Building an Awesome Life with Candyce Haynes-Forrester

Chris Albert 00:00:00 (link to this point)

What is up, Warrior Soul nation? This is Chris back at you with another episode. I've got a really awesome guest here today. I was at the Dania Beach Improv doing a comedy show, and this lady got up and she absolutely killed it. You know, my my girlfriend actually told me after the show, she was her favorite comedian of the whole night.

And, know, I found out later she's a Marine Corps veteran. So I was like, oh, man. I gotta get this girl on the show. Wanted to talk to her. Candyce Forrester, welcome to the Warrior Soul podcast.

Is it Forrester or Haynes?

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:00:39 (link to this point)

Hey. It's Haynes Forrester. Haynes Forrester.

Chris Albert 00:00:42 (link to this point)

Yeah. Hyphenated. Hyphenated. Well, welcome. You you're an interesting person.

It's it's actually doctor Candyce Haynes Forrester. Just learned you had you got your PhD, served in the marine corps. You tell everybody a little bit about yourself.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:00:57 (link to this point)

Absolutely. So again, Candyce Haynes Forrester. So the hyphenation, you can tell I was a Marine cause I just couldn't let my own thing go. I had to keep down a little of independence. But yeah, I am from South Florida, born in South Florida, raised in LA.

I actually left from South Florida when I went to the Marine Corps. Joined the Marine Corps when I was 17. I graduated high school early and I decided that's what I wanted to do. So, I went on to be a combat correspondent and I did that for Armed Forces Network. I ran station for AFN Iwakuni.

Anybody who's stationed overseas knows the Armed Forces Networks. It's pretty much all you get to enter community.

Chris Albert 00:01:32 (link to this point)

Yeah, that job.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:01:34 (link to this point)

Yeah, that was my job. I am I worked at AFN, I did TV, I did radio for years. And then when I decided to leave the Marine Corps, I went ahead and finished my bachelor's in film and video production. I got my master's from Full Sail University in entertainment business, I just decided to kind of go along those lines. From my background in public relations and public affairs, because that's kind of how you start as a combat correspondent.

You do the journalism side first and then you do broadcast after that. That's where I was actually studying political science as well. So I've been really, really, really lucky to have a vast understanding, a really big background that I was able to take and use in the civilian world in broadcast and advertising, working with major clients like Kellogg's Frosted Flakes and Johnson and Johnson, just like these different products and services. So that was my thing. I went from delivering command messages for the United States Marine Corps to delivering command messages for some of your favorite brands on And that was really cool.

After I finished that, I went on. I did produce for Sesame Street for two and a half years and I started a media company which is Movis Media Group. We do a lot of stuff here producing shows and those types of things. But my passion has always really been in public speaking and comedy. I started speaking professionally when I was 15, really grateful to be able to do that.

So telling the stories of the men and women of the armed forces, it really just went in line with what I was already doing from being a kid to doing things like reporting on joint military exercises in Thailand and Australia and all that kind of stuff. I've had a Operation Cobra Gold. I've had a very, very vast career, at 34 and I'm really, really grateful for that. But I think more than anything else, I love the concept of this show because I always felt like caps wasn't enough. Like when you got rid of the EAS, there was not there wasn't this transitional period. And depending on what your job is, most people didn't know how, how do you write a resume?

Like how do I take these skills and how do I put over here? It's like, oh, I'm kind of starting from scratch, which you're not. So as the business major, I was that I was the Marine that everybody would be sending their stuff to. They got ready to get out. I mean, much as as far as like some of my gunnery sergeants, you know, I'm still cool with some of my sergeant majors down my face with Facebook.

And that's the unique aspect of what my job was where you typically don't have someone lower enlisted that's really dealing with officers and those types of things. But that was the nature of my career in the military. So I love this concept. Chris, I love this show. I love what you've been able to do.

I love the 48 laws of power. So it's a great book, my favorite one being Never Outshine the Master. I think that there's just so many cool things that you are exposing veterans to that they don't even know. There was so many resources I wish I knew as a young Marine, I wish I had taken advantage of that would have even further set me up for success. While I was on active duty, I did do a lot of my degrees.

So most of my stuff I did on tuition assistance and I went through the program. However, most people did not understand that you could do that. They didn't know that it was an option. They just thought, okay, I have to do this. And I made my education a priority so that when I came out, I would be able to go into any situation and I would be more well versed.

Chris Albert 00:05:14 (link to this point)

Right. And what I appreciate about you is this, like, you you used your education and you you used your experience to create something. And I think one of the things one of the problems I see out there, and this is not just in the military, but people in general when they're going for degrees, is that they don't necessarily have a plan before they go and get them. And, you know, I talked to so many veterans, and they're like, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I have no idea what I want out of life and things like that.

And the thing is this, you don't you shouldn't feel like you're trapped because you can do absolutely anything. You just need to go and do the work necessary to do what it is. So I think a lot of veterans, they close their mind off to the possibilities because they don't think it's possible for them, you know. And and I'm doing something today I never thought I'd be doing. I I I run a manufacturing company and I love it.

But like, you know, I I would have never thought about that if I didn't do the the base business work that I had to do to get involved with this company and to to to actually get to where I am. The same with you. Like, you were in combat correspondent. You have a media background and things like that. But even if you didn't, you seem like the type of person who would have gone out there and learned what you needed to know to get to where you needed to go.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:06:32 (link to this point)

Right? If I worked in the flight line, I was gonna find a way to work on the flight. It didn't matter whether if I was building bombs, you know. It it really was, just perspective. I'm I'm really grateful.

My dad was actually in United States Marine Corps. So when I decided that I wanted to go to the marines of all the branches, I said, you know, came home one day and I said, hey, your dad, I'm gonna join the marines. You kinda have to know in life who you are and where you are. And I just knew that from very early age. So when I told them, hey, I'm gonna graduate high school early, there there was really no need for me to still be in high school because essentially I was pretty much dealt with my associates by the time I finished high school because I was in advanced placement courses and that kind of stuff.

So I wanted to push myself, and I knew I needed additional discipline. I needed other things for myself. Right? And when I got on active duty, did the same thing. I I'm looking, I need other things for myself.

And that was in that education and how do you push yourself. I, I was the president of the single marine program, you know, for the marines overseas. I was a volunteer victim advocate. I really kind of stepped outside of just doing my MOS and just doing my job to learn other things. You know, I'd be when you do those things, you're dealing with, you're dealing with s three, you're dealing with training, you're dealing with just all these other aspects and you're dealing with, training, you know, inside where everybody else is having to go in.

And I would just like find like little ways. I was like this little Lance Corporal, like finding little ways to be useful and to try different things. Wanted to know. I thought maybe I would do twenty years. You know, I didn't expect to do four years and the way that things panned out, I made a conscious decision.

You know what? I want to go ahead and push myself a little bit more, but it is a personal choice on what you decide to do. It's just you have to decide. While everybody else was getting drunk and you know, hanging on the barracks and everyone has all like super amazing stories. I was in school, you know, I was learning Japanese.

I was, I would get off, I get off, I have duty, we have to get up, you know, and then I always, wanted to be personally an overachiever. And you know, we'll get to that a little bit later and how that kind of shifted me to like, okay, well, do you get to comedy from being this other this other this other level of light pressure? But at the time for me, was how do I just keep being this best version of myself? How do I keep pushing myself? How do I keep thriving to this next level?

If not, for me personally, then I felt like I wasn't that late. You know, I was, I was the Debbie do right. Like I was, I was the two ninety eight PFT, you know, always in like, wait, I was like the Molly Marine. Like that was me. They actually, I'll send you the link.

They actually followed me when I was in boot camp. The video that they did today for the, recruiting video for the Marine Corps, you'll see like skinny Lance Corporal Haynes, or private at the time, private first class Haynes from Pembroke Pines, Florida. So it's it's interesting that you, you said that about just, hey, no matter what it was, whether it was public affairs, like I was gonna make it work. But to what I was saying about my dad being a Marine, he knew me. My dad actually opened the office that I decked out of.

Chris Albert 00:09:32 (link to this point)

Really?

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:09:33 (link to this point)

He was a Marine. When he was a Marine Corps recruiter, he actually opened that office. So he put it here. He went in there and he told them, he was like, hey, my daughter's gonna do this. And they were like, we don't have that job. And he was like, okay, well call me when you have the job. You know what mean?

Like, so it was like, when I was like, they're like, who is this? You know, who is this guy? But he knew my dad was like a top recruiter in South Florida. So it's for his daughter to like go out of this, one of the offices that he opened, it was like a really big symbolic thing, for me.

Chris Albert 00:10:03 (link to this point)

That's awesome. The man, dad knew what's up. He knew how to talk to the recruiters. That that that's really cool. Knew all the, all the tricks they pull.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:10:13 (link to this point)

You know, they start pulling out the benefits tags. So what is it that you wanted? Is it travel? Is it education? It was like, listen, we're we're doing all that.

Is what we're doing. Funny enough, Chris, they actually not only did they find my job, they found a bonus and the Marine Corps doesn't give bonuses.

Chris Albert 00:10:29 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:10:30 (link to this point)

So, yeah, I actually had a bonus to join the Marine Corps.

Chris Albert 00:10:34 (link to this point)

That's awesome. That's after boot camp. You know? But one thing I wanna say here too is like, alright. So you mentioned something in regard to the value you brought to the table as a Lance Corporal.

Right? Didn't matter what your rank was. You're gonna try to be valuable wherever you were. And I think that's such an important concept for people to understand. Right?

Because you know and I know this, it it you need other people. Right? You need other people to help you along in your way. And the way to do that is not to go up and say, hey, please, can you mentor me? Or hey, please, can you do this for me?

The way to do that is to give value to other people. Go there, do something for them, and it doesn't matter, like, where you are in life. There's always something you can give. Right? There's always something you can do.

And and, you know, again, I see people out there. They might not be happy with their job. They might not be happy with their their upward mobility. What you gotta do in those cases is figure out not how you can do less, how you can do more, how you can give value to the person above you, how you can give give value to the whole company. You know?

And if you can find ways of of adding a little bit extra, then that's gonna do so much for you in knowing people who can help you along on your way. Right?

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:11:55 (link to this point)

Absolutely. Absolutely. It's I mean, that's a major thing. I actually had I went on multiple boards and I was meritoriously promoted twice. So I was meritoriously promoted at a boot camp.

I was meritoriously promoted to corporal. I actually had another board where I was going to be meritoriously promoted to sergeant and I decided that I was going to get out of the Marine Corps. I wanted that opportunity to go someone else who would benefit from that rank. I knew that I was going to EAS within six months. It didn't make sense.

And that's the kind of person that I am. Like my thought process was sometimes you look out for you, but in serving other people, you automatically benefit. Like the more that you give, more that you'll get in return. And I couldn't have been that person. I'm trying to think of like those specific instances that would even have, you know, my sergeant major put me up for my first meritorious promotion because they weren't promoting in my MOS.

So they, and then in Japan, like it's not like you really can just get to the range like that in Iwakuni. So there's just like all these different things that are factors. I look at that played a role in the way that my career unfolded in my life unfolded. But the biggest thing was that I always understood that if you add more value than you get paid for, if you give more than people are expecting of you, if you under promise and overproduce, then you'll always look like a rock star. And that's what we need today more than anything else in this current landscape.

People are just wanting something for nothing and it just doesn't exist that way. That's why my favorite people to work with are former active duty military, preferably marines. Know why? Because they break you down for thirteen weeks to build you up and everybody has the same base foundation, the same base understanding. And when you have that and you're very clear on moving as a unit and moving as a team, there's nothing that will deter you from accomplishing the goal.

To me, there is nothing more brilliant than that. Like in working with comedian, Lee Smith and working with other comedians, I love working with other veterans because they also understand what it is to be a team. Put it to say, hey, let's look at the greater good. Everyone's not going to laugh at me. There's going to be a 50 year old dude in there that has, they don't, they're never going to understand a twerk joke.

Know, they're not going to, right. You know, I can, I can have this, this joke? There's, there's some, there's some audiences that don't necessarily relate to me exactly the same because again, I didn't grow up a certain way, you know, people expand and the twerk joke is essentially like, don't know how to twerk and it's mind blowing to people because, you know, because I'm curvy and I'm, I'm a African American female and it's just like, I'm sorry, like that's just not me.

Chris Albert 00:14:33 (link to this point)

Right?

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:14:34 (link to this point)

So in just understanding like this vast overview of like what I have personally experienced and what I look at from my time on active duty, greater than anything else, your ability to progress in life, no matter where you are, your ability to progress a 100% depends on your ability to provide value to people without them having to ask and your ability to be clear on what it is that you want from the situation. I think a lot of people come into situations and they may say, Hey Chris, I, you know, I'm a veteran. I'd love to come and work at your company. You know, I don't know anything about it. And then they get in the door and they're like, okay, well I need this salary.

I need this, I need this. And it's like immediately, it's like, what can I do for you?

Chris Albert 00:15:20 (link to this point)

Right.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:15:20 (link to this point)

Two seconds, what is it? What can you do for me? Like, why can I come in? But I was that guy and that's what I teach like my clients whenever I'm doing coaching in business, you come in, like if you're not willing to come into something and work for free for thirty days to master it, to come in and like add some value and kill it. I've every job I've ever went in since I left the Marine Corps and I will tell you this is like my little secret sauce.

I'm gonna spill it for this podcast and this podcast only. I've never said this before. I'll come into a situation, I'll make an agreement if I even if it's something that I know that's not a rate that I'm willing to deal with. And for thirty days I get people addicted to me. Get for thirty days I give them, just outperform anything they've ever seen for thirty days.

I watch my own statistics and I show how I add value for thirty days. I show them how I increase and I convert for thirty days. I'm I'm there early and I leave late like for thirty days. Like that's the energy that I have behind it. And I could not be that person understand that if I didn't have that foundation from the Marine Corps.

If you're able to just like for thirteen weeks, be willing to get outside of yourself. How can I say to you, Hey Chris, I'm going to come into your business? I can change your business, but you got to pay me first $10,000 Why don't I come in? Let me come in, let me show you. Let me take, okay.

What is the, what's the average number that you guys do a week? You know, a new sales or new clients. Okay. You guys got 10 by the end of this thirty days, I triple that number. Well, remember you said it was 10.

This is your metrics. Now you're consistently three times more than that since I came on board. Now let's talk about money. Now let's talk about what I want out of this situation. Why?

Because again, I have added value to you. That's the secret. The secret has nothing to do with people think, Oh, it's because you're lucky or because you know, people really like you and you're likable. No, it has nothing to do with that. Whether I'm the person that come in and you say, no, Candyce, the only thing I have for you is if you can just be my intern and answer my phone.

I'm never too good. My degrees don't matter. My background doesn't matter. If I want to come in and do something, you gotta be willing to come put boots on the ground first and then you go. And I've never stayed at a low, I can start entry level today and I guarantee you I'll be running the company by the end of the year.

Chris Albert 00:17:30 (link to this point)

That's awesome. That's so awesome. I think that's probably one of the most important things anybody's ever said on this podcast. I mean, the the perspective you just gave there, that is absolutely amazing. And and at home, I hope that if you listen to this, you go back and you listen to that again.

I think that that was so profound and and and for for so many of you out there who are trying to find your way, that's probably the best advice I've ever heard anybody give here. Candyce, you're so you're an entrepreneur. Can you tell us a little bit about your entrepreneurial story? What was it like trying to start something from the ground up? Like, how how did that come about?

And and, you know, how long did it take you to take it from, like, idea to fruition?

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:18:15 (link to this point)

Oh, man. I've had so many businesses.

Chris Albert 00:18:17 (link to this point)

First of all, I am a entrepreneur.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:18:22 (link to this point)

I I've had so many businesses. My first business was actually was when I was 12. I started a smoothie stand. Like I said, I grew up in LA and my parents worked in a corporate, they worked for a nonprofit organization in a corporate building area. And I just, I saw a need, like I've just always been a hustler.

If go back to that, I used to sell candy in school. I was selling candy, but I would always look at them and always look at numbers and I think to give a little context on like, okay, well what little girl is thinking about like starting businesses and doing that? Like it has a lot to do with my dad. Like my dad is an entrepreneur. You know, we we have multiple businesses but growing up, I would ask my dad a question and he'd give me a book.

And I'm like, but can you just can you just bottom line it? Can you cliff notes it for me? Like what? And he'd give me a book. So he'd me Rich Dad Poor Dad.

He'd me The Kybalion. He'd give me The Power of Positive Thinking. He'd give me Napoleon Hill's series. Like I had to learn how to find information for myself. The number one thing in business that you must, must, must do as an entrepreneur is you must understand how to find information.

You cannot take what someone is saying as well such and such said based on what, what are the numbers? What's the historical data? There is no business, no idea. I'm sorry to say it. There's somebody on here who's like, I have the idea of the lifetime has never happened before.

Listen, it's been done before. It's been done before. It might not have succeeded. May not look like the way you think it looks like it's been done before. And if you did a little bit of research, if you did a little bit of research and you did a competitive analysis in your field and genuinely looked at the product or service for what it is, I guarantee you, you'll find 50 people across the world in different languages and different cultures that have done it and you can take that data and that information and leverage it into your business and take your business to another level.

Why? Because they've already spent the money to identify what works and what doesn't work. There's no, there's nothing under the sun. You should be starting from scratch. So I'll say that kind of like to say there's nothing that I do that's from scratch. Everything I do, I build off of a template.

I look at something and I'll say, okay, there is a, I have an events management company. Right? They, okay, these are the top event management companies in the area. These are the types of clientele that they service. This is the way that they advertise on their Instagram.

This is what their website looks like. This is how many reviews they have on Google. This is how they are getting new clientele. This is what their clientele can spend. Here's the average money per, per average household in that area.

Like I know it down to a science and people think again that it's luck and it's just research. You know, that's the greatest gift my father could have ever given me was the ability to find the answer on my own. Most people will not find the data. They'll go off of this is how I feel. And if I'm coming to you with a business idea and you're my investor, Chris, and I'm telling you, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread. And I don't come with that type of information.

I don't come that down to the nail. Don't, I come to you and say, Hey, people get on shark tank. I need $250,000 for what? For what? You don't, that means you don't know.

There's no person in business that takes business seriously that operates in round numbers because it doesn't exist. Might be $237,592.52 down including payroll taxes, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so you kind of just have to know if you want to be taken serious as an entrepreneur that I have to come in with my stuff tight. I got to come in with my stuff in order. And you learn that like, well I learned that, you know, when I was in the Marine Corps, I learned about order, right?

So when we go back and we talk about these listeners, these guys that some of you guys are like retiring, I had gunnery sergeants, I've had master sergeants getting out and not know what they want to do next.

Chris Albert 00:22:15 (link to this point)

Right.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:22:16 (link to this point)

Not just about these, these younger enlisted Marines. Like when you have done this or service members, when you've done the same thing for twenty years and you're used to getting paid on the first and the fifteenth and you're used to this certain thing, it can be jarring moving into this other area. It can be a bit daunting. It can be overwhelming and it can be a part where you're kind of having an identity crisis because your MOS was never who you are.

Chris Albert 00:22:40 (link to this point)

Yeah, no, exactly.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:22:41 (link to this point)

Right. It's just something that you did and you might've wanted to do something else and you couldn't do a lap move. Know, you couldn't do these other things. So you just did that. So when you step outside of that and you're looking at businesses, like I said, at 12 I started selling smoothies.

We were grossing $1,000 a week. Then I came outside of that and I decided I want to workplaces. As an entrepreneur, this is a major, major key because I do have a lot of mentees and people that I coach and work with and they never get this. And so I hope that this blesses someone. Hope today that this is a statement that blesses you.

If you want to be successful at anything, you must be willing to follow before you leave. Right. Find that company, that research I was talking about, go and work there for six months. I've worked in corporate America. I know what contracts look like.

I knew I've never came into my business trying to figure it out from scratch. I went in and I learned what the big boys were doing because I wanted to be one of the big boys. I didn't come in playing those games. I'm like, okay, wow. Well, when there's a hurricane in Florida and businesses closed down and the business wants to still pay their employees, does the business take a loss, Chris? No, they take their business insurance. If you're using backdoor business and you didn't take the time to get business insurance, you may have turnover because people couldn't wait on you to pay their bills.

Chris Albert 00:24:08 (link to this point)

Right.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:24:09 (link to this point)

I mean, there's all kinds of little things that you like, oh, that's not a big deal. I'm going to cut this corner. I'm not going pay these taxes. Guess what? Were I'm laughing because

Chris Albert 00:24:17 (link to this point)

I was just going through a policy.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:24:21 (link to this point)

So, you know, business can change your business and it can be cents on a dollar. You're not really making money. This doesn't cost you anything, but it's setting you up and it's setting your business up. It's just like those, those building blocks that we got in bootcamp. Mhmm.

You can always you'll always fall back to this like really solid foundation. It will never crumble under you. You'll never be under quick quicksand if you set your business up right from the beginning.

Chris Albert 00:24:47 (link to this point)

Right. Right. And that's oh, man. So so that's that's getting to what you do. But, like, so much of, like, the the the macro stuff you said there again is so important.

Right? And, like, I talked to all these guys. They say there's no resources out there. There's no place to go. And you gotta open your eyes because there are there's there we live in a time and a place where where information is more available than it's ever been ever.

Right? You can get books anywhere. You can literally go on Google or or DuckDuckGo if that's what you prefer and and research anything you want. You can learn how to build a business. You can do all these things.

But also what you said there about having order. Right? Making sure you get all your ducks in a row. You know, you can either you can either live through learning from other people or you could live through falling in your own pitfalls. And and I think too many people out there try to learn by falling into their own pitfalls.

I know I did. I've had businesses put me on the street before, so it's tough. Me too. It's tough.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:26:00 (link to this point)

So yeah. There's I mean, I think we've been I've been in a a wealth of industries.

Chris Albert 00:26:05 (link to this point)

Mhmm.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:26:05 (link to this point)

And it's really funny because I remember growing up, people would always say jack of all trades, master of none. Right? And if you're in this current economy and you're in this current landscape, if you are not a jack of all trades, if you cannot pick up multiple things at one time, your value is extremely diminished. My ability to be a chameleon and go in and out of various industries from media to, we own a private security firm, which is the largest minority security firm here in South Florida. For me to be able to go in and I'm the director of operations for that and we have restaurants and we have all these different things going on. Then also my passion is comedy. It's something I fun I always wanted to do, but I never thought that it made sense responsibly.

Entertainment, no way. Like I'm never going over there. I never thought that it made sense. And I think that's the pivot that I wanted to get to, to really impress upon the audience today is finding your real passion because it's not about money. Money comes and goes, you know?

And I actually had this conversation with a friend of mine and it really threw me off because they were so focused on, well, don't have that problem and you don't have this problem. You don't have it. And I'm like, yeah, but at 30 at 34, 34 now, at 34 years old, I have lived the life of multiple people. Like I've had no like I have gone in and I've done the groundwork and I've done these different things. So when I tell you something, I'm telling you from experience.

I'm not telling you something that I read in a book. I'm telling you, interned and worked with some of the industry's titans and I never got paid. And I never asked for it because I realized that when you deal with people that are ultra high net worth individuals, I would get more from the information data and connections that they're spilling over just from being in their orbit than I would ever get from a paycheck. And as an entrepreneur, you have to understand that it's not about, okay, let me be able to do that. That's an employee.

That means you want to clock in and out somewhere At the company you're at Chris, if you get sick today, there's things that still have to be happening for it to operate and function. And so as an entrepreneur, you had to set in these things. You have to have people that are working. You got to have someone that's turning the screws and it's turning the screw and flipping the lights on and answering the phone is as vital to your business as its core function. If you don't have someone that is answering the phone that has the customer service, that's doing follow-up and the money is in the follow-up in your business. You know, I can, I could go through a laundry list? We have, I have real estate, I have a real estate license. I got hustles all over the place.

I got things all over the place, but those things weren't my passion. The biggest thing was understanding, you know what, if I'm going to come into this situation, I have to have a very clear understanding of what I want out of the situation. I'm not just going to come in and just be working to work. And that goes to, like you said, using your education and using it in a way that goes along the lines of what you wanna do. There was one point when I entertained in organizational psychology and then I was over, like I bounced around a little bit.

Chris Albert 00:29:14 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:29:14 (link to this point)

Eventually I went back to business because my master's was in entertainment business and if I was going to get a terminal degree, it just didn't make sense to be here. I was like, let's rein it in. This would be the thing that's like the bread and butter I always fall back on. I've been doing it since I was a teenager in media and business. So it's second nature to me.

So why not? If you're an expert in something, why not refine that? Even if it's not something that you want to do longterm while you're working on your dream and you're working on yourself, you're doing something that does not require a lot of mental energy from you. That's really big thing. People always want to recreate the wheel and it's like, listen, there are a million wheels out there. Just hop on one bro. Just hop just hop on

Chris Albert 00:29:57 (link to this point)

No. You you

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:29:58 (link to this point)

Decide which hamster wheel you wanna be on and ride it out.

Chris Albert 00:30:02 (link to this point)

Yeah. You're so right about that. You're so right about that. So let's talk about the comedy because I I'm new to comedy. I've been doing it for two months now, and I'm amazed by the community down here.

And and, you know, I'm so I was so impressed by you watching you get up there. How'd you get into comedy? How long have you been doing it for? And how did that that fit into this this overall plan that you got?

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:30:27 (link to this point)

Well, comedy has always been, like, my passion. I've always wanted to be the fun one. I'm never the fun one, by the way, guys. So every if you can't tell, I'm the intense one. I'm the get it done one.

I'm the dependable one, but I've never been known as the fun one. I've never been the party one, any of those things. It's funny you talk about the community in comedy. Comedy has shown me the closest thing to my community and my relationships I had in the Marine Corps since I got out. Like, I'll be, it is the coolest thing.

Like there's these, there's all these different individuals with all these personalities from different places and walks of life, right? It's like boot camp. You could be from someone from Southside, you know, Southside Crips and you can be in there with someone from the cartel and you can be in there with some guy from Ireland and you I mean, there's just like this hodgepodge of people that you're like stuck with.

Chris Albert 00:31:17 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:31:18 (link to this point)

Right? And you have to like grow with and then eventually they grow on you. And so you have like these interesting I have like friends in Altoona, Pennsylvania still. I have friends just from so many different walks of life and it always throws people because it's like, how are they friends? Well, well the Marine Corps is predominantly male still. And so you you you get put in a situation and if you're somebody who people can respect and they can gravitate to, you, you, you have, and so comedy is the same way. You, you grow and you, you find these people and they have these really interesting stories. I mean, just like their own personal stories and their own personal battles and they just want to be heard. Right. And they found a way to make it kind of therapy.

And that's what it was for me when I decided two years ago that I wanted to do comedy. The funny thing is I never told anybody about it. This was something that was just for me. I told no one, I would just write my jokes and do my own thing, but I never shared it. The show that I met you at was the first show where there were 32 of my close friends and family that saw me perform it.

They had no idea that this was even something that I did. This was because it was a bringer show. I was like, I guess I could like tell people, you know, I had never done a flyer. I'd never even posted about it. Like this is the first year where I'm even making it like this is a public thing because I thought I had to be taken seriously all the time.

And so I didn't understand how am I, you know, wanting to be like a business mogul and I want to do this and that. And then I have this other side of myself where my passion lies and it's the thing that like makes me alive and it keeps me excited. You need to have a balance in your own personal life and no one knows that but you, right? It's the same thing where you're the only person who knows how hard you can push your body, how hard you can push yourself. Right?

So when I was a personal trainer, it was the same thing. It's like, I'm the only one that knows when I'm really trying or I'm not trying. Comedy became something for me where I had to try again. I had to try. You're not just going to get up there and just, you know, sell a couple of funny jokes or think that You it's have to come on stage and you have to read the audience and you're like, okay, they were going in this direction.

I said this when I opened up, they didn't really laughed. They didn't respond. So it's something that forces you to be very quick with it. You have to be like on it and you're set. I'm sure you know, when you get up there, the set that you have in mind to perform is never the set that you actually complete.

Like it's like, was, I had practiced this and I got up there and they were a little drier here and I only had this much time. So I just started, you know, connecting and engaging with them. And I'm like laughing, like look at your hair. Like really? I can tell you, no, I can tell you don't claim your kids, sir.

And so you just get up there and have fun with the audience. And it's like this, this amazing therapy, it's amazing therapy. And then you get to talk to individuals like yourself. I never would have met you if I wasn't willing to step outside the box and do something that I really wanted to do, But I was afraid to do because I got to the point of in my career, am I a comedian, a comedian? And I think a comedian really is one of the most noble professions that you can ever get into. It requires you to connect with people to be vulnerable. And it's, I think that's something for, especially service members. We are taught not to be vulnerable. We are taught that these are the facts. This is what it is, accomplish the mission.

You're not allowed to tap into your vulnerability to who you are as a person and you lose that. So, so many times people are disconnected and that's why they stumble when they get off of active duty because they're so disconnected from their inner self. They've stopped listening to that still small voice that said, Hey, go for it. You can do it. Step outside the box.

Like you stop hearing that and you just start hearing bottom line, bottom line, bottom line, bottom line. But, but that leads you to become a person that is working to die. Right? You're, you're just, you're just, you're just grinding. You're just going, you may have a comfortable life.

You might be paycheck to paycheck or whatever, but it leads to this other level of depression. And I found that I personally myself have suffered with depression and things that kept me going. But for me, everyone handles it differently for me. How do I deal with that stuff? I keep busy.

I get going, I accomplish another goal and it's like, it gives you every time you accomplish something, gives you a little more boost, makes you feel a little good. Right. But it's, it's almost like it's just as addictive as any other drug because you have to keep going. You got to do better and better and better and you're never really good with yourself.

Chris Albert 00:35:48 (link to this point)

Right. Right. Right. Right. That's something that I used to be a competitive bodybuilder.

And, you know, I I got pretty high up. I started a pretty famous gym out in Long Beach, California, and then was I was a big personal trainer out there. And I was bodybuilding was like my life. It was my identity. Right?

And my business was in that industry as well and all that. And I got autoimmune disease and I lost all of that. I lost my muscle. I was down to a hundred and forty eight pounds. Like, everything was gone.

And I'd been looking for something else that I could kind of obsess over. Right? And, like but not necessarily obsess over. I didn't want it to be my occupation because right now, I'm at a point in my life where my business is my occupation. My business doesn't have anything to do with that.

But I I wanted something like exactly what you said, like therapy, being able to get up there, being able to prepare for it, being able to perfect it, but never necessarily getting to perfection. And and that's why I started doing this and why I think I become addicted to it. And and I think what I appreciate what I appreciate about you is that you've got that serious side. You are a go getter. You're a person who's out there who's making waves in the world.

And a lot of people when they think of comedians, they think of somebody who's like a struggling artist or something like that. That's not you. You know what I mean? You know what you want. You're going for it.

You're you're doing this because you love doing it. And I think that, you know, the the way you're approaching this, it's it's awesome. I and and I truly appreciate it.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:37:27 (link to this point)

Thank you. Why? You know what? I I actually wanna ask you something. I'm like, role reversal.

I'm like, I'll be the interviewer here, Chris. When, when you, when you found out that you had your autoimmune disease and you lost everything, what was it for you that allowed you to shift?

Chris Albert 00:37:47 (link to this point)

That's a good question. The the I didn't there was a point where I felt trapped. Right? I was working from home because I had my own business. I was self isolating because I if you looked at me, you wouldn't have been able to recognize me because I was so skeletal.

I didn't wanna go out in public. And I was to a point where I was actually preparing to die at one point. Like, literally was. Like, I was trying to get my affairs in order, and what I was planning on doing, and my significant other doesn't like exactly know this, but I was I was going to leave and I was gonna try and die somewhere else so that she didn't have to see the whole thing. And what happened was what shifted for me was the guy that I'm working with now, my partner in this business, he got in touch with me and he asked me for a fitness plan.

And that was the original part of the the the transaction. And and wrote him on a fitness plan, and he came back to me a week later, and he said, hey. You know, the plan's working out great. I love how you do things. Have you ever thought about, you know, getting into manufacturing and and doing marketing with manufacturing?

And so I was like, you know what? No. I hadn't. But I was honestly desperate at the time. And and I said, you know what?

Let's do it. And then two weeks later, COVID nineteen happened. And so they had to rely the company had to rely on my my digital marketing to to make sales, and they did really well with it. And then he came to me and he said, hey, why don't you come down to Florida? We'll make you director of sales and marketing.

We'll we'll we'll do this. And so I moved from California out to Florida, and that started everything. And then a bunch of other stuff happened, and then I ended up, you know, taking over running the whole company. And and what it was there, the the shift was not feeling trapped anymore. And I don't wanna say it was the physical move from California to Florida that did it.

It was having opening up my eyes and seeing the possibilities that were in front of me. Right? Like, I wasn't planning to die anymore. I was taking action step by step by step, doing little things and perfecting those that that helped me to it's like climbing a hill. You know?

You get to a certain spot, you get your footing, then you get to another spot, you get your footing. And that's how it was for me. And and now that I'm here in Florida, I've been you know, I I'm healthy. They've got me on better medication, but I've been I did a big jiu-jitsu fight, like, two weeks ago. It was, like, in WWE style where I had walkout music.

I lost, but it was awesome fight. Got my blue belt and everything like that. And and I I was out one night and and at a kava bar, and they were just happened to be doing comedy. And they said, hey. Open mic.

Anybody wants to get up? And I was like, you know what? Screw it. I'll just get up there. And I got up there, and I sucked.

But then I got addicted, and I said, you know what? If I actually prep for this, it might might happen. And so I've been doing three, four mics a week now. So that's that's how I got into that.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:41:11 (link to this point)

I think it's awesome. I think what you said, and I hopefully that part wasn't missed by anybody that's listening, to the show was that you were preparing to die, but you did something that showed you were still willing to live. So when he asked you to do a plan, you were still willing to live. You were still willing to go forward and that's all you have to have is the will to do it. If you have the will to do it, it doesn't matter about the money.

It doesn't matter about the circumstance. It doesn't matter about anything else. You had the will to do it. And then it allowed you to be blessed and shift and make all these other things happen and bring you ultimately to a place where you're thriving. I mean, I've seen you on stage hilarious.

You had like a spot at the end of, you know, like later on in the night, which is super hard to have because people have seen so many other comedians that day we went up, it was like 20 of us. So, know, people are like, all right, how many more these funny people are gonna, you know, I gotta get up there because even when they are, they just, people start getting tired. I mean, you went up there, you killed it. You had this amazing energy, but you had the will to do it. And anybody that's listening, whether it's in business where you want to get a new job, whatever it is, all you have to do is have the will to keep going.

And if you have the will to keep going, even if you get knocked flat on your butt, if you can look up, you can get up.

Chris Albert 00:42:34 (link to this point)

Mhmm. Absolutely. Absolutely. I I think that's so important. I mean, there's so many awesome things we've covered in this episode so far, but I, you know, I hope you guys are are writing this stuff out with your notebooks because, like, this stuff is so important.

This is the stuff that's gonna save your life. And not only save your life, but get you to a point where you're not just living, you're you're out there and you're thriving. And I think that's the that's the biggest thing here, and that's what this show is about. We're trying to make this community thrive. I got a few more questions for you, Candyce.

And and, you know, the the the first is this. You know, what's your daily routine like? Like, what do you do each day to to kinda get ready and and and how do you carry yourself through the day?

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:43:18 (link to this point)

Well, I have kids. So

Chris Albert 00:43:21 (link to this point)

How old are they?

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:43:23 (link to this point)

So I have, six, 12 and 16.

Chris Albert 00:43:26 (link to this point)

Wow.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:43:27 (link to this point)

Wow.

Chris Albert 00:43:28 (link to this point)

Got the range there.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:43:30 (link to this point)

Yeah. There there is a range there. My husband actually had two prior to us getting married from his previous marriage. And then they came to live with us. Then we had our six year olds a couple years ago.

So we had him and that was I went from being, again, corporate America, all over the place, living at a hotel 70% of the time, traveling and working to mom of three. And that changed my life dramatically, but I still had to find myself. And I think there's a theme here that you mentioned a couple of times when it talks about identity. Comedy allows me to also reclaim my own identity as an individual, not his mom, not his wife, not his business, not my business, not his boss, just as Candyce. And so that's why whenever they introduce me as just Candyce because that to me was so important.

So when I get going, I always come back to the same things. Won't say my routine is the same every day because it's, you know, get up, get the kids ready, get out of school and those things. But when it comes to my business routine, my mental routine, how do I fortify myself? You know, I always have audio books and audible. I love to read, but in my schedule sometimes I don't have time.

So I'll throw an Audible on. There's a couple of key books I always go back, I listen to, I reread constantly over and over. And then I'm also always adding to that. I'll get up and I'll meditate, I'll clear my head and just have a moment of silence daily for myself. Sometimes it's in the morning, sometimes it's in the evening, but every day I sit down and reflect.

I actually, it's so funny. I wish I had my purse nearby. I actually have a green monster that I write in and I journal and I write stuff down and I'll throw my ideas in there. Yep, I got one. So I was going go ahead.

I have like a ton of those and it's symbolic. You could get any type of journal or any type of book, but a green monster that takes me back to a time where again, have effective habits. And even now when I fall off and I'm not like into my fitness routine, I would normally get up, I get up about 5AM, that's when everyone's still sleeping. I go work out, get a good workout in for about an hour, come back, get my son ready. I'm listening to an audio book the whole time or I'm listening to something motivational.

I actually studied professional speaking under Les Brown, who, is just an amazing mentor and friend over the years and he changed my life and he's always pushing me because at 77 years old, he literally has more fire under him than I do at 34. And when I started working with him in my twenties, in my twenties, he'd call me at like 03:00 in the morning and like, hey, did you see this new website? There's this thing and how does this work in this? And I'm like, it's 3AM. Like I don't feel like he doesn't sleep.

That's why I said from when you just circle and surround yourself with successful people, you kind of pick up stuff that they do. And he's always picking up books. And speaking of one of the books that actually changed my life, If you read the book winning through intimidation by Robert Ringer, it's a really great book and there's so many really cool principles in there. I recommend it, but that was the first book that Les Brown told me to read and we were at a seminar and he told me, Hey, you need to read about The Leapfrog Theory. He gave me the book and two days later I came back and I was talking to him about the book and he looks at me and he's like, You actually read the book?

And I'm like, well, when the goat speaks, I listened. And he was just so blown away by it because when you think of people that are the greatest of all time, people say that they wanna learn from them, but when they're giving you jewels and knowledge, cause he told me in casual conversation. So for me to come back with a book report and some concepts on how to be, how this actually works, how I see it working and how I see it working in the industry, he was really thrown off by that. So being a student of life is a really big part of my daily habits. It's not as much as I would love for it to still be as like succinct when it comes to timing, it's not timing for me anymore because I am an entrepreneur.

My phone rings 24/7. We have locations that are open 24/7. So I'm always dealing with things. So I kind of rest where I can, but it's more of principles that I live by, a philosophy that I have for how I function daily. And then I just give myself what I need.

Some days I need a lot of motivation. And so I'll have on those days, I'll schedule productive calls with people that are doing what I'm trying to do, you know, and again in servicing them, hey, did you, do you know about this? Or I might send out a couple of thank you emails. I'm doing some follow-up the money, all the money, every dollar you're in marketing, every dollar is in follow-up. Dollars and follow-up.

And I'm teaching those things. And one of the cool things that I love Chris is one of my habits now is to, to be able to help other people. And I'm helping comedians right now with marketing their business because they don't understand. I'm like, comedy is a business. Like, yeah, you want do fun, but at the same time, if you really want to take this seriously and you want a tour and this stuff, I mean the way that they do it, what, you okay, you get paid $50 to show up or whatever.

I'm sorry, I don't understand that business model. It's, I don't remember the last time I made $50 for me to come do something. I'd rather do it for free. And so I was like, leverage it. Where is your products?

You got some shirts or something, you got some wristbands or something. What causes that are important to you? Like your podcasts, you might donate to wounded warriors. Every time you get on stage, my conversation to you is, okay, so what are we pushing? We need to be pushing something and you can do an annual donation to wounded warriors.

You could donate to widows whose spouses, they've lost while on active duty. There's just so many things to do, but it's gotta be bigger than you. Your daily routine has to be bigger than what is it just like for me? Who am I? No, you have to get into a routine and understanding of wow, you know, I look at things and especially in comedy right now, think it's crazy because I talk to different promoters and I'm talking to some of my business friends and I'm telling them these things that I want to do.

And it's been so, I've had such an amazing response from the other comedians. They're like, yeah, because they've never had anybody to tell them this very basic stuff. Like to me it's like, who cares? I'm like, listen, they're like, well, you know, clubs don't pay this and they don't pay that. Okay.

So find another way to get your money. Like what's your bottom line? What's your number? So if you like sell something, let's get something going. Do you have a subscription?

Like what are you doing online? Are you just posting comedy? Are you posting a post? Like I don't do skits online and that's my personal choice. I'll never do skits.

I'll never do those reaction videos and stuff. Do you know why? I'm not giving away free content.

Chris Albert 00:49:43 (link to this point)

Right.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:49:44 (link to this point)

Because someone's gonna take what I have and try to copy what I have. There's no and there's no way to secure your intellectual property online. And I'm big on that. And you're like, oh, but you need to engage. My audience has never been on social media.

I'm not a social media person.

Chris Albert 00:49:56 (link to this point)

That's a really big difference between I think, like, like, podcast versus what a comedian does because as a comedian, your your content is you. Like, that is your whole thing. And if that gets out there, that's why they they we don't like people filming us while we're up on stage. Right? Because that's it's so important and and and that is so smart too.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:50:18 (link to this point)

It's a double edged sword though.

Chris Albert 00:50:19 (link to this point)

Right.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:50:20 (link to this point)

I'm on multiple short here's here's the thing. Here's why it's a double edged sword and I'm still figuring this out. So maybe this is something that we could figure out together. But it's a double edged sword when you don't have anyone filming you on stage because you have no one marketing for you. Right.

You know what's tagging you. You have none of those things going on. So it's it's even though it's a coveted I understand the concept behind it. I don't believe in it. Like I always have people are always filming me.

I don't care. I tell my people that come up, hey, go ahead and film me, tag me, at me, share it. And then the the club ends up sharing it and there's like all these other things where if you've never had people do that.

Chris Albert 00:50:50 (link to this point)

I think the important thing is yes, you want you want footage of you to get out there and yes, you want you want like it's important to have like little carrots out there. You don't want the whole set out there.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:51:04 (link to this point)

Exactly. Except for yourself. Like you should always record your own set.

Chris Albert 00:51:08 (link to this point)

Right. Exactly.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:51:08 (link to this point)

Towards the end of the set, like I'm always like towards the end of the set, I'm like, okay, hey everybody, you know, let's take it. Let's get a couple of snaps and a couple selfies, tag me in it. I'm gonna follow you. You know what I mean? Like it's just strategically like I'm going follow that increases that audience there.

But I think greater than anything else is we look at the overall scope of how those things go when it comes to comedy or anything else in business. I also did marketing and sales for a really long time. It's the follow-up and you have to allow people like, even if you don't want people to film your set, right? Everything is just figuring out what works for you and your brand. Then are you coming in early before you're set and connecting with people in the audience?

Are you staying after and making sure you get a couple of selfies and a couple of reviews? And you know, from business reviews or everything, it's word-of-mouth. People don't care what you got to say about you. They care what other people got to say you. And so it's getting raving reviews.

And I know when I was doing a marketing actually for a dental company, in Aventura, they grew their sales. They almost doubled them in my first year being there because they were around since 1976. When I started with that company in two thousand, twenty fourteen. In 2014, they had three reviews. Three on Google. They had no online presence. They had no, I mean, they have celebrity clients. Like it wasn't like this was an established business that went from the original owner who taught the dentist that now owns the practices, two dentists that own the practices, they own multiple practices throughout South Florida, but they were what's called, what I call like a historical brand. Like it's something that was like minted in the community.

They were not new. It went from one hand, it's only been owned by one other owner. However, if you wanna grow new patients and you wanna be competitive with modern dentists, then you had to be able to have that conversation where people are telling you about the products and services. They never saw it as important. And that was my thing with marketing clients always, they never saw it as important.

They always tried to like, you know, get me down to like, no, we should be doing social media. We should be doing that. And I'm like, if you would just give me ninety days, if you would give me ninety days, you know, I will change your life in ninety days. They don't, you don't have to social media. You're putting your money into these algorithms and all this stuff.

You're in Google ad words. I mean, I've literally done it all. It will not produce for you more than a referral will produce for you. And the referral will come in already singing your praises because the person that referred them to your business already likes you. So if there is a mess up, if there is a hiccup, if there's anything, they're going to be 10 times more lenient than someone that's coming in off of a $99 Groupon. You don't even want a Groupon clientele. I don't want Groupon clientele. You know why? Because they're looking for a deal and I don't want to give out deals. I want to come in here.

I want people that understand the value of my product or service that get what I'm doing even as much as a comedian. Like I said, I'd rather say, Hey, can I sell merchandise? You can keep $50. Keep the $50. I just want a little table.

I want to able to set someone up upfront for me and get it. And people are like blown away by it. They think it's like the, they're like, I'm like, yeah, because I'm just as good as Kevin Hart. I mean, you know, I may not be at Kevin Hart or Dave Chappelle yet, I thrive to be. I like to exercise, like you said, as a bodybuilder.

I like to again, prepare myself as if I am already at the place that I wanna be at. And I like to stretch that. So I think that that, more than anything else, that's really important.

Chris Albert 00:54:34 (link to this point)

That's awesome. That's awesome. One more question here. You mentioned books. Right?

What what are you reading now? And and you mentioned Winning Through Intimidation. What's the most influential book on your life, Ben?

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:54:51 (link to this point)

Think and Grow Rich is a really, really powerful book. I can't say that it's one in particular because there are a few that I fall back on, but I will give you guys the top five that I constantly fall back on. Think and Grow Rich, As a Man Thinketh, The Kybalion, which is about hermetic philosophy. Rich Dad Poor Dad is a really, really powerful one. Atomic habits, the four hour work week.

Chris Albert 00:55:20 (link to this point)

That's huge.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:55:22 (link to this point)

Cause I was like, wait, the title alone. Yeah, there's, I mean, there's really so many guys, the outliers. When you study principles and you understand like Malcolm Gladwell talks about 10,000 to become a master. Right? So it's like, I gotta get, okay.

And that's how I think about things. I'll read these philosophies. I'm like, that makes sense. All right. I gotta get going.

There's twenty four hours in a day. Can allocate this many days, this much per year. And I set a strategy for myself And then I'm constantly pushing, I'm constantly working on it. But I would say like those are my top five that I would fall back on. If you can control what you think and you can have a level of emotional intelligence and understand that nothing in this life is personal.

People are not doing anything to you. A lot of the times the stuff that people do has a 100% to do with what's going on with them, has nothing to do with you, their lack of support for you, their lack of understanding for you. It just has to do with where they are in their life. And so when you stop having expectations on other people to support you to jump in and get going, go it alone. That's another one by Bruce Judson.

He was a Harvard professor, started three businesses at one time. That's a great book. It's about going it alone. And when you go it alone and you take you serious and you take your dream serious and you take your vision serious and you take your life serious, when you take it serious, people will show up for you that take it serious. Ninety nine percent of the people that are going to change your life, you do not know right now.

You don't know them. So you're not going to know them. You talked about that period of isolation that you had when you were like, again, transitioning from where you were with being a bodybuilder. Like what an intense level of discipline it takes to do something like that. Like I worked at, worked out at a gym with bodybuilders for a while.

I mean, we had those two a days and we had to do like the cutting and I did the meal plans and the oatmeal and the egg whites and spinach first thing in the morning. It's six times a day and I have to take meals and stuff with me and that it's super expensive. It's such a major commitment to invest in your overall physical health. It's so huge. And so when you think about those types of things and you think about what it takes to be really successful, you can only at that time understand that it takes you being all in. It takes you being all in you, not everyone else, not focusing on what everyone else is doing and pointing the finger. It's you being all in.

And when you're all in, you will start to attract your tribe As you attract your tribe and you start to create a shift with those individual people, they will give you life again the same way your brothers and sisters in arms did when you were on active duty.

Chris Albert 00:57:55 (link to this point)

That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, man, this is an awesome conversation. I I I really enjoyed talking with you, and and I'm so glad I met you. How can the audience find you online?

Where where should they follow you? Where do you have a website up there? How can they get to learn more about you?

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 00:58:14 (link to this point)

Yes. So I have a lot of websites. What else is this? I am focusing right now on Instagram so they can find me on Instagram at Candyce Official. So that's Candyce, c a n d y c e, no a, no I.

So C A N D Y C E official on Instagram. You can follow me there and you can follow the journey. There will be the updated website and stuff up there. Like I said, I do have multiple businesses and multiple things going on. So I think that that's also something important for entrepreneurs.

Make sure that you separate your stuff. Don't have hodgepodge. My Instagram is just about comedy. That's the season I am in my life. That's what I wanna focus on.

Where focus goes, energy flows, right? So if I want energy flowing in through my business as a comedian, then I need to make sure that it's clean and that that's what it focuses on. So it focuses on my comedy and it focuses on, my philanthropic work, my humanitarian work because that's the season that I'm in in my life. I encourage you to read the 48 Laws of Power. That was the other one that I kind of dropped the ball on.

And I mentioned that when we first started that my favorite principle in the 48 Laws of Power is never outshine the master. So many times as we get ready to kind of like close down here, if you can just remember that one thing, if you can remember that it's not about you. It's not about you looking like a rockstar. If you can help other people look like a rockstar and you can humble yourself enough to fly below the radar, that's like a bootcamp. You didn't wanna be the super one, the super amazing one.

You didn't wanna be the one at the bottom, but if you can learn how to operate in the sweet spot in life, you will be blessed more than you will ever know. People will come and connect with you. They will love on you. They will add value to you more than you will ever know because it's not you. They know that it's not you.

You know that it's not you. You know that it's this other thing. It's a community that you're building outside of yourself and those people will come in and they'll ride for you.

Chris Albert 01:00:09 (link to this point)

That's awesome. That's awesome. Well, man, I like I said, this has been an outstanding conversation. Candyce, you know, you you dropped so many awesome knowledge bombs during this episode. And and, again, I hope people go back and they listen to these.

Hope they go through with a notebook. And, you know, I also wanna say this, thank you so much for your service and and everything you're continuing to do to help veterans. We didn't mention this, but but you are frequently speaking at the VA down here in Miami, and I think that's an outstanding thing. And to everybody out there, again, pay close attention. There's lessons all around you.

There there there's people like Candyce out there who wanna help, and the resources are out there. You know? You're not trapped. Figure out a way. Alright?

Listen, guys. Get out there and live your best lives while you can. This is Chris and Candyce, and we are out.

Candyce Haynes-Forrester 01:01:05 (link to this point)

We're out.