Ep 163 - Immigrant Odyssey: Thriving in Unexpected Career Avenues ft Jonaed Iqbal

Raphael Harry [00:00:00]:

Welcome to White Label American Podcast. This is a podcast that brings you bold, in-depth interviews with interesting people who are mostly immigrants taking down artificial walls 1 story at a time. This is a podcast that empowers immigrants to share their stories and listen to those of others. Thank you for joining us. Welcome to another episode of White Label American. Thank you all for joining us today. And before we begin, have you been enjoying this podcast? You're having a great time with us? And you haven't given us 5 stars? It's almost the of the year. You're on the naughty list.

Raphael Harry [00:00:49]:

Are you sure you want presents? Go give us 5 stars to the right team. And if you are serious about receiving gifts from you know who. And you wanna get off the naughty list? Join Patreon. Support the podcast. Buy merch, and tell your friends. What are you doing? What are you doing? Be nice. Get off the naughty list. You want me to send my kid after you? My kid doesn't like naughty people.

Raphael Harry [00:01:17]:

She's writing names now. She's taking names, so don't do that to yourself. You don't want a 5-year-old coming and staring at you, giving the mean looks. So get off the naughty list, do the right thing, Show love. Tell your friends, neighbors, loved ones. If you have a secret family, tell them to. We don't judge. Alright.

Raphael Harry [00:01:37]:

Let's get to meet today's guest. I have the honor of having the founder of no degree.com and the no degree podcast, which I highly recommend you listen to. I've been checking out some of the episodes, and I've been having a great time listening. Seriously. It's, you know, I've listened it's, like, Mind-blowing. The little things that you listen to, I'm like, you know what? I'll take some questions from there. You know, after today's episode, like, I'm I'm gonna hit him with some of the questions, but It's it's worth your time. It's, it's a good journey to take when you are navigating life.

Raphael Harry [00:02:17]:

Even if you have a job, even if you have, you are where you're comfortable, you think you've made it, or, you know, you think you are where you need to be, I still recommend this podcast because what our guest today is doing is highly recommended. He's a certified career coach and has worked with over 500 candidates, many of whom have gotten jobs and interviews at places like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Spotify, and Tesla, amongst many other, top companies out there. So without much delay, let's meet Jonaed Iqbal. Welcome to the show. How are you doing today, brother?

Jonaed Iqbal [00:02:59]:

I'm doing well. It's always amazing to do podcasts in person because I'm so used to the virtual. So whenever I see a Nice studio. I'm excited. I'm ready for the conversation.

Raphael Harry [00:03:10]:

Hey. That's why I try to bring as many people as possible in to have it as, in person so we can see each other face to face and have a great conversation in New York because, you know, people we have this Reputation like New Yorkers don't like to hang out in person. I'm like, that that's not true. We love we love hanging out in person. It's it's great. And, Starting on a day like this right after the marathon. Why not? Yep. Definitely.

Raphael Harry [00:03:36]:

So how's your day going?

Jonaed Iqbal [00:03:37]:

Yeah. It's going well. It's going well. Usually, I'm not up this early. Well, I'm up now Yeah. But I'm not up in the studio somewhere this early. I'm a night owl, But I went to Toronto over the weekend, for some networking events. I saw some family, saw some friends, and now I'm back in the city ready to grind.

Raphael Harry [00:03:58]:

Hey. I'm glad that you could be here, and I'm honored that you chose to spend your you know, to break your cycle to come hang out with us here. So let's, but before I dive into your origins, you know, and your and who you are, it was still part of who you are. Can you give us a brief insight into nodegree.com? What it's about and why you started it?

Jonaed Iqbal [00:04:24]:

Damn. So 9 years ago, I was on Reddit. Someone asked, for those of you without a college degree who make over 6 figures, what do you do and how'd you get the job? People are saying I'm a claims adjuster. I'm an audio engineer. I'm a recruiter, elevator repair, or surveyor, all these jobs. And it was how'd you get the job? My uncle, my cousin, my friend, my high school classmate.

Raphael Harry [00:04:54]:

Mhmm.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:04:55]:

It was all right place, right time. Like, think about it. Who grows up and says, hey? I wanna be a claims adjuster. Exactly. Or I wanna be a surveyor. And then I was like, there are so many people who are very hardworking, who don't have college degrees, Right? Especially as an immigrant, you see them all the time, but they don't know about these careers.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:05:15]:

Mhmm. Right. So There are 2 issues. They don't know that these careers exist. And then even if they know they exist, they don't have a pathway. They don't have a structure on how they can get these careers. So I went online. I searched up trades.com.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:05:34]:

It Was for sale, but, you know, that's like a multimillion-dollar domain.

Raphael Harry [00:05:39]:

Yeah.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:05:39]:

I typed in no degree.com. It was an inquiry form. I filled it out. Then I got an email a couple of days later. I missed it or ignored it, and I got another email saying, hey. We're willing to sell you the site. I think it was, like, $1800 $1500 around there. We negotiated.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:05:57]:

We got it for, like, 1433 or 1500, something like that. And my goal was, why can't I be that uncle, cousin, or friend that helps you and teaches you about these careers?

Raphael Harry [00:06:10]:

And I

Jonaed Iqbal [00:06:10]:

was like, I'm gonna get rich off this vlog. And then just a couple years just doing a lot of research, deep research into these careers. And that's the mission just to really help people without college. We just learn about the careers that are out there and then understand the pathways to get there. Now I'm not one of those like, hey. Drop out. Make 6 figures. It takes time.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:06:32]:

It takes work. It's not and your 1st job is not gonna be 6 figures. Mhmm. But I do show the pathways and realistic pathways that you can get there.

Raphael Harry [00:06:43]:

Wow. I I really like that because, you know, being immigrants, you know, it's always you know, we have the five Automatic carriers.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:06:57]:

Doctor, lawyer, engineer,

Raphael Harry [00:07:01]:

banker. Yeah. Lawyer. Oh, man. And it's like once you There there's something outside of that. It's like, no. You you crazy? Yeah. What is wrong with you? And So you can't you can't you're not allowed to dream.

Raphael Harry [00:07:25]:

You're not allowed to see a vision or envision something for yourself or have a Passion, it has to be one of those 5. All the name of job security, having, you know, secure vision, living the dream and, like, whose dream? And Yeah. You know? So that's why it's important to have people like you doing what you're doing because I'm so glad that you found that Reddit card. I've never done Reddit other than somebody sending me some funny Yeah. Videos and all that. I never caught the Reddit train. Yeah. I never had an account or jumped on that site, but it's one of the great things that I appreciate When I hear, you know, about people like you because I've been to networking events, and there were times when I missed some opportunities because I never understood what was happening.

Raphael Harry [00:08:16]:

Yeah. And, like, that thread, you you you found said, you know, it's an uncle. It's, a friend. It's all this. But I saw it back in Nigeria where I was, and People were it's called testimony Yeah. Were in church giving testimony saying, I went for a job interview. They said there were only 50 openings, And there were thousands of people that showed up for this job interview, and the guy was like, I know for a fact that I'm not getting this job, And he's leaving the job. He showed up for the screening.

Raphael Harry [00:08:51]:

They did interviews and all that, and he knows he's not getting the job. On his way out, He runs into a classmate in high school who that person was being bullied back in the day, but he stood up for the person back then. I guess he had a bigger build, and the person remembered him. Lo and behold, at that moment, the person is the son of 1 of the minister's government ministers, and so he's Somebody of influence, and he shows up in an official government vehicle. So while everybody is in line, he just walks straight into the building, and it's like they stamp his name. So the person's like, hey. What are you doing here, man? I remember you. He doesn't remember the person.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:09:32]:

Yeah.

Raphael Harry [00:09:33]:

I remember you. You were nice to me back then. What are you doing here? So, I'm here for, you know, for the jobs. Oh, really? Come with me and take him back inside. That's how he gets a job. But he credits it to God Yeah. To a higher power. But that's networking.

Raphael Harry [00:09:48]:

That's I someone I know, a friend, gave me the job. So we're in church, and everybody's like, praise the lord. Hallelujah. But that is someone I know who just gave you the job. Yeah. And everybody missed the point. Yeah. So this thing I've been I was a teenager when I heard that, but, you know, as a teenager, you don't really and stuff like that.

Raphael Harry [00:10:08]:

So it's been there all these years, and I will go through life. And by the time somebody is telling me, hey, man. Send me, message me tomorrow. I might have something. I'm like, I don't know. You well, well, whatever. I don't know. There were times when I missed opportunities like that, and I was like, oh, it was against me.

Raphael Harry [00:10:29]:

It might be because of this or that, but I didn't understand what was happening. Yeah. That so they they they don't have to say it out loud. Like, I will give you the job. It's just In a large public space, I can't just say everything out loud. Just, hey. Hit me up. I remember you.

Raphael Harry [00:10:49]:

There were certain things here. You you you, man, used to for me. I had to pay back What do you need right now we have people here for jobs. I can't say I'll give you the job because there are 10 people here Yeah. All in need of that job. Hit me up tomorrow. At this time, don't feel. But everybody is here for a job.

Raphael Harry [00:11:12]:

Hit me up tomorrow. I'm like, I don't I'm not gonna do that. And at least that once or twice. But Years later, I realized that person was actually he he laid it down for me. Yeah. He will hook you up, and so now I get it. I understand how networking works. I understand the opportunities, and I get it now.

Raphael Harry [00:11:33]:

So it's We got people who I've helped, who I'm like, hey. Back then, I didn't understand how the game worked. I understand now, and I'm not really interested in some of these opportunities anymore. But there's somebody who is more interested which means that if you could lay that lay up for that person, I'll be grateful. There you go. And you know? So it's it's very important. You know? It's very, very important that people understand that message, and we're not saying it's only for, you know, like, even whatever field you're in. You know? I tell my nieces and nephew The same thing.

Raphael Harry [00:12:10]:

My nephew just got a job back home in Nigeria, and he was surprised. He just graduated, and he thought, you know, it's fine. I got This well, whatever he's called in his university, his grades, where, and all that. I said, that's all good and nice, but, It doesn't mean anything. Yeah. It doesn't because there's somebody who's powerful in the family. All you gotta do is show up Just show up to the house. Yeah.

Raphael Harry [00:12:32]:

Say, this is what I need. Okay. That's what they say. Okay. You're when are you ready? He starts stuttering, then he was surprised. I said, just show up to that person's house. Tell the person I need a job. He thought I was kidding, and he's the person said, are you ready to start tomorrow? Well, yeah.

Raphael Harry [00:12:55]:

It's that easy. Yeah. And I have somebody who's been looking for a job for 5 years, still refuses to go to that person. It's just ego, and I'm like, You gotta swallow that pride, man. Yeah. Just go get that job. After that, set with the whatever. Bring the beef back, but Get that pay first.

Raphael Harry [00:13:13]:

After that, bring it back. So yeah. So I'm really grateful to have people like you bringing out that official wall because that's why this podcast exists. We use knowledge to bring down artificial walls. So we'll come back to what you're doing. Yes. We got we gotta promote you more, and you tell us more about, how you now develop the podcast because you also have your job and you also have a podcast. But we need to start with the very origin.

Raphael Harry [00:13:44]:

Yeah. So you have two beautiful names that I believe might be more than 2, but let's start at the very origin, the very beginning. What are the meanings of your names, and is there a story behind how you came to have those names?

Jonaed Iqbal [00:13:59]:

Yeah. So the first name is Jonaed. It's an interesting name because in, like, Arabic, it's like Junaid.

Raphael Harry [00:14:07]:

Mhmm. In Oh, yeah. I'm familiar with that.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:14:09]:

Yeah. That's the more common version my mom calls me Junaid. Mhmm. So my spelling even though other people have the same name, my spelling is unique. It's like one of those, You know, our parents can't spell filling up the passport form. They did it that way. So my dad, you know, typical Bengali, But he was born in the 5th and late mid-fifties, and he worked in Saudi Arabia for a couple of years. And he met someone with that name, and he loved it.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:14:38]:

And so that's how I got the name, and Jonaed means god's warrior. Last name, I don't know what it means. I should look it up. You know? I know the first name.

Raphael Harry [00:14:46]:

Yeah. Your last name, I've seen that Yeah. I've seen that a few times. I can't recall if it was Yeah. Someone I know, but I've seen your last name a few times, I can't remember when or where.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:14:57]:

Yeah. It's a it's like a Pakistani last name.

Raphael Harry [00:15:01]:

Mhmm.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:15:02]:

My family is interesting in that My dad has a different last name from all his siblings, and same thing with the other ones. I don't know. They all I don't even know how what the How they chose the names. Right? It's just everyone has different

Raphael Harry [00:15:14]:

So we gotta bring you back after you find that out.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:15:16]:

Yeah.

Raphael Harry [00:15:16]:

There's there's a there's something there. There's a story there.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:15:19]:

There's definitely a story there.

Raphael Harry [00:15:20]:

Yeah. Yeah. So, Junaid means god's warrior. Yeah. Okay. So there's a version of Unim, another universe that Might be off to something.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:15:32]:

Yeah. Right. Most likely.

Raphael Harry [00:15:36]:

So can you introduce The audience, your place of birth, and what childhood was like for you?

Jonaed Iqbal [00:15:41]:

Yeah. So I was born in Bangladesh. I Don't remember much because I moved here when I was 3 years old, but I have a lot of stories.

Raphael Harry [00:15:50]:

Okay. And and and where in Bangladesh?

Jonaed Iqbal [00:15:52]:

I was born in Dhaka.

Raphael Harry [00:15:53]:

To the capital. Yeah. So because Bangladesh is quite a big country.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:15:58]:

Big and crowded. Yeah. Very crowded. So If you see pictures of me when I was young, I don't know. I was like the neighborhood kid. I used to be chilling and all that stuff, just hanging around, and then what I used to do is I used to wake up. It was a 4 story. Mhmm.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:16:18]:

We lived on the 2nd floor. My cousins lived on the 1st floor. So I'd wake up, and I just walk downstairs, and I'd spend the whole day kind of day.

Raphael Harry [00:16:24]:

Or That was the best, man. Yeah.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:16:25]:

Right. I used to go to different houses, and I was like that social kid just having fun. My cousins were saying they almost lost me When I was young because they were playing outside, and then they saw me. I must have been 2 or 3. And I'm, like, standing on the ledge on the roof of the building, Like and I'm like, hi.

Raphael Harry [00:16:42]:

Watching them play.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:16:43]:

So then they're like, wait. They can't they don't wanna be, like, surprise me. Yeah. They're like, yo. He's gonna jump fall. And then I think they told their dad, and they told my mom. And then as they were, like, watching me, my mom came up behind me And then grabbed but she walked up slow not to surprise me. So I had fun, man.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:17:03]:

I was always, like, a very social type of kid, Anojon, there was a time I got a little shy, but once I got comfortable,

Raphael Harry [00:17:13]:

I was

Jonaed Iqbal [00:17:14]:

just that type of kid. And, yeah, when I came here when I was 3 years old, I learned English by watching cartoons.

Raphael Harry [00:17:23]:

Wow. That's the best part.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:17:24]:

Yeah. So just watching cartoons That's

Raphael Harry [00:17:26]:

the best.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:17:28]:

You know, we lived in a house not too far from the house that I currently live in. Oh. And then I just used to just we used to always go to different parties, you know, like the immigrant party, different houses, and,

Raphael Harry [00:17:40]:

You know?

Jonaed Iqbal [00:17:40]:

That was, like, the early years. Nice. Nice. So,

Raphael Harry [00:17:47]:

Yeah. That that I think I think most of us have that phase. Right? We always I think maybe at the we said Yep. The eighties until the nineties. I think all of us have a story of getting lost. Yeah. You know, almost Our family almost lost us Yeah. Because I don't know how reactive my kid almost got lost.

Raphael Harry [00:18:11]:

Don't know. It's different now, but Well, I've had an incident where my kid walked out of the house. That was almost Almost 2 years ago. Yeah. She just wanted to play, and, I was over over a year ago, and I was, moving into our current place, which was just almost 2 blocks away from, our previous place. But it was about to start raining. It was just light showers, so I was taking out the smaller stuff from our Yeah. Previous place to our current place.

Raphael Harry [00:18:45]:

So I was using a cart, and I saw her watching TV when I left. It was in the living room, and I just with her stuff on the carton, rolled it. That's the last time I saw you, and when I was leaving the current place, my wife called me, and she's like, is the kid with you? I was like, why would she be in with me? It's raining. There's light showers, and she's like, she's not in the house. And I was like, well, maybe she's hiding under the couch because she had started doing that, Like, literally that week, sometimes you just be under the couch. I'm like, why are you under the couch? It's like watching TV, which you must be under the couch. They just look with their head under the couch. So I was like, oh, okay.

Raphael Harry [00:19:27]:

And, well, I start panicking. I just didn't panic, but I was like, maybe oh, maybe. Okay. But I know I shut the door, and I'm pretty sure she hasn't figured out how to open the door. So did she figure out how to open it down? Just go upstairs to our neighbor's apartment upstairs? Because she likes their grandmother, and she's cool with the kid upstairs. So I said, go check upstairs. My wife calls me. She's not upstairs.

Raphael Harry [00:19:54]:

Oh my god. Oh my god. I was like, wait. Is our rain boots in the house? Like, no. I was like, okay. That kid is smart. She decided to put on her rain boots because she looked out. I was like, oh, it's raining.

Raphael Harry [00:20:06]:

Put on her rain boots. Like, check our next-door neighbor. And she checks. She's not there. It's my next-door neighbor. He's Nigerian from my part of Nigeria, and he's out there freaking out. I'm like, oh, he had a stroke, like, almost a year ago, so I don't want you freaking out now. Yeah.

Raphael Harry [00:20:22]:

Yeah. I'm actually freaking out for you. My wife starts running to the playground and sees a good Samaritan. She's my kid at the playground, and there's no other kid there. So she didn't have a ring, an umbrella, or a raincoat, but she had taken off her jacket and covered my kid. When my kid is there playing, and having fun she saw that she waited at the red lights for the lights to turn green and cross. My wife had freaked out, and I was like, oh, okay. Well yeah.

Raphael Harry [00:20:56]:

So they both turn into a cry fest when they see each other because she sees her mom crying, so she starts crying. So I was like, wow. That you just said I I gotta go play today. That's it. I'm not waiting for anybody. I'm just walking out of the house. So That's it. That's, so I guess, I guess, the generational I I'll take that as her.

Raphael Harry [00:21:18]:

Yeah. That's the scary thing. But, for mine, it was, the one I was told about that I did was, we were visiting either our village or one of the villages, and I was 2 or 3, and they said I disappeared. And families started freaking out, and then somebody came to the family while they were looking for me. I said there's 1 strange kid. He looks like a city kid, but, he is by the river just I'm telling everybody, oh, there's big there's fishes in the river. Do you know? There are fishes. Do you see fish in the river? There are fishes.

Raphael Harry [00:21:55]:

The river has fish. Because I was I'm always drawn to water bodies, and I love water bodies. So I'm just trying to attract tell the village I don't really live there. So I thought, you know, I'm a city kid. That's funny. Fish in the river. Do you know that? I love it. So that's how they found me.

Raphael Harry [00:22:16]:

Why people be freaking out, looking everywhere, wondering if I'd been kidnapped or something even though it wasn't He was rare to have a kidnapping back then. They discovered a kid, and I had a big Afro back then as a baby. They are just this guy standing by the river pointing to the water. Fishes. River. Fishes. River. Went off.

Raphael Harry [00:22:37]:

Yeah. Come on. We're looking for you. Love it. Love it. So I wasn't on top of a building, but, yeah, I was down by the river. Hi, everyone. If you're new to the podcast or a returning listener and you enjoy what we are doing here, did you know that you could enjoy more of our content and also support our work via Patreon? For as little as $3 per month, you'll get access to loads of bonus content that you'll find nowhere, and be the first to latest news.

Raphael Harry [00:23:11]:

Don't miss out. Go to patreon.com/whitelabelamericanpod or just search for the White Label American podcast on Patreon, patre0n. So when you arrived in America, straight to New York. Right? Yep.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:23:31]:

My dad was here before. Okay. Because what happened was my dad was here, I didn't see him when I was born. Oh. Came back when I was maybe 6 months to a year or whatever. Came back. We lived there 1st year before he came back again. So my dad was the taxi driver Mhmm.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:23:44]:

Butcher shop, all those jobs that typically Sea driver Mhmm. Butcher shop, all those jobs that typical nineties immigrants did. And, yeah, it was New York.

Raphael Harry [00:23:54]:

New York. Okay. Cool. So what do you consider your favorite childhood memory to be at this moment?

Jonaed Iqbal [00:24:04]:

It's definitely just hanging out with friends. Oh. That's and it's still my favorite thing to do They were just hanging out. You just chill. You just talk. I was always like a people person, and I loved it. Like, you know, just going to your friend's house with your family, and then you're playing, you're talking, you're catching out, and then you eat good food. That was always the best.

Raphael Harry [00:24:29]:

So was that limited to only Bangladeshi kids when you were a child?

Jonaed Iqbal [00:24:35]:

Yeah. Because my dad's friends were Bengali, and that was a different time because now you go and there's Bengalis everywhere.

Raphael Harry [00:24:42]:

Yeah.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:24:43]:

Before, we were like there were only, like, 2 Two to 4 Bengali families because we came in 94. Mhmm. So it was like, you know, my dad, he told me, like, one of the people he met, he's like, oh, you're Bengali. I'm Bengali. Let's become friends. Now it's like, okay. You know? There are so many, and it's like little Bangladesh where I live. Yeah.

Raphael Harry [00:25:04]:

Yeah. I can imagine that. Yeah. Yeah. Now now it's, you you got everybody too. So I think And someone else, on the Father's Day episode of the podcast, Carl Curry was here, a mutual friend, and Curry was Thinking about how the kids have access to diversity, and you see it in friends where, like, you know, kids It's just guy everybody. It's like the New York experience. It's because before it's like the kids have to become Adults who will go to college before they start getting access to other people from other communities.

Raphael Harry [00:25:42]:

But I was like, I was like, childhood. The other guy friends were like, my friend is Jewish. My friend is Yeah. Mostly, my friend is everything. Hindu friend. You're just like, woah. Woah. You know? Like, I'm I'm that doesn't have friends from those communities.

Raphael Harry [00:25:57]:

Yeah. He already got them.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:25:59]:

No. That's the beauty of New York City. You just have friends from All different types of backgrounds and cultures. And, you know, I think it's important just so you know that like, how different people are, but at the end of the day, we're the same. You know? We're just trying to make it. Have fun. Take care of our communities.

Raphael Harry [00:26:14]:

Yeah. Yeah. And, I love that. I love that because, It's better for the kids to grow without a lot of the baggage that, a lot of us have. Yeah. Yeah. I don't intend to transfer that to my

Jonaed Iqbal [00:26:28]:

kid. Yeah. Definitely.

Raphael Harry [00:26:29]:

Yeah. So what was going to school like for you? Because you did most of your schooling here. So what was the school experience like for you?

Jonaed Iqbal [00:26:41]:

You know, obviously, 1st year I was in ESL. I got out after a year. It was good. It was cool. You know? I had I had good friends. One of my business partners Today, was in my 2nd grade class, so I have friends from, like, still keep in touch with 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade. I have Elementary school friends. I was a good student.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:27:05]:

I think I was an okay student the 1st 2 years, but once I understood English and all that, it was good I was, like, one of the top students in the class. You know? It was like me and this other kid who I'm still friends with

Raphael Harry [00:27:17]:

Mhmm.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:27:18]:

In, like, 2nd grade, who read the most books, you know, kind of thing. And, yeah, it was just, I was, like, an active kid. You know, I like playing outside and all that. We used to play, like, the baseball industry, Ride our bikes. In middle school again, I was a pretty good student. And then high school, I went to, like, a specialized high school. I went abroad for science. That was tough.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:27:44]:

I mean, I still did well, but it was definitely tough. But in school, I was always a good student, funny enough. Some people are like, oh, why'd you start with no degree?

Raphael Harry [00:27:52]:

No. No. No. That it doesn't matter. But I get why people ask questions like that, but, no. For me, that that's that's great. But, one thing that caught my attention, you said baseball. I'm like, dang dang dang.

Raphael Harry [00:28:08]:

The alarm bells went off. I'm like, Isn't that a disappointment to the ancestors? Look.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:28:14]:

I didn't play for too long, so it's not too much of a disappointment.

Raphael Harry [00:28:17]:

Because the ancestors must have been waiting to hear you know what they must have been waiting to hear. Cricket. Cricket. Exactly. Yeah. No.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:28:24]:

It was, You know what it was? The landlord lived on the 1st floor. So his son, I I was friends with him. So he liked baseball. So that's why I like baseball. Now we'd play in we had, like, a road where you it's a fork in the road, so it formed, like, the area to play baseball. So we'd play. But then, honestly, that was, like, 5th grade. I wanted to be a baseball player that year when I grew up.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:28:48]:

Then in 6th grade, we moved, And then I started getting more into basketball. Oh. Right? So basketball was a sport. I was decent at it, But,

Raphael Harry [00:29:01]:

did you catch the Michael Jordan bug? Or

Jonaed Iqbal [00:29:03]:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. You know, you would watch. I mean, I was really young.

Raphael Harry [00:29:07]:

Who was Right? People didn't.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:29:08]:

You know, you knew about Michael Jordan and

Raphael Harry [00:29:11]:

I brought a lot of people into basketball, man. Yeah. Because I was in Nigeria. I never ever knew basketball existed. Yeah. When I had Michael Jordan. I was like, who? That's a spot. I even know about Hakim Olajuwon.

Raphael Harry [00:29:23]:

Yeah. I ain't kept it. Michael Jordan. Yeah. But Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan. Michael yeah.

Raphael Harry [00:29:28]:

Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan. And that was that guy who brought this spot up too.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:29:33]:

No. He elevated it because

Raphael Harry [00:29:34]:

He challenged everything. Yeah. So yeah.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:29:38]:

I was a big basketball fan. I would play that and then Did that throughout middle school. Like, my summers were just wake up, go to the park, And then until the sun came out, come back. And that's what I used to do in the summer. Just go to a park, just hang out with friends, play basketball. I used to play for hours and hours a day. I did that. That was, like, 6th grade too, like like, 10th grade.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:30:05]:

You know, that was the summer. And then my high school formed a wrestling team. And then after that, I stopped playing basketball. It was just all wrestling. Wow. Okay. That's took over my life. And then so, yeah, now I'm an assistant wrestling coach for high school by me.

Raphael Harry [00:30:23]:

Oh, nice.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:30:24]:

So that's what that's kind of yeah. It just changed my outlook, and I stopped playing basketball, and I became trash. Like, now I'm black.

Raphael Harry [00:30:31]:

I wouldn't have seen wrestling coming, but Yeah. Okay. So you were never tempted to go the cricket route?

Jonaed Iqbal [00:30:40]:

No. I'm not a cricket guy. My dad, I don't think he watched it. He watches it, but not like that. My dad was on, like, the Bangladesh national soccer team.

Raphael Harry [00:30:49]:

Oh.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:30:49]:

Yeah. Yeah. But before they were in the national state, they were like a small country. So Yeah. They but he yeah. His soccer was his thing. And then the thing is it's like, I do like soccer, but it's like it's not especially around then, it's not played like that. You know? There's not, like, soccer fields, and Yeah.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:31:05]:

All that stuff. But I do like soccer. But, yeah, I wish I could have started wrestling earlier. I didn't know it was a sport. I absolutely love it.

Raphael Harry [00:31:12]:

Yeah. It's, but have you ever looked into wrestling in Bangladesh? Like, traditionally, do you guys have wrestling?

Jonaed Iqbal [00:31:24]:

No. No. I think there's, like, little bits and pieces. I mean, there's a big issue with Bangladesh. They just don't encourage sports. And you see this in a lot of You see Nigeria, Bangladesh. I mean, you may have a little cricket, but, again, it's like one of those things. Like, when I did it, my father was like, oh, why don't you study more? What are you gonna do with this in your life? How are you gonna use it? Mhmm.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:31:44]:

So they don't see the benefit. They're just like study, study, study. Right? And, like, immigrant, all the job is about status and money. It's not even about Happiness. They don't even care about your happiness.

Raphael Harry [00:31:54]:

Yeah.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:31:54]:

I think even now, like, my parents tell me, oh, he went to a great school, and he quit his job. Why'd he do that? But, You know, I'm an entrepreneur.

Raphael Harry [00:32:04]:

Yeah. I I I feel that. I used to be crazy about soccer Yeah. And, I understood family coming at me, but at the same time, It was, there were certain things which there are certain people who could have noticed certain things because when they stopped me from discourage me from playing, I started like, I could sit down, analyze a game, and tell you, like, this team could win. This is why they will win because it's how they played and all these I could be I was analyzing form playing styles and doing stuff. And so I coached my class team to win our inter-class tournament, which was commanding bigger players than myself. Yeah. Like, I told all the guys, okay.

Raphael Harry [00:32:48]:

Put your names down. What position you wanna play? Alright. After school, everybody stays behind. And I was in the class prefect, and people listened to me. Yeah. And I didn't even understand what I was doing. And I was like, you're gonna play this position. You're gonna play this position.

Raphael Harry [00:33:01]:

And we were the the class with the smallest, by body size. We're the smallest, and we took on classes that had bigger players and supposedly better-skilled players who beat all of them Yeah. Won the final. And the games master was mad at or for beating supposedly better teams, which meant we're gonna produce the highest number of players for the school team. And, there was, like, the political play because I wasn't from the biggest ethnic group, and they're trying to fight me, but I still said, look. For the school team, I'm not gonna just load it with my class players because I know, obviously, better players are not from my class, but I know how to pick the team. And I drafted, and we qualified for the regional tournament. And when it was time to go play the regional tournament, the school the games master came and was, like, full seniority over me and brought mercenaries to go play, and he lost.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:33:58]:

That's what he gets.

Raphael Harry [00:33:59]:

He lost the game. That's what he gets. It was funny because I was in the stadium watching, and they couldn't even score a goal. And he started putting in my players. But it was too late because he waited till, like, 20 minutes to get out of the game, and I was just like, man, this guy This guy because I I knew how to defeat that team because on the same day, but they had never played together. So they were both teams were disjointed. But my team would have just had would have been so jailed, and they would have won. And I was just like, man, look.

Raphael Harry [00:34:25]:

I can see what's happening here. I'm like the guy who's just mapping out everything. Yeah. And I had it good to go, but nobody can see it, and I'm there. But every time I talk family, just this guy knows this guy knows football. He's so he's so good. Why why don't you know why do you know your books like that? And then to 2030 or so, why do you know your books like that? I'm like

Jonaed Iqbal [00:34:44]:

That's what they always do.

Raphael Harry [00:34:45]:

So I'm like, oh, man. And then one day, I'm doing dishes, and I have the sports, the sports news comes on, and they're like, the highest paid players in the world right now, It was Del Piero was number 1 then of, Juventus. And he's being paid £90,000 a week, and my other staff's walking back just freezes. 90,000 Pounds? It matters. How much is that? Don't you used to play soccer? What happened to you? You know, I haven't played for, like, 5, 6 years. You obviously, I should stop playing. If I play, I get flogged. Right? So you can go, do I kick the ball? That's just a kickball.

Raphael Harry [00:35:21]:

All you do is talk. Oh my. Oh, because he had £90,000. Do you think I just started kicking me? And all of a sudden, okay. $9,000. Just got paid me. 90,000.

Raphael Harry [00:35:35]:

That's like that. Well, I could have there where I could have taken a course for coaching even if I had a chance, you know, right after, I mean, maybe, I could have, You know, I I have that's the same that now has that, what's it called? The inferiority complex had built up in me. So because in the Navy, I coached. Yeah. I still coached, and people listen to me. Higher-ranked people listened to me, and I was like, no. No. I don't.

Raphael Harry [00:36:02]:

So I disqualify myself. Now I have the opportunity to build on my own because of all that stuff I built up over the years. So I just, like, walk away from it, you know, because now family's like, you know, we go get that degree. That's how I was like, oh, yeah. I pursue business. Yeah. No.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:36:19]:

I'll say one thing, and I think sports is really important. It is. Because sports is one of the few things You learn communication. Yes. You learn strategy. Exactly. You learn how to work with others.

Raphael Harry [00:36:31]:

Mhmm. You also,

Jonaed Iqbal [00:36:36]:

Like the coaching aspect. Even if you don't do that, like, you become a soccer coach, that coaching, You could coach in other aspects. Right? And the other thing is sports is one of the only things that you can fail without getting truly penalized. Right? You fill a test, you run to you fill other things. But if you fill in sports, it's, hey. It's a learning lesson. Because especially as being in business and in life, you have to know how to fail. Mhmm.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:37:01]:

You have to know how to bounce back up because there are so many people, oh, they get they're like, oh, I got rejected from a job interview. So, okay, go to the next one. What are you gonna do? Oh, someone didn't answer my phone call. Okay. How do you recover? That's right. And there are many tangible benefits, and I think it's also important just to physical fitness because you see so many people that over time, don't have that, and it causes issues. Right? Like, causes health issues, and this is why they ignore it. Right? Yeah.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:37:26]:

In the I think in the Bengali population, we have a high rate of diabetes and high blood pressure.

Raphael Harry [00:37:31]:

I I I saw that recently. Yeah. No.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:37:33]:

One of

Raphael Harry [00:37:33]:

the highest. Juggernaut and I was surprised.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:37:35]:

Yeah. One of the highest. And he's like, okay. You push us to be doctors. Yeah. But we're all unhealthy. What's the point? So I think you

Raphael Harry [00:37:42]:

have to be doctors.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:37:43]:

Yeah. And not everybody

Raphael Harry [00:37:44]:

can be engineers. You know? Everybody can be Bank and bankers still need to take care of themselves. Yeah. You know? Doctors still need to take care of themselves. Yeah. Everybody needs to take care of themselves at the

Jonaed Iqbal [00:37:55]:

end of

Raphael Harry [00:37:56]:

the day. So, yeah, because, I I mean, the same thing happened with, when the the the Tobey Maguire Spider-Man movie Yeah. Came out and excuse me. I was watching I was watching, we have entertainment news came on in the evening with family, and, Oh, the movie made, hold around something 1,000,000 opening weekend in Hollywood. A movie is not Spider-Man. Don't use to use to read comics. Don't use it to draw Spider-Man. I said, dang.

Raphael Harry [00:38:29]:

What is going on? Y'all were beating us for reading. You're like, You're not chatting more. Why are you reading why is it reading children's books? I mean, who got beat up? I got stories of people who had, number 1, issue Spider-Man. They set it on fire. Like you know? So we need to move away from this Study, study, study to the point of somebody can't even you know, there's somebody I'm gonna try and get on the podcast. I made out, at Comic Con because because I always go to look for immigrants at Comic Con and look for people like us. We still she she was born in, Pakistan, I believe. And she I I saw when I saw her there, I just knew, and I spoke to her, and she was doing her artwork.

Raphael Harry [00:39:12]:

She started to be a lawyer, and she wasn't feeling it. Yeah. She's now doing her thing, and I I bought her artwork. And I was like, yeah. I'm glad you're here.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:39:21]:

Yeah. It

Raphael Harry [00:39:21]:

doesn't mean you're gonna make $1,000,000 right now, but I'm glad you're following your dream. I'm glad people need to know that you exist, and you're you're you you can do what you're doing because When somebody sees, oh, look at Bonapoi. Nigeria has to talk about what? I'm like, yeah. But, When nobody's buying his music, I'm pretty sure there's 1 family member saying, you know, you could have been a doctor. You know, you could have been a lawyer, and that's that's not how you encourage somebody.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:39:49]:

No. No. I see in the immigrant population, that we kill so many dreams. Oh. And then it causes issues with the families.

Raphael Harry [00:39:56]:

Mhmm.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:39:57]:

And, Again, you want obviously, you want they come from, hey. We want you to do well. But I think it should increase and broaden the scope of the definition of well. True. That you can do well by doing what you do now. You could do well in different types of businesses, and different types of jobs. And I think it's so narrow that it just hurts everyone involved because now those people who do become doctors' lawyers are not passionate. They're miserable.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:40:23]:

Yeah. And then they don't do as good of a job. Right? Because I think In my community It's hard to find a good Bengali doctor because they're just like, oh, okay. Good. Next. Next. Right? They're just so focused. They don't care about the actual job.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:40:36]:

Right? They don't necessarily care about the people. It's just what they go through and especially in those fields you want people who are who care and who are passionate about what they do.

Raphael Harry [00:40:45]:

Mhmm. So it's it's something that you know, I was talking to someone the other day, and, you know, he's all about, you You know, African economy, Africa needs to be this, Africa needs to be that. I'm like, I hear you. But what are you doing on Saturday? Well, I'm gonna watch the English Premier League. I said, okay. Your country has a league too. Right? Oh, that league is not doesn't count. They the the same.

Raphael Harry [00:41:09]:

Yeah. But the English Premier League as to the GDP of the country, of England. So why does your country's league not count? Because if that league is working, it employs people. Yeah. So it employs doctors, it employs, event managers with employees from your own cheerleaders, the employees, everybody, to the horticulturist who takes care of the grass and all that. Oh, did you ever think about that? All that's adding to the GDP. He's like, oh, I'm like, yeah. Those are carriers.

Raphael Harry [00:41:45]:

Yeah. You don't think of it that way. You only think of another product somewhere else and say, that's the only one that should work. But the one in the right place you say, all these people should be this, but it should only be this in one way because only this is the way that should exist. And you don't think of it in a creative way that, Sorry. There shouldn't be one way to just be a doctor that you're limited to just working in a general hospital. Oh, you can. Why can't you be in sports science? Yeah.

Raphael Harry [00:42:16]:

Why can't you be in, research? Yeah. Physical therapist. Physical therapist. All that kind of stuff. And that's when the president started thinking about it. Like, oh. You know? I didn't I'm like, yeah. Well, maybe now that's food for thought.

Raphael Harry [00:42:31]:

Yeah. And you changed the way you say only 1 should exist instead of Yeah. A 100 existing.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:42:38]:

Yeah. You know? So I had a Nigerian Olympian on my podcast. He for table tennis.

Raphael Harry [00:42:47]:

Oh.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:42:47]:

And he was saying he was, You know, the number 1 player in all of Africa. Mhmm. Top, like,

Raphael Harry [00:42:52]:

100 to the episode.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:42:53]:

Yeah. Top 100 players in the world, and he was saying that The big issue was that there wasn't

Raphael Harry [00:42:58]:

crazy about table tennis.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:43:00]:

Yeah. But he was saying that there wasn't good support in Nigeria.

Raphael Harry [00:43:03]:

Nah. We are crazy about that sport.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:43:05]:

Yeah.

Raphael Harry [00:43:05]:

But you'll be amazed because yeah. I can tell you off. And we Any they were telling me is I think the only time I found a real table to play on, I was probably let me see. It was like a year before I left. So that was 2006. Before I left Nigeria, That's when I could afford to play on a Yeah. Professional table. Why would I pay to play on a professional table I'm not gonna use that money because I take myself and a girl.

Raphael Harry [00:43:39]:

Yeah. So no. So I was gonna say, I keep America. I can say I played on professional tables because I had more, You know, we had more I could sustain myself more and not go broke. Yeah. But back home, let's say when I was in Benin City, Any surface that we found, we'll turn it into a table tennis playing table at one point in time. That was how madly popular the game was, and that was my encouragement.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:44:05]:

Yeah. The he he mentioned he said I had to go. He said I had to go outside to become better. Yeah. He's he's like, look. I'm the number one player in all of Africa, ahead. I'm not getting support. And I see that in just, you know, in just our immigrant communities.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:44:19]:

It's just all study, study, study, and it's like you need Holistic people. You need all types so that we can at least grow as a community because it causes repercussions when All the knowledge is in one area.

Raphael Harry [00:44:33]:

It does. Thank you for saying that because I I try and, you know, because I I was I try and tell people from younger ones. I said I get it when we call for revolutions online. It's been one of those. Yeah. But I had to stop just blindly calling for a revolution and then saying that you leave a power vacuum. Yeah. Somebody's gonna fill that power vacuum.

Raphael Harry [00:45:04]:

And most of the time, it's people who you don't like that will fill it. Yeah. Because you've we've been pushing this type of studying. Yeah. And it's just 1 type of system. Studying to 1 system, and then you leave a whole Yeah. The chunk of uncared for. Yeah.

Raphael Harry [00:45:28]:

You just leave a whole chunk over here, and you only push a small tiny chunk of, like, oh, yeah. We do we've done it right. And then you now create a vacuum, And then you're not surprised that we are not moving forward.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:45:41]:

Yeah. Because it's it's like one of those things. Like, let's say you go in the gym, and all you do is work your arms.

Raphael Harry [00:45:45]:

Yay.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:45:45]:

Your arms get big, but now your legs are small, other parts. And especially in our communities, like, people there aren't too many lawyers. Mhmm. So now that impacts politics.

Raphael Harry [00:45:56]:

Right?

Jonaed Iqbal [00:45:57]:

There aren't too many in certain areas, so now you have to go outside, And you're not developing and you're not learning and it's causing issues. Right? Because okay, doctor. Okay. I need to learn how to save my money.

Raphael Harry [00:46:10]:

Yeah.

Jonaed Iqbal [00:46:10]:

This doctor's not gonna help you with that. Hey. I need to buy my 1st house. A doctor's not gonna help you with that. Mhmm.

Raphael Harry [00:46:16]:

And

Jonaed Iqbal [00:46:16]:

your engineer so you need to have bits and pieces So that you have people in your community who have that. And now thankfully, I've networked a lot. So now it's like, hey. I need something. I know a real estate agent who I trust. I need I know x, y, and z who I can trust.

Raphael Harry [00:46:32]:

That's right. So We are gonna end part 1 of this episode because it this too good, so we're not gonna give everybody The whole tea spilling here, we're gonna make it a 2 parter. Yeah. I love it. Thanks for listening to White Label American. If you enjoy the show, please give a 5-star review on your favorite podcast app. You can follow the show on all social media platforms.

Raphael Harry [00:47:05]:

Visit the White Label American website for links, donations, episodes, feedback, guests, merch, and newsletter. Don't forget to download the free White Label American app on the Google Play Store and Apple coming soon. Thank you for the privilege of your company.