a person right Like my life can change. You know, I can get sick too. I can get hurt. Um, I could have a sick parent that I'd take care of. I, I don't know.
Brian Kurian:I mean, these are just examples of things that happen to human beings yeah so I I always try to um be conscientious of that and I, you know, try to serve people of that and I don't ever want them to feel like they're so dependent on me that they, if something happens to me, that part of their business will crumble Understood. So I'm really big on that.
Alethea Felton:And, as we come to a close, I do have a closing question for you. Sure, in thinking about your journey with your father and the lessons that he taught you, and just both of your parents coming to the States working hard, doing the best they could for you and your sister, my closing question is this and keep your answer brief, because it's a the question I'm going to ask you, I think, is so important that I also think it's exclusive, where you don't want to share it all. But what is the legacy?
Alethea Felton:that you want to leave for your son.
Brian Kurian:My son? Sure, I'm not sure. Sure, my hope is that when he's a little bit older, when anyone asks him for an example of someone he knew that was incredible at what they did, their profession, how they helped people. Someone that was incredibly passionate, had a great work ethic, never made excuses and also not only held themselves accountable but also held him accountable, my son, and pushed every single day to try to do better, to try to be happier and more successful and more present. You know the things that really matter to me and you know someone that never made the excuses and just got the job done and always showed up for him especially. I just hope my son thinks of me, yeah.
Alethea Felton:And I'm sure that he will, and I want to just continue to speak. Blessings and abundance and prosperity and joy and protection and peace on you, your wife, your son, any future generations, and to know that, the person that you are, it is such an honor to know you and how you're helping people through the work that you do and that rest assured that, no matter the obstacles that you faced, I will tell you, justin, knowing you in the time I have, your parents did an incredible job raising you, my friend, and just continue to be a light and support, and I am so honored to have had you as a guest on the Power Transformation podcast, brian.
Brian Kurian:Thank you so much for your kind words, alethea. It really does make a big difference Hearing stuff like that. It keeps me going too, so it keeps me pushing forward, and I thank you so much for this opportunity. I love being on your show. Hopefully, this interview can provide some inspiration, some values, some hope to those of you know this.
Brian Kurian:This interview can provide, um, some inspiration, some values, hope, um. To those of you out there who may, you know, have recently lost your job or might have, um, what you think is a good business idea, but you don't know where to start. Um, you might have some fear there of how to make it all work, how to find that quote unquote magic right. I hope that my story can provide, you know, some, some light there, obviously, if you'd like to work with me and have me mentor you and kind of show you some of the things that have worked really well for me and some of the things that haven't right Lessons I've learned, mistakes I've made there's been a million of those too. It's not. It hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows. I always tell people you know, um, it's not, it hasn't been all sunshine and rainbows. Um, I always tell people you know who you see in this moment. When you look at me, it doesn't even tell a fraction of the story.
Brian Kurian:Um, there's been so much work I've had to do on myself, aletheia, to get to a point where I feel like I'm even remotely capable of helping someone else. I mean, I have been obsessed with improving myself physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually for a long time. That's what people don't see. They just see the finished product, right, and they think, oh, if I lost my job, I could never launch a business. Four days later, I don't know how in the world he found 30 something clients. You know how am I going to be able to do that? I'm not an excellent copywriter. I haven't done sales for 18 years. You can get there. Just take some time and take some coaching, take some work. You know it's not going to happen overnight, but I love helping people that are willing to put the work in and have some big goals and some big dreams, because, um, life is too short to play small. I think right, you're right.
Alethea Felton:Thank you for the opportunity no problem at all and you keep dreaming big, thank you. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Power Transformation Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to follow or subscribe, leave a five-star rating and write a review. It helps us inspire even more listeners, and don't keep it to yourself. Share it with someone who could use a little power in their transformation. Until next time, keep bouncing back, keep rising and be good to yourself and to others.
