"I was raised to be driven."
I just recently read an article with this caption. Following the statistics, immigrants start businesses at about 62 per 10,000 people, compared with a rate of 28 per 10,000 native-born Americans. More than half of foreign-born founders came to the US to study.
As an immigrant and naturalized citizen of the United States I can tell you that I feel like I live and breath "I was raised to be driven". Between, the times of attending a US College and working three jobs while going to school, and now still pulling 12 -14 hour days as a professional, I profoudly understand what it means.
However, I am one of the lucky ones, yes, one of the lucky ones. I had great parents, that helped me constantly with whatever they had and in whichever way they could. I had selfless parents, that even today put their children first. But, even then, I remember in almost every communication the words, "Remember who you are, Remember how you were raised, you were raised to be extrodinary..... whatever this means".
As I got more ingrained in my life here in Dayton, I started getting to know more immigrants, students, professionals etc. I understood that I was not the only one with this type of mentality, that this was how we were all wired, to succeed, to get the highest grades, to work the hardest....to be extrodinary. So I kept going, I worked hard for my goals, I did not take no for an answer.
I work & worked much harder and pursued my passion and ambition with a tremendous tenacity after all the goal is ... to be extraordinary.
Aspiring to be, Shonali Burke who moved to the US from India and worked for major PR agencies before launching Shonali Burke Consulting. "I'm used to dealing with people from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds, and can put myself in their shoes," she observes.
Or, Ella Zibitsker, Russian immigrant and electrical engineer who founded Computer Systems Institute to provide computer skills training for businesses later switched to meet the needs of inner-city and immigrant students. Today the school has six campuses offering eight-month career training programs in computer technology, healthcare and business administration as well as English-as-a-Second-Language classes.
Or, Maragert Thatcher.. though my reasons for this one are much more profound, and deserve a whole other blogpost, I can tell you that going from being The Daughter of A Grocerer to The Prime Minister of Great Britain, yes I aspire ...
Or, even closer to home the http://ataccdayton.org/ that was started by immigrants that strive to help provide for the needs of the Ahiskan Community of the Greater Dayton region, by providing them with the tools necessery to succeed, such education, become quality citizens of the United States and achieve their true potential.
Just recently, in a conversation with The Mayor Of Dayton, Gary Leitzell, in a meeting to introduce Zonta Club of Dayton, he expressed with great confidence that immigrants truly are inovators and understand opportunity, as they strive for the American Dream. In his blog Mayor Leitzell expresses "The Welcome Dayton plan was formulated at a time when the word “immigrant” was being translated to mean something negative or threatening in many states and regions across this nation. But in Dayton, we saw an opportunity. The citizens of the Dayton region who volunteered to make the Welcome Dayton plan a reality discussed the issue and decided to clearly make it known that Dayton was to be an "immigrant friendly" city.Last year when we launched this project, we had no idea that those two simple words — Welcome Dayton — would launch us to national and international acclaim. Our Welcome Dayton plan put us on the world’s radar, and we attracted not only news coverage from around the globe but inquiries from foreign citizens requesting more information. I personally received emails and phone calls from citizens in France, South Africa and Nigeria, all interested in relocating to Dayton. By adopting this long-term strategy, Dayton will attract more residents and grow its small business base. It’s been proven time and time again that foreign-born nationals demonstrate greater entrepreneurial spirit because they see opportunity that others may not. When a person has the American Dream, they will find a way to succeed. And that American Dream is alive and well in Dayton, Ohio."
The same themes emerged from these ambitious entrepreneurs born in other countries. Not taking "no" for an answer. Having go get-'em attitudes. Wasting neither time nor money. So what would the advice be from them, for us still striving to achieve success immigrants:
1. Do the numbers before you start. "Even if you're not going to write a full-fledged business plan, you have to know how much money you need to make (usually different from what you'd want to make). If you don't have some kind of roadmap regarding how you're going to bring in income, your business is just a hobby.
2. Gender doesn't matter. "One of the biggest lesson for me has been that it's not about gender. Some of my business' biggest supporters have been entrepreneurial men. In this city everybody helps everybody more than anywhere else I've lived. So don't be afraid to ask for help regardless of gender." (Ionescu)
3. Don't try to be everything to everyone. "Identify what you're really good at and, equally important, what you want to do. That's the kind of business you should go after, not the 'everyone else is doing it, I may as well too' kind." (Shonali)
4. Just do it. "Don't think about it. Just get out there and make it happen. Too many people waste opportunities because they are afraid. Life is short and when you identify an opportunity to advance your life...take it, or someone else will."
5. Match value and price. "If you know what you have to offer is valuable, don't go with the low price. Go with the right price." (Mana)
I am proud to be in the United States, to work hard and strive for improvement and growth of myself and of those in my life, but most of all I am proud to be an Albanian Immigrant in the United States, that " Was Raised To Be Driven"
Dedicated to all immigrants around the globe
BSH
"I was raised to be driven." 
