Voices for Voices®

How to Create Value in a World Full of Grifters | Episode 175

• Founder of Voices for Voices®, Justin Alan Hayes • Season 4 • Episode 175

Share episode

How to Create Value in a World Full of Grifters | Episode 175

SUPPORT THE VOICES FOR VOICES® TV SHOW AND PODCAST
https://www.voicesforvoices.org/shop/p/supporter

Chapter Markers
0:00 Voices for Voices®
15:46 Discovering Our Purpose Through Gifts
24:04 Maximizing Impact Through Personal Fulfillment

What if you could turn a single idea into a platform that touches lives across 50 countries? Join me, Justin Alan Hayes, as we explore the incredible journey of Voices for Voices®, a project that started small and is now resonating on a global scale. Discover how real stories of struggle and triumph can foster human connection and community, transcending borders and cultures. Through the guidance of mentors like Katherine Jones and Mark Welfley, we've shaped a mission that challenges listeners to look beyond the mundane and find deeper purpose and meaning in their lives.

Together, we'll uncover how embracing unique talents can lead to personal fulfillment and create value for others. Reflecting on themes from Creed's "What's This Life For," we'll discuss how to align personal satisfaction with contributions that matter, even if they're not financially lucrative. Hear about the delicate balance between honing strengths and pursuing passion projects, and how this alignment can maximize your impact on the world. Whether it's supporting an overnight shelter or amplifying diverse voices, our conversation encourages reflection on your values and the pursuit of meaningful endeavors that benefit both you and the wider community.

Through a deep reflection on purpose and connection, this episode of Voices for Voices® encourages listeners to consider the profound impact of sharing personal stories. It raises essential questions about life’s meaning and explores how we can utilize our gifts to uplift each other in our communities.

• Upholding the mission of Voices for Voices® through storytelling
• Reflection on personal and organizational milestones
• The power of vulnerability and authentic connections
• Exploring existential questions about purpose and fulfillment
• Analyzing the impact of individual gifts on community well-being
• Sharing insights from life’s challenges and personal growth
• The importance of empathy in understanding diverse experiences
• Examining how past experiences shape present perspectives
• Encouragement for listeners to reflect on their own journeys

Voices for Voices® is the #1 ranked podcast where people turn to for expert mental health, recovery and career advancement intelligence.

Our Voices for Voices® podcast is all about teaching you insanely actionable techniques to help you prosper, grow your self worth and personal brand.

As you can see, the Voices for Voices® podcast publishes episodes that focus on case studies, real life examples, actionable tips and "in the trenches" reports and interviews from subscribers like you.

If that sounds like something that could help you grow personally or professionally, then make sure to join me by subscribing!
—
Thanks for listening!

Support Voices for Voices®: https://venmo.com/u/voicesforvoices
Learn more about Voices for Voices®: linktr.ee/Voicesforvoices

#socialera #value #impact #socialchange #socialimpact #sustainability #purpose #meaningfulwork #betterworld #socialgood #changemaker #impactinvesting #socialenterprise #socialresponsibility #ethicalbusiness #consciouscapitalism #impactful #valuedriven #socialinnovation #socialentrepreneur #impactfirst #Newepisode #newpodcastalert #podcastseries #podcast

Support the show

Speaker 1:

Welcome to this episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. I'm your host, justin Allen Hayes, founder and executive director of Voices for Voices, and we're doing it, we're going through, we're making decisions, we are checking off tasks, checking off projects, we're meeting with people, we're sharing those conversations. Some are local and some are national or international, and so as, as you can tell from the beginning that we Voices for Voices, we have big plans and we've come a long way since the beginning, from a one event that was titled Voices for Voices, a brand new day, to the organization that we are to mark. My word will we're gonna hit 250 total episodes by the end of 2025, because we we owe that to you, our viewers, our listeners, our supporters, people, organizations, groups, churches sharing and continuing to share voices for voices, whether that is the individual that's able to speak for themselves or whether we're sharing another individual's voice, could be through a news story, could be through a new story, it could be through a, a parent, an aide, like, like we saw with Jen and Mark, word. Jen, the mom of Mark, does a majority of the spoken word the individuals, the organizations, the people, the humans that we are sharing that conversations, their highs, their lows, along with us, sharing our highs and our lows in times where we find ourselves being vulnerable most should.

Speaker 1:

Should we continue or should we not? Have we run, run our course, or is there still more runway? And so in a previous episode we we were exploring that and we're we're going to continue, but we're really going gonna take it a little down, lower than where we're at, meaning we're gonna take it even into a more raw level than what we, what we were talking about and sharing on that episode. And oh, by the way, how fantastic does this code and this hat look? We've got some great merchandise that's available. You head over to Voices, voicesforvoices. org, which is org, and at the top you'll see what we do and there will be a drop down and there will be the word shop. You click on shop takes you to our voices for voices Shop everything from jackets, shirts, sweatshirts, hats, beanies, notebooks, notebooks, stickers. We have a pretty wide variety and we're continuing to add I'll say monthly, because we have quite a bit that's out right now. So check it out. We'd love to have you get hold of some merchandise and sharing that connection with an individual that might see the merchandise you're wearing or a sticker.

Speaker 1:

You're in class in the back of your laptop, your netbook, and that's what that's. What we're looking for is connection, connecting. We're all in this. We're all in life Together. We're all here for a reason. There's a reason why I'm 43 years old and still on earth. Versus, not, versus, not.

Speaker 1:

And the people that have passed before us doesn't make them any less significant. The time that all individuals are on earth, there's a purpose, there's a reason why and the majority of the time we don't. We don't know what that reason is or what those reasons are. We just we go day to day and I think that there's a good place to pick up. So we're going day to day, minute to minute hour, and we look at. You know what's what's life for? Is it to keep punching the clock, keep filling out Excel spreadsheets, give presentations, work on an assembly line or in a factory, delivering packages, whatever we're doing? Is that that really, you know, the purpose of us living? Is that why we're on earth? So I can deliver X amount of packages this week? Is why helped me a certain amount of products on the assembly line? What? What are those reasons? What is that reason? What are those reasons? And when we're talking about, you know, the hard things we talked about in life. That's, that's paramount.

Speaker 1:

Where some of us may think this way, some of us might not I do, our organization does, so that's why we're sharing. We, we look at ourselves as individuals and then part of whatever groups that were a part of and at different times, we look at where we're at, things we've accomplished, that we feel that are accomplished, and the customers have shown us, have shared with us, guests have shared with us, shown us from time to time, that what's really important and what is the reason or the reasons why I'm here sharing this episode with not just our following and supporters in Northeast Ohio, but across 50 countries, 500 cities across the world, and we're continuing to add supporters, viewers, listeners on a daily basis, daily basis, and we're really able to notice it by each episode that that we drop, that there's new facets, new areas. To give an example, one of one of our previous episodes, we were sharing some parallel between wildfires that have and are occurring in Southern California and a fire that we may, as an individual or as a family, incur where we live, and while they're on two different levels, the wildfire is taking control and burn through acres and acres of land and the structures that kind of come in its way. So we think of losing it all in a wildfire and losing it all in our, our home, our condo, our apartment, where we, where we reside. And so, yeah, not not saying that a wildfire and a house fire are the same thing, but they're similar, they're both fires. Both of those instances hypotheticals I'm talking about. We're losing our house, our dwelling, our safety, our security, or safety or security, regardless of how much a house was worth, how much was paid for the house, how much a person's net worth is, if you lose a house, you lose a house. I can't be more clear than that. So, drawing those parallels between After that episode dropped, we picked up quite a few new viewers and listeners in the Southern California area of the United States.

Speaker 1:

So that's an example of sharing how certain episodes may touch an area, a group of people, in a bigger way than previously. So we are, we're growing, and so when we think about, you know, we think about first off, how I talk, so I talk I guess it's been referred to as the weave and so we share bits and pieces of stories and experiences. But then we always come back, and so we're gonna come back to being in individuals. And what are we here for being in individuals? And what are we here for? You know, on top of oh, I'm going to do a workout today, I'm going to go to church, I'm going to go on a vacation with my family what are we here for? And so, as an organization, as we got started, why I have a voices for voices, how I have a voice for voices co and other merchandise that you've seen and will continue to see on future shows, is because I believe in what we're doing and what we're sharing, because there have been shows and episodes that have helped me, that have helped individuals who are helping me, like doctors and therapists.

Speaker 1:

It forward. While it may not seem the topics every topic might not seem like a topic that it strikes you right here, it strikes somebody right there, it's like somebody at a heart, and even if that's a 10 second snippet or whether that's a full episode or whether that's our full catalog of episodes, that's why we do what we're doing, why we spend so much time thinking about content, putting content together, marketing the content, when we're able to drop in more than one episode in the studio a week, and this is one of those weeks, with this particular episode, that we're dropping a regular scheduled programming on Wednesday, as well as when this episode is dropping for the first time. But the beauty is not only the drop date, is just that it's just a drop date date. Once the drop date and the drop date time have elapsed, you can watch and listen everywhere, anywhere, whether you live in Rome, italy, buenos Aires, argentina, mexico City, in Mexico, seattle, washington, los Angeles, california, cleveland, ohio, columbus, ohio, cincinnati, ohio, new York City, new York, new York, las Vegas, nevada you can find Voices for Voices, and so we recommend, if you're able to, doesn't cost anything, follow us, like us, share us. We would be honored and blessed to have a donation of any amount, and you can do that by going over to Voices4, 4, f-o-r, not the number 4. So Voices4,voicesorg Top of that page you'll see support the show, because our show can't continue without your support and the support of other donors, other members, other sponsors. It just can't. We've been around, we have the episode, we have the guest list and you're going to continue to have the guest list and you're gonna continue to see the guest list get stronger and stronger here in 2025 and we are gonna hit 250 episodes by the end of 2025. You can take that to the bank. So, while we might not know why we're here, while we don't have a notarized document telling us, you know, justin Allen Hayes, you're here for this, you're on earth because of this. You're on earth because of this.

Speaker 1:

We just do the best we can by revering back to she really her and Mark Wellfley really gave me a start of by being a guest on their shows. Catherine Jones, both of them invited me to be a guest on their shows and I learned so much from them and if they didn't give me an opportunity to be a guest on their show, we wouldn't be here today, just wouldn't be. So, looking back at, I still hear it in my mind as I heard it that day. And Catherine was talking about we all have gifts. If we find, or we we think we found, those gifts or a gift and they're different for you, they're different for me, they're different from my neighbor, from my therapist, will we think our gifts share those help people in whatever way that is? And so when she said that it was so profound talking about we all have gifts, we all do, not just this particular demographic or this particular person.

Speaker 1:

We all have gifts and when we think of what we're doing here on earth, that's what I've been trying to kind of follow as a, as a blueprint that, as as my life's evolved the ups, the downs at certain points and this is really one where we talked about prior episode Creed as a song what's this life for? And guitarists from Creed, mark Tremonti, one of his buddies when he was growing up, died by suicide and it helped inspire the writing of that particular song. It's like I can't imagine what his buddy was thinking as he decided to make that decision, that life-altering, life-ending decision, that life-altering, life-ending decision. But while we're able to try to think away from our phones about what are our gifts, what do we do well, what do we do good? So that's that's kind of phase one.

Speaker 1:

Phase two is how does that impact others? So we could be great at doing something. If there's little impact to others and we don't see kind of a growth trajectory, we can still do that thing. It still may be a gift, but we continue doing that. A gift on that level. That's what it is. So we're not going to do a gift on a at a given time that isn't having a not a perceived, but an actual high impact. We wouldn't want to invest tens of thousands of dollars in in that, at least at that time, while there may be another gift that we have that helps make that for that thing, that gift helps impact positively twofold, threefold.

Speaker 1:

And so what do I mean? Impacting others? It comes back to us. How does it make us feel? So we know we do things well, we know we have gifts, things that we do well. Do we like doing them? If we don't like doing them, maybe we should see what else we can come up with. So we want to find something we're good at, some things we're good at where we're able to help impact others at some level, and that it also makes us feel, feel good.

Speaker 1:

So to bring that back to what, what is this life for? Why? Why are we? We here, the times I feel the lowest, the times that I consider well, should we continue? Should we not? How? What time frame should we look at? Time frame should we look at? We really we other other other ways, other other paths. If we like what we're, we like how it makes us feel, and I'll tell you that right now that's a big component for me, for us, how does it make us feel?

Speaker 1:

And so, obviously, if you feel good doing something and it's legal and those types of things, maybe consider continuing that or seeing how you can scale that, make that bigger. You can bring more people in. That you can bring more people in. And so that's what I do, like at kind of that ground zero.

Speaker 1:

When bringing things back to zero, if I'm feeling down like I am now, I think of what can I do to help me, kind of this. You know this, uh, this zero point put in perspective life and why I'm, why I'm still here. Sometimes it involves something that makes money, sometimes it doesn't, and so for me, this part, that which is the hard part of it, doesn't, doesn't bring in a lot of money. And so there's an overnight shelter where there's individuals, when the temperature gets below 20 degrees, or individuals who are out living outside have a place to stay. So they get a meal, a warm place to stay, blankets. They need socks, hats, et cetera, and so that's what I'm doing, that's one of the ways, or is the way at this point, that makes me feel wanted and useful.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Justin Alan Hayes

Host