You are an ENTREPRENEUR. BELIEVE in YOURSELF and Take ACTION with Herby Fabius

Photo credit: Carl Henry Provost

Herby Fabius is an entrepreneur and self-published author with a passion to share entrepreneurial stories that others can learn from. He believes every entrepreneur has a unique start-up story, and it is his mission to capture those stories to help the next generation of entrepreneurs and self-published authors.

With his flagship interview platform Billion Success, he aims to do just that.

Can you tell our readers about your background?

I was born in Haiti, then I moved here (Connecticut) when I was 14 years old. I graduated from college with a bachelor’s in business management. Over the last 8 years, I started two companies and maintained two side projects. The first company I co-founded was a tech startup out of New Haven CT called Triplefy. Then a couple of years later, I founded the entrepreneurship interview platform Billion Success – which currently is the only business I am working on.

 Aside from the businesses I had created, I also self-published three business books. One of which was an Amazon Best Seller. Occasionally, I teach local clients how to build their own websites using WordPress and also teach new authors how to self-publish their first book using Amazon KDP (Kindle Publishing).

I am a long-life learner and I love every part of the entrepreneurship journey.

What inspired you to start your business?

After college, I wanted to take some time off to start a tech company before I jump into the corporate lifestyle. So, instead of getting a regular 9-5 corporate job, I decided it would be best to find a job that was less demanding of my time, a job that would allow me to work on my business every single day, not just on the weekends. So, I started working as a night-shift security guard. I figured the corporate 9-5 was not going anywhere, I can get one whenever I needed it.

Working as a night shift security, I was able to learn everything that I needed to learn to start an online business. While working at night, I had access to computers, so I spend most of the night learning online marketing, writing, reading, and most importantly connecting with like-minded online entrepreneurs. It was how I discovered a local tech event in New Haven, CT where I connected with a tech founder and cofounded my first business.

I eventually got the corporate job a couple of years later and worked professionally for many years. Throughout that time, I still kept all my side projects running part-time. I have been on this entrepreneurial journey for a while now and I am happy to have found my true passion business Billion Success. 

Where is your business based?

I am located in Stratford Connecticut. 

How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took? 

Step 1 - I started a blog, I started writing and connecting with people who can help me grow it. This is how I ended up interviewing entrepreneurs. It was the best way I can learn fast and connect with influential people who can potentially help me in the future. I was learning as I go. I figured I could just pivot if I ever needed to go in a different direction. The most important thing to me at that time was to get started. Starting a blog was the easiest thing I can do with the little knowledge and resources I had. I was able to build my presence online, build my social media channels, especially Twitter. I spent a lot of time on Twitter back then.

Step 2 – I learned how to build websites using WordPress. This was a crucial step for me. I had to know how to create and manage my own website if I was ever going to build and grow an online business successfully. I learned so much from this experience that I turned my knowledge into a side hustle building website for local clients. This was one of the side-projects I mentioned earlier. 

What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?

The best and most effective way that I have been able to raise awareness about my business is by using HARO (Help a Reporter Out) Also, using social media preferably LinkedIn and Instagram those have been the most resourceful tools in terms of raising awareness and marketing for my business.

What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?  

My biggest challenge has always been Fear. The fear of others judging my work. The fear of being labeled as an imposter. As an entrepreneur, you will sometimes doubt yourself and your work. 

I mean, even the great Maya Angelou said this. 

“I have written eleven books, but each time I think, ‘Uh oh, they are going to find out now. I’ve run a game on everybody and they’re going to find me out.”

The importer syndrome is a real thing, and we all go through it. 

The way I overcome FEAR is simply by reminding myself that even the most successful people in the world go through it. There are two Things I remind myself daily: 1. Action minimize FEAR. 2. The longer you wait to act, the stronger fear becomes. 

You can overcome FEAR by taking quick action. 

How do you stay focused?

I turn off all distractions, then I turn on motivational speeches from people like Gary Vee, Les Brown, and Zig Ziglar. Listening to motivational talks while I work keeps me in the zone. The other thing that helps me to stay focus is by having a to-do list (Usually created the night before) of all the things that need to be done. That way, when I wake up in the morning, I already have a list of tasks to do. 

In the morning, I put my motivational video on and start checking things off my list. I love this process because, at the end of the day, I can clearly see how my day went. I focus on the most important things first. Those are usually the things I hate to do. I get them out of the way first.

How do you differentiate your business from the competition?

I don’t pay much attention to competitors for a couple of reasons.

1-     I believe there is enough for everyone, so I don’t worry much about what the next person is doing.

2-     Even if my competitors and I were doing the same exact thing, selling the same exact product, offer the same exact services, we can still coexist for the simple fact that people/clients/customers will only do business with who they like. They choose who they trust to do business with. It is not so much about competitors. As long as you build trust with your customers/clients the competitors won’t be much of an issue for you. 

Lastly, we may have the same ideas, but our vision and execution will be different - and to me, that is the differentiator.

What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?

Contributing to blogs, magazines have been working great. Being a featured guest on podcasts has been working great as well. Right now, I am focusing a lot more on SEO and building backlinks to the site. This has been key to growing organic traffic. Also, lately, LinkedIn has been one of the best marketing tools for me.

What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?

You are an ENTREPRENEUR. BELIEVE in YOURSELF and Take ACTION.

You have already read the books, you have listened to the podcasts, you have read all the blog posts and you’ve watched all the YouTube videos.

But none of it matters if you don’t BELIEVE in YOURSELF and if you don’t take ACTION. 

What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why? 

App: Currently my favorite App is FB business Suite. With this app, I am able to create and schedule FB and Instagram posts on the go for free.

Blog: A new blog I just discovered is the Think like a CFO Podcast by Melissa Houston. She discusses how to manage money in your business. For someone like me who has made terrible financial decisions in the past, her show really taught me a few things.

Book: It hard to only choose one, but I’ll go with The One Thing - by Gary Keller. With so many distractions in the world today, it’s hard to stay focus on the task at hand. If you don’t have a productivity hack, you’ll end up wasting most of your time.

I apply the lessons shared in this book every day by asking a simple question. 

What is the one thing I must do today to be closer to my goal?

Whatever the answer is, I always make sure to complete my one thing daily no matter what optical comes my way.

It is pretty useful.

What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?

Currently, one of my favorite tools is slack. I hired a couple of VA (virtual assistants) who are helping me with the site and Slack is the tool we used to manage tasks and communicate. It has been working great. I also use Trello but only for my own personal use. 

Who is your business role model? Why?

I like Gary Vee. I think he tells it like it is. He is good at motivating people to stop being afraid and take action. Fear is what stops most people from being great. I think someone like Gary understands that, and he seems to really try his best to help others break away from it. 

How do you balance work and life?

These days work-life balance is much easier than it used to be. I work from home, and my kids are also doing online schooling, so they are also at home. I can work and spend time with them throughout the day.

To balance everything, I rely on schedules. I have created schedules of what needs to be done and what time it needs to be done. I have schedules for work, schedules for playtime, schedules for chores and fun day, movie night, and video game day, etc. My wife and I do our best to keep everything organized to keep everything on schedule.

It doesn't always work. But that's life.

What’s your favorite way to decompress?

I have a three-year-old and a 12year old son playing with them is always rewarding. It is one of my go-to activities to decompress and take my mind off work. I also love watching movies and TV shows. Another favorite of course is watching NBA highlights on YouTube.

What do you have planned for the next six months?

For the next 6 months, I will be focusing mostly on creating highly demanded online courses for the Billion Success community. I have a list of demand, pain points, and problems that need solving so my team and I will be focusing on creating the best solutions to those problems.  

My goal from the beginning was to find the best most applicable way to help new entrepreneurs and new self-publish authors to start and grow their brand - we are delivering on that promise. 

How can our readers connect with you?

You can reach me best by visiting my personal website HerbyFabius.com, or my business website BillionSuccess.com, on social media via LinkedIn, Instagram or you can email me directly at herby@billionsuccess.com