(+1) 718-5225575
A brief interview to Lucio Miranda, founder of ExportUSA, about his decision to move to the US and start a new career in New York.
My departure for the United States wasn't immediate. First I went to Paris, then Seoul, Tokyo, and Rio de Janeiro for work. Only after that did I land in New York, where I attended a master's program at the NYU Stern School of Business.
New York welcomed me not only with its challenges, but also with the birth of my children, and it became my home.
Of course. I could have gone to Los Angeles or San Francisco. I also had opportunities in other American cities, and there was a moment when I even considered returning to Italy permanently. When my second child was born, we tried, but we realized that our life was now in New York.
"In no other country in the world would I have been able to do what I did in America because the ease of working and putting ideas into practice was—and still is—unique in the world."
I was coming from Rio de Janeiro, so the contrast was shocking. When I landed at JFK, I wondered where the hell I'd ended up. But you know, adaptation comes with time, and for me, New York was the launching pad to realize ambitions unattainable elsewhere.
The American lifestyle is very different from that of other countries in the world: the expectations, the ways of doing things, the food, the schedules, the things that are socially acceptable or not socially acceptable. There was a bit of a learning curve, but I have to say that living in New York is much less complex than in other areas of the United States, so in the end the adaptation was quick.
It is controversial because it has always lent itself to propagandistic, populist, and other interpretations.
The postwar American dream is tied to reconstruction, economic revival, and a peaceful life. Its perfect embodiment was the single-family home with a front yard, a back yard, two cars in the driveway, and a stable, well-paid job.
America is divided into income and social classes; therefore, even in the American imagination, we need to clearly understand what the "American Dream" was actually based on. For some, it never made sense; for others, it even deteriorated somewhat over time. At the beginning of the Reconstruction, the booming economy pulled everyone along, while now things are more difficult.
"My American dream was the ability to get things done without suffocating bureaucracy or absurd costs, to be able to create a business, to be able to see something real come to fruition. Without that interminable tunnel of procrastination that Italy experiences."
I remember an Information Technology course at NYU in 1993, and the professor told us that an innovation called "the Internet" could revolutionize the world. Thanks to that lesson, I founded a web agency, then started selling racing bikes online. The professor had seen things through.
Almost by accident. With my web agency, I specialized in search engine positioning before Google even existed. The companies we helped were starting to receive requests from the US and didn't know how to handle them. So we began offering logistics, transportation, customs clearance services, and gradually all the needs these businesses encountered, drawing on the experience we'd gained in the early years of the Internet.
I remember launching the site in August 2006. At the time, it had about fifty pages, but it wasn't appearing on search engines; it was invisible, and no one could find us. Then, suddenly, the site's visibility exploded, and around early October, we began receiving the first online inquiries.
In Italy, connections are more spontaneous and deeper. However, New York, which is so cosmopolitan, has offered me the opportunity to build meaningful relationships with people of different nationalities. While I haven't formed close friendships with many Americans, I've found a sense of community with many expats.
Being Italian has had its impact, in every way. ExportUSA has become a point of reference; our offices have been a crossroads of dreams we've helped realize, most of them without media hype because we value discretion and customer satisfaction. On a personal level, being Italian has always been an advantage: our friendliness and warmth open many doors here.
Yes, Americans have a completely different way of doing things, and it's important to understand it and make it your own, both in everyday life and at work. Applying the American way of doing things to the professional context is doubly important in my case: it was a necessary step; otherwise, I wouldn't have had the credentials to help other entrepreneurs make their way here, as I have.
The level of bureaucracy has increased a bit and some things have become more difficult: new laws, new obligations, new compliance requirements. Mind you, compared to Italy we're talking about paradise—an endless paradise—but by the standards I was used to in the 1990s, let's just say that doing things has become a little more complex.
One thing I've noticed is that the cost of living has increased dramatically. New York was already an expensive city compared to the rest of the United States, but it was still manageable; now the cost increase has been significant and is noticeable.
Prepare and plan. America is complex, and therefore there's little room for error (also because the costs and investment required are high), so everything must be planned.
It's also essential to fully understand the scenario that awaits you. For those reading this, I can assure you that money spent on market research is money well spent, and that this is an investment that will pay off over and over again in the future.
Generation Alpha, though composed of children, already has a significant impact on the U.S. market. Let’s explore this demographic
https://www.exportusa.eu/generation-alpha-us-market.php