Meet Conor Sullivan | Business Advisor & Storyteller

We had the good fortune of connecting with Conor Sullivan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Conor, how does your business help the community?
My brother and I, the founders of Atala, come from a family of non-profit workers. Our dad is the New Mexico State Director of the Nature Conservancy, and our mom works for the International Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe. Our parents were never wealthy, even though they were hard-working and well-educated, because they chose to work for projects that they felt would contribute to making the world a better place. Following in their footsteps, we also became deeply passionate about doing something with our lives that would benefit the common good.

When you first hear the term “Business Consultant,” you are probably struck by an intense sense of boredom and monotony. Maybe the stiff business suits of McKinsey & Company come to mind, and that sort of icky feeling of people ignoring what is best for one another in the pursuit of pure efficiency and profit. This is the kind of job you feel is the polar opposite of a non-profit fighting to protect the environment or promoting struggling third-world artists.

Sometimes, what is counter-intuitive is the greatest genius. We have built a project centered on protecting and uplifting the outstanding people in our communities by creating a company to assist their businesses in achieving greatness without forgoing morality. We work diligently to give our clients the competitive edge against their cut-throat competitors by emphasizing and developing a foundation of emotionally moving personal stories and deeply involved ethical responsibility to the communities that we come from.

We are working with several small business owners in the greater Los Angeles area to provide them with the tools and resources they need to succeed in today’s market. This includes standard marketing tactics like optimizing web page SEO, running ads online, copywriting, managing social media presence, collecting statistical data, and market analysis. However, our specialty lies in crafting personalized stories and meaningful brands for our customers that genuinely represent the beautiful spirit of our network of clients to take on the harsh and competitive world of business.

Listening and storytelling then become the foundation of our practice. Almost like a psychotherapist will guide you to deeper self-realization and acceptance, we ask meaningful questions and have lengthy discussions to dig up the gems in our clients’ minds. These insights become powerful tools to build branding that consumers relate to and want to support, paving the way for greater team cohesion and a central feeling of shared principle within their companies.

We look forward to continuing to encourage the power of sharing your story and creating supportive communities with our client’s businesses!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Our story starts in a small town in northern New Mexico, Eldorado. We were in the midst of the most epic snowstorm of our lifetime. It might be hard to visualize in California, but this was a time when the snow piled so high on our door it was impossible to leave the house without digging a tunnel. I was 12, and my brother was 9. We were boxed in, so we were forced to find ways to keep ourselves entertained until the snow melted. To make matters worse, the power was out from the storm, so no video games!

Discouraged, I picked up a pen and started writing. My 12-year-old mind was so bored that I decided to write a book. I think I got through about eight pages before completing the project, a short horror story with a brutal and sudden ending that clearly showed my impatience to finish the task. But this experience always stuck with me, maybe because of the apocalyptic nature of the storm, but also, I think, because being stuck in that position brought out a part of my core personality.

I have a deep connection with stories and storytelling and have since explored various avenues to express this, whether through writing screenplays, novels, songs, or copy for businesses. I think that my greatest strength and working asset as an entrepreneur is a commitment to build a deep and working knowledge of who I am, fundamentally, as an individual. Building on this foundation of a passion for stories, I have created a business that thrives on uncovering and examining our clients’ stories. You would be amazed at the wealth of information you can obtain about a person and their business by carefully listening and working to understand their story as individuals and companies.

I have found that stories are the heart of brands, and the most successful businesses have a crystal-clear understanding of their stories. Their roots, basic principles, general style, and thematic branding all boil down to their working knowledge of themselves and their company.

Our dream at Atala is to build a successful business consulting agency while maintaining our core belief that our tactics and marketing strategies will be significantly more impactful once we develop a proper understanding and message from our clients’ stories.

Our mission, then, is to first and foremost understand, develop, and share our clients’ stories with the world, guiding them to the highest form of success they can achieve. We are a young company, and we feel incredibly fortunate to have already enjoyed meaningful achievements since our founding. Thank you to all the businesses and entrepreneurs that have supported us so far, and to all those yet to come, we welcome you with open arms!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
First off, I want to emphasize that I am not the itinerary guy. I have childhood trauma from vacations to Mexico, receiving an hourly schedule starting at 8 a.m. from our mom; bless her heart, but I just wanted to relax!

I believe that the most extraordinary things come out of unexpected places, and we should open up freedom in our lives and schedules so that a bit of magic can enter through the gap.

However, I also have some serious go-to recommendations, especially in food. Chiba Japanese Restaurant will undoubtedly be on this list, probably twice or thrice. It is that good. I can’t say enough about my love for this hidden gem.

Also, a big shoutout to AYCE GOGI in Van Nuys with their magnificent pinball machine collection and all the fantastic Korean BBQ restaurants here in LA; you have made my life immeasurably better, and we will certainly be making an appearance.

Wat Thai Temple is right down the street from our house, so it’s inevitable that we will also visit here for some refreshing Thai coffee, fried bananas, khao soi soup, and life-changing mango sticky rice.

Ramen Nippon on Sepulveda is also a given and has become a noodle staple of our diets.

We could also go up to Griffith Park and enjoy the views while checking out our local art celebrity Virgil Ortiz’s phenomenal exhibit at the Autry.

Finally, we have to include some nightlife. I don’t drink or smoke, but my wife Emily is a professional fire dancer who works after hours at some epic local raves, such as Tech-Me-Out downtown. We would probably tap her insight and hit up the party till the sun comes up!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shoutout to my beautiful baby girl, Ren; seeing you in the world has been the happiest and most inspirational nine months of my life. Also, a big shoutout to my wife, Emily, for always supporting me, even when money was thin and sleep was short. Finally, I want to give a massive shoutout to Shigekazu Chiba and my family at Chiba Japanese Restaurant for teaching me how to be a business leader and an all-around decent human being.

To my amazing family and friends, I wouldn’t be where I am today without your unwavering support and guidance; thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Website: https://www.atalamarketing.com/

Instagram: @atalasolutions

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/conor-sullivan-557269132/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560785226112