MY IMMIGRATION DIARY 5– PRAISE FOWOWE

‘Osuofia done enter Jandon’(Coming to America)

They had been my support systems all through the lock down and it was like leaving a family but I knew I also had to go for them to grow. I was not the leader that played around with office money because from day 1 I separated my money from company funds so they knew I was not going to look back.

I had made my plans and my first cousin had graciously agreed to house me till I found my feet so that leverage was there in addition to the fact that he had access to vital information that could help me settle in faster. Apart from him I have a tribe I belong and they were also on ground to pick me up and settle me in faster. God bless them.

‘Osuofia done enter Jandon’(Coming to America)

In case you haven’t learnt anything so far here are the top principles from what I have shared so far;

1. Become a problem solver because it makes you grow and will eventually pay off some day
2. Innovate solutions instead of complaining about problems because the key to finding a space in a crowded world is to tackle what everyone avoids
3. Build a proper organization that is not wired around you and help those who work for you see their future in whatever you do
4. Build relationships because the distance between what you want and where you are is in the quality of relationships you have built
5. Don’t be stuck with old beliefs because your beliefs may not be the total truth; it may just have been what you have convinced yourself to be true.

I used to have a limiting belief that Nigeria was where God wanted me to be and his blessings is not from abroad. Of course, if you follow the mentors I followed you’d know that belief was not mine; it was borrowed from the man whose books defined my adult years.

God wanted me on earth and ensured I arrived through Nigeria. Wherever I ended after was going to be entirely my choice. I was innovating solutions faster than the market could deal with that I had to slow down. I was also challenging cultural and religious beliefs than people were ready for so I had to suppress so many things which was frustrating because I love to ask questions.

So, I landed in Dallas and was assigned a guest room in my cousin’s house since my family was already settled in Canada. That room became my bedroom and my first office(God bless my cousin). I was clear what I had come to America to do but I was not known yet even in Dallas so I had to follow my cousin for his real estate meetings and picked several vital lessons from real estate following him around that I finally found the connection between real estate and what I do. It was a case of every home needs a solid house and every house needs a solid home.

I was taking notes and building models while researching the best entry points. America is built on systems so I already made up my mind never to try any stunt because I wanted to pay the tax I was meant to pay without seeking to beat the system or deceive myself.

One of the final researches I did before leaving Nigeria was the family systems across every nation of the world and why some countries are able to easily scale everywhere they go while others struggle. I had studied and built a flowchart for the Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Jewish and Emirati models but guess what? There was no model called the African model because while others collaborate our people struggle to.

So I threw up a free webinar on how to script a child for success leveraging on my friends here to invite their friends. I was going to use it to upsell them into a paid for program which was 250 USD. It was a highly successful webinar with over 80 registered people but my conversion was about 10.

If you are just moving abroad and things are starting slowly never give up and never forget to celebrate your little wins

To be continued