Navigating the Power of Networking with Mehrnoosh Jalilian (NOF#3)

00:00
Miguel Abascal
Welcome to the newcomers on fire show. I’m super excited to have you here with us today. In this episode, we cover a topic that is super important for all of us. Making a fresh start in Canada. Networking. A skill that can open doors, create opportunities and help you succeed on your new country. Our inspiration for this episode comes from the remarkable journey of Manous. A fellow newcomer who is networking to reshape her career and life in Canada. Mernush’s journey isn’t just about finding a job, it’s about breaking free from our comfort zones, meeting new people and making connections that really matter. She’s learned some amazing tricks to connect with others and she’s here to share them with us. We all know how tough it can be when you are in a new place, trying to find your way, especially when it comes to jobs and building your life.

00:53
Miguel Abascal
But don’t worry, Mernosha’s experiences are here to help. She’s got some awesome advice to help us chat with confidence, find those opportunities and believe in ourselves. So whether you are wondering how to make those conversations flow or how to switch your mindset for success, stick around. We are diving into the world of networking. Let’s get started.

01:16
Intro/Outro
Welcome to the newcomers on fire show with your host, Miguel Labascal. Listen to people like you sharing their journeys, struggles and their breakthroughs. Be ready to be inspired to take control of your time, career, finances and future. Fulfill your potential, become the person you’re meant to be and make your dreams a reality.

01:45
Miguel Abascal
So welcome. Welcome, Bernish. Thank you so much for joining us today. I’m super excited. I think since I talked to you the other day, I spoke with over like I think five people just to tell about how great you were. So I’m pretty sure that after people listen to your story, they’re going to feel the same way. They just want to like wow, Bernoull is somebody that you need to know, you need to meet. So to start, I would like to ask you who is Bernouj? Tell me more about yourself, how you been in Canada, where you’re from and so on.

02:17
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
Perfect. Yeah. Thank you so much Miguel. And the same know, the moment that we met, I know that this is something that this is kind of a relationship that, know, go fast forward, and then we can definitely influence a lot of people by sharing information. Because I love sharing what I know and I always enthusiast to learn about other people and how they become successful and all that. So I love what you do and I appreciate you inviting me over here and so tell me about myself. So my name is Mernush Jalilian and I landed in this beautiful country back in 2008, in fact it was June 2008 coming from engineering background but this is something that I want to discuss afterward about my career and how it changed. But for this question specifically, I want to focus on me personally, who I am, what I love and what makes me excited.

03:18
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
So basically who I am, I’m a nature, health and wellness enthusiast because I believe if you don’t take care of your body, nothing you do in this life can give you that achievement and sense of fulfillment. So that’s something that I really care about. I’m an avid reader. I read a lot. I love to read books, especially on personal development. Getting to know the insight and wisdom of a lot of people because that’s the easiest way of picking up somebody’s brain and learn about what they learn so that you don’t repeat the same mistakes. And I love meeting new people, learning from them, as I said, and just adding value any way that I could. So that’s all about me. So basically, this is me in a nutshell. But the career side I think we can cover in another section, maybe another question that I can definitely give you more information about.

04:22
Miguel Abascal
That for sure. Madrid, thank you. Thank you so much. One of the questions that I have for you when you decided to come to Canada and when you landed, was everything according to plan? Were you experiencing any challenges? Was life easy? What happened to you in those early months, early years?

04:39
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
Yeah, that’s a very great question. So of course, as an immigrant, you come here, but your mindset I always emphasize this to everybody that I meet. Your mindset determines your path forward. So I came here with a lot of excitement and enthusiasm. So that helped me a lot during my journey. So even if something the anxiety, the nervousness of finding a job here, which happens to almost every immigrant to this new country, to me was a little bit exciting because I knew that, yes, I’m going through this, but at the end of this, something great is going to happen. Of course I was ready to change and adapt to a new environment. And I knew this even before I came to this country because we all know that we are coming from different culture. And I’m coming from Iran, by the way. I didn’t answer that question.

05:36
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
So I’m Persian and I came from the culture that is maybe I can say, 180 degree different from what we see here. So the Canadian culture that everybody talks about. So I knew that there is a transition time. I need to give myself some time and then communicate with people to understand this culture better, at least the work environment. And then I was okay with that. So that’s why I didn’t pressure myself too much to, yes, something is wrong. I don’t fit in or anything like that because I already knew about these things. Luckily enough, I did a lot of networking in that period of time. That was my comfort zone, to be honest with you, because back home we didn’t have such things like networking. You have your little secret of influence that you have maybe a few people. You have your comfortable job that you secure for the rest of your life.

06:32
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
Because I used to work with the government, and then back then, it was so secure that you never lose your job. And then that was a dream job for everybody, basically. So then you come in here, and then you have to adapt and adjust. And I was willing to do that. And luckily enough, talking about my career, which is divided in two segments, the first two year after my landing, and then the last 13 years of my career, which is totally different, which is amazing, exciting, and I love that so much. So the first two years, I knew that the transition time, I need to adjust, I need to adapt. It’s a new country I enjoy. And at the same time, I need to change, right? So I made cool with that. And I always tell that to anybody that you need to give yourself some time.

07:19
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
And it took me almost five months to land my first job. How I managed to land that job, maybe that’s another question that we need to go through. That’s interesting. And I know that a lot of immigrants would love to learn about different experiences from different people. And all goes back to skills that you learned during that transition. And then the first two years, after five months, I landed a job with Ops, which is the Ontario Ministry of Environment. That was back home. I used to be an environmental engineer, and then I landed the job. And the reason that I got that job, I always tell everybody, it’s not a secret, because I learned a technical skill, of course, that was very unique, that was very up to date skill in my field of study. That helped a lot to me, if you ask me.

08:12
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
And also I learned how to work on my soft skills, which is even more important, how to improve your communication. A simple thing a lot of people don’t even think about. A simple thing like a handshake can determine your success. Even the first meeting, the interview that you go, that’s the transition time that I spend, a lot of time. I read books, I communicated with people, and I learned these things over that course of five months. And then that helped me to land a job with Ministry of Environment. That was amazing. I was so excited at that time. That was my dream come true. And everybody was happy, oh my gosh, you landed a job. And I remember even my colleagues come to me and say, hey, Marnosh, which school did you attend here in Canada? And I said, I just landed six months ago.

09:01
Miguel Abascal
Wow.

09:02
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
And then they say, oh, wow. Oh my gosh. It took me eight years to get this job, administrative environment. And how come? And I said, I don’t know. I was just excited, I was enthusiastic, and I maybe just work on some skills that helped me get the job. And I’m so grateful about that, right? And then last, it was a totally different story. Because in that time and through networking again, I never stopped networking, by the way, even after I got my first job, although it was a dream job at that time, I still continue because I learned that I love to communicate with people and learn from them and I continue investing my time. I always say my advice is invest on coffee and meeting people. So that’s what I did. And then that’s how I ended up being in a totally different industry, and I ventured out eventually to become somebody is totally different.

10:00
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
So the last 13 years is different. Maybe we can talk about it later. So that’s all about my career and how I landed my first job.

10:08
Miguel Abascal
Wow, so much to impact my dorch. It’s incredible. First of all, amazing because one of the things that happened to me is that I did not give time to myself in terms of that transition period. I was pushing myself to go faster, to get into I need to get a job ASAP. So it was putting a lot of pressure, and that impacts my mental health. So from what I’m hearing, I think you did it right because you were just waiting and it’s like, hey, I know this is going to happen. I know that eventually I’m going to get there. Let me prepare, let me improve my skill set. What will be your advice for somebody that is preparing to come to Canada now, listening to your stories like, hey, just be aware of what’s going to happen to you. So what would be your advice for people that are preparing to come to Canada?

11:00
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
Yeah, that’s great. Again, set your expectation right before coming and just be aware that when you come here, you need to adapt, which is a good thing, not a bad thing. That makes sometimes that transition and that adaptability, flexibility. I would say be ready to be vulnerable. Don’t be afraid that for some time you might be rejected, decline. Although in your back home country, you have had a great position. Sometimes I hear, oh, my gosh, back home I was a manager and 100 people were reporting to me. Now I have to come here and start from scratch. That’s not a bad thing at all because you are growing in your life. And even if you were a manager back home or whatever position you had and you thought that was good, you still decided to come to another country for a reason. And I assume that reason is for you to grow and become a better person and fulfill better things and achieve greatness.

12:07
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
And for that, you cannot remain the same individual. You have to improve. So my advice is just set your mind and be prepared that you need to adapt and change in a new environment for better, which is a good thing. Don’t think that oh my gosh. Now, if you come with a negative mindset, as you said, it affects you negatively in so many different ways. But if you come with a positive mindset so 90%, just pay attention to this 90% of success is about mindset. If you come already with positivity a lot of things even without you knowing how will happen to you automatically versus somebody who come here always nagging and complaining about this, about that. So that’s the reality. You cannot change the environment, you cannot change this country. None of those is in your control. The only thing that is in your control is your mindset and your behavior and your reaction to the environment.

13:07
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
So that’s why read a lot of books about personal development. Specifically, I would say read about communication. This is something that recently I started to dig deeper in because I know that even in personal life forget about the career and professional life. Even in our personal life, a lot of failures and conflicts come from not being able to communicate properly with other people and learn about communication, read good books and work heavily. Not on technical side. A lot of people make this mistake, including me. When I was back home, I thought maybe I need to work on my technical skill to be able to be more employable. But that’s not true. Everybody with a degree, university or college degree, we have done the same courses. We are eligible, we are qualified, let’s say more or less, right? Something that is determining whether or not the two candidates go for an interview.

14:10
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
Maybe this individual is even more technical savvy, more educated, but the other one less, but the second one get the job. That happens a lot because they have been able to work on their softer skill and communication is one of them. The relentless mindset is one of them. So learning how to network influence on people, how to add value so many different ways by sharing your time, your energy, these are the intangible that unfortunately in our culture back home, a lot of countries are like that. We don’t emphasize, we don’t learn it in school, they don’t teach us in high school or universities. And when we are just one single, we become like a robot that is focused one aspect of life, which is what we know in whatever expertise area that we are in. So my advice is just focus more on your softer skill before you land and in your transition time when you are in Canada more than you do on your technical side.

15:24
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
And I guarantee you that will help you a lot to get whatever job you want and land a job and then go up the corporate ladder or whatever, aspiration you have in mind. I hope it’s not too long.

15:43
Miguel Abascal
I’m loving it. I’m loving it because for everybody that is watching or listening to us, you have the two spectrums. I think Menu did everything right, and that’s why you were able to find a job so fast and so good. And on my hand, I did everything wrong. And I can tell you about, like, yes, I was negative. I was angry. I was frustrated. It took me years and years just to fight those and overcome those feelings as well, because I was like, how is it possible? I have a Master’s in finance. I did so well back home. I have an international experience, and here I’m still driving Uber, working at Tim Hortons. Nothing that there is nothing wrong with those jobs. Not at all. I love those jobs. But I was expecting more. I was expecting more of me. So I was putting a lot of pressure.

16:28
Miguel Abascal
So I’m happy to hear that soft skills was a key differentiator on your journey that helped you so much. So one of the things that we would like to go into the details is how did you land that first job? Because the first job in Canada, especially on the professional side, it’s a big deal. It’s a huge accomplishment. So if you can give us more details about how the opportunity came to you and also what did you do, like, step by step?

16:57
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
Yeah, that’s awesome. My story when I landed that job might not apply to everybody. That’s the disclaimer. But I will tell you how I landed that job. But I, again, will tell you what is the right way of finding a job in Canada. Right. So the way that it happened to me is through I even forgot the organization name. Maybe I can think about it, and it come back to me. But I was working with one of these organization that helped newcomers with their resume writing and then helped them to settle. And they had this portal, which was some of the Ops jobs, which is the government job for people who don’t know was posted there. And then if you want, if you see it fits your skills and background, you can directly go there and apply. And I found a job on that Ops side with Ministry of Environment, which is exactly what I did back home.

17:56
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
Not 100% exactly, but more or less the same. And then I applied, and then I got an interview, and then everything. I’m grateful because in that period of time before I even apply for that job, that’s the power of networking. That brings me to the point that I want to make for other people. What is the right way of finding a job? And then during that transition time, instead of being frustrated, yes, I was excited and nervous and everything. I cannot deny that. But at the same time, I knew that I have to at least learn something to be able to present myself in the job environment here in Canada. So I had somebody that I worked with through networking. I found this amazing individual and one of the reasons that I would love to dedicate my time as a volunteer to newcomers to just share my information is because somebody helped me when I landed in Canada and that amazing individual, we are still friends who used to work with one of these consultant companies in my field.

19:03
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
And then he taught me, marnush, if you want to really get a job in this field, this is the skill that you need to learn. This is the new software that you need to learn. If you go to any interview and tell them that I know this software, definitely you will get the job. Awesome. And I had three months, once a week we meet in a coffee shop after his work and he teach me the software and how to work with it. So when I got that interview so you see how things now like a piece of pieces of puzzle. I didn’t know if one day there is a job posting that I would apply and that software that I spent so much time to learn, now it helps me. And at the same time I was working on my softest skill, communication, learning this and that.

19:54
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
I got the interview, I think the interviewer, there were two of them and later on he became my director. And then as soon as I said I know this software, which was called Air Mod by the way, I know this software. And he said, wait a minute, how long you’ve been in Canada? And I said, I landed in June and I’ve been learning this software through somebody that I know. And he didn’t say anything, I think he was just surprised because afterwards I learned that none of my colleague in the office, which was more than 30 of them, knew about this software. And then this was something that was going to phase in and that all their software was going to phase out in a matter of next two years. And I already landed immigrants from Iran know how to work with this software, which was a great deal.

20:44
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
And at the same time I knew how to communicate, I knew how know, because it’s not only a rationale, you know, that the interviewer is not looking for okay, this lady knows how to work with software, but he’s not somebody that we can work with. They don’t hire you, but at the same time they have to understand, they have to see that you are the person that are good at teamwork that they can work really well with and a lot of other things that goes back to the soft skill. So that was my story that was happened, which is great in a way, but I’m going to tell you the right way of finding a job in Canada is not through internet or going to yes you can do. You can do 1000 resumes online here and there but one simple connection that you might think you don’t even take it seriously.

21:42
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
That single connection can help you get the job that you were looking for or at least get your hand in the door or get your head food in the door. So let me elaborate on that by an example that happened to me through my networking after I started my venture in financial industry and stuff. Like a few years ago, I reached out a lady and I said through social media and I said let’s meet for a coffee and have a conversation to see how we can help each other. That’s typical me when I send a message to people, right? And this lady was kind enough to accept my invitation and we met for a coffee, we chitchat and then turns out she just landed two months ago in Canada. Two months and she was looking for a job in the field of civil engineering. And I love this lady because the way that she presented herself and again communication skill and everything I love and I could connect.

22:50
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
I didn’t know anything about her technical skill because I’m not even a civil engineer. I knew somebody from my network who has a good connection with me and I said I will put you in touch with that individual who’s working in the same company that you are willing to work with. Long story short, I put them in touch together one week after her resume was in the hand of hiring manager in the same company. And then one week after she was hired, two months in Canada, she met me which is I am from totally different industry, we have nothing in common. But I knew somebody that she didn’t and I put them in touch together. That’s the power of netSPORT. Yeah. Never miss the chance of sitting down with don’t think that you’re wasting your time. One single right connection. By right I mean if you can communicate properly with that individual who you really are and people don’t care what technical skill you have, maybe that’s the 10%.

23:58
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
But if people love to sit down with you and talk to you and you are an amazing individual in their eyes, they are willing to connect you to other people that they know. And all of a sudden by one individual I always say you are one individual away from an explosion. From one individual. You are not connected to so many people that before that you didn’t even know. Maybe it take you 100 years before you find all these people. So that’s to me a strategic networking that means don’t miss an opportunity, don’t judge people based on who they are. Just meet them, have an influence, impress them in that meeting and people are willing to do great things for you.

24:43
Miguel Abascal
I hope that helps. It helps a lot. It’s incredible here because I’m going to unpack different things. First of all, you found that first job because you had insider information in terms of you had people, an experienced professional, saying, learn about this software because this is the new thing, and because you knew and because you were ahead of the curve boom, that happened. So mentoring and also connecting with people that way makes a huge difference. And of course, it gives you much more opportunities just to compete even better with other candidates. So that’s amazing. I love that story. The second story that I love about you is that when you connect with people, you provide value. In fact, the reason we met each other is because I received a message on LinkedIn and say, like, hey, let’s find out how can we help each other?

25:35
Miguel Abascal
Let’s find out how can I provide value to you and figure out things in the future. Then it was like, wow, this is amazing because usually I receive hundreds of messages saying, hey, you work at the bank or you work here. Let me send you my resume and refer me. And it’s like, Well, I don’t know you. How can I refer you if I don’t know you? How can I say to my boss, hey, this is a great person. Please hire him or her. I don’t know. You know, hundreds of those messages were and what is insanely crazy is that I was one of those people too, as well. At the beginning when I came to Canada, I was like, hey, I’m looking for a job. Can you help me? And that was my message all the time. And then, of course, it took me years to develop what you very quickly in terms of, hey, I’m here to help you.

26:19
Miguel Abascal
I’m here to see how can I provide or how can I be of service to you? And then that changed everything in terms of how fast I was able to progress. And to your point, because somebody invested and gave me so much, I feel this responsibility of paying it forward or giving it back. And that’s why we are having this conversation to share for other people that with this information, I think that they can help them. So finally, I just wanted to say that a question for you. How did you become this good at networking? Was that something that you already were good at networking back home and then here? Or is this something you learned in Canada? What happened?

27:04
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
I love these questions, Miguel. So, no, as we all know, practice makes perfect. So at the beginning, let me tell you, don’t be afraid of sitting in front of somebody and you might be thinking to yourself, what should I talk about? I don’t know. This is a huge comfort zone for a lot of people. And even for me, you might not see or it might not seem like that, but I am an introvert individual. Introverted, right. And for somebody like me to approach somebody and make myself vulnerable that way as a new immigrant. And I reach out people with some kind of authority somewhere and I have no agenda in that meeting. Just basically sit down in a coffee shop and have a coffee and have a share a story. At the beginning I was awful and I feel so bad for people who met me in the first few years on my career.

28:04
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
And we have a coffee and then, yes, I share my story, but who cares about my story? And we didn’t have anything else to say and we shake hands and say goodbye. Sorry for wasting my time. Right. But as went ahead, first of all, at the beginning it didn’t make a lot of sense for me. Okay, I’m doing this networking, but I’m not learning something new. I was expecting something to come out. Not necessarily a job or anything, but at least something that I can learn. But then as I did it more and more, I realized and I’m an observer, I observe things and I analyze things and I realized that things are getting better. Oh my gosh. Now when I meet people, I know how to shake hands. I know this. I was conscious about it. And then after a while I realized and I was keeping a list of people that I meet.

28:57
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
What happened? I was so organized about it, right? And then after a while I realized, oh my gosh, all these people. Now it’s creating a shade for me. It’s just like a puzzle. Piece by piece by piece, you hear stories. And some of them have some commonalities, some of them, they teach you something. The more you do it, the better you become at it. So don’t be afraid. People don’t judge you. Even if they do, who cares, right? As long as you are genuine and sincere, people will always most probably, I would say often, people are willing to help. It’s just a matter of you asking people. And don’t be embarrassed to be not your best self in meeting with other people because that’s your practice. If you don’t do it, how can you improve? Think of it as a practice session that prepares you for a real interview.

30:05
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
That might give you the best job possible. If you think that way, you are not afraid. That’s your comfort zone. You must break that comfort zone. Go do it often. And then before you know you are expert at it, at some point people will say, oh my gosh, manush. You know a lot of people. It seems that you have talked to a lot of people. And some of these people that I met, like even ten years ago, we are still connected, we’re still adding value. And if it was not because of me, not to brag about myself, but it was not because of me. I’m proud of myself coming out of my comfort zone and reach out to that individual, that connection, all this value, all these people that we help would not have happened. So don’t be quick to judge. Do it more and more until you become perfect at it.

30:59
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
And that’s the name of the game in this beautiful country. And I would say even the world is going that more. Your network is your net worth, basically. And there is a saying in Canada for those of you who are not here yet, that they say even if you find a job that’s now the time to find for another job because you don’t know for how long you’re going to keep that job. So don’t stop networking. And the byproduct of that networking with people is, yes, they might give you another opportunity in terms of your career and profession, but there is so many different things that if you just keep your mind and eyes open, there are a lot of opportunities that you can find that you can improve yourself and open new doors for yourself. Just be mindful of that. Yeah. I hope that I was able to show the importance of true, proper networking to people.

32:04
Miguel Abascal
I think you did because a couple of things you’re right. Networking. Somebody explained to me this way. Your career is like your car and networking is the gas that you put into that car. You want to go far network, you want to go long network. And you are so right. I remember myself too networking. At the beginning I was super bad, incredibly bad. Somebody told me it’s like, Miguel, you need to do information interviews. And it’s like oh, what are those coffee meetings? It’s like oh. And for me it was weird because it’s like you are asking me to invite strangers to a coffee date. And it’s like is that a thing in Canada? It’s like oh, that’s the way you get jobs. And it’s like oh wow. So of course at the beginning, funny enough, I was like going to those meetings. It’s like, hello, my name is Miguel.

32:47
Miguel Abascal
I’m here to ask you some questions. And then the meeting didn’t flow that well and today after doing so many oh, boy. To your point, it’s like so comfortable. It’s just a talk. I think one of the things that you mentioned is about a hack or a mental shift is when you don’t think about yourself. Because if you go to those meetings thinking hey, I need to impress a I need to sound smart, a, I need to do this is a great deal so I should not blow it. So much pressure. And when you go to the meeting, it’s like with so much pressure, so much stress, the meeting doesn’t go that well. So what I learned, and maybe you can relate as well, is like I learned that going to that meeting is not about me I’m going to that meeting to learn about the other person and how can I help the other person in any way I can.

33:37
Miguel Abascal
And then by learning about the other person, that creates that connection and I learn more about their stories and more about how we can partner or do something in the future or whatever it is. There are so many millions of ways of helping each other. I love about that. And I was thinking it’s like, oh, I wish I had met menuCH when I came to Canada 13 years ago. I wish you were my mentor because like, oh boy, five years of torture was going to be completely eradicated because of you. So thank you. Thank you.

34:11
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
Yeah.

34:12
Miguel Abascal
Another thing that I wanted to ask you because you mentioned that landing that job is amazing, but now you are doing something more amazing like where you’re so passionate and you have been doing for 13 years. Would you be open to share what it is, why you like so much and what is the future for you?

34:30
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
Awesome. Yeah. So back to the last question that we had, which applies to this question as well. The go giver mentality. If more and more people adapt this mentality, we will have a totally different society altogether. And a lot of people for some reason maybe they don’t know better. And I hope we can change this level by little have the go getter mentality, which yes, okay, sounds okay, but is not going to impress me. But then I go to meet anybody and I already have this mentality that what can I do for you, what value I can add to your lives to make it better, then automatically everything else will shift for better. And then back to networking point. If you have that mindset of mentality, I’m going to add some value to other individual then automatically. Because something that stop people from doing things is the fear, which is an illusion to me, the fear of what the other individual is going to think of me.

35:42
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
But if in your mind again, 90% mindset in your mind you are going to add value, then you don’t hesitate. Then you do it much easier. So now back to your question about my career. The job that I got with Ministry of Environment, that didn’t take long. So I realized now that was the time that I maybe hit the ceiling of what is possibility for me in the corporate world. And I realize I cannot see myself doing the same thing over and over again. Just repeating it, going to a cubicle, coming back home, repeating it for the next 30 years, even the thinking of it make me sick. That’s maybe just part of my personality and I didn’t realize it before I landed that job. Even back home I had a job. Yes, I always wanted to have something, flexibility and freedom for myself, which is something that corporate work cannot offer you unfortunately.

36:39
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
But when it comes here and I said okay, I came here for a better life. Now I understand my potential thanks to this beautiful country, the networks and all these people that I met. Maybe this is just a small box for me now and I wanted to learn about myself, what is possible for me and what are other opportunities that I can pursue that give me deep down happiness and freedom. And I knew that it’s not going to happen in the next few years or a couple of years. I have to work for it. I have to work hard. I was willing in order to eventually my goal was set at being happy internally because sometimes we do things because society and other people around us think that is good for us. But I was honest to myself when I had that job I had peace of mind.

37:37
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
Very new. This is now your dream job here in Canada. For the first few months I was so excited but little by little that excitement wears down because this is something that you are not truly passionate about because you know your potential, right? And then I was honest to myself although everybody else was thinking I was crazy, I was networking again. I got to know different things that I could do outside of corporate world to create that freedom for myself in a land of opportunity. And then long story short, I had a checklist to be honest with you, I had a checklist. I want this and if I find this I didn’t decide with my emotion, I decide with my logic and if this and this and this can give me what I want, I’m in. And of course I knew that probably again there is another transition time I was willing to go through that transition because to me it all translates to growth, personal growth, personal development.

38:42
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
And I don’t know if you know Jim Wan, one of my amazing mentors, not in person but I read all his books and I watched all his videos. He said in the marketplace you are not getting paid for hour. You’re getting paid for the value you bring to the marketplace. And I realized oh my gosh, there is no cap in how much value we can bring to the table and if you understand and realize your value you can do much great things. So I found my passion because some of the things that I am so passionate about is money matters. Anything related to economy, money, anything in that area just makes me so much passionate. And I found financial industry. I didn’t of course want to do anything corporate side of it because I already had a job. I didn’t want to confine myself in the cubicle again.

39:41
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
But I found a platform that allows me to bring financial education to Canadian families, which is the last 13 years of my career. I am super grateful. So much gratitude. Every day that I wake up, I have a mission to accomplish before in my corporate job. Okay, this is just another day. I wake up, I go to work, come back home again, the same cycle. And if you feel the same cycle happening to you, maybe if you are like a robot, maybe that’s the time for you to change something, go through another transition, break your comfort zone again. Because worse comes to worse, what’s going to happen? You discover yourself more. You know who you really are. And even if nothing in your dream that you have in your dream happens, at least you grow and become a better person. That helps you to get even a better job in corporate.

40:40
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
Because what corporation wants is better individuals. And entrepreneurship encourages you, in fact, forces you to become the better version of you every single day. And the mernish that you are talking to Miguel and everybody who’s listening is not the same tomorrow because I’m working on myself day in and day out and that makes me so excited and passionate. So my passion in the last 13 years, and I believe for the next rest of my life, is going to be helping people with teaching them the basic principle of money and how it works and how we can have people, the next generation of Canadians who don’t have any money problem. Can you imagine a country 80% to 90% of people have no money problem for? Let’s say something happens and magically everybody has what they want, abundance, everything, right? Don’t you believe that everybody will pursue what they are passionate about, not because they want a paycheck from a job, because they really want to do something.

41:47
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
I think we’re going to have a totally different world altogether and everybody will be happy. Everybody is so passionate. So that’s my mission. So every day that I wake up, which other individual, which other family, I can have a positive impact on today and every day it will happen. I love that and I’m so grateful for that. Yeah. So I’m super grateful for this opportunity and the amazing platform that I’m working on.

42:23
Miguel Abascal
Amazing.

42:23
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
Yeah.

42:23
Miguel Abascal
So inspirational. That’s why I’m telling everybody. It’s like you need to meet her because she’s incredible. Of course. And I can see that networking not only changed your life at the beginning, but continues to do so because you are now reaching more people to help them even more. We can talk about finances for a long time because that’s another topic that also I love. So definitely we’re going to have you to come back and talk more about that. But just to wrap up, I just wanted to say what an incredible story, what a journey. It’s so inspirational. Definitely. You are a newcomer on fire, no doubt about it. I see that you have applied all these principles and you have transformed yourself from where you were and where you are going now and where you are going in the future. Question for you is about is there anyone that you like to thank for all your success?

43:16
Miguel Abascal
Anyone that was a huge contributor to where you are right now?

43:23
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
Every single individual that I met, because I believe and more than anybody else, I would mention one specific individual, but I would say I am grateful of everything. And I met a lot of people in person, as you know from my story, at some point of time in the first two years of me in Canada, as I said, I was keeping a log of everybody that I was meeting, 360 people in one and a half year.

43:53
Miguel Abascal
Wow.

43:54
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
And continues growing. So afterwards it continues. So I met a lot of people and I learned a lot of things. Sometimes I tell people we are meeting and you might not know, but already I learned something from you because I’m conscious about it and I’m eager to grow and learn, right? So every single individual, even people who were not that great to me, maybe if you see it on the surface, it looks like a backstab, but to me, at that time, I was not feeling well, to be honest. But then later on, as I learned more, I realized, hey, look at what you can learn from that story so that in the future you don’t repeat the same mistake. Because in any human interaction, you cannot blame everything one person. Both parties are involved. Maybe I should improve on this area to avoid that. So as every single individual and I can say announce it in this public platform, that everybody who even didn’t have the best intention for me, I even grateful for those people as well.

45:07
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
So everybody, every single individual, all my clients so far, all my team members, all the people that I met, short, long friends, family members, but more specifically, I have a partner in life, my husband Ali, that contributed a lot. So in fact, what gave me courage at the beginning to pursue what I love was because I have a good friend and partner who encourages me to pursue what I want. So more than anybody else, I would say probably my husband and my partner in life is the person that I’m so grateful. And if you have somebody in your life that is accompanying you through ups and downs, through everything in your life, please appreciate them and don’t take it for granted, especially when you come to a new country at the beginning, specifically, you might not know a lot of people, but you have each other.

46:07
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
So don’t take it for granted and just go and appreciate them.

46:13
Miguel Abascal
I love that message. You are so right. Gratitude and also always thinking about everybody has put some kind of ingredient to the recipe of your success. So definitely appreciating everybody is incredible. And especially your partner in crime, your partner in life as well. That’s incredible. So thank you. Any last words? Any last words of inspiration for newcomers that are still struggling for people that is like I don’t know what’s happening, nothing is working. Of course we discuss a lot about networking, how to do, but anything that you guys want to close this show.

46:50
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
Sure. Just have a relentless mindset. Guys, don’t come here with as I said, the negative mindset work on having a positive mentality all the time. I know sometimes it’s super challenging, but as again, like anything else, if you work on it becomes better and better. So relentless mindset, that means you have a goal, you want to achieve it. Never stop doing things, whatever it takes, no matter how small, never stop doing it until you hit that goal. And after you receive that goal, don’t forget that there is more life is all about it’s not just you climb one mountain and that’s the end of it. You have to go down and climb another mountain and that’s how you reach to your highest potential. So if you look at life this way, you don’t see the challenges anymore. Because challenges is part of the journey. If you ask any mountain climber, it’s not easy job, but they do it because they have a goal until they reach that climax and then they see a beautiful view and everything good that comes with and they repeat it over and over it’s not just one time, but in the meantime.

48:08
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
The challenges of course is what I already mentioned. There is a transition you have to change. Don’t be embarrassed about it. You need to improve in order to get better result. Just determine what areas you have to work on something that based on my experience, everybody needs to improve on every single individual communication skill. A lot of us don’t even know what is the right communication skill. What does that look like? What do you mean exactly? Learn how read good books about it. Maybe later on if you reach out to me, I can introduce you to some resources and books and stuff. Have a relentless mindset. Be confident about what you can bring on the table. So if you are not confident about your skills, your capabilities, qualifications, how do you expect the other person on the other side of the table to believe that you can be the right fit for them?

49:07
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
So all these things are intangible, but these are the exact things that you need to work on. So if you have this type of mindset that I need to work on these areas and I improve myself, there is no magic. Before you know you have the best job that you were looking for and before you know, like me, you already got that and you’re looking for better things in life. So I hope I was clear and I was able to transfer, although we can talk about it for hours, but at least give you some hints on which areas you need to focus on in order to increase the value that you can bring on the marketplace.

49:52
Miguel Abascal
I love that. Marinosh, thank you so much. So inspirational. I feel amazing after just talking with you. Every time we talk, it’s like, wow. It’s like a wave of value and a wave of knowledge and wisdom goes my way. So thank you. Thank you.

50:07
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
Miguel, I have to give you this have. Likewise. I have the same feeling for you and I appreciate and I admire what you do for newcomers. I think it’s so nobel. It’s so priceless and keep on going.

50:22
Miguel Abascal
You. Thank you. Well wish you all the best and to your success. This. Thank you. Thank you.

50:29
Mehrnoosh Jalilian
Thank you so much and wish you the best. Cheers.

50:33
Intro/Outro
We hope you enjoyed this show and that it helps you to find your way or make your way. If you found value, share it with someone who needs it. Until next time. To your success.