Jab Jab Cross

A lesson from boxing on how to communicate. Or immigrate.

Let’s start with some definitions, to not take the risk of not being clear.

Jab is a type of punch in boxing where the lead fist is thrown straight ahead and the arm is fully extended. A cross, also called straight, is a power-punch thrown with the rear hand directly to the opponent, in a straight line.

If there is an effective boxing punch combo, this is jab, jab, cross. It is so simple yet so efficient.

The same rule applies to communications. To communicate well with people we have to focus on building a relationship with our audience (being your audience personal, commercial or professional). You must start to create your relationship as early as possible. You engage with the audience before the “cross”. You “give, give” information. Then you “call to action”.

Jab, jab, and then cross. That’s the idea.

To exemplify, think on those grocery stores that promote lots of good and gourmet recipes, usually created by chef-celebrities. They are engaging with their audience, to bring them to their stores, inspired by those recipes.

Who knows me should know that I am super addicted to paper crafts. Card making and scrapbooking mainly. Many of the biggest craft companies make video tutorials along with the launch of a product. They do that to teach people on how to use that product, to inspire consumers and to create the desire to acquire it.

Jab jab cross.

That’s a good recipe, not just for boxing, but also for communicating.

Many companies out there use social media to jab jab cross. Blogs, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter are the mostly used ones.

But how this is related to immigration?

That is very simple. You research, research, and then you decide. You plan, plan, and then you immigrate. You dream, dream, then you achieve.

The basic rule of boxing is also the basic rule of immigration.

It is important that every person who intends to immigrate have a plan. First of all to not fail on their intentions. Second, to not get frustrated or even expend money for nothing. Plans go wrong sometimes, but it is important to consider all the options and all the possibilities.

Last July and August I spent 7 weeks in Brazil. My daughter and I were in vacation, so we decided to visit my family and friends. I have never had so many requests of information about immigration, from people that I didn’t even know. Many people are really decided to immigrate. But most of them still have to do their jobs on researching and learning.

I don’t want to seem snob. Please, don’t get me wrong! That’s not my intention at all. I am just sharing the concerns I had when I was planning our move. The biggest one was learning every possible rule about immigration. Learn about every step and understand it. This makes our life as immigrants so much easier. Being an immigrant has its owns difficulties already. Being able to drop them as much as possible is a huge deal!

Don’t forget: jab jab cross.

Hope to see you soon!

Carol

Digital and Social Media and a reflection

Since we are here in Winnipeg, I decided to get back to school. I have a Bachelor Degree in Social Communications from Brazil. I also have a diploma in Teaching. But I realized that if you don’t have Canadian education and/or Canadian working experience, being an immigrant, would be hard to get a good job here.

So I decided to take Public Relations,Marketing and Strategic Communications at PACE (Professional, Applied and Continuing Education) at University of Winnipeg.  It is an amazing program; I am in love with my choice.

One of the courses I am doing now is Digital and Social Media. Great opportunity to think about what is going on in our world in terms of communication, both personal and commercial.

When I graduated, back in 2000, everything was about the message. We should deliver good messages. As we had, by the time, a pretty standardized type of media to reach some type of audience, we weren’t worried about the media, just about the message. Everything was the same, and the message itself was the difference.

We barely had Internet access. The smartphones weren’t a big thing until the late 1990s and just in 2007 Apple introduced the IPhone. I guess it was from the time when internet went into smartphones that everything started to change.

New media, same old messages?

The ways we communicate with each other have changed dramatically. Also the ways companies communicate with us have changed.

I would dare to say that the majority of this new generation of people couldn’t even imagine life without connection – and social media.

So, messages are still very important to us, obviously. But today, the way we deliver the message seems to be the most important thing. The presence in a social media channel is crucial to any company out there. And is also important to us, if we want to make part of this new generation and be truly updated.

In addition to the channel where the message will be delivered, we have a new strong component on the media mix: time. We can communicate today in a matter of seconds. Literally seconds.

But there is something that is still true in terms of communication: we still want authenticity on our relationships. Actually, we want relationships rather then just connection. It is all about people. It is not about the technology.

We still want to connect with people and be part of something. We still want to feel appreciated and show appreciation too. That’s haven’t changed at all.

And that’s the challenge of being connected. Find a way to maintain the authenticity either on our personal or even commercial relationships.

Disclaimer: although this post is not directly related with the main topic of this blog, which is my experience being an immigrant, is a relevant topic for my program at University, which subsequently is part of my immigration process.

Hope to see you soon!

Carol

Immigration and Social Media

Something that draws my attention on the immigration process is the role that social media plays on it. There are two aspects of it that I would like to discuss. First is connection. Second is information. Let’s consider some points to start our conversation.

Connection is the main purpose of social media, right? Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, we know them all and the list goes on.  What a wonderful way to connect with friends and acquaintances, even with those people who we haven’t seen for long time (and probably we wont see them for a while). It’s a way to get along with each other’s lives and know what is going on. On social media we share pictures, ideas, decisions, comments, and political positions. We share what makes us happy, what makes us proud or sad, we share what we are up to. Through social media, we, immigrants can feel a little closer to families and friends. And that is very important to us.

We also can connect with people who we don’t know in person. Either by belonging to a mutual group on social media or simply by having friends in common, we can make new “friends” very easily. Social media bring people together from all over the world without geographic barriers. Amazing! I’ve seen posts with different languages on it. Almost surreal that people can gather together on a virtual place as social media. And that brings me to the second point of this discussion: information.

Social Media as a source of information?

Many immigrants-to-be are connecting with new-comers-to-Canada through social media. I am talking about Canada because that’s my experience. However I would say that the same occurs in many other countries. Great friendships start that way. Specific groups are created to gather people around the same idea. That allows the group members’ to share information with each other, to ask questions, and to exchange points of views. I guarantee that it facilitates a lot to people who are starting their immigration processes. Immigrate requires a lot of research, tons of it! Sometimes we feel lost with so many rules, procedures, and forms. Being able to hear from someone else’s experience is relieving, encouraging, and even helpful.

However, I would say that many people out there are using social media as the main source of their research. And that concerns me a little. Based on the fact that immigration is a law, I wouldn’t rely on social media as source of information. People make mistakes; sometimes people are passionate and share experiences that will be exclusive to them. I would certainly rely on social media as a way to share experiences and feelings, but always being aware that each person is different from another. Experiences can be perceived differently according to one’s previous understandings and mainly, one’s expectations. I would definitely search information on countries’ official websites as Canada and USA for example. If you see good information on social media, do not hesitate to check it out on the proper source.

It is your big move! Give it the appropriate importance and be accurate on your research. I am sure you wont regret it!

See you next time!

The good of being an immigrant

On my previous post I spoke mainly about the good of being an immigrant. I would like to elaborate on that topic. Today I heard something at my daughter’s school, from its custodian, that made me stop and think deeply on that.

I was waiting for my daughter at the gym; she was finishing an extra class activity. The custodian was also there waiting for the girls to finish the activity. And while we were waiting, we were chatting. He seems to be a very educated man, with an exquisite knowledge noticeable within his talking. We were observing the girls wrapping up the activity when he said: I love this diversity (showing with his hands a presumably Muslim girl – she was wearing hijab - playing along with a presumably non-Muslim girl). Then he complemented his thought “is that way they will learn to get along. We need that on our world”. Bingo!

Through diversity we can understand and, most importantly, experience tolerance in a peaceful environment! It seems so obvious, but if we don’t talk about it, using the words and thinking how meaningful it is, we will never see any changes on our world. Being able to get along with people with different backgrounds, from all over the world, make us realize that “right” is maybe not so right. And “wrong” is the right for some. Tolerance is the word for the next generation!

Diversity today is a requirement; it’s not an option anymore.

Learning from the best teachers

We should learn from children. They are amazing! They accept diversity naturally, no explanations needed. That’s beautiful about them! When my daughter started school here in Winnipeg, one year and two months ago, her classmates were so openhearted and so genuine accepting the fact that she didn’t speak a word in English that it melted my heart.

They helped her. They taught her. They embraced her. She learned really fast. After two months she was comfortable to speak her first complete sentences in English.

The most amazing thing I heard from her, by the time, was: “mom, I feel they respect me”. What else in this world can I even want for my daughter?

Let’s learn from them. Let’s embrace diversity. It can be hard understand other’s points of view; it can be difficult respect other’s habits and attitudes. But at least let’s give it a try! Amazing things will happen on our life once we are connected with “the different”. And one of them certainly is tolerance!

My dream of becoming a citizen...

Of the world.

Hello! I am Carol and I am an immigrant. Actually, not yet… I am in the process of getting a permanent status in Canada. But my family and I have the intention to settle here, so I would consider us immigrants already.

We are a family of three: my husband, my 10 years old daughter and myself. We have been living here in Canada for one year and two months. Since we moved we have been through so many experiences and emotions. I would dare to say that sometimes it seems we are in a roller coaster (with all the good and the bad that a roller coaster can possibly have).

It all started two years ago, at the end of 2013, when my husband and I decided to live overseas again. We are from Brazil and we have had this experience before, we have spent 5 years in London, England. Actually, we met there. But this is another story, for another post maybe.

Once we had decided to come to Canada, we started to research tirelessly (I mean it) about all the process of moving to another country. And every day of our lives since we decided to move until the day we got here, was about dreaming of our new home… And planning.

First of all, let me emphasize that this blog is not about immigration laws. Each country has its own rules. Consider visit the country’s website if you are interested in that. Canada, for example.

This blog is about our experience, our emotions, and our adventure. It’s about getting out of the comfort zone. It’s about questions, possibilities and dreams.

It is about a word that it does not even exist in English.

Saudades.

It’s a Portuguese word that it does not exist in English. It has a lot of feelings and emotions, and a very deep sense of compassion. It’s a noun and means that you profoundly miss somebody, but it’s deeper than that. It involves nostalgia and heartache at the same time. And believe me, still can be a positive feeling.

This blog is about life.

                 

I don't like the word immigrant.

I actually hate it. It sounds fragile to me. Sounds almost illegal and perhaps that is the overall perception people have on immigrants. When I tell people, with my strong accent, that I am from Brazil, sometimes I can feel the sorrow or the embarrassment on their voice.

It’s ok. Being an immigrant, fortunately, was my choice. Was my dream.

My husband and I wanted so badly to experience this that we take our new life as a wonderful chance to start fresh. That is a gift to us and it is amazing!

Immigrants who have chosen to immigrate usually are very strong people, who know what they want and work hard, very hard to get it. They possibly will have accents. And they will speak two (or more) languages. They will know two or more cultures. They are aware of diversity as nobody else.

I wish the word immigrant had a more positive meaning. And I wish the word - and the immigrants - were associated to courage, resilience, and strength.

Yes, we are immigrants. We took the route to Winnipeg!