July 13, 2023 • 54 mins
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Imagine being a newcomer in a foreign country with all the potential and challenges that it brings. Meet Nick Norrani, an Indian immigrant to Canada who turned his journey into a beacon of light for countless other immigrants.
We dive into his fascinating life, from his multicultural roots in Mumbai to his entrepreneurial ventures, including the groundbreaking 'Canadian Immigrant Magazine', the 'Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Awards', and the 'Prepare for Canada' program. Nick's insight, experience, and dedication to the immigrant cause are truly inspiring - a conversation you won't want to miss.
Nick’s success wasn't just about getting a job; it was about breaking barriers and fostering inclusivity. We also delve into the challenges immigrants face, from prejudice to the hidden job market, and Nick's practical advice for overcoming these hurdles.
This isn't your average success story; it's about creating your own unique canvas, from the small victories to the grand triumphs. Nick’s passion is palpable as we discuss the importance of dreaming big and the courage to chase those dreams.
So, whether you are an immigrant, planning to be one, or interested in the immigrant experience, join us in this riveting conversation with Nick Norrani.
Follow the host and the podcast on Social Media channels below:
- My Thick Accent on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mythickaccent/
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- Gurasis's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/iamgurasis/
- Gurasis's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/iamgurasis/
_________________________________________
To contact Nick:
- Nick's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicknoorani?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base_contact_details%3BgdjZk3tBSCmxer4j86jR4Q%3D%3D
- Immigrant Networks Platform - http://www.immigrantnetworks.com/
- List of Ambassadors - https://immigrantnetworks.com/ambassadors-2/
- Meet Nick - https://calendly.com/noorani-nick
Don't forget to leave a comment or a rating!
Stay tuned for the exciting new episode every Thursday and let's continue knowing each other Beneath The Accent!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Gurasis (00:00):
Hi, this is Gurasis Singh and you're listening to my
Thick Accent Podcast.
So let's get straight intointroducing our guest today,
(00:20):
because there's a lot to unpackabout his journey.
He arrived in Canada with thevision of creating a better life
, better future for himself andhis family.
Little did he know that hispath would lead him to become a
beacon of support for countlessimmigrants.
His entrepreneurial ventures,including the pioneering
Canadian immigrant magazine, theprestigious top 25 Canadian
(00:40):
immigrant awards and thetransformative Prepare for
Canada program, and now theinnovative immigrant networks
platform, have all left anindelible mark over decades.
Also, as a best-selling authorof Arrival, survival Canada and
the official government ofCanada handbook, welcome to
Canada.
His wisdom and insights havereached countless newcomers,
students and refugees, and thelist doesn't end here.
(01:03):
Recognized for hiscontributions, he has received
prestigious accolades, includingthe HM Queen Elizabeth II
Diamond Jubilee Medal and beingvoted among Canada's top 25
immigrants.
His voluntary work on variousboards, committees and task
forces, including the RCMPCommissioner's Advocacy
Committee on Visible Minorities,showcases his commitment to
(01:24):
fostering inclusivity andcultural diversity.
Join us as we uncover hisinspiring story, his dedication
to empowering newcomers and hisongoing mission to break down
barriers and create positiveoutcomes for immigrants in
Canada.
Please welcome Nick Norrani.
Nick (01:43):
Thank you.
Oh my God, that's a lot.
Yes, I was wondering who you'retalking about.
Gurasis (01:49):
Well, it was you.
Definitely you.
Welcome to the podcast, nick.
Very, very glad to have you.
Nick (01:54):
Thank you.
Thank you, and it's a pleasureI've been.
I've been laughing and smilingand listening to your podcast
and I think it's.
It's such a great thing thatyou're doing and so it's an
honor to be here with you.
I think you've done an amazingjob in creating that, in
creating that wedge.
You know, and that's what it'sall about.
How do you create that wedge?
(02:15):
And your hook the hook aboutthe thick accent is so brilliant
it is.
It is it's brilliant in thesimplicity, right, and so so
when when people talk to me, youknow, nick, you you've built
brands right Canadian immigrant,prepare for Canada, immigrant
networks.
So these are very strong brands.
(02:35):
I said they're actually justdescriptors of what I've created
and if you keep it simple,you'll get people coming to you.
So you've done a great job ofthat, absolutely.
Gurasis (02:45):
Thank you, thank you for saying that.
I really, really appreciate it.
It means a lot.
So let's just talk about youtoday, because it is about you
and your journey today.
But I want to start by askingyou this one thing since you
have lived, you know, all aroundthe country world, here and
there, middle East Tell me whatis that?
One cultural aspect ortradition from a home country
that you have managed topreserve and cherish wherever
(03:07):
you have lived?
Nick (03:09):
It's a really interesting question.
You know, I tell you, one ofthe things, one of the habits
I've got is that I'll alwayshave a small token of my past.
So, for example, every morningwhen I have my coffee I have
this old teaspoon that I use.
That was bought first when Ilanded in Dubai, so that reminds
(03:34):
me of that journey, so that'sthere.
Then, even in our home thereare small things that are part
of India, of Bombay, growing upin those places.
So all of those, you know,people use photographs, and
photographs are great, but Ialso like to use sometimes
inanimate objects that take youback.
(03:56):
So it's interesting that youask that how do I preserve my
culture?
So I'm very fortunate.
Versus, like, my family has goneon.
My children have gone on tofind life partners who are not
Indians.
They are all immigrants, by theway.
So it wasn't like I told themgo and find an immigrant, marry
(04:18):
an immigrant.
But my daughter, who's theelder one, her partner,
significant other, is a Romanianimmigrant, blonde, blue-eyed,
you know.
So he brings in a differentperspective from Eastern Europe.
My daughter-in-law, who's givenme two beautiful grandchildren,
(04:42):
is from Fiji, so her ancestorswere from India, but she is
Fijian and she's an immigrant.
So everything in all familiesand all ethnicities, it all
comes down to food.
Absolutely, it's the connector.
(05:02):
So, as we speak, my wife iscooking biryani for tomorrow.
That is a recipe that my mothergave to my wife, which she got
from her great grandmother, sothese are generational.
So I think it's basically likeevery year with graduate, your
food is your biggest culturalheritage.
Gurasis (05:25):
Very, very true.
I think I talk about food a loton the podcast because I myself
am a foodie and I think a lotof people I've connected to here
we have nothing in common.
Literally, our education andtrust are different.
Even the activities we do arevery different, but the only
thing that connected me andpeople from, for example, iran
or from Lebanon or fromsomewhere from Dubai is only and
(05:48):
only because of food.
So you are very right on that.
Okay, you all talked a lotabout your children, but let me
take you back to the time youspent in India, about your
childhood.
Tell us a little bit about yourformative years and your family
.
Nick (06:04):
Yeah, I was born in a middle class family and I was
probably one of the.
My family was probably one ofthe one percenters in India.
This is at that time.
My father was the vicepresident for a large
pharmaceutical company and wehad a beautiful house given by
(06:25):
the company Breach Candy inBombay and we had a show for
driven car at our command.
We had servants.
So it's a very different worldwe lived in.
We had servants in the house,we had drivers and we had Danis
and we had cooks.
So it was very different worldand so it was.
(06:48):
It was, and I think the realworld is privileged world, but
my father was the kind of personwho always wanted us to
recognize that privilege andrecognize people who are not in
this, who having the sameprivilege, and to reach out to
this.
And he did that, not as a, itwasn't like he set out to teach
(07:11):
us, but it was through hisactions, because it's so.
So our driver would tell usstories about how he went out to
the factory and he sat myfather sat with the workers in
the canteen and ate with themtheir food.
So so it was talking about howwe have to look at people beyond
class and not to have peopleonly from your own class, so
(07:34):
that created the understanding,the empathy, the compassion that
I bring to all my work.
Gurasis (07:41):
How do you make sure that you instill that in your
children?
How did you make sure that youdid that?
Nick (07:47):
I think it's my example, Because if you try and teach
children something, they're notinterested.
I take my granddaughter toschool every day.
Today I took her to school andshe's 11 years old 11 years old
next month.
She talks to me and she and Ihave these wonderful
conversations.
The conversations are aboutlife, about friendship, about
(08:12):
conflict.
We talk about all these things,but I talk to her about my life
.
I talk to her about how Ihandle it in my life.
That's where you take thisjourney on to the next
generation.
Gurasis (08:29):
Nick, tell us how did you plan to move out of India?
I think you were telling methat Muscat was the first place
you moved to.
Nick (08:36):
Yes, so growing up in India.
After getting married my wifeand my two kids we were again
part of the same middle class,literally living from month to
month with paycheck to paycheck.
So lots of friends went to theMiddle East and so we moved
(08:58):
there.
My brother moved to the MiddleEast a couple of years before me
.
Then I followed.
I went to Muscat, then fromMuscat I moved to Abu Dhabi and
from Abu Dhabi I moved to Dubai.
So I had the advantage ofliving in these three countries.
Muscat is a beautiful city.
You have to see it once in yourlifetime.
If I had to say which is thecity that comes closest to my
(09:21):
heart, apart from Vancouver, itwould be Muscat.
It's gorgeous.
It's so beautiful.
You're driving and you'relooking around.
You think you're going to crashthe car because you're paying
attention to the roads.
It's that beautiful and thepeople are amazing.
The people are very nice.
The average Omani, very niceperson, very different from the
(09:42):
rest of the Arabs you'll meet.
No, there are different typesof different, but the average
Omani is a very nice human being.
It was a great experience.
I was taking my advertisingexperience that I built up over
the years in India and I startedworking over there, and then,
when I was in Abu, dhabi, Ilaunched a magazine called and
(10:05):
it was again like my brand namethe Gulf Indian Weekly.
Gurasis (10:09):
Okay, go on.
Nick (10:11):
So I started that it was a pretty big venture and then
afterwards it was acquired by agroup of people and then after
that I don't know what happened.
Then I moved to the Middle East.
I moved to the Middle Eastbecause my daughter had finished
school and she had to go intocollege.
So college was meant either shegoes to India or she goes
(10:34):
outside of India, so to the West.
So then at that time we startedthinking about it and my wife
and my brother.
My brother had already comehere two years before and he
started working on my wife andsaid you know, you guys are the
only people who are not here,because my sister had come first
and then my youngest brotherhad come.
(10:55):
They're still in the US.
And then my, when my brothercame, he kept telling my wife
you know you guys should comehere, blah, blah, blah, blah.
So I said so.
My wife was after me.
She said let's do the visathing.
I said sure, but I don't thinkwe'll get the visa.
I said not going to happen.
So we applied and then I got acall saying your visa is here.
(11:24):
I said now what she said let'sgo and take a vacation.
We haven't been for a vacationfor a while.
So we came to Vancouver on avacation in April 98.
And I said I think it did notrain for a single day For three
weeks we were here.
Not one day did it rain Really.
(11:45):
And I think this was the youknow the stars that literally
worked to get me here.
It's always sunny out here, butI fell in love with the place.
It's a beautiful place, it wasbeautiful, people were amazing,
and so I said, yeah, you know,we'll move here.
So we packed up and came hereand then I went through the
(12:06):
journey like every immigrantdoes, and that's the turning
point.
After 23 years of experience inadvertising, I came here and I
could not get a job becausepeople said that you have no
Canadian experience.
Now I went to the same agencythat I was working with in the
Gulf in the Middle East and Isaid hey guys, it's me, nick,
(12:27):
I'm here.
They said, nick, great to meetyou, got to buy you a drink and
get a cup of coffee.
I said, yeah, that's all fine.
What about a job?
They said you have no Canadianexperience, and so that started
my journey.
So what happened at that time isI turned around and said, ok,
let me see.
Let me see, what can I do?
At that time, all my friendsfrom the Middle East kept asking
(12:48):
me questions, and so I'd writethese long emails, and then my
wife said those famous wordsthat wives always say well, why
don't you write a book aboutyour journey to Canada?
That's how our survivalsurvival happened, because my
emails were so long that Iactually turned that into a book
, and then the book turned intothe magazine, and then you know
(13:08):
the rest of the story.
So that's how my journey began.
My journey began because Iunderstood one thing If all the
education and all the travelsthat I did were still left me in
equipped to get a job matchingmy profession and the level I
(13:29):
was at, what was that missingpart?
And so, from there, I have beenworking on filling the gaps,
and Canadian Immigrant Magazinewas born because media talked
about immigrants who failed andI said if immigrants fail, why
(13:49):
did I come here?
And so for me, it was thatrealization that there are huge
gaps.
The gaps are there, they stillexist.
I believe that, whether it isCanadian immigrant, doc 25 and
Prepared for Canada, these areentrepreneurial ventures that I
(14:10):
created that have moved theneedle braces from where it was.
It has moved it closer so thatimmigrants get prepared.
Immigrants feel good aboutthemselves when they read about
successful immigrants.
That's all you want to know.
In the case of Canadianimmigrant, here was the turning
(14:31):
point.
Canadian immigrant changed themedia landscape.
So what happened was that themainstream media, who talked
about immigrants who failed, nowstarted covering those who are
in the top 25 awards, those whoare on the covers of the
magazine, because now they havesuddenly got.
Oh my God, this is a growingpart of the population.
Gurasis (14:51):
Yeah, these people are making an impact.
That changed that.
Nick (14:55):
So after I finished that, I said okay, my job is done.
I got to get out of here and dosomething else.
So then I started Prepared forCanada.
Prepared for Canada became thelargest pre-arrival company
organization and it was workingwith all the government agencies
.
So then during the pandemic,when the pandemic came, I said I
have time for one more and Isaid I want to address the
(15:18):
biggest pain point thatnewcomers have.
I've come to Canada.
I'm an HR professional, I'm anIT professional.
I don't know anyone in thisprofession.
So I go to LinkedIn and I tryto connect with people.
No one answers me.
Right, yeah, that's whatimmigrant networks does.
It connects you for a videochat.
(15:41):
Based on our AI system, wematch you with someone from your
profession for a free videocall every week after week after
week.
Yeah, and here's the thing Firstyear we did 4,400 to be
specific.
Gurasis (15:58):
That's incredible 4,400 .
Nick (16:03):
The second year we got to 10,000.
This year we on track to do20,000.
The point is this we did asurvey and we found 70% of our
employees who had five or morevideo chats were working in
their profession.
Now, that's a statistic evensurprising to the government,
(16:25):
because that is incredible.
What happens is once you startunderstanding the difference
between what you were learningin India or Nigeria or the
Philippines or Mexico Citythat's not what happens in
Canada you learn about that andyou put those learnings to use
when you go for your interviewand you're acing jobs.
Gurasis (16:48):
I want to talk more about immigrant networks and,
obviously, the other platformsthat you mentioned, but I want
to go back to your immigrantexperience once again.
I want to go back to the Gulf,to Middle East once again.
I'm asking because it was alsothe first time you were exposed
to a new culture, a new country,right, absolutely like a new
environment.
Tell me about that experience.
(17:08):
What was that for you like?
Nick (17:12):
It's a very interesting thing.
That's a great question.
My school was very unusualbecause all the students were
Indians, of course, but we had alarge I'd say about 20% of our
class was made up of all thestudents who were from the
consulates.
So we had people who werePolish, we had people who were
(17:35):
Czech.
So we grew up with differencesin our school.
That was in Mumbai, in Mumbai.
So what happened was for us itwas easy, because we grew up
from a very young age.
We went all the way tograduation with these people who
were from outside the country,whether they were Persian and
(17:57):
they were Polish, they wereCzech, they were Russian.
So we grew up with theseso-called differences.
So for us, it was someone whowas blonde and blue.
I didn't bomb.
They were speaking fluent Hindiand Marathi.
That's what would happen, right?
So that, I think, has been thegrounding for me and my siblings
(18:24):
.
All four of us are in NorthAmerica.
So when my turn came to move tothe Middle East, I was fine
dealing with Arabs.
I was absolutely fine dealingwith them in Dubai and dealing
with them in Abu Dhabi.
I would walk up to an Arab andspeak to them in broken Arabic
and I'd talk to them and I'd getbusiness.
So I didn't find it difficult.
(18:48):
So in many ways I have beencalled a serial immigrant
because of the journey.
You go to the Dubai, you go toMuscat, you go to Abu Dhabi, you
go to Dubai.
You are literally moving.
And there is a growing numberof those who come in from the
Middle East into Canada and theyhave great success because
they've already gone through thechange.
(19:09):
They've already gone throughmoving out of their comfort zone
and making it happen.
Gurasis (19:17):
So you said that you called us a serial immigrant.
Tell me, if you would talk toyour younger self, what advice
would you give in terms ofadapting to a new country or a
new culture, since you weremoving all the time?
Nick (19:32):
I talk about speaking to strangers, so I don't know if
you've heard of my broccolichallenge.
Gurasis (19:36):
Of course, tell us about that.
Nick (19:39):
The broccoli challenge is for every immigrant.
You come in the country, go toyour groceries and look for
someone who doesn't look likeyou and pick up your broccoli or
pick up your cabbage oranything that you find and talk
to people and say, hey, excuseme, what is this?
It looks like a greencauliflower.
(20:00):
What does it taste like?
How do you cook it?
What is your favorite dish thatyou make with it?
And suddenly what is happeningis the barriers which are there.
I was fortunate because I grewup with these people, who are
so-called white people, so Ididn't make a difference to me.
But for people who have come infrom parts of the world where
(20:23):
they've never seen someonedifferent, they've never
interacted with someone who'sdifferent, suddenly you're
breaking the barriers and thosepeople are able to adapt in
Canadian workplaces much easierBecause they've done the
broccoli challenge.
Gurasis (20:36):
Yeah, and remember it's one of your ambassadors shared
that with me and I was like,okay, that's incredible.
I absolutely love that.
I hope that you know, if you'refor listeners, who are
especially the ones who are newto the country, take on this
challenge and please do try.
And if you do try, reach out tome or tell Nick as well.
How was the experience?
Nick (20:55):
Absolutely.
If anyone has done it, call meup, I'll do a one-on-one with
you, I'll do a video interviewand we'll put it on LinkedIn.
The biggest thing is that it isaddictive.
It is addictive because people,when they do it, they continue
doing it.
I know people have done it foryears Because it works, because
it's so and it makes you feelthis is your country.
(21:19):
You know the same thing that wefeel when we buy a house we
feel this is our country.
We feel the same thing we feelwhen someone is born in our
family this is our country.
Similar feeling you'll get onceyou start doing this, and so I
started with my seven successequals, and this is exactly what
it's all about.
Gurasis (21:40):
I want to go back once again to the point when you
first moved to Canada.
You said in 1998, you landed.
Tell us about your first day.
What were like your initialimpressions and emotions?
Nick (21:52):
So my wife left with the kids and landed here in August,
because the school starts inSeptember, so she had to be
ready for that, and so she wasgoing through her own challenges
because she was all alone.
Now this is the first timeshe's living in a new country
with two children and trying tomanage everything on her own,
(22:14):
which is pretty daunting, so shehad her own challenges.
I landed on I think it was the23rd, 24th of October no, it was
November and it was the worstrainstorm that Vancouver had.
(22:36):
That night my brother came tothe airport to fetch me and I
looked out and said I've got offin the wrong place.
This can't be the sameVancouver.
I had the sunny days, right, andit was very challenging, but
again, it is part of my makeup,my personality.
(23:00):
I landed at night, went tosleep, woke up in the morning
and I said to my wife I have togo for an interview.
She says are you mad?
You just come in your jet likethis, and no.
So I went to New Westminster,my first interview.
So the guy took, said my resumeand said nah, nah, what's your
(23:20):
nickname, man?
That's how I got the name Nick.
Gurasis (23:26):
No man, really Are you kidding, Is it true?
Nick (23:31):
No, I am very serious.
My full name is Naim Nurani.
I figured, if they can'tpronounce my name to give me a
job, let me make it easy.
That's the adaptability thereare lots of academics who talk
about oh, you should not changeyour name and all that.
I don't want to.
I have to put food on the table.
(23:51):
I don't want to hear anacademician telling me what I
should do and change the country.
I don't want to do that.
So, yeah, I.
So I.
When he turned on, ask mewhat's your nickname, I said
Nick Wow that's amazing.
No one had a problem pronouncingmy name after that.
Yeah, so so that's so.
(24:12):
That was my first day in Canada, and so I.
So the guy said, yes, you'rehired, but I'm not going to pay
you, I'm going to give you onlyon commission.
I said, sorry, that doesn'twork.
I Will not work only oncommission because you're asking
me to believe in your product.
Yeah that's the case, you shouldbe doing all your sales
yourself walked out and then I Istarted doing telemarketing.
(24:33):
Now, before I came here, Iowned the largest telemarketing
company in the Middle East.
My clients was a city bank andHoward Johnson and Renaissance
hotels, and so I came to, cameto Vancouver and and I saw an ad
for telemarketer.
So I joined the telemarketingcompany and In a week's time I
(24:54):
ranked four out of a hundredpeople.
Okay.
So the team leader constantlysays so, have you done this
before?
I said yeah, occasionally.
I used to train a hundred.
I used to train a hundredhousewives in Dubai every Monday
.
So I know what I was doing andso I was doing that, and in the
evening shift and in the morningI'd go for interviews.
(25:16):
Whatever, it was luck, whetherit was my way of speaking, but I
land, I went for an interviewand I got the job and how long
did you do that job?
Well, I was there for threeyears.
Three years, okay.
I started, and so I started asan account manager, which is the
lowest run when I left as vicepresident sales and marketing.
Gurasis (25:37):
So all that experience you had from you know Middle
East definitely worked in yourfavorite here, even though they
didn't recognize it initially,but it did work in your favor.
Nick (25:45):
Yes, yes, because the again it boils down to the
communication skills.
Language skills is a must have.
It's the ability to have thecommunication skills that makes
a difference, because you arenow talking to someone and
you're able to convince them.
I took up the phone and Italked to complete strangers in
(26:06):
Toronto and make sales worthtens of thousands of dollars.
Gurasis (26:10):
Okay, nick, I just want to circle back on the point
where you talked about, you know, changing the names for the
resume and people say to do thatand people are little Taken
aback by that.
They don't want to do that.
Honestly, I am on their side.
I would also not prefer tochange the name on the resume
because I think that's myidentity.
That's how I am, even if atsome point I changed my name and
(26:33):
it goes through the ATS, youknow applicant tracking system.
But at at some point they aregoing to have like a video
interview, even if an audiointerview.
I am going to end up workingfor them.
So I just want to know do youreally think that changing name
is necessary, or is it not?
Nick (26:49):
You know, I'm a very simple person and I put things
into two basic buckets things Ican do something about and
things I cannot.
Things I cannot do somethingabout is how someone sees my
name and they say Naim Nuraniokay.
Ram.
We must also remember we wentthrough the entire period of
(27:11):
Islamophobia.
Yeah, so Naim Nurani is notexactly a name that would be
accepted.
Um, for me, it, it, it, it.
Here's what I did realize.
I can't change the populationof this country, the people who
are going to give me a job.
I can't change them.
What is in my control is I makeit easier for me to get into a
(27:32):
company.
I work for this first companyfor three years.
I was there.
I was their right hand man.
I was everything, my, my bossand friend.
I called them my first Canadianfamily.
They, they still can'tpronounce my first name.
So is it?
Is it a barrier?
It is.
Is it unfair?
It is absolutely.
Did it hurt to change it?
(27:52):
Yes, it did.
But I'll tell you something itit did not hurt when I put food
on the table.
Yeah, I think it's a good idea.
Yeah, that's a good perspective.
Yeah, the, the reports and thisis not just Canada, north
America, yeah, uh, uk, europe,it's, it's everywhere, because
(28:15):
they used to and anglo-saxonnames.
So it is a personal choice.
I am not going to tell everyoneto change and I have so many
people asking me Nick, youchanged your name.
Should we change our name?
I said that is entirely yourdecision.
Here is my reason for doing it.
You can choose.
I am not willing to to havesomething that is going to trip
(28:40):
me up for no fault of mine.
Yeah, it's a name.
Yes, today I'll tell youthere's a funny thing, because I
was.
I was walking down one of themain streets in in Vancouver and
someone yelled out naeem and Ididn't even turn around.
It was one of my classmates.
Gurasis (28:59):
You got so used to calling Nick.
Nick (29:01):
I'm so used to it.
So some of my close clients andpartners and business
associates call me naeem and Iand I am so thrilled that they
would do that, because it takesan effort and I appreciate the
fact that they've made thateffort to to to recognize my
name.
Gurasis (29:18):
Hmm.
Nick (29:19):
Um, does it stop me from using Nick?
Now you know what it's 25 yearsmate, yeah.
Gurasis (29:27):
Absolutely.
Nick (29:27):
I've been called worse names than Nick and so, yes, I,
I do speak up against thingsthat are, that are wrong, that
are stupid.
I talk about it bluntly, I am,I am a disruptor.
I'm a disruptor when you havesomeone who tells us we are the
largest mentorship platform inthe country and you do 350
(29:52):
matches in a year, I'm notinterested.
My, my business strategy hasthree Points.
Number one it has to bestrategy.
If there's no strategy, it'snot going to work.
I started immigrant networkswith a strategy.
I started prepare for Canada.
I started immigrant Canadianimmigrant with a strategy.
(30:12):
Strategy is number one.
Number two is scalability.
What do I mean by scalability?
I want to, I want to handle Onimmigrant networks be half a
million who are going to come innext year.
Scalability third issustainability who is going to
pay for that half?
I mean, I don't have that money.
Yeah, so that's where that's.
(30:32):
These are my three principlesfor a business.
Gurasis (30:36):
You also talked about, you know, the rivals, arrival
Canada and the Canadianimmigrant magazine.
Tell me, like obviouslysomebody who didn't know about
these magazines you know, andthis arrival Survival Canada,
tell me, like, how that bookaddresses the issues of
immigrants and how that greenimmigrant magazine has had, what
kind of impact it has had onthe immigrant community.
Nick (30:59):
Oh, you know so, so.
So arrival survival Canada waswas written in the basement of
my house, and Canadian immigrantmagazine, which you can see,
that's the first edition outthere.
It's the.
It's the.
It's a dream that I built inthe basement of my home, and so
Arrival Survival gave people theroadmap when you come here,
(31:25):
this is what's gonna happen,this is what's gonna take place.
All of that stuff which,basically, when, after Arrival
Survival, then the welcome toCanada, the official government
of Canada book they're veryaligned right and then the
magazine.
So the magazine changed theimpact for newcomers.
It gave them an identity crisis.
(31:47):
Even the publisher's name isNick.
That didn't matter.
What mattered was you havesomeone who's Mexican,
portuguese, indian, chinese,pakistani, bangladeshi, nigerian
people from over 60 countrieson the cover of the magazine.
(32:11):
For every one of those peoplewho got an award, imagine what
that community felt crisis.
I matter, absolutely.
I matter.
I count.
Yeah, I am being recognized.
There are people today.
Even I was in Metropolis earlythis year in March and I was
(32:35):
walking through Metropolis andpeople said aren't you the guy
from Canadian Immigrant Magazine?
Now, you gotta rememberCanadian Immigrant Magazine.
I left in 2010.
2010,.
Yeah, I still have people whorecognize me because of that.
Wow.
So it changed the way peoplelooked at themselves.
Canadian Immigrant Magazine wasan incredibly powerful product,
(32:55):
yeah, and then to move fromthat to the top 25, those two
are so critical to the movement,the movement afterwards you saw
so many other products come inand you saw the growth of this
entire demographic and as amarketer, I know that that was
(33:16):
the tipping point.
The magazine was the tippingpoint for Canada, not for me.
I got to write the tale of thatcomet.
If it's the comet, that was theimportant thing and the impact
of that comet.
Gurasis (33:32):
Yeah, yeah, I love that .
I was also reading about it andI saw that you know immigrants
saying that they felt morebelonged.
They felt that, okay, we arehere, we are not alone here, we
have people we can reach out to.
Maybe it's for help, maybe it'sfor taking the next test, maybe
just having a conversation tosee that, yes, we are together
in this new world and we arethere to help each other, and I
(33:54):
really love that.
That's so amazing.
And you've also said alwaysthat you know your life is a
series of events, series ofaccidents.
Tell me, what was that pivotalmoment or like a turning point
that stands out to you the most?
Nick (34:08):
Well, the magazine was an accident itself, right?
So the magazine came to me.
So magazine came to me in adream, at 3 am, a dream.
So I woke up at 3 am and saidthere's no magazine for
immigrants.
And I sat down.
I wrote this so clearly.
I sat down and I wrote on whatI wanted the magazine to be.
That's exactly what I built.
And after the Toronto StarBoard and of course they wanted
(34:29):
to do research on it they didall the research they wanted.
Every one of the points I hadin the magazine.
Research showed that that wasnecessary.
So, yes, so you know.
I guess it was a series ofaccidents.
I call it an accident, peoplecall me brilliant.
I don't know what the heck isthe difference, you know, but
the point is this.
The point is this to the peoplewho it touched, it made a huge
(34:51):
difference the hundreds ofthousands of individuals who it
touched, the top 25 awards.
Now think about this, girls,from a brand perspective.
When do you have a situationwhere you have a magazine?
That is, it was launched in2004.
2004, yeah, it's almost 20 yearsfor the magazine.
Gurasis (35:13):
Yeah.
Nick (35:14):
You've got the top 25 awards, which was launched in
2009,.
I think After I launched theawards, I saw the.
It was the tsunami of emotionfrom every immigrant community
that came up.
I said, man, I could die todayand I've done what I wanted to
do.
Gurasis (35:34):
You gave people a hope, right.
Nick (35:37):
Because, again, from a marketing perspective Guresh, I
look at the immigrant at thecenter.
I'm surprised how in Canadapeople don't factor in simple
marketing economics and Ifactored in marketing economics.
Today we've got a situationwhere, on an average Guresh, I
(35:59):
speak to about a thousandimmigrants a month.
Hmm, yeah, I've got multipleproducts, multiple product
platforms.
So when we talk about immigrantnetworks, I'll talk to you
about that, but the thing isthey're all built for newcomers.
Gurasis (36:18):
What do you say?
Nick was your biggest challengewhile being an immigrant
entrepreneur.
Nick (36:24):
Well, first of all, no one thought I could make it.
Gurasis (36:26):
Okay.
Nick (36:28):
And I love when people underestimate me.
It's a better situation whenthey underestimate you, because
then when you come out of thebank and you're actually making
all that impact, then they turnand say why weren't we looking
at this?
Gurasis (36:42):
Yeah.
So if you had to create thesame magazine today, in 2023,
what something different wouldyou do?
Nick (36:52):
I wouldn't create it today .
And first of all, the era ofmagazines has gone.
It has changed.
Communication has changed.
Social media is critical, sothe communication has changed.
So that's number one.
Number two is, if I was tocreate success stories, you know
, I think it's beyond successstories.
So the Canadian immigrant didsomething that was needed in
(37:16):
2004.
And it did 2010,.
I continued running it, but Ididn't think that there was
anything more that could be done.
Okay, and when you're workingfor a large corporation, all
they're interested in how muchof the sales is this quarter?
That's all they're interestedin.
Gurasis (37:32):
Yeah.
Nick (37:33):
And that is not me.
So the pivotal time pivotalpoint was was the magazine being
acquired by the Toronto Star?
Because the Toronto Star spentmoney in building the Canadian
immigrant magazine as a nationalproduct and it gave me I was on
the tail of that comment.
So as simple as that.
Gurasis (37:54):
Very, very, very inspiring, nick.
So how can I have you on thepodcast and I can skip asking
the questions which canfacilitate an immigrant's
journey to success?
Right?
So you know, after a lot ofthinking and mind mapping, I'm
calling this next segment Nick'sSuccess Express.
Okay, okay, so you, obviouslyyou founded, you know, the
(38:22):
Prepare for Canada programfocused on providing essential
soft skills for immigrants.
Tell us, nick, how essentialare these soft skills for
immigrants?
100%.
Nick (38:31):
There are so many phrases I've heard over the years.
My favorite one is your hardskills will get you the job.
Your soft skills will allow youto keep that job.
Keep the job.
Yeah, grow that job and move onto another job.
Your journey, your careerprogression happens with your
soft skills, not with your hardskills.
Again, when I came here Ididn't, so you know, you got to
(38:55):
recognize that came here in 1998.
So my job, my first job, was inJanuary 1999 in Canada, and in
those days my boss gave me acomputer.
He said here is our database,it's called Maximizer.
Use the database and callpeople.
And it had a list of people'snames.
All I had to do was use my hardskills in understanding.
(39:19):
Ok, this is how the softwareworks.
Ok, fine, everything was new Inthose days.
You know even the arrival, someof it.
I sold it on that.
I sold it through that newplatform in those days called
Amazoncom.
Ok, right, but I used mytechnical skills.
I was always very fond oftechnology.
(39:39):
As you can probably figure out,I'm not very good at technology
, with all the challenges insetting up the computers, but I
know what technology can do andI know how I can use technology
to help newcomers.
So, to come to your point, softskills are critical.
When you look at the fact thatwhen you come into the company,
(40:03):
you're looking, you lookdifferent, you speak different,
you dress different, you eatdifferent.
Everything's different aboutyou.
What is common is your softskills.
It's not that immigrants don'thave and this is a very
important point it's not thatimmigrants don't have soft
skills.
It's that they don't have thesoft skills that Canada wants
(40:24):
you to have, that the Canadianemployer wants you to have.
Right, right, sris.
That's the important part whenwe talk about so, when I talk to
newcomers today, we are nowtalking about Nick Narani.
25 years later, what is yourlearning?
And someone asked me thisquestion what is your learning
and what would you say to peoplewho are here now?
I'd say number one is here arethe top things you need to have
(40:48):
Language skills, communicationskills completely different from
language skills.
Communication skills means acombination of soft skills the
ability to do presentations, theability to sell on the phone,
the ability to have video chatsAll of this right.
Then I talk about coachability.
I always say the Canadian dreamis achievable as long as you
(41:11):
are teachable.
Gurasis (41:11):
Yeah, you need to become that sponge.
You are able to have thatability to absorb everything
that's around you.
Nick (41:19):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, you know you have to be humble, you
have to accept and lie back andlet the change envelope you, let
it wash over you, absorb thechange and use that in order to
(41:39):
succeed.
So those three I told you thatis number one is language skills
, communication skills,coachability.
The next one is digital skills.
You can't turn around and say Idon't know how to operate
MS-DOS systems.
I mean Microsoft Office.
Gurasis (41:56):
Yeah.
Nick (41:57):
That should not even be on your resume, because if you put
it on your resume, it showsthat those are the only skills
you have.
Gurasis (42:03):
Yeah, they should be given, they should be there
Exactly you should be talkingabout.
Nick (42:08):
You know, do you have the ability to operate CRMs, Manage
CRMs?
This is what the world requires.
Gurasis (42:17):
Yeah, you have also said that you know failure
happened when immigrants decideto cherry pick.
What did you mean by that?
Nick (42:24):
Well, you know, if someone turns around and says, well,
I'll do this one, but you knowI'll do the language skills, but
they saw you did these, thesecommunication skills, I don't
want to do it.
Don't do it.
You are, you know, you are.
Here's the harsh truth.
And I speak bluntly toimmigrants.
Some people are taken abackMostly my Canadian brethren are
(42:45):
taken aback when I speak bluntlyto immigrants because I don't
know how to tell immigrants thefacts.
You will not get a job if wedon't do this In the Canadian
communication very nice, politecommunication Well, perhaps you
should look at doing this iswhat they would say.
So no, you will die if youdon't do this.
That's the Indian way, that'sthe immigrant way of
(43:07):
communicating.
That's the way an immigrantunderstands another immigrant.
That is the most powerful tool,the tool of immigrants, helping
immigrants.
Guresh is valid, it's true,it's relevant, it's genuine.
Gurasis (43:24):
I think it's like the immigrant understand and other
immigrants pain points right.
Absolutely.
Nick (43:29):
Nobody else can, Absolutely no no, and you, you
know it's such a naturalprogression.
So I I want to do an experimentand I launched the WhatsApp
group.
It's an explosion.
I've got 370 people in days whoare talking to each other.
Here's the beauty.
They're now.
(43:50):
You now have immigrants who arewho have been here for years,
who are posting jobs in therebecause they don't want to post
it in public, but they'll do itin a WhatsApp.
Gurasis (44:00):
Yeah.
Nick (44:01):
Isn't that interesting?
Interesting, yeah, that's thehidden job market, yeah.
So out of all the differentchannels I've got, I've got, I
am giving immigrants multipleopportunities to use the
networking tools that are needed.
For me, it's networking to getworking, that's it.
(44:22):
Yeah, love that.
Gurasis (44:23):
Yeah, another quote which I love from you is you
know you were telling me in anearlier conversation also that
in Canada you decide the canvasof your life.
It could be as small as thesize of a postcard or as big as
this country.
Nick (44:37):
Please expand on that a little more so people kept
asking me Nick, you talk aboutsuccess, and so does everyone
have to measure success by thenumber of houses you have, a
number of cars, that you have, anumber of international
vacations you take no, youdecide your own canvas.
This is what Canada allows youto do.
If you want to be the best inyour field, that's up to you.
(45:03):
You've got that pathway.
Canada gives you that pathway,canada gives you the
opportunities for that pathway.
But if you decide no, I justwant to be a bank teller, that
too is okay.
No one tells you that you mustdo this.
I know a software developerfrom Eastern Europe who came
here and he says I don't want todo anything, I want to drive a
(45:23):
truck.
I just want to drive a truck.
Sure, but you've got to.
You've got all the no too muchstress.
I just I need is happy drivinga truck.
Gurasis (45:35):
Yeah.
Nick (45:37):
You choose.
But here's what it does do ittells you you can be who you
were when you came into thiscountry, before you came to this
country.
You can be there Today.
When I look at what I wasbefore I came to Canada and look
at where I am today, I am likeyears ahead of what I was back
home.
Gurasis (45:57):
Yeah, yeah, and I like how you said.
You know there's.
The definition of success isvery subjective.
Everybody has their personal,different motivations and it
depends how they navigate thelife here depending on those.
Yeah.
Nick (46:12):
The mother who told me in a public forum that you know,
for me my success is I see mychildren coming home to me safe.
That's such a huge thing.
We take it for granted.
That is such a huge thing.
Gurasis (46:23):
Yeah, yeah, and how we used to say that in COVID that
being able to get up everymorning and breathe is your
success of the day in thisAbsolutely, absolutely,
absolutely, absolutely.
And since we are on the topicof networking and connecting
with people, tell us what all weneed to know about immigrant
networks, what my listeners needto know about immigrant
(46:45):
networks, and also tell us aboutthose Wednesday lives that
happen.
Nick (46:49):
Immigrant networks gives you multiple opportunities to
network.
Number one is the softwareallows you to get matched with
someone from your profession fora free video chat until you got
a job.
That's it.
I've had people who got a jobwithin the second match and I've
had people who got their jobswithin four matches.
Five matches Again.
(47:09):
It's the only system thatexists in Canada that works.
It's simple.
When immigrants say that Idon't want to do that, that's
the cherry picking I talk about.
The second part of it is webolster this by the Wednesday
calls.
After the first year, a lot ofmy members came to me and said
this is working.
(47:30):
This is work for me.
I got a job.
Can we create a bachelorprogram?
I said, yeah, sure.
Today the ambassador program isover a year and a half old.
Every Wednesday, like clockwork, for 90 minutes, we have my
ambassadors.
My ambassadors are 25 andthey're from 12 different
countries and 15 differentprofessions.
(47:51):
They come in and they sharetheir wisdom and they share
their real stories and theyshare their own lived
experiences with the audienceand inspire them through their
journeys and by giving them tips.
This is what happens in theWednesday calls.
And then we've got.
In addition to that, we've alsogot my LinkedIn audience.
(48:12):
I have a huge LinkedIn audience.
My last year I had 1.5 millionimpressions on LinkedIn.
Gurasis (48:20):
Wow.
Nick (48:23):
So I have a significant reach.
In addition to my posts that Ido, I regularly put up videos.
I put up a video about the scamjust recently I don't know if
you saw that and I addressissues that are immigrant pain
points.
No one talks about the stuffthat I talk about.
I have a newsletter that I doevery week.
(48:44):
I have multiple things and nowI've launched the WhatsApp group
.
We also launched an Indiachapter through our program
called Cello Canada, and that'sgiven us a lot of mileage as
well.
So we work with partners.
So we don't work withadvertisers.
We work with partners, partnerswho have that philosophical
(49:05):
belief and ideology that I haveand who want to be a part of
that change.
So for me, it's the entireecosystem, it's not one, it's
multipoint.
We're now in the process oflaunching our own marketplace.
So what happens is if Gureshsays, come new, he wants to get
all the products that he needs,like a resume and a cover letter
(49:27):
, he can get all of that at areally reasonable price on the
website.
You can have one-on-ones withpeople, you can actually go into
a master class, get masterclass information.
All of that you can get throughthe marketplace.
We're also launching amentorship platform.
And then, lastly, thepenultimate goal is to have a
(49:50):
recruitment platform.
Gurasis (49:51):
Oh, wow, sounds so incredible, very excited for
this.
If any of our listeners want toconnect with you as an
ambassador, or maybe they wantto join as a mentee where they
can connect with you, Always onLinkedIn.
Nick (50:04):
On an average, I get 100 messages on LinkedIn a day.
So yeah, linkedin is the bestway.
And, of course, immigrantNetworks ImmigrantNetworkscom.
It's exactly as I say it isImmigrant Networks, it's not
Immigrant's network, so it is.
Gurasis (50:20):
ImmigrantNetworkscom.
So, to all my listeners, thelinks to connect with Nick and
to check out the platform can befound in the show notes.
Okay, nick, so now we're in thefinal segment of the podcast.
I call it Beneath the Accentbecause we are knowing each
other beneath the accent.
I'm going to ask a couple ofquestions.
You can answer them in one wordor a sentence, or house server,
(50:42):
you feel like the idea is justto know more about you.
Okay, all right.
So what's the one habit youadopted that has changed your
life?
Nick (50:52):
Be a sponge, absorb everything from technology, from
technology.
I'm using AI, I'm adopting,adapting AI.
We're talking about AI drivenbots having conversations with
my audience All of thistechnology.
I always like to absorb thetechnology and put it, deliver
it on a plate to the Immigrant,show them how to use it.
(51:13):
You know, even just doing theregistration with Immigrant
Networks, there are challenges.
Some people don't understand it.
So I'm always there, so mytouch points are multiple.
So, yes, the biggest one isabsorb.
Look around, you see what'simportant to people.
Talk to immigrants.
I talk to a thousand of them amonth, 12,000 immigrants a year
I talk to.
Gurasis (51:32):
Okay, so is this something you recently bought
and you're not regret mycomputer?
Okay, seriously.
Nick (51:42):
No, I don't.
I don't spend a life on regrets.
I always look to look towardswhat is it I can do.
So I saw a quote by someonevery, very wise who said that if
you could build the ultimatesolution for a problem, what is
stopping you?
Why aren't you doing that?
If you know what the solutionto a problem is, build it.
And I've built that and I'm sofortunate I have people like you
(52:05):
who support me.
So thank you very much.
That's what helps me.
That's what helps me drive thisforward.
So thank you for that,Absolutely.
Gurasis (52:14):
So who's your go-to person when you feel stuck?
Nick (52:16):
My wife.
Gurasis (52:17):
Are there any movies you like to watch over and over
again?
Nick (52:21):
Three idiots.
Okay, I love three idiots and Ilove the Godfather series.
I'm fond of movies, buteverything in my life, my
passion, is so overwhelmingEverything in my wife's life
(52:44):
comes secondary.
If you could have onesuperpower, what would it be To
change immigrant outcomes, tochange employers' attitudes
towards immigrants?
If there's one superpower, I'dlike employers to understand
that.
The same courage I exhibited inleaving a country.
I knew everything about it andI had everything in my pocket.
I left everything for theunknown because I believed in
(53:06):
myself.
Why can't you believe in me?
So describe.
Gurasis (53:10):
Canada in one word or a sentence.
Nick (53:12):
My home and native land.
Gurasis (53:14):
Finally, Nick, if you could leave me with one piece of
advice, what would it be Soar?
Nick (53:20):
Soar so high that when you look up at the sky, you see a
soaring so high that the sunblinds you Always, always be
what you want, achieve.
Don't let people put you inboundaries and put you in
frameworks and die you down.
Go do what you want to do.
That may exactly be what youwere born to do.
Gurasis (53:41):
Yeah, love that, thank you.
Thanks a lot.
Thank you so much for being onthe podcast and adding value to
my list.
Nick (53:48):
It's a pleasure, thank you .
Gurasis (53:50):
Hey listener, thank you for making it to the end.
I highly, highly appreciate youlistening to the podcast.
Subscribe to the podcast if youhaven't as yet, and please
share with your friends oranybody you think would like it.
And, like I always say, weencourage you to follow our
heart, but also ask.
On Instagram, the handle is mythick accent.
You can also leave us a reviewor write to us at hello at my
(54:14):
thick accentcom.
So stay tuned and let'scontinue knowing each other
beneath the accent.
Hi, this is Gurasis Singh and you're listening to my
Thick Accent Podcast.
So let's get straight intointroducing our guest today,
(00:20):
because there's a lot to unpackabout his journey.
He arrived in Canada with thevision of creating a better life
, better future for himself andhis family.
Little did he know that hispath would lead him to become a
beacon of support for countlessimmigrants.
His entrepreneurial ventures,including the pioneering
Canadian immigrant magazine, theprestigious top 25 Canadian
(00:40):
immigrant awards and thetransformative Prepare for
Canada program, and now theinnovative immigrant networks
platform, have all left anindelible mark over decades.
Also, as a best-selling authorof Arrival, survival Canada and
the official government ofCanada handbook, welcome to
Canada.
His wisdom and insights havereached countless newcomers,
students and refugees, and thelist doesn't end here.
(01:03):
Recognized for hiscontributions, he has received
prestigious accolades, includingthe HM Queen Elizabeth II
Diamond Jubilee Medal and beingvoted among Canada's top 25
immigrants.
His voluntary work on variousboards, committees and task
forces, including the RCMPCommissioner's Advocacy
Committee on Visible Minorities,showcases his commitment to
(01:24):
fostering inclusivity andcultural diversity.
Join us as we uncover hisinspiring story, his dedication
to empowering newcomers and hisongoing mission to break down
barriers and create positiveoutcomes for immigrants in
Canada.
Please welcome Nick Norrani.
Nick (01:43):
Thank you.
Oh my God, that's a lot.
Yes, I was wondering who you'retalking about.
Gurasis (01:49):
Well, it was you.
Definitely you.
Welcome to the podcast, nick.
Very, very glad to have you.
Nick (01:54):
Thank you.
Thank you, and it's a pleasureI've been.
I've been laughing and smilingand listening to your podcast
and I think it's.
It's such a great thing thatyou're doing and so it's an
honor to be here with you.
I think you've done an amazingjob in creating that, in
creating that wedge.
You know, and that's what it'sall about.
How do you create that wedge?
(02:15):
And your hook the hook aboutthe thick accent is so brilliant
it is.
It is it's brilliant in thesimplicity, right, and so so
when when people talk to me, youknow, nick, you you've built
brands right Canadian immigrant,prepare for Canada, immigrant
networks.
So these are very strong brands.
(02:35):
I said they're actually justdescriptors of what I've created
and if you keep it simple,you'll get people coming to you.
So you've done a great job ofthat, absolutely.
Gurasis (02:45):
Thank you, thank you for saying that.
I really, really appreciate it.
It means a lot.
So let's just talk about youtoday, because it is about you
and your journey today.
But I want to start by askingyou this one thing since you
have lived, you know, all aroundthe country world, here and
there, middle East Tell me whatis that?
One cultural aspect ortradition from a home country
that you have managed topreserve and cherish wherever
(03:07):
you have lived?
Nick (03:09):
It's a really interesting question.
You know, I tell you, one ofthe things, one of the habits
I've got is that I'll alwayshave a small token of my past.
So, for example, every morningwhen I have my coffee I have
this old teaspoon that I use.
That was bought first when Ilanded in Dubai, so that reminds
(03:34):
me of that journey, so that'sthere.
Then, even in our home thereare small things that are part
of India, of Bombay, growing upin those places.
So all of those, you know,people use photographs, and
photographs are great, but Ialso like to use sometimes
inanimate objects that take youback.
(03:56):
So it's interesting that youask that how do I preserve my
culture?
So I'm very fortunate.
Versus, like, my family has goneon.
My children have gone on tofind life partners who are not
Indians.
They are all immigrants, by theway.
So it wasn't like I told themgo and find an immigrant, marry
(04:18):
an immigrant.
But my daughter, who's theelder one, her partner,
significant other, is a Romanianimmigrant, blonde, blue-eyed,
you know.
So he brings in a differentperspective from Eastern Europe.
My daughter-in-law, who's givenme two beautiful grandchildren,
(04:42):
is from Fiji, so her ancestorswere from India, but she is
Fijian and she's an immigrant.
So everything in all familiesand all ethnicities, it all
comes down to food.
Absolutely, it's the connector.
(05:02):
So, as we speak, my wife iscooking biryani for tomorrow.
That is a recipe that my mothergave to my wife, which she got
from her great grandmother, sothese are generational.
So I think it's basically likeevery year with graduate, your
food is your biggest culturalheritage.
Gurasis (05:25):
Very, very true.
I think I talk about food a loton the podcast because I myself
am a foodie and I think a lotof people I've connected to here
we have nothing in common.
Literally, our education andtrust are different.
Even the activities we do arevery different, but the only
thing that connected me andpeople from, for example, iran
or from Lebanon or fromsomewhere from Dubai is only and
(05:48):
only because of food.
So you are very right on that.
Okay, you all talked a lotabout your children, but let me
take you back to the time youspent in India, about your
childhood.
Tell us a little bit about yourformative years and your family
.
Nick (06:04):
Yeah, I was born in a middle class family and I was
probably one of the.
My family was probably one ofthe one percenters in India.
This is at that time.
My father was the vicepresident for a large
pharmaceutical company and wehad a beautiful house given by
(06:25):
the company Breach Candy inBombay and we had a show for
driven car at our command.
We had servants.
So it's a very different worldwe lived in.
We had servants in the house,we had drivers and we had Danis
and we had cooks.
So it was very different worldand so it was.
(06:48):
It was, and I think the realworld is privileged world, but
my father was the kind of personwho always wanted us to
recognize that privilege andrecognize people who are not in
this, who having the sameprivilege, and to reach out to
this.
And he did that, not as a, itwasn't like he set out to teach
(07:11):
us, but it was through hisactions, because it's so.
So our driver would tell usstories about how he went out to
the factory and he sat myfather sat with the workers in
the canteen and ate with themtheir food.
So so it was talking about howwe have to look at people beyond
class and not to have peopleonly from your own class, so
(07:34):
that created the understanding,the empathy, the compassion that
I bring to all my work.
Gurasis (07:41):
How do you make sure that you instill that in your
children?
How did you make sure that youdid that?
Nick (07:47):
I think it's my example, Because if you try and teach
children something, they're notinterested.
I take my granddaughter toschool every day.
Today I took her to school andshe's 11 years old 11 years old
next month.
She talks to me and she and Ihave these wonderful
conversations.
The conversations are aboutlife, about friendship, about
(08:12):
conflict.
We talk about all these things,but I talk to her about my life
.
I talk to her about how Ihandle it in my life.
That's where you take thisjourney on to the next
generation.
Gurasis (08:29):
Nick, tell us how did you plan to move out of India?
I think you were telling methat Muscat was the first place
you moved to.
Nick (08:36):
Yes, so growing up in India.
After getting married my wifeand my two kids we were again
part of the same middle class,literally living from month to
month with paycheck to paycheck.
So lots of friends went to theMiddle East and so we moved
(08:58):
there.
My brother moved to the MiddleEast a couple of years before me
.
Then I followed.
I went to Muscat, then fromMuscat I moved to Abu Dhabi and
from Abu Dhabi I moved to Dubai.
So I had the advantage ofliving in these three countries.
Muscat is a beautiful city.
You have to see it once in yourlifetime.
If I had to say which is thecity that comes closest to my
(09:21):
heart, apart from Vancouver, itwould be Muscat.
It's gorgeous.
It's so beautiful.
You're driving and you'relooking around.
You think you're going to crashthe car because you're paying
attention to the roads.
It's that beautiful and thepeople are amazing.
The people are very nice.
The average Omani, very niceperson, very different from the
(09:42):
rest of the Arabs you'll meet.
No, there are different typesof different, but the average
Omani is a very nice human being.
It was a great experience.
I was taking my advertisingexperience that I built up over
the years in India and I startedworking over there, and then,
when I was in Abu, dhabi, Ilaunched a magazine called and
(10:05):
it was again like my brand namethe Gulf Indian Weekly.
Gurasis (10:09):
Okay, go on.
Nick (10:11):
So I started that it was a pretty big venture and then
afterwards it was acquired by agroup of people and then after
that I don't know what happened.
Then I moved to the Middle East.
I moved to the Middle Eastbecause my daughter had finished
school and she had to go intocollege.
So college was meant either shegoes to India or she goes
(10:34):
outside of India, so to the West.
So then at that time we startedthinking about it and my wife
and my brother.
My brother had already comehere two years before and he
started working on my wife andsaid you know, you guys are the
only people who are not here,because my sister had come first
and then my youngest brotherhad come.
(10:55):
They're still in the US.
And then my, when my brothercame, he kept telling my wife
you know you guys should comehere, blah, blah, blah, blah.
So I said so.
My wife was after me.
She said let's do the visathing.
I said sure, but I don't thinkwe'll get the visa.
I said not going to happen.
So we applied and then I got acall saying your visa is here.
(11:24):
I said now what she said let'sgo and take a vacation.
We haven't been for a vacationfor a while.
So we came to Vancouver on avacation in April 98.
And I said I think it did notrain for a single day For three
weeks we were here.
Not one day did it rain Really.
(11:45):
And I think this was the youknow the stars that literally
worked to get me here.
It's always sunny out here, butI fell in love with the place.
It's a beautiful place, it wasbeautiful, people were amazing,
and so I said, yeah, you know,we'll move here.
So we packed up and came hereand then I went through the
(12:06):
journey like every immigrantdoes, and that's the turning
point.
After 23 years of experience inadvertising, I came here and I
could not get a job becausepeople said that you have no
Canadian experience.
Now I went to the same agencythat I was working with in the
Gulf in the Middle East and Isaid hey guys, it's me, nick,
(12:27):
I'm here.
They said, nick, great to meetyou, got to buy you a drink and
get a cup of coffee.
I said, yeah, that's all fine.
What about a job?
They said you have no Canadianexperience, and so that started
my journey.
So what happened at that time isI turned around and said, ok,
let me see.
Let me see, what can I do?
At that time, all my friendsfrom the Middle East kept asking
(12:48):
me questions, and so I'd writethese long emails, and then my
wife said those famous wordsthat wives always say well, why
don't you write a book aboutyour journey to Canada?
That's how our survivalsurvival happened, because my
emails were so long that Iactually turned that into a book
, and then the book turned intothe magazine, and then you know
(13:08):
the rest of the story.
So that's how my journey began.
My journey began because Iunderstood one thing If all the
education and all the travelsthat I did were still left me in
equipped to get a job matchingmy profession and the level I
(13:29):
was at, what was that missingpart?
And so, from there, I have beenworking on filling the gaps,
and Canadian Immigrant Magazinewas born because media talked
about immigrants who failed andI said if immigrants fail, why
(13:49):
did I come here?
And so for me, it was thatrealization that there are huge
gaps.
The gaps are there, they stillexist.
I believe that, whether it isCanadian immigrant, doc 25 and
Prepared for Canada, these areentrepreneurial ventures that I
(14:10):
created that have moved theneedle braces from where it was.
It has moved it closer so thatimmigrants get prepared.
Immigrants feel good aboutthemselves when they read about
successful immigrants.
That's all you want to know.
In the case of Canadianimmigrant, here was the turning
(14:31):
point.
Canadian immigrant changed themedia landscape.
So what happened was that themainstream media, who talked
about immigrants who failed, nowstarted covering those who are
in the top 25 awards, those whoare on the covers of the
magazine, because now they havesuddenly got.
Oh my God, this is a growingpart of the population.
Gurasis (14:51):
Yeah, these people are making an impact.
That changed that.
Nick (14:55):
So after I finished that, I said okay, my job is done.
I got to get out of here and dosomething else.
So then I started Prepared forCanada.
Prepared for Canada became thelargest pre-arrival company
organization and it was workingwith all the government agencies
.
So then during the pandemic,when the pandemic came, I said I
have time for one more and Isaid I want to address the
(15:18):
biggest pain point thatnewcomers have.
I've come to Canada.
I'm an HR professional, I'm anIT professional.
I don't know anyone in thisprofession.
So I go to LinkedIn and I tryto connect with people.
No one answers me.
Right, yeah, that's whatimmigrant networks does.
It connects you for a videochat.
(15:41):
Based on our AI system, wematch you with someone from your
profession for a free videocall every week after week after
week.
Yeah, and here's the thing Firstyear we did 4,400 to be
specific.
Gurasis (15:58):
That's incredible 4,400 .
Nick (16:03):
The second year we got to 10,000.
This year we on track to do20,000.
The point is this we did asurvey and we found 70% of our
employees who had five or morevideo chats were working in
their profession.
Now, that's a statistic evensurprising to the government,
(16:25):
because that is incredible.
What happens is once you startunderstanding the difference
between what you were learningin India or Nigeria or the
Philippines or Mexico Citythat's not what happens in
Canada you learn about that andyou put those learnings to use
when you go for your interviewand you're acing jobs.
Gurasis (16:48):
I want to talk more about immigrant networks and,
obviously, the other platformsthat you mentioned, but I want
to go back to your immigrantexperience once again.
I want to go back to the Gulf,to Middle East once again.
I'm asking because it was alsothe first time you were exposed
to a new culture, a new country,right, absolutely like a new
environment.
Tell me about that experience.
(17:08):
What was that for you like?
Nick (17:12):
It's a very interesting thing.
That's a great question.
My school was very unusualbecause all the students were
Indians, of course, but we had alarge I'd say about 20% of our
class was made up of all thestudents who were from the
consulates.
So we had people who werePolish, we had people who were
(17:35):
Czech.
So we grew up with differencesin our school.
That was in Mumbai, in Mumbai.
So what happened was for us itwas easy, because we grew up
from a very young age.
We went all the way tograduation with these people who
were from outside the country,whether they were Persian and
(17:57):
they were Polish, they wereCzech, they were Russian.
So we grew up with theseso-called differences.
So for us, it was someone whowas blonde and blue.
I didn't bomb.
They were speaking fluent Hindiand Marathi.
That's what would happen, right?
So that, I think, has been thegrounding for me and my siblings
(18:24):
.
All four of us are in NorthAmerica.
So when my turn came to move tothe Middle East, I was fine
dealing with Arabs.
I was absolutely fine dealingwith them in Dubai and dealing
with them in Abu Dhabi.
I would walk up to an Arab andspeak to them in broken Arabic
and I'd talk to them and I'd getbusiness.
So I didn't find it difficult.
(18:48):
So in many ways I have beencalled a serial immigrant
because of the journey.
You go to the Dubai, you go toMuscat, you go to Abu Dhabi, you
go to Dubai.
You are literally moving.
And there is a growing numberof those who come in from the
Middle East into Canada and theyhave great success because
they've already gone through thechange.
(19:09):
They've already gone throughmoving out of their comfort zone
and making it happen.
Gurasis (19:17):
So you said that you called us a serial immigrant.
Tell me, if you would talk toyour younger self, what advice
would you give in terms ofadapting to a new country or a
new culture, since you weremoving all the time?
Nick (19:32):
I talk about speaking to strangers, so I don't know if
you've heard of my broccolichallenge.
Gurasis (19:36):
Of course, tell us about that.
Nick (19:39):
The broccoli challenge is for every immigrant.
You come in the country, go toyour groceries and look for
someone who doesn't look likeyou and pick up your broccoli or
pick up your cabbage oranything that you find and talk
to people and say, hey, excuseme, what is this?
It looks like a greencauliflower.
(20:00):
What does it taste like?
How do you cook it?
What is your favorite dish thatyou make with it?
And suddenly what is happeningis the barriers which are there.
I was fortunate because I grewup with these people, who are
so-called white people, so Ididn't make a difference to me.
But for people who have come infrom parts of the world where
(20:23):
they've never seen someonedifferent, they've never
interacted with someone who'sdifferent, suddenly you're
breaking the barriers and thosepeople are able to adapt in
Canadian workplaces much easierBecause they've done the
broccoli challenge.
Gurasis (20:36):
Yeah, and remember it's one of your ambassadors shared
that with me and I was like,okay, that's incredible.
I absolutely love that.
I hope that you know, if you'refor listeners, who are
especially the ones who are newto the country, take on this
challenge and please do try.
And if you do try, reach out tome or tell Nick as well.
How was the experience?
Nick (20:55):
Absolutely.
If anyone has done it, call meup, I'll do a one-on-one with
you, I'll do a video interviewand we'll put it on LinkedIn.
The biggest thing is that it isaddictive.
It is addictive because people,when they do it, they continue
doing it.
I know people have done it foryears Because it works, because
it's so and it makes you feelthis is your country.
(21:19):
You know the same thing that wefeel when we buy a house we
feel this is our country.
We feel the same thing we feelwhen someone is born in our
family this is our country.
Similar feeling you'll get onceyou start doing this, and so I
started with my seven successequals, and this is exactly what
it's all about.
Gurasis (21:40):
I want to go back once again to the point when you
first moved to Canada.
You said in 1998, you landed.
Tell us about your first day.
What were like your initialimpressions and emotions?
Nick (21:52):
So my wife left with the kids and landed here in August,
because the school starts inSeptember, so she had to be
ready for that, and so she wasgoing through her own challenges
because she was all alone.
Now this is the first timeshe's living in a new country
with two children and trying tomanage everything on her own,
(22:14):
which is pretty daunting, so shehad her own challenges.
I landed on I think it was the23rd, 24th of October no, it was
November and it was the worstrainstorm that Vancouver had.
(22:36):
That night my brother came tothe airport to fetch me and I
looked out and said I've got offin the wrong place.
This can't be the sameVancouver.
I had the sunny days, right, andit was very challenging, but
again, it is part of my makeup,my personality.
(23:00):
I landed at night, went tosleep, woke up in the morning
and I said to my wife I have togo for an interview.
She says are you mad?
You just come in your jet likethis, and no.
So I went to New Westminster,my first interview.
So the guy took, said my resumeand said nah, nah, what's your
(23:20):
nickname, man?
That's how I got the name Nick.
Gurasis (23:26):
No man, really Are you kidding, Is it true?
Nick (23:31):
No, I am very serious.
My full name is Naim Nurani.
I figured, if they can'tpronounce my name to give me a
job, let me make it easy.
That's the adaptability thereare lots of academics who talk
about oh, you should not changeyour name and all that.
I don't want to.
I have to put food on the table.
(23:51):
I don't want to hear anacademician telling me what I
should do and change the country.
I don't want to do that.
So, yeah, I.
So I.
When he turned on, ask mewhat's your nickname, I said
Nick Wow that's amazing.
No one had a problem pronouncingmy name after that.
Yeah, so so that's so.
(24:12):
That was my first day in Canada, and so I.
So the guy said, yes, you'rehired, but I'm not going to pay
you, I'm going to give you onlyon commission.
I said, sorry, that doesn'twork.
I Will not work only oncommission because you're asking
me to believe in your product.
Yeah that's the case, you shouldbe doing all your sales
yourself walked out and then I Istarted doing telemarketing.
(24:33):
Now, before I came here, Iowned the largest telemarketing
company in the Middle East.
My clients was a city bank andHoward Johnson and Renaissance
hotels, and so I came to, cameto Vancouver and and I saw an ad
for telemarketer.
So I joined the telemarketingcompany and In a week's time I
(24:54):
ranked four out of a hundredpeople.
Okay.
So the team leader constantlysays so, have you done this
before?
I said yeah, occasionally.
I used to train a hundred.
I used to train a hundredhousewives in Dubai every Monday
.
So I know what I was doing andso I was doing that, and in the
evening shift and in the morningI'd go for interviews.
(25:16):
Whatever, it was luck, whetherit was my way of speaking, but I
land, I went for an interviewand I got the job and how long
did you do that job?
Well, I was there for threeyears.
Three years, okay.
I started, and so I started asan account manager, which is the
lowest run when I left as vicepresident sales and marketing.
Gurasis (25:37):
So all that experience you had from you know Middle
East definitely worked in yourfavorite here, even though they
didn't recognize it initially,but it did work in your favor.
Nick (25:45):
Yes, yes, because the again it boils down to the
communication skills.
Language skills is a must have.
It's the ability to have thecommunication skills that makes
a difference, because you arenow talking to someone and
you're able to convince them.
I took up the phone and Italked to complete strangers in
(26:06):
Toronto and make sales worthtens of thousands of dollars.
Gurasis (26:10):
Okay, nick, I just want to circle back on the point
where you talked about, you know, changing the names for the
resume and people say to do thatand people are little Taken
aback by that.
They don't want to do that.
Honestly, I am on their side.
I would also not prefer tochange the name on the resume
because I think that's myidentity.
That's how I am, even if atsome point I changed my name and
(26:33):
it goes through the ATS, youknow applicant tracking system.
But at at some point they aregoing to have like a video
interview, even if an audiointerview.
I am going to end up workingfor them.
So I just want to know do youreally think that changing name
is necessary, or is it not?
Nick (26:49):
You know, I'm a very simple person and I put things
into two basic buckets things Ican do something about and
things I cannot.
Things I cannot do somethingabout is how someone sees my
name and they say Naim Nuraniokay.
Ram.
We must also remember we wentthrough the entire period of
(27:11):
Islamophobia.
Yeah, so Naim Nurani is notexactly a name that would be
accepted.
Um, for me, it, it, it, it.
Here's what I did realize.
I can't change the populationof this country, the people who
are going to give me a job.
I can't change them.
What is in my control is I makeit easier for me to get into a
(27:32):
company.
I work for this first companyfor three years.
I was there.
I was their right hand man.
I was everything, my, my bossand friend.
I called them my first Canadianfamily.
They, they still can'tpronounce my first name.
So is it?
Is it a barrier?
It is.
Is it unfair?
It is absolutely.
Did it hurt to change it?
(27:52):
Yes, it did.
But I'll tell you something itit did not hurt when I put food
on the table.
Yeah, I think it's a good idea.
Yeah, that's a good perspective.
Yeah, the, the reports and thisis not just Canada, north
America, yeah, uh, uk, europe,it's, it's everywhere, because
(28:15):
they used to and anglo-saxonnames.
So it is a personal choice.
I am not going to tell everyoneto change and I have so many
people asking me Nick, youchanged your name.
Should we change our name?
I said that is entirely yourdecision.
Here is my reason for doing it.
You can choose.
I am not willing to to havesomething that is going to trip
(28:40):
me up for no fault of mine.
Yeah, it's a name.
Yes, today I'll tell youthere's a funny thing, because I
was.
I was walking down one of themain streets in in Vancouver and
someone yelled out naeem and Ididn't even turn around.
It was one of my classmates.
Gurasis (28:59):
You got so used to calling Nick.
Nick (29:01):
I'm so used to it.
So some of my close clients andpartners and business
associates call me naeem and Iand I am so thrilled that they
would do that, because it takesan effort and I appreciate the
fact that they've made thateffort to to to recognize my
name.
Gurasis (29:18):
Hmm.
Nick (29:19):
Um, does it stop me from using Nick?
Now you know what it's 25 yearsmate, yeah.
Gurasis (29:27):
Absolutely.
Nick (29:27):
I've been called worse names than Nick and so, yes, I,
I do speak up against thingsthat are, that are wrong, that
are stupid.
I talk about it bluntly, I am,I am a disruptor.
I'm a disruptor when you havesomeone who tells us we are the
largest mentorship platform inthe country and you do 350
(29:52):
matches in a year, I'm notinterested.
My, my business strategy hasthree Points.
Number one it has to bestrategy.
If there's no strategy, it'snot going to work.
I started immigrant networkswith a strategy.
I started prepare for Canada.
I started immigrant Canadianimmigrant with a strategy.
(30:12):
Strategy is number one.
Number two is scalability.
What do I mean by scalability?
I want to, I want to handle Onimmigrant networks be half a
million who are going to come innext year.
Scalability third issustainability who is going to
pay for that half?
I mean, I don't have that money.
Yeah, so that's where that's.
(30:32):
These are my three principlesfor a business.
Gurasis (30:36):
You also talked about, you know, the rivals, arrival
Canada and the Canadianimmigrant magazine.
Tell me, like obviouslysomebody who didn't know about
these magazines you know, andthis arrival Survival Canada,
tell me, like, how that bookaddresses the issues of
immigrants and how that greenimmigrant magazine has had, what
kind of impact it has had onthe immigrant community.
Nick (30:59):
Oh, you know so, so.
So arrival survival Canada waswas written in the basement of
my house, and Canadian immigrantmagazine, which you can see,
that's the first edition outthere.
It's the.
It's the.
It's a dream that I built inthe basement of my home, and so
Arrival Survival gave people theroadmap when you come here,
(31:25):
this is what's gonna happen,this is what's gonna take place.
All of that stuff which,basically, when, after Arrival
Survival, then the welcome toCanada, the official government
of Canada book they're veryaligned right and then the
magazine.
So the magazine changed theimpact for newcomers.
It gave them an identity crisis.
(31:47):
Even the publisher's name isNick.
That didn't matter.
What mattered was you havesomeone who's Mexican,
portuguese, indian, chinese,pakistani, bangladeshi, nigerian
people from over 60 countrieson the cover of the magazine.
(32:11):
For every one of those peoplewho got an award, imagine what
that community felt crisis.
I matter, absolutely.
I matter.
I count.
Yeah, I am being recognized.
There are people today.
Even I was in Metropolis earlythis year in March and I was
(32:35):
walking through Metropolis andpeople said aren't you the guy
from Canadian Immigrant Magazine?
Now, you gotta rememberCanadian Immigrant Magazine.
I left in 2010.
2010,.
Yeah, I still have people whorecognize me because of that.
Wow.
So it changed the way peoplelooked at themselves.
Canadian Immigrant Magazine wasan incredibly powerful product,
(32:55):
yeah, and then to move fromthat to the top 25, those two
are so critical to the movement,the movement afterwards you saw
so many other products come inand you saw the growth of this
entire demographic and as amarketer, I know that that was
(33:16):
the tipping point.
The magazine was the tippingpoint for Canada, not for me.
I got to write the tale of thatcomet.
If it's the comet, that was theimportant thing and the impact
of that comet.
Gurasis (33:32):
Yeah, yeah, I love that .
I was also reading about it andI saw that you know immigrants
saying that they felt morebelonged.
They felt that, okay, we arehere, we are not alone here, we
have people we can reach out to.
Maybe it's for help, maybe it'sfor taking the next test, maybe
just having a conversation tosee that, yes, we are together
in this new world and we arethere to help each other, and I
(33:54):
really love that.
That's so amazing.
And you've also said alwaysthat you know your life is a
series of events, series ofaccidents.
Tell me, what was that pivotalmoment or like a turning point
that stands out to you the most?
Nick (34:08):
Well, the magazine was an accident itself, right?
So the magazine came to me.
So magazine came to me in adream, at 3 am, a dream.
So I woke up at 3 am and saidthere's no magazine for
immigrants.
And I sat down.
I wrote this so clearly.
I sat down and I wrote on whatI wanted the magazine to be.
That's exactly what I built.
And after the Toronto StarBoard and of course they wanted
(34:29):
to do research on it they didall the research they wanted.
Every one of the points I hadin the magazine.
Research showed that that wasnecessary.
So, yes, so you know.
I guess it was a series ofaccidents.
I call it an accident, peoplecall me brilliant.
I don't know what the heck isthe difference, you know, but
the point is this.
The point is this to the peoplewho it touched, it made a huge
(34:51):
difference the hundreds ofthousands of individuals who it
touched, the top 25 awards.
Now think about this, girls,from a brand perspective.
When do you have a situationwhere you have a magazine?
That is, it was launched in2004.
2004, yeah, it's almost 20 yearsfor the magazine.
Gurasis (35:13):
Yeah.
Nick (35:14):
You've got the top 25 awards, which was launched in
2009,.
I think After I launched theawards, I saw the.
It was the tsunami of emotionfrom every immigrant community
that came up.
I said, man, I could die todayand I've done what I wanted to
do.
Gurasis (35:34):
You gave people a hope, right.
Nick (35:37):
Because, again, from a marketing perspective Guresh, I
look at the immigrant at thecenter.
I'm surprised how in Canadapeople don't factor in simple
marketing economics and Ifactored in marketing economics.
Today we've got a situationwhere, on an average Guresh, I
(35:59):
speak to about a thousandimmigrants a month.
Hmm, yeah, I've got multipleproducts, multiple product
platforms.
So when we talk about immigrantnetworks, I'll talk to you
about that, but the thing isthey're all built for newcomers.
Gurasis (36:18):
What do you say?
Nick was your biggest challengewhile being an immigrant
entrepreneur.
Nick (36:24):
Well, first of all, no one thought I could make it.
Gurasis (36:26):
Okay.
Nick (36:28):
And I love when people underestimate me.
It's a better situation whenthey underestimate you, because
then when you come out of thebank and you're actually making
all that impact, then they turnand say why weren't we looking
at this?
Gurasis (36:42):
Yeah.
So if you had to create thesame magazine today, in 2023,
what something different wouldyou do?
Nick (36:52):
I wouldn't create it today .
And first of all, the era ofmagazines has gone.
It has changed.
Communication has changed.
Social media is critical, sothe communication has changed.
So that's number one.
Number two is, if I was tocreate success stories, you know
, I think it's beyond successstories.
So the Canadian immigrant didsomething that was needed in
(37:16):
2004.
And it did 2010,.
I continued running it, but Ididn't think that there was
anything more that could be done.
Okay, and when you're workingfor a large corporation, all
they're interested in how muchof the sales is this quarter?
That's all they're interestedin.
Gurasis (37:32):
Yeah.
Nick (37:33):
And that is not me.
So the pivotal time pivotalpoint was was the magazine being
acquired by the Toronto Star?
Because the Toronto Star spentmoney in building the Canadian
immigrant magazine as a nationalproduct and it gave me I was on
the tail of that comment.
So as simple as that.
Gurasis (37:54):
Very, very, very inspiring, nick.
So how can I have you on thepodcast and I can skip asking
the questions which canfacilitate an immigrant's
journey to success?
Right?
So you know, after a lot ofthinking and mind mapping, I'm
calling this next segment Nick'sSuccess Express.
Okay, okay, so you, obviouslyyou founded, you know, the
(38:22):
Prepare for Canada programfocused on providing essential
soft skills for immigrants.
Tell us, nick, how essentialare these soft skills for
immigrants?
100%.
Nick (38:31):
There are so many phrases I've heard over the years.
My favorite one is your hardskills will get you the job.
Your soft skills will allow youto keep that job.
Keep the job.
Yeah, grow that job and move onto another job.
Your journey, your careerprogression happens with your
soft skills, not with your hardskills.
Again, when I came here Ididn't, so you know, you got to
(38:55):
recognize that came here in 1998.
So my job, my first job, was inJanuary 1999 in Canada, and in
those days my boss gave me acomputer.
He said here is our database,it's called Maximizer.
Use the database and callpeople.
And it had a list of people'snames.
All I had to do was use my hardskills in understanding.
(39:19):
Ok, this is how the softwareworks.
Ok, fine, everything was new Inthose days.
You know even the arrival, someof it.
I sold it on that.
I sold it through that newplatform in those days called
Amazoncom.
Ok, right, but I used mytechnical skills.
I was always very fond oftechnology.
(39:39):
As you can probably figure out,I'm not very good at technology
, with all the challenges insetting up the computers, but I
know what technology can do andI know how I can use technology
to help newcomers.
So, to come to your point, softskills are critical.
When you look at the fact thatwhen you come into the company,
(40:03):
you're looking, you lookdifferent, you speak different,
you dress different, you eatdifferent.
Everything's different aboutyou.
What is common is your softskills.
It's not that immigrants don'thave and this is a very
important point it's not thatimmigrants don't have soft
skills.
It's that they don't have thesoft skills that Canada wants
(40:24):
you to have, that the Canadianemployer wants you to have.
Right, right, sris.
That's the important part whenwe talk about so, when I talk to
newcomers today, we are nowtalking about Nick Narani.
25 years later, what is yourlearning?
And someone asked me thisquestion what is your learning
and what would you say to peoplewho are here now?
I'd say number one is here arethe top things you need to have
(40:48):
Language skills, communicationskills completely different from
language skills.
Communication skills means acombination of soft skills the
ability to do presentations, theability to sell on the phone,
the ability to have video chatsAll of this right.
Then I talk about coachability.
I always say the Canadian dreamis achievable as long as you
(41:11):
are teachable.
Gurasis (41:11):
Yeah, you need to become that sponge.
You are able to have thatability to absorb everything
that's around you.
Nick (41:19):
Yes, yes, yes, yes, you know you have to be humble, you
have to accept and lie back andlet the change envelope you, let
it wash over you, absorb thechange and use that in order to
(41:39):
succeed.
So those three I told you thatis number one is language skills
, communication skills,coachability.
The next one is digital skills.
You can't turn around and say Idon't know how to operate
MS-DOS systems.
I mean Microsoft Office.
Gurasis (41:56):
Yeah.
Nick (41:57):
That should not even be on your resume, because if you put
it on your resume, it showsthat those are the only skills
you have.
Gurasis (42:03):
Yeah, they should be given, they should be there
Exactly you should be talkingabout.
Nick (42:08):
You know, do you have the ability to operate CRMs, Manage
CRMs?
This is what the world requires.
Gurasis (42:17):
Yeah, you have also said that you know failure
happened when immigrants decideto cherry pick.
What did you mean by that?
Nick (42:24):
Well, you know, if someone turns around and says, well,
I'll do this one, but you knowI'll do the language skills, but
they saw you did these, thesecommunication skills, I don't
want to do it.
Don't do it.
You are, you know, you are.
Here's the harsh truth.
And I speak bluntly toimmigrants.
Some people are taken abackMostly my Canadian brethren are
(42:45):
taken aback when I speak bluntlyto immigrants because I don't
know how to tell immigrants thefacts.
You will not get a job if wedon't do this In the Canadian
communication very nice, politecommunication Well, perhaps you
should look at doing this iswhat they would say.
So no, you will die if youdon't do this.
That's the Indian way, that'sthe immigrant way of
(43:07):
communicating.
That's the way an immigrantunderstands another immigrant.
That is the most powerful tool,the tool of immigrants, helping
immigrants.
Guresh is valid, it's true,it's relevant, it's genuine.
Gurasis (43:24):
I think it's like the immigrant understand and other
immigrants pain points right.
Absolutely.
Nick (43:29):
Nobody else can, Absolutely no no, and you, you
know it's such a naturalprogression.
So I I want to do an experimentand I launched the WhatsApp
group.
It's an explosion.
I've got 370 people in days whoare talking to each other.
Here's the beauty.
They're now.
(43:50):
You now have immigrants who arewho have been here for years,
who are posting jobs in therebecause they don't want to post
it in public, but they'll do itin a WhatsApp.
Gurasis (44:00):
Yeah.
Nick (44:01):
Isn't that interesting?
Interesting, yeah, that's thehidden job market, yeah.
So out of all the differentchannels I've got, I've got, I
am giving immigrants multipleopportunities to use the
networking tools that are needed.
For me, it's networking to getworking, that's it.
(44:22):
Yeah, love that.
Gurasis (44:23):
Yeah, another quote which I love from you is you
know you were telling me in anearlier conversation also that
in Canada you decide the canvasof your life.
It could be as small as thesize of a postcard or as big as
this country.
Nick (44:37):
Please expand on that a little more so people kept
asking me Nick, you talk aboutsuccess, and so does everyone
have to measure success by thenumber of houses you have, a
number of cars, that you have, anumber of international
vacations you take no, youdecide your own canvas.
This is what Canada allows youto do.
If you want to be the best inyour field, that's up to you.
(45:03):
You've got that pathway.
Canada gives you that pathway,canada gives you the
opportunities for that pathway.
But if you decide no, I justwant to be a bank teller, that
too is okay.
No one tells you that you mustdo this.
I know a software developerfrom Eastern Europe who came
here and he says I don't want todo anything, I want to drive a
(45:23):
truck.
I just want to drive a truck.
Sure, but you've got to.
You've got all the no too muchstress.
I just I need is happy drivinga truck.
Gurasis (45:35):
Yeah.
Nick (45:37):
You choose.
But here's what it does do ittells you you can be who you
were when you came into thiscountry, before you came to this
country.
You can be there Today.
When I look at what I wasbefore I came to Canada and look
at where I am today, I am likeyears ahead of what I was back
home.
Gurasis (45:57):
Yeah, yeah, and I like how you said.
You know there's.
The definition of success isvery subjective.
Everybody has their personal,different motivations and it
depends how they navigate thelife here depending on those.
Yeah.
Nick (46:12):
The mother who told me in a public forum that you know,
for me my success is I see mychildren coming home to me safe.
That's such a huge thing.
We take it for granted.
That is such a huge thing.
Gurasis (46:23):
Yeah, yeah, and how we used to say that in COVID that
being able to get up everymorning and breathe is your
success of the day in thisAbsolutely, absolutely,
absolutely, absolutely.
And since we are on the topicof networking and connecting
with people, tell us what all weneed to know about immigrant
networks, what my listeners needto know about immigrant
(46:45):
networks, and also tell us aboutthose Wednesday lives that
happen.
Nick (46:49):
Immigrant networks gives you multiple opportunities to
network.
Number one is the softwareallows you to get matched with
someone from your profession fora free video chat until you got
a job.
That's it.
I've had people who got a jobwithin the second match and I've
had people who got their jobswithin four matches.
Five matches Again.
(47:09):
It's the only system thatexists in Canada that works.
It's simple.
When immigrants say that Idon't want to do that, that's
the cherry picking I talk about.
The second part of it is webolster this by the Wednesday
calls.
After the first year, a lot ofmy members came to me and said
this is working.
(47:30):
This is work for me.
I got a job.
Can we create a bachelorprogram?
I said, yeah, sure.
Today the ambassador program isover a year and a half old.
Every Wednesday, like clockwork, for 90 minutes, we have my
ambassadors.
My ambassadors are 25 andthey're from 12 different
countries and 15 differentprofessions.
(47:51):
They come in and they sharetheir wisdom and they share
their real stories and theyshare their own lived
experiences with the audienceand inspire them through their
journeys and by giving them tips.
This is what happens in theWednesday calls.
And then we've got.
In addition to that, we've alsogot my LinkedIn audience.
(48:12):
I have a huge LinkedIn audience.
My last year I had 1.5 millionimpressions on LinkedIn.
Gurasis (48:20):
Wow.
Nick (48:23):
So I have a significant reach.
In addition to my posts that Ido, I regularly put up videos.
I put up a video about the scamjust recently I don't know if
you saw that and I addressissues that are immigrant pain
points.
No one talks about the stuffthat I talk about.
I have a newsletter that I doevery week.
(48:44):
I have multiple things and nowI've launched the WhatsApp group
.
We also launched an Indiachapter through our program
called Cello Canada, and that'sgiven us a lot of mileage as
well.
So we work with partners.
So we don't work withadvertisers.
We work with partners, partnerswho have that philosophical
(49:05):
belief and ideology that I haveand who want to be a part of
that change.
So for me, it's the entireecosystem, it's not one, it's
multipoint.
We're now in the process oflaunching our own marketplace.
So what happens is if Gureshsays, come new, he wants to get
all the products that he needs,like a resume and a cover letter
(49:27):
, he can get all of that at areally reasonable price on the
website.
You can have one-on-ones withpeople, you can actually go into
a master class, get masterclass information.
All of that you can get throughthe marketplace.
We're also launching amentorship platform.
And then, lastly, thepenultimate goal is to have a
(49:50):
recruitment platform.
Gurasis (49:51):
Oh, wow, sounds so incredible, very excited for
this.
If any of our listeners want toconnect with you as an
ambassador, or maybe they wantto join as a mentee where they
can connect with you, Always onLinkedIn.
Nick (50:04):
On an average, I get 100 messages on LinkedIn a day.
So yeah, linkedin is the bestway.
And, of course, immigrantNetworks ImmigrantNetworkscom.
It's exactly as I say it isImmigrant Networks, it's not
Immigrant's network, so it is.
Gurasis (50:20):
ImmigrantNetworkscom.
So, to all my listeners, thelinks to connect with Nick and
to check out the platform can befound in the show notes.
Okay, nick, so now we're in thefinal segment of the podcast.
I call it Beneath the Accentbecause we are knowing each
other beneath the accent.
I'm going to ask a couple ofquestions.
You can answer them in one wordor a sentence, or house server,
(50:42):
you feel like the idea is justto know more about you.
Okay, all right.
So what's the one habit youadopted that has changed your
life?
Nick (50:52):
Be a sponge, absorb everything from technology, from
technology.
I'm using AI, I'm adopting,adapting AI.
We're talking about AI drivenbots having conversations with
my audience All of thistechnology.
I always like to absorb thetechnology and put it, deliver
it on a plate to the Immigrant,show them how to use it.
(51:13):
You know, even just doing theregistration with Immigrant
Networks, there are challenges.
Some people don't understand it.
So I'm always there, so mytouch points are multiple.
So, yes, the biggest one isabsorb.
Look around, you see what'simportant to people.
Talk to immigrants.
I talk to a thousand of them amonth, 12,000 immigrants a year
I talk to.
Gurasis (51:32):
Okay, so is this something you recently bought
and you're not regret mycomputer?
Okay, seriously.
Nick (51:42):
No, I don't.
I don't spend a life on regrets.
I always look to look towardswhat is it I can do.
So I saw a quote by someonevery, very wise who said that if
you could build the ultimatesolution for a problem, what is
stopping you?
Why aren't you doing that?
If you know what the solutionto a problem is, build it.
And I've built that and I'm sofortunate I have people like you
(52:05):
who support me.
So thank you very much.
That's what helps me.
That's what helps me drive thisforward.
So thank you for that,Absolutely.
Gurasis (52:14):
So who's your go-to person when you feel stuck?
Nick (52:16):
My wife.
Gurasis (52:17):
Are there any movies you like to watch over and over
again?
Nick (52:21):
Three idiots.
Okay, I love three idiots and Ilove the Godfather series.
I'm fond of movies, buteverything in my life, my
passion, is so overwhelmingEverything in my wife's life
(52:44):
comes secondary.
If you could have onesuperpower, what would it be To
change immigrant outcomes, tochange employers' attitudes
towards immigrants?
If there's one superpower, I'dlike employers to understand
that.
The same courage I exhibited inleaving a country.
I knew everything about it andI had everything in my pocket.
I left everything for theunknown because I believed in
(53:06):
myself.
Why can't you believe in me?
So describe.
Gurasis (53:10):
Canada in one word or a sentence.
Nick (53:12):
My home and native land.
Gurasis (53:14):
Finally, Nick, if you could leave me with one piece of
advice, what would it be Soar?
Nick (53:20):
Soar so high that when you look up at the sky, you see a
soaring so high that the sunblinds you Always, always be
what you want, achieve.
Don't let people put you inboundaries and put you in
frameworks and die you down.
Go do what you want to do.
That may exactly be what youwere born to do.
Gurasis (53:41):
Yeah, love that, thank you.
Thanks a lot.
Thank you so much for being onthe podcast and adding value to
my list.
Nick (53:48):
It's a pleasure, thank you .
Gurasis (53:50):
Hey listener, thank you for making it to the end.
I highly, highly appreciate youlistening to the podcast.
Subscribe to the podcast if youhaven't as yet, and please
share with your friends oranybody you think would like it.
And, like I always say, weencourage you to follow our
heart, but also ask.
On Instagram, the handle is mythick accent.
You can also leave us a reviewor write to us at hello at my
(54:14):
thick accentcom.
So stay tuned and let'scontinue knowing each other
beneath the accent.
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