We’re Not A Fly-By-Night, We’re A Century-Long Nightlight | Episode 416

We’re Not A Fly-By-Night, We’re A Century-Long Nightlight | Episode 416

What if a single share could change someone’s day, or their life? We open with gratitude for a community that now spans 100+ countries and 1,000+ cities, then pull back the curtain on what keeps this movement steady: a mission-first approach to mental health, a commitment to unity over division, and the decision to build like a century-long organization rather than a trending project.

Justin traces the path from a deeply personal low point to the creation of The House of You and, eventually, to Voices for Voices. He talks candidly about living with major depression, generalized anxiety, ADHD, and autism spectrum traits, and how naming these realities fuels the work rather than defining it. We unpack why trademarking matters for a nonprofit, how protecting intellectual property preserves trust, and what it takes to sustain a global platform—clear guardrails, steady leadership, and relentless focus on care.

You’ll hear why we welcome guests from across the political spectrum while refusing to let politics swallow the mission. Mental health belongs to everyone, and every story—from art and sport to sign language and music—can be a voice that heals. The call to action is simple and free: subscribe, share, and invite 25 or 50 friends to listen. That’s how we reach new cities, new countries, and the people who need support right now.

If this message resonates, tap follow, leave a review, and pass it on to someone who could use a grounded, hopeful take on mental health. Your voice amplifies ours—let’s make care louder together.

Chapter Markers

0:00 Gratitude And Global Growth

2:45 Share, Subscribe, And Amplify

5:10 Purpose, Faith, And Unity

8:15 Staying Power And Trademarking

12:05 Vision For A Hundred-Year Organization

15:45 Strategic Expansion And IP Protection

19:40 Global Mission And Big Goals

24:20 Rethinking Targets And Pace

28:30 The House Of You: Origin Story

33:10 Leadership, Continuity, And Passion

#InspirationForGenerations #GuidingLight #EnduringLegacy #TimelessWisdom #IlluminateYourPath #StrengthInStability #LongLastingImpact #BrightFutureAhead #TrustInTheJourney #CenturyOfHope #justiceforsurvivors #VoicesforVoices #VoicesforVoicesPodcast #JustinAlanHayes #JustinHayes #help3billion #TikTok #Instagram #truth #Jesusaire #VoiceForChange #HealingTogether #VoicesForVoices416

Chapters

• 0:00 Gratitude And Global Growth
• 2:45 Share, Subscribe, And Amplify
• 5:10 Purpose, Faith, And Unity
• 8:15 Staying Power And Trademarking
• 12:05 Vision For A Hundred-Year Organization
• 15:45 Strategic Expansion And IP Protection
• 19:40 Global Mission And Big Goals
• 24:20 Rethinking Targets And Pace
• 28:30 The House Of You: Origin Story
• 33:10 Leadership, Continuity, And Passion

Transcript

Justin Alan Hayes, Voices for Voices: 0:02

Hey everyone, it's Justin here with Voices for Voices. Thank you so much for joining us on this episode and all the episodes we have up until now, uh, which is 415. So it's uh it's it's truly a miracle uh to to get to this point. Um we're so grateful for you to be tuning in show after show, watching, listening, no matter where you're at in the world. Uh we're uh are heading towards the goal of reaching uh 300 countries across the world. We're over 100 countries across the world, and we're also uh shooting for um 3,000 plus cities across the world, where we're sitting at uh about a thousand ten or thousand eleven cities. Uh so with your help, uh you've gotten us this far, and the demand for the show has been off the charts, which is great. Our analytic numbers uh the last week have been just stupendous. Um, and we want to say very heartfelt thank you. Um if you're able to reach out to 25, 50, or even 100 year closest friends with a text message, uh with a uh a chat message on uh any platform that you have, excuse me, my news edge, um that would greatly help us as well. And it's something that's free to do. So we're not asking anybody to spend any money if if if if you don't want to. Uh and that's that's your choice. And uh so if you're able again to you know text 25, 50, 100, your closest friends, followers, or on another social media platform, let them know about the Voices for Voices podcasts and TV show, and we would greatly appreciate that, as well as if you can hit that subscribe button, if you can give us the thumbs up, follow, share, like, all those things are also free, and we would be uh so thankful uh if if you'd be able to to do that. That helps us all reach more people, let them know that their voice is important and want to inspire others, uh, whether it's in a small way or whether it's in a big, big, gigantic way. Um that's what we're here. We're here on earth for. Uh so far that's that's been uh I say told to me through my prayers. Uh, and you don't have to be a believer uh to follow us to be a part of Voices for Voices. Uh I'm just sharing my my beliefs. You don't have to uh you don't have to believe what I believe. Uh we're still human beings and we're still knitted together uh with uh DNA and um and no matter what uh we're we're gonna pray for everybody in the world because uh we could all use uh as many good vibes as possible because we know that the world could be uh can be cruel sometimes and uh try to divide us and we don't want to do that. What we want to do is bring people together and unify, not divide. We want to unify, and that's what we have been doing, which probably is a reason why uh we are the third uh most popular TV show and podcast behind a Joe Rogan experience, and Dan Bongino's back in the game, uh the podcasting game, uh, after spending his time as a deputy deputy director of the FBI here in the United States. So uh we're grateful to be where we're at, and we can't do it without you. So thank you. Uh you know, mental health, uh the different books we have available. Uh we have a lot of a lot of great things going on here at Voices for Voices. And it's it's truly remarkable from uh a year ago where we were sitting at 160 episodes or so, and and to be where we're at with uh having just dropped episode 415. So that makes us at 416 with this episode. Uh it's that's remarkable. Uh I guess I'd like to just talk about like why why I'm sharing and why why voices for voices. Uh you know, organization-wise, I wanted to help others, and I didn't know how. And so Voices for Voices was a was the the name, organization name-wise that came to my mind, and I wanted to trademark it uh with that R or the circle around it, with United States Patent and Trade Office, and because I felt and I still feel this way, that if if I'm gonna do something, I want it to be meaningful, meaning that I don't want it to be a fly-by night operation, meaning we're hanging around because it's the hot topics, the hot words, you know, mental health, and you know, I'm I'm happy and grateful people are are coming out and talking about it more, but we don't know the prerogatives of everybody. And so I wanted to make sure that if I was gonna do anything, I wanted to do it all the way, a hundred percent. And so that's why we went the legal route because it is that important, because we don't want people coming taking our intellectual property. Um and and while it's a it's a it's a struggle at times where people try uh over time, different ways, different methods. Uh, we wanted to make sure Voices for Voices uh was and is not a fly by night company. I've said it from the beginning uh that I want Voices for Voices to be uh a hundred year company, if not more. Um I know I'm not gonna live till I'm 144. Uh so my uh in my mind uh you know at the given point uh you know we would you know we have you know some uh succession planning, just like other organizations, just because we're a nonprofit, excuse me again, man, just itching away. Um just because we're a nonprofit, we still have to operate like an organization, like a business. Um and and so that's why you you see and hear us uh mostly towards the end of 2025, uh talk about different expansions of the organization, the different areas that we may or may not go into. Uh we we just want to have things set up. Uh we we did have you know the acquisition, acquisition, pardon me, of uh mythical creatures around the world. Uh there was some confusion that mythical creatures around the world, the content and everything that was out there, that people could just take it and and uh plagiarize, basically. Just take information, copy paste into a book, and and sell it. And so we didn't think that was a good thing. We didn't think that was ethic ethical, um, and there could have been confusion about it, and so we wanted to stop the confusion, so that's why we acquired mythical creatures around the world, and we will do that when there are other times and uh places that we we deem that to be happening, um and so that's a little bit of you know the top down, and I'm starting at the top with the organization and then working myself down to you know how you know voices for voices, uh why I wanted to to do it. I mean, I talked about it a little bit, right? Saying I wanted to be you know a true organization that is backed by uh you know, again, the United States Patent and Trade Office. I want to be uh worldwide. So while we are based in the United States, we are a global organization, meaning that we're not restricting any of our content, uh, any of our shows, any of our TikTok lives. Uh, we're not just restricting to the United States or you know, where we're headquartered or anything like that, that we are global. And and so you've also potentially heard me say at one time or another that we want to help at least three billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond. And that's uh you know, when we when we get into where we've already reached a hundred plus countries and a thousand plus cities across the world in a short period of time, uh we blew past the goal again. You've heard me say it time and time again, but it's it's worth repeating because it's just incredible, right? We talk so much in this society about things we're not doing right, and we can we can do better, and and and so to have a point in time where we did something really good that uh we we just did we did it and uh we ended 2015 2015, 2025, um with uh four hundred and three total episodes, as opposed to where our original goal is three hundred, so that's basically you know a hundred and three episodes more than what we had planned, you know. For 2026, we're we're not we're not really putting a number out there for how many episodes we're gonna do. We know we're gonna hit 500. That's that's a give for us. That's a given. Uh we're not gonna give and we're you know internally not uh we're not gonna talk about any you know numbers that way. Uh we're gonna do because we know we're gonna do the best that we can, and there's gonna be some times where we're gonna do maybe an episode a day. There might be some times where we do an episode a week, uh, some might be an episode a month. I I don't know. We don't know. Uh what we do know is we're we're at least going to hit 500. And that what I would I would say is I guess uh it's a goal. Uh we're not stopping there though. And and and so with us blowing past the goal from last year, what we expected to where we ended the year, that was it was just an amazing time. We were we were just doing so great, and we're we've started 26, I don't know why I'm stuck on 20 the 2015 and 2016, but on you know, in 2026, uh the year is shaping up very similar. Does that mean that we have the same total numbers? You know, that like maybe, maybe not, uh, but right now it's not that the number isn't that important. It is just making sure we're doing the best we can, and we know what we are again, we know what we're um what we can do, what we're capable of. Uh so we're not we're not gonna put you know uh you know a goal out there. Uh, you know, obviously it's gonna be a huge uh huge achievement when we do hit the total of 500 episodes. Uh but we're we're just it it's just something that I've decided we're not really gonna we're not gonna do that because it we know we're gonna do the best we can and the best we can is is awesome. So uh that's I say that's that about the show. Uh so working you know way down of you know starting the organization. Yeah, you know, I you've you've heard me talk about the book uh the House of You Prescription for Living. And uh of course I don't have one sitting right next to me as I'm as I'm sharing this, but it's okay. Uh everybody knows where to where to find it. Um and actually I'm gonna I'll pull it up here for us so we can so we can see uh we can we can see so there's no um no confusion. I just uh I just didn't think to have it here. So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna do a little screen sharing, and so we'll be able to see in case you're you haven't seen before. I'm gonna do that, and then we're gonna share. And so here we are. So this is the book. So this is uh it has my name as the author. Here's the cover because we're talking about helping people going through tough parts uh uh of their lives, prescription for living doesn't mean you have to take prescriptions, you have to take money or not take money, take uh prescription like uh uh you know pills or or liquid. Uh prescription for me is different for prescription for me. So this is again the House of View prescription for living. You can get it electronically, you can get it on the audio, uh audible, and you can get it paperback, and it is 85 pages, it's an easy read, uh in English, and we put it out in 2020. Uh and yeah, you can buy it today or any day. It's also available uh on Ingram Spark and uh anywhere you can think of, uh wherever you make your your uh purchases for for books. Um when I put that together, voices for voices still wasn't a thing. Um I got the book, and uh there were just you and you've heard me talk uh about it before. So, you know, there were obviously questions I needed to answer if I was gonna write my name as the author, if I was gonna ghostwrite it. And so there was all kind of back and forth, you know, what what what should I do? How do I do this? How do I answer this question? How do I move forward? And what does that look like? Uh, because there's a lot of intimate details that you know, family at the time and even now might not know. And I'm pretty wide open, an open book with you know the mental health now of myself and wanting to help across you know social media is what it is. And so there's a I would say a lot of people, if they have an interest, they know that Justin has something he's doing something around mental health and he's got some kind of show, and uh just in general, you know, uh, you know, talking about just people uh checking into social media that they they get that now. Uh so once I put that together, uh I wanted to do something more than just you know, you have the book out there, it's kind of a kind of a static thing, so kind of is like a point in time. Um, and and so there's through my life up until that point in time, uh hit rock bottom in 2017, and and then moving forward and and uh until when it got published, and and that that's uh that's the book. So that's the memorabilia piece, I I guess I I would say. Because without the book, there would be no voices for voices. Because I if I wasn't comfortable enough putting the book together, uh then again, I didn't want to be a fly by night organization. So I didn't want to have you know a different CEO, different leader per se, you know, every year, every two years. Like I that's I didn't want that. Uh there's a lot of great organizations, a lot of great people are doing a lot of awesome work. It's not the takeaway from the organizations that do have you know changes of you know their executive directors and their presidents and and all that. Uh, but for me, that's not what I wanted. I I I don't want the organization as much for me as anybody else because doing these shows and the tick-tock lives and and and all the different ways where we may or may not be branching out is a big deal to me. And I want to be I want to be a part of that. I don't I don't want to I don't want to just give it away to somebody, you know, every couple of years, and then uh because this is what I live and breathe every day. You know, we all have mental health, and I I deal with mine every single day, just as we all do. Some days were great, some days are not. Um and so I my belief is that the best way for the organization to be is for me to be the leader of the umbrella organization at the top, and we can add pieces in parts, you know, other organizations, other areas. We we can we can do that. Uh but at the end of the day, again, for for this, for voices for voices, it's so ingrained in me. It's so it's in my blood, and and and so I just I I don't want to be rotating through you know people and you know it, and I'll just be up front. There's a lot of people that uh you know they just want something for their resume, like, oh, I was the CEO at this time, or I was the president, and and those are good things, and it doesn't mean that anybody had ulterior motives at all, but nobody is going to put in the work, put in the drive, the determination any more than the person that started it, and that's the way I feel. And so nobody's gonna do that for voices for voices more than me. And so that that's that's kind of how we've gotten here is it's not me saying I'm perfect, that's absolutely not. I never said anything about being perfect. All I'm saying is voices for voices is my baby. Uh it's not, you know, I I am a father and a husband, and uh it's obviously not as important as that uh or those. You know, next next thing up is voices for voices. And I've been I've had great experiences in the workforce and I've had not great, some were my fault, some weren't. And and I I I would I was seeing that nobody's having the passion and the inspiration than if it was like a family-run company, you know, so people that again started the organization and they're still running it to this day, they're gonna have the most passion. Everybody else is gonna have passion to do their job and and and get a paycheck and have a title and and all those things. But from a you know, when it comes to be a weekend, I try not to do a ton of work, but there's sometimes I do, but it's a different feeling when I do work for voices for voices than if it was to be somebody else's organization. And and I know it's this is a long-winded way of explaining it, um, but I think it it's it that it's time that I'm sharing it, and if you weren't aware of those types of questions about it, how it started, um you know, with my mental health, and I got major, I got me I got diagnosed of major depression, uh generized anxiety, ADHD, ADD, uh, low spectrum autism. And and so I'm dealing with those every single day. And and voices for voices is a way for me to help express my voice. Remember, I didn't say anything about being perfect, all I said is voices for voices is an avenue that I can use to spread to share my voice, my experiences, events that have occurred in in my life, and I share those. And sometimes again, we we bring in uh you know, we we we bring in guests and they share their voices. Uh some of them are political, some of them aren't. Uh we try to not be as political as other organizations because there's so many out there that are political, and we know that mental health isn't restricted to Democrats or Republicans or libertarians or independents. Mental health is mental health for everybody, it doesn't matter, and so you you may see different shows where well you have this person on and their um you know their political affiliation is this, and then you have this person and their political affiliation is that. I've said it from the beginning, and I and I'll say it again. If you're a politician, you're in office, or you're running for office, we've had Republicans and we'd have had Democrats. Okay. And I'm sure we've had independents without maybe without them saying any of that. Uh so if you see an episode like what Justin said, he's not they're not political. Well, we're opening we've opened the door to have people from all walks of life come on. Now, I can only recite that on this show. It's up for those individuals if they want to be part of it. If if they want to, then they have to do the reaching out. This is my open invitation. That's what it is. It's my open invitation, our organization's open invitation to come to come on and talk about life for them. And so I think that's another important point to share again. I've shared it before, but it's been a minute or five or ten minutes. It's been a while since uh I've had a an episode where I've shared it. So I think it's I think it's good because the midterms um are coming up in in November, and others may be different. You know, some some states might be uh different because of maybe somebody suddenly resigns, and then maybe there's like a special election. Uh but yeah, that that's another thing to that I want to share that I don't want anybody feeling like well, he's talking to this, and you know, they did the award and they do these things. Like you gotta reach out. That's how that's how we get our guests. We reach out, and then there's some that reach out to us, and then we see if it's a fit, um, or if it's just we want to just promote ourselves, and like if you're not gonna talk about mental health, or if that's not gonna be the part of the equation, then we're probably not gonna have you on because mental health is the core of voices for voices. So if you just want to come in, come on and talk about your books and and and all that, and and just promote everything, and you can do that, but you also gotta there also has to be a theme of mental health and trauma, because we've all had it. We all have mental health. So to sit here and say, well, no, that's not me, Justin. Oh, yes, it is. If you're a human, you have mental health. Whether you want to believe you have a mental challenge, like a mental illness, that's a different, that's a different equation, a different sentence, a different, that's that's a different side of things. But to say that, like, oh, I don't have mental health, you're fooling yourself. We all have it. And if you're not if you don't want to talk about it, well, that's what voices for voices is. That's what this organization got started on. It didn't get started on politics. We're including politics as an element if that tends to be not tends to if that is uh if that's something that you want to share, or if you want to share that you wrote a book, or you know, we can do that. But we gotta talk about mental health too. Again, I didn't start this organization to turn into some you know, some political all the time show and organization. Like we're not gonna raise money for candidates, and that it's somebody comes on and they talk about their their platform. They're also gonna talk, you know, how how's this relate to mental health, and and then we go we go on from there. So I think we've covered a lot in this show. Again, if you go hit that subscribe button, we'd we'd love that. If you can give us the big thumbs up, like, follow, share, subscribe. Please reach out to 25, 50, 100, 200 of your your connections in a group chat. Let them know about voices for voices, TV show and podcasts. Let them know that we are the hottest uh podcast and TV show behind the Joe Rogan experience and the Dan Bongino show. Uh, the numbers are showing it. Uh and we just want to say thank you so much. You're gonna help us reach over 300 countries and over 3,000 cities. Uh, we got nothing but love coming your way. We're praying for you, we're sending good vibes your way. And again, let everybody know about voices for voices. And so until next time, let's celebrate all the voices that we have, all the different ways, whether it's through the arts, like actual physical like art, drawing, painting, uh, whether it is art with music, uh, whether it's sign language interpretation. Uh, there's so many ways to express our ourselves through our our voice. Uh uh not all of the not all of our voices are spoken that they could be expressed in in different ways. Playing a sport, you know, could be a way of expressing a voice. And we are so grateful to have you with us on episode 416. So until next time, this is Justin Alan Hayes, as always, your host, and be a voice for you or somebody in need. We'll talk to you next time. We love you.