|
•Tom "Big Al" Schreiter
•Robert Butwin •Rod Cook •Jeffery Combs •Jerry
"DRhino" Clark •Greg Arnold •Artemis Limpert •Robert
Blackman •Dr Zonnya •Ellie Drake
- Contributing Editors
Back
My Journey To America
by Ellie Drake
I was born in Tehran, Iran. My parents always had Dreams of me doing
something special with my life. I remember I was 14 years old, and one day when
I got home from school I noticed that my Mom and Dad were sitting at the small
kitchen table in a small basement apartment that we were renting in Tehran. I
guess you could say that we were middle class and my parents worked hard yet
accepted nothing but excellence for me. They asked me to sit at the table with
them, and my Dad told me that they had decided to migrate to America. Those
words were so sweet to my ears that I still remember how they sounded. After all
America was the synonym for Paradise. It was a place you would dream about
before you went to sleep. It was the land of liberty and opportunity.
With a help of a very good friend, my father traveled to Cypress to apply for
a United States Visa. His first attempt failed, but he had made his decision and
with more determination than before he tried again a few months later. Luckily
this time has application was accepted. He left Iran shortly after that and went
to Florida. He then hired an attorney and started the process of bringing my
Mom, Brother, and I here. About 18 months had passed, and the process with
immigration was going very slowly. He missed us, and we missed him but we had no
choice other than to wait. One morning when my brother and I woke up, my Mom
told us that we were going to Dubai to try our luck with getting a visa. When
she told my Dad over the phone, he strongly opposed and said that it would be
impossible for the three of us to get a visa, and that it might be in conflict
with our already in process case. However my Mom had run out of patience, and
she wanted to go to Dubai and that was the end of the story. So a couple of days
later we left Tehran for Dubai, with one goal in mind and that was to go to the
American embassy and apply for a Visa. The morning after arriving there, we
headed for the American Embassy and got there at 4 a.m. to find out that there
were a few hundred people there ahead of us. The Embassy opened at 7 a.m. and
they started taking people to one of the four American Consulates that were
there. In front of each of the consulate’s booths was standing a translator who
would translate the consulate’s questions to Farsi for the applicants and then
translate their answers back to English for the consulate.
During the following hours, we saw that the only people that were getting
approved for a visa were the very few that were generally 65 years or older.
Hundreds of other applicants had walked out of their interviews with a deep
sadness on their face and their passports in their hands which meant that they
had been denied.
Your Brave Heart
by Ellie Drake
 Ellie will share with you information that will help
you on your "WHY" of building your business, and you
will also learn many valuable tips and techniques
which will help you with your "HOW"
Ellie will make you laugh, cry, and
get motivated when she shares the importance of
living a passionate, fulfilling, and balanced life.
She is a high-energy performer who always provides
high-content and carefully customized presentations
designed to meet each client’s specific needs.
Ellie doesn’t just speak, she
lives what she speaks about. Because of her previous
involvement in the industry of direct sales and as a
result of being a top income earner, she’s able to
share through experience what works, what doesn’t,
and why.
Regular Price $119 -
This Weekend You Pay $99
If you are a Street Smart Live Affiliate you will
also receive a 25% referral fee on this purchase -
PLUS you will receive two FREE tickets to a Street
Smart Live Saturday Seminar - a $198.00 value!
Become an affiliate here - It's FREE!
|
We waited there until after noon when our number was finally called. We
started walking towards the consulate, and suddenly I was greatly inspired and
told my Mom that we did not need a translator and that I had decided to speak to
the consulate myself. My mom looked at me with a very worried look, yet she
accepted my proposal. I guess the worry came from the fact that she knew I had
previously only taken a few private English classes that mostly taught British
grammar, and the acceptance came from the fact that she had paid for those
classes and liked to believe that her money had gone to great use. We walked
through the booth and towards the tall blonde American consulate who held the
key to our future. I still get the residual butterflies when I think about that
life changing moment. He was still studying our hand written application which I
had filled out with the help of the dictionary, when I spoke in broken English
with much more accent than I have now “you must be tired, you have been working
from the Morning until Now.” He looked at us with an expression of
acknowledgment and granted us a small yet comforting smile. He then asked me a
few questions and my response to most of them was “Repeat Please?!”
Amongst my answers were the fact that I wanted to come to America because it
was free……Actually what I meant was that I wanted to come to America because it
was the Land of the Free…..
I also mentioned that I wanted to go to Disney world and wanted to visit
NASA. After about 2 or 3 minutes, he looked at us and said “you can go now…I
will keep your passports, come back at 5 o’clock and you will have the Visa!” It
took us a few seconds to realize that we were awake, and not dreaming. It’s a
strange feeling when you are awake yet you think that you are dreaming a Dream.
A Dream for a better future….A Dream for a better life…..A Dream and a Chance to
change your families future for generations to come…..
We walked out of the booth as if we were riding the concord with frequent
flyer miles and of course without our passports in our hands, and immediately
realized that a huge group of people were running after us wanting to know what
our secret was. I have thought about that moment often. Maybe the consulate was
just suddenly in a good mood, or maybe he felt the deep burning desire that was
burning within us….. I know that I am forever grateful to the people who are the
reason why I was able start my life in this country. I know that I am forever
grateful to my Dad for his sacrifice, to my Mom for her courage, to our dear
family friend from Florida for his support, and to the American consulate for
his willingness to share his beautiful America with a girl from Tehran who at
the moment she stepped onto this land promised herself that she will one day be
a great asset to this Country.
We landed in Miami International Airport just a couple of months later. It
was beautiful to see my Father after about 2 years. We drove north in a car that
now that I think about it, he had probably purchased from a garage sale!
In spite of my expectations of him greeting me with a few bags of scrumptious
chocolate, and maybe a dozen big Macs which had been talked about as great
commodities amongst my high school friends, he pulled over to the side of the
highway and turned towards the back seat of the car when he presented me with
something totally unexpected. He stared me in my eyes and said :
“I want you to look back at the bridge that you have just crossed. I want you
to burn that bridge, because in spite of all the challenges that you may go
through, you have just entered a country where if you have a dream and are
willing to take consistent persistent actions towards your dreams, you will
achieve them in this land of opportunity.” He continued on to say “If you are
willing to fly like an Eagle, America will be the wind beneath your wings.”
Years later, I left the United States for the first time and came back a few
days later. I remember walking through the Airport Customs when I noticed the
big banner ahead of me that said “ Welcome to the United States”. At that moment
my heart truly skipped a beat…. I felt so blessed to be an American Citizen and
to have the opportunity to live in a country where I have the opportunity to
pursue my passions and the chance to actually achieve them. For that I am
forever grateful………
Ellie Drake is the President and
CEO of BraveHeart Productions. She is a Keynote Speaker, Coach, Doctor, and
Successful Entrepreneur. She realized her love for speaking at a very young age.
Speaking comes from the core of her soul, and she inspires the audiences as she
talks about the "American Dream" and her journey to America. Ellie came to
America 14 years ago, and loves to talk about this great land of Liberty and
Free Enterprise. Her web address is:
http://www.braveheartproductions.com
Get all your seminars for the next 18 months for
FREE!
Join us on the Tom "Big Al" Schreiter Seminar At Sea
Cruise with an additional FREE
onboard
Street Smart Live
Seminar and you will receive
$3506.85
in additional FREE
bonuses!
-
YOU GET 2 FREE tickets to a Street Smart Live
Seminar (a $198.00 value), 2 FREE tickets to
each of Jerry Clark's 3 types of Boot Camps (a
$2982.00 value), 2 FREE Tickets to Brian Klemmer's
Champions Workshop (a $118.00 value) The Napa Live
CD set (a $149.00 value), Robert Butwin's
Street Smart Networking book on CD (a $19.95 value),
Greg Arnold's Multi-Level Mangler In King Arthur's
Court book on CD (a $19.95 value) and a copy of
Jeffery Combs newly released book Psychologically
Unemployable (a $19.95 value). That's
$3506.85 in FREE bonuses
for signing up for this cruise through Street Smart Live!
For More information - Click Here!
|
