0:02 the backbone of America. Welcome back
0:04 here at the podcast Backbone of America.
0:06 Today we're very pleased to have Sam
0:10 Tahara, uh founder and CEO of Liquida, a
0:12 wellness center. Sam, thanks for being
0:14 here today. Thank you. Glad to have you.
0:15 Tell us a little bit about your
0:18 business, Sam. Uh I'm intrigued by it.
0:21 So Liquid, man, uh we are taking a
0:23 proactive preventative approach for
0:25 people's health, right? So, we're data
0:27 driven and our goal is to make people
0:30 well and get them off of medications,
0:33 you know, really live an optimal life. I
0:36 got it. And who who
0:38 are your your clients? I mean, are they
0:40 sick people? Are they people that just
0:43 want to use preventative med medicine? I
0:45 mean, who who's the target market? Well,
0:46 it could definitely be a mixture of
0:48 both, right? Um, we do not focus
0:50 primarily on sick people, like people
0:52 that have cancer or something like that.
0:54 Um we do offer certain certain
0:56 supportive care to help people
0:58 throughout those different processes.
0:58 You know, if they're going through
1:01 chemotherapy, um radiation, but
1:04 primarily we're looking uh what we look
1:05 for are people that are trying to
1:07 optimize their health, right? Somebody
1:10 who's uh looking to not get sick as
1:13 often, someone who's looking to uh be in
1:15 the best shape of their life, someone
1:18 who's looking for health span and also
1:21 longevity. Got it. And today, how many
1:22 uh how many wellness centers do you
1:26 have? So, we've sold 40 uh actually 41
1:29 at this point and uh about half are open
1:31 in different parts of the nation. Got
1:32 it. Walk me through I mean, you started
1:35 this back in what 2013 I believe I read.
1:37 Yeah. Uh you started with almost nothing
1:38 in your pocket and this thing has kind
1:41 of grown so fast. Um I mean, what's been
1:44 the process? Really? I mean, exactly
1:45 that. I I started it with nothing. I
1:48 started it with $500 in my back pocket.
1:50 So, this was a side gig on my days off
1:52 from the fire department. So, you know,
1:54 most firemen here in South Florida, we
1:56 work 24 hours on, we're off for 48
1:58 hours. So, we always look for something
2:00 to do on our days off to supplement our
2:03 income. Um, my supplementing of income
2:06 was working with a alternative medicine
2:08 company called Cenogenics. And that's
2:10 where I got exposed to this IV therapy
2:12 stuff. And we used to cater to some of
2:15 the wealthiest people on the globe. And
2:16 some of these people, you know, they
2:18 have homes in California, they have
2:20 homes in Colorado, and they were telling
2:22 me about how they would get these
2:24 vitamin I drips when they'd go back to
2:26 their homes in California and Colorado.
2:28 And the uh unique thing about it was
2:29 they would tell me is like the
2:31 technician that was doing the IVs on
2:32 them was a offduty firefighter
2:36 paramedic. So once I had like the fifth
2:38 patient tell me about these IV drips, I
2:39 says, "You know what? Let me look into
2:42 this thing." and I saw what was going to
2:43 be my competition. Now, a lot of them
2:45 are my customers actually, what they
2:46 were doing. I said, "You know what? I
2:48 can do what they're doing, but I can do
2:50 it better." So, I uh partnered up with a
2:52 doctor uh close to my house in Coconut
2:54 Creek who had a beautiful wellness
2:56 center. You know, he was a chiropractor
2:59 by trade, but he he included a lot of uh
3:00 eastern and western medicine together.
3:04 So, acupuncture, hydroclonic therapy, uh
3:06 medical aesthetics, he had all kinds of
3:08 stuff in there. So, like most doctors,
3:10 they have a a goodiz room that's just
3:12 collecting dust. So, I give him a
3:14 business proposition. I said, "Dr.
3:16 Newman," I said, "Let me take over that
3:18 room back there. I'll move the equipment
3:20 that you have there that's doing nothing
3:22 but collecting dust and I'll invest a
3:24 few dollars and I'll come on my days off
3:26 and I'll operate this IV business and
3:29 I'll give you 20%." For him, it was like
3:30 winning the lottery. The guy has to do
3:32 nothing and and all of a sudden, that
3:34 room is making money for him. So he
3:36 agreed to it and that was the launch to
3:39 Liquid Bea with $500 in my back pocket.
3:41 Wow. And do you need any kind of
3:43 licensing for that or you start I mean
3:46 as a as a firefighter I imagine you were
3:47 also a paramedic and you had some
3:49 experience you know uh sticking people
3:51 with a needle but is it a very
3:54 unregulated industry or is it um you
3:56 know initially I was one of the first
3:58 ones to get into the IV business here in
4:02 Florida. So regulations were uh minimal
4:03 but at the end of the day it's still a
4:05 medical procedure so all of the medical
4:07 regulations still fall into play. Mhm.
4:09 Um but yeah, you you do have to have
4:12 lensures and stuff. So my background
4:14 besides being a firefighter, I'm dy
4:16 trained as a firefighter paramedic. So
4:18 my paramedic license allowed me to to do
4:19 these procedures because I have a
4:21 background in pharmarmacology and
4:24 everything else. Um and then obviously
4:26 partnering up with Dr. Newman, he had
4:28 the medical doctor, the nurses, and
4:31 everything else there, which structuring
4:34 that deal allowed me to really uh tap
4:36 into the market without having these
4:38 crazy overhead expenses, right? Because
4:40 I had 500 bucks. So, you know, part of
4:43 the deal was, hey, you provide medical
4:44 direction. So, your medical doctor is
4:46 going to oversee this business vertical
4:49 that we're developing together. Um,
4:50 you're going to have the front desk, you
4:52 know, you're already paying for the
4:54 insurance, the malpractice, all of that.
4:56 So for me, I had no expenses. I didn't
4:57 even have to pay rent there because that
4:59 was part of the deal. So I was able to
5:01 actually create the minimal viable
5:04 product at a very low low dollar rate.
5:06 Yeah. You had low risk. No, it's a great
5:08 supplemental for him and it's a win-win.
5:10 That's a the basis of entrepreneurship.
5:12 I love it. You know, that's a great
5:13 story. How long before you left his
5:16 office and started your own storefront?
5:18 So it was years until I actually left
5:20 his office because and the reason why I
5:22 left his office is because we really
5:25 grew apart or the visions of what we
5:29 were doing. But about a year into it, I
5:30 came across an opportunity. It was
5:33 actually a client um that came in for
5:35 the IV drips who had a med spot that she
5:39 launched in East Fort Lauderdale. And uh
5:41 this was a lady, older lady in her late
5:44 50s. And you know she she had training
5:46 as a medical esthetician so she was
5:48 trying to do the med spa stuff you know
5:51 Botox or some facials but the lady was
5:53 always traveling so she didn't have the
5:55 time to actually put into the business.
5:57 So she asked me hey can you bring one of
5:59 these liquidas inside of my office how
6:01 you have here. So I went there checked
6:03 it out. I said okay this might be my
6:06 second location you know overhead she's
6:07 got the the staff there and everything
6:10 else. And it wasn't the same because the
6:11 thing is she wasn't operating it like
6:13 the doctor that I initially partnered
6:15 with in Cocoa Creek who was actually
6:17 physically there working it. This lady
6:19 was traveling to Mexico and all over the
6:20 place. So she didn't have a foot
6:24 traffic. So I had to actually go out to
6:27 the actual community and try to bring
6:30 customers in. So at that point I told
6:32 myself I said you know what the city's
6:35 never here. She her her own services are
6:36 not even moving. So I gave her a
6:38 business proposition. I says, "Lady,
6:39 you're not even working. You're paying
6:41 all this, right? Let me take over and
6:44 I'll give you a room and we'll make this
6:45 a whole liquid and I'll include these
6:47 other services, you know, hormone
6:49 optimization, weight loss. I'll do
6:51 that." And she agreed to it and that was
6:54 the launch of the actual liquid
6:55 storefront brick and mortars at that
6:58 point. Right. Right. Yeah. I saw that
6:59 you you have a lot of vertical
7:01 integration with the not just the IV
7:03 therapy but also the hormone replacement
7:06 the uh sexual wellness products. Um
7:08 that's not standard right from what I've
7:10 seen. I mean when somebody's somebody
7:11 that focus on weight loss would just do
7:13 that hormone therapy will just do that
7:15 you know. Yeah. Is that unique to your
7:17 business? So I created the uh basically
7:20 the one-stop shop and this is what we
7:22 call we put our our clients through what
7:24 we call the VA journey where we have
7:26 five different divisions which is we
7:28 have our wellness division which include
7:31 you know peptide therapies uh hormone
7:32 optimization some of the wellness
7:35 services like the IV drips comprehensive
7:37 blood work to really see what's going on
7:39 in your body we have our medical weight
7:41 loss division which is a division of its
7:43 own uh everyone's trying to lose weight
7:44 right weight and energy people are
7:46 always going
7:48 Then we have our medical aesthetics
7:50 division where we do the Botox, the
7:53 facials, the peels, uh the dermal
7:55 fillers. We have different lasers, laser
7:57 hair removal, skin tightening, all of
7:59 that stuff. Then we have our
8:01 regenerative medicine division where we
8:03 work with a lot of professional athletes
8:06 or even people that are getting old that
8:08 have certain injuries where we inject
8:11 stem cell derived products like exoomes
8:13 or also peptides. And then our last
8:15 division is our sexual health division.
8:17 Um where we use different technologies
8:20 for both males and females on how to
8:23 really get their sexual health back. Um
8:25 you know so for men you know we work on
8:27 erectile dysfunction, libido and then
8:29 women you know especially postpartum
8:31 they have like urinary incontinents
8:34 prolapse uterus uh pelvic floor issues.
8:36 So we have different technologies for
8:39 that. So ultimately our goal is if we
8:40 could put people through all of those
8:42 different divisions now they're going to
8:45 live an optimized life with good health
8:48 span and longevity. Yeah. And that's
8:50 crazy. So I'll give you an experience my
8:53 experience. So I did at some point uh
8:55 hair transplants. I forget which one if
8:57 it's the FUEE or I don't know. I I don't
8:59 remember. But it was like a a store in
9:02 itself. probably 10 individuals at the
9:03 place, you know, they had they they came
9:06 in, you know, with uh for the procedure
9:07 and so you're doing a lot of these
9:09 things. I mean, the sellers must be
9:11 significant in size, I imagine. I mean,
9:13 what's the average storefront? I mean,
9:14 you got to have an expert. These are
9:17 each particular fields, right? They are.
9:20 They are in on a business standpoint,
9:22 right? It's not the easiest thing to do,
9:25 you know? And I actually try to advise
9:27 people say, "Well, I want to offer all
9:29 these services." You know, you you don't
9:31 want to be a jack of all trades and a
9:33 master of none. You know, it's like you
9:35 you want to be able to master some of
9:37 these. You know, fortunately, we were
9:39 able to master the IV nutrition space
9:41 for, you know, nationally, we're known
9:44 for that. Um, I was even appointed as
9:46 the chairman of the association for the
9:49 IV the American IV Association because
9:52 of of what we've been able to do. Um but
9:54 yeah, you know, you have the the experts
9:57 in all of these respective fields that
9:59 have to run these divisions. But do you
10:00 do you outsource them or do you in-house
10:03 them? Both of them are in-house. Now,
10:05 for example, we do hair transplant. So
10:06 the hair transplant or medical
10:08 providers, they're they're trained to be
10:11 able to educate on it. But the way that
10:13 works is we have the technology at our
10:15 facility. you know, it's a4 million
10:18 dollar uh FUEE uh machine that does the
10:22 the extraction. And then uh what what
10:24 they what they do, the company that that
10:26 sold us the machine, they have a whole
10:29 team of technicians that when you have
10:30 someone who has to go through the
10:32 procedure, the technicians come to your
10:34 office and these are actually the same
10:35 technicians that go through all of the
10:37 other uh hair transplant clinics
10:39 throughout South Florida. I got it. All
10:41 right. So that that's good. So, I was
10:42 gonna ask you obviously what's your, you
10:44 know, what core problem does your
10:45 service satisfy? But obviously, you're
10:47 you're solving all kinds of problems out
10:50 there. Yeah. Hair transplant. I mean,
10:51 you got all kinds of stuff going on. We
10:52 really are. You know, we try to make
10:54 people better from the inside out.
10:56 That's our our main goal, getting people
10:58 to have vitality and vigor. Yeah. The
11:00 good thing is you got a lot of niche
11:01 markets. My next question, you know, as
11:04 as an entrepreneur, as an investor, is
11:06 how fast is your industry growing? But I
11:08 mean if one industry is stagnant, you
11:10 got another one that's picking up, you
11:13 know. Yeah. I would say the alternative
11:15 health industry, it's growing uh
11:17 tremendously. I mean it's it's been
11:18 growing tremendously for the last 10
11:22 years now with a big movement that we
11:24 have, the Make America Healthy Again
11:26 movement under the new administration,
11:28 Trump's administration, it's growing
11:30 even quicker, right? Because um people
11:34 like RFK Jr., you know, uh, leading HSS,
11:39 he he the he's all about what we do in
11:41 the alternative medicine space, right?
11:43 Uh, a lot of the things that we've seen
11:45 in the alipathic world when it comes to
11:47 traditional medicine have been failing
11:50 our people consistently. So when you
11:51 start seeing the people that he's
11:55 appointing to uh lead the FDA, the CDC,
11:57 and all of these other governing uh organizations,
11:58 organizations,
12:00 these are physicians that actually
12:02 practice the way that we practice, which
12:04 is functional medicine, right? We're
12:06 taking a different approach versus
12:08 treating disease. We're we're taking
12:10 more of a different approach of more of
12:13 that proactive prevention side of
12:15 things. Got it. Now you you were around
12:19 before Trump. So is there like a
12:21 pre-Trump, postTrump kind of scenario
12:23 where where business has really picked
12:25 up. Is that what you're seeing? Uh based
12:27 on RFK coming out and saying we're going
12:28 to make America healthy again. You know,
12:30 not just great again, but healthy again.
12:32 Uh yeah, I I would say business
12:34 definitely has picked up, but most
12:36 importantly awareness has picked up more
12:38 than anything else where people are
12:40 becoming more conscientious of what they
12:42 need to do for their health, right? And
12:44 co did the same thing. CO actually made
12:46 people more conscientious of taking care
12:48 of their health because one of the
12:49 things that we saw during CO were the
12:51 people that were actually dying were
12:54 people that had the deficiencies on
12:56 vitamin D. The people that were obese,
12:58 right? People that had all kinds of
13:00 chronic illnesses. Those were the people
13:02 that weren't able to make it through CO
13:04 when they got infected with the virus.
13:06 So what happened there? People started
13:09 taking more uh of a proactive approach
13:11 to their health and started maintaining
13:13 their health. So our business actually
13:16 went up in revenue uh during co and
13:18 postco just because people became more
13:19 aware and took their health more
13:22 serious. Yeah, absolutely. So what's
13:24 your main role in the company? I mean
13:26 what are your responsibilities?
13:29 Man, I got a lot of responsibilities but
13:32 really um we're I ventured into
13:35 primarily now on on a daytoday basis
13:37 being the face of the company, right?
13:39 and being outside working on the
13:41 business rather than in the business.
13:43 So, uh really going out there
13:45 networking, building relationships,
13:47 connecting with other leaders in the
13:51 industry. Um also speaking publicly on
13:52 stage, you know, we have our own
13:54 conference that I partnered up with
13:56 other CEOs, my competitors, where we put
13:59 a yearly conference together. Um I I
14:01 have an active p podcast myself, a
14:03 healthy point of view podcast where I
14:05 bring experts from all over the world to
14:07 get interviewed. So, you know, and then
14:10 obviously I'm still part of uh I want to
14:12 say day-to-day operations, but uh the
14:14 operational side when it comes to
14:17 strategy, I'm still heavily involved on
14:19 the strategy component. Got it. So, I
14:21 did see the podcast, by the way. Loved
14:24 it. By the way, what's the goal? So, you
14:26 you want to make yourself well known as
14:27 an industry leader, somebody that that
14:30 knows what he's talking about. Um
14:32 besides just the following, was there
14:36 any like specific strategy for that to
14:38 market the uh Lucidia?
14:41 Yeah, there is. Um you know, when it
14:43 comes to marketing your business, uh one
14:45 of the things that I wish I would have
14:47 learned earlier was the power behind a
14:51 personal brand, right? Um a a a brand is
14:53 not a brand if it's faceless. You know,
14:55 there has to be someone behind it. In
14:57 the same way that when you look at these
14:59 bigger companies, right? If I say Steve
15:01 Jobs, you know, it goes straight to
15:03 Apple. If I say Jeff Bezos, you know
15:05 exactly where that goes. If I say Elon
15:07 Musk, you know what companies represent
15:10 that. So, um, you know, when I first
15:12 started Liquida, my focus was building
15:16 the company brand. And the reason why is
15:18 in the medical field, no different than
15:20 like a barber shop or hairdresser,
15:22 people start to love that individual,
15:24 the practitioner, the provider. And I
15:26 told myself, if I really want to scale
15:29 this on a on a large scale, it can't be
15:31 dependent on the individual. Now, we'll
15:35 still build up the provider brand, but
15:37 what the focus needs to be is the
15:39 company. So, regardless if people go to
15:42 a liquid in California, New York, or
15:43 Florida, they know that they're going to
15:46 get this certain standard of care that
15:50 Liquid offers. And um it it was I I
15:52 would say I wouldn't go back on that,
15:55 but I would have pivoted to to focusing
15:57 on a personal brand maybe a bit earlier
15:58 than what I did because I really started
16:01 focusing on personal brand probably
16:04 maximum 3 or 4 years ago. We've been
16:05 around for 11 years. So, you know, do
16:08 the math on that. And um personal brand
16:11 is really what people connect to. you
16:13 know, when you just have a bunch of
16:15 stock images or just talking about the
16:18 company, it it doesn't move the needle.
16:21 It it's the individual that people will
16:22 connect to what will make people
16:25 cultivate uh together and congregate,
16:28 you know, together and and wear your
16:30 company name on their chest and become
16:31 part of the movement. Yeah, I
16:33 understand. Yeah, I agree. I mean,
16:34 there's only one of you, but if you just
16:36 brand yourself as a wellness center, you
16:37 just put a name right before the
16:39 wellness center, just another one. Yeah,
16:41 I I I totally understand what you're
16:42 saying. And most of the guys you
16:43 mentioned though, they're very well
16:45 known because they're pioneers in an
16:47 industry, you know, that like when I
16:48 think of companies like, you know, Best
16:49 Buy, I don't I don't think of a CEO, you
16:51 know, right? Uh but when you are
16:53 pioneering something new, which I think
16:54 your industry is something alternative
16:57 medicine, it would have enormous power,
16:59 you know. Absolutely. I do agree with
17:00 that. You you' probably be the the face
17:03 of alternative uh medicine, you know.
17:06 So, are you taking on new investors? Uh
17:08 I know I I know that you're doing the
17:10 franchising model which obviously
17:11 replaces a lot of capital that you need
17:14 to start your own corporate stores. Um
17:15 but is that something you're looking for
17:19 right now? So as of right now we've been
17:22 preparing uh to do a a capital raise. Um
17:24 initially we were thinking about doing a
17:26 regulation a offering. So we were going
17:28 through all of those steps and motions
17:30 to to do that. you know, third party
17:32 valuation and, you know, audited
17:35 financials, financial modeling, all of
17:38 that stuff. And, um, right now, we're
17:39 probably not going to go that route. It
17:41 was a a great year and a half of going
17:43 through that and spending a lot of money
17:46 doing it, right? Um, I'm curious though,
17:48 why not? Actually, what what what led
17:50 you to start it and then say, "No, we're
17:52 going to pivot." you you know I was uh
17:55 me mentored by a few people that I look
17:57 up to that were giving me advice to go
18:00 that route which I wasn't opposed to it
18:04 but the um scrutiny that you have to go
18:06 through it's basically like you're going
18:08 public at that point right um you're
18:10 getting the SEC attorney you're going
18:13 through all of that process um you know
18:16 all the filings and everything else and
18:18 um you know it got to a point where it's
18:20 just like do I really need to put myself
18:23 through this high level of stress just
18:26 to raise this money and then all of a
18:27 sudden now I have over a thousand
18:30 investors that are down my throat, you
18:31 know, because you're doing it when you
18:33 do Regulation A, you're doing it through
18:35 a crowdfunding platform, you know, and
18:37 really anyone can can make an
18:39 investment. You know, Regulation A
18:41 doesn't even have to be an accredited
18:44 investor. So, um, it got to a point
18:45 where I says, "You know what? If I
18:47 really want to raise the money, I have
18:49 the relationships where I can just have
18:53 a handful of people do it." So, we've
18:54 been self-unded since the day I started
18:56 it with $500 in my back pocket. We've
18:58 taken a lot of the the the money that
19:00 that we've made and just put it back
19:01 into the business to keep on growing
19:03 growing. Haven't taken a penny from
19:05 anyone. You know, we've actively sold
19:07 franchises that have helped us support
19:09 the funding efforts of continuing to
19:11 grow the company. So, um, as of right
19:12 now, we've been good, man. You know,
19:16 running the business at a surplus. Um,
19:18 but ultimately, if I want to keep up
19:19 with the competition and take things to
19:22 the next level, yeah, I do need to, you
19:24 know, uh, put some more money into the
19:26 organization uh, for some of some of the
19:28 projects that we want to do. Um, some of
19:31 the other ideas that I've been working
19:33 with a few of the other CEOs in the
19:35 industry, my competitors, is potentially
19:36 doing a rollup of the companies
19:39 together. So, um, that's something that
19:42 truly does entertain me, uh, when we're
19:43 talking about what our ultimate mission
19:45 is being in the preventative health
19:48 industry because now we can have true
19:50 impact and and really deliver the
19:52 mission that I that I live for. Now, the
19:55 role of, if I understand correctly,
19:56 you're talking about reaching out to
19:58 like a family office or maybe like a
20:00 private equity firm and saying, "We want
20:02 to start buying out competitors at lower
20:04 multiples and then obviously have a
20:05 valuation of much higher multip." Is
20:07 that correct? Yeah. So that's part of
20:10 it. So initial part is taking about f
20:12 four to five different brands and
20:14 actually consolidating. Okay. Right. And
20:17 then from there uh we can potentially go
20:19 into acquisition mode.
20:21 I got it. So we start off with the
20:23 merger and then right a merger between
20:24 five different firms which you'd all
20:27 have to agree on the on the same idea.
20:30 Correct. Uh and then at that point start
20:34 acquiring. Right. Understood. And with
20:35 the purpose of what? At some point exit
20:38 go public. Oh Yeah, 100%. Okay, that's
20:40 the goal. All right. Not a bad strategy.
20:42 What about the franchising? I mean, I I
20:44 know it's very it's well regulated. Uh
20:46 it costs, it's not cheap. Uh what's been
20:49 your experience doing that? So, it's a
20:51 uh it's an experience. Um
20:53 Um
20:54 you know, franchising,
20:56 you don't understand what franchising
20:59 is. Being a franchiseor is what I'm
21:01 talking about. um you don't understand
21:04 what franchising is until you actually
21:07 roll up your sleeves and do it right.
21:09 You you have to be knees deep into it.
21:11 And uh franchising is a whole another
21:13 world when it comes to business. You're
21:15 regulated at a different level, right?
21:16 You're regulated at the federal level.
21:18 There's certain things you can say,
21:19 certain things you can't say. There's
21:21 certain things you can do, certain
21:24 things you can't do, right? Um there's
21:26 registration states which some of those
21:28 states have their own regulations that
21:31 you have to follow right uh how you sell
21:32 the franchise when can you collect the
21:35 initial franchise fee the accounting in
21:37 franchising is completely different
21:39 you're doing your yearly audits so then
21:41 you can disclose it in your item 19
21:42 every single year in your franchise
21:46 disclosure documents. Um the benefit the
21:48 biggest benefit for me because initially
21:51 when we started we didn't start with a a
21:53 franchise model. We actually started off
21:56 with a lensure model which you know one
21:58 of my partners who's a franchise
22:00 attorney he said hey we can get things
22:03 going with a licensing model but if it
22:05 looks like a duck quacks like a duck it
22:08 it walks like a duck it's a duck. So if
22:10 we're sell selling a licensing model,
22:11 but we're we're presenting and acting
22:14 like a franchise, we could put ourselves
22:17 in a in a little bit of trouble. So, uh,
22:20 initially doing the licensing model gave
22:23 us a taste of what franchising would
22:26 kind of be like, right? Um, I had a few
22:28 partnerships that were not good
22:31 partnerships where at that point we we
22:33 we really collectively, me and my my
22:35 other partners decided, you know what,
22:37 we need to be well protected if we're
22:39 going to be doing these deals. Let's
22:41 create the franchise uh the whole
22:44 franchise model, put the FDD together,
22:46 create the operations manual, and then
22:49 start actually franchising. Got it.
22:50 Okay. And judging by the fact that
22:52 you've got a couple, you you enjoyed the
22:54 process, it's been successful. Yeah,
22:57 it's been uh
22:58 it's I don't want to use the word
23:01 enjoyable, you know, because there's a
23:03 lot of the process that's not enjoyable
23:05 whatsoever at all. It's a it's a
23:08 learning process, right? Um it's it's
23:11 it's a process, but it to me it has not
23:14 been enjoyable. You know, enjoyable are
23:16 a lot of the other things I do, you
23:17 know, moving around, speaking,
23:19 connecting, building relationships.
23:21 Franchising as a franchiseor is not
23:24 easy. you know, you're dealing with with
23:26 people that have a completely different
23:29 mindset. Every single franchisee is, you
23:31 know, these are people that have be have
23:33 been successful business owners in other
23:35 industries that think that they can
23:38 bring whatever worked uh, you know, in
23:40 their daycare or whatever else they did
23:41 before. They think they can bring that
23:44 model here. And I embrace a lot of these
23:46 new ideas, right? But at the same time,
23:48 you bought into a franchise system
23:50 because you wanted to buy into something
23:52 that had a proven model, right? So, you
23:54 have to follow that process. If you if
23:55 you go totally against the process,
23:57 which I've had franchises that have done
24:00 that, then you can't get mad when you're
24:03 not successful, which 99% of the times
24:05 when they're not successful, then the
24:07 fingerpointing starts to happen, right?
24:10 So, it's a um it's an interesting
24:12 process to go through as a franchiseor.
24:15 Um, what I would say is one of the most
24:17 important parts for me is building a
24:19 good strong relationship with your
24:21 franchises so they can really understand
24:24 what your vision is and why you've
24:26 implemented the things that you've
24:28 implemented. If not, it could be easily
24:31 uphill battle. Understood. But you still
24:34 prefer corporate stores. I I prefer
24:36 franchising. So So yeah. Yeah, I I do
24:38 prefer with the right with the right
24:40 with the right franchises. So So
24:41 initially, it's funny you you bring that
24:44 up. So initially when you start
24:46 franchising especially when you don't
24:49 have a lot of money for development
24:50 there's something in the world of
24:52 franchising that that when you're
24:54 looking for your initial franchises it's
24:56 called the the mirror test right so the
24:59 mirror test to to figure out if this is
25:01 an approved franchisee is you take a
25:03 mirror and you put it under their nose
25:05 and if there's condensation that means
25:07 they're a franchisee right so basically
25:09 you take anything that has a pulse you
25:12 know so um I thought there was something
25:14 scientific about it. I mean, the
25:16 conversation means the breathing, right?
25:18 A little scientific, but but you know,
25:20 it you know, it's a joke that goes on in
25:21 the world of franchising. And the thing
25:24 is is um it's not the best thing to do,
25:27 right? And you do it because you need to
25:28 get those initial franchise fees to come
25:30 in so you can fund your company, right?
25:33 So, you pretty much take anyone. That
25:34 was back then when we first started
25:36 franchising. Today, we're very
25:39 particular of who we approve. We say no
25:41 more than what we say yes to people that
25:43 are interested in franchising a liquid
25:46 location. And you know what what ends up
25:47 happening like one of our first
25:50 franchises that I said yes to which I
25:52 probably should have said no to we had
25:54 to litigate against them in federal
25:56 court and it was a great learning
25:58 experience to understand how that
26:00 process goes but that was a very
26:02 stressful process. Of course what are
26:04 you looking for in a franchisee? What's
26:06 the most important thing and what is a
26:09 automatic decline? So in our line of
26:12 business being in this uh wellness
26:15 center biohacking space, we need
26:17 franchises that are going to be operator
26:19 owners. If it's going to be someone
26:22 who's going to just invest to put the
26:23 money into it and not actually be part
26:25 of the day-to-day operations, they're
26:26 not a franchisee for me. I'm not looking
26:28 for them. And there's a lot of people
26:29 out there that want to just throw money
26:31 to it. At that point, I might as well
26:32 just have you invest in a corporate
26:33 store and I manage it, you know, because
26:35 eventually I end up managing it anyway.
26:37 Are a lot of these the guys medical
26:40 professionals or No, initially it wasn't
26:42 a lot of medical professionals. Now I
26:45 have uh kind of pivoted to focus more on
26:46 people that want to get into the
26:48 business that are medical professionals,
26:50 uh nurse practitioners, physician
26:53 assistants, medical doctors. The those
26:54 people will be active and they'll
26:56 actually be working with the client
26:58 themselves. Got it. All right, let's
27:00 talk about the company. If you had to
27:02 put just one goal on a chalkboard, you
27:05 know, what's that goal? Is it to open
27:07 branches? Is it better training, better
27:09 treatments? What is it? Well, ultimately
27:11 my goal is to change the course of
27:14 medicine, right? Being able to provide
27:18 uh a certain level of health care that
27:20 hasn't been provided here in the US for
27:24 for many many years. So uh through what
27:27 process would I do that would be to open
27:30 up more liquida facilities nationwide.
27:32 Got it. But do do you have a research
27:35 and development I guess to to figure out
27:36 what works and what doesn't and how to
27:39 optimize like territory wise. Yeah. Like
27:42 oh even even in if your goal is to
27:44 provide better medicine you know or
27:46 preventative medicine you'd have to do a
27:48 lot of testing you know. Oh yeah. Yeah.
27:50 Everything we do is data driven. So we
27:52 have a scientific advisory board that
27:55 focuses on that as well too. Um the
27:56 association that I'm the chairman of
27:58 those are certain efforts that we work
28:00 on as well too of what treatments are
28:02 going to be best you know so so we're
28:05 working very closely uh with with other
28:07 leaders uh global leaders on the
28:09 different modalities on what we're
28:11 trying to accomplish. Got it. Now
28:13 between other wellness centers and
28:15 yourself you know what's your biggest
28:17 comp competitive advantage and how hard
28:19 do you push that in the market? Yeah,
28:21 our biggest competitive advantage would
28:23 be uh us being the pioneers and the
28:26 leaders in the IV vitamin therapy space.
28:28 We're also on the pharmacy side. So, we
28:31 developed the IV infusion kit. So, what
28:32 we've done is we've made IV vitamin
28:34 therapy easy for medical providers to
28:36 offer it in their practice. And since we
28:38 launched that, we have over 4,000
28:39 medical doctors throughout the United
28:41 States that purchase our product and
28:44 offer it to their patients. So, our
28:45 product is unique because it's one of
28:48 the few that's preservative free. So,
28:50 um, it's the cleanest product that there
28:53 is in the market for IV nutrition. Got
28:55 it. And, and what percentage of your
28:57 revenue, I guess, for each store is IV
29:00 therapy? About 30%. For each store. Now,
29:02 uh, we have our distribution outlet,
29:05 which is, uh, under the parent company.
29:07 And our biggest revenue stream as the
29:09 parent company is our distribution of
29:11 those products from the pharmacy. It
29:12 makes more money for us than what the
29:16 stores do. Got it. Now, are there any I
29:17 had a question here. You know, if
29:20 Walgreens or CVS tomorrow said this is a
29:21 great business, we didn't see it. You
29:23 know, now we're we're involved in every
29:25 single store of ours is going to have an
29:27 IV therapy, you know, how would that
29:29 affect you and how would you compete
29:33 against them? Yeah. Um I I don't see uh
29:37 Walgreens as as an alipathic traditional
29:40 uh type of business getting involved in
29:43 it. um you know m maybe one day they'll
29:46 do it. And you know a company of that
29:48 size or wanting to get into our
29:50 industry, they're going to want to tap
29:52 into who's leading the industry, which
29:55 is us, right? It's it's the association.
29:56 They're going to want to learn best
29:59 practices. So I I think there would be a
30:02 strong collaboration with a company like
30:05 Walgreens, uh you know, diving into this
30:07 industry, per se, doing IV nutrition.
30:09 you know, if not, you know, they're not
30:11 going to get buy in from the rest of uh
30:13 the industry or or nationwide. I mean,
30:15 they just want to get that buy in. Yeah.
30:17 So, that's not a concern. I mean, not at
30:18 all. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't seem like
30:20 that's something they'd be Maybe it's
30:21 too small of a niche actually for them,
30:24 right? Considering that they're it Yeah,
30:25 it definitely could be too small of a
30:28 niche for them. I mean, they're in the
30:30 pharmaceutical business, you know,
30:32 they're they're part of big pharma,
30:35 right? Agreed. Um, you have a book, How
30:37 to Win in Modern Wellness. what's that
30:39 about and does it meet the same criteria
30:41 for your podcast, you know, as far as
30:42 just getting your name out there? So,
30:45 yeah, you know, uh that's another one
30:47 where I wish I would have known about it sooner.
30:48 sooner.
30:51 The book is probably one of the
30:53 strongest anchors to build personal
30:56 brand, right? You got to remember a book
31:00 goes on all the e ebook platforms
31:02 online, right? So that book, everything
31:04 that's in there is optimizing for SEO,
31:07 search engine optimization. Um, the
31:09 other thing, the search engines when
31:12 they look at that you as an author, it
31:14 recognizes you completely different. So
31:16 it's easier for you to get a Google uh
31:19 business uh knowledge panel, right? Or a
31:21 personal knowledge panel um with a
31:24 verification optimizing the first page.
31:27 The book is just a tremendous anchor. Um
31:29 I speak on the news quite frequently.
31:31 almost every single week I'm on the news
31:33 and one of the things that allowed me to
31:35 really get picked up by the news so
31:38 frequently is being an author. So, and
31:39 these are things that I learned
31:42 throughout that process. So, so anyone
31:44 who's an entrepreneur who's considering
31:46 putting a book together, which is not a
31:47 difficult process because there's teams
31:48 out there that will help you put that
31:50 book together. It's just having
31:53 conversations with them. Do the book.
31:55 Right. I'm on my third book now. So, I'm
31:57 I just finalized uh final edits on the
31:59 second book and then the third book,
32:00 we're just starting it called Your
32:02 Wellness Data, which that one I'm going
32:04 to do through a publisher. But the first
32:05 book, the one that you're talking about,
32:07 what I ended up doing when I hired a
32:10 publicist about 3 years ago,
32:12 I was telling them about my story and
32:14 how how I've built these very strong
32:16 relationships with all my competitors.
32:18 And part of that is when I first got
32:20 into the industry, it was a cutthroat
32:22 mentality. Everyone in the industry was
32:24 against each other's throats. But we
32:26 were all preaching the exact same thing.
32:28 We want to change the course of
32:29 medicine. We want people to take that
32:32 proactive preventative approach. And I
32:33 told myself, I says, you know, this
32:35 doesn't make sense. You know, if you go
32:38 back in history, the way other countries
32:40 would win against other countries is
32:43 divide and conquer, right? So why are we
32:44 going to be divided if we're all
32:46 preaching the same thing and we're we're
32:47 trying to change the course of medicine?
32:49 We have to come together. We have to be
32:51 united. So what I started doing from the
32:53 beginning is building relationships with
32:55 all these other CEOs. And when you look
32:57 at the cover of the book, all of the
32:59 faces you see on that cover, those are
33:01 all of my competitors. And they all have
33:02 a chapter in my book and we're all
33:04 talking about how we're winning in the
33:05 world of modern wellness. So and that
33:08 was kind of the start of putting the
33:09 conference, the yearly conference
33:11 together that we've all partnered up on
33:12 that now it's the biggest conference in
33:15 the world for the IV nutrition space. It
33:18 was the start of uh you know the all the
33:20 other CEOs that are on the board
33:22 appointed me as the chairman of the
33:24 association. You know I took those
33:26 initiatives early on and it's been
33:28 recognized and you know has developed
33:30 into this greater thing now. Yeah. I
33:31 like that. You know it's funny. I'm
33:33 learning. I I I wasn't aware of that
33:35 regarding the book but it all makes
33:37 perfect sense. I mean if you want to if
33:39 you want to have yourself as a as an
33:41 image of someone that knows I mean what
33:42 better way than to write a book. you
33:44 know, they label you as an expert.
33:45 Regardless what's in that book, you're
33:47 an expert on whatever topic is in that
33:49 book. Yeah. And and it's a limited
33:50 amount of people that are actually doing
33:52 this. So, you're you're you push
33:53 yourself to the top right away, you
33:55 know. Absolutely. You can't BS your way
33:57 through it either, you know. No, you
33:59 can't. Um, so I like that. Okay. Uh,
34:01 what about revenues? I mean, for your
34:03 franchises, uh, give me an idea as far
34:04 as, you know, what kind of revenue can
34:06 you expect from your average store?
34:08 What's the most popular products? You
34:10 know, what's the segment, etc.? Yeah.
34:12 successful liquidita locations.
34:13 Obviously, there's a ramp up phase from
34:16 when you start, you know, um ultimately
34:18 we want to see a liquid franchise
34:22 anywhere between 150 to 300,000 in
34:24 revenue on a monthly basis depending the
34:26 services that you're offering and
34:28 whatnot. um when you're at like about
34:32 the 200 to 250 uh revenue uh monthly
34:35 revenue point uh of the business, you're
34:37 looking at uh roughly anywhere between a
34:40 15 to 25% net profitability from that
34:41 revenue. Now, the difference between
34:45 that 10% difference depends the uh
34:47 aggressive services that you're
34:50 offering, right? meaning that um if
34:53 you're offering out of that $250,000
34:55 that's coming in as as your monthly
34:58 revenue, if you're offering a lot a big
34:59 big percentage of that is let's say
35:01 medical aesthetics, well medical
35:03 aesthetics has a very high cost of
35:04 goods, right? So your net profitability
35:06 is going to be lower. But if you're
35:08 offering like regenerative medicine that
35:11 really has not that much consumable cost
35:13 to it or some of the lasers that we
35:15 utilize that there's no consumable cost,
35:16 then the net profitability is a lot
35:18 higher. So, but those would be the
35:19 numbers that we would want to see. All
35:21 right. So, 150 to 300. Let's grab
35:25 somewhere in the middle. 220 times 12.
35:28 You're talking what? 2.5 million a year,
35:30 right? And you're saying the net
35:32 profitability is between 50 and 25. So,
35:34 let's just grab a 20%.
35:36 You're talking about what? 400,000 net,
35:39 right? Okay. And is it common that
35:40 individuals that franchise one location
35:42 will just ramp up to a second or third
35:44 or Well, not really because you
35:45 mentioned you want them to be owner
35:47 operators. owner operators. Now, it
35:49 doesn't mean you can't be an owner
35:51 operator of multi multi-units of
35:52 multiple locations, but now you have to
35:54 develop a team, right? You have to have
35:57 your own support center that's
35:59 supporting, you know, these locations,
36:01 the training, all of that stuff, which
36:04 we do have multi-unit franchises that
36:08 that have uh become successful. Um, but
36:11 you know, operating one store versus two
36:13 stores is a whole another beast, you
36:14 know. And then when you go to the three
36:16 stores, the best way I could put it, I
36:18 don't have kids, but I've heard people
36:19 talk about having kids, you know, people
36:22 who have kids, one kid versus two kids
36:24 is a whole different animal, you know?
36:25 And then people who have three kids,
36:27 they say, "Hey, this is just different."
36:29 It's no comp. I guess it depends who you
36:31 talk to. I mean, I I have two kids. The
36:34 first one changed my life. The second
36:36 one, I already had no life. So, I was
36:39 like, like it wasn't that much more of a
36:41 sacrifice, you know. Uh, obviously it
36:42 was harder. There's no doubt about it.
36:44 But, are they the same age? Uh, one is
36:46 two and a half years old and the other
36:48 one is 6 months. Okay. So, it's all new
36:50 to me, you know. But the first one, like
36:53 I said, that's it. No more. I can't just
36:55 pick up and go whenever I want, you
36:56 know? Uh, the nights I already know
36:58 what's coming, you know. So, maybe
37:00 getting up. I'm so used to it already
37:01 with the first one that the second one
37:03 kind of came natural. But I understand.
37:05 And I mean, in my in my opinion, I'm
37:07 thinking if I have a franchisee that I
37:09 get along with, and on top of that, he's
37:11 profitable and he's asking me for a
37:13 second store, I'd rather take a chance
37:15 on a guy like that than on a brand new
37:17 guy I just met, you know? Absolutely.
37:19 So, he understands what it takes. He
37:21 knows the profitability. He's already
37:23 successful. Why not, you know? I agree.
37:25 I'm in the credit business. When a guy
37:27 takes a loan from me and pays me well,
37:28 that's the guy I want to lend to. Yeah,
37:30 100%. Because I I have a track record,
37:32 you know? Right. So that's been my
37:34 experience, but but you're the expert in
37:37 this field. Um I put you're mixing IV
37:38 therapy with aesthetics, weight
37:40 solutions, hormone replacements. Are you
37:42 going to continue expanding those
37:43 products or do you think that that's
37:46 that's it? That's a good uh good enough
37:48 program. No, you you know, when you
37:50 start looking at what's happening in
37:52 today's world healthwise and you're
37:55 thinking about longevity, you want to be
37:57 able to provide the most definitive
37:59 treatments for your patients. So there
38:01 are new things that we're looking into.
38:03 You know, we have a uh innovation team
38:05 on the medical side. So as these new
38:06 things, these new services and
38:09 modalities come up, typically what we
38:11 do, we test it at one of our corporately
38:14 owned and managed locations. Really kind
38:15 of figure out if this is something
38:16 that's going to grow legs and be
38:18 successful. You know, not just
38:20 business-wise, but patient outcome is is
38:22 very important. And then, you know,
38:24 financially is this scalable on a
38:26 financial standpoint. So at that point,
38:28 then we'll roll it out to all the like
38:29 it's evolving. You know, you're
38:31 constantly adding products, taking out
38:32 product, what works and what doesn't,
38:34 and you got to see what the area holds.
38:35 You know, maybe you think a product's
38:36 great, but if if you're not getting the
38:38 clients, obviously the market's telling
38:41 you something, right? Um, what was I
38:42 going to ask you? So, who are the
38:44 individuals? What's the demographic of
38:46 the people that are coming to you? I
38:48 imagine also the 8020 rule exists. You
38:50 know, 20% of your customers are the
38:52 regulars. They're the ones coming in
38:53 there and spending a good amount of
38:54 money and they keep coming more. kind of
38:56 like a gym, you know, like you have a
38:57 100,000 people have a gym membership,
38:59 but you know, it's really 20% of the
39:01 people that just they hit it every week,
39:02 you know, three, four times a week.
39:04 Those are your real clients.
39:06 Is that how it is in this business or is
39:08 it like people just come and go and
39:10 there's really not that core market?
39:12 Yeah. So, you know, when it comes to
39:15 looking at uh the clients that have the
39:17 highest LTV lifetime value are going to
39:20 be the clients that are those sweet spot
39:21 customers that are actually
39:23 participating in all of these different
39:25 services because all of these different
39:26 services when I was talking earlier
39:29 about the VA journey, all of these
39:31 different services are at different
39:33 times, sometimes different times
39:34 throughout the year, different times
39:35 throughout the month. So these are
39:37 people that are living the lifestyle
39:38 that are consistent, you know, doing the
39:41 the different services. But there are a
39:42 lot of customers that will just come in.
39:45 For example, some females will only come
39:47 in and get their lips done, you know, or
39:49 or get some Botox done. Then you have
39:51 other customers that will just come in
39:52 to do the IV drips because they're hung
39:55 over, you know, it's not really the
39:56 customer I'm looking for. We'll offer
39:59 the services to them, you know. Um but
40:02 but ultimately, yes. uh you know we
40:04 offer so many different services for
40:05 different age groups different
40:08 demographics for male female so it's a
40:11 very uh huge variety of who our targeted
40:14 clientele is I would say for us it's
40:17 more of who's the targeted clientele
40:19 specific to the services that are being
40:22 offered right yeah so each industry for
40:24 for I guess the segment of the service
40:26 you're offering has its own clientele
40:28 right like if if you were to tell me hey
40:30 how many guys are coming in to get
40:31 dermal fillers in their lips. I say,
40:33 "Well, that's a small percentage." I
40:34 mean, we're here in South Florida. Maybe
40:36 it's a little bit higher than else. But,
40:38 you know what I'm saying? Like, I tell
40:40 people I try all the services, but it
40:41 doesn't mean I do all of them, you know,
40:43 only because I offer them, you know? I
40:45 don't get my lips. I just It's not
40:48 something I'm into. Right. I got it. We
40:50 talked about the profit margins. Uh, now
40:52 what what's this trend? I mean, there's
40:53 there's these new things that I've been
40:56 hearing like biohacking that it's all
40:58 new to me and and since I've
41:00 historically been very healthy, I
41:01 generally don't tend to go out there and
41:03 look for for things that are for, you
41:05 know, health, you know, but uh lately
41:06 I've been seeing that not only do
41:08 athletes do it, not only do, you know,
41:10 influencers and and, you know, wealthier
41:12 individuals, but it's starting to become
41:15 like a norm and and maybe a way uh to
41:16 keep yourself healthy, even
41:18 preventative, like for to consider not
41:19 getting cancer in the future, you know,
41:21 to understand your body, to you know
41:23 supplement for the right things. Uh what
41:26 do you know about it? So biohacking is
41:29 specific to optimizing your health for
41:31 health span and longevity. Now mind you
41:34 health span is your quality of health
41:37 because you don't want to live another
41:41 100 years in a wheelchair unable to move
41:43 you know unable to speak unable to think
41:45 you know so health span is extremely
41:46 important in my opinion it's more
41:48 important than the longevity side. I'd
41:51 rather live a good 30 years of quality
41:54 life versus another hundred years of not
41:56 being able to move stuck into a
41:58 wheelchair. So, when it comes to health
42:00 span and longevity, there's a lot of
42:02 things that you have to do to optimize
42:04 your life, right? To optimize your
42:06 health, to make sure um you're giving
42:09 your body what it needs to be able to
42:11 have that good health span and
42:14 longevity. The problem with medicine
42:17 today is that we we live in a very
42:20 reactive system.
42:22 Our doctors wait until you're sick to
42:24 start treating you. Now, how many times
42:27 have we had friends or family come up to
42:28 us and say, "Hey, I got diagnosed with
42:30 cancer." And all of a sudden, they say
42:33 it's stage four cancer. And you, well,
42:35 what happened to stage one, two, and
42:37 three? You know, how is it stage four
42:39 right now? The reason why is that
42:43 disease hides very very well inside of
42:45 your body. So if you're not consistently
42:48 checking and looking into your biology
42:51 of your body, then by the time you do
42:53 decide to check, it's probably because
42:55 you're symptomatic and it's too late. So
42:57 when it comes to biohacking, biohacking
43:00 stands for you're basically hacking into
43:02 your own biology to optimize your health
43:05 for better vitality, vigor, which leads
43:08 to the health span and longevity. So it
43:10 comes down to what nutrients are you
43:14 deficient in? How good is your sleep,
43:16 right? Are you wearing certain
43:18 wearables? Like for example, I wear my
43:20 Aura ring here, right? It's givingven me
43:23 my sleep data. I I understand exactly
43:26 how much I went into a deep sleep, you
43:27 know, how was my recovery? What what's
43:29 my readiness score the next morning?
43:31 How's my body going to perform? Are
43:32 there certain things that I have to do
43:34 to make sure I perform better? You know,
43:36 is my immune system going to be lacking?
43:40 So biohacking is data driven. It's all
43:42 about your own personal health data.
43:43 What I do for biohacking might not work
43:46 for you. This is where I would say, "Hey
43:48 Bruno, come into Liquida. Let's do a
43:50 comprehensive blood analysis. Let's look
43:51 at your genetics, what you're
43:53 predisposed to. Let's look at how much
43:54 toxins are in your body from the
43:56 ultrarocessed foods or just walking
43:58 around in the crazy pollution
44:00 environment that we live in. Um what are
44:02 things that we have to do to detox to
44:04 make sure that disease doesn't doesn't
44:06 start to develop your body." So, but
44:07 that's all based off of data and that's
44:10 what biohacking is all all about is
44:13 really optimizing your health due to
44:16 your uh own personal health data right
44:19 now. If we lived in Sammy's America,
44:21 let's just say you're the director of
44:23 health, you know, uh what what would
44:25 these things be mandatory? I mean, do
44:28 you do you recommend I you know, I think
44:29 of a dentist. He tells me come once a
44:31 year and get your or every six months
44:33 get a cleaning. You know, do you think
44:34 this is something that everybody should do?
44:35 do?
44:38 It should. And what you're starting to
44:41 see is traditional medicine, people are
44:44 becoming woke to the whole biohacking
44:46 and and really taking more of that
44:48 proactive approach to your health. So, a
44:49 lot of the new doctors that are
44:51 graduating school, you know, they're
44:53 they're very much so into their health.
44:54 So, what are they doing with their
44:57 patients? They're advising them to start
44:58 doing some of these things, taking more
45:00 of that preventative approach to their
45:04 health. So um at some point and I think
45:06 these these four years that we're in
45:07 with the new administration is going to
45:09 be be uh bring a heck of a lot more
45:13 awareness and I do see the the uh the
45:15 change in course of medicine happening
45:17 and I do think that a lot of the
45:19 services and modalities that we offer in
45:21 the biohacking space are going to become
45:24 mainstream and part of primary care.
45:26 Yeah. Yeah. And the only reason I said
45:28 mandatory was because I'm thinking, you
45:30 know, I remember when I was 18 years
45:32 old, uh the insurance company would have
45:33 a little device that they would plug
45:35 into your car just to analyze how you
45:37 drive, you know, and based on how you
45:39 drive, they would say, "Okay, we like
45:40 the way you drive. We're going to give
45:42 you a a small premium because you're a
45:45 safe driver, right? If you drive like a
45:46 maniac, they would just basically tell
45:48 you like, listen, you're uninsurable. We
45:49 don't want to insure you. You're in the
45:51 highest risk category." Right. So, what
45:52 I think of, you know, maybe a healthare
45:56 provider, insurance company to say, uh,
45:58 you know, we want you to consistently be
46:01 up u getting to know your body so we can
46:02 catch something early and it doesn't
46:04 cost us what it would cost us if you
46:06 were in a stage 4 or whatever. Maybe
46:08 it's something you could fix with
46:10 supplements or whatever, you know. Yeah.
46:13 It it's very um it becomes very
46:16 political man because you know the
46:18 system we live in when you look at the
46:21 uh the the people at the top you know
46:23 when you look at the the big food
46:25 companies or you look at the big
46:28 pharmaceutical companies do they really
46:31 want you to be healthy or big hospital
46:34 systems do they want you not sitting in
46:37 that bed at the hospital you know what
46:40 I'm saying so so it's this is who we're
46:43 up against, you know, big pharma, big
46:44 food, which they all have a relationship
46:47 together, right? This is why we keep on
46:49 talking about all of the toxic chemicals
46:51 that are in the foods. Here in the US,
46:53 over 10,000 toxic chemicals are allowed
46:55 inside of our foods. You go to Europe,
46:57 only 400 are allowed in the foods.
46:59 That's a significant difference. You
47:01 know, and you start looking at the stuff
47:03 that happens to your body, getting
47:05 exposed to a lot of these ultrarocessed
47:07 foods, these pesticides, and all this
47:10 other stuff. I mean th this is what
47:12 causes disease to develop. This is what
47:16 causes obesity, diabetes, heart disease.
47:18 But then at the same time, you go look
47:20 at that box of cereal that's full of all
47:22 of these chemical dyes in it. What's the
47:25 first thing you see? Oh, uh, this cereal
47:26 is approved by the American Heart Association.
47:28 Association.
47:29 Who are these doctors that approve this?
47:31 I want to meet them. Until today, I
47:32 can't meet these. That's the first time
47:34 I hear that the food companies are tied
47:36 to the health. I figured the food
47:37 companies are just kind of like, listen,
47:38 we want to sell a good product that
47:41 doesn't go stale. It's cheap. People
47:42 enjoy it looks good, you know, that's
47:43 why they put the colorings and
47:46 everything. Uh, but I I never heard that
47:48 they're tied in some way. Now, they do
47:51 have the approvals of the uh I I I do
47:53 remember seeing that the American Heart
47:55 Association. Why would they be there?
47:57 Maybe to convince parents that that it's
47:58 heart healthy, that it's good for their
48:00 kids, right? I mean, that's the only
48:01 thing I can think about. Yeah. You you
48:03 know, my business partner, uh, Dr.
48:04 Christopher Davis, he's an
48:06 interventional cardiologist who got
48:08 frustrated with the the traditional
48:10 health system and and now he's on the
48:12 functional medicine side and he talks
48:14 about this all the time. You know, he
48:15 talks about how he used to go to the
48:17 hospital, do all of these medical
48:19 procedures in the Kath lab and the first
48:21 thing that they would give the patient
48:23 once they get out of the operating room.
48:25 If you look at the meal that they would
48:28 get was exactly the the foods that
48:30 caused them to have to terrible go get
48:34 that procedure. So you you know going
48:36 back to the whole food food system the
48:39 the food business if you go back in
48:42 history and there's actually a
48:43 documentary that came out called toxic
48:45 nation which is part of the whole maha
48:49 movement um Dell Big Tree RFK Jr. Dave
48:51 Aspbury, all the big biohackers are are
48:54 in this documentary and they actually
48:57 start talking about what created our
48:59 food to become so toxic. And what
49:01 happened when you go back in history is
49:05 the big tobacco companies when uh they
49:07 were being regulated at a very high
49:10 level. And the tobacco industry had to
49:14 start going back on the on the tobacco
49:15 because of the awareness that came out
49:17 about, you know, it causing cancer and
49:20 everything else. they decided to shift
49:22 and what happened is the the the the
49:24 deep pockets behind the tobacco
49:26 industry, they went into the food
49:28 business and they started buying in to
49:30 the big food companies and they took all
49:32 of their lobbyists that were lobbying in
49:34 Washington DC. They took all their
49:36 lobbyists and put it into the food
49:38 industry. So what what ended up
49:41 happening, they started allowing all
49:45 these additives and addictive chemicals
49:47 into the food to now get people addicted
49:51 to the foods instead of the tobacco. So
49:52 these are the people that are behind our
49:55 food companies or the tobacco people. So
49:57 when you go into history and you start
49:59 seeing it, it's a it's a very corrupt
50:02 system. It's just and really you we're
50:05 not going to make uh I wouldn't say
50:07 we're going to make a huge change on
50:10 actually removing a lot of these things
50:12 out of the grocery stores and whatnot.
50:14 The most important part is making people
50:16 aware, right? Because if you're aware
50:18 and you still decide to to do whatever
50:20 you're doing, that's on you, you know?
50:22 But the problem is working in the fire
50:24 department for 12 years and being in
50:26 these inner cities, people just don't
50:28 know. They don't have the education.
50:30 Yeah. Yeah. The reason I launched my
50:32 podcast, which is a free platform to be
50:33 educated by experts from all over the
50:37 world, is to get people to know. Yeah.
50:39 Yeah. I understand. Yeah. It's weird.
50:40 Even the cereals, like I used to think
50:41 there was a cereal called Smart Start,
50:43 you know, that was uh it seemed like a
50:45 good healthy cereal and then until you
50:48 read the uh it's full of sugar, all
50:49 kinds of stuff, you know, but it's
50:51 branded as like a health option, you
50:54 know, to like I mean Cocoa Pebbles or
50:56 something, you know, but yeah, that's
50:58 interesting. uh ultimately I mean I
50:59 think there's going to be a conflict of
51:01 interest in any business that's related
51:03 with health because again no one wants
51:06 to be extinct you know so if there is a
51:10 cure for something um you're right it
51:11 could it could it's not in the best
51:13 interest for the hospital for people not
51:14 to get healthy it put themselves out of
51:17 business but if the hospital does go out
51:18 of business and and guys in the
51:21 preventative m maintenance uh if they
51:23 provide a solution that even preventive
51:26 maintenance is no longer needed now you
51:27 you'd have the same problem, you know,
51:30 even though that's unlikely uh to happen
51:33 because yeah, of the world we live in,
51:34 you know, but um you still need
51:36 hospitals, right? There's certain
51:38 interventions that eating healthier
51:40 exercises, you know, if if I slip and
51:43 cut my arm, you know, we're not going to
51:44 sprinkle, you know, herb and stuff on
51:47 it. We got to go get stitches, you know,
51:49 someone has a stroke or something. So,
51:51 so you know there is a place for
51:53 traditional medicine and it it
51:55 definitely has saved a lot of lives for
51:57 sure but at the same time there's a
51:58 portion that we haven't been focused on
52:00 which is taking that proactive
52:02 preventative approach to your health.
52:04 Got it. Now liquid what do you need to
52:07 grow? I mean is it is it you need the
52:10 right franchises? Is it capital? Is it
52:12 human resources in the company? What is
52:14 it you need? It's actually all three. Um
52:17 but but human capital is definitely the
52:20 most important part for us is having the
52:22 right uh experts in the respective
52:24 fields to really take this to the next
52:26 level which you know obviously having
52:30 that human capital requires you know u
52:31 financial capital to be able to pay
52:34 people you know a competitive price for
52:36 the competitive uh you know industry
52:39 that we're in. How long would it take if
52:40 I start a franchise today? Let's say I
52:42 become one of your franchises. How long
52:45 before I see you know profitability or
52:47 what what's the the start phase you know
52:49 where you can understand that obviously
52:51 you're building the business so your
52:54 goal is to hit the break even point so
52:56 at least you're covering your expenses
52:58 right break even point will be roughly about
53:00 about
53:03 between 100 and 130,000 in revenue
53:05 depending the services that you're
53:07 offering most of wait you're saying
53:10 it'll only cost me 130,000 like that's
53:11 what I'm in the hole that I have to work
53:13 my way back out. No, no, no. That your
53:15 monthly break even point to cover your
53:17 monthly expenses, uh you'd have to bring
53:19 in revenue of of that amount. So, think
53:22 about it. If you start off a new liquid
53:24 location and the first month you only do
53:27 $20,000 in revenue, you know, you're
53:28 you're utilizing a lot of your money
53:30 that's in the bank as working capital to
53:33 keep you up afloat. So, you you want to
53:36 get your revenues to about 100 between
53:38 100 and 130,000 so at least you're
53:40 covering all your expenses. And then
53:43 from there as we increase that's that's
53:45 where the actual net profitability
53:46 comes. And in your experience from your
53:48 franchises, how long does that generally
53:51 take to get there? So every franchise is
53:52 different. Every single market's
53:54 different. I've seen it done within 6
53:56 months and I've seen people take up to
53:58 two years to get there. So, um, it
54:01 really is dependent on the franchisee,
54:03 the individual, if they're going to be
54:04 active, if they're going to be, uh,
54:06 penetrating their community, their
54:08 market, where they're at, which requires
54:10 a lot of gorilla marketing, a lot of
54:12 relationship building. Um, how much
54:14 you're going to invest into marketing,
54:17 you know? Uh, so, so there's a lot of
54:19 factors that go into play, but I've seen
54:21 it again in 6 months, and I've seen it
54:24 take as long as two years. Yeah. Yeah,
54:26 it's true. It's a relative question, but
54:27 I was looking for like a blend, you
54:30 know, of what what what is uh expected
54:31 and then I mean it's not you're not
54:32 going to get there in two months, you
54:34 know. Yeah. My expectation would be
54:36 within 12 months you should be there,
54:37 you know, that that would be a realistic
54:41 expectation to give a franchisee, but
54:43 you know, it's it comes down to, you
54:44 know, how much they're going to work
54:47 that business to get there. Understood.
54:48 And and you we talked about the exit
54:51 strategy going public. Is there an
54:53 alternative? That could be one of the
54:55 exit strategies. Um, yeah, there's a few
54:59 other alternatives, you know. Um,
55:01 one thing I've learned from one of my
55:03 business me mentors, Jerry Whitlock, who
55:06 was the largest manufacturer of, uh,
55:09 Coca-Cola in North America,
55:10 you know, I remember meeting with him
55:12 early on when I started Lovita, and he
55:15 says, he says, "Sam, a business plan is
55:16 an incomplete business plan without an
55:19 exit strategy." And since then, I told
55:20 myself, he says, "Okay, well, I got to
55:22 have an exit strategy. I either have to
55:24 sell to a strategic buyer, I have to go
55:26 public or, you know, there's there's a
55:28 few different options you can go. So,
55:30 you know, for me, it's Yeah, we could
55:31 either go public or I could sell to a
55:35 strategic buyer or, you know, go any of
55:36 the other routes that are available out
55:38 there. Yeah. Wow, that's really
55:39 interesting. I've never thought about
55:42 that. I've been pitched hundreds of
55:44 business plans and I don't think I've
55:46 ever seen an exit strategy on any of
55:48 them. Yeah, but I agree. Everyone thinks
55:48 that they're going to live forever and
55:50 they're going to run this business until
55:52 the day they retire, but it's likely not
55:55 the case. Uh, and even if it is, your
55:56 investor would want to know like,
55:58 listen, I want to get in and I want to
56:00 get out and whatever if it's 3 years, 5
56:02 years, 7 years, 10 years, but I need to
56:03 know, you know, because I don't want to
56:04 have my capital there for the next 40
56:06 years, you know? Yeah. Uh, but yeah,
56:08 that's something good to consider. I
56:10 mean, we're talking about exit, right?
56:12 And this was one thing that I heard
56:14 Grant Cardone talk about and a few other
56:20 guys about how right now is the time to
56:21 go buy a business because what what
56:24 you're seeing is you have a tremendous
56:26 amount of baby boomers that have that
56:27 are entrepreneurs that have their
56:30 business that have it could be a dental
56:32 office. It could be a regular clinic
56:34 that they're actively working it every
56:37 single day and they hit that stage of
56:39 they're ready to retire and they have
56:41 good revenues coming in, good
56:42 profitability, everything, but they're
56:44 ready to retire and they just close up
56:47 shop. They don't sell it, they don't do,
56:49 you know. So, so there's a huge
56:51 opportunity where you can actually buy
56:53 people's business for pennies on the
56:55 dollar right now because so many of
56:57 these people are just they're closing up
56:58 shop. They they they literally leave
57:00 everything behind. they're just done.
57:02 They're retired, you know. So, so right
57:05 now it might be a really good time um
57:07 based off of what I've been reading for
57:09 people to actually go buy a business and
57:10 take over somebody else's business, you
57:11 know. Yeah. Yeah. I've heard the same
57:14 thing. There's a lady called Cody,
57:15 forget her last name, but she she's
57:17 constantly out there talking about how
57:19 many people are retiring, how it's the
57:20 best way to build wealth, you know, just
57:23 buy a business. It's very secure. They
57:24 they've got a going concern. Uh they're
57:27 profitable. Um I've seen I've looked at
57:29 some business for sale that are out
57:30 there. The problem is, like I said,
57:31 every one of them requires an owner
57:33 operator, right? So, you need to be
57:34 there. It's not an investor for for like
57:37 myself that just wants to, you know, use
57:39 my capital to to to make me money, but
57:41 it requires someone to be there, you
57:43 know, right? But but I agree, there is
57:45 there. And I see people living longer.
57:46 It's in my business. Uh I'm in the
57:50 capital business. Uh man, I I met a guy
57:52 today that I was talking to, not today,
57:54 like a week ago. I talked to him and he
57:56 was like he's almost 80 years old and he
57:58 has no plans of retiring. Wow. It's just
58:00 that this business obviously like you
58:01 can work it out of your office and now
58:02 you can work it out of your home, you
58:04 know, right? They want to stay fresh.
58:05 The guy's Jewish, so he likes working,
58:07 you know? They're they love to work and
58:09 they're very good at it. I enjoy working
58:12 with them. Um, and it's I see it a lot
58:13 more common than before. I mean, people
58:16 used to retire at 65, right? No one's
58:18 retiring at that age. uh if you have
58:20 your own business, not nobody, but the
58:22 the numbers just getting as the lifespan
58:25 goes longer as as as people they they
58:27 they're healthier, I guess they feel
58:31 better. Um I mean, I'm almost 40 years
58:33 old and I feel pretty decent, you know,
58:34 and I know there was a time where like
58:35 if you were 40, man, like you started
58:37 having like all kinds of issues and and
58:39 your life expectancy was maybe in the
58:42 60s, you know, the early 70s, you know.
58:44 No, I agree. And you know, I'm I'm close
58:48 to to 40. I'm 38, you know, and um I I I
58:50 was, you know, telling a few of my
58:50 buddies, I was like, man, I remember
58:52 when I first started at the fire
58:53 department, you know, I was in the fire
58:55 miss calendar and stuff, shredded abs,
58:56 and I was in my early 20s because I
58:59 started when I was 20 years old. And I
59:00 remember some of the old-timers, oh, I
59:02 just went until you're 30, just went
59:03 until you're 40. You're not going to
59:05 look like that, dude. I got abs right
59:08 now. I feel fantastic. So, it really
59:10 comes down to how you take care of your
59:13 health, the choices that you're making.
59:14 And I'm like you. I feel fantastic, man.
59:16 I'm energetic. I don't wake up to an
59:18 alarm clock. You know, I go to sleep uh
59:21 when my my body tells me to go to sleep
59:22 and I wake up when my body tells me to
59:25 wake up. And I sleep maximum 5 hours a
59:28 night. I have all my sleep data, which
59:30 all my sleep data is fantastic, right? I
59:32 take all my supplements and everything
59:34 else. And I don't have a midday crash. I
59:36 drink one cup of coffee in the morning,
59:38 my bulletproof coffee, and that's it.
59:40 So, I I go to sleep when my body tells
59:42 me to go to sleep, and I wake up when my
59:44 body tells me to wake up. I don't wake
59:47 up till 1:00. Very cool. Sam, thanks for
59:48 coming here, man. It was it was a
59:50 pleasure talking. I've learned so much.
59:52 I wish you the best and I hope that uh
59:54 someday you'll see that exit strategy
59:54 you're looking for, you know. Thank you,
