You Don’t Need Everyone’s Yes When You Create Your Own | Episode 422

You Don’t Need Everyone’s Yes When You Create Your Own | Episode 422

Donate Today:  https://www.lovevoices.org

What if the most important yes is the one you give yourself before anyone else believes? We open up about the gritty, unglamorous path from tiny rooms to real reach, and how a mission built on heart can scale with strategy. This conversation blends story and systems: the speaking arc that leaves people with clear takeaways, the reverse funnel that starts narrow and expands with proof, and the mindset shift that turns rejection from a wall into a waypoint.

We get honest about the emotional cost of growth—cold calls, ignored emails, the ache of almost—and why belief is a working hypothesis, not a wish. Instead of chasing viral luck, we focus on consistent value, clear language, and proximity to listeners. You’ll hear how early supporters became anchors, why even the greatest acts began small, and how to treat naysayers as data rather than destiny. It’s practical and human: build trust, ship often, and keep your ask simple so people know how to help.

Along the way, we share a strategy-first view of scaling: take what works for ten people and stretch it to a hundred, then a thousand. That means defining your core audience, tightening your message until strangers can repeat it, and expanding only when the signal is strong. When the noes pile up, remember they don’t get to live rent-free in your head. Create your own yeses—episodes shipped, messages answered, lives touched—and let those wins power the next step. If you’re building a podcast, a brand, a nonprofit, or a personal project with heart, you’ll walk away with a steadier grip on growth and the resolve to keep going.

If this resonates, tap follow, share it with a friend who needs a push, and leave a quick review to help more people find the show. Your yes keeps this mission moving.

Find our book here: 

Amazon: https://voices-for-voices.org/3ZhJ6AW

Publisher: https://voices-for-voices.org/3LKL1uN

Website: https://voices-for-voices.org/4byLXgb

Instagram: @voicesforvoices

TikTok: @voices_for_voices

Facebook: Voices for Voices

Chapter Markers

0:00 Gratitude And A Bold Mission

2:20 Surging Rankings And Audience Growth

4:32 Life’s Ups, Downs, And Speaking Arc

7:10 Scaling What Works

9:02 Believe Before You Sell

12:05 The Reverse Funnel Strategy

15:55 Starting Small And Early Supporters

19:20 Even The Beatles Began Small

22:10 Trial, Error, And Naysayers

26:15 Cold Calls, Noes, And Resilience

31:30 Turning Noes Into Created Yeses

38:20 Momentum, Milestones, And Belief

42:20 Closing Thanks And Good Vibes

#CreateYourOwnPath #BelieveInYourself #InspirationDaily #FollowYourDreams #EmpowerYourJourney #OwnYourStory #CourageToCreate #LimitlessPossibilities #SuccessOnYourTerms #BeYourOwnHero #justiceforsurvivors #VoicesforVoices #VoicesforVoicesPodcast #JustinAlanHayes #JustinHayes #help3billion #TikTok #Instagram #truth #Jesusaire #VoiceForChange #HealingTogether #VoicesForVoices422

Chapters

• 0:00 Gratitude And A Bold Mission
• 2:20 Surging Rankings And Audience Growth
• 4:32 Life’s Ups, Downs, And Speaking Arc
• 7:10 Scaling What Works
• 9:02 Believe Before You Sell
• 12:05 The Reverse Funnel Strategy
• 15:55 Starting Small And Early Supporters
• 19:20 Even The Beatles Began Small
• 22:10 Trial, Error, And Naysayers
• 26:15 Cold Calls, Noes, And Resilience
• 31:30 Turning Noes Into Created Yeses
• 38:20 Momentum, Milestones, And Belief
• 42:20 Closing Thanks And Good Vibes

Transcript

Voices for Voices, Justin Alan Hayes: 0:02

Hey everyone, welcome to Voices for Voices. It is Justin. Thank you for joining us on this episode of the podcast and TV show. That is the Voices for Voices podcast and TV show or TV show and podcast. We are very grateful for you to be joining us. If you can hit that subscribe button, giving us a thumbs up, like, follow, share, subscribe. All those uh great things are easy to do and they're free. And if you could also do us a favor and reach out and text and do a group group text uh or group chat and uh let your your closest uh closest contacts know about the voices for voices TV show and podcast that we have a bold goal of helping at least three billion people over the course of my lifetime and beyond, and that includes helping over uh people from over three hundred plus countries and over one thousand and thirty-eight um cities to over three thousand cities over the course of my lifetime and beyond. Uh and thank you to the demand of this show. Uh however you are consuming this, whether you're watching, whether you're listening, we just have to say thank you from our heart to yours. Uh it's been uh great uh great week, week and a half, uh, I guess you could call it first part of uh the new year 2026 from a uh an analytics standpoint. We have really shot up the charts. Uh so we are, or three, so we are behind uh the Joe Rogan Experience and the Dan Bongino uh podcast show. And then there is the voices for voices TV show and podcast. And we have you to thank for us being in that three spot poised to move up the charts, and thank you very much. Uh you know, I mentioned since the beginning of 2026, we've uh we've seen a skyrocket in the most positive way of how many people are watching and listening to Voices for Voices. Uh I say this on just about all of our shows. Um, but we are so grateful. We have the best fans, we have the best followers, the best viewers, the best listeners. Uh, it's because of you. Again, if it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have a show to do. We nobody would be watching uh and or listening, and we would have to find something different to do with our uh with our uh mental capacity trying to help people and to share uh stories, share events, share the human experience, which isn't always the funnest thing to do. A lot of times there's a lot of ups and downs, and sometimes there's a lot of a lot more downs than ups. And and so we have to hold on uh hold on for those ups because they're coming. We we talked about the uh the speaking arc of where we want to start at the top, and then we want to work our way down, and then finish a conversation, a speaking engagement at the pinnacle, leaving people with great takeaways. Uh, the fewer the bet the better. And so that that has a lot to do with uh everything we really do, from our shows uh to uh the content that we put out, our uh our books, our media. It's uh it's it's just one of those acquired experiences that we we come across that we we just have to learn over time. So things that are happening in the order that they've happened and are happening to us and to me may be quite different than the way they happen to you, and no big deal, right? We're all unique, we're all human, and there's a lot of different ways to go. I use the word myriad for some some reason, uh saying myriad uh different ways to go. Uh the key is really to hold on because you don't know when there's gonna be a dip or there's gonna be, you know, heading up a hill, or there's gonna be a turn, or maybe a corkscrew, or a loop. Uh many times we don't know that ahead of time, and that goes for all parts of our lives. We can plan and we can plan and we can plan. That doesn't always mean that the outcome is gonna match what the plan was. Now it could, or it could not, or it could, but it just might take a little bit of extra time, or we just don't see enough movement in the positive uh trajectory to give us the confidence, the invigoration, the reinvigoration, as we learned on an earlier episode of our podcast, uh, when we talk about being reinvigorated as an organization, being able to reach people all across the world. We've been doing that. Now we're scaling that. That it just doesn't mean we're climbing a wall, uh, like you know, Spider-Man or an action hero, or um that means we're taking a strategy that works with a small number of people, small group, and then we're making it bigger. So we're scaling it. We're taking something small, and then we're making it making it bigger. That was in a very for those watching, that was in a very, very good uh circle as I was trying to do with my hands. I had the small circle in pretty good shape. It's when I got to the you know at the at scale for the bigger circle. Uh and it comes down, comes down to belief, to perseverance, to believing that there's gonna be a way, no matter how difficult it seems, no matter how much negativity is in the air, you have to believe, and we we've talked about this on on uh uh other media uh engagements where if we don't believe in what we're doing, how are we gonna sell it to somebody else? How are we gonna expect that well everybody's just gonna understand? Now, I will admit when we first started out with the Voices for Voices podcast and TV show, that's what I I kind of thought that. I thought people are just gonna, they're just gonna understand, and things are just gonna expand, right? Because we see these influencers, we see these people that are you know putting a video up, putting a clip up, and thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of views, downloads, and we think, oh well, they did it, so we can do it too. And well, that is true, that can happen. The real key is does it and will it happen for you and for me? And it comes down again to belief in ourselves. Nobody's gonna believe if we don't believe. We can't sell anything if we do not, if we don't believe, forget it. So that's thing one. We gotta believe. We have to. It sounds easy, it really does. Oh, yeah, and Justin's talking about, oh, all I have to do is believe, and then I'll be successful. That's not the case. I'm saying, at the bare minimum, if we're looking to do some big things, we gotta start with ourselves. We've gotta believe. Tried and tested. And when we believe it may take a little bit of time, or it may take a lot of bit of time. But the more we believe, the more we show our persistence, our passion for what we are doing. Then others can see that and hear that. And they can get behind it and say, alright, let me just check it out. Let me see. Let me see what this is all about. You gotta get to that point if you're gonna get if you're gonna be able to step people through the funnel. Right? You're bringing people like a lot of people in, and then you're really honing in on your key uh demographics, or what I'm talking about is we turn that funnel the other way, where the skinny parts at the top, where we start with a few people and a few geographies, and then it expands outward the lower we go. So we call it the reverse funnel effect because we don't well. Let's just say it's it's very it's very difficult, again, like I said, to put one video out and have complete buy-in. And people don't know your name, they don't know the brand name, the organization, product, services. When people don't know that, you have to sell them on it, and that means you gotta do a lot of work for not a lot of money as you get things kicked off. And so that's why we start with that small amount because when we have very little budget, if if any, we're only gonna be able to start with a couple people, but then it grows outward and swells to reach more people. To have at least the opportunity to get your show, your podcast, your your products, uh, your gym that you you're building, to get memberships for that. Uh, whatever that may be, a concert that you're uh you're you're throwing. Uh you know, if you want people to come, a lot of times it's gonna start start small and work your way up. I remember this. I remember a good friend of mine. Haven't talked to him as often as should. Somebody's been with voices for voices since the very beginning. He's got one of our voices for voices mugs. He got an he bought in our merch shop. So awesome. Thank you so much, Frank. Frank Pomada, folks. You heard him on uh earlier episode of of the show. You heard him give a presentation at the very first Voices for Voices event, a brand new day. He was coming to us from New York through through Zoom or whatever uh platform we had. Not sure if it was Zoom at that time. Um but the this person, uh man, I gotta catch up with him. It's a good reminder. He he told me, because I share my vision, and he gets a lot of requests, as we a lot of us do. You know, hey, will you speak at my my event? Will you speak at my event? Will you speak at my luncheon? Will you speak at my gala? And and so Frank, he has to qualify whether it's worth his time, because this person he puts in the work, ladies and gentlemen. Oh my gosh, such an incredible person. And so what he told me before we because we had we had some touch bases, and it was up to or it was uh Frank's idea. He said, Hey, can we, you know, I I don't feel comfortable just you know talking now and then in six months or whatever the time frame we had before the event, and so it was very cool to see his process, the way he was working through his presentation. And one of the things he said, because I was sharing the vision, like the big time vision, very, very similar. Um, very similar. We've shared it. I'm not gonna share it on this show. Uh, you can you can look it up. Uh yes, the the three and a half over three billion, over three hundred countries, over three thousand cities. Yes. That came after the initial vision, and that's what I was sharing with Frank. And I was said, here's what I would like this event to kind of grow to. And I think I mentioned this. to him but i was i was sharing him again we weren't even we weren't even an organization we hadn't even had one event events were getting canceled left and right because of the pandemic and and so everybody all the speakers i think we had 12 in all uh some were in person and some because they spanned the globe came to us virtually with special needs orchestra we had sign language or interpretation uh oh my gosh we're gonna get back we're gonna we're we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna be doing that and in these conversations with Frank he said even he said even the Beatles played to a small crowd at first or a small audience it would he had better work much better vocabulary uh sharing or yeah as he was sharing and basically saying here's one of the most popular bands artists in in history and even they started playing small venues with a small amount of people before they blew up and just took over the the US United States uh and what seemed to be everywhere that they went but I can almost guarantee so thank you Frank for that inspiration to this day that's one of the one that's one of the drivers of keeping keeping me going keeping voices going because it's easy to get discouraged it's so easy we talk at great lengths about how easy it is just to give up just to stop that so that that's it it's so easy to do that the hard part is to continue is to say you know what just like when when we had Natalie Ann Brooks on and she was talking about trial and error I wholeheartedly believe if you don't try it you're not gonna know if it's gonna work so it's trial and error in our organization has been trial and error there's been lots of errors in fact errors are what most people look at and think of oh well they screwed up you know I wouldn't have done this thing this event this interview this show this way I would have did it a different way right so there's going to be naysayers we know there are there's always naysayers the key is when you have that belief in here when you have that belief in here when you have that belief in here that's what helps keep you going and it ends up being a game changer a force multiplier because nobody can compare to the size of your heart and my heart and other people's hearts when we have that belief and we say we're we're ready for no's not's as in like my nose it's just we're ready for no's like I'm gonna ask and somebody's gonna say no and then I'm gonna ask again to somebody else and they're gonna say no and that's where I'm talking about it's easy to get discouraged. I'll give you an example so I was going as I was uh going through my uh undergrad marketing uh degree and and so this was past the point so this was after the point where I I decided hey I'm gonna I'm gonna take my studies seriously but this one this one class it's the mark it was marker research class and what better way to use college students than to have them cold call 150 i think it was 150 per student it was a big number it was a big number and we were told that we were going to be spot checked like if we talk to somebody say hi my name's Justin Hayes I am currently enrolled in the Youngstown State University marketing program we're working on a market research survey do you have three minutes to take an take this survey over the phone so many clicks we got yelled at we got I even had my roommate help me and we made it um we we we made it fun i won't I won't get into exactly how um but we we we made it fun uh as I'm remembering that now so that was something that we we we did during our our our time uh working on our undergraduate and marketing and we were dreading it because once we heard no once we got cursed out um once we got hung up on and then hung up on and then we would get halfway in and we'd go okay this person's gonna take it they're gonna take the survey they're gonna take the survey and then hang up or then they just make it you know because what's the worst thing when somebody asks you hey do you have a couple minutes to take a survey all the the half truth is usually the survey is going to take longer than what's said. When you say hey it's only take two minutes or it's gonna take three minutes now we know darn well it's gonna take more than three minutes or more than two minutes. Back in the day some people knew that and and some kind of like went along with it. So some of the respondents excuse me I'm got an itch on my nose so that happens so we would get halfway through and and we would get answers for you know half the questions and then they would say this is not two minutes long and then they would hang up and say hey I'm I'm done I don't have the time for this so how does all this play how does all this play into voices for voices or any organization any personal goals I heard so many no's I heard so many click you know this was you know before most of us had cell phones so it was you know you you didn't have some still had the dial up where you like you put your finger in the hole and then it's like okay eight and then it would go round and then you go back and then you go one you know you do the every single um number and so you would do it that way like the rotary phone I think is what they call it but then there would be the digital phone where like you press the buttons and you would hear the beep like like eight beep seven beep six beep uh and so that's uh that's kind of uh the era that we were in uh when I was going for my undergrad when I was enrolled and ultimately earned uh earned that and was very and I am very happy that I I did because once I decided to have belief in myself that I could actually indeed turn it around and by turn it around meaning get better grades st take time to study even though I was partying and doing all that um I made it a point to get my studies done first so I devoted a great portion of the week to studying and then I devoted the rest of it where I would kind of if I had time and I wanted to then I would do some work but if I didn't I would just kind of you know play video games we'd be playing Tiger Woods golf um miss a lot of classes playing Tiger Woods golf oh my gosh talk about bringing back memories okay so the no's that we were getting on on the survey for a grade organization that is very similar so while we were doing that for a class for a grade and for an organization the surveys right so we were each student there's a huge list and then you got I don't know three four pages on like I said I think it was maybe 150 total each or maybe even been more I don't I can't remember the actual numbers but there's a lot of people and it's like can we just say we did it um but then when we were like well if we say we did it and then we get spot checked I don't want I don't want to get a bad grade because of that so heard tons of noes with voices for voices with our show with everything we've done all along the way we've heard no no response no response this email address is no longer in use phone number is no longer in use no response from a voicemail and so once you prepare yourself with that belief it doesn't matter how many no's it doesn't I've lost track I've lost track I really have because I've heard so many especially in the professional world hey this job's available apply you know you go you may get feedback sorry this this position uh has been eliminated um we are sorry but uh you know you do have a great background it's just uh you know we're not gonna move forward with you it's all it's all a big no every single time you hear it or you read it and it's it's a version of a no you can either give up which is easy right it's close up the computer just alright I'm done I give it my best or we take that belief we have inside and we say no no no you're not living rent free in my heart in my mind in my soul not only aren't you living rent free in my heart my mind and my soul but I'm not paying rent for you to be in my heart in my mind and in my soul because see that's what that's what that's what trips up a lot of people and it still even trips me up from time to time is we let things get to us and we say oh man I don't want to do that I don't want to do that again I don't want to do this I have the belief but it it just I just don't want to do it anymore hearing no I'm hearing no so many times and I'm hearing yes so little of the time I just don't want to do it I just want to stop because that's the easy thing to do but don't let anybody live rent free in your heart in your mind and your spirit in your soul and definitely do not let people charge you for them to be living in your heart mind soul spirit because do you think that other person cares what they're doing no they don't a lot of them just have big egos like why I'm so important like I'm just not gonna respond or I'm not gonna my admin let me know and I'm just not gonna respond that's something I've had to learn the hard way and it's not like you you go through it once and then you're automatically like cured there's there's still some no's that sting more than others but once I look at the logo on my hat once I look at the logo behind me I see voices for voices and then I'm reminded of all of the yeses that I have created see somebody might be saying no but when we create because of our belief in our hearts our minds our bodies our soul our spirit then all right we heard no but I'm still going after it I'm gonna create the yeses I'm gonna create the yeses and so in that funnel I talked about at the beginning that star started small and then gets wider at the bottom that's what I'm talking about is and I'm talking for me when I said you know there were you start out with you know just a few couple people that you know buy in and so you know what what what you're doing and what I'm doing with our organizations our shows etc those first couple people were me or my heart what was my heart was my mind my body my soul so I created those yeses in order to have that expansion happen because at some point somebody's gonna see something and somebody's gonna take a look at they're gonna look at that new product you put out that new service you have available that new show that you have started that new podcast you have going and they're gonna say okay they have 15 podcast 15 episodes let me check it out or how about this they have four hundred and twenty episodes Of the voices for voices, podcast and TV show. So those yeses, though or my yeses. No, the yeses, or what my my heart, my mind, my body, my soul. When you start at one, we know the stats. Stats are low for people that start a show, a podcast at one, that they're going to continue to two, then to 50, then to 100, then 150, then 200, then 250. And now you heard me talk at a beginning also about how we're third behind a Joe Rogan experience, behind a Dan Bongino show, and then there's us the Voices for Voices podcast and TV show. It started from a couple couple of yeses, and they were my yeses. My heart was one of them. My mind, my soul, my body. Those were my yeses that got me started. All because I had that belief inside. And was, have been, and are invigorated to continue on. So don't let those nos keep you down. Maybe just step away for a moment or two. Don't let those nos live rent-free or charge you rent to live in your own heart and your own mind, your own body, your own soul, your own spirit. And pretty soon, people are looking up at you and me. Thank you so much for spending time with us on this episode of the Voices for Voices podcast TV show. We're uniting people. We're uniting people. We have nothing but love for you. Whether you're a believer or not, we never can have enough good vibes. Never ever can we have enough good vibes. So we're sending those that each and every one of you. Whether you watch this the day that the episode drops, or listen to it the day the episode drops, or you'll watch or listen to it two years down the road, three years down the road, like some of our episodes lately have been getting invigorated, reinvigorated. Thank you so much. We'd love you. Come back for more and let at least 25 of your closest friends, your friend circle know about the voices for voices podcast and TV show. We're everywhere. You can watch us, you can listen to us. If you can pinterest us on it, you can voice us for voices on it. We love you. Stay strong. Believe in yourself. Take care. We love you. We'll see you soon. Bye bye.