About Mark Cijo
Follow @markcijoI am Mark Cijo – a Web Marketing Strategist from the Southern State of India known as Kerala, the Gods Own Country. I bet you are on this page because you want to know more about me or my professional expertise.The Professional Me Like any average India Graduate, my dream was to earn a 5 digit salary when I was out from my College. My urge to buy a high-end Studio PC lead me to join a part time job in Southerland Global Services- a Call Center located in Chennai and my first job was there as a Customer Support Executive for Microsoft. That was the time when Windows Vista was on its Beta Version and we were hired to test the new OS and to support its new customers. I worked there from 6 months during which I was promoted to the Escalation team which work together with the Microsoft India team to address latest issues. The communication and Soft Skills training which I got at Sutherland was the best of my life and I still treasure it and the values drives my life as a professional consultant. I got a job offer from E4E Business Solutions later and I quit the job with Sutherland.The new job was a turning point in my life. Guess what, it was a job to work in the Support Team for the then famous eCommerce store builder company – Storesonline. We got hands own training on their ecommerce store builder and the Merchant Center – which was a great resource to learn the basics of Internet Marketing right from Drop Shipping, Store Design to On Page – off Page Optimization. The 20 days training was given by the training team from Utah, US and our trainers were April Deboe and Michael Maurin. I found my work very interesting here and I started my first eCommerce store selling eye wears using their eCommerce store builder. Other than the professional experience I got from this company, I learnt how someone can not be a Good team manager. Those were life time experience.
The Big Change
During my work with Storesonline, I happened to read a blog by Steve Pavlina. Steve’s blog was a source of great inspiration to me and that made me think in a different perspective. It was this post on 10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job. From then on I decided to be an entrepreneur and started building my own dream. I later moved on to Calpine Technologies as an SEO Consultant and later promoted as a Senior SEO Consultant. During my work at Calpine I did researches on Search Trends and Algorithms and helped the company form a Strategical SEO Process which they continue to follow till this day.
Entrepreneurship
On 2009 Dec 5th I decided to quit my job and started working with my best friend from College, Arun Joseph, on our dream project. We both laid foundation to Brawnycode on Feb 15th 2010. I took certification in Google Analytics and Google Adwords in 2010.
On January 2011 Brawnycode was honored as the Only Google Adwords Certified Partner Company in South India at that time.
On Feb 18th 2011 started our Marketing division named SEM Vibe.
Personal -
I am born into a not so wealthy middle class family in Meenadom, Kottayam, Kerala. My parents weren’t graduates and they always wanted me and my only brother to go to the best school in our locale. When I passed by higher secondary exams the next step almost all co-students did was to apply to Entrance Exams for Engineering or Medicine. I was an average student and I didn’t had much interest in serious learning. Maths was my night mare and calculating the speed when the distance and time was given sound to me like a serious problem. Luckily we didn’t had the money to go to Entrance Coaching and appear the test or I would have been an engineer like many of my other friends working for someone.
I have no regrets in my life because I don’t have a Post Graduation or honorary doctorate. I am so happy for what I am and I always says – Mark, you simply awesome just the way you are !
I am married to the most amazing girl in this planet. She is a great inspiration to me and always cheer me up to achieve my life goals. My only brother Gijo works for a Custodian Bank as a Securities Pricing Analyst.
Apart from these wonderful human beings I have 2 Dogs named Puggy and Pinky. One is a Chinese Pugg and other Great Dane.
I am so crazy about gadgets especially computers, tablets and Smart Phones. I like traveling with my friends. Some of our favorite hide out places are Forests, Hill Stations and Water Parks.
I don’t play games because to me it sounds like a waste of time but I read lot on my ipad. When it comes to thing I can’t miss when I move out – it is my Blackberry Bold and iPhone.