Meet Branko Kral of Chosen Data

Today we’d like to introduce you to Branko Kral.

Hi Branko, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in Slovakia in a family of an engineer with a manufacturing company and a university professor with a couple non-profits. They and the grand parents and the sister loved on me big time, groomed me, and gave me ambitions. I graduated from high school in both Presov, Slovakia, and Vancouver, BC, got my economics undergrad in Prague, my business masters in Bergen, Norway, and Grenoble, France.

The locations were usually decided by proximity of mountains and mountain sports, which is what I still use as a top three criterium for where I live. I love languages and systems, so while helping with a startup during college, I got interested in online marketing as a way to use language at scale. Over time, we built a global team of twelve, an SEO and analytics company. We help turn websites into business machines, everybody lives somewhere on Earth and exactly where they want to live, we work for knowledge companies with a positive social impact.

The stoke is high.

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?
I’ve been an immigrant several times. In Norway, I felt like I wasn’t white and uniform enough. In the US, the immigration system took my dignity, thousands of dollars, and countless hours of time. I’ve made poor choices and got a divorce. I’ve had nine orthopedic surgeries, with one of them really being a frankenstein-style procedure with four big surgeries in one. I’ve received misdiagnosis and poor advice from doctors I had trusted when the surgeries were starting. I grew up doing sports I didn’t enjoy and thought I was clumsy. I ran out of money while traveling a couple times. My friend’s dog bit me last night, ha.

Life’s not easy and I would probably not enjoy it if it were. The biggest challenge right now is that I’ve designed an income that allows me to live anywhere that has fast-enough internet, and now I actually need to decide where I live. It’s a good problem to have, so I’m trying to go through it consciously.

As you know, we’re big fans of Chosen Data. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I started helping a family startup during college, then finished school but kept doing volunteer marketing projects, as well as events. So right out of school I had relevant experience already and got a job in a marketing agency in Colorado. The agency was whack, but I had to stay there for visa, until they fired me. The day they did, my account called me and said they wanted to stick with me. Another account did the same a couple months later, so I started freelancing. I also started hiring other freelancers to help me right in the beginning, and one of them worked on himself a lot. He improved super fast and became my business partner. A couple years into it we got a break-through thanks to a few new large clients at a time, and the operation became more serious. A real company was born. Covid helped us a lot actually, mainly due to increased focus on work, and now we’re focused on building systems. There’s about 12 of us right now, in 7 countries, with clients coast to coast in the US.

What were you like growing up?
There’s a parenting term that goes something like “systematic cultivation”. I definitely got a lot of that at home. My parents wanted me to take on every extracurricular activity imaginable. My little backpack was always heavy with materials for classes I’d do after school. I was also loved on big time, by the parents and the grand parents and the aunts and the cousins, which I’m deeply grateful for. As well as I’m grateful for the real, nourishing food I was getting — people would get a kick out of watching me eat. Time in nature was a big part of the period, too. Once I got into my teens, I started seeking out more and more time in nature on my own. I think that, in combination with my parents showing me how to think my own way, is what lead to now running an online marketing company.

Pricing:

• $6k+ for one-off SEO projects — work spans content, tech SEO, website structure, UX for engagement and conversions, backlinks, search analytics
• $4k+/mo for ongoing SEO projects — work spans content, tech SEO, website structure, UX for engagement and conversions, backlinks, search analytics

Contact Info:

• Email: branko@chosendata.com
• Website: https://chosendata.com
• Instagram: brankofosho
• Twitter: brankofosho

Image Credits:
Laci Kobulsky – snowboarding photo
Petra Kusendova-Borsikova – Bike photo
Colin Farrell – interview photo