Welcome to #MyImmigrantStory!
Every month, we share with our dream-chaser community, the experiences of immigrants who have been able to beat the odds, bringing them closer to their dream life. We discuss their goals, learn some of their tricks, and gist about their experience in the diaspora.
Financial freedom is a journey. For some, it can take 20 years to accomplish, while some are opportune to get theirs early in life. Whichever way, it’s a process that comes with learning, sacrificing, and taking risks.
Today, we speak to David who is young and killing it. He tells us about how he beat the odds set against him and has been able to build a thriving business while working in corporate America. Here’s David’s immigrant story.
Hi David, glad to have you here
Hi Metal, I’m happy to be here, thanks for having me.
Tell us a bit about yourself, who is David?
I grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, I’m from Akwa Ibom state. I have two elder brothers so I’m the youngest of three (3) boys. Enjoyed Lagos very much (lol), naij was very fun.
Moved to the U.S. in 2013 for my undergrad where I studied Chemical Engineering at Georgia-Tech and got a master’s degree in Data Analytics.
How was undergrad?
It was sort of a soft landing because I had family here in the same city before I moved so that was very helpful. I’d also been coming around for holidays before I moved so the environment wasn’t all so new to me.
But there was still some shock being thousands of miles away from home where you’re used to a lot of things being taken care of for you. Coming from that to having to be fully responsible for your life was a quick turn.
You might feel lonely at some point because your friends are also so far away and must make new friends by catching up on the lingo.
What’s one culture shock experience that sticks out?
I think it was the PDA (public display of affection) on school grounds, like right in Infront of the professor’s office. Back home things like that were not common within the school setting.
Seeing that live and direct was very interesting, I always look at that moment as a ‘Welcome to the USA’.
How was life after school?
It was pretty good to be fair. I did a lot of research while in school and built connections with a couple of the staff in my faculty. My research was on Exxon mobil which is one of the top chemical companies and listed that research as an internship experience on my resume, which eventually helped in getting my first job.
How was it interacting with people in the corporate world as an immigrant?
There can sometimes be discrimination, political correctness, and corporate politics but understanding the social aspect of different American generations is very important. Back in school, there was a lot of diversity so it’s easy to pick your niche, in the workplace you have to navigate the emotional intelligence side of things. It took a while because every sub-region has its own unique personality.
What would you say has been your biggest win?
I would say two things really, one was being posted to a rural area in South Carolina where the cost of labor was cheap, so I was getting a city salary and living in a rural area. This allowed me to save a lot and gave me room to start investing and trading in stocks.
Secondly, I committed a good amount of cash to buy my first property in 2018 when I moved back to the corporate office. These are my biggest wins for sure.
You were able to buy a property within a year of finishing college?
Yeah, correct.
If you could go back in time, is there anything you’d do differently during that period?
I would say using more negotiating power. After conversations with a lot of people, I realized I had more room to negotiate but being immigrants, we tend not to negotiate too much because we are okay with just getting an offer. Now, knowing what I know, being picked is leverage enough.
How would you say being an immigrant influenced your professional & personal life?
My dad is a successful businessman and I’ve learned a lot from him. So I look at my period of stay in America as trying to maximize my passive income, which will give me the ability to move back to Africa and expand my portfolio because my plan really is to retire early and live life on my own terms.
Professionally, I’ve tried to maximize my time, turning down offers that would not let me maximize my time outside of work.
Have you come across any major obstacles?
The biggest obstacle, which also doubles as the best thing, is building from ground zero in another country without a lot of student debt. Yes, we might not have the social capital, but we always know how to make things work without raking up debt because it’s not something we are used to.
The second obstacle is the visa and immigration struggle. Having to upgrade your documentation status to not break any laws as you expand. That can be difficult.
What do you do now?
For my 9-5. I work with one of the four largest food packing companies that have a very big portfolio. I love the job because it’s remote and I get to travel for work.
On the other hand, my main deal is my investment company, I deal in the real estate and equity market/ Stocks, crypto, and other cash-flowing markets.
9-5 or business, which would you say is more convenient?
I get asked this a lot and my response is to do what works best for your situation. ‘ve never been the person that says one is better than the other. It just really depends on genuinely what will get you to your goal.
I run my business outside of my office job, and because of the level of value I bring to the table, they are aware it is my priority and are okay with it. As long as I’m able to deliver on my targets. It really depends on what works for you.
Any peculiar changes being in real estate?
When on the H1B visa, you have a limit to the kind of businesses you can venture into, and those are passive income businesses. Currently, I just acquire real estate properties, I have six (6) units in my portfolio which I give to property managers to actively run for me.
How did you get equipped to get started?
The best advice I’ve ever gotten was to ‘keep learning’. So, I broke my life down into goals and researched what I need to implement to achieve those goals, living in an internet age, all the information is truly out there. Twitter is also another powerful tool, even though we joke a lot on there.