“It’s easy to take a before and after picture of a physical transformation, but it’s hard as hell to take a picture of a mental transformation.”

3 years ago when I came to New Zealand, just like any other immigrant I was excited, happy and eagerly waiting for what’s next. I wanted to make new friends, travel, go to the uni, and of course, get that Permanent Residency.

Within just 2 months I realised being an immigrant is not what I imagined initially.

Being an immigrant was sharing a room with other friends and not having privacy. It was having to bum rides off with friends and not being able to afford to eat out. It was struggling to understand a different accent and working part-time after classes.

But it was also friendships and completing the dream of seeing a different world. It was personal growth. It was constantly being faced with my inadequacies, being in over my head, and needing to learn on the job. It was being afraid and moving forward anyway, and every day just trying to be a bit better than the day before.

I understood being an immigrant is hard.

I spent 1.5 years in NZ being stupid, making mistakes, doing jobs that were not adding any value to my career and wasting time by hanging out with the wrong people. I spent many a sleepless night believing that I would never be able to achieve my goal of living here comfortably and tell my parents I didn’t waste their money.

Out of that desperation, I began to read and watch youtube videos on personal growth. And one big and hard decision I made was to hang out with the different people. Successful people, people with positive mindsets who have big goals in their life.

Within just a few months of hanging out with the right crowd, I went from feeling lost, frustrated, and completely hopeless to someone with self-confidence, goals and a right mindset. I won’t say I didn’t have any goals, skills or a right mindset before making these changes in my life but I reckon I didn’t have the right/guided pathway to what to do to achieve a particular thing. And fortunately, my successful friends helped me to show the right path and guided me in the right direction when needed.

Today I own two successful businesses and work at a managerial position at a real estate company. I am happy, made so many friends, traveled all over NZ, and a permanent resident.

I am sure each of you has some unique skills and work ethics but I understand in a new culture and job market it is hard for us to find out what is right or whatnot. I believe the only secret here to reveal is learning from the people who have already successfully achieved the things that you want. People who have already tested the water did the heavy lifting and created a successful life for themselves in this country. Just like, you hire a personal trainer when you want to build muscles, why not take help from someone who is already doing a job in your interest of field?

I totally understand those feelings of helplessness, anxious, and powerless. I have been through the same, and I understand how difficult it is to network with the right people or asking for help in this super busy city (especially in our community). This the reason I have worked day and night and created this FREE platform for immigrants “Behind the Dreams Show“. 

Here we are going to interview the successful people in all the different fields and try to explore their mindsets, what skills they acquired to get a job and strategies they used to reach the level of living they are at now. So you will not end up wasting your time and have proven steps to become successful in your career. 

I am super excited to start this journey and see the impact of this show on our community. To make the viewers/followers of this show different from the other immigrants, I want to name all of us – “DREAMERS”.