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FRANKS BIOGRAPHY
I was born in Bari, Italy, in 1974. I was the first-born child in my family. My father was a woodworkerwho also worked in a factory, and my mother stayed at home with me and my three younger siblings. I spent the majority of my childhood playing in the wood shop and developed some woodworking skills. When I got to a certain age, around 16, I began working in the wood shop to help my father when I wasn´t in school.
I never fell in love with the trade, but I kept practicing it as a mattress to fall back on, while jumping from sales jobs to working as a farm hand, a waiter, etc.
I completed high school with a diploma in Bookkeeping, which was a subject that did not even fit my personality, but I had many friends going to that school so I decided to just join the crowd…
I spent my youth in a daze, not being excited about anything. I remember literally not having any clue about what I wanted to do with my life, and I was okay with that… I was too busy partying… a lot!
I figured that if I could find anyway to support myself, soon my life would be good enough; I did not even know the meaning of the word “purpose” and had no goal in life.
While for a long time having fun was the only way I would feel alive, my “zombie” style of living came to a sudden, drastic end!The mandatory one-year Italian military service made it happen!
No more “Italian Mom” to take care of me, and a gigantic wake-up call to adulthood!
After my useful army experience, the world seemed too tight for me; I could not breathe, I felt that I had to make a space for myself! There I was, with few job opportunities, a low self image, an environment that didn´t seem to fit who I really wanted to be. I spent half of my twenties in a quiet state of depression noticed by few.
In 1997, I was selling encyclopedias door to door, and I was becoming pretty good at it; for “complicated” reasons, I did not get paid the commission for an entire summer sale campaign, worth roughly 4000 Euros in today´s money, and did not even get reimbursed for expenses! This was the magic point where my life took a major turn! I made the decision to leave my country, and three and half years later (that was how long it took to prepare the documents needed and to be approvedin 2001 when coming from Italy), I started my life in Canada with my newly-wedwife, Daniela.
I went through years of struggles to adapt to the cultural impact, to overcome the psychological stress, and then came the empowering moment when I understood that the Act of Immigrating goes beyond the geographical move.
A massive change happened within me and opened up a world of opportunity; when I understood that Immigration could be the most powerful and easy-to-use tool for people that want to be in charge of their own lives, I went ahead and changed mine!
When I look at what I was like at 26 and what I am like now, I barely recognize myself! The transformation has been overwhelming!
Running a successful business, living a comfortable life where I never worry about money, enjoying all the unnecessary things that extra money can buy are only the superficial changes that happened in my life. What really blows my mind is how comfortable and happy I am to be in my own skin now!
I am 100% sure that this could not have happened if I had not made the decision to immigrate!
What I did through the Act of Immigrating,recognizing the power within the act, probably only happens to about 5% of all immigrants; they do it unconsciously and can’t verbalize it, can’t explain it…they just do it. I did it, but I recognized it, I got curious and start to analyze it and then to observe it in others.
So this is what I do now; beside being a parent, a husband and a business owner of Techno Kitchen Refacing & Cabinetrefacingtogo.com, I just love helping other immigrants to become the best they can, leveraging the Act of Immigrating, sharing what I have learned from my own experience and that of others. This is not for every immigrant, but for the special ones.It is not material that comesfrom me, it is stuff that you already know; it is within you, I just have the honor of helping to bring it to the surface.
Frank Silletti.
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