Parul TV, Montreal, Dreams and Story Telling: Parul Khanna's Path To Impact | Ep. 042

Gurasis: 0:00

Hi, this is Gurasis Singh and you're listening to My Thick Accent podcast. Welcome back to the ones who are here for the part two of my conversation with Parul and the ones who are new here, Welcome. Welcome to the community. And to listen to the part one of the conversation, you can check out the episode 41. I'll put a link to that in the show notes as well. Let's pivot towards your Canadian journey. Then you moved here in 2013, but before that, you know, you wanted to study abroad, but the BC degree wasn't of that much value for you to do the masters right. But then you came to the University on a special admission. Tell us about that and how did that happen?

Parul: 0:53

So actually I'm working on the story of my life, part two, where I am going to share much more details with visuals, but I can give you a quick overview here, so I'm keeping it for my next release. It's one of the most awaited videos that I promise everyone once we cross 300,000 subscribers, so I'm working on it. In Canada, if you want to study, you must have bachelors in technology. If you want to go for masters in technology, right. So when I was studying, I, I, I Google, just like everyone else. How can I go to Canada? What are my chances? I posted on various forums.

Parul: 1:31

At that time, youtube was not a big thing. You don't get much help, like these days. You have, you know, the visuals and everything. I tried my best, but I actually didn't get anything. They were like not eligible, no, no, not happening, and I just wanted to have something in cybersecurity.

Parul: 1:47

So when we were in Malaysia and I'm talking about that phase of presentations in 2013, an opportunity came to me where I am invited for masters, with an exception, because when I was offered, you want to study masters? You seem like smart. It's like in my heart, I wanted to study, but if you talk about what's happening around. I don't want to leave all this right. But then in my heart I also know that if I don't train myself further, all these challenging questions that are coming in are going to fail me badly at one point. I'm not able to answer these questions, so in the future it's going to be worse. I had invitation for masters from most of the colleges and universities I was presenting at during my conferences in India, but I personally knew that if I take them I'm not going to learn anything. They are offering me admission and scholarship because they want me to be on board, you know, and basically help them with the promotions. They know that this guy's going places. It's going to help the college and university.

Gurasis: 2:54

They knew you were a good candidate.

Parul: 2:56

They knew that this will bring something positive to us.

Parul: 2:59

And same goes for me also. They were offering me free scholarship. And when I was presenting in Malaysia also, I got an offer from University of Futara, malaysia, for PhD program and masters fast track with no fee, nothing. But I really don't want, didn't want to study in Malaysia at that point because I knew that things, the books, the courses, those courses are a lot coming from Europe and US, but again I'm not eligible to study. So I was never exploring that idea. Anyway, I gave my try, didn't work. Okay, let's continue and see what happens.

Parul: 3:27

But then when this opportunity came, I told them hey, I don't have a bachelor's in engineering, I don't think I'm qualified for masters. They said we'll make it work. We'll talk to the dean, we'll make it work. You don't need to have a bachelor's. Are you okay to come?

Parul: 3:44

And then I was like, even if you make it work, I don't have the money. It's $40,000, $50,000 fee, how I'm going to manage that, and it's a big amount. They were like we'll make it work. That too, we'll try to work out on something. We'll do some interviews. If it all works out, we will give you a scholarship. Then it kicked my head a little bit. I was like, okay, this is a great opportunity. And they said there is a this you know school that is offering masters in cybersecurity in Canada, concordia only university right now who's offering this masters, quite exclusive. I'm getting opportunity to get in. So I did my mathematics, I talked to my I'm not good at mass, by the way, but when you know the things in my life don't add up I know I'm good at that.

Parul: 4:36

So I so, if I talk like in, in, in, in real language not good at mass, but definitely I know when shit doesn't add up, so I know that this thing wasn't adding up, okay. So I talked to my family and they were like they were always there. They were like we want you to go. If you want to study, if this is something that you can do and it will help you to learn, go for it. But I was like I will leave all this, whatever I have done and.

Parul: 5:05

I'll become an average student like everyone else. I don't want to live that life and, being being very clear, I was very proud of what I was, I was doing and I wanted to, you know, feel more pampered and you know, just like this, I'm going to events and everything. I don't want to go back to school. It's boring because I don't like to study. I want to do this and they told me you can do this always, but you cannot do that later and you're later, or two years later, go there and then come back and do whatever you were doing in a better way. These things are not going away. They said you are going to do this again in a good fashion, but you will be more smarter, and I was always hungry to learn more and be more smart, because I always thought that I am not smart enough. Even now, I think that there are 10,000 smarter people, million people I know better than me and I'm always taking inspiration from them.

Gurasis: 5:58

And not only me, I think many of the listeners. You are one of them for sure.

Parul: 6:03

I really appreciate that and I know that they will set examples to you, know, and they'll break all those barriers and all the stereotypes and do something great. See, for me, I'm just doing what I like to do. It's not something that I pretend that, oh, I'm very smart, and no, I just keep sharing. That's how the life goes and I keep learning. And at that point I had to make this decision leave everything and go to Canada and start a life of a student that that you never thought of or was on books. But there's no other way, right? And I knew that, that the business is going up and down and things are not going in the way I want, and I am feeling those kicks whenever people are asking me questions. I decided to take it and I was like, okay, I'll come back to India and I'll continue with my company again, but now let's take a two years break and go to us like movies. You go abroad, you study, you come back.

Parul: 6:56

We went with the interviews with the Dean of Concordia and they asked me all these questions and my profile was so strong, whatever I have shared. So if you talk about story, right, yeah this is the story that you can sell to anyone.

Parul: 7:08

Of course if it comes on interviews, who can have a story like this? Right? Just imagine that I'm doing this. And they were like, oh my God, this is not a conventional academic candidate, right? Yeah, 33 marks, man, they don't. They won't even let you in a college if you talk about Canadian academic system, right, yeah, I was like I won't get the visa. They were like we'll take care of it. I don't have the money, we'll take care of it. So everything is being taken care of. Parul, you are so dumb if you will just let it go.

Parul: 7:33

Yeah, I left everything, all those ongoing contracts that were there for trainings. I trained my colleagues. I had an office. So I told them once these contracts expire, shut down the office. We are done, we'll try to keep it running. But the struggle was when they came to Canada, nobody was inviting my team for seminars because they wanted me. They wanted that guy you know who was doing these cases, not his associates. So that wasn't picking up really well and we started getting into loss. So I decided to just, you know, take it as a milestone of my life and start my new life in Canada, and I was like I'll come back again and I'll do something. But I never went back.

Gurasis: 8:15

Just like many of us, we all plan to come here, but we never return. But tell me this one question, which I'm also in Montreal and I also get this question all the time that why Montreal, or why you are still here? It's going to be five years for me. Did people ask you that? Or why you are in Montreal? Tell me about that.

Parul: 8:32

The decision to stay in Montreal is somewhat partial my decision to stay here and somewhat against my will, I would say. And even in the end I think I really want to stay in Montreal. Only when it comes to Canada I don't feel I'll be comfortable anywhere else, and there are many reasons. So the decision to stay in Montreal came in the light when I was graduating. You know, when you graduate you apply jobs everywhere. So for me work is worship. If I get a job here, it's fine. So I actually applied in Toronto. There's a little story.

Gurasis: 9:06

Is it okay if we're extending this podcast more to the timeline.

Parul: 9:12

It's a funny story, right. So Montreal is a small city, very diverse, a lot of colleges and universities and everyone is smiling. When you walk on the streets, there are festivals every weekend, the vibe is kind of, everyone is. You know it's a slow down life, everyone is chilling, even if they are stressed. You don't feel that pressure Like, for example, if we talk about India.

Parul: 9:35

Compare Mumbai's traffic or, you know, work, culture, worth is a small town, or maybe Goa. So Montreal is like Goa for me. I would say Okay, and you have these vibrant places and French culture and too much diversity that you feel like you are somewhere else, you are in abroad. And now compare it with Toronto, which is it's like New York of Canada, right, full of professional opportunities and everything. So when I graduated and applied to jobs at many places, I got an interview called from Toronto, from a big five Okay, everyone's. You have a dream, big five, to go in Adela Street, big towers. I go there. If you look at the building you'll actually snap your neck. Okay, so I go in for the interview.

Parul: 10:22

The moment I stepped in I saw everyone Indian or everyone from Sri Lanka or Pakistan and I felt like I'm in New Delhi. Okay, that was one. If you live in Montreal for a few years, you will feel it. Maybe you won't feel. If you're living here, you will see around a lot of India's around here, but if you will see nine out of 10 are people who are you feel like you are in India. Okay, from security to HR, to everyone. And then I also saw that everyone was in a very fast paced life mode. Everyone is running. It's like in the train. They are running, pushing, going through.

Parul: 10:58

I did not feel that sense of belongingness there. I felt that this is a great place to make money, to professionally succeed, but if I come here, I might get into and blend into everyone and I won't have time for myself to explore what I do. So, for sure, cybersecurity was everything I was doing till that point, but I was missing a bigger part of my life that I'm not now a regular guy. Nobody knows me. I don't have news articles. It was emotionally bugging me, actually, because when you see all these things you know quite earlier in your life and suddenly they are gone, you feel that gap. Okay, you are an average guy and I really didn't want it to be mediocre ever since beginning. I won't get time to explore anything like that.

Parul: 11:49

It was on my list that I have to do something. I didn't know it was YouTube. I was going to do something that will give me recognition and recognition kicks me to do better. So then I decided to apply again jobs in Montreal and I got a job here, much better package. And if we talk about financial terms, if you get $60,000 offer in Toronto versus $45,000 in Montreal, it's equivalent to the $60,000 of Toronto for the purchase of our charity and the living expenses and the car insurance. So the maths was not adding up. The financial things were not adding up for me so. But I got a better package in Montreal. I was offered more than $70,000 for the first job in Montreal, which was unheard, thanks to my cybersecurity journey. In the interview they asked me why did you choose cybersecurity?

Gurasis: 12:35

It was like done, Let me tell you.

Parul: 12:39

And the guy came to my car with me was like Parul, are you interviewing somewhere else? I thank to that guy like literally, because when you graduate you are in, you know, hunt for a professional job. You need an opportunity to shine yourself and show your skills.

Parul: 12:54

But yeah and you don't want to go for odd jobs, right. And my scholarships were done. I was done with all the money I was left with. I was doing Uber. I wasn't really enjoying it, but it was good for me to practice my French and just get to learn about people. But again, I don't want to do this my whole life, right? Those three, four months are difficult For me. It was three, four months for everyone. Sometimes it's more and it becomes stressful. So he came to my car. He told me you want to get this job, it's fine. Hey, are you interviewing somewhere else? I was like, yes, toronto big five yeah.

Parul: 13:24

I'm sending you the offer letter. They added 10, 15,000 on the top of it and they said okay, don't accept it, We'll send you the offer tomorrow morning. Today the HR is gone and the next day they gave me the offer that quickly and I accepted it and I decided to stay in Montreal. And then I was like, let's stay here for an year and see what comes in. If Toronto offers me an amazing opportunity, I'll try, but let's now build this life.

Parul: 13:51

So once I started that job then I started assessing now what should I do to get that recognition back? And I tried so many things. I failed so bad. I started pranks, YouTube channel 22 subscribers Nothing helped. Then I started playing videos of different worlds best location from Google Earth. Nothing happened. Then I was like maybe I'm missing the point here. I'm being desperate. Then I realized that all those students who I you know I was teaching, they asked me questions on Facebook Hi Paru, Hi Paru, sir, they call sir in India. Right here, there's no culture. I want to do this, masters, because you are doing it. I want to do this too. How did you do this? How did you do that? And then I realized that nobody is talking about guidance on these things. Now let's do whatever you have been doing and make a video out of it.

Gurasis: 14:49

Okay, hold that thought before we get into that, paru, tell me what was your resources or support system while you were in Canada.

Parul: 14:57

When you moved to Canada, Okay, so my life has been less stressful than any other person I know, and I think it was some bit of luck and some some bit of you know. Things happen around you, naturally, right. I won't say that it was too much struggle for me. I would say, the too much struggle for me was the emotional part, more that staying away from the family for that long.

Parul: 15:20

I never left my family more than a week. I was on business trips, but not much so when I came here. There's an uncle I know and my brother's connection knew that uncle, and uncle came to pick me up at the airport 25 December and he hosted me for a month and I'm very thankful to him because I know people have to suffer a lot when they come here and they don't know anyone. So I stayed with him and he supported me initially and after a month, when I was about to move out, we discussed and he said I feel good with you, how about you stay here for longer? I was like, okay, my family was more than happy. They were like oh, yes.

Gurasis: 16:01

Yeah.

Parul: 16:02

Yes, home, away from home.

Gurasis: 16:04

Okay, yeah, so they were like stay, stay.

Parul: 16:08

I was like no, I don't have independence, I want freedom, I want to go out late, I want to chill, I want to go to parties. And they were like no, this time they were more, you know, stubborn on their decision, like this was the first time they actually told me no Very concretely, you are staying there, like okay, I'll stay. Then I stayed six months more than we got along really well. So my start was quite smooth, but my schedule was quite hectic. Nine to nine I have to be in the lab because it was a thesis program, masters. I'm not taking any courses, but I work on a research project funded by Korea and some government agencies and there's a lot. So my money was getting funded by different sources. So I have to stay and work on research. So it was. I didn't have time for life much. I'll be very clear. Nine to nine I was in lab no social circle, no friends, because for friends you have to go out and have chill. You don't chill time and I was just studying, right. But again, I had a lot of time on my hands to work on my personal projects. You know, try something new, make extra money, sell stuff and all.

Parul: 17:15

So for me, the support system mainly was my family on phone, whatsapp. I'm just talking to them like everyone else, but it was my fixed schedule that I'll talk to my mom twice a day. That's non negotiable and I have to answer her call or message within minutes. If I'm not doing is going to call everyone on her list, anyone and everyone to reach me, and I'm like come on, I'm, I'm just busy. They were like no, we don't know. So they were very, you know, protective of me and possessive of the idea of me getting lost somewhere and you know. So all these things you know, I have experienced and I know that this is the pain point of every family sending their kid abroad. So, yeah, I was getting support on phone Rest. I was pretty, I would say, daring when it comes to doing something crazy or, you know, taking challenges on, and I was trying out a lot of things during my student life to support myself.

Gurasis: 18:15

Let's just move it towards your YouTube channel, parol TV TV being because you wanted to be on TV and you end up using the word TV on this one. Tell us about your initiation of the idea and then the execution.

Parul: 18:28

So, as I told you that the idea was to, you know, have a TV right, I was like, if I'm not on the real TV because I failed the VD, the auditions of MTV VJ Hunt, where Rhea Chakrabati and Jose Coveco were the lead parts.

Parul: 18:42

I couldn't pass that. Then I went to Voice of India Ishmish Singh, yvonne and that batch I also auditioned and I sang a song, alvida Alvida and they told me to Alvida Alvida, right on my face because I was so bad. And then I tried everything, okay, anything that can work for me. Everything failed. So TV, I will have my own TV and I put that name in Parol TV and what can be better? First I was thinking different names, but I was like I'm the brand, so I'll put my name as what else were you thinking, if you can share.

Parul: 19:19

I was thinking a lot of things immigrant, like travel, funk, something. I put a lot of random names, backpacker, but nothing worked. I'll parol. Tv sounded more genuine to me so I was like let's do this because people know my name, easy to find, and I will have my more Google listing when somebody will search for rule. Yeah.

Gurasis: 19:40

So that's, imagination, right?

Parul: 19:41

Right there and when you Google search Parol Khanna ethical hacker or Parol Khanna hacker, there were a lot of results at that time because I was very active on news and news websites, times of idiot, everything, so let's keep that name and put TV. So I basically my goal was to just share what I do on messages, but now on screen. But I was like, let's make a video. So I actually try to make some travel videos before, just like everyone else was doing. I didn't get any traction, then I deleted them. Then I made this video on top jobs in Canada, so basically what it is. Then I searched and I found that a lot of YouTubers are there, but they are in Ontario, vancouver, and they're talking about these things, but they are not doing it right, they're just dragging it too much. It's not too too. You know specific. But then I said, oh, let's check for Quebec.

Gurasis: 20:37

Nobody's zero.

Parul: 20:39

There was one channel who interviewed me, but that guy was more into singing songs or you know, poetry and everything, but yeah, nothing student specific. So I created a channel. I made the video with my iPhone seven. I kind of judged myself so many times that I was like my audio sounds very cheap, the voice quality is not good, it's not radio quality, so I don't know. I wasn't confident. I made the video and it picked up 100 subscribers in a week. Oh shit, 100 people know me. Let's do more 200, 300, 400. And then I started putting down anything I have faced as a challenge luggage packing that video. If you go back and check, probably one of. I say thank you everyone for 500 subscribers. I made it outside Starbucks. It started kicking in and at one day I was in Gurudwara Sahib in LaSalle and somebody said oh, parul saw your video man.

Gurasis: 21:39

Very nice.

Parul: 21:41

Oh, that guy, I still have his picture with me. He changed me completely.

Gurasis: 21:47

Okay, you were like something's happening, something's happening.

Parul: 21:49

He gave me a shock. He shake my hand out of nowhere. My friends, so usually when you start a channel, you spam everyone on WhatsApp. Join my channel. Join my channel.

Parul: 21:59

Yeah not everyone joins your channel, but now when? So the real fun begins when unknown people start recognizing you, not the ones that are connected by second or third line of connection. You are friends, friend or his room, I don't. But when somebody out of tenure comes in hey, parul, nice video man I was like, oh, wow, this is fun, let's do this more. And then I start doing it more often and more often. People start coming and saying thank you to me.

Parul: 22:30

Done Mission dissolved. You're helping people, you're giving back to society, you're sharing. Whatever you have been doing, it's genuine. Your intention is to just share and be famous. I really wanted that part. Okay, I'm not, I never say that was not the motive. That was actually and I think it exceeded really well Then 500. I was like if there are 1000 subscribers, I'll buy a camera, if there are 2000, I'll buy a light. So I started. Then I started looking at the quality and eventually we evolved 5000, 10,000, 20,000, 30,000. And then I started stop looking at the numbers. I was just making videos. Then I came into discipline. I see when I'm missing videos, the subscriber goes down Like I'm not getting average. So then I was like keep making videos Every week. There should be something and I managed myself. I was good at time management Thanks to my research degree. I learned from there, so I just kept picking videos and then I never looked back. I'm still doing the same routine. One video is always there, at least. Yeah, that's the committee.

Gurasis: 23:33

So walk us through your process. Give us like an example of a video. How do you prepare that? Do you prepare everything before you get on the camera, or do you like just have a bullet point thing, you just talk, or you just put on the camera and just talk to us about that?

Parul: 23:46

So, basically so, when I started again, nothing was in a fixed format. I was changing my you know process every time, so I used to write everything in paragraphs, read it, rehearse it and then talk about it on camera. And it seems that whenever you're recording a podcast, you know, or making a video and if you are new, there are a lot of unseen challenges like you, like you know, like there are challenges that you cannot even imagine Of course it sometimes takes eight hours, 10 hours, for me initially to create one 10 minute video because I'm saying, okay, hello guys, what's up guys?

Parul: 24:18

Parul, no, what's up guys? This is Parul, no. So you do a lot of re-takes when you are starting out right. It's very stressful and you kind of start hating yourself, like why you can't do this right.

Parul: 24:31

So my process was to write everything, record everything and then edit everything on an immature editor and then basically compile it and post it. That was the initial beginning. But even you know, with time I started learning transitions, software, lighting, audio, quality, and I was setting up. So I had a bag, I put my light camera everywhere I sit outside that's the best place to have natural light and I record. But now in last five years we have been doing it for so long.

Parul: 25:03

I wanted to have a fixed setup. So now I'm sitting in my studio. I have all the lights that are fixed here. They are super expensive. Even if I know that I won't get views, I really like to have the best gadget around. You're doing it for yourself. You know, I like the quality, I like that high definition colors, I like those transitions that look greater and that make me different than anyone else putting on the videos or maybe on the same topic, even if I don't get views. I just put milestones and I started putting all these things together.

Parul: 25:34

Now I have a team to help me with editing and everything, because I have been doing editing like for three to four years, but at one point I started spending more time on editing and being more possessive about what I have been doing and it was pushing me back because I wasn't able to produce more content because I was spending all the time in editing. I'm not able to sleep at night. My work routine is messing up. So I was like let's get an editor so that I can focus more on content. So now I still write my scripts myself. I don't have a writer. I tried to hire people, but then it was not like me. It's like I'm reading a news.

Parul: 26:10

I cannot make my jokes. It's to the point. Those are not my words. So I still struggle and spend more time on writing. So I write my content. I have a fixed setup I sit here, I shoot, then I give it to my editor, which I found after so much stress and so much struggle. Because you don't get aligned with somebody who understands like you cuts the video like you the music like you. It's very difficult to find that perfect match.

Parul: 26:35

But, now I'm blessed that I have people on my team so I give it to them reels, videos, and they process it and we set up some target deadlines and schedules and everything is delivered to me and posted on my accounts. I kind of automated much of the part so that I can focus more on the script and the content. Last year something hit me when I was meeting with people. Now people are talking to me and meeting me and greeting me and say we used to watch your videos. So we used to watch your videos and it started repeating quite a lot. I'm going to move in. Somebody made some. We used to watch your video. I used to, why not now? And then I started questioning myself you know I'm just working right. So then I was like Now it's time to pivot, I cannot hear this again, so I have to do something different.

Parul: 27:29

But then I was like now let's share the other part of your journey which started after you graduated, yeah which is financial journey, because, as per my planning and everything, I think I have been doing well and I am hitting the targets as I imagined Long term, short term and I don't think everyone is doing the same way. So let's help everyone to at least share the points and things and the tips and the tricks and the books I read and focus on personal finance. Then I pivoted my strategy to personal finance and now I'm talking about personal finance. I don't know how long I'm going to do this, until I feel and I enjoy more natural you know, natural content. I'm going to do this. I know for students. There are other people who are doing more relatable content because they are students in 2023 rather than 2020. You know 2016,. So I think they do better content than me and I can do finance better and I know that nobody else can do better than me. I have that confidence on me for now, so we'll do it. That's how it works.

Gurasis: 28:28

And the one thing which I really love about your content is, of course, it's relatable, and you know you can just talk to the point. Another aspect which I love is you always bring that humor into it. How do you do that intentionally, or is that something that comes naturally to you?

Parul: 28:45

No, it's purely natural. Sometimes my humorous parts are very crazy. I have to cut them out if I share that with my mom and I'm like do you think I can say that in my video, my mom? No, you cannot make a joke like that. It's going to look bad. And now you have wider audience. So I do discuss my humorous points once I have the final edit, whether I should share it or no, and sometimes I have to chop it out. Sometimes it's very extreme, but that's how it goes, right, it's in the blood. I cannot stop myself.

Parul: 29:15

I sometimes make relative comparisons with things like today I made a video and I posted that tomato was very expensive in India and the same kind of thing is houses are also expensive in Canada if your tomatoes are expensive. So these things come out naturally, right? I don't know. And the funny part is sometimes my videos, the jokes that I know that nobody can make. I made them. They are in other people's videos too. The replica channels and the other content creators sometimes make some topic videos and they share the same jokes. I'm like, oh, this is mine.

Gurasis: 29:48

You should trademark those now People should not copy it.

Parul: 29:52

I can't say this. This is the thing, right, when you're talking, you cannot, you know, trademark or monetize everything. That's what I feel, and this kind of general information is really picking up because people are coming to Canada much more big numbers than before, but at one point this is going to be absolute, like nobody's going to watch these videos because everyone would be aware.

Parul: 30:14

That's like cybersecurity People didn't knew and there was a lot of hype and the moment everyone knew. I think so. I think times are changing. The information that is out there is common, becoming more common, and at one point things must change and, to be very frank, I might switch to podcasts in a few months. It's on my list.

Gurasis: 30:38

Okay, count me in. I would love to be part of it 100%.

Parul: 30:42

I'm going to talk to you.

Gurasis: 30:44

Is there any type of content that you really like enjoy the most talking about on your channel?

Parul: 30:49

Many, many categories. I would say see the to be very clear. I really wanted to make travel videos. I tried a lot but it wasn't well received by the audience. That's something that is still on my plate. I do like to travel a lot and shoot a lot. It takes much more effort than in a fixed studio setup, but I never got views on that. So sometimes you have to, you know, let go things that you like, but it's not taken really well by the audience.

Parul: 31:17

But when it comes to talking about experiences, personal experiences, I think that's my main USB. That's what brings people and connects them with me and their parents, because when I share something, I share what happened to me I don't share. This can happen to you based on these facts. So I think that emotional connection of exceering my journey and experiences really resonates with my audience and the fact that when people meet me, they never tell me they found me. They tell me their parents found me, and I think that's the fun part actually for me, that I connect with people I don't even know, like on the other side of screens. They connect with me. They're like oh yes, this is relatable. So that relatable content can only come with the journey or experience sharing, and I think if the channel is alive today, it's based purely on this.

Parul: 32:07

If I start talking abstract topics or science, I don't think it will really sell well or people will actually, you know, get connected. So that emotional connection comes with the personal experience, journey videos and my video that I posted the story of my life, even if I just made it now, you know, just buy 100k. Let's share this. I didn't know that it's going to impact people so much. And also the fact that when the journey brings in some family members like my mom came to Canada recently two years ago, not recently, it's two years, wow, 2021. So that video was also, again very emotional for so many people that come with the dreams to Canada. So, again, emotional connection and journey sharing is something that I think is my favorite part, because I don't have to write a script for that. Of course it's there.

Gurasis: 32:55

And I think we humans do connect more with stories. I think we learn things through stories. If you talk about our religions also, we have learned few principles through stories, so I think that's why people resonate more with that. And you know, regarding that video, you were talking about the story of my life. I personally love that video. I think that's one of my favorites of yours and it is very inspiring when you read that comments, the way people are. I remember this one comment I read and she said that I am usually like a silent list Watcher I live usually comment anything, but that video has forced me to comment because it was so inspiring for me and she just loved it and so did I tell me. You tell me, parol, that was there an impactful story or a feedback that you have received from one of your viewers? I'm sure there must be many, but if one that you can share, that really like Was close to you, Many, I would say I still go and check comments on that specific video.

Parul: 33:54

Sometimes people are so like emotional when they express themselves and they're like, oh, I saw this video, I also failed in high school, but this gave me some hope. Man, I also failed in mathematics. And then suddenly there are so many like him or her that are similar, you know, commenting in a similar way, and then they revisit back, send me an email and try to make a connection to me on YouTube or Instagram or email. Hey, I saw your video and I actually didn't give up and I started making cakes and everything while I failed, and now I'm selling cakes and pastries for weddings and like people come up with their stories. I don't know like how come? You know, you see the impact, like some people really like some people actually send audio messages very emotionally and with the crying tone and I'm like, oh my God, the purpose was never this for me to just you know, I never thought that it will go that in that direction, that people will actually get that much resonation, impact and vibe from that video. I really get shocked even now.

Parul: 35:00

So a lot of stories, people, because not everyone is smart man in India, academic pressure, and family pressure is something that kills a lot of people's talents and dreams. I came out of it because I had support. Not everyone is lucky to have same kind of open minded parents. Some people told me they showed this video to their parents. They wanted to come to Canada. Their parents were against the decision, but this video helped them that look this guy the biggest failure, always failing doing something with his life. I'll do the same. So I think that we, like people, use that video for different ways to impress their parents, to impress themselves or maybe to have some hope, and I think that's the greatest part.

Gurasis: 35:51

And how do you cope up with the responses that you received Like? By that I meant that you set up like a time that, okay, I'm dedicating this time of the day to reply to people. How do you do that?

Parul: 36:02

There's no fixed time actually, because sometimes the content goes so viral that you actually lose the sight of everything and anything. My channel is not the biggest and the greatest on YouTube. When we talk about immigration community, there are much, much great channels that go along. But if we talk about traction of my channel, there are videos that sometimes hit millions of views, like, for example, you remember that car video where I'm cleaning and I'm saying don't come to. Canada 15 million views on YouTube and similarly 15 on Instagram. That's like 30 million views.

Parul: 36:35

Now imagine the number of comments that contains love hate so much coming on, it becomes difficult for me. So I just do random scrolling when I'm at work or I'm having lunch or whenever I release the video, I try to reply to the comments that actually deserve my time and expertise. I don't reply to the comments that are something that people can just Google and they're just being lazy. No, I just reply to the comments that really think can are more like decisive. Hey, I'm going to this university versus that, what do you think? Okay, I will say B. I have to speed up. I cannot have somebody to reply to the comments because that's not me then. Yeah, so it's random, it's less so. What I did is that some people were really serious about their journey, really wanted to talk to me, commenting on all videos. Then the idea stuck in my mind I have to book a call, because I initially started our TV video call and my whole month was booked and it was free. Of course, yeah, but then you cannot do this right. It's not something that is practical. It's not scalable. I'm losing time on making my videos. So I put a dollar amount which is very nominal and I know it's 10 times less than anyone charging in Canadian market Usually $300, $400. I charged like 50 or $60. So I put that so that only serious people come in, okay, and usually after, even at the end of the call, I used to tell them if this was helpful, great. If not, I'm happy to return to you, because I got to learn from them too. But this way I filtered out hundreds of people and hundreds of responses that really want my one hour, because sometimes there's a comment hey, I want to go to this province, that province, this province. I cannot just say this one. There's no straight answer to this. Right, I need to know what good ass is is replying to me and what is his profile, what are his goals, what you know? What's his 10, 8, 5 year goal? 10 year goal what do we want to do if Toronto good for him, montreal good for him? So all these things matter and it needs time. I don't have time.

Parul: 38:33

We made this system. It works well. So far. We have done hundreds of calls, I cannot count. I'm mostly booked and I give like few slots a week and I think it's pretty going well and I I will respond to those people more well, and I've been doing this for two years and every time people ask me hey, help us in applying. I don't do that. I'm not an immigration agent, but I cannot trust any immigration agent out there to the market is messed up. So, 2023 now I got along with somebody I really trust on and I can count on that. I'll give my file to him, okay. So then I was like okay, let's do this, we'll partner up. So I keep finding ways to fulfill these gaps and launch new services. Like, for example people are coming to Canada, no problem. Home away from home service book here. Yeah.

Parul: 39:22

Everything is monetized and commercialized. But this is how, the way you know, the world works. I know I get sometimes a lot of hate comments to that. You are commercializing everything. If I don't do, then how come people will take me seriously, right?

Gurasis: 39:33

Yeah.

Parul: 39:35

If some people think that YouTube is the way I make my living out, to be very clear, I can right now say that on your podcast for the first time. Youtube is not even 10% of my income.

Gurasis: 39:47

Hey, if you're enjoying the content and conversations we bring to you every week, we love for you to join our growing community. Make sure to follow us on all major podcast directories, including Apple podcasts, spotify, google podcasts or wherever you consume your podcast. That way, you'll never miss an episode and you'll always stay in the loop with the latest insights and stories. And speaking of staying connected, I always, always encourage you to follow your heart, but also also on Instagram the handle is my thick accent We'll be sharing a lot more behind the scenes content, some updates and some even fun sneak peeks. So give us a follow and let's engage even more closely there. And to all those who provided their feedback and input, thank you so much. It truly, truly shaped the direction of a podcast, and I would love to hear from any of the new folks who joined us today. Don't hesitate to reach out with any thoughts, ideas or even suggestions for future guests. Drop us an email at hello at my thick accentcom. Let's get back to the episode.

Parul: 40:50

YouTube is not even 10% of my income. My primary income is my job. I act as a vice president for one of the world's largest banks. That's where everything is being paid for these glasses, these clothes, everything. Youtube is more of like passively. Tomorrow I wake up and the YouTube goes off. Nothing will change in my life. I did not waste my life on YouTube. Many people push me to make YouTube as my primary income platform. No, I keep it as a secondary. I still follow cybersecurity. Youtube is something. I do it dynamically and it gives me thrill.

Gurasis: 41:25

It's just like a passion project for you. You're not doing it for the monetary gain.

Parul: 41:30

Yeah, it's passion project that went really wild and bigger, so I'm continuing to do this.

Gurasis: 41:35

And you did. Spoke briefly about the hate comments. Do you really acknowledge those when you come across those, or you just completely bounce them off?

Parul: 41:41

I used to do initially, but then it started hurting me and impacting my mental health because there's a lot of negativity around us and poisonous comments. Sometimes I get comments on my looks, my hairline, my voice, how ugly I look, or how bad my videos are, or how I'm defaming India by pushing more people to Canada, by how I'm not a true patriot, by how I'm a Bogota. I get a lot of comments, man, if I start telling you comments, you will have blood in your ears. I'm not kidding. Initially I used to think about why did this guy say this to me? Why did this guy? It was impacting my mental health. Sometimes I even was depressed that somebody said something to me on my video Like you are a chore, you are misleading people. I was like what? And then I found a way that just don't respond, because if you reply, they reply again and it goes on and I think this negative part actually keeps a lot of people away from social media.

Parul: 42:46

They don't go because they're not strong enough. Now I'm so strong enough. If they say, oh, you are a jerk, I was like thank you, I appreciate it, I am one, look where I am. So I just don't respond and I don't block. Also, I only block people when they are being too rude and using swear words to my other subscribers. People start getting in their own conversations oh, you are a jerk. Following him, he said no, no, you are your families. It goes at another level. That time I come in and I intervene and I block Otherwise. Now I have made a list of swear words bad words, good words. You know if somebody writes those words, they are kicked away right away.

Gurasis: 43:26

Yeah, you know, I think I've read this so many times on social media, like you know, people share these hateful messages because they have been hurt themselves or they have been abused in their house, by the family or somebody else and they want to retaliate or take revenge, you know, by hitting out at other people, and I think hating for them is a way to deal with their problems and anger, and they did that. They themselves have insecurities. That's like their way of kind of, I don't know, de-packing, unpacking yeah, anything, man.

Parul: 43:58

Anything man Like yesterday the fresh one yesterday somebody commented to me hey, very fresh straight out of the box, 11 pm. I read this long message. It starts with I have been your follower but suddenly I see that you are promoting people, You're promoting services, You're doing meetups, you are doing concert, You're doing consultations, You're doing immigration business. You're doing a lot of businesses. You're not leaving anything for anyone to succeed. People like you are monsters who try to do everything and anything and become, you know, the wealthiest person on the top. And oh man, it was so long. At one point I stopped. I started scrolling. I was like you people have no goal to help people. You people just it's you people. So it's everyone who's on content or everyone who's doing something, Just do it man.

Parul: 44:49

Just get away. For me, if I don't like somebody's video, I just pass on. I never comment and sit there and spill. You know anything wrong? I just go away. I don't know man. Different people, different world.

Parul: 45:02

It's okay, I just pass on. I wish God help them and they use their time for something more productive. I can't do much. I try to coach some people to when they were making this comment hey, you shouldn't have done that. Initially they were like, oh no, why not? In the end it ends up nowhere. I'm like okay, leave it.

Gurasis: 45:21

Of course, that's the right approach. Okay, so, parv, who are we going to the final segment? How can I not discuss about two topics, and I'm going to call this segment Parol's Perspective? The first is which is a common discussion amongst many people in 2023, whether to immigrate or not to immigrate to Canada, and I did see you did make a video about that as well whether to move or not to move, tell us like a crux of it. Or should we move, or should people not move?

Parul: 45:55

I think again, this is like a double-edged sword. It's something that you are sitting in an excess of different decisions or projections of your life. It really depends upon person to person. There's no straight answer to this, so I'll take two perspectives here. Let's talk about number one. If you are somebody who wants to do something great and also, at the same time, wants to save time and feel more appreciated, that's my comment Okay, I don't know what other thing and wants more fair opportunities. Come to Canada. I had an established business. Again, I will share my experience. I don't know what everyone thinks about it.

Parul: 46:41

I worked with a lot of government and a lot of businesses man in India. Right now it's becoming so difficult If you are a middle-class person to grow up without any support or without any bureaucracy, without cash. It's becoming really difficult to survive. If you are somebody with entrepreneurial spirit and have nobody on your hands, come here, maybe, go back later, but this country is going to appreciate each and everything you do to provide you something more than what you will get there. That's one. If you are somebody who wants to get a decent career, profession, wants to get a job, stay with the family. When I say stay with the family, it's really important.

Parul: 47:29

If you're an emotional person, you really don't want to stay away from your family. You want to have a decent job, decent lifestyle, watch movie with your wife or kids later, when you get married, and eat food with your mom and family. If you're a family-oriented person and you really cannot compromise that one part, don't come here. Don't come here on the idea of you will go back, because there's no going back. The moment you step out of your house, you are going to meet your parents or family a number of times in your whole life. That's the biggest, saddest truth. I'm telling you, if somebody leaves their house in Canada and their parents age is 45, 50, and I'm telling you a very dark statement here they will come to Canada, they'll study here, they will likely meet their family once a year, maybe twice a year. The life expectancy right now is 75. Looking at 30, 45 years, you are going to meet your parents not more than 200 times. That's very sad.

Parul: 48:35

Hard to take with a pinch of salt. I know nobody has ever talked about it. I didn't ever make a video. I told my mom and she was kind of sad. She was like don't talk about it on camera. It's not going to take a while.

Parul: 48:45

But this is it, man, you're going to meet your parents 100 times, or 150 times If you manage to bring them here. That's another story, but there are a lot of ifs and buts that they will move with you or you will move with them, but in the grand scheme of things, you are going to meet them few times. So don't come. If you're an emotional person, canada is not for you. And in 2023, with the challenges, the stress and everything is coming on, if you are brave enough and if you think that you can cope up, even if you think 1% come, even that hope is enough. But if you think, no, hopeless, don't try it, man, not worth it. Trust me, it's worth it to make 50,000 rupees a month in India rather than 2000 dollars here. It's much, much worth it. I'm telling you right now. Otherwise, canada is land of opportunity the respect of job that is here for a small job like plumber, electrician, which is a small job in India, but here they make much more money than a doctor in India.

Parul: 49:41

When it comes to making money and following your passion, come here, because your passion will be more respected here. If you are an artist, come here. If you are in something that is deemed like a low paying job in India, come here. Truckers, for example, no respect in India, one of the richest here, other other, any you know non mainstream professions, come here. Education, if you talk about, come here. You can always go back to India and become a professor in a top university after graduating from here. But if you study the same course in India, it will take you 10 more years to even have an idea or chance to become a teacher at a premier institution.

Parul: 50:23

The moment you hit the moment you hit the University of Toronto or any tier two university here for masters and then, with your skills, you hit a top university in Harvard or Stanford or any top university in Canada. You are cold. You can go anywhere. So by that freedom, by taking the decision to come here, you will be appreciated. Look at me. 12th, nothing marks nothing. Now, if I go back to India, I'm pretty sure that I'll have decent opportunities I would have never seen in my life.

Gurasis: 50:53

I think you have articulated it perfectly. Awesome. I love that. Another thing I would like to address with you is definitely mental health, mental pressure. When you come here, everything is nice and hunky-dory, but then the reality kicks in, everything takes a toll on you, and that has unfortunately led to a lot of suicides and cardiac arrests as well. Tell me, how can one prevent that? As per your experience and your conversations with students, I think it's becoming too much.

Parul: 51:21

Since last few months, or maybe last two years, I have seen the increase in comments and the messages on my inbox where people are looking for support. They are stressed, they're not able to manage their grades or expenses and there's no support. Families again come into pressure that they have to perform well and support financially. It's too much for somebody who is not ready for this. The very big thing I would comment on this is that usually I tell people to come here at a younger age but if there is no self-assessment, you might be making a wrong decision of coming to Canada. Not everyone self-assesses their different traits or behavior or their tendency to take stress and they just come the love idea of coming to Canada because it's great, you get to drive Mustangs and live in nice houses. It's a great idea. People sometimes tell me that you are selling this idea on YouTube but not everyone is able to handle it. When I sit down and I realize that, yes, I'm making a generic video but all sorts of audience watches it, then I started putting these topics like why you should self-assess yourself. Are you okay to take stress or failing in a course? Write it down. Are you okay to work extra jobs which are physically intensive. For example, for a person like me. I cannot do physical jobs. I went for a shift one day and I was crying in tears. My bones were aching. I couldn't wake up from the bed. I went once whenever I was a student. If you cannot do it, don't come.

Parul: 52:52

The stress becomes difficult here because you come from an environment that is very friendly. You have your parents supporting you. You don't realize there's that support there. You have your cousins, your friends, your brothers supporting you. If you fail or if you pass or if you're spending happy times. The moment you come here you are in a room like this alone. There's no support. Are you okay with that and how to handle?

Parul: 53:14

Many people come here. They realize that they messed up. For example, when I came, it was too cold. I felt really bad. I felt I should cry. I was weak 55 kilos, never done any physical exercise. It messed me up. It was impacting my education by an expensive jacket that keeps you warm. Get better shoes, start working out, eat good diet. I had solutions for that, but for mental stress the solution is therapy. The solution is people start finding support with their roommates or with their friends. They're not able to get it.

Parul: 53:49

I think it badly impacts people who are introverts and there are ways to get out of that zone and you have to do something. You have to go to networking events. You have to talk to people. You have to be in an area take house in an area where there are more people crowded. You don't have to go on the side. Or maybe you try to move in with people who are not Indians and other nationalities. You try to explore that. You have to get out of that zone because mental health impact all aspects. You have to become a machine. My family calls me a robot. Last time my brother told me Chad GPT is more emotional than you. That's what he told me. That was the biggest statement he made on my recent visit. He said you are, chad GPT is more emotional than you. He thinks more emotionally than you. Look at the responses. So I became like that. I didn't know when. I became like that, right, I became more hard on some things that usually people are soft on or maybe talk about.

Gurasis: 54:45

You definitely build a hard skin.

Parul: 54:49

Yeah, you become like that. The journey makes you like that. But not everyone is a cut for this kind of journey. So, if you have mental health, if you have stress, seek therapy, come here. It's manageable, everything is manageable. It's just a matter of trusting yourself. Many people don't trust themselves. They're much smarter, they just don't trust themselves. And I'm not a mental health expert, but what I see mostly is that people have options around them, but they just take things too seriously. I kind of practice something that I read in a book that whenever you are stressed, think about it. That is it going to matter in the next three years or five years? Yeah, if it is, then it's serious. You are messed. If it's not, let it go, take care of it. For example, my PR is not coming, my work permit is not coming, my job is not coming. Do you think in five years you will have the same position? Definitely not yeah.

Parul: 55:43

And then it's not life-changing. You should not pain your heart for you. You were not born to kill your heart for this. You have pain in your kidney in five ways. Is it going to bother? Yes, yes, it is. This is something that needs a more serious mental issues to think about and take it more seriously. Relationship you got cheated by somebody and your friends are, you know, not talk, talk, okay, taking you seriously or something? Does that matter in five years? No, let it go. I think this works. That's how I handle my stress and pressure in the grand scheme of things. Is something going to help? For example, my tenant calls me in my another house. Hey, there's a blockage. Right away I will think expenses, money, so many things right. Is it going to matter five years later? No, it's money.

Gurasis: 56:32

Yeah, that's right approach, and it does take a toll on you and I think the only thing we sometimes need to learn is really asking for that help, and we guys are not, I would say, wired to do that, maybe growing up in a protective environment like India, where everything is sort of served to you. And I like this approach that you said if something matters in three to five years, put your energy on that. If it does not, just move on. And To all my listeners if you want to connect with parol or check out his channel if you haven't as yet, you're probably living under a rock. But if you haven't, links to that will be found in the show notes, okay. But also now in the final segment of the podcast I call it beneath the accent I'm gonna ask a couple of questions. You can answer them in one board or a sentence or house ever you feel like the idea is just to know more about you. Okay, so ready ready.

Gurasis: 57:25

So first is, what's the one habit you adopted that has changed your life?

Parul: 57:28

discipline. I wasn't disciplined before and the moment I started being in discipline, being committed to what I plan, it changed my life. It changed my YouTube life. It changed my learning schedules. It changed the things that I wanted to learn, improve with my health, make meals. Discipline because it wasn't there before, because it was automated in India and when I was a student, everything was irregular. I promise things to myself, but I wasn't doing it. But the moment I started getting into discipline of doing things and planning things just for next five days, it changed everything and every aspect and it started from reading To making food, to delivering content, to getting done things for job, you know, managing my weekends. Discipline, discipline is more important than any kind of motivation. If you got motivation from this video and you don't have discipline to put things in place for you, it's worth nothing.

Gurasis: 58:30

What's the best piece of advice someone ever gave you?

Parul: 58:33

trust yourself and always be confident. That's the best advice anyone and everyone Should take from this. If you cannot trust yourself, how do you expect anyone next to you to trust you? Yeah, not happening. If you go for an interview if you don't feel confident, how the other person will feel confident to hire you? If you are dating somebody and you are not confident how the other girl is going to you know, trust you to continue her relationship with you? Just be confident and trust to yourself. If it's good, it's good. If it's bad, it's bad, but accept it. Don't lie to yourself. Don't promise things when you are happy and don't make decisions when you are sad. Yeah, that's, that's the only thing you should think about. Way, that's the best advice. These two things actually changed my life, because when you're happy, like oh yeah, I'll give a party. Yeah, I'll do this with you, I'll do that. No. And when you are sad, okay, let's sign. No, the stocks are falling down, don't sell it, wait.

Gurasis: 59:38

Yeah, spoken like an experienced person. For sure. Is there any worst advice someone ever gave you?

Parul: 59:44

so many worst advice is I'm just thinking, thinking of the best one Everyone around you. If they are making comments on your decisions, they don't really matter in grand scheme of things. Mm-hmm. And that connects it with the my last response. Yeah.

Parul: 1:00:00

There's a lot of judgment, there's a lot of negativity, there's a lot of Comments. If you want to take somebody's comment, he should always be somebody who is doing at least two times better than you. You have to rate it that way. Then it makes more value. But if it's somebody studying with you or somebody who is your relative or your friend and Saying hey, don't start that podcast or YouTube channel, not gonna help Pass. Everyone told me don't start Parul TV YouTube channel. You are doing cybersecurity. This is something, entertainment kind of thing. Who cares, man, you don't want to be that.

Parul: 1:00:37

Yeah no, don't take advice for somebody who's on your level or below your level. Always go multiply by two and then see who's doing much better than you. You vibe with them, mm-hmm. So the first advice is don't take any advice, salah and even the guard. Don't ask too many questions to people who are around you. Ask people to who you know, who are, you know that are doing better and you feel that connection.

Gurasis: 1:01:03

Absolutely. And is there something we recently bought and you know regret?

Parul: 1:01:07

I am very careful with my purchases, and To this I apply an a formula Do I need it or or if it makes me happy. If I need it, I'll buy it. If it makes me happy, I'll think about it and I'll spend 10 days thinking about it and then I'll buy. If it's something that is more than a thousand dollars or $2,000, I give myself 10 days to think about the need of it. These days it's fine with me to spend around, but what I? What? What can I regret? And plants.

Parul: 1:01:45

Okay summer was there. There were plants in everyone's houses. I thought I should get plants, but I could not take care of them and they died. I Did not like it. It's not something expensive, but it's something that I couldn't take care of. I forgot about few plants in my backyard. I Didn't like it. I'm not going to buy more plants now. I'll buy the fake ones.

Gurasis: 1:02:08

So what's the most expensive thing you own?

Parul: 1:02:11

in terms of emotional value or in terms of money.

Gurasis: 1:02:15

Well, we are not going that philosophical. Tell us the value I.

Parul: 1:02:20

Don't own like banks own, but it's my real estate assets. I would say I have my name on the papers but I'm not a complete owner until they are completely paid off. But the most expensive if we put a dollar amount. That's my real estate portfolio, which is going to increase further every year, but yeah.

Parul: 1:02:42

Okay yeah, we're looking at more than one and a half million dollars. So that's, yeah, what I have invested in in Canada. It takes time to completely own them on your name, but you can say I am responsible for or I have liability for, or when most of my earnings have gone, which is six figures. Yeah, it's in the bricks, not in the bank.

Gurasis: 1:03:11

I like that, yeah, and what's the most expensive thing you would like to own?

Parul: 1:03:15

Wow, I don't want to share that actually.

Gurasis: 1:03:22

Give us a hint. A hint probably Is it a private jet.

Parul: 1:03:28

No, I changed the idea when I watched mr Beast video on if you it's worth it to buy a private jet. Okay. It's something I don't want to share. I have it, I keep it in my book. Yeah, it's something like that. It's super materialistic materialistic in terms of you know somebody who's Very living a minimalistic life for me, who's fond of gadgets and everything. Yeah, there is something. Yeah, something like a jet, but yeah, it's there.

Gurasis: 1:03:58

You should put it out there. Somebody might listen and gift you that you never know.

Parul: 1:04:02

Oh no, I have to earn it. If somebody gifts me, it will have no value. Actually, I want to earn it. For example, when I bought my first car, I bought my nice car after so many years of my student life and work life. I could have bought it earlier. But I put a Google on it. I was like okay, if YouTube is going to pay for this car.

Parul: 1:04:20

Mm-hmm you'll get it, otherwise you want Doesn't make sense. The moment YouTube started making money and I earned like forty thousand dollars, I was like, okay, let's get. So I put goals, dollar amounts and a year in front of the item. So Definitely, for next few years, the biggest expensive things I'm going to do is more on to the real estate side and opening up a business where there is something that people buy again and again. Okay, yeah, product.

Gurasis: 1:04:53

So what's next on your bucket list next?

Parul: 1:04:56

I told you change in strategy for YouTube Because I am doing this personal finance, so we came with the course right. So Canada's first immigrant investor course which is in Hindi, and that's first stock market investing course. So my next thing on the list is to likely to scale a business and and also see what different can be done on YouTube in my content, because now I feel that I have to switch the strategy to do something I like and enjoy more. It's been years I have been doing similar kind of content. Mm-hmm.

Parul: 1:05:32

So definitely it is going to be something that is Solving the challenge that immigrants face, commercializing it and making easier for people To, you know, do those things. So, for example, last, I keep on posting stories and comments on what's next. What are the biggest challenges? Yeah, so probably a business initiative is on my list.

Gurasis: 1:05:55

Okay, yeah. So who's your go-to person when you feel stuck? It's my mom and my brother.

Parul: 1:06:03

I don't trust anyone outside that. But now I talk more with my wife, since I am married from last two months. So I'm a married guy. So the very first thing goes to my wife right away, because she's next to me, of course. Yeah my biggest support system. So, and then it's my mom and my brother.

Gurasis: 1:06:22

Are there any movies that you like to watch over and over again?

Parul: 1:06:26

Yes. Name of you, harry Potter, the house of cards dark.

Gurasis: 1:06:33

Okay, yeah, something from the Bollywood you like?

Parul: 1:06:43

these days, I am personally not enjoying Bollywood much Pretty similar but I watch TV series. Web series are something that I like more for ball. I won't call it Bollywood, but if you talk about Hindi content, yeah. TVF series are amazing.

Parul: 1:06:58

I really resonate with all those series like my recent watch today morning breakfast was and the Bia, because I resonate my life story with all those struggles of you know UPSC experience and everyone it's similar. Right, of course I didn't go for UPSC, but not that smart, but something similar, the pressure from the family and everything we have discussed. So the TVF is, I think, the best thing happened then. Pankaj triparty series are something that I like. Yeah, similar, similar series, mostly Bollywood crime series. I like thriller investigations. That's my favorite director, for sure is my life's favorite series. That's why I named my dog Dexter also. I like it and Dexter's laboratory. So everything.

Gurasis: 1:07:42

What all cuisines you have tried since you moved to Canada?

Parul: 1:07:46

We have to name mostly everything and anything. Montreal is a place in Canada and America where, if you visit each restaurant New every day, it will take you years to still cover all of them. That's what said by Montreal Gazette article recently and I think that's true On my list.

Parul: 1:08:03

What I do is it's fixed, that's my routine. Every week I'll go for a new restaurant. That's what I do. I'm not a big foodie, but I really don't want to miss out on something. But again, I really don't want to just kill myself by eating all sorts of trash. So, for example, last week I was eating dumplings at a Chinese restaurant. A week before I was in a Korean restaurant Fried chicken. I was eating then Iranian. So I think when you come to Canada, this is also something that I encourage people to do that try out different cuisines. Just don't stick to Indian or Pakistani or, you know, south Indian, south Asian, yeah, just just don't get stuck there.

Parul: 1:08:41

There's so much more out there in the world. I know it's a bit touchy challenge for vegetarians, but for others, oh my god, there's plenty of options. I love like different cuisines. It depends upon my mood, that, or how heavy I want to eat or how light I want to go. It's sushi or it's a pudding. The thing line we have to draw Do you eat all meats? No, I only eat chicken, fish and lamb, basically Indian, non vegetarian. I really don't get along with the beef and pork. That's. That's the reason that I have to miss out on some very amazing dishes offered by different cuisines. That because that's their speciality. But yeah, so far I do the chicken, poultry and All that

Gurasis: 1:09:31

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

Parul: 1:09:33

invisibility.

Gurasis: 1:09:34

Okay, why would you say that?

Parul: 1:09:36

I cannot comment more. Not take it on the wrong side, but invisibility will help me to be at the places and Learn new stuff. Yeah that I know I cannot or experience. Invisibility gives you all other superpowers. Actually, it will cover up all the you know the things where you're gonna spend money or have experiences or or be at the places. It it's much, much, much. You know I have expandable.

Gurasis: 1:10:03

So describe Canada in one word or a sentence. Parul: Golden Cage. Gurasis: Very interesting! Okay, so lastly, Parul, if you could leave me with one piece of advice, what would it be?

Parul: 1:10:14

For you, I would say that I really appreciate your initiative. I think it is Something that has much bigger mission that you believe, because I I see that you just started recently and I was in the same stages when it comes to content creation. It's very impactful and I really encourage you to stick to it. Trust your instincts. You have started with maybe some mission, but it is going to make a wider impact and, again, if it changes One person's life, this all is going to be very worth it. So continue with it. Good job, I really like it. I'm going to get involved with it more now. I'm gonna talk to you after this, so congratulations. This is great Gurasis. I really appreciate.

Gurasis: 1:10:58

Thank you. Thank you, parul, for your kind words and thank you for being on the podcast and adding value to my listeners. Thank you, thanks a lot.

Parul: 1:11:05

Thank you so much for having me.

Gurasis: 1:11:07

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