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Herby Fabius: A Man With Energy To Build A Future That Is Pure Gold
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Welcome to the Join Up Dots business coaching podcast interview with Herby Fabius
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Introducing Herby Fabius
Todays guest joining us on the Join Up Dots business coaching interview, is Herby Fabius.
A man who over the last few years, after leaving college has taken a huge amount of action.
He knew he wanted to have his own business, he knew that he didn't want to work the nine to five, but other than that dream, he had no idea at all.
So setting himself a deadline of five years to start and run his own business, Herby set off on a path that he could never have dreamt at the beginning.
How The Dots Have Joined Up For Herby
Flexing his hustle muscle he has done many things, in a time frame that seems almost too audacious.
Managing to keep working a regular gig at nights, he has started the Billion success blog and podcast, who goal is help all of us create our own successful start-ups by sharing inspiring stories of success and I suppose failures too.
He is the Co-Founder of Triplefy an online service that allows businesses to sell their own "deals" (similar to Groupon) without the substantial cost and potential inconvenience having to go through a third-party company.
And if that is not enough, he still works the for a security company, and has the time restraints that a father, and husband has day to day.
So how has he done all this, and remained sane and youthful looking?
Well let's bring onto the show to start joining up dots, as we discuss the words of Steve Jobs with the one and only Herby Fabius.
During the show we discussed such weighty topics such as:
How he can get by with just four hours sleep per night and still function to a high level!
How nothing is secure anymore not least a job, so we should look to create our own incomes!
The greatest way to success is to focus on a single task 100%
How we shouldn't compare our success to other peoples!
And lastly…..
Give back to the world as much as you can and ultimately you will be rewarded more than you can possibly dream off!
How To Connect With Herby Fabius
Return To The Top Of Herby Fabius
If you were inspired by the conversation with Herby, then why not check out other motivational and fun conversations with Jessica Cox, Tayo Rockson and Jason Freeman to name just three.
Every other episode to enjoy and consume can be found at Join Up Dots Podcast Archives
Audio Transcription Of Herby Fabius Interview
Intro [0:00]
When we're young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here's your host live from the back of his garden in the UK, David Ralph.
David Ralph [0:25]
Hello, everybody. How are we? How are we out there? Welcome to Episode 46 of Join Up Dots. This episode really I suppose, emphasises everything but I wanted the show to be about this. The guest today is really a creator of his own future. He is trying things he's he's moving things around. He's shaking zigging and zagging with the best of them. And I don't want every show to be absolute a listers. But all the listeners out there thinking I'm never going to be like that. One what I want to get contrast. And I think today's guest after we discuss it your say, yes, this is something I can do. I can make my own future, I can get off my backside and hustle. And today's guest is really a man who over the last few years after leaving college has hustled and taken a huge amount of action. He knew he wanted to have his own business. He knew that he didn't want to work a nine to five. But other than that dream, he had no idea at all. So setting himself a deadline of five years to start and run his own business, he set off on a path that he could never have dreamt of at the beginning, flexing his hustle muscle, he's done many things in a time frame that seems almost too audacious, managing to keep working a regular gig at nights, it started the billion success blog and podcast whose goal is to help all of us create our own successful startups by sharing inspiring storeys of success. And I suppose five years to he's the co founder of triple phi, an online service that allows businesses to sell their own deals similar to Groupon, without the substantial cost and potential inconvenience of having to go through a third party company. And if that is not enough, he still works for a security company and has the time restraints but a father and husband has day to day. So how is he done all this and remain sane and youthful looking to? Well? Let's find out as we induce introduce you to the one and only Herby Fabius, how are you today? Herby?
Herby Fabius [2:26]
I'm doing great. David, thank you for having me.
You are a hustle monster, aren't you?
Well, I try, you know, I try. I mean, it's not easy. But it's definitely something that I've, you know, I've always wanted to do, I, you know, I've always tried to do better and, you know, have people to support in my life and, you know, kind of keeps me on the goal. You know, it's, it's, it's, you know, you got to have some sort of goal was something to look forward to. And that's, that's what I try to do. But you're
not just on the go when I was doing when the introduction and I do a certain amount of stalking, before you come on the show so that I can find things out about you. And I was looking at this, I'm thinking why Okay, he works. gig, he does space he does. He's a father, he's he's got all those restraints. When do you sleep?
That's a good question. I very little sleep very little sleep, you know, I work at night. And I chose to work at night only because I need to have my days open, you know, you know, my weekdays Monday to Friday, because that's when you know, I really get to work on my business and what I'm trying to accomplish. So working at night works for me. And for in terms of sleeping, I, you know, I get it when I get it, you know, four hours a day or five, it all depends on the day, or, you know, what my schedule is like, so, I do get some sleep, you know, enough to keep me going.
I couldn't function on four hours, I really couldn't be the most miserable person.
Well, I've been doing it for some time now. I guess I kind of got used to it. You can, you can never really get used to not sleeping. But you know, I guess I've you know, have a, you know, goals and things that I'm trying to keep up and, you know, I've, you know, I've been doing it for a while. And and I don't see that change anytime soon. You know, unless, you know, I you know, start to see some real changes, you know, in terms of my business and some real success. And, and I have no absolutely no problem with it. Quite honestly, it's, it's perfectly. It seems normal to me, I guess which it's crazy.
It is crazy, especially when you got a five year old as well, who obviously doesn't reflect that their dad has gone to bed?
Yeah, yeah, it's, it's kind of tough sometimes to kind of, you know, leave the house at night, you know, when, when he's here. And, you know, and sometimes they'll, you know, say, Dad, you gotta stay and stuff like that, but you know it in, in, in the long term, it kind of works out because not only that, I have my days to work on my business when he's at school, and you know, my wife's at work and stuff like that. But when he comes back from school, I still have the rest of the day to take him to the park and, and hang out with them and do everything else that I need to do. So it definitely works out. It works for business, and it works for family time as well.
Well credit to you on that because I haven't got my balance right at all. And I, I mentioned this in a lot of shows, I quit my job, my nine to five job, thinking that I was going to have more time with the family and have more quality time. And at the moment is totally the opposite way. And my my daughter, my youngest daughter, who's just before we started interviewing here, I rushed off, and then managed to put her to bed. And it's the first time I've done it this week, and then flew back set up started talking to yourself. And I find it a real problem at the moment of managing to do everything I want to do but also balancing around a time frames at my family have it the dinner time, the bedtime, the bath time and all those kind of things.
Yeah, yeah, we actually have a pretty cool, you know, schedule workout where not only that, uh, you know, we get to, you know, have our family time to hang out and go to the park. You know, I'm you know, I love sports, I used to play basketball in high school. So, you know, in my son, he is getting into basketball and sports now. I mean, he's five now. And, and that actually works out for us very well. So, I have, I don't see any issues with it. And I think it's not just me and you know, anybody who has a family and people to in their life that you know, you got to have some sort of a, so you got to have something kind of some something work out where it all fits, right? You know, because family time is really the most important time. I mean, we all talk about business all the time and, and whatnot, but families where it's really at,
do you manage to switch off when you are with your family? Or when when you're sitting with your son and you're watching the Muppet Movie or something? are you focusing in on Kermit? And the words of wisdom that Kermit is telling you? Are you thinking about your business?
it on and off? That's kind of a tricky question. But, um, yeah, um, you know, there are times where, you know, I'm, you know, I'm still, you know, have my phone, and I'm still checking to see, you know, check my emails and see what's going on, you know, in social media world, and, you know, wanting to people and tweets and stuff like that. But, you know, I try not to make a habit of it. Because, like I said, you know, right now, as we talk right now, my son is in school, and my wife's at work. And this, you know, this gives me the perfect time to, to, you know, to talk to you and have this interview, and also work on my business, and, by the time they come in, I should be done for the day, by the time they come in, and, you know, they should be here by I don't know, maybe about five o'clock or four, you know, 430 or so. And by that time, it's family time, and I you know, we get to go to the park and, and, you know, we get to go eat out and do all the things that we need to do, and still have some time left over to come home and watch TV and, and enjoy my time.
So taking you back in time to the young Herbie in the introduction over saying you always knew that you wanted to have your own business and you didn't want to work. Typically nine to five, I was bad influences in your life, I parents or brothers and sisters, that made you feel that way? Or was it just something that you inherently knew that you didn't want to do?
It's, it's something within me, I can't really say that my parents weren't, you know, they're not entrepreneurs, they've never had any, you know, businesses or anything like that, I guess it's within me. It's, it's one of those feelings, you know, I just couldn't see myself through the whole nine to five thing, even though I am still doing that right now. And I know, it's, it's, you know, it's short term. I just don't see it, you know, and especially these days, you know, nothing is secure anymore, you know, you could have, you could have your job, you know, you could have had your job for 10 years, 15 years, and nothing's guaranteed, you know, and especially the way the market is going now. So I think the best way to go about this is to kind of take control of your own future, I guess, in a way, right. And not letting you know, people take decisions on your life. And that's what it's really about. For me, it's really about you know, if I want to go on vacation, if I want to go out, you know, take my family somewhere for a couple weeks, I don't want to have to ask somebody else for permission to do that. Yeah. So that's, that's really what it's, it's about, for me, it's about having the freedom really, I mean, you know, making money is great. But if you have the freedom to do what you need to do in your life to be happy in that's, that's all you can ask for.
David Ralph [10:38]
No, I agree with that. Totally, I was having a word with my son who's 12 at the moment. And I was saying to him, you know, Dan, you know, go to school, learn everything, you can get your grades, but don't think that you need to get a job at the end, you know, I would like to think that my son could go through and learn to create his own income, because that is really nowadays that that is the job security, isn't it?
Herby Fabius [11:02]
It really is, it really is, these days, I mean, I, you know, I had a before, before college before all these things here, you know, before I went to college, and I got my associate degree in business, right. And after that, I got myself a job working at a of this mortgage broker company, and I was making really good money, it was, you know, and I left the job. And, you know, I was travelling all over, you know, all over the place. And, you know, I was happy and, and, you know, I started, you know, buying things that I couldn't afford, you know, made a few mistakes there. But I'm, in the end, should I know, any better, I would have stopped, you know, my business right there and dead. Because, you know, I didn't, because I felt, I felt that I was safe. You know, I was safe, you know, it was a good job. And, and I was happy. And you know, little did I know, you know, I got laid off when the market crashed in 2008. And I wasn't able to find a job after that. And it was very hard. And so I made the decision to go back to school to get my bachelor's, thinking that that's going to solve my problems, and it really didn't. And so, I'm having your own business. To me, it's very important. Whether whether you think that, you know, these days, you know, a college degree doesn't even, you know, I can't really help you anymore. And I'm real, we're honest about this. The system, it's, I don't know, it's the way it's working. Now. It's not, it doesn't fit.
Well, I agree with that. And if you listen to Episode 18, I believe it was a gentleman called Kenny Felder, and He is a professor, or he's a teacher down in Virginia. And he gets up every day, and he does his job. And he teaches people. And he was saying to me, you know, the education system is somehow flawed. And he doesn't know the solutions. But all he knows at the moment is that they're pushing the kids through on a conveyor belt to come out on the other end with education, qualifications, but no, necessarily kind of a path to follow. And I used to work up in the City of London, and we used to get management programme. So if somebody had a degree, they instantly went on a management programme, and they will, they came in on a higher level, which is kind of fair enough. But we used to have people that had a degree in agriculture, or farming and things like that. And they were suddenly bank managers, and I could never understand. And I still can't understand actually the amount of kids that I speak to, and I say, you know, you're going to university, yes, what you studying, I'm studying Roman history or something. And you think, Why, what what, how many Romans do you come in contact with? And how is that possibly going to help you now somebody is probably going to email me and go, Well, actually, because I've got my degree in Roman history. I'm now I create via docs, and I developing, but I can't really see how a qualification in many areas actually does help you.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, sometimes we go to school, just for the sake of going to school. You know, I mean, even for me, when I, when I, you know, started going to college, I know that I wanted to have a business. It's one of the reasons why, you know, I mean, I majored in business, but quite honestly, you know, I can't say, you know, I've learned, you know, I learned in school, but I can't say what I'm doing now, with my business, I see no Relations at all, with with what I've learned in college. And not to say that it didn't help me, I think it did help me. But, um, I think I could have done what I'm doing now, I think I could have, you know, done it still without going to college. And so,
having said that, I think
education is really teaching us how to work for other people, not not so much for yourself. So it's, if you're, if you're looking to, you know, do something better, you know, and have control of your life. And I think even if it's part time, I think everybody should just go ahead and find a way to, to create something and have something on the side, and not just, you know, put all your effort, you know, you know, trying to work for somebody else you can you can create that yourself as well.
What What is your business? What is your your dream business that you're creating, at the moment just to get the listeners and understanding of what your, where your time is focused?
Yeah, I'm right now I have a couple of projects that I work on. Obviously, I have the billion success website, which is, which was the first thing that I ever created. That was me not knowing, you know, anything online, and what to do and how to do it. And, you know, I did what everybody else did, I went online, and I started researching and, and, you know, I started billion success. And I started doing these interviews, you know, text interviews, and, you know, because of that the response that I was getting, and the people that I was able to get on the website, to agree to do these interviews was amazing to me. I mean, these people wouldn't, you know, I had, I had no idea that they would even say yes to, and right on the know, I've been there. Yeah. And so it was amazing man. And, you know, once I put the interviews, and they're sharing it, and it's going all over the place, and I'm like, Oh, my god, there's something here. And I just fell in love with with talking to people on the site and doing these interviews. But I knew that wasn't the main business that I wanted to focus on, you know, I always wanted to have my own, you know, start up, you know, a, you know, software company, you know, so I, you know, I, I started going out to events, to, you know, startup events here in Connecticut, my local area. And, and I went to this one event, it's called Startup Weekend here in Stanford, Connecticut. And that pretty much opened up my eyes in a whole different new way. And, and it's where I actually met my partner. Now, you know, Mike Morris, who is a programmer, he, you know, he owns a couple of different businesses. And at the time he was looking for, for a partner for this service that he had, he, you know, he was working on. And, you know, it's called triple fi. And, you know, I immediately connected with them. And, you know, we started the company, and we were in beta for a while. And we put, we put the service out there, and we will get some real response, we're getting some real response, we had some, some, some, you know, a lot of good customers, it was good for about a year and a half. And I, sadly to say, we've decided not too long ago to discontinue the service. And we actually stopping triple phi as of June 15. Well, I've always, you know, there's a few reasons, there's a few reasons why my partner he owns, like I said before, he owns a couple of different other businesses. And he is the the, the main guy, he's the software, you know, he's the, he writes all the coding and creates, you know, the platform himself, and his other businesses actually the main as his main focus, okay, so because of that triple phi suffered, not not just for him, but for me as well. And, and what that happens, when that happens is you lose focus, right, and you can't do too many things at once. And as much as we would like to, you can't focus on so many, you can only focus on so many things. Right. And, you know, I have 2 billion success thing that I think that I'm in I'm really passionate about. And we tend to do things that we like doing right? And, right. So because of that triple five suffers, and it and if triple five suffering, and the customers are not happy, and when that happens, you know, you're it becomes a full circle, you know, you're you're working hard to try to get people to sign up for the service. But at the same time, if you're not 100%, you know, in it, then you start losing customers, and it it, you would just couldn't figure out a way to keep the service running. We're still discussing the best way to go about it now. But we've, you know, like I said, we've decided to stop the service. And it kind of kills me because you know, even right now, you know, I get emails from from users and people saying, Oh, I can't believe you guys are stopping the service. You know, they, you know, that they actually liked it. But yeah, but you know, it's one of those things, that's that's the way it is, you know, you try some things and you do different things, some work, and some don't.
Could you not find somebody to take over from Mike? Could you not carry on with triple five?
Um, I, we were still, like, we're still discussing the best way to, to go about this. You know.
And we can?
David, that's a good question. And believe me, we've, you know, I've thought about it, and he's mentioned it. And, like I said, the decision is not final in terms of how to go about triple five. But we're still working that out.
Because the words you said, it's kidding me. And that that struck home to me that this is something that sounds like one of your first successes, one of your, you know, your babies and your babies now walking around, and it's starting to sort of bite its own corner. And you're you're letting it sort of drift away that That must hurt.
Yeah, it does. It does, man because we, you know, we've put in a lot of work into triple five. And, you know, and like I said, we just cannot find the right, you know, the right match. And, you know, I guess the partnership, you know, kind of suffers, as well. And anytime you you know, anytime you have a problems, that the partnership is not where it's supposed to be in. And in the focus, it's really all about the focus, you know, and he's in which, you know, which I understand, because the other business that he has, is actually making some real money. That's his real, that's his main focus is real business. And we just haven't been able to kind of find the right solution for triple fi.
A few years ago, I started a very small online company. And it was a betting system. And I started it with my my colleague, and I'm not a gambler in any shape, or form, I'm the classic, I would rather not lose wallet, got then gain something. And he came up with this, this little system. And he was telling me down the pub one day, and I was having a drink. And he was saying, Do you realise if you did this, and you did this, and you did this, you would pretty much guarantee that you're going to win on on a bet. And I said to him, right. You know, that's what everyone says, you know, you're always going to lose, ultimately. And he said, No, honestly, if you do this, you do this you do is you will, you know, probably 85% of the time you will win this, the bet you put down. And so I said, Look, I'm not putting any money down on this, but I will just put a Paper Chase for you know, three months or whatever. See, you know, how it comes out? Anyhow, we we plotted it, and he was right. He really was right. And I'm not going to tell people, you know, on here what it was all about, because that's that's not his place. But he was absolutely right. So we created this online membership. And people would sign up on a monthly basis. And every day, we would send them these these tips out. And it was very, very successful. And we were getting emails, and people were saying, you know, I'm making more money on this, and I was absolutely at work, you know, it's doubled my salary, this is amazing, this is fantastic, and all that kind of stuff. But I had a problem, but deep down, knew that gambling, you could lose, you know, and although we were winning most of the time, in my head, I was thinking it could be possible that you're going to lose all of them, you know, and I couldn't sleep at night thinking, My God, people are putting their money in here putting their faith in us putting their trust, and ultimately, you know, they could lose, and the business suffered due to our differing perspectives on it. He was just, you know, they're getting what they want, they want the tips, obviously, there's a chance of losing but arms going now actually, you know, visit people's livelihoods. And no one really Gamble's if a if they've got the money, they only gamble because they haven't got the money. And so we actually had to sacrifice the company. And it all got a bit sort of nasty actually. And even to this day, our friendship has never been the same. So in your situation, with a business that has been flourishing, and a relationship that obviously has has been prospered. And Ben dip down. What have you learned from that? Because I know what I learned, but what what have you learned about working with somebody else because it now sounds Herbie, but most of the things that you're going to go into, you're going to go in on your own, is that right?
No, not not necessarily. What I've learned from this whole thing, I think, you can't, I don't believe in having a business, you can't run a business by yourself. No, you know, no matter how much you would want to use it, you simply can't. Because there are certain things, you know, you can't, you can only do so much. And you know, you only good at certainly know the stuff that you like doing. And you know, whether whether it's outsourcing some of the work, or you know, create a team of people, you know, the right people around you to kind of work on your projects is the way to go. And, and my thing is right now, my partner, Mike is us. He's an awesome guy. I mean, he, I mean, to even take me on, you know, as a partner to kind of work on the business is, you know, I'm, you know, it's amazing. And what I've learned from all this, though, probably going in the future, is, if if I choose to partner up with anybody else, they'll have to be somebody who's, you know, somebody who I can get their, their hundred percent focused in the project, meaning somebody who doesn't have any prior engagement, or any other businesses or any other projects that they're working on. So we have to be that project. 100%. So I think that's what I've learned, you know, if, if I if I were to start up something right now, and, and if me and you were to partner up on something, right now, you would have to kind of give me the your full focus, you know, I can't, I don't want you to focus in on, you know, Join Up Dots and everything else that you got going on that's focused on this, for the time being, you know, 100% and go for it, you know, full force. So that that's
hard, though, isn't it? That's hard deadline, somebody because I would have thought, finding somebody that has got things on their plate means that they've also got the experience. And if you come into somebody that's got a clean plate, then it's unlikely that
you're not necessarily a clean plate, just just, you know, we could have all the experience that you that you need or have in the past. But I mean, for the time being right now, if we're working on this, then let's work on this right now, let's not focus on all the craziness on on, you know, the noise out there. And I think that's what I would kind of go for. But I guess it all depends on what kind of business tool right I mean, if you know, there are things that you can do part time and still may, you know, have a lot of success. And there are things when you when you talk about a software company, something that cost it means needs updating, and you got bugs, and you got all kinds of crazy things happen. And you kind of need to have a, you know, a good team in place. So when those things do happen, then you can respond to them quickly. Because the truth is, the competition is always there, you know, you're not the only one out there. So anytime you slip up, you lose customers, you lose users, and, and you just don't want to have that because it's very hard to get people to start using your service. And so when you do get them you want to you want to do as much as you can to keep them.
So you have said two or three times here, you enjoy doing the billion success blog, that's, that's your passion. That's the thing that really lights you up inside. Why Why is it particularly that? And you've mentioned it two or three times?
Unknown Speaker [28:53]
Yeah, I
there's a couple of reasons. But the main reasons I would say is, pretty much you're just connecting with people just talking with people talking with people like yourself, you know, the opportunities that it creates for me. I mean, before the blog, I, you know, I was I had no, you know, I'm I'm a very shy person, it was very hard for me to, to come out, and, you know, put something out there. And when I did, and, you know, the response was, was so great. And I was so happy. And I think I still have that feeling. Till today. Whenever I get a guess, for an interview, like if I reach out to anybody are, and I get a yes. Or, you know, if I emailed somebody who, you know, who I admire, you know, someone that I like, and, and for them to respond to my email for me is like a win, you know, I'm happy. And that still, you know, true today. And it's something and billion success is, you know, it kind of keeps me up, you know, like, I wake up every morning, just to go to my inbox and see who responded to my email that I sent last week, you know, yeah. So, so yeah, it's one of those things, and I think it's, for me doing this now, it's not even it doesn't even feel like work or anything like that. Because, you know, I like doing it. And, and, and I think because of that there's no way that it's not going to work out because I would do it for free.
So how did you overcome that fear? As you say, you're you're shy individual, and you're creating the billion success blog, where you're reaching out to people, and that's going against your, your core self as opposed. So how did you actually change? How did you mentally steel yourself to be able to do that?
Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's hard. It's hard, you know, but the more the more the more that I do it, the easier it gets, the more that I do it, the easier you get. You know, in the beginning, it was very hard for me to even send out, you know, I mean, I use Twitter a lot. Now. I mean, it was very hard for me to even send out a tweet, you know, I have to check it and make sure everything spelled right. You know what I mean? I would, I would tweet something and see there's a typo. And I would go and delete it. I mean, it's crazy. You know, but I'm, like I said, the more I do it, now, the easier it gets, you never really get over it. And you know, and part of that is because, you know, you like doing it so much. So you hate to you know, make mistakes, and and you want to be perfect. And those and quite honestly, there's no such thing as perfect. So and and, you know, and I just really learned a lot from the people that I've talked to the people that I've met, and seeing learning from their mistakes, right. I mean, you've talked about I think I've listened to winning interviews, and you talked about happy, I know, well
10 times, going 10 at least
we are we are we are I it wasn't too long ago that I discovered your show. So. But yeah, you know, I think you talked about Johnny Dumas and, you know, in his podcast, which is awesome. And his show is one of the first show that I ever checked out. I mean, I didn't really know much about podcast before before him. So I'm just listening to his show and listening to everybody else talk about their failures and what they did wrong. And, and, you know, sometimes you think of those people, you know, those we know, to successful people, that they never make mistakes, that everything they touch turns into gold, and it's really not the case. So learning other people's storeys has been one of the key factor for me to kind of get over the fear of not the one things and, and the fear of getting it wrong, you know, it's okay to get it wrong. And that, that has been one of the big, you know, factor for me to kind of get over myself, just to, you know, even though, you know, I may not know where this is going to be in five or 10 years, or even though I may, you know, make some mistakes here and there. And, you know, note, you know, I know that it's going to be okay, in the long run.
Well, at that point, let's bring Steve Jobs in, because I think you've led us beautifully into the theme of the show. And so this is a Steve Jobs speech back in 2005. And we're going to discuss it afterwards. But I think you pretty much said the word perfectly there. ,
Steve Jobs [33:42]
Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards, 10 years later. Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leaves you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
Pretty much what you just said, wasn't it?
Yeah, I like that. I love that.
It's it's powerful stuff. Because it is so simple. And every single show that I've had, without a doubt. And that's really the main thing that I wanted to get in these shows is that when somebody starts on the road to success, they haven't got a clue what they're doing. They just have this idea of what they want to do. And I remember episode eight, Pamela slim was saying, you know, you really have to break everything down into the smallest chunks. And once you've done those chunks, move on to the next challenge. Because if you look at the big picture of what you want to achieve in we're going to do it because it just seems too big.
Right? Right. It's It's It's small successes, you know, small projects and small task, you know, and it's all about discipline. So and it's one of those things, you know, I struggle with, as well. And I'm sure other people are struggling with it as well. It's about staying disciplined. So when you set something up for yourself a goal or you know, a task, something that needs to be done, then you know that you're going to get yourself to do it. Because there's no you don't have any managers or a boss, somebody forcing you to do it. So you have to force yourself to do it. And that's the hard part.
I was having a discussion with a gentleman called Greg Hickman, and he is going to be Episode 43. Okay. And he was saying that one of the problems that everyone has, is that we benchmark ourselves against successful people. And we look at our successes as, as small goals compared to what other people have achieved, just because we haven't seen all those stumbles and falls that they've already gone through. They're ahead of the curve, but we look at them and go back to where I should be now.
Exactly, exactly. And comparing yourself to other people is one of the biggest mistakes that I think that people can make. And I mean, I do this, you know, every day, we all do it. It's human nature and, and seeing other people's success, but you know, you know, like, they never really talked about the the failures and what they went through. And so you're not hearing that you think that man, they just made it, you know, right off the bat, and it's never the case. And I mean, that it's never the case, you know, it's you got to try different things. And I think, you know, a good example of that. Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of big companies right now, that started out as something else. You know, what I mean, and I think, I think maybe paper started as something else, it wasn't PayPal, when you first got started. And you know, and it's one of those things that you have to, you just have to start something. And from that, you could end up you know, somewhere else, but you can't end up you can't do nothing and expect to you know, to have a future or you know, find your way you have to start walking before you can find you know where to go,
what you think that is obviously so true. And I think to a man and a woman we all know, deep down. But overnight success isn't founded on truth. Generally, you only hear about these people after they've been doing it for five or six years underground. But why do you we all think that it's not going to work for us, or it's not going to work for us, it's all right, for that person, they must have the brakes, they must have the skills, they must have all those kind of things, because it would be self Herbie, and myself and everybody else, you have not got superpowers, but no one else has got? No,
no, it's it's hard. And and, again, it goes back to comparing yourself to other people. And you just can't do that, because everybody's unique. And my situation is not your situation, we could start the same business right now. And yours could be successful and mine, you know, I might fail, it doesn't mean that, you know, I'm a failure, or, you know, that you're better than me, it just means that, you know, it's different situations, and, you know, you might do your podcast a different way, mine could be a different way. You know, so you can't can't go comparing yourself to other people. And, and even I believe there is a, you know, there's a formula, something that you can follow to, to put yourself in the right position. But there's no, I don't think there's a the right formula, you know, something that you could, you know, if I could just follow, you know, David, maybe I'll be just as successful as him, I don't think it works that way. I think you simply have to kind of put yourself in a position, when you know, opportunities come that you're ready for it to, you know, take advantage of it. And that's what it's really all about. It's really, you know, about putting yourself in the right position, and making Connexions and networking and, and the biggest resources that we have as people. And we don't take advantage of that enough.
I never realised how important networking was, until I started getting this together. And I was never on LinkedIn, I was never on Facebook, I just thought it was noise. And I would go to work. And I would come home. And I would pride myself, but I wasn't on these things. But now I'm doing this. And I'm having conversations with amazing people like yourself across the globe, you I've spoken to people in Australia and South Africa. Networking is really your network, isn't it? You know, if everything goes pear shaped, if you've got that network of support, even though most of the time online, we never get to meet the people personally, you have got some kind of safety net
somehow. I mean, you. You do you do man and, and it's and it's cool. It's very cool. Like some of these people that I've you know, talked to online, and, you know, we email back and forth with Facebook and LinkedIn. And when you finally meet that person face to face, it's like, oh, my God, I've known you forever, you know, yeah. And, and it's such a great feeling. And to have other people come up to you, and people would like you've never met before and automatically, you know, already they know about you they know your storey and, you know, they've read, you know, your your posts, your interviews, and it's just, it's just great. And, and, you know, when you networking and meeting people, it's it's really what it's all about. And, and you know, I know people talk a lot about not having money or not having the resources to start a business. And like I said, you're you're you're the best resource out there is people just go out and tell people what you're trying to accomplish. Chances are you have someone in your network right now that could help you get started.
Yeah, and the key point is, when you're reaching out to people, you don't reach out to ask for help. I think you reach out by stating your, your passion, that the thing that you are trying to change I was Barry, the very first email that I sent out was to elton john. And I sent it out to elton john, because I knew it wasn't going to go anywhere. It was it was kind of my kickstart actually press a button and send something out. The second email I sent out was to a gentleman called Greg Reed, who is part of the Napoleon Hill Hill foundation. I don't know if you've heard of fat. I'm thinking Grow Rich was a classic book. Yeah. And he came back to me. And he said, Yeah, sure, brilliant, beyond. And it was like, Oh, my God, oh, my God, I've got a guest. I've got to do this now. And it's really amazed me and it still amazes me exactly as you were saying that. People who are beyond you are so eager to help you. And if you're sitting there in a job now and you're sitting now on the train, or you're on a plane, or you're listening to this conversation, and you've got this idea, and you think I really would like to do this, but I've got no idea how to do that. Reach out. I know it's scary. And I know in your head, you're thinking that person's just going to ignore me that person's too busy that person's x y Zed. But 95% of the time I find they come back with Yes. And the 5% they come back with a little bit busy at the moment, would you drop me a line in three months? time?
Exactly. Exactly. And you never really get a no, it's you know, it's it's, it's always, you know, maybe they don't have the time or maybe not right now maybe in the future, but you never really get an actual No, thank you, sir. You know. So, you know, it, it makes no sense not to reach out to the people that you want. And, and, you know, if, you know, if, if you're looking for a job right now, this is for just as an example, if you're looking for a job right now, what you're really looking for is somebody to give you that job. You know, I mean, you could go out and apply for as long as for as many job as you want. I mean, these days, unless you have some sort of some good references, that you don't get a call back. And that's all about people and and that people should really take that to heart to go out and network and everybody's important. Everybody's important. The people that you don't think can help you are the ones who usually do.
Well, why do you think they do, because even now, and I am an absolute nobody in the online world in any shape or form, hopefully, you know, my show will gain enough traction and momentum that I will become somebody. And I know now even at this stage, but if somebody came through and asked for help, I'm going to give it back to them. Because I've already felt that from other people. But why do you think people do that? Why do you think the successful people, if you can get through to them, that's the problem is there's all gatekeepers and, and sort of PhDs and stuff that, you know, all the problem to get past, but you get to the person themselves and so willing?
Yeah, well, part of that, I think, is because they they love it, they love what they do. They love what they do. I mean, your your podcaster. And obviously, if, you know, if you have a group of podcasting, you know, people, and if they need help, and you quit to help them, because that's what you do, you like what you do, and, and it makes sense, we hang out with the people that that, you know, inspires us, at least I hope, you know, we do. You know, and, and it's, it's about doing the things that you love to do and creating a group of like minded individual, and that's what you want, you can't do it by yourself, even though we're, you know, thousands of miles away. And you know, you can't do it by yourself, even if you have to, you know, be part of a group or a mastermind or anything, just kind of put yourself in that environment of what you're trying to create.
He's amazing that somebody on an island, with no one better to other than him with a computer and WiFi could create the world's best business.
That's, that's amazing. And it's why I love the internet, I don't see there's no, you know, there's no limit to what you can accomplish on the internet. I mean, you can have the best business and in the world, and not having, you know, an actual, you know, storefront, you know, and that's just amazing. And you could do it anywhere in the world. All you need is your computer and like you said, internet Connexions, and you're ready to go. And it's very cheap. You know, you don't need much, you don't need much to start something online. And, and you know, especially for people like like me who you know, had nothing, that's I don't see any other way around it. If you want to start something, do it on the internet and learn. And you know, you'll make mistakes and go from there.
That the thing that I was saying in a previous episode was the beauty of creating anything is until it's successful, nobody notices you so you can make all the mistakes you want. And your website can be the most ugly website in the world. And your PayPal might not work. And you know, I'm actually live now and I've got a website that's out there. And people can go on to it now. And there's certain pages that aren't quite working because WordPress, I'm not that very good at WordPress, and I can't be bothered to be honest. And I need to get it sorted out. But I know that because it's early days when we're recording this, then it doesn't really matter. You know, I am, I'm free to make my mistakes, while no buddies looking in my direction.
Yeah, yeah, you put it perfectly. And you know, we are you are going to make mistakes, there's no way around it. Anybody who says they didn't as line, we, you know, it's as part of as part of the journey. And you always have to, you know, learn. And it's it's keep learning, just keep learning and, you know, make changes, you know, if something doesn't work, try to change it don't, you know, don't keep the same format. And the things that we don't believe will work are usually the ones that do. It's amazing. You know, try to try to, you know, try to not, you know, don't try to do what everybody else is doing, I guess, you know, and I'm sure you heard that many times.
Yeah, absolutely. And that's one of the reasons, although I started a daily show. And I mentioned his name all the time, because it's so obvious, but I'm sort of following along the side of him a long way back. But john Lee Dumas was doing the daily show he's doing a daily show. But I didn't want to do a daily show of fixed questions. I wanted it just to see where it runs. And some episodes are going to be blinders. And some of them because of myself fading and not going to be as good. But I felt that I would learn more by doing it that way, then keep into a fixed grip.
Exactly, exactly. It's, you know, something different and different works. I mean, you know, Steve Jobs will tell you that.
And he was he was a man, I might build a podcaster man knows that man's words. Do you know that?
That would be awesome, man. I'll tune in
Yeah, just for the one episode because we've already worked that out Herbie, just the one you've listened to.
Now, that's, that's gonna change, believe me. Like I said, there's only so many I'm subscribed to a lot of different podcasts. You know, I love listening to shows on the go. And yours is actually one one that I'm already putting in my feed here. So it will be more than one believe you're a special man. Indeed.
So whereabouts are you at the moment as in? Not geographically, but where are your dreams? Because you set yourself a deadline of five years to start? Are you still in that five years, or if you pass back now?
I am still in that five years. When I when I started, it was in was 20 1020, you know, 2010. But the first two years, I actually spent a lot of time just procrastinating just learning. I mean, I didn't even know what WordPress was before this, right. So when I find out when I learned about WordPress, it was like, you know, the heavens, you know, opens up, you know, because, you know, I started learning it, I pretty much spent the first two years just online researching, you know, playing with WordPress, and, you know, I really started going heavily, you know, in 2012. And right now, where I'm at right now is, you know, obviously, take the billion success to, you know, have a different mindset, and I have a different goal with with the site or what I'm trying to accomplish. And, of course, I have a, you know, couple different other projects in the works that, you know, I'm not ready to put out there yet.
What what are they? What are they give us a clue?
All right, well, I,
I have this, I have this thing called the green tie project. And what what that is, is, it's going to be part of the billion success. And, and what that is, it's just a platform to, to help other entrepreneurs get started. And, you know, we hear a lot of times how hard it is to get going. And, you know, you people come up with all kinds of excuses, you know, not having money and not having the resources. So what I'm trying to do is the people, some of the people that I've that I've interviewed, that I've actually gone back to, and ask them to, you know, sponsor, you know, a new startup or a new entrepreneur. And I've, you know, I've had a few yeses, and I've had people like, Nellie I, She's the founder, a court net. And, you know, I've reached out to her and, you know, you know, you ever heard of court net, no, no, I haven't, no, it's actually a legal service online legal service to kind of get your legal paperwork done when, you know, for businesses. So, you know, I mean, she's helped me and, you know, she automatically says, Yeah, she, you know, she would, you know, give up her services for free to somebody who needs it, you know, I mean, so stuff like that, you know, so basically, it's me reaching out to people with the, you know, who have the resources, and just kind of pass on those resources to people who need some, you know, just, you know, a way just to kind of get people going,
you're providing value.
Yeah, yeah, it's and it's all, you know, it's, I mean, there's no reason not to, there's no reason not to, I mean, you know, it's, it's, I mean, I've had people help me, and, you know, Tony, right for me to try to, you know, help other people, you know, come up as well, I mean, it's, it's
Reuters, well, I wish you success with that I really do. And that leads us to the end of the show, which is my favourite beer, it really has become my favourite beer. And that is the Sermon on the mic. And that is when we send you back in time Herbie, to have a one on one with your younger self. And you can choose any age of younger self you want. It could be that five year old, a 12 year old, a 20 year old, it could be about five minutes ago. But what kind of advice would you give, if you had the opportunity to actually sit down with your younger self, so I'm going to play the tune now. And when it fades out, you're all on your own. And this is the Sermon on the mic.
Here we go. With the best of the show.
Hello younger Herbie, this is older Herbie speaking to you. My advice to you is, don't care about other people's opinion too much. Everything's gonna be okay. And take chances, be different, different is good. And it'll all work out. And keep in mind, don't listen to other people opinion too much.
Well, I hope he's listening. I really do because it is words for all of us. And I'm making those notes now Herbie, it's been absolute delight speaking to you, and I'm so disappointed what is coming up to the hour now. Because I could have just carried on chatting to you for ages, I think that you have got a very bright future in front of you. I think you're doing everything the right way. I think you know, and I'm no expert is only my gut feeling. And I think the fact that you are so focused on, you know, supporting your family and building something that provides value to the world, ultimately, it's got to come back and make you a very successful individual. So Herbie, how can people connect with you?
Yeah, you can find me at Herbie at billion success com. Or, you know, I'm very active on Twitter at billion success. You know, I'm, you know, I'm always here to respond and, you know, email me and tweet at me and I'll respond quickly.
Well, that's the end of the show. And thank you so much for being on today. You've been so open, you've been so honest, you've been the perfect guest and I really wish you the best of success in everything that you go on to achieve in life. Because I believe that but joining a pair dots and connecting our past, we have the best opportunity to build our future. Herbie, thank you so much.
Outro [55:53]
David doesn't want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self you are wants to become so he's put together an amazing guide for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practices, including the two that changed his life. Head over to Join Up Dots.com to download this amazing guide for free and we'll see you tomorrow on Join Up Dots.
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The period, called a full stop in British English, is one of the first punctuation marks we learn about when we begin reading and writing. Compared to commas or semicolons, the rules for using periods are blessedly simple.
What Does a Period Do?
The most common use of the period is, of course, to end a declarative sentence. Interrogative sentences (questions) end with a question mark.
I like dogs. My dog is named Charlie. Charlie is the coolest dog who has ever lived; that's a fact and not just my opinion.
When writers get confused about periods, it's usually because they aren't sure where to put them in relation to other nearby punctuation. In American English, the period goes inside the closing quotation mark at the end of a sentence.
When a complete, independent sentence is entirely enclosed by parentheses, the period goes inside the closing parenthesis.
Charlie scarfed up every Cheeto that fell out of the bag. (I wasn't fast enough to stop him.) At least we won't have to sweep the floor.
But, if the parenthetical material is nested inside another sentence, the period should go on the outside.
Charlie barked wildly when he caught the scent of fresh bacon (his favorite).
An ellipsis (plural: ellipses) looks like three periods in a row. There are two main uses for ellipses. One is to show that part of a quote has been omitted.
In the sentence above, the words "in the mind" have been omitted from the quote. Occasionally, you might need to leave out part of a quote because it's irrelevant or makes the quote hard to understand in the context of the sentence. The ellipsis shows that you have left something out.
The bus was supposed to come at 3:00 so we waited and waited . . . and waited. Wait a minute . . . If you're not watching Charlie, who is? I guess we could meet you there later. If there's time . . .
This usage is fine in fiction, but you should avoid it in formal writing.
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text:
ETAutoSmartFactory: Companies can't be forced to hire for job generation
Amit Kalyani, MD of Bharat Forge made the remark while speaking at a panel discussion hosted at ETAuto Smart Factory Virtual Summit 2020 where industry magnates delved deep into the impact of industry 4.0 on the assembly line and workforce, the scenario for job creation and labour laws.
Shalini Priya
Updated: August 29, 2020, 12:48 IST
Kalyani was speaking at a panel discussion hosted at ETAuto Smart Factory Virtual Summit 2020 where eminent industry magnates delved deep into the impact of industry 4.0 on the assembly line and workforce, the scenario for job creation and labour laws.
New Delhi: The automotive sector is credited with employing a large number of people. But that doesn't mean that a company can be forced to employ twice the number of people it needs, says Amit Kalyani, MD & CEO of the world's second-largest forging company, Bharat Forge.
"Employment will be created only if there are capital investment and capital deployment. You cannot have companies overman, become inefficient and die in five years. The only way is to get companies to become more efficient and grow and be an enabler," he said.
Kalyani was speaking at a panel discussion hosted at ETAuto Smart Factory Virtual Summit 2020 where industry magnates delved deep into the impact of industry 4.0 on the assembly line and workforce, the scenario for job creation and labour laws.
You cannot have companies overman, become inefficient and die in five years. Amit Kalyani, Bharat Forge
According to him, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's clarion call is a big step in that direction as it will boost localisation and open up ample employment opportunities.
Is India capable enough to adopt industrial IoT
When it comes to smart manufacturing at automotive plants and deployment of industry 4.0, India is generally believed to be in a disadvantageous position because of its massive dependence on foreign entities for technology acquisition, skill gap and the scale.
However, Kalyani quashed the notion and asserted, "I don't think there's any disadvantage of being Indian when it comes to deployment of IoT; instead it offers flexibility, agility and ability to adapt to new situations very fast."
"The Indian companies have not over-invested in the capital and do not have too many fixed assets which are a burden at such times, and that is where the whole connected ecosystem comes in. Small, nimble companies here have a huge vacuum that they can take up," he said.
India cannot vie for the same level of automation as in Japan or Europe. We need to see our geography and not just go by what's happening around the world. Ashok Gupta, Sonalika Tractors
In the current situation, big global companies are in great distress because of their fixed costs which have created a vacuum for small, nimble companies in India to take up.
However, Prabhakar Kadapa, MD and CEO, PSA Avtec, said that the issue here is not of competency but of deciding the right time to go ahead and make the investment because adoption is subjective to the requirement and financial capability of a country. As for India, the cost of capital is much higher than other parts which put a question mark on its ability to invest heavily.
Ashok Gupta, President-Operations at the world's largest tractor manufacturing company, Sonalika Tractors, has different ideas. Sonalika, which has always been manpower-intensive, has a meagre amount of automation.
According to Gupta, India cannot vie for the same level of automation as in Japan or Europe. A low level of automation is definitely required on the shop floors. Still, it has to be done in tandem with Tier-1 and Tier-2 players, then only can operational efficiency be achieved.
He added, "We need to see our geography and not just go by what's happening around the world. In India, it is very important to invest, where we can have an actual value from it. I would say this moment is not the right time to make heavy investments as it will increase the cost."
The raging debates on upskilling, re-skilling and last but not the least manpower redundancy are not far behind when it comes to automated assembly lines and smart manufacturing.
As far as the jobs in the automobile industry are concerned in terms of direct manpower, there is not going to be that much change even with smart manufacturing and industrial IoT trending, opines Gupta.
The issue is not where India competent to adopt IIoT but deciding the right time to go ahead and make the investment the cost of capital is much higher than other parts which put a question mark on its ability to invest heavily. Prabhakar Kadapa, PSA Avtec
He said, "Job reduction due to automation can happen in the warehouse segment, but as far as the production plants are concerned, direct implementation of heavy automation in India is not going to happen.
Skilling the manpower is going to be a significant challenge, feels Gupta adding that it is necessary to set up skill centres where the manager not only knows about the process, but he also knows about the software.
Currently, 10% to 15% of factories in India is moving towards a varied degree of manufacturing 4.0, according to the MD & CEO of PSA Avtec. All the plants set up in the last three to four-years have some elements of IoT. In the next three to five years, he expects most parts of the 4.0 implementation for operational efficiency in the automotive sector.
However, Kalyani felt that the benefits of industry 4.0 could only be reaped when 5G comes and enables edge computing, edge analytics. Right now, it's in infancy and does not have the richness of data and is not enhancing decision-making.
Industrialising the hinterland
For a digital industrial revolution to course through Indian veins, the hinterland needs to be equally industrialised, which could significantly lower manufacturing and transaction costs.
Kalyani said, "Industrialising the hinterland can be a big accelerant as one of the biggest problems faced by companies is get the white-collared management and technical experts to go and live in these areas."
In the present scenario, plants are importing labour into cities which are resulting in wastage of time and labour; instead, the plants need to be set up in these areas to optimise cost.
Bharat Forge MD suggested, "If we could build plants and have a direct to an indirect ratio of 1: 10, which means you have mainly direct workers with a very lean indirect staff using industry 4.0, the connected factory to manage the indirect side through a hub and spoke model."
Echoing Kalyani's view, Kadapa said that the industries need to spread all over the country and not just be concentrated in metro cities. Earlier, the most significant problem why plants were not set up in remote areas is the availability of skilled labour and logistics issues. So there has to be a focus on creating an IoT ecosystem in the rural areas.
Another issue faced by India at large, according to Kalyani is the whole 'federated model policy' made by the central government.
The industry 4.0 transformation has to start from the education system, which needs to get deregulated to make it more work-oriented and aligned with what people's abilities are. Amit Kalyani, Bharat Forge
"They put Make in India, Skill India. All of these are great policies, but the problem is we don't build plants in India. We build plants in Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat or Uttar Pradesh etc. States have to get aligned with what the centre is trying to do."
There is a need for single-window policies, decent infrastructure, quality of life for people working in these areas, training and skilling centres for creating manufacturing opportunities to tap the global companies moving out from a certain geographic location.
Overhauling the education system
Kadappa said the whole transition to industry 4.0 is going to have an impact not only on the industry but on the university's curriculum which needs to include Artificial Intelligence, IoT deployment etc.
He added, "Some level of change is going on, but it has to go into much deeper learning to make them adequate and capable to be employed."
The industry 4.0 transformation has to start from the education system, which needs to get deregulated to make it more work-oriented and aligned to what people's abilities are, voiced Amit Kalyani.
He suggested, "I think after 12th standard, you can have one or two-year program, which is like a boot camp, which teaches you the kind of digital technology skills, Math and Science basics enough for you to get into a workplace and then maybe the company itself will pay for you to go to a college of your interest."
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Yerevan Journal
Three more excerpts from "The First Adana Massacre," a chapter from Cilicia 1909 — The Massacre of Armenians, by Hagop H. Terzian. For complete book information, see my previous entry.
Suddenly news was heard: "The young Greek men, after driving the Turks from their quarter, are coming to join us." Some of our young men, cradling their rifles, went to greet the Greeks. Unfortunately, a few minutes later our men returned with a great number of wounded, having suffered heavy losses. We understood that this was another enemy ploy; they had equipped themselves with European hats, making them look like Greeks, so as to advance among us. This happened while the Greeks sat peacefully in their homes giving a thousand thanks that they weren't born Armenian, and they turned over to the mob any Armenians who had sought safety in their homes…
On the second day of the ceasefire, word came that the government was demanding our weapons. The people didn't want to surrender them, but the British consul arrived, saying, "I can promise you, in the name of my government, that nothing further will happen. Surrender your weapons." Because the British consul gave us his assurance, the Constantinople Patriarchate locum tenens, without knowing what was happening, advised immediate obedience with a pressing telegram. It was under these circumstances that we were forced to surrender all our weapons. Had we not have handed them over before the arrival of the Ottoman Army, there is no doubt there would not have been a second massacre, because despite our lack of military stores, the enemy was very suspicious and had great fears about our strength. Thanks to this imprudent act, the second massacre, which was a hundred times worse than the first, took place and destroyed Adana.
Warships arrived one after another starting two days after the end of the first massacre at Mersin. They were the French "Victor Hugo"; the British "Swiftsure"; the German ship "Loreley"; the Italian "Piedemont." Two days after they arrived, a Russian cruiser and two American armoured ships appeared. All of them remained witness to events and occupied themselves with music recitals and plays while at sea and were occasionally lit up, thus conveying their presence from Mersin to Adana. But their presence, and especially their idleness, provided even more encouragement and enraged the mob, and thus had a great bearing on the repeat of the massacre.
Posted by Andranik Michaelian at 5:59 PM No comments: Links to this post
The following are excerpts from "The First Adana Massacre," a chapter from Cilicia 1909 — The Massacre of Armenians, by Hagop H. Terzian, an eye-witness to the massacre. The book1 was published by Taderon Press for a commemorative event in Los Angeles in 2009 by special arrangement for the Gomidas Institute.
The Muslim crowd, made up of Turks, Kurds, Fellas, Cherkez, Arabs, Gypsies, and Cretan refugees split up into 5-10 groups and continued looting, attacking, and killing as they moved towards the centre of the city. We, having retired to our houses in our quarters, didn't know about the massacres taking place outside and only heard gunfire and saw the looters escape as we waited for the arrival of government troops.
Armenians in the Turkish quarters (i.e. outside the main Armenian quarters) were all massacred; we, in the centre, knew nothing of these killings.
The cries of those begging for help, the noise of the guns, the sound of the animals, the screams of the mob, and those of the mob's leaders—the sheikhs' and hodjas' loud prayers—all filled together, filled the air.
When we understood that crying, sobbing, begging for help and surrendering were of no use, and seeing that the government soldiers and policemen had joined the mob, we were forced, at a critical moment, to defend ourselves fiercely. If we had been even a little late in doing so, there is no doubt that we would all have been finished off. Thus, a group of youths had the courage to go into the street and face the bloodthirsty mob.
The mob of tens of thousands weren't brave enough to stand up to these few young men and began to flee. The enormous crowd, terrified of the bravery of this small group of Armenians, began to run away, shouting, "Ermeni fedayileri geliyor!" (Armenian fedayis are coming). The truth was that there were no fedayis. It was that we didn't want to die, and we defended ourselves against their attack with all our strength.
The remaining Adana Armenians survived the first massacre thanks to the defence put up by the 173 brave young men recorded above, who stood up against a mob of about 30,000 people.
1Cilicia 1909 – The Massacre of Armenians
By Hagop H. Terzian
Translated by Ara Stepan Melkonian
Edited by Ara Sarafian
A Special Centennial Publication
A Dashnak party member, not of the higher ranks but definitely aware of the current political situation concerning Karabagh, said, "What we think might happen is that the Azeris will start a war, and will gain back the liberated territories. Moscow and Baku will be arranging this, with Armenian agreement, as the Armenian government knows that they will be thrown from power if they agree to giving up the territories, but that if they were lost in battle, they won't be blamed."
Posted by Andranik Michaelian at 9:07 AM 1 comment: Links to this post
An interesting conversation about folk culture in Armenia started in the recording studio today as we looked over a new book I had received about the massacres in Armenian Cilicia in 1909 at the hands of the Turks.
"I hate Turks," the folk musician said. "There's no other way I can put it. And opening the border, while they still deny the Genocide, is a big mistake. As long as they deny the Genocide, it's just more proof that they're the same Turk.
"But, in all fairness, let's compare Armenians and Turks in another way. See this dhol?" The musician picked up the two wooden kopal and started striking the dhol. "This is the way to hit the dhol," he said. "Ever seen how the Turks do this? And ever watch the Armenians pitifully play the kopalov dhol? We treat the dhol like we treat our folk music in general. One big 'oh, well.' When I watch the Turks on television, I receive satisfaction, and when I see our people doing folk music, or imitating it, as I should say, I get sad."
As the folk musician talked, I remembered the evening before, when we attended an evening presentation about Komitas' unfinished version of Anoush opera, in which a musicologist talked and sang and two singers, male and female, sang parts of the opera, both Tigranyan's version and Komitas'. The musicologist, for some reason, was trying to make Komitas into a native of Lori, I suppose because we were at the Hovhannes Tumanyan home-museum, and the singers were mediocre, especially the Middle-East-born Armenian who was obviously in Armenia because he couldn't make a go of it in his home country as a singer, him and similar singers another reason folk music has weakened in Armenia.
"The folk music culture in Armenia is one of the most corrupt fields in the country, with people with no idea what folk music is running the show, promoting restaurant singers as folk singers, and the like. But I have to tell you this. A friend who lives on a major boulevard in Yerevan said that one of the oligarchs, who is building additional floors on old apartment buildings in Central Yerevan, asked to buy their apartment, which is located on a top floor of one of these buildings. They said no, that it was their family home. To punish them, the oligarch made sure that their son, who had won a top prize in a science competition, didn't receive the top prize, but only second or third. They're lucky they only refused the offer to buy the house, as if they had protested publicly, the oligarch would have had them evicted, one way or the other. This is the atmosphere here now, what a pity. And they talk about fighting corruption?"
Posted by Andranik Michaelian at 10:11 AM 1 comment: Links to this post
In Yerevan, clouds covered the view of Massis, only occasionally the lower snow-covered part appearing. Nearing the village of Pokr Vedi (Khor Virab), the mountain was revealed, each and every snowy slope seemingly a short walk away.
Entering the large courtyard and eventually the newly-renovated village house, the talk soon turned to our roots in Western Armenia, mainly Van and Moush. "My grandmother, whose name was Mafo, was born in a village in the Plains of Moush, near Bulanukh," Hasmik said. "Her father's name was Israel. She was already married and had a family, a husband and two children, when the massacres started. Mafo fled with her family, traveling with General Andranik. Along the way, her husband and children died. In Yerevan, she remarried a Mshetsi from Liz, also in the Plains of Moush.
"Even late in life, she never forgot her first husband, Armenak. But she used to say, about Eastern Armenia, 'What is this, a land of rocks, you should see Moush, a paradise, if you see it, you'll know what I mean...' Years later, I saw Moush, and Bulanukh, and I understood she was right..."
The Vantetsi continued, saying, "I was in Van in 1992, and know what you mean. A land of milk and honey. The Turks left us with 10% of our homeland, and the worst part. We have to make the best of it, and I'd never leave to some imaginary 'greener pastures' in Russia or elsewhere, but, in reality, there's not much here."
It happened that our host's father was born in the same village as Hasmik's grandmother. "My family left in 1914, before the massacres started. They were friendly with a Kurdish tribesman who knew what was being planned. The Kurd arranged for our family to leave the area, to cross into Russian Armenia. I laugh when some say that the massacres were spontaneous, that the Genocide wasn't planned, and planned for years. The Kurds knew what was going to happen, as did the Turks. They just chose the right moment. Luckily, a good Kurd saved our family. Still, our family elders had seen too much, and until they died, refused to speak Kurdish, even though they knew the language well, saying it was a 'dog's language.'"
It happens that composer, ethnomusicologist, and teacher Grikor Mirzaian Suni (born in Getabek, near Gandzak), was also a strong nationalist and political activist, spending much time in Western Armenia after the Young Turks had seized power. In 1908, a disguised Suni escaped from Batumi (the Russian Czars were seizing Armenian churches, etc.) to Turkey on a Laz raft, after which he arranged concerts for Armenians in Trabizon, Kirason, and Samson. In Samson, he tried to organize a break-in at the armory, after which he planned to distribute 2,000 rifles and millions of bullets to the peasantry. The Dashnaks, at that time loyal to the Young Turks, refused, labeling Suni a traitor, this in spite of the fact that Suni had been a member of the Dashnak party while living in the Caucasus.
When World War I broke out, Suni, who was living in Erzurum and teaching at the Sanasarian school, was awakened in the middle of the night and told to leave to the Russian side of the border, as officials knew of the impending dangers for Armenians. His popular composition "Erzurum March" was the likely reason for the goodwill leading to his escape from Turkey.
I learned this by reading and hearing about Suni from his great-granddaughters and other family members, now in Yerevan and spending time at our home taking vocal and oud lessons from Hasmik for an upcoming concert of Suni's works at the Hovhannes Tumanyan home-museum.
A woman from Kirovabad (Gandzak) told her story about 1988:
"One night the lights went out. The Turks had shut off the power and cut the telephone lines, so we wouldn't know what was going on. At first, we just thought the power had gone off. Then the Turks started coming, in two groups, from two directions. It was like 1915, the same Turks, the same methods of killing.
"The few Armenians who lived in the Turkish district had no way of defending themselves. What the Turks did was shocking, yet not for Turks. Raping, burning people alive, even burying people alive. Old people too."
The Armenian priest told his story. "The Turks were trying to break into the church. I was pushing back, while they pushed from outside, trying to get inside. I prayed constantly to God and the Virgin Mary. The door, which is usually quite difficult to close, as it's very heavy, closed on its own, keeping the Turks outside the church. Is this not a miracle?"
The woman continued: "The Armenians in the Armenian district were able to save themselves, at least many of them. One way they did this was to warn the Turks that if they continued, the safety of those Turks who lived in the Armenian district could not be guaranteed.
"And there are those who say we shouldn't call Azeris by what they are, Turks. They say we're being emotional by calling them Turks. But they're the same people, speak the same language, are culturally the same, are Moslems, and they use the same barbaric ways of killing people. Tell me the difference of an Azeri and a Turk..."
A Baku-born Armenian woman, disgusted with the basic opinion of many Karabaghtsis that "all was well with the Azeris till Hayastantsis stirred it all up," told another side of the story: "In Baku, things weren't as good as some Armenians say. Armenian girls were careful, even scared, to walk the streets. We didn't use much make-up, or make-up at all, for fear of what might happen. And we know now that the pogroms were planned, that the Azeris were making plans to kill Armenians. They knew where we lived, were planning when to start, and even what methods to use to kill Armenians, everything."
Things got interesting when a Karabaghtsi injected his thoughts: "But in Baku, Armenians lived like kings. They even had Azeris for servants!" to which the Baku-born Armenian answered, "So what. We were buried in Azeri culture, which was completely foreign to our culture. Don't you care about that? They kill you, then later you brag about having Azeri servants? You were the servants, you just didn't know it!"
The Karabaghtsi went silent.
Posted by Andranik Michaelian at 8:56 AM 2 comments: Links to this post
"I'd be proud if I could say I had roots in Gandzak," the artist said. "But I was just born there; my roots are in Kars and in Karabagh. My great-grandfather escaped from Kars during the 1896 massacres by Abdul Hamid. He went to Astrakhan, in Russia, but said, 'I need Armenian soil to grow my wine grapes, and make wine,' so he moved his family to Gandzak. His wine became famous and was drunk all over Europe, and even won a grand prize at an international festival." He thought a minute and said, "I hate Lenin more than Stalin. I blame Lenin for giving away important parts of the Armenian homeland to the Turks and their Azeri cousins. Gandzak, for example, is Armenian, and always was. And they gave it to Azerbaijan."
The gathering had begun solemnly, as it was the "tari" for a friend's sister, who had died of heart failure one year ago. Slowly, everyone relaxed and began telling stories about their friend, and how much they missed her; others talked about politics or told about their ancestry, as the Gandzak-born Armenian. As several present were artists and musicians (opera singer Arax Davityan, pianist Svetlana Navasartyan, Hasmik, her cousin, baritone Karen Mirzoyan, and others), the talk turned to music and the latest happenings in the local music scene.
"Haven't you heard," a woman close to the Culture Ministry said, "the musicians of the National Chamber Orchestra filed complaints against Aram Gharabekian, who as a result is no longer conducting the orchestra. It looks like they're putting an end to the current orchestra, paying the members a month's salary, and then starting the orchestra again, maybe with the same members, maybe with new members. That part isn't clear. They say the new conductor will be the current conductor of the Conservatory's youth symphony. His father, who doesn't even live in Armenia, pretty much runs the Culture Ministry, and culture in general in Armenia. They say the decision came from the new conductor's father, not a surprise..."
Continuing, the woman said, "This isn't the way it was in the past, in Soviet times. True, there was favoritism and the like. But I remember the story my husband's uncle told. His father was the great actor, Hrachya Nersisyan. He said that Hrachya was delighted when he met William Saroyan. You can see it in the picture of their meeting, which we fortunately have. In those days, great artists talked up other great artists, were proud when another Armenian was well known in the art world. This isn't the case today. Mediocrities rule. Great artists are belittled, often driven out of the country. Humanity is a thing of the past in the culture world in Armenia. What happened to Gharabekian wouldn't have happened in the past. At least not this way."
Pictures on the restaurant wall were impressive: Yosuf Karsh, Sergey Paradjanov, William Saroyan, Hrachya Nersisyan, Aksel Bakunts...the most noteworthy, perhaps, was a picture of Komitas smiling, probably the only such picture.
Svetlana Navasartyan sat at the piano and played a classical piece. The day ended well, a nice tribute to our friend.
While most local and Diaspora Armenians, young and old, fawn over the pop/rap stars of the upcoming Armenian Music Awards, even though many are known sect members, etc., a sad reality continues in Armenia for the regular, at least somewhat impoverished Armenian, who isn't part of the "system." This morning, while weaving our way through the maze of apartment buildings near our home, a man walked out of the entry to his building, holding his head and talking to himself and whoever would listen: "Every year, at year's end, the government tries to fill its coffers, and collects money illegally from the people. I just got my phone and power bill, and it was 2,500 dram more than it should have been. Picture how much this turns into, if they collect this much from everybody. Why don't they just close the country down, and get it over with."
A farmer stood by his newly-sprouted field of wheat near Talvorik, a village in the Baghramyan region of Armavir. "See this field? There's not a better one in the country. Yet, I'm barely hanging on, what with the price of irrigation water and fertilizer. And there's no hope from the government. What government?
"If it's like this now, what is going to happen when the border with Turkey opens? Everybody that's not afraid to admit it knows that farmers here will be broken, driven out of business, with cheap Turkish agricultural products available. But that's only part of the picture. They'll flood our markets with all kinds of cheap goods, which will put our factories, large and small, out of business. This is what the Turks want, and in the meantime, they'll have a new market for their goods.
"I'm more convinced now than ever that our rulers are doing their best to ruin the country, not just fill their pocketbooks with the people's money. Why else would they do this? We've had more than our share of traitors in our history, but these traitors beat all. If they stay in power, our country will be in ruins, and will be just a playground for the rich and their Turkish friends."
A cousin told of how, as a child, Soghomon Tehlirian was a guest at their house in San Francisco:
"Tehlirian was living under an assumed name, so the Turks wouldn't be able to find him and exact revenge for killing Talaat. I remember well how he told the story of how he killed Talaat in Germany. 'I had to track him down,' Tehlirian said. 'He was living under an assumed name, and dressed like a European, not a Turk, so as not to be noticed. I had to be careful. When I found him, I wasn't even sure it was him. I called his name. He turned around. I looked in his eyes. Then I shot him in the neck.'"
Posted by Andranik Michaelian at 9:02 AM No comments: Links to this post
"I was in a tramway when the earthquake hit," a neighbor lady said. "I didn't feel anything. When I got home, my husband said our 6-month-old baby boy had been crying uncontrollably, just before the earthquake hit. I believe he felt something, something older people, who have lost touch with nature, can't feel."
Television stations showed films of people sitting next to fires, trying to stay warm, as others tried to move slabs of cement or crumbled walls in hopes of finding their family members or friends alive. Corpses were being pulled from the rubble of collapsed buildings. People were lighting candles in churches, praying, crying, wondering why....
Our neighbor continued: "At the time, I wondered if I'd ever smile again. Then things got worse. The war started, and the Soviet Union collapsed. Our people were hungry and cold. There was no food. Young women, who were children at the time, often have trouble bearing children. One million Armenians left the country, to me the same as a genocide. Remembering all this, I think of one thing, that our government was selling electricity to Turkey, supposedly to be able to buy weapons. I don't believe that, because at the same time they were selling off the country, the factories, everything. That's why I hate Levon, and always will."
Hasmik told about one of her trips to Karabagh during the war: "Several members of the Akunk Ensemble decided to go to Karabagh during the thick of the war, and give concerts, anything that might help morale, show unity. Interestingly, one of the male members didn't plan on going but said that he saw Maryam Astvatsatsin, in the broad daylight, who urged him to go to Karabagh, and that his going would keep the rest of us safe.
"We were lucky to get through the Lachin Corridor, which was being bombed constantly. We traveled by night, and without lights.
"In Stepanakert, we saw everything. Once, in a bombed-out hotel, we all huddled with Karabaghtsis who had barely escaped with their lives from an Azeri attack somewhere near Shushi. Grads started falling. When they stopped, we went outside, but only with lanterns, so as not to be seen by Azeris.
"I remember seeing a group of young volunteers from Yerevan. They were only 18 or so. As we sang folk songs and patriotic songs, their eyes got moist. They were all going to the front line, and knew they probably wouldn't come back."
A participant in the liberation of Shushi continued: "First of all, we took Shushi on May 8, not May 9. That may not be important, but that's the right day.
"Monte gets a lot of credit for what he did in Karabagh. And he deserves all the praise he gets. But Jirair, from Lebanon, did more than he's given credit for. A true patriot.
"One night, our group of 50 was following Jirair's, at a fair distance. A group of Karabaghtsis told us to follow them. We said that we were going to follow Jirair, but the Karabaghtsis continued to insist. We ignored them, and followed Jirair. It turned out the Karabaghtsis were trying to lead us into a trap, that if we had listened to them, we would have been surrounded and killed by Azeris.
"This happened more than once during the war. Many Hayastantsis lost their lives after listening to Karabaghtsis, figuring they were local and understood the terrain. Why the Karabaghtsis did this, I don't know. Believe me, I was fighting for the Armenian homeland, not for Karabaghtsis…
"Another thing about Jirair. He, Monte, and the others who came from overseas to fight…there weren't many, true, but they were brave, unique men. Remember what Monte said when someone asked why he had come all the way from the US to fight in Karabagh? He said it was the natural thing to do, that they should be asking Diaspora Armenians why they don't come…
"The other day I saw a show on television where several Diaspora Armenians, who were living in Armenia, were talking about their patriotism and how they love living in Armenia. But I know that several of them came here only to avoid military service in their home countries, basically in the Middle East. One is a singer, who has the nerve to sing patriotic songs. Let him and the others serve in their home countries, then move to Armenia. We don't need cowards like them here, especially with their hypocrisy."
Our return to Yerevan became complete with a breakfast of khash at a friend's house in Ajapnyak, not far from our apartment building. I considered myself lucky, as most of the twenty or so men there had fought in Karabagh, which made for a most interesting gathering.
Toasts and songs ruled the day. Even though the television was on in the background, with its ridiculous pop star music competitions, no one paid any attention to it, as singing and telling jokes were more interesting to these Hayastantis than what National Television and the others were offering. I wondered, though, if future generations, even the current young generation, would know the folk, ashoughagan, and patriotic songs these fedayees were singing…
One of the fedayee, commenting about the current discussions between Armenia and Turkey, and the possible settlement of the Karabagh conflict, said, "Let the Azeris start something. We'll take them again, and they know it. What I'm worried about is that our government will agree to give up the territories and let Azeris move back into Karabagh. If they do, what will be left? Karabagh will go back to Azerbaijan, if not now, later. And without a fight. Right now, Serge has a chance of being a national hero, if he refuses to sign the Protocols, and give up Karabagh, or be the most famous traitor ever, and sign away Armenia for good…"
Road to Armenia
Hasmik Harutyunyan
Shoghaken Folk Ensemble
Andranik Michaelian
I began Yerevan Journal on my main website, Road to Armenia, in 2003. In this blog, I will continue to report on life and culture in Yerevan and the Armenian homeland, and the opinions and thoughts of everyday people living here.
Three more excerpts from "The First Adana Massacre...
The following are excerpts from "The First Adana M...
A Dashnak party member, not of the higher ranks bu...
An interesting conversation about folk culture in ...
In Yerevan, clouds covered the view of Massis, onl...
It happens that composer, ethnomusicologist, and t...
A woman from Kirovabad (Gandzak) told her story ab...
A Baku-born Armenian woman, disgusted with the bas...
"I'd be proud if I could say I had roots in Gandza...
While most local and Diaspora Armenians, young and...
A farmer stood by his newly-sprouted field of whea...
A cousin told of how, as a child, Soghomon Tehliri...
"I was in a tramway when the earthquake hit," a ne...
Hasmik told about one of her trips to Karabagh dur...
Our return to Yerevan became complete with a break...
on Road to Armenia


text:
Stay Alive (2020)
Polyvinyl
Reviewer Julie River
If you've been following Laura Jane Grace on Twitter since her entire spring and summer touring schedule were canceled back in March, this surprise album shouldn't have been that much of a surprise. Besides all the wistful pictures of a nearly empty recording studio, and the record-from-home contraption that she shared with us on Twitter that looked like her head was encased inside one of the robots from MST3K, it was also clear that being home made her restless and she needed to work on something. It was obviously not Against Me! since she seemed to be working with few to no people, but it was obvious she was working on something. About the only thing that's at all surprising about this album is that Grace would choose to make two solo/side project albums before finally releasing the long-awaited new Against Me! album, but perhaps "choose" is the wrong choice of words in the circumstances. Stay Alive is basically the album Laura Jane Grace made to stay sane.
"Delicate, Petite, and Other Things I'll Never Be" was one of the song titles from the most recent Against Me! album, and while it may be true on a physical level, Grace proves it wrong on a musical level, as she shows a great deal of delicacy playing with just a guitar. Occasionally some electronic beats are added in, always something simple that she could still reproduce as a one woman show. It calls to mind the early years of the Mountain Goats, of whom Grace has covered a number of times both live and in studio. It also calls to mind for me the 2016 Conor Oberst solo album, Ruminations which Oberst recorded while recovering from exhaustion using only a guitar, a piano, and a harmonica. Stay Alive's musical simplicity highlights the lyrics which showcase a theme of loneliness and crumbling edifices in a collection of songs that were, surprisingly, written pre-COVID.
Grace said that the songs were written before lockdown started, but out of all the songs she wrote she kept only the ones that seemed eerily appropriate given recent events. Obviously there are some that were tweaked in hindsight, most notably "Shelter in Place," but it's almost spooky how well these particular songs fit the mood of quarantine. Grace finds some beautiful yet simple melodies, such as on "Why Kant I Be You?" with its clever title combining the name of an 18th century German philosopher with the title of a Cure song, making a possible passing nod to queer, punk musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. She creates some deceptively simple ear worms like the hook of "Hanging Tree" where the ironically misplaced sing-songy tune undercuts ithe song's ruthless take down of white supremacy. In this album of 14 fairly short songs, there are a lot more nooks and crannies to explore than you'd expect . It can be a slow burn, but if you give it time to grow on you, I guarantee it will.
Touché Amoré: Lament
The Follow Ups: Covers/Live


Collector's Choice Holiday Show. Greenhill Gallery. Greensboro, NC.
Durham Art Guild Member's Show. Durham Arts Council, Durham, NC.
Point-Counterpoint: NC Artist Fellowship Show; SECCA; Winston-Salem, NC.
The Spirit of Lolong: Solo Show; Room 100 Gallery; Golden Belt Studios. Durham, NC.
The Secret Life of Grubs (solo show – drawing installation); Hugh Mangum Museum of Photography at West Point on the Eno Park. Durham, NC.
The Long Road (two-person show – ceramic installation). Carrack Modern Art; Durham, NC.
Carrack Auction Gala (group show); Carrack Modern Art; Durham, NC.
NC Fellowship Award Winners (group show); Bull City Arts Collaborative; Durham, NC.
Work shown at Claymakers Gallery; Durham, NC.
Creature Comforts (group show); Claymakers; Durham, NC.
Enlightened Illustrations (solo show – oil paintings); Semans Gallery; Durham, NC.
2016 Upcoming: Resident Artist in the Schools. Winston-Salem, NC.
2015 Resident. Durham Art Guild Artist-in-Residence. Golden Belt Studios, Durham, NC.
2014 Recipient. North Carolina Artist Fellowship. North Carolina Arts Council.
2011-2013 Participant. Durham Art Walk. Semi-annual art sale. Durham, NC.
2009 Writer/Artist. A Bean and her Pancake. Handmade book with forty original paintings.
2006 Pilgrim. Two month Buddhist pilgrimage on the island of Shikoku, Japan.
2004 Writer. The Tick's Final Journey. Unpublished novel.
1998 Writer. Life and How to Live It. Unpublished novel.
1993 Writer/Artist. Daniel's Garden. Self-published book illustrated with linoleum-cut prints.
1991-93 Writer/Illustrator. The Toad and Rice Weekly. Monthly newsletter; text/image.
1999 M.A. in Art Therapy; Vermont College; Montpelier, VT.
1990 M.F.A. in Printmaking/Drawing; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
1984 B.A. in English Literature; University of South Florida; Tampa, FL.