Dream Beyond Borders

Book excerpt: As a young boy, Reza Sarshoghi helped his father peddle cleaning supplies from a backstreet shop in Iran. The experience taught him how hard work and determination could greatly improve his quality of life. He set his sights on eventually building a business of his own, and living a dream life in North America. It would not be an easy journey. He would live through the dramatic reforms of the Iranian Revolution and serve on the terrifying front lines of the Iran-Iraq war. He faced slim odds to get out of Iran, and even slimmer ones to get a foreign visa. Leaving behind prestigious career opportunities, he landed in Montreal in his mid-twenties with little else but a basic ability in English and the determination to succeed. From his first days in Canada, when he flipped carpets in a small shop, to eventually buying the business and expanding it into Quebec's largest floor covering chain, and building a successful real estate management firm, among a number of other small businesses, Dream Beyond Borders chronicles Sarshoghi's rise from an ambitious young immigrant earning minimum wage to the peak of Canadian small business success. In it, he shares the many business lessons he learned along the way, for the benefit of other entrepreneurs who don't have anyone to consult for solid business advice.