EP 352 - From Invisible to Viral at 65 with Candas Barnes

MarketingCoaching Lifestyle
Written By Debbie Shadid
 

If you want to go viral and grow a large audience on social in a short amount of time, this video is for you. Viral social media creator Candas Barnes shares her journey of how she went from invisible to going viral on TikTok and Instagram, building an audience of 400,000+, and creating social posts that have been shared by celebrities like Katy Perry.

I met Candas Barnes inside a coaching program that we're both part of, and the day I first discovered her she had a small following and nothing for sale. A few weeks later she'd gone viral, built a huge audience across platforms of hundreds of thousands of people, and started monetizing her content. She did it at 65, and she's living proof of what's possible when you're willing to allow yourself to be seen.

If you're new to my channel, my name is Debbie Shadid. I'm a Business Growth and Life Coach and the founder of the Business Building Boutique. For over two decades, I've helped women learn how to become coaches, get clients, grow their businesses, and create meaningful income doing work they love.

This isn't a story about getting lucky with one viral post. It's about what changes when you stop hiding, stay coachable, and keep showing up as the real, authentic version of you.

In this video, we'll walk through:

  • How Candas went from under 200 followers to a massive social media audience in about six weeks

  • Why being seen as a coach has nothing to do with being young, polished, or perfect

  • What it really takes to go viral, and why nobody is actually an overnight success

  • How staying coachable and following a simple system changed everything for her

  • Why women over 50 and 60 have a real advantage on TikTok, Instagram, and Substack right now

  • What to do when someone tells you that you can't, and how to get back up

  • How to show up authentically so the right people find you and trust you

You don't need a huge following or decades of tech skills to build something that matters. You need to be willing to be seen, stay consistent, and keep going when it feels scary. The world is ready for what you have to offer, and there's never been a better time to step forward.

Ready to build a coaching business that actually fits your life? Book your free Blueprint Call with me and let's map out your next step: https://debbieshadid.com/schedule

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Transcript

If you are nervous about getting yourself on social media, you hate the idea of putting yourself out there, this episode is for you. I spotted this lady on TikTok, and I thought, "Wow, she is so authentic. I have got to reach out to her and bring her on as a guest." Turns out her story is unbelievable, and since the time we first met, she actually has had wild growth. Wait till the end. You're gonna find out everybody who has reposted her posts in the last four weeks. It is mind-blowing. This is what is possible for you. She's gonna share her full story of how she hid through many different careers, She played small, and how today she has found success on not just one platform, but many platforms, and is now gonna be able to do what she really wants to do with her business. All right, let's get started. I am so excited today because I have a brand new friend. We just literally are getting to know each other. This is Candas Barnes, and let me give you the backstory. If you are a coach or somebody who is looking to start a coaching business and you have this fear around visibility, this is exactly why I brought Candas on. We literally just barely met inside of a new coaching program that we're both part of, and the first day that I met her less than a month ago, I looked her up on social media while we were in this group call and I saw her. You guys, I'm gonna leave all the links for you guys. I saw her on TikTok and immediately I was thinking, "Candas doesn't know me and I don't know her, but she's coming on YouTube with me to talk about what she's doing." So if you're a woman who is scared about putting yourself out there, if you're thinking like, "I just need to do this thing," that is exactly what I saw you doing, Candas. That's why I brought you here. So introduce yourself. Sure. Thank you so much, Debbie, and thank you so much for having me. It's so funny how God, the universe or however anybody chooses to call a higher power works, and how sometimes, as you said, you see people, you meet people and it's instant. And I felt the same connection with you as well. And so when you asked me to be on the show I'm like, " Okay. Let's do it." and that's kind of what's been happening a lot for me lately. And as you were talking about the people who are interested in what you are up to, I am that person. I was that person. Now, I will say that I have had a progression to getting where I am. When I was in my 20s I was terrified to be seen in public, but I was still running everything. I was the president of all the clubs. I was in theater, but I was the stage manager and production manager and leading everything, like cracking the whip. But you could not get me on stage. I was terrified. God's got jokes. in 1987 I was doing temp work and for our, this audience you'll understand what a Girl Friday was. Well, I was one of those. I got sent to Gallaudet University, which is the world's only liberal arts university for deaf and hard of hearing people. I was sent to the office where they hired interpreters. And I had seen interpreters because of my theater background, but I never thought of it as something that I could do for a career. This was a part-time temporary job, By the end of probably the second or third week, they offered me the permanent job, which I ultimately got. within a month or two, I figured out, "Hmm, this interpreting thing, I can do that," because I've always been a wordsmith. And so, Went off to interpreting school, which you didn't have to back then because it wasn't a thing. but as a Black woman, I knew the more credentials I had- it didn't mean it was gonna be easier- Mm … but it would be a few less, a few boxes that I could check. And so I went to interpreting school for two years in Rochester, New York, graduated, came back, worked full time, and worked as an interpreter for nearly 40 years. Now, the whole time I was an interpreter, it was supposed to be an addition to, not the thing, but it kinda took over my life. I was really good at it. I'm very well-known at it. And going back to the first piece, God having jokes, I didn't wanna be in front of people, so now I get to be in front of people, but it's not really me. Through that, I got to realize, oh, well, no, maybe I do wanna do that. And so over time, little by little, I went through, a coach training program, I got ordained, I did some preaching, I did all the things, and I realized that I really did like to speak. Somewhere along in there, probably 10 years ago or more, I, found out about a live challenge or a video challenge. and she had a 30-day challenge. And during the course of the challenge, she would teach people how to do their lighting, their positions, using their cameras, all the things. And so I did a number of live challenges So I got comfortable being on camera. So now fast-forward to, the past, six months or so. I've been studying entrepreneurship formally for about 16 years, And last summer, I was in a challenge, and the coach at the time, I got back in her community. She was promoting TikTok. I was like, TikTok? I can't even imagine because for women of our age, seasoned women, I thought it was just a bunch of kids doing viral dances to trending songs, right? TikTok is so much more than that. I mean, it's becoming a search engine. Whenever I travel anywhere, I go there to find out where to go out to eat. if you're looking for somebody in a particular specialty, they're probably on TikTok, we're at a point in history that's never existed before. We have these social media platforms to be able to get the word out about our expertise for free. Yes. You know how- Girl, I'm preaching that all the time. Like, this is free. For free. This is free. Yeah. It's free. YouTube, Instagram. Yeah. TikTok. Substack. All of them. Substack. Yeah. All the things. Free advertisement, and you just have to get good at being able to do it in a way and position yourself in a way that people stop the scroll, essentially. Yeah. Because everybody is like, they're ready to pass you up. And if you are able to capture their attention- You can bring in all kinds of business, and you don't have to have a huge following to make a lot of money. You can if you want to, but you don't have to. So my coach challenged me. She said, "I need you to make a TikTok in 24 hours." Okay. So that was November 29th or 28th when she and I talked. All day long and into the evening, I finally made my first TikTok. It's still on my page. You can go back there and look, and it was pretty bad given TikTok. And when I first started, I didn't even know what I was gonna talk about. I had no idea. I was like, "Hey, I'm Candace. I'm 64. I'm brand new to TikTok. I'm trying to figure this thing out, and here I am, and I'll be back, and we'll keep figuring it out together." November 29th. December 22nd, I found a program that teaches people how to become successful using short, what we call short form content. TikTok, Instagram. It works everywhere. It's the same thing. Instagram, they're called reels. On TikTok, they're called TikToks. Facebook, I think they're called reels now too. But basically, they are little videos anywhere from 15 seconds to two or three minutes, give or take, and, you are using that time to make a difference for people. And so I joined the program December 22nd. December 25th, Christmas Day, I made a video that went viral. Okay, wait. Time out. What does viral mean? So for those listening that don't know, like, what's the measurement of I went viral? So in that case, I filmed this little video. I was at some friend's house having dinner Christmas Day, and sometimes people tell you dinner's gonna be at

2:00 and it's really at 5:00 or 6: 8:24

00. This was that case, and I hadn't made a video that day, and I had committed at that point to go online and make something every day. And so I was like, "Let me go make a video." So I went out on the porch, filmed this little video, posted it, and walked away. Didn't think about it. Four hours later, I looked at my phone, and there were like 5,000 views. What? And so I knew that it was gonna explode. That video now has over a million views. So viral is anywhere from- Several hundred thousand. It usually is in the 100,000 and up, 500,000, a million, and then I now have videos that have over 16 million views multiple- Oh my word. Do you see why I brought Candace on now? That's why I had to have you on. I didn't even know this stuff. Yeah. I just saw this cute little Candace talking about some things that seemed very relatable. At the time that you did that on Christmas Day, how many followers did you have then? Less than 200. Less than 200. Okay. Less than 200. And here's the secret about TikTok that some people know, some people don't. The reason why TikTok is the place to be is because when you make content, the first people they show it to are perfect strangers. So it's brand-new eyeballs who have never laid eyes on you and have no feeling or attachment or judgment or whatever either way. And based on how they react, if they watch it, if they share it, if they like it and comment and so forth, TikTok will then push it out to a bigger audience and a bigger audience and a bigger audience until ultimately you end up with this loveliness that I have now of multiple videos with 16-plus million views. but on TikTok, it really does start with literal strangers who don't know you from a can of paint. So you get your stuff in front of brand-new eyeballs. So for all of you all who are wanting, who say you have no traffic and no leads, TikTok is the place to go and get good at, because that's where you can get your folks. I have another question. Since you seem to be the go-to expert on TikTok now- Okay … since you've had this success that I really wanna talk specific numbers to- Yes … since I met you, The reason why I started experimenting on TikTok, and I'm new over there- maybe 60 days over there, is because I had this sense that our generation, whatever that is, 50 and above- Yeah and it's, honestly, there's so many people that I would say are more like 60 and above. Yeah … I think that's even bigger group. It feels to me like there's some social media situations opening, and one would be YouTube, one would be TikTok, and now of course Substack, that those are real opportunities where now our demographic is going, And I think as a content producer or somebody building a business or a brand, it felt like I had opportunity, and I was like, "I think I need to go over there," and Substack, which is how we met, on Substack. Yes, yes. I need to go in those places and see what that's all about. Sure. Is that the way you feel about TikTok and the demographic? 100%. And so there is the very much younger crowd, 18, 20, 24, 30- Yeah… 35, 40, 50, and then there is a growing group of people who are 50 and 60 and 70 and 80 who are having massive success. I just stumbled on a video last night of a woman who is also 60. So I'm 65. I said I was 64 when I started. I turned 65. That was another thing. I was like, "Who is doing anything on TikTok at 65?" But my coach said do it, and I figure if I hired a coach, I need to like at least try- what they say to do. Yeah. This woman is 62 and has generated over $9 million selling things in the TikTok Shop. So she's one that actually sells things through the TikTok Shop and has generated a crazy amount of revenue, and she's just as ordinary and, got a good old Southern accent and, you know, has a very interesting background, which she's very public about. I hadn't seen her before, but she showed up on my feed, and there are even hashtags that people use over there, women over 40, women over 60. So there's a growing group, and I'm finding that the younger folks are looking to us because we have life experience that they want. And one of my missions is to find ways to support people, be they our age or younger, from spending time doing something that they know isn't their passion because they have golden handcuffs, they're good at it, and they get stuck in it, but they really wanna be over here doing something else. Now is the time to be able to do that, A. B, we all need to be figuring out how to create our own economy because who knows what's happening in the world and with AI. I literally say that, too. I'm telling you what, Candas you and I are two peas in a pod. I say the same thing. Create your own- Yeah economy. We need to. Yeah. And on TikTok actually pays. This the other thing that we don't know, our generation. They know it. The younger ones know it. As a matter of fact, how I found this woman- She was talking to somebody who she told her story. The 20-year-old had just made$100 on TikTok, and so the woman she was talking to, she said,"Well, you wouldn't understand. You're too old." that woman literally that

night went home and stayed up till 3: 14:55

00 in the morning to figure out how to get on TikTok, and has since, I think that month, made multiple thousands of dollars, and has since made all kinds of crazy money. And TikTok pays. There's about eight or nine different ways that you can get paid for creating content on TikTok, including getting views on your videos, not to mention creating digital products, creating your coaching businesses, writing books, all the things. And all of the social media channels do pay once you figure out the game. I kinda knew that. I didn't know I was gonna get to experience it, and I certainly didn't know that I would get to experience it in four weeks. Four weeks. Okay. So let's, fast-forward to- Yeah … the day that I met you. which was less than a month ago, Give or take. You had how many followers total?'Cause I would not- have invited you if you were Miss Popular that you are now. So you had how many followers? Well, I'm glad that you didn't know, I hit 10,000 followers on TikTok on April 27th, and the reason I know that is because it was two days before my 65th birthday, and I really wanted to get to 10,000 for my 65th birthday. And 10,000 is a milestone on TikTok- Yeah … because when you get there, you get to start earning money for people watching your stuff, among other things. Oh, wow. So you were already monetized before this happened. Oh my gosh. Well, oh yeah. so I started getting monetized, April 27th was when I officially became eligible for being monetized. And for the creative rewards program, which is where they pay you for views, I was eligible for three days in the month of April, and I got a check but of course I have these videos that are going mega viral. I'm also monetized on Facebook. I'm working out being monetized on Instagram, which I really need to handle because since we met, so at that point, April 27th, I hit 10,000 on TikTok. I may have had 50,000 on Instagram, maybe. I don't even know. It wasn't that many. But I had some videos that were really blowing up on Instagram. So fast-forward, when did I hit… So I hit 200,000 on Instagram- On May the 6th, So like in a week, you went from, let's say, around 50,000 on Instagram, which by the way, that's big following anyway Nothing to shake a stick at it, alright But from 50 to- Right. It blew up … 200,000 in a week It literally blew up, right. the program, that I mentioned is where I learned how to do what I'm doing now, and I joined that program in December. I was following the curriculum, but I kinda was and I kinda wasn't. You know how we all- Yeah … do our own thing. And so I was doing part of what they were teaching, and it was good, and I was getting some views, but I really wasn't as successful as I could be. April 19th, one of the coaches in the program and I had a conversation. we got on the phone, and she's like, "What are you doing? You're really good. How come you aren't growing?" And she said, "I need you to do this." And you all already know that I'm one that follows what my coaches tell me to do. That was a Sunday, April 19th. Monday, April 20th, which was four weeks ago yesterday, I said, "Okay, I'm gonna do what she told me to do." I filmed a video using the system that we have, and that video hit 100,000 views within a couple of days. Wow. Okay, what just happened? All right, this works. Let me do it. So since then, I have been all in and following exactly what we teach. And at this point, as I said, I have a couple of videos with over 16 million views. I have at this point 27 or 28 videos with more than a million views across the different platforms. they're all the same videos on TikTok, on Instagram, on Facebook, but some things hit on Instagram quicker than they do on Facebook, on TikTok and vice versa. And who knows? Now, what I will say in addition to all of this, the beginning of March, someone who I deeply admired and respected looked at me in front of a room full of people and told me that it wasn't believable that I could be successful on TikTok, and certainly that I could teach anybody. Whoa. It knocked the wind out of my sails, so much so, as a trauma survivor, it really had so much of an effect on me that I disassociated and completely blacked out that comment. And I spent the next six weeks from the beginning of March until the middle of April, right before this moment happened- And I was just checked out. I was watching a lot of TV. I don't own a television, so I was watching TV on my phone and playing games, sleeping a lot, not eating, not doing much of anything. And fortunately, we have a mindset coach in the program, and I was on one of the mindset calls, and something on the mindset call cracked me open enough that I could remember the comment,'cause I had completely forgotten it. I mean, literally I had no memory of it at all. and I remembered it. That night, I immediately went online, posted a video, and said, " I don't know who this is for, but at the end of the day, the only opinion that really matters is you and God." And somebody told me I couldn't do this, and I had cried a little bit, and that was just me getting back in here. And that was on Tuesday, April the 14th. Had the conversation Sunday the 19th. Monday the 20th, I made that video that went to 100,000 views. By the end of that week, I had probably a couple of videos with a million views, and since then, it has been utterly crazy. Katy Perry has posted me to her stories. Paris Hilton, Paris Jackson, Shaun T from Beach Body have all in one way or another put my stuff out there, and it's just been crazy. what happened was I said yes, and I was willing to be coachable, follow directions, lean into the system, and keep going. that is one thing that I've done consistently. Even when TikTok was going through a little dip at the beginning of the year, everybody's like, "I'm leaving TikTok 'cause it's gonna shut down." It's like, look, y'all, they spent $18 billion to buy TikTok. TikTok ain't going nowhere. It might go through some little rough patches- but it's gonna be fine. So that whole time I posted two or three times a day, and a lot of people I know were not posting and freaking out. So I am that person. That's part of my makeup, is that I just keep going, and that's what happened with this. And now I have videos at this point that are going to a million views in a day, in less than 24 hours, because the audience has grown that much and it's resonating for people. And beyond the views, let me be clear, it's not just about the views. It's not just about- Yeah … the followers. For me, it's about, am I making a difference? You are. am I he- Yes, you are. Is somebody breathing easier? Is somebody having- Yeah … a better day? And through this, I've been able to use a system that I call From Reaction to Response I saw that product, that you have- Yeah … a product available- I do … from reaction to response. Yeah, and it's a short 11-minute audio, guided audio, that walks you through a practice of recentering and coming off of being ready to take somebody out, to getting back to your center. And it's a, like I said, it's 11 minutes, and it even includes a little recap that you can use in, under a minute. and it's what I use. It helps me to remember how to get from reacting to response, and it's easy and simple, and if you like my voice, it's an audio product, so. Well, Candas, when I saw you, whatever day it was, a month ago, and you had this, I'll call it kind of a small following, we were in the same coaching call, and I was, looking up Candas and I'm like, she doesn't even have a link in her bio. I didn't. Like, she has nothing for sale. I could not figure out, is she a coach? What is she? But I knew that The words of wisdom that you were sharing it really resonated with me, it didn't feel like you were just being loving, and you had these things that you were saying that were just little phrases that felt so sincere. Like, I think you were saying,"My beloved." And just, like, it was so authentic and so real. But yeah, you didn't even have anything for sale. Right, I didn't. And in, in one month's time, that's why I looked again today, I was like- I wonder what she is doing. Before we get on this call and first get to know each other, what does she have? And that's why I saw you- … had the $33 offer, and you have a one-hour coaching call. So what is the coaching that you want to do, or what is it that you do? What's the goal here? Great question. So no, I didn't, because again, when I started all of this, I was still figuring out who I am, and I still am. Yeah. I am not a sage on the stage at all. I am on the journey, sometimes alongside of you, and more often than not, a few steps ahead, mostly by virtue of the fact that I've just had, I've been blessed to have 65 years on the earth. Yeah. and also quite a lot of training. Quite a lot of training and credentialing. And it's all come together. Ultimately, again, want to do is ideally most likely create a community- for people who know that there's more. my catchphrase is essentially love your life now, don't get obsessed with the rear view mirror or the future. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But that's what it boils down to, is really just getting clear about where we're going. I wanna find it, 'cause it's actually pretty lovely. Love your life now, not someday or in the rear view mirror. Yeah. Because we spend so much time obsessing about, "I'm gonna retire someday," or, "When my grandkids come someday," or, whatever, someday, and/or we're obsessing about what happened somewhere in the past in the rear view mirror, and we're not present in the moment. So I wanna create a community of us where we're intentional about being present in the moment and loving our lives now, whatever that looks like. Sometimes that will look like taking a one-minute dance break in the middle of the day. Yeah. Sometimes it'll look like changing careers entirely. Sometimes it will look like giving yourself permission to know that this job has served you and that you don't wanna do it anymore. Yeah. Or the marriage, or the whatever, and now creating the pathway to make that transition. So that's ultimately the long game, and why I didn't have, anything up was because of my own hurdle and growth opportunity around being willing to, make a product and make myself available for what people were asking me for. I mean, people, if you look at the comments, the comments are amazing. Oh my gosh, they are, and they're all ages. And I mean- And all over the world. Yes. since the first moment I saw you, I thought you were just, a small creator- I was … who was inspiring me you were showing up and just the candidness of you sitting in your car and talking about something that while it might have been thought through and maybe it was scripted, it felt very like, you were talking to me. I just wanted to show the women in my world This is possible for you Yes the more authentic and real- Yep … you are, the more likely people are gonna connect with you, and who are gonna want to listen to you because we wanna know who's real. And the other thing that happens in the comments a lot is, is this AI, because of this voice that I have So it kind of looks like AI, I disagree, After you mentioned that on our group coaching call together, I've been back and looked at your videos and I was like, "What is she talking about?" Right. And I was like, how could they even think that that is a- I think because we're just so skeptical and so- Yeah … burnt, and there is so much AI out there. Yeah. There really is. And it is hard to know. But if anybody goes beyond whatever 15 to two minute video of mine, if they go off of that and look at my page, there's like, I have on different clothes, I'm in different places. Yes. Yeah. I'm in my car. It's like all the things. Yeah. So you would know that this is really not AI. Most of the time with AI, it's the same person in the same place and often even in the same clothes and everything.… fortunately the community is handling it. I don't even have to address it anymore. Yeah. Every now and then I can tell that somebody is really needing to know, and so I'll comment and say something, but most of the time people are like,"No, no, bro, go look at her page." Yeah."She ain't AI, I promise you." Yeah. Well, Candas we have to wrap this up 'cause I know you're a busy girl too, and I just am so grateful to have gotten in the same circle with you and- you've inspired me. Thank you … so I just know that you have benefited everybody today, especially when they go look. Whatever platform you go to, School or Facebook or wherever you have your community, I wanna be able to share it as well so everybody can get, connected with you. I just wanna say thank you for being an inspiration. You guys, as of today, as of the recording, she has one-hour time spots available on her calendar. Now, I don't know if that will last. And she has this $33, what is it again? It's called From Reaction to Response. Okay. Reaction to Response. Yeah. So she's got a couple of things that you can look at now, but I am telling you what, this has been less than four weeks that all this, she became like one of those people we've heard about. Yes. And, um- And it's not, and you know, people say overnight success. Nobody is an overnight success. Anybody who we see as an overnight success has typically spent decades, if not a lifetime. Yeah, right. And in my case, that's the case. I'm 65. Everything that I have done to this point is contributing to me being this overnight success. And my desire and dream is to help other people to be able to have their overnight success moments, whatever that looks like. It may not look like 100 million views and 600,000 followers,'cause certainly I didn't think it was gonna look like that for me. But it may look like, you know, you have, your client roster is full. Yeah. Or you're figuring out that you can do something that makes you happy. I really appreciate you giving me the space and for us having time to just connect and in the show notes, we'll put all of my bio links- Yep … and all the things. Yeah. My name is spelled a little odd, so make sure you look for the right spelling. But as Debbie has said, I am everywhere. I am so excited. So Candas, thank you so much for being a blessing to me, to all these women that now are inspired I can say anything's possible and you should grow your business, and all the things that I say, but that's why I had to bring you here because you're out there doing it, so. I've embodied it. And, you know, I'm excited that I have done the work that I needed to do to be able to step into this. and I just invite you as you're looking to know that wherever you are now, as scared as you might be, it really is possible for you to have the life of your dreams now, not someday and not in the review mirror. Yes. All right, my dear. Have a beautiful afternoon, evening. You too. And for the rest of you out there, make sure you subscribe so you don't miss anything, and, Have a beautiful day. Thank you. Sounds good. You too. Take care.

Debbie Shadid https://www.DebbieShadid.com
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EP 351 - How to Find Your Coaching Niche in 10 Minutes (Stop Overthinking It)