Candace Cabrera Moore, fearless yoga entrepreneur on building a global business, brand & community

[01:00] Paul: Welcome to The Boundless Podcast. I'm Paul Millerd, and I created this podcast because I'm passionate about making sense of the future of work and having conversations with the innovators, creators, and thought leaders who are carving their path in today's fast-changing world. You can check out the podcast and more on boundlesspod.com. Today I talk with Candace Cabrera Moore, who I actually went to college with and has had a pretty incredible path over the past 10+ years. She has done a number of different things, started as a teacher but has evolved into what now I would say is a yoga personality. She has an incredible brand called Yoga by Candace, has written a book called Namaste.

She's done a number of different things. She's built a business, she has people working for her. And has taught yoga all around the globe, even teaching thousands of people in Dubai recently. We talk about a lot in this podcast. We talk about generosity, intentions, her path, her vision for the future, and what it's like being an entrepreneur. It's a pretty fascinating conversation.

I think she's incredibly impressive, compassionate, and giving, and I think you'll really enjoy it. Let me know what you think and enjoy the pod. Candace, I'm excited to talk to you today. Welcome to the podcast.

[02:30] Candace Cabrera Moore: Thanks so much for having me.

[02:32] Paul: Awesome. So we've known each other to different degrees since we went to the same college over 10 years ago. Kind of crazy that it was that long ago.

[02:42] Candace Cabrera Moore: So old.

[02:44] Paul: But I've been super impressed with the path and a lot of the things you've accomplished over the years. And we'll definitely dig into that today. I think you've— you're working on a lot these days. and we'll get to that. But I actually wanted to start with something that I think makes you stand out. Just observing a lot of the things you've experimented with over the years, I think people probably see like your blog, the yoga you're doing, but I think hidden behind that is like a lot of skills you've actually developed over the years, whether it's yoga, video, writing, coaching, nutrition, strength training, and so on.

So where does your passion for just learning and kind of building new skills come from?

[03:27] Candace Cabrera Moore: That's such a great question. I think I've always been kind of an observer. And I remember my mom was like the first— I come from a very entrepreneurial family. Like a lot of people in my family have super small businesses. My mom, back before like there was a Whole Foods on every corner, she wanted she wanted access to health food before health food was like mainstream and kind of cool. And there was nothing even remotely close to where we lived where she could buy health food.

So she just figured it out on her own. She developed this relationship with this company Frontier and developed this— she got like a wholesale account and collected all these different brands and they placed a big order. So she just made things happen and she just wouldn't ever take no for an answer. And so I think In going down my own path of entrepreneurship, I just came from that similar mindset where if somebody told me no, I would just figure out a way to make it happen. I've loved going to school as a little kid. Growing up, I would play school.

I've just loved learning since as long as I can remember. I feel like everybody that I meet knows something that I don't. It's always an opportunity to learn. And I try to approach every situation I'm in extracting the lessons that perhaps maybe I can apply to my life or my business in the future.

[04:55] Paul: So, that's pretty cool. So, I'm guessing just throughout your life, there was just no— you were defaulting to like yes rather than like can't do this, right?

[05:05] Candace Cabrera Moore: Yeah, absolutely.

[05:07] Paul: And is that kind of what drove you into What brought you to teaching?

[05:15] Candace Cabrera Moore: I remember being in school as a student and having one horrible teacher after another and seeing my classmates struggle. I was always the person who would just turn to the person who was struggling and say, "Oh, you know what? If you do it this way, it might make more sense." I could kind of get into their brains a little bit. Once I would explain it in a certain way that my teacher couldn't explain, they would get it. There was something so gratifying about helping others. And I think that's where the teaching passion came from, is that it's not so much about the teaching, but it is about the helping of others.

[05:51] Paul: Right. And what was your first exposure to just teaching, and what were some of the things you learned from that?

[06:00] Candace Cabrera Moore: That's a really good question. So, when I was 16, I did a study abroad program in Costa Rica, and I didn't speak any Spanish at all. And I lived with a host family who didn't speak any English, went to your regular public public school where people don't really speak English either. So I just had to fend for myself, use charades, and my love of language, just that kind of, my love of language had always been there, but I guess that was the teaching and the learning bit. I was learning from them and also teaching them phrases in English. I think that was probably my first big lesson in teaching.

[06:42] Paul: And so did you come back and was there anything different from that experience? Like how you felt coming back and like how you're looking at the world?

[06:53] Candace Cabrera Moore: Yeah, absolutely. I felt like when you only speak English, this is what I was thinking when I was 16, when you only speak English, you can only speak to like these people here. But now that I've learned, I came back thinking like, wow, I speak Spanish pretty well, like almost fluently. And now I can speak to nearly everyone in South America and also in Spain. Spain. And so, to me, it was like it opened up this whole new world.

And in addition to the love of language, I also developed that love of travel that there were— there's so many different— I don't know, so many different things to learn. I just wanted to go everywhere and do everything and learn all the languages and see all the things. And so actually, after high school, I deferred from a year from college and I went to Switzerland to try to learn French. That was a nightmare, but I ended up leaving very early into that, but I did learn a little bit of French and I did see how people live in Geneva, which is pretty cool. But yeah, I just remember coming back and feeling like, wow, I feel like my world has opened up and now I also see how much more there is to explore.

[07:59] Paul: Why, uh, why was that such a nightmare to learn French? I know in Switzerland they speak like 3 or 4 different languages.

[08:07] Candace Cabrera Moore: Yes, I actually lived with a Parisian family who was in Geneva. Um, and it wasn't so much about the French, but it was just It was just the wrong avenue. I was an au pair and the mom was never around. She was this, she's a vice president of a major company and so she was always traveling and the father was this really eccentric artist and he was kind of off doing his own thing and so I was left with these poor children, these two girls who, they really just wanted parents and it was a lot of, just struggle between myself and the children and then myself and the parents. Like, the parents just felt like I needed to be essentially raising their children, and I didn't— it wasn't a collaborative effort. We weren't on the same page, and so it was just a really tough living situation for all of us.

[08:56] Paul: Man, that's intense. So coming back to the US and then going to college, uh, my favorite school, UConn, um, So, you grew up with a lot of entrepreneurs and seeing different paths. And I think, I mean, at least for me, when I was going to college, I kind of just assumed I would like go work at a company, right? I assume you might have had a different perspective.

[09:22] Candace Cabrera Moore: I didn't actually. I think it's so unfair. Looking back, I think it's crazy that we ask kids in their 20s to figure out what they want to do for the rest of their lives.

[09:31] Paul: So insane.

[09:32] Candace Cabrera Moore: I had no idea what I wanted to do. I just knew that I loved language, so I studied Spanish. I studied I was very close to having a minor in French and a minor in English, and, and I didn't know what to do with that. So I was like, okay, I'll just be a teacher because that, you know, I've always loved teaching and they've got great schedule, I'll have my summers off, whatever. So I went into a teaching, teaching program in graduate school after my 4 years majoring in Spanish, and I started teaching. I did 1 year in a very rural setting.

It was just to kind of COVID for this woman who was on maternity leave. And then after that. I didn't know what kind of school I wanted to teach in, so I thought I taught in a very rural setting for high school, and then I taught in it in the inner city in Hartford, in middle, at the middle school level. And ultimately, while I loved teaching, it was just a constant uphill battle, and there was a lot of— I didn't love the administrative part of it. I didn't love the school politics, that sort of thing. And then also, when you're in a situation like that an inner city and you're trying to teach kids how to read Spanish and they— I had 7th graders reading at a 3rd grade English level.

So how am I supposed to, you know what I mean? It was just, it was really, really difficult and it was just not for me. Was there like deep down, did you sense like there's this entrepreneurial itch or is this something maybe even looking backwards you're able to say, okay, this wasn't something I was like bringing out So one thing I will say about growing up is my, I always had to work for, since I was a little kid, I have been working and every single job I've had has taught me something that I use today. One of my favorite jobs was waitressing because I felt like the amount of effort you put in was always reflected in that day's pay or that day's tips. So I was a little bit of a hustler. I would, do you like fries with that?

Or do you want another soda? Like I was always upselling. Always had the highest amount of sales. I remember like you could log in and see of all the waitstaff, like who sold the most. I was consistently the one who was selling the most because I was just such a little hustler. And that was very frustrating to me with teaching.

I felt like I could walk in the most passionate, energetic, excited teacher, ready to give it 110%, and I was only going to make the exact same amount as that teacher who just came in, put in bare bones effort, didn't do much. And, and to me that just felt so unfair. Unfair for myself and also unfair for the kids because it's like there's no motivation to do your best work when you only know you're going to take home X amount at the end of the day. So, for me, I think that was something that I really struggled with.

[12:19] Paul: So, probably a better match with what you're doing now.

[12:22] Candace Cabrera Moore: Absolutely.

[12:24] Paul: So, you were teaching in Hartford. Ended up on a path where you were traveling around. When did you first start thinking about yoga as something you might do or pursue a little more than just something you've practiced?

[12:45] Candace Cabrera Moore: Going back to my mom, she was like the original, the OG of cool stuff. She did the health food thing.

[12:53] Paul: Cutting edge. I should interview her.

[12:55] Candace Cabrera Moore: You should, you should actually. She was also the one who introduced me to yoga when I was in high school. So she was really into yoga before it was cool. And we grew up in the northwest corner of Connecticut, which is very close to the Berkshires, which is where Kripalu is. Kripalu is this world-renowned yoga center. It's incredible.

If anybody ever gets a chance to go there, you absolutely have to. But yeah, she would drag me when I was 15 years old because I was dating this bad boy she didn't want me to be dating. So she would drag me to yoga class. And I say that because like at 15, you don't want to hang out with your her mom. But I actually ended up loving the classes and she would just kind of like let me go off on my own once we were up there. And I really enjoyed them.

But of course she would be like, how was it? And I'm like, horrible, can we go? But secretly I really loved it because I felt very accepted. I felt like it was a very safe space and I could just kind of be myself without putting on airs or having that armor up as that 15-year-old insecure girl. You just have these walls up and I felt like this was the one place where I could really comfortably let them down and just be myself. And then, I've always— one of my very first jobs was working at a gym.

So, initially, the yoga for me was more of a physical thing. It was much going on upstairs in terms of the mental aspect of it. And so, yeah, I loved it for the physical aspect of it. And then, eventually, when I started teaching, I loved it for the mental aspect of it. I felt like it killed two birds with one stone. It took care of my stress and it also I got a good workout in for me.

And that was just initially how I was into it. And then I contracted Lyme disease and went down this very long uphill battle of just regaining my health. And I think the blessing in that is that I was able to— at my lowest point during the Lyme disease, I kind of looked back at my life and felt like, wow, up until these I've been alive 26 years. That was at that point then. And I really am not very proud of the way I live my life or what I've done with my time on earth. And so I allowed myself to just kind of dream, okay, what would you do if money were no object and you could just do anything without worrying about logistics?

What would you do to live out the rest of your life in the best way that you could? And I said to myself, I would regain that independence that I once had as that 16-year-old girl who went to Costa Rica, like totally fearless, didn't know a word of Spanish and was I was just like, "Yeah, I'm down." I would regain that independence. I would regain that independence of traveling as well and go take that yoga teacher training course that I've always wanted to take. Then who knows? Maybe I'll become a yoga teacher. That was about as far as it went.

Then eventually, I did just that. I took my yoga teacher training in Thailand. I went on my own. I remember the very last day of training, I bought the domain yogabycandace.com. I wish I had spent a little more time on the name. Yeah, I bought that domain and I started a blog because I felt like I had always been a blog reader, but more about like the fashion stuff.

And there wasn't really out there for fitness, for yoga, for like the modern day person who's into yoga practice and spirituality, but also loves a good makeup tutorial once in a while as well.

[16:12] Paul: Awesome. So, so a lot there. Yes. Do you remember that moment, like when you booked that? Training in Thailand and like how you were thinking at the time?

[16:24] Candace Cabrera Moore: Yes, I was terrified because I was at the tail end of regaining my health from, from Lyme disease. I was still on antibiotics and I was actually coming from Germany where I was living with my now ex-husband and I just felt like there's no time like the present, you might as well do it now. I think I'm well enough to do it but then I didn't really know, you know, and these trainings, the intensive trainings for yoga teacher training, they're no joke. We were up at 5 o'clock in the morning and we were go, go, go, go, go and up until 8 o'clock at night every single day. And so I didn't know if I would have the physical stamina or, you know, if I didn't know if I was in a good place mentally to handle it. And I was really fearful but also really excited because I had been so sick for so long and this was like the first big step in the right direction.

[17:08] Paul: Yeah, I, I mean, that totally resonates. I mean, unfortunately, I also think this is why we reconnected over Lyme disease, dealt similar stuff, and I reached a similar point where I was just still feeling crappy and decided I just needed to like move forward towards something. Did this help like at least turn a corner mentally in terms of shifting to recovery?

[17:33] Candace Cabrera Moore: Yeah, and this is actually one of the things I addressed on a recent podcast I did on my own podcast, which is called Mama Slay with Yoga by Candace. And that is that a lot of people come to me and they say, you know, I have this chronic illness, I am trending in the right direction, but there's a part of me that where my mindset is just so— I'm so fearful that I'm never going to get better. And then when I have one little setback, I just, I lose it. I freak out. I think that I'm going to go backwards completely. How do you deal with this?

And this is something I don't struggle with anymore, but I was, I was so scared about going forward, but then having a setback in Thailand and what if I've just wasted all this money? You know, there's so many what-ifs, but ultimately I just felt like it's now or never. I feel like I have the energy, let's just, why not? That's been kind of my motto lately is just like, just go for it 'cause who cares?

[18:21] Paul: That's amazing. I think also when you're going through something, there's kind of this obsession with identifying as like a sick person. Like once you're sick for a while, you're like, I am sick and I define myself around this. And it's kind of scary to just move forward because you're kind of half pretending that you're healthy and half like just trying to make progress. Does that kind of resonate?

[18:47] Candace Cabrera Moore: Absolutely. And this is another thing I just talked about on a recent podcast is the law of attraction. I feel like what you talk about is what you bring about. So if you're somebody who's constantly like, I'm sick, I'm a victim, everything's wrong, nothing's going my way, it's like, yes, until a certain point. But then it's like you've got to make an effort to at least if you can't physically get up and move around, at least mentally you've got to make the effort to make yourself laugh, to cheer yourself up. You've got to take responsibility for your own happiness.

No matter what's going on physically with you.

[19:17] Paul: So interesting thing happened this week. I read your post about setting intentions and we'll get to this. The— you kind of set an intention that you wanted to lead a major retreat and then you ended up landing something in the Middle East. Right after reading that, I had been talking to somebody earlier in the day about I need to meet some— I want to like meet some more of certain type of people in Boston. And literally that same day, somebody like reached out to me. It was like, you need to meet these two people.

And I was like, oh crap, this is crazy. We gotta talk about this with Candace.

[19:54] Candace Cabrera Moore: So it is crazy. Yeah.

[19:56] Paul: There's something here around intentions and like the magic of the universe and, um, just kind of optimism and trusting it. Um, so maybe tell us about that, uh, Middle East.

[20:06] Candace Cabrera Moore: Uh, I can tell you, um, I can, there are more things that have happened since then that I can count that have been in the exact same direction. So basically what you're talking about is I'd set this intention at the beginning of the year. I wanted to just do like, I really wanted to headline a yoga festival or just be a part of a big yoga festival. And I was like, man, I don't even know how to do that. Is that a paid position? Like, how does that even happen?

I just want to do more of that kind of stuff just because it's so out of my comfort zone. And I think ultimately that's where I wanted to go. It's like, I really enjoy challenging myself and doing things that I'm not comfortable doing because I feel like ultimately that just helps you grow as a person.

[20:43] Paul: And did you tell anyone publicly or share that?

[20:46] Candace Cabrera Moore: Yeah, I think I'd shared it with my boyfriend. I had written it down. I had been kind of dreaming about it. I have like a little journal of goals that I'm constantly working on and reevaluating and reworking and stuff. So I had written it down and then literally like a few days later or something, somebody from the Middle East reached out and was like, "Hey, we're doing this big yoga festival in Dubai. We'd love to have Candace be one of the 6 headliners." And it was a paid position and it was a quick 4-day trip to the Middle East and it was honestly one of the coolest things one of the biggest things I've ever done.

There were thousands of people there and it was just really awesome. But honestly, this happens all the time. I had just recently, I set a goal at the beginning of the year. I set a goal to try to do 25% more in revenue than we have last year. And I was like, all right, how are we going to make this happen? Like, let's do it.

Let's brainstorm. And probably 2 or 3 weeks later, we got the biggest deal we've done to date and completely smashed that goal. So these are things that happen time and again, and it's to the point now where I'm just not even surprised to hear things like to hear, to hear your story. I'm just, I'm not surprised when you, when you put it out there, when you think about it, it often happens.

[22:00] Paul: So how many people were you teaching at that workshop in the Middle East?

[22:07] Candace Cabrera Moore: So I think there were 13,000 people who joined for the weekend and there were people going on at once. But I think the biggest class I had, a couple thousand people.

[22:16] Paul: Is that the biggest you've ever done?

[22:18] Candace Cabrera Moore: Oh yeah, by far.

[22:20] Paul: What was that like?

[22:21] Candace Cabrera Moore: I mean, it was really nerve-wracking. So again, you're— there's the communication piece, and Dubai is a really international community. I think something like 96 or 98% are expats, so English is the dominant language, but I just wasn't sure, you I'm not a very serious teacher. I don't go in there and speak only Sanskrit or anything. I really try to bring humor and I'm just myself and I'm a little bit silly and I didn't know if that would translate. I've never taught from a stage before.

I've never worn a mic to teach. That was different. There were drones flying all around us. We had cameramen and photographers. There was somebody doing an interview on TV right in the middle of my class. It was a very different situation.

And then you also have to be cognizant of the culture. Like it's a Muslim country. So I, it was probably 100 degrees and I was in leggings and a tank top. And you know, you have, you just have to be careful about what you say and make sure that you're respectful. So there were all these things going on in the back of my mind. And ultimately I was like, okay, we're just going to do the best we can with what you've got and just let that be enough.

That was kind of my, my thing. And then the other thing I love about yoga, especially teaching yoga, is when I'm nervous, I'll just say the words that I need to hear almost as a mask for people. So I'll just be like, "All right." You use it for them and you. Yeah, close your eyes. There's nothing to prove. Just do your best.

I'm just talking to myself. So that's my other little trick to get me through. But yeah, it was a really crazy experience.

[23:53] Paul: That's pretty cool. I never thought about that. If I go to yoga, I won't See, the things are saying the same again now. That's right. So you also talk a lot about generosity, and it sounds like that has played a key role in your success. Have— has that been a shift for you recently in how you're thinking about things?

[24:18] Candace Cabrera Moore: That's so funny you say that, because that was one of my, like, personal things that I wanted to work on this year is just being more generous. I never want to be a person who's like tit for tat or who keeps track of things in the back of their head. If I can give, I want to give. And I don't mean just financially, like, yes, I try to be generous, you know, with gifts and that sort of thing with my close friends and family, but also just being generous of your time, with your time and your energy. I think that's something that a lot of entrepreneurs or people who aren't in the entrepreneurial space, they don't realize like how much energy it takes to just keep all the things going, especially like with social media and that sort of thing. So I just, I try to answer questions when I get them.

Them as much as I can. And I try to, when people ask for, you know, can you do a video for hip opening? Like, I try to do it. I try to give people what they want. I think it's good business practice. And I think you have to give the people what they want.

Otherwise, what are you doing it for? You know?

[25:17] Paul: I like it. How do you manage that though with your own energy now? I think, I mean, you've built a following now and it's actually incredible to just watch. Like, even if you just go through like your Instagram stories, you're like you're answering questions from people left and right and like always helping. How do you manage that with your just like personal energy and like staying personally energized, I guess?

[25:43] Candace Cabrera Moore: Yeah, so that's a great question. I try to have like quote-unquote office hours. I really only work from like 7 in the morning till 5 at night and then I'm kind of done. Like I don't really do much unless I'm super bored and there's like 10 minutes of time where, you know, I'm waiting to get on the plane or something, I have time, but I try to keep my mind in quote-unquote work mode for those hours. And then when I'm off work or at night or I'm spending time with friends, like, I want to be physically present with them. Or sometimes I'm just watching dumb mindless TV and I just want to have that dumb mindless time because I think sometimes you just need that to energize.

You need to do— sure, I feel like self-care is so important. If I'm not taking care of myself, then I'm not being I'm not being a good friend. I'm not being somebody who's able to give of their time if I don't have anything to give. So I have to do whatever I have to do to recharge and reenergize so I can get back to that giving space.

[26:38] Paul: That's great. So would love to dig into just the business you've built and like go back a bit. I think I actually talk to people now and they're like, "Ah, I'm just gonna build like an Instagram yoga business." I know somebody's done that. It's not exactly how it works. So I know there are a lot of like experiments, trials and errors along the way. Take me back to like that first moment when I think— was it the video you did at the beginning that was kind of the first attempt to like turn something into a business?

[27:15] Candace Cabrera Moore: So yeah, let's think. I started it primarily as a blog. Yogabycandace.com. And like I said, there was just nothing out there that was what I was looking for. And I felt like as a newly minted yoga teacher with all this energy, I felt like I knew that I had a lot of questions as a student before I had that yoga education. And I thought maybe I could use the blog to answer other people's questions and to solve some of the problems that I had as a yoga student who is, you know, in her first year of teaching, didn't have a ton of money, couldn't really afford to go to a yoga studio So what could I do to help others who are in a similar situation?

So I was like, oh, you know what? I'll make some yoga videos, put them on YouTube and boom, free yoga. I wasn't thinking about it from a monetary perspective. In fact, I don't even think you could monetize YouTube at that point, right? You could, but I didn't know it until 2 years in. And I was like, oh man, I really missed out.

Yeah. So I didn't even know that you could monetize your videos until I was doing it for quite some time. And then I did. And then, you know, people started to read the blog and sooner or later I got a couple offers from various companies just being like, "Hey, could we send you some free product?" And I was like, "Cool, great." And then I realized you could monetize through like Amazon, for example. So if I was talking about a particular protein powder, I could link to it and then I would get like a measly 3% commission or whatever. But it's not measly 3% if you have hundreds of thousands of people clicking on it.

So that's kind of how it all works. You know, one of the first books I read about entrepreneurship was The 4-Hour Workweek, and Tim Ferriss talks about having these passive revenue streams. And then I realized like, oh, the YouTube channel is a passive revenue stream, the affiliate links, that's kind of a passive revenue stream. So my focus began to shift more towards how can I monetize, but in a way where my content remains authentic and I'm still in a position where I'm helping people. And then I also realized you can make a little money from teaching. Teaching.

I can make a little bit more money doing retreats and workshops and those sort of things. And then I also self-produced a DVD just so I could have a product, which I felt like gave me a little bit more clout. And so, I just kind of went from there. And now, here we are.

[29:38] Paul: That's awesome. So, when you're doing something like the DVD, did that force you into learning mode to learn other skills?

[29:48] Candace Cabrera Moore: Yeah. So, I mean, there were so many skills that went into that, but I'm kind of a person where I jump in and hope for the best. So I just, I planned out a thing and I researched, you know, I hired two cameramen and we filmed it against a green screen. Looking back, the product itself was not that great, but given, given the fact that I didn't have a huge budget, I think I poured like $1,500 into it. It's pretty good for what it was. And you know, now people aren't using DVDs, so that's kind of been on the back burner.

Yeah, RIP. But yeah, I learned, I learned so much. I learned about I learned about different camera angles. I learned about voiceovers, 'cause I did the whole thing as a voiceover afterwards. And like I had mentioned previously, everything, every job I've had in the past has taught me something. And I remember in middle school, I had to do a community service, public service project.

And one of the things was, I can't remember what exactly the project was, but the end project was creating a commercial. So I worked with this radio personality who taught me a lot about just speaking and how to speak in a way, just how different tricks to kind of manipulate your voice. So if you smile when you talk, it kind of warms up your voice. It gives you that like honey sensation in the sound, the quality of the sound. And so I remember, you know, just thinking back that it just like popped into my brain when I was doing the voiceover for the DVD that I was self-producing. So all these little things.

And then I just, I always keep my eyes open when I'm working with others because I know that if they're the best at what they do, then I want to pick from them and learn from them. So yeah.

[31:30] Paul: That's amazing. Did you ever have any fear of putting stuff out there in public? And do you still deal with that?

[31:37] Candace Cabrera Moore: I don't now because who cares? But I did back then because like everybody wants to start an Instagram account and become Insta famous and it looks so easy, but it is not, especially when you have like 50 followers and 45 of them are like hate followers from, you know, your middle school days or your high school days or whatever. And so, yeah, it's a little embarrassing because you're like, what are these people going to think? Here I am trying to be somebody. Who am I to be somebody? And my thing is like, who are you not?

Who are you not to be somebody? You know, you have this one life to live. And that's essentially what I learned from the Lyme disease, which was arguably like one of the most difficult things I've gone through. You have this one life and people who are committed to disliking what you put out there are going to dislike what you put out there no matter what you put out there. You just do your best with what you have. Let that be enough.

The people who support you, man, you would be surprised the people who come out of the woodwork to support you. You might be shocked to find that some of your closest friends that you thought would support you are not there for you. As long as your intentions are good, your heart's in the right place, and your ego's in check, I feel like you can't really fail.

[32:49] Paul: [Speaker:DAVE] Yeah. When I'm working with people just to take alternative paths, I often just push them just to write something and publish it just to deal with that uncertainty. Often I think what you find, like, I've actually made friends through my writing, which is so crazy. But once you get that, then you're hooked, right? You like want to keep sharing publicly and making a fool of yourself because you might just end up meeting some cool people that agree with your crazy ideas.

[33:18] Candace Cabrera Moore: Yeah, and the thing is like your crazy ideas are going to connect you to other people. And I think ultimately like social media can be used for that, for that sense of connection. I mean, it can certainly be used in other ways. And you'll know it when you, when you see it, you can kind of sense a vibe of what people are putting out there. And there's some things that are definitely like a look at me and it, you know, it's maybe perhaps not with the best intentions, but then there are other things where, you know, it can be more of a way to connect with others. Like this past weekend, and I did a workshop in Nashville, Tennessee, and I was able to go out to dinner with this woman I've been following on social media for 8 years.

And we finally just met in person. And it was just like the greatest time. I felt like I had known her for, I mean, I have known her for so long, But it's so interesting to see social media being used in a way to connect rather than divide.

[34:07] Paul: Yeah, that definitely resonates. I think there's, I mean, with the internet, you can have such micro niches that are like so focused, or like especially your brand, you're doing yoga, but like in a very specific way, right?

[34:22] Candace Cabrera Moore: Right.

[34:22] Paul: And it often leads to these almost like instant friendships, right? 'Cause there's this base understanding of like what we already value and agree on.

[34:31] Candace Cabrera Moore: On.

[34:31] Paul: It's a weird thing. It's a new world, but it's pretty cool too.

[34:36] Candace Cabrera Moore: Yeah, I agree.

[34:39] Paul: So when did Yoga by Candace turn into Yoga by Candace and my team?

[34:46] Candace Cabrera Moore: Let's see. I think it was 2015. I believe I started 2012, so it was about 2 years in where I just felt like I needed some help. I was beginning to work with brands and feeling like I just couldn't stay on top of all of the things I needed to do. So I put out feelers on Facebook and was like, hey, I'm just looking for somebody who can work remotely, probably just a few hours a week. I don't really know.

You kind of need to know a little bit about like health and living, but you also need to just have excellent grammar, communication skills, and just kind of be a figure it out kind of person. And this girl I know, I had kind of known, quote unquote, through, we were acquaintances, we weren't really friends, we were just acquaintances. Her name was Lauren. She emailed me and she's like, I know it's a little weird working with friends, I totally get it if you don't want to, but we're also like not really friends, we're just acquaintances. So she's like, I am bored out of my mind. She's like, I used to be the assistant to the VP at ESPN and I can get stuff done.

I am a person who just, I can do it all. I'm a quick learner and basically I just, I'm bored out of my mind. Can I work for you please? And also don't pay me. And I said, well, you're crazy. I'm going to pay you.

Yes, let's give it a try. And I just said, let's just be really open. If this doesn't work, we'll part ways, no hard feelings. We can still be acquaintances, whatever. It's turned out so well. She still works for me.

And yeah, she's my marketing director now. And she just, she gets stuff done. She doesn't take no for an answer. And I think that was the most important thing for me is like, I didn't really care what background skills anybody had. I just wanted them to come from a place of, yes, I can, instead of no, I can't do that.

[36:33] Paul: Yeah. And I love that too, because her approach is almost what you need to do if you want to do things that matter to you in today's world. It's, uh, basically just throwing yourself after opportunities and having that mindset of like being able to do whatever. Yeah. I've had people that approach me and are like, like, uh, are you hiring? It's like, this, this like not how it works.

Like, it's not like a job with a salary. Like, yeah, let's co-create opportunities. Like, I'm, I'll pay you, but like, let's create an experiment and, uh, try different things.

[37:05] Candace Cabrera Moore: Yeah.

[37:06] Paul: Um, have you had other people approach you in that way or is it more, uh, systematic after that?

[37:11] Candace Cabrera Moore: Yeah, well, we had an intern. She was awesome as well. Shout out to, to my old intern. She's now in DC. She was so cool. She was just another figure it out kind of person.

We've had other people ask to see if we were hiring or even volunteering to work for free, but honestly, it requires a lot of time and effort and energy on our part to train somebody, and I can't— I'm just not up for doing it if they're not gonna be in it for the long haul. And you really do have to have that mindset of just like I'm gonna do it, I'm in it, and knowing that somebody's not gonna quit on me if it gets to be too challenging. So I think I'll revisit it again in the future, but for right now, we've got Lauren, we have Dan, we have Jan, we have myself, and we're good for right now.

[38:03] Paul: I like it. And how has it been? So you don't see many people running businesses out of Hartford, Connecticut.

[38:13] Candace Cabrera Moore: Harvard, I will say, is having a little bit of a revival. UConn actually just moved to Hartford. Did you know that?

[38:18] Paul: I know, I saw that. Yeah, nice. So I know, well, I imagine there might be some unexpected upsides of that too, right? They're like, I've lived in New York and Boston, there's just a lot of noise, a lot of like other people doing similar things. You kind of feel like you have to hustle. Like, I imagine there's a certain like solitude or like disconnectedness of being in Hartford?

[38:43] Candace Cabrera Moore: Yeah, so there's a— this is very funny that you say this because a couple people have said this. People in my gym, I don't know how, it must be something on Instagram where it's like you go to the discover page, but people at my gym are finding me, but they're finding me and I'm not finding them. And so I had this older man come up to me, he's like this giant strongman, he does strongman competitions, and he's like, hey, my wife bought your book, great job, da da da. And I was like, wow, oh my gosh, thank you. You know, he's like, you don't see many people like, like you around here. And I'm like, yeah, I guess not.

I don't really— it's funny, it's funny to hear you say like, it's been amazing to watch you because I just feel like it's little me in this, you know, working out of my home, just trying to make things happen. So I don't really feel like I'm at— I've reached any particular level of success. I guess it kind of keeps me humble. But as far as some upsides, yeah, I have this amazing workspace. I have like like 20-foot ceilings and 13-foot windows, and I have this great space that I work out of for pretty cheap. So I have that going for me.

I also love being in Hartford because it's so close to all the different airports in New York, and then I'm also close to Boston, so I feel like I can get anywhere pretty easily. And yeah, I'm not somebody— I don't follow actually any yoga teachers. I don't think I might follow one or two of the, like, the big-name guys guys, but I don't, I don't really pay attention to them. And I think if I were in a place like LA or New York, I would start to pay attention to that. And that the reason why I don't follow those big name people is because I tend to go down this path of like, oh my gosh, look what they're accomplishing and I'm not. I tend to get a little down on myself and then I forget that that's like their particular brand.

That's what, that's awesome for them. And I am actually truly happy for them, but I can't be looking at that because I feel influenced in a negative way. I just try to stay on my own path and do my own thing. I like being in small Hartford doing my thing.

[40:49] Paul: I like it. As I get older, it definitely gets more attractive to get away from the hustle.

[40:56] Candace Cabrera Moore: The other thing is my ex-husband and I moved around so frequently for his job that I hadn't been close to home. I grew up in Connecticut. I hadn't been close to home in 10 years, 10 or so, 8, 9, 10 years. And my dad is battling some health issues. And so I'm actually really happy to be here in Hartford and be close to family after so long of being, you know, so, so many years of being away.

[41:22] Paul: That's amazing. So what is the vision for like the next chapter of Yoga by Candace and Namaste look like?

[41:31] Candace Cabrera Moore: So one of the toughest things about releasing a book is trying to figure out how to keep the book selling without being somebody who's like, buy my book. Hey, buy my book. Hey, did you hear that I wrote a book? Buy it. So that's something that we've been working on. And one of the things that I've decided to do is start a yoga teacher training program.

And it's kind of really come full circle for me because the first training we're doing is in Thailand at the exact same venue where I did my own yoga teacher training program.

[42:04] Paul: Wow, that's amazing.

[42:05] Candace Cabrera Moore: Yeah, really excited. So I'm excited to go back there and do it, but I'm also really nervous because I've never done it before. And anyway, I've become that, you know, that professor in school that would be like, all right, one of the required readings is the book I wrote. I'm now— now I'm that person. One of the required books is my book Namaste. But the thing is, I want— as we grow and expand and do more retreats and festivals and teacher trainings and things like I'm gonna need more actual teachers.

Lauren is a marketing director. She knows marketing. She prefers to be a behind-the-scenes person. Yeah, Dan is also— he's marketing logistics guy. He did— he works for like, works on giveaways and stuff like that. Jan does accounting and receivables, and she does the packing of the Mantra Box, which is our quarterly discovery box program.

So she's also a behind-the-scenes person. I need somebody who's gonna be front and center with me and help in assisting. But the thing is, like, I'm not I'm not, all these people are like, well, I've got a friend who teaches yoga. I'm not going to hire your friend. I don't know if your friend's vibe is the same vibe that fits with the YBC brand and the philosophy of Namaste. So my idea is to begin having these yoga teacher training programs under the Namaste philosophy.

So I can train people and know that these people are my, you know, they're part of my tribe, they're part of my brand. I can trust them to, you know, be on brand with their teaching. And then that way I can hopefully begin to, branch out and, you know, have them assist and, and be a part of, you know, the YBC club here. So that's the direction in which we're going. So we have that yoga teacher training in Thailand coming up, and we also have another one scheduled in August in Tennessee for a nice US-based one as well.

[43:47] Paul: Awesome. So the next chapter is really about kind of developing the next you, or like a bunch of—

[43:57] Candace Cabrera Moore: I don't know what to do with that That's the hardest part is when you're in that forward-facing role, I feel like it's Yoga by Candace, and that's what I mean when I was saying, "Man, I wish I had spent a little bit more time thinking about the name of the company," because it's tough to be front and center all the time. I would like to have some writers, some people, some contributors, some fellow teachers who were trained in what we're doing, and that way we can hopefully branch out, and then maybe it'll take a little bit, um, a little bit off my plate.

[44:33] Paul: That's amazing. And what is your— so a lot of people have been talking about just social media these days, right? Uh, a lot of people are addicted, um, using it all the time. What's your personal relationship to social media and like how you balance that? Because it's obviously a core part of your business and what you do. Um, but how do you like manage to that?

[44:57] Candace Cabrera Moore: Yeah, for people who roll their eyes at social media and don't think it's powerful, let me tell you, it is. I have people who spend thousands on retreats just from, you know, Instagram, just from finding me, stumbling upon me on Pinterest, YouTube. So if you're a content creator, if you're an entrepreneur, like, do not undervalue the power of social media. That being said, I look at social media as a business. It's just a business aspect to me. I really— I don't have a personal account.

Yoga by Candace is the only account I I do that for a good reason because I don't want to be on it all the time. And so like I said, I have set hours where I will answer questions and engage and I try— engagement is so important. That's part of the thing with the whole entrepreneurial thing is you've got to have this connection with your customer base or your community. And I feel like it's very important to answer those comments to, or at least, you know, press the little heart button so people know that they've seen your comment and seen seen their comment and read it and received it. So yeah, I just try to set aside specific time to do that sort of thing.

And when I start to feel myself getting stressed out, when I'm tense through my shoulders and my heart's racing, when I feel like, oh, I've got to answer all these things and do all these things, I just put the phone down and I'm like, no, what you have to do is take a couple deep breaths and get outside, leave your phone at home. And I just really try to separate work from my personal life. Life. That's one of— I think that's one of the things a lot of people who are in that entrepreneurial sphere struggle with is how do you— you always want to work. Like they say, there's that quote like entrepreneurs are the only ones who will work 80-hour work weeks to avoid working 30-hour work weeks or whatever, because it's just so nice to work for yourself. But you've got to— you can't, um, you can't undervalue that, that you can't, um, you just have to be careful with how you spend your time.

Especially because I find a lot of my inspiration comes from the time, my downtime, when I'm exploring, when I'm with friends, when doing the things that really bring me joy. If you're constantly working all the time, you might lose that spark and energy and inspiration.

[46:59] Paul: Yeah. How do you, how do you plan for those disconnected times or vacations? I've, I know I've found it challenging because you kind of have to just guess and plan something and then just like work around it as it comes.

[47:14] Candace Cabrera Moore: You mean like an actual trip or something?

[47:16] Paul: Like just disconnected, right? It can even be like staying local and not working on anything. Anything?

[47:21] Candace Cabrera Moore: Yeah, so sometimes I'll just leave my phone at home. Sometimes I will just simply refuse to open up the app. I used to be the person who, if an email came in at, you know, 11 o'clock at night— because remember, when I started my business, I was living in Germany, but all the people I was working with was— were, were in the States, so we had this weird time change— I would get up right away and I would answer the email right then. And I learned that the email is gonna be there. Like, you can answer the next day at 8:00 a.m. when you're ready to sit down and be in work mode.

So I really just try to develop develop times when I'm in work mode and times when I'm in where I am feeling like I need to just be in relaxing mode and just commit. Like, don't pick up your phone. Don't click the button to look at your email. It's just discipline.

[48:03] Paul: That's great. So, this was super insightful. I think hopefully people, especially people trying to build a business, kind of pick up some of the lessons of just experimenting, learning. Putting in the time and just mastering different things was a key takeaway for me. But are there any messages you want to leave with people or any place you want to direct people?

[48:33] Candace Cabrera Moore: I would say the biggest lesson for me, or one of the things I constantly try to work on, is anytime I'm struggling or feeling like I'm in a bad place try to shift your perspective. Try to look at it from, you know, a place of what can I learn from this, what can I extract from this so that in the future if I come upon the situation again, I can move forward. Or perhaps at least just if I were to do things differently, you know, you could tell, you could teach people. Just try to extract the good from every situation, even the bad. And, you know, be grateful for even those bad situations because those are the things that are going to challenge you and help you to grow and ultimately I think that's what life is all about, is just, just continuing to grow and becoming the best version of yourself.