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In this compelling episode of Count Me In, your host Adam Larson sits down with the dynamic Nicky Billou—podcaster, coach, and President and CEO of eCircle Academy. Nicky passionately speaks with a heartfelt nod to his father's teachings; he explores how seeing the greatness in others can restore faith in humanity.
Tune in as Nicky discusses the transformative power of authentic storytelling and how meaningful life experiences shape true thought leadership. Discover his motivational stories, like helping entrepreneurs shift their messaging to achieve incredible success and supporting individuals in reaching their dreams.
Feel the emotional impact of Julie's journey—a professional who turned her life around with Nicky’s guidance, leading to personal and financial victories, and even touching her family deeply. Learn what drives Nicky to keep making such a profound difference in people's lives.
If you're looking for inspiration, wisdom, and a hearty dose of authenticity, this episode is not to be missed!
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What is Count Me In®?
IMA® (Institute of Management Accountants) brings you the latest perspectives and learnings on all things affecting the accounting and finance world, as told by the experts working in the field and the thought leaders shaping the profession. Listen in to gain valuable insight and be included in the future of accounting and finance!
Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Count Me In. I'm your host, Adam Larson, and today, we have an incredibly inspiring guest, Nikky Billou. Nicki is a podcaster, coach, and the president and CEO of E Circle Academy. In our conversation, Nicki shares valuable insights on kindness and authenticity, lessons he attributes to his father. We delve into the power of thought leadership and how genuine storytelling can create profound connections with an audience.
Adam Larson:You'll hear some moving success stories, like a client who transformed their business by changing their messaging and a professional who turned her life around with Nikki's guidance. Join us as we discuss why authenticity is crucial and how thought leadership goes beyond expertise to making a real difference in the world. You won't wanna miss this compelling episode, so let's dive in. Well, Nicki, I'm really excited to have you on the count me in podcast today, and we're gonna be talking especially focusing on thought leadership, which you're an expert in. And when I talk about something like thought leadership, it's something that you hear that term a lot in the industry.
Adam Larson:And I wanted to hear what is your definition? What exactly is thought leadership?
Nicky Billou:Wow. What a great question. First of all, thanks for having me on the show, Adam. You know, it's a real honor to be here. And, thought leadership really the best way to define it is not original to me, but it's by comparing thought leadership to an expert.
Nicky Billou:So an expert is someone who knows something, but they're invisible. A thought leader is someone who's known for what they know. Experts are a dime a dozen. Thought leaders are rare and valuable. Experts make, if they're lucky, 50, 70000 a year, thought leaders make quarter million, half a 1000000, a 1000000, 2,000,000, 5,000,000, $10,000,000 a year.
Nicky Billou:It's much better to be a thought leader than it is to be an expert. Mhmm.
Adam Larson:I like that definition. And so, you know, it's about being an expert. Why should we care about becoming a thought leader? Obviously, you just gave one incentive. There's great money if you become can become a great thought leader in in your industry.
Adam Larson:But what are some other benefits about becoming a thought in this a thought leader in your field?
Nicky Billou:Well, first of all, it means that you've reached the pinnacle of your field. You're somebody that's known as the go to authority in a space. So let me give you an example. There's 2 professors. Both of them, are from the University of Toronto.
Nicky Billou:They're professors there. They both teach psychology in the area of social and personality, And, they both graduated from top schools. 1 from Cornell, the other from McGill University in Montreal. Now one of them is doctor Jason Placks. You ever heard of doctor Jason Placks?
Nicky Billou:No. You haven't. The other one is doctor Jordan Peterson. You ever heard of doctor Jordan Peterson?
Adam Larson:Yes.
Nicky Billou:Which one's the expert? Which one's which one's the thought leader? You know? And it's it's a lot better to be Jordan Peterson in your field than it is to be Jason Plax in your field because you're gonna be recognized as somebody who's moved the thinking in the field forward.
Adam Larson:Now it sounds like that comes also comes with a lot of luck being in the right place at the right time to become be positioned as a thought leader. You know? So you've talked about the benefits to your own self. You know, what are the benefits to your business as well if you're trying to run a bit run an organization and suddenly you're recognized as a thought leader?
Nicky Billou:Well, I you know, that's a that's a great question, but I'm gonna push back on the notion of luck and thought leadership. There's no luck involved, brother. You gotta work your tail off to become a thought leader. And I believe very strongly that you make your own so called luck. Now as far as a business owner is concerned or a founder of a company, why would they care about being a thought leader?
Nicky Billou:Great question. Your business then will be seen as a business that's more than a just about the grubby little business of making money. You'll be seen as a business that's about creating a transformation in the world and in the lives of your clients. So again, I'm gonna give you a, an example. There's 2, 2 companies, both in the automotive business, Right?
Nicky Billou:One of them is GM. Do you know who the CEO of GM is? Mary Barra. The other one is Tesla. Do you know who the CEO of Tesla is?
Nicky Billou:Elon Musk. Now I don't know what kind of car you drive, but if I were to ask you the following question, and I said, which one of these two companies do you think is more interested in making a difference in the world than they are simply minting money. Tesla or GM?
Adam Larson:Tesla, I guess. Right?
Nicky Billou:Why? Why? Have you ever seen Elon Musk speak about cars, speak about the future of the planet, speak about the fact that there's gonna have to be a time where we're gonna run run out of fossil fuels? You probably have at some point or another. Right?
Nicky Billou:And you're gonna go to yourself. Okay. This guy, he's got a vision. Right? His vision isn't isn't just I wanna make as many cars as I can and sell them for as much money as I can.
Nicky Billou:And GM GM right now is jumping on the the bandwagon of making a certain kind of car, But the truth of the matter is that you don't really believe them when they say it because they're not putting their money where their mouth is. They they they they give lip service to an ideal, but what they're really doing is they're selling cars. There's nothing wrong with selling cars. I'm a fan of selling cars. I'm a capitalist.
Nicky Billou:I believe in that. But I think if you're a thought leader in a field and you're also a businessman or a businesswoman, thought leadership is gonna have the marketplace look at you as an authentic person. And the only way you can be a thought leader is if you're an authentic person. People are craving authenticity. They're tired of slick marketers.
Nicky Billou:So thought leadership is for those that are real, that are authentic, that wanna make a difference in the world that's beyond making money. And as I said, don't get me wrong, I am very much a fan of making money. Making money is amazing. And I want a lot of people to make a lot of money, but there's more to life than making money. And if making money is your sole goal, you're never gonna be a thought leader.
Nicky Billou:But if your goal is I'm gonna make a dent in the universe, I wanna make the world a better place, I'm gonna help people, I'm gonna help human beings, Man, you're gonna make a lot of money as a byproduct doing all that.
Adam Larson:Yeah. I think you've definitely gotten the point across for sure. And and the whole my whole point about luck, I think, is mean what I mean by that is being in the right place at the right time sometimes comes with being, you know, risen up as a thought leader with what you're working on. Yes. It takes a lot of hard work, and luck is a is isn't is not the right word to use there.
Adam Larson:But, you know, if somebody's looking to get started because, you know, you've you've given some really great examples. If I'm looking to develop as a thought leader, you know, as a business professional in, you know, in whatever industry, whether it's the accounting industry, which is, you know, the most of the audience for this podcast or another industry, you know, how do you start that? How do you get started with that?
Nicky Billou:It's a great question. I think you first need to be able to tell your story. So let me start by telling my story.
Adam Larson:Alright.
Nicky Billou:So I'm actually originally an immigrant from the Middle East. I'm a Christian from Iran. When I was 11 years old, still living in Iran, the Islamic revolution took place. And my mom and dad, they could see the writing on the wall. The world had changed.
Nicky Billou:Iran had changed. This wasn't gonna be a great place to raise a Christian family. So they got together and they talked, and they said, yep. We gotta hightail it out of here with the family, and they made a plan and they got us out. It took a few years, but they got us out of Iran.
Nicky Billou:And by the time I was 15, we settled where I now live in Toronto, Canada. Now when I was 11 from 11 to 15, I was not a fan of leaving my home or my friends. Right? But looking back in retrospect, it was the single greatest thing mom and dad could have done for me. It took me and my brothers from a legacy of tyranny to a legacy of freedom.
Nicky Billou:I believe inside every human heart beats the living heart of freedom. Everyone wants to march the tune of their own drummer. Everyone wants to chart their own course, and coming to the west really showed me the value of freedom. Now today in 2024, I say to you as a man, Adam, living in the west, living in the United States, that freedom is precious and it's under assault and under attack. And if you value the legacy that your forefathers and your founding fathers left for you, you need to wake up to that fact and you need to like take a bold, strong stand for things like free speech, not jailing your political opponents when you disagree with them, you know, and that sort of thing.
Nicky Billou:Like those things are important, right? And because of this, I have become a champion for those who value freedom. And I work with entrepreneurs, not all necessarily immigrants, but all who understand freedom, value it, believe in it, and wanna preserve it for themselves, for the next generation. So if someone is looking to be a client of mine, they're gonna go, yeah. Okay.
Nicky Billou:He knows about thought leadership. He knows about podcast guesting. He's a writer. He's good at sales. Okay.
Nicky Billou:Great. But what else what there's a lot of guys who have some aspect of that or all of it. What else makes Nicky Baloo special? Well, I'm a freedom lover. Go, yeah.
Nicky Billou:Okay. I I I resonate with that. Now the other thing that is cool about my story is my father. My father was an entrepreneur. He's the greatest man I knew.
Nicky Billou:When I was 8 years old, he told me, son, life isn't about money, son. It's about people. I go, okay, dad. And he said, son, business. Not about money.
Nicky Billou:It's about people. I'm like, I'm 8 years old. Dad, what are you talking about? Of course, business is about money. Without money, give me no business.
Nicky Billou:And he said, yes. Without people, there's no need for money. And dad said, remember that man in front of you? He's someone's brother, someone's father, someone's son, someone's husband. He's a hero to somebody.
Nicky Billou:He has hopes, dreams, and fears just like you. Maybe someone just like you burned him in business. It's your job to restore his faith in humanity. Every human being on the planet, he said to me, needs somebody they can believe in and who believes in them. Somebody who sees their greatness because all of us wobble.
Nicky Billou:All of us lose faith in ourselves. And he said, what's going to pick you up when you let's lose faith in yourself? It won't be you because you don't have faith in yourself. It's going to be somebody who sees you and believes in you and remind you who you really are. Somebody who's going to say, Adam Larson, I believe in you.
Nicky Billou:You are great. The world needs you. Someone's gonna keep pouring that into you until that wobble steadies itself. And that little spark that they give you turns into a roaring fire of belief, and then you're off into the races. My dad did this for everybody, and he taught me to be that guy.
Nicky Billou:I I I I'm asked all the time, Nikki, what's your greatest strength? What what is it that you're the most proud of? You know, you've written books, you've done podcasts, blah blah blah blah blah. And I I'm like, that's all great. But a lot of people have done those things.
Nicky Billou:What I'm most proud of is I'm Napoleon Bilyeu's son. When he passed away, he passed me the torch of believing in people. I believe in people. I believe in you, and that's what I'm all about. I am a professional believer in people.
Nicky Billou:I get paid a lot of money because I believe in people and I help them believe in themselves again. That's my story.
Adam Larson:I mean, that's a pretty strong story. You know, I agree wholeheartedly that we should treat, you know, each person that we meet with kindness not knowing you don't know what their story is. You don't know where they've been, and, you know, who cares what their political stance, their political leaning is. You know, just treat each person with the kindness that we've been treated with, and, you know, that goes a long way because you don't know you know, that person may have had a terrible morning, and your act of kindness could be the greatest thing could be the, you know, the thing that picks them up that day. And I think I I think all those things are are wonderful things, and, you know, basic human decency goes a long way in in especially in a business world where it seems like it's more important to the bottom line than actually treating people right.
Adam Larson:And so, you know, I think many leaders could, you know, could hear these hear these lessons and say, hey. You know, I gotta treat my people better because, you know, companies live and die by the people who are working under them. And if you're not treating them well, it's not gonna go well eventually.
Nicky Billou:Well said, man. Well said. And if you want to be a thought leader, you need to know your story, who you are, where you've come from. You need to be able to articulate it to people. Part of my thought leadership is people go, okay, so what's Nicky Billu all about?
Nicky Billou:And they go, okay, he's, he's an author. He's a podcaster. He's a freedom advocate, but man, that dude loves people and he believes in people. And I love that being a part of my thought leadership. I love when people say, man, I really love how much you love me and how much you believe in me.
Nicky Billou:That just that makes my life. I mean, not not my day, not my week. That makes my life.
Adam Larson:Yeah. I like that. So what what is what is to telling a good story? What is what are some aspects of telling a great story? Because, you know, if you're saying the the key of thought good thought leadership is being able to tell your story, what are some good, elements of that?
Nicky Billou:Well, it's gotta be real. I think, you know, I I don't want people to go construct something, right, because because that's that's not gonna that's not gonna feel good to you and people are gonna be able to pick up on it. It's gotta be real. There's got everybody has a story. Everybody has an aspect to their life that has made them who they are.
Nicky Billou:And we we we teach a course. It's a 3 day immersive workshop. We call it the, thought leader the branded thought leader immersion. Right? And over 3 days, we teach people how to go into their life, pull out the aspects of the meaningful, and weave it into a story.
Nicky Billou:You know? You you you've gotta go and genuinely look at what you've gone through. What are your adversities? What are your high points? And you gotta weave a narrative.
Nicky Billou:Like I I told you a story about me that relied heavily on my background as an immigrant, relied heavily on, my father and his example and how he taught me, and it relied heavily on me absorbing those lessons and bringing them into the work that I do. Right? There's a lot I left out in my life because if I tried to tell you everything about my life, we'd be here for 56 years. Right? That's not that's not what the point of this is.
Adam Larson:Yeah.
Nicky Billou:When I sit down with people inside of the work that we do with them, you know, there's a whole bunch of exercises we take them through to pull out the key elements of their life, and then we help them weave it into a narrative. Right? But it needs to make a point. Your life is about something. Adam, your life's about something.
Nicky Billou:Nikki Baloo, my life is about something. Right now, my life is about freedom. It's about taking a stand for freedom. It's about helping good people win, and it's about helping good people believe in themselves again. Because let's just say me and you, we're talking here at the end of this podcast, right, and we had a good time together and and and, you know, we say, hey, man, this was great.
Nicky Billou:Let's let's let's talk some more. I like you, you like me, let's talk some more. Let's say you confide in me and I'm making all this up here, that it's always been your dream to make $1,000,000 a year in business and you haven't done that yet, right? And I would listen to that and I'd just go, okay. This is a good man.
Nicky Billou:He cares about people. He deserves to make $1,000,000 a year. I'm like, okay. I'm gonna help him do that. Right?
Nicky Billou:Couple weeks ago, I I I was really proud to announce the 12th person in our community had made a $1,000,000 in a single year. That was awesome. So 12 people have done that. So I thought, man, that just warmed the cockles of my heart when I heard her say that. So I'd come and sit with you and I go, so, Adam, so tell me why is that important to you?
Nicky Billou:And you tell me why it's important to you. And I go, why do you think you haven't done it so far? That's where the rubber meets the road. Right? Because most people would wanna have just a soft conversation with you.
Nicky Billou:Right? Of course. They don't wanna offend you. They don't they don't wanna they don't want you they don't want your feelings to get hurt. I'm like, I'm offending your greatness if I don't go there.
Nicky Billou:I'm offending your higher self if I don't go there and and make you look at why you haven't hit something that's obviously very important to you. And I'm gonna dig until we are both clear why that is Until you're like, oh my god. Oh, okay. Yeah. This is it.
Nicky Billou:Because that's the leverage that I'll need to help you take the actions to get you to a million. Otherwise, you'll stay at a 100,000, 200,000, whatever the case may be. Right? And for me, inside the world of thought leadership, right, what I wanna do is help somebody see their greatness, and I want them to dream as big as they possibly can dream. Because I don't want weak, impotent goals driving you.
Nicky Billou:I want strong, powerful draw you know, vigorous goals driving you.
Adam Larson:Oh, you like that. And it it it reminds me of, you know, the the famous Simon Sinek book, the, you know, start with why, you know, trying to find your why. What what what's the reason for you doing what you're doing? You know? So once you've established your story, you've you've kind of gotten that out, is there a certain types of content that we should be looking to develop after we've kind of figured out that that that reason for doing?
Nicky Billou:Well, the answer is yes, and all types of content that you could put out there. Right? Go be a guest on podcasts, have your own podcast, write books, you know, do lives on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, wherever the case may be, and and put it out there. But you better make sure that you've done a good job of getting your narrative clear to yourself and how you can be helpful to other people. Because if you're not clear and you don't do a good job, then the brand you're going to create is of a confused idiot.
Nicky Billou:And you don't want a brand of a confused idiot. It's a bad brand. It's not a good look. You know, People are gonna watch your videos, and they're gonna go, who is this dude? He's an idiot.
Nicky Billou:He doesn't know what he's talking about. He sounds confused. He sounds like he doesn't know what he's talking about. Why the hell is he going on YouTube? Why is he on TikTok?
Nicky Billou:Why is he on Instagram? Shut up. So it's really important to get that nailed. And I can I tell you a story here? We had a we had a client.
Nicky Billou:Okay? And, actually, we're still working with this guy. His name is. We call him Matthew Myhouse. He's from Belgium.
Nicky Billou:And, man, he has that that type of consulting business. I'm being facetious here. You would kill for it. He's selling something that every everybody obviously wants. He's selling you how to create your own garden.
Nicky Billou:Obviously, everybody's gonna have that. Right? And, Mathieu would go and say, hey. Would you like a garden? Let's get a garden going for you.
Nicky Billou:And most people would listen and go, no. Why the hell would I want a garden? And when he came to us, there's a couple of things we helped him with. One of them was his messaging around gardening. And we said, dude, you're not selling gardening.
Nicky Billou:He says, I'm not, but I am, but I'm selling gardening. I said, no. You're not selling gardening. So then what am I selling? I said to him, you're selling good people a vision of their best life.
Nicky Billou:Well, what's what's that? He said, good people living their best life will be surrounded by beauty, by nature, by things that God created for all of us. But so many of us, especially in urban settings, lack beauty and nature. And I ask people, how do you feel day to day? Oh my God.
Nicky Billou:I'm stressed on this. Said, why is that? Well, there's there's a lot of stress in my life. There's not a lot that's great. That's wonderful.
Nicky Billou:That's beautiful. They go, okay. How's that making you feel? Well, you know, I'm I feel stressed, and I I you you know, I got an ulcer. I'm I'm I'm I can't eat.
Nicky Billou:I can't sleep. Blah blah blah. And then my shoe goes, would you like to solve that? Yeah. I'd love to solve it.
Nicky Billou:I'd love to solve it. Yeah. What's missing in your life is beauty. Beauty will make all that tension go, like, yeah. You're right.
Nicky Billou:Beauty. How do I find beauty? Well, there's beauty in nature. Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden. We need to create your own Garden of Eden.
Nicky Billou:We can do that? Yes. Okay. Sign me up. You know, that's so much more powerful than would you like a garden?
Nicky Billou:You need a garden. You might know what I'm saying. You need a garden. And, dude, so one of my programs, sales accountability program, we call it 90 k in 90 days. We help you make $90,000 in sales in 90 days extra.
Nicky Billou:Who couldn't use an extra 90 k in 90 days? It's fantastic, beautiful amount of money.
Adam Larson:Yeah.
Nicky Billou:And Matthew, my house made a €123,000, which is like $160,000 in sales in 84 days. Powerful messaging, strong belief, believer in people, put himself out there, and made the sales. Ain't that lovely?
Adam Larson:That's that's a beautiful story.
Nicky Billou:Thank you. I thought so. So
Adam Larson:one thing that, you know, makes me think of, you know, let's say, you know, somebody's gone through and they're they're put putting content out there. You know, they're being successful. How do you stay motivated to keep going? Because, obviously, at some point, like, there's gonna be highs and lows with any journey, with anything that you're working on, with any, especially, you know, a thought leader. You know, you can be that thought leader, but you have to keep producing things to stay relevant.
Adam Larson:Right?
Nicky Billou:If you're just doing it for yourself, you will get bored, and you won't wanna do it after a while. If you're doing it for a bigger purpose, then you won't get bored. Remember, life is a people game. It's not a numbers game. You're not here to see who accumulates the most dollars and toys, and that's how you win.
Nicky Billou:You're here to see how much of a meaningful difference you can make for your fellow man and how many human beings hearts and lives you've touched, And that's how you win. And I'll tell you another story. It's one of my best stories. January 2018, there was a woman who was introduced to me. I'm gonna call her Julie.
Nicky Billou:Julie was the country director for Canada from one of the world's oldest and largest professional and personal development firms. World famous organization, been around since the sixties. Julie was a rock star. She was very successful, but she decided that she needed help. So So she brought in a man who she thought was very talented to help her run the company.
Nicky Billou:Now, at first, they got along great, but after about a year, their visions of the future started to diverge. And, there's a board of directors involved and there was a showdown. It was Julie or it was him. And the board sided with him, and she was out of her own company, very publicly out of her own company. How can you be kicked out of a company you started?
Nicky Billou:With a board of directors? Easy. Steve Jobs, Apple, early eighties. John Sculley, gets brought in. Love fest at first.
Nicky Billou:Visions diverge showdown board sides with John Steve's out. Yeah. That's what happened to her. 18 months go by. She is lost.
Nicky Billou:And then someone introduces her to me and my team. And, Julie, I could see this was a good soul. So me and my lady, I work with my lovely better half, Teresa Dugwell, one of the greats. Teresa set 3 world records running 12 hours on a treadmill. She coached for Tony Robbins, 12,000 hours of coaching.
Nicky Billou:She is a rock star. Rock star coach. Rock star. She comes to me and we say, wow. This girl's been hurting.
Nicky Billou:She's good people. Let's pour into her. We pour belief into her. We pour love into her. She starts to believe in herself again.
Nicky Billou:In her 1st month, she does $10,000 in coaching sales. In her 2nd month, she does $12,000. In her 3rd month, she does $18,000 in coaching sales. In her 4th month, body, she does $62,200 in coaching sales.
Adam Larson:Wow.
Nicky Billou:At the time, that was the fastest leap to that level. People have broken it since, but, anyways, she lives in Ottawa. I live in Toronto. It's a 5 hour drive. And I, I have a son.
Nicky Billou:At the time, he played soccer. He's very good. He, won a bunch of championships, and honestly, he could still be good. But right now, he's 18 and not sure that he's gonna play wants to play right now. But there's a tourney in Ottawa, June 2018, 6 years ago.
Nicky Billou:I drive him to Ottawa. Team wins attorney, and I call her up. I say, hey. You got a son, my boy's age, 12 year old son. Wanna come watch the attorney with him?
Nicky Billou:Sure. She comes with a boy, watch attorney. We we get buy some lunch. We talk. We eat.
Nicky Billou:Drive home. A few weeks later, we had one of our quarterly branded thought leader immersion workshops. It's a very high end, high ticket program we offer. And, there's a point in the program where I do a, an enrollment upsell opportunity. The way I do it is I call on the people in my community to share their stories.
Nicky Billou:That's how I do it. So, I did that. Who'd like to share? Julie didn't wait to be called on. She left onto the stage and I'm like, oh, okay.
Nicky Billou:Go on over. And I stand I receive in the background. I stand behind her. And for a few seconds, she's not talking, but I see her shoulder start to go like this. And then I hear her sob.
Nicky Billou:I'm like, oh, why is she crying? Like any man presented with a crying female, the first thought that goes through my head is what did I do to make her cry? Of course, nothing. My lady comes up with a box of tissues. She gratefully grabs a couple, blows her nose loudly, and in between sobs, pulls me close to her and says, Nikki, you didn't know this, but when you and your little son came to visit me and my little son in Ottawa, on our way over to see you guys, my little son said, mommy, mommy, who are we gonna go meet?
Nicky Billou:12 year old boy full of piss and vinegar excited. And she goes, oh, sweetheart. We're gonna go see Nicky Baloo and his son. He's just trying to, like, you know, get him to be quiet, really. It worked.
Nicky Billou:All of a sudden, he got really quiet, and he said, oh, mommy. Are we gonna meet the man who saved our family? And I looked at her, bro. You gotta get I'm from the Middle East. We are not soft people.
Nicky Billou:We don't cry in in public. We are not snowflakes. I cried like a little girl. I mean, cried like a torrent, and then we hugged, and everybody goes, aw. And then she says to me between sobs and tears and hugs, you didn't know this, but when I first came to see you, I was broke.
Nicky Billou:I hadn't made any money in 18 months. The bank hadn't been paid their mortgage in several months. They were about to foreclose on our home. My husband and I were fighting every day like cats and dogs in front of our 3 sons, and they were scared that we were gonna break up. I was scared we were gonna break up, but you helped us turn it around financially.
Nicky Billou:We paid off the arrears on the mortgage. We stopped fighting about money and saved our family. So I just speechless. I hug her. And normally, I call on 2 or 3 people to share stories.
Nicky Billou:I decided discretion was the better part of Valor, and there was gonna be nobody else called that day. Okay? No one's gonna be able to top this, man. I mean, I just Yeah. And I tell you the story because it made me realize on the days that I'm like, I don't feel like doing this.
Nicky Billou:I wanna go to bed. I wanna I wanna go lie in the sun. I wanna watch some Netflix marathons. Makes me realize why I won't do any of those things, and I'll keep working because there's someone like Julie out there who's about to lose everything that really matters. And all she needs is somebody to believe in her long enough and hard enough for that not to happen.
Nicky Billou:And if that can be me, that'll put a smile on my face and a glow in my heart.
Adam Larson:Well, Nicki, I I just truly appreciate you sharing your heart, sharing your vision on thought leadership, and your experience and your stories with our audience. It's just been inspiring to me, and I hope it's been inspiring to our audience as well. I encourage everybody to, you know, connect with Nikki through the links in the in the podcast show notes. And, again, thank you so much for coming on.
Nicky Billou:Adam, it was a it was an honor and a privilege. You're a great host. You ask questions well, and, you elicit the best out of your guests. Thank you.
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