June 28, 2024

From Tyranny to Freedom: Nicky Billou's Journey as an Immigrant Entrepreneur

From Tyranny to Freedom: Nicky Billou's Journey as an Immigrant Entrepreneur

Nicky Billou is originally an immigrant from the Middle East. He's a Christian from Iran. When he was 11 years old, the Islamic revolution took place in Iran. His late father, God rest his soul, could see the writing on the wall that this wasn’t going to be a place to raise a Christian family.

Nicky's dad was deeply into meditation and spirituality, and Iran was well on its way to becoming a theocracy. So he and his mom made a plan and executed it. Within a few years, they got them out of Iran and settled where he now lives in Toronto, Canada. As an 11-12, 13-14 year old kid, Nicky didn’t want to leave his home. He didn’t want to leave his friends. But in retrospect, it was the single greatest thing his Mom and Dad could have done for him and his two brothers. They took them from a legacy of tyranny and brought them to a legacy of freedom.

Inside every human breast beats the living heart of freedom. Every man, every woman on this planet wants to chart their own course, wants to march to the tune of their own drummer. Nicky's late father believed in freedom as well. This is a man who, if you were trying to find a job, would sit you in his office and make calls until he found you one. If you were trying to start a business, he’d help you get going, get access to capital, ideas, and customers. If you were trying to buy a car or a house and didn’t quite have enough money, his Dad would loan them the money and never let them pay him back.

People would say to Nicky, "Come on, are you for real? Nobody does this." And I’d reply, "Well, the late great Napoleon Billou did this." Why would he do this? First, he was a devout Christian and humanist who believed that he’d been blessed by God. It was his duty to share those blessings with others. Secondly, he did it because he could. He was successful. Nicky wanted to be like his dad. He wanted to be someone people came to for help, someone who was admired, someone who charted his own course as an entrepreneur.

Nicky got into business and found out that there are a lot of good human beings in business—people with the highest ethics and morals. But they had a lot of fear around getting into business, especially around sales and marketing. The idea of picking up a phone and calling somebody made them nervous. He realized these good people were missing out on business because they didn’t believe in themselves enough to bring that business in. So he thought he could help them. All we had to do was reframe selling to service. Nobody wants to be sold, but everyone loves being served by a caring human being, an advocate.

Nicky started to teach people how to reframe selling to service, how to look at selling as a good thing, and how to become experts at selling. Through that, he's helped 80-90 entrepreneurs add anywhere from six to eight figures a year to their annual income. Along this journey, Nicky also got into meditation and spirituality. He explored the Silva Method, did some past life regression, and even communicated with spirits like Kryon.

His father’s legacy of belief in people profoundly influenced him. His dad would always tell him, "Life isn’t about money. Even business isn’t about money; it’s about people." He believed that every person was a hero to somebody and that our job was to help people believe in others and themselves. This belief can turn into a roaring fire, allowing them to live extraordinary lives. When he passed away, Nicky took up that torch and has been looking to believe in people ever since.

Nicky's journey has led him to meet incredible individuals like Dr. Dia, a passionate medical doctor from South Africa living in Canada. She had a vision to serve her industry but struggled to articulate her message. With his help, she honed her message and, within a short period, generated over a million dollars in sales. It was her belief in herself, sparked by his support, that made this possible.

If you’re listening to this, his question for you is: how bad do you want change? Are you happy with your life and business? If not, decide to do something about it. Commit to getting better at sales and growing your business. Hire a coach and be resourceful. With belief, dedication, and the right support, you can achieve extraordinary results.