From Firefighter to Founder: Journey in Modern Wellness | Sam Tejada

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So I said, something's wrong here. Our health system is failing these patients. And that's why I said, you know what? What I'm doing is not, I'm not using my gift of what I've learned through education to really help these patients. And then that's where I said, I have to step it up and really bring this to the masses and allow people to take control of their health. Today's guest is Sam Tejada, the president and founder of Liquivita.

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which is a health and wellness company that's really making waves in proactive healthcare. From his early days as a lifeguard to his years of service as a firefighter and paramedic, Sam's always really been driven by this passion to help others, and you'll hear me question that a lot and see what really motivated him to do that. In this episode, Sam shares his transition from a career in public service to becoming a successful entrepreneur in the health and wellness industry, which is really still in service of others.

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He'll hear about the challenges he faced, including starting his business with just $500 and balancing it alongside his demanding job as a firefighter and paramedic. Sam's story speaks to that power of passion and resilience, obviously, and a lot of innovative thinking. I'll let Sam tell you more about his journey. So without further ado, here is my conversation with Sam Tejada. I'm Matt Gilhooly, and this is The Life Shift.

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candid conversations about the pivotal moments that have changed lives forever.

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Hello my friends, welcome to the LifeShift Podcast. I am here with Sam, hello Sam. Hey, how are ya? You know, doing well. We were just talking a little bit about, we're both in Florida, and I'm guessing it's probably a little bit hotter down in South Florida than it is here in Orlando. Probably so. Everyone calls this paradise, you know? So we live in paradise. And I put a little asterisk next to that, because sometimes it's just a little too hot in Florida, and I don't know if you agree with that. Hot and humid.

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That's for sure. The humidity, I did live in Colorado for a little bit and I almost missed the humidity, almost, not too much, but it was quite a different experience. Well, thank you for wanting to be a part of the Life Shift podcast. For anyone that's listening for the first time, because Sam is on the show, this show really stems from my own personal experience. When I was a kid, my mom was killed in a motorcycle accident. And from that moment, when my dad sat me down and told me that my mom had died, my life completely changed from what it was.

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to what it was going to be, because my parents lived different states, my parents were divorced, I lived with my mom. Everything that I knew changed in that instance. And because of the time period, a lot of people weren't really talking about grief or kids or things like that. And so I kind of pushed that down, but all the while I was like, I wonder if other people have these moments, like a line in the sand where everything was different from one decision and...

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everything changed after that. And after doing about 150 episodes of the show, turns out that a lot of people have these moments, whether they're something that came from external forces or something kind of like your story that came from within that you wanted to change these things. So super honored to have these conversations. And I can't wait to kind of dig into your story today. Absolutely. Maybe before we jump into your story, you can just tell us a little bit about who Sam is in 2024. Like, what do you get down with? Maybe it'll give away some of your story, but.

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Who are you right now? Sam Tahata, that's me, right? So I'm the president and founder of Liquivita. We're a health, wellness, and beauty company where we take more of a proactive, preventative approach to your health and wellness, hoping that you can have good health span and then it gears towards lifespan as well too. So for myself, I'm a retired fireman. As you can see in the back, I have my gear that I retired about five years ago. I retired at the age of 32.

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I started at the fire department when I was 20 years old. So I did 12 years out on the road, running 911 calls, you know, EMS, fire. We did it all. So today have Lickle Vida. I was also in early 2024, January to be exact. I was appointed as the chairman of the association for the industry, where we have all of the different competitors that sit on the leadership advisory board and also founding members with the American ID association. And.

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you know, we're all working towards a common goal to really change the course of medicine and really allow people to take control of their health. So that's Sam Tejada today. And obviously there's a long story that got me there. That brought you there. Yeah, just curious. I mean, congrats on all the things that you're accomplishing and being named to that board and changing lives in the way that you do. Is this, has this always been something like you always wanted to help people like live better lives? I mean, I guess as a firefighter you wanted to.

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help them continue living their lives in a healthy way, but was health always something that was top of mind for you? You know, it was more of, I've always had the passion to help people, right? From a young age, when I was 15 years old, I became a lifeguard. Then I became a lifeguard and swim instructor with the YMCA. I worked for Ocean Rescue. And when I moved down to Florida my senior year in high school, I transferred from the YMCA in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to down here in South Florida.

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And I had to figure out what I was going to do once I graduated high school. It was my senior year. I didn't know anyone here in South Florida. So I just started focusing in and like, okay, I got to build myself up. I can't be like how I was up north as a city boy. And you know, when I graduated high school, you know, they do the senior superlative. So where they tell everybody, okay, well, this guy is, you know, best dress or this guy's most likely to do this. I actually received the award of.

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most likely to save the world, right? No pressure. Yes, exactly, no pressure. So back in high school, I was just one of the guys that was a peer counselor, helping other students get across difficult moments. I helped put together the MAD program, which is the Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. And I was the first graduating class of that high school when I moved down here to Florida. So it was a new program that we implemented. And...

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You know, I just knew what I wanted to do. I was already saving lives as a lifeguard and there was a great opportunity. I actually always wanted to be a ER doctor, but there was no way being a C average student that that was gonna happen, you know? Too much school. So I went straight into EMT, then paramedic school, and then I went to the fire academy and I became a licensed firefighter paramedic by the age of 19.

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By the time I was 20 years old, I got hired with the local fire department here, careered, positioned, you know, making a salary, pension, the whole nine yards. And that's where my journey really took off. Were you always, you said you always wanted to help people. Do you think, was it something that you saw in your family? Like, did your family do something? Were they in in a helping type field? Did you see other people do it? Were you not helped? Was there something that was drawing you towards that? Because I would say that there's that's a very selfless thing to do.

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and a lot of us are selfish in a way. So what drew you to just want to help people or did you have any kind of background that pushed you that way? No, there was no background besides the life running stuff. It was when I was a kid and when I say a kid, I'm talking about when I was like in grade school, like elementary school, middle school, my favorite show was Rescue 911. And that's really what drew me to it. I used to love that show. And I was just like, man, I want to be one of those, you know, guys on the ambulance, a paramedic and save lives.

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And then I started having a passion for a lot of these like hospital shows, where they're in the ER and people are coming in. And I just, I knew that was my calling. That was what God wanted me to do is really help people take care of their health. Yeah, I mean, I love that. I love that it came from that because I think some of us are drawn to things because we were either lacking something in our life or something traumatic happened or we saw something, like in Rescue 911, maybe.

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we had that situation and then because we want to pay it forward, but it just sounds like you were just super inspired to continue, you know, building up your life in a way that you could serve others in that way. And it looks like you have in all sorts of ways. So you got yourself through EMT, paramedic, you were a firefighter. And I know a lot of South Florida, aren't a lot of the fire stations, aren't they like

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Aren't there a lot of volunteer firefighter's down there? So initially when I moved down, there was a few volunteer fire departments and they went away with that. And really South Florida is all careered and everyone's duly trained as a firefighter paramedic. Awesome. Oh really? Yeah. So everyone is in that, but I mean, that makes sense. I asked that, my grandfather was a firefighter in Massachusetts for about 40 plus years or something along those lines. So it's like.

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in my blood, but not in my blood, because I just never could see myself doing that. But no, that's so interesting. How did you get kind of to the way you are now, because you're not, you retired as a firefighter, fairly young, or is that old considering? Yeah, no, no, no, it's young. And really, so you know, most firemen, when we work at the fire department, we work 24 hours on and we're off for 48 hours. So most of us, we supplement our income by doing some kind of side hustle.

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So I started actually working with an alternative medicine company called Cetagenix. And what they did is taking more of that proactive preventative approach to the patient's health and wellness. So the doctor that was my mentor, Dr. Robert Willicks, he was a former heart surgeon who decided to switch his whole practice from heart surgery to preventative health, to prevent patients from actually going to the operating table.

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Right. To needing him. Yeah, yeah. So I started doing that and I came across an opportunity to start Lickle Vita by doing this IV vitamin therapy treatments. And I was about six years into the fire department when I started doing that as a side hustle. I started the business with $500 in my back pocket and it was just supposed to be a side hustle. And then, as it started growing throughout the six years, I was actually still working full time at the fire department. And then

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On my days off, I was doing this as just a one man show. I started seeing what we were doing at Liquivita, how it was really helping change people's lives and allowing them to take control of their health. And then seeing it from two different ends where at the fire department, I'm getting called out for these emergency medical calls. In 12 years being out on the road,

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a city that's not that big, you're running these calls on the same people over and over. You start seeing people who get diagnosed with an acute illness, and you see the chronic illness develop, and you see this person circle down the drain. Now the part that really affected me was, I'm going there as a medical provider, I'm transporting them to the hospital consistently, every week, for years, and I'm seeing this person's health just continue to circle down the drain.

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So I said, something's wrong here. Our health system is failing these patients. And that's why I said, you know what? What I'm doing is not, I'm not using my gift of what I've learned through education to really help these patients. And then that's why I said, I have to step it up and really bring this to the masses and allow people to take control of their health. I mean, good on you for seeing that because I think sometimes we just kind of get in that every day.

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cycle of like just doing things and we don't really think about those things. What made you start the company in the sense of like, or was it like you were doing the side hustle and you had to kind of like buy into it? Was that kind of what got you there versus working for someone? So, you know, I was doing that side hustle with Cinegenics, which they focus more on like hormone optimization and they cater to some of the most affluent people on the globe.

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So I would go, what I did for them, I did blood draws. So every three months I would go to these big mansions, some of these very wealthy people. You know, these people had homes in California, Colorado, all over the world. And so for years I built strong relationships with these people. You know, I'm going to their homes every three months for years, year after year. And I started hearing these people talk about this IV nutrition and how they get it when they go back to their homes in California, Colorado.

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And the technician who does the IV drips was an off-duty firefighter. Everybody would say, say, oh yeah, it's an off-duty firefighter paramedic. They're doing this on the days off. Like Sam, you should bring that here to Florida. So once I had like the fifth person tell me about this IV vitamin therapy, started looking into it. I saw what was going to be my competition. A lot of them are my customers now. And I said, you know what? I can do what they're doing, but I can do it better. And that's where, you know, I decided to pull the trigger and launch Liquivita.

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Where does that confidence come from? Where I can do it better? You know, I just. And it might not have an answer. You might just be naturally that way. No, I died deep within and I pushed myself to make things happen. I've always been taught that if you want something to actually come to fruition, you gotta give it 110%. So, you know, when I saw something and I said, you know what, I can do this better than the competition that was currently doing it, I just, I went into like execution mode. Let's do it.

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what in your mind would make or made your, what you could offer better? Was it, you could offer it to more people at a more affordable price or was it more like, what was drawing you to like do it better? So that was my ultimate goal is to bring a lot of these modalities that were more for like the rich and famous to the masses and making it more affordable, which I've done that, fast 40, 11 years to where we're at today, I've been able to do that. But really what,

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drew me to it was being able to actually, you know, being able to actually bring this to people here in Florida and the experience of what made it different between the competitor versus what we do was the experience. You know, most of the people that were offering it were these clinicians in a traditional setting. You felt like you were either in a hospital or into like a regular doctor's office.

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So what I said, I said, do you know what? These vitamin IV drips, it's an elective service where now you're telling people, hey, let me stick a needle in your arm and give you these vitamins. You go back 12 years, people freak out when you tell them that. So I said, you know what, let's put some good marketing and branding and actually create a very good customer experience where our facilities are more like a spa. You got a beautiful spa. So our whole model is as you relax the mind, you replenish the body. So we have nice lounge chairs, mood lighting.

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the scented smell, you know, so it just became almost like you're spending a day at the spa, but you're replenishing your body. Was there any fear in your mind of like jumping into that part of the health space? Cause I guess there's probably all sorts of regulations and things that you have to worry about. And I feel like that would be scary for me. There's always a little, you know, fear that's, you know, hidden within you. But for me, it's like, if I see other people,

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being able to be successful doing it, then why can't I? So if they can do it, I can do it. Started with $500 in my back pocket. What does that get you? What does $500 get? If someone had 500 bucks and they had a big old dream, like what would you say? So you know what I tell people is they gotta focus on the MVP, the minimal viable product. And you have to figure out how you can make your money go as far as possible, right?

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make your money go as far as possible where you're not burning money, where it's not producing revenue. So what I decided to do instead of opening up a storefront location for these IV drips, I found a local doctor who had a beautiful wellness center. It was actually a chiropractor that took Eastern medicine and Western medicine and integrated them together. So he had everything from physical therapy. He had acupuncture. He was doing pain management for

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personal injury cases. So he had a medical doctor on site. He was doing medical aesthetics, the Botox, the fillers. It was a beautiful facility, but the one thing he didn't offer was IV therapy. So I went there and I told him, I says, hey doc, you got this, like most doctors, they have a nice big size room that's just collecting dust. So doc, you got this room, it's collecting dust. Let me take over it. I'll give you 20% of whatever I make. I'm gonna put the money into it.

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I'm going to operate the business. All you have to do is give me the space, provide medical oversight, and provide your front desk to answer a few of the calls that are coming in." So the doctor, he's like, for him, he just won the lottery. He's got this young 26-year-old guy who's ready to put the money into it. He's going to get 20% and doesn't even have to lift up a finger. So but for me, I had no actual ordinary expenses. I didn't have to pay for rent. I didn't have to pay for insurance. I didn't have to pay for medical oversight.

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So all of my money went into building the brand and focused on marketing to bring in revenue. I mean, that's very smart of you to do something like that. I think people don't take the time. What was the time period? You said it was like six years that you were doing kind of your side hustle that kind of led into this or like, what was that time period? Well, when I started Lickwavita, before I was able to retire from the fire department, I did Lickwavita, I built it up for six years. Okay.

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And then before that you were doing the side hustle for a certain amount of time? Yeah, the side hustle, I was doing that for almost eight years. Oh wow, okay. So this is a... Yeah, I actually did the side hustle while I had the business because, mind you, a lot of the patients from the side hustle working with Cinegenics became my customers that were looking for this IV vitamin therapy business. But then at the point in time where the business got just way too busy, I had to either quit the fire department or the other side hustle. And obviously the fire department...

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I had all my benefits and stuff, so that wasn't going anywhere just yet. So in the sense of like thinking about a life shift, do you think of a moment where you were like, yes, this is this is where my life has pivoted into this new version of Sam. You know, I've always had the entrepreneurial drive and I have a strong passion for that. So when I was able to take my education in the medical field and actually put that.

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into the entrepreneurial part of it as well too. I've been living my dream since, where now I could put both of them together and thrive on that. So I would say that would definitely be that turning point. Yeah, I always think, you know, I always wonder if when people are on this entrepreneurial journey, if the first customer feels like this check mark, like I've passed this threshold that I didn't know was possible, and now I feel like a different person.

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So that's kind of where that question came from. If it was like this one customer came in and said something, you're like, oh, this is where I belong. But it sounds like Sam from birth to now has always kind of been this like driven, confident guy that just wants to help people. So- Yeah, for the most part, I've always been that way my entire life. Now, have I had a lot of these clients that would come in and get the services done that have been able to motivate me?

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and act in a way as like a business mentor? Absolutely. You know, I've had a lot of great people that I've surrounded myself with that have given me that motivation, that have given me that reassurance that what I'm doing is the right thing. You seem like a super positive guy. Have you had any like, oh crap moments in which you're like, what am I doing with myself? Like a speed bump or a wall or, I mean.

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I tend to go to those, but have you had those moments or do you see them differently? You see them as something. Okay, but do you see them as a negative or do you just see them as another challenge to overcome? Yeah, I see it more as a learning opportunity. You know, I've had, listen, I'm a franchisor. I've had franchisees, you know, do things that they're not supposed to. And then all of a sudden I have to litigate in federal court, you know, it drains your bank account. It drains your soul, you know, from going through that process.

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But the experience that you build going through those type of events, you can't learn that stuff in school. You can only learn it through actual life experience. So for me, that has tremendous value, especially as a CEO. If you don't go through those type of scenarios in real life, your value as an actual CEO does not go up. Your value goes up as you build that experience.

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you won't do it again, or you won't kind of like open yourself up to those opportunities for those challenges to present themselves because now you've learned in a way. I think that's how we probably all learn best from the, I don't want to say mistakes, but in my case, the mistakes that I've made along the way have taught me the most lessons of what not to do again. You know, even in my own journey of like grief, which is this totally unrelated to kind of your story, but...

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in the sense of like after my mom died, I didn't know how to grieve. And so for like 20 years, I was doing it, quote unquote, wrong, in my opinion. And then when I had my breakthrough with like therapy and whatnot, I realized, oh, there's a particular way that I need to grieve. So like when my my grandmother was diagnosed with cancer, like I knew what to do. Like it almost felt like a very similar kind of business learning experience in which it was like, oh, I did it wrong for so long. So I'm not going to do it that way again. I'm going to do it.

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the quote unquote right way to do it. And it's a weird parallel, but I also feel that I can relate to that kind of experience in a, I guess more personal way. But that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, no, I agree with you. It allows you to navigate certain situations a lot better. It really does. Yeah, and I think sometimes we, maybe you haven't, but I think a lot of people in society are conditioned to kind of like shy away from those particular challenges,

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kind of shut down or don't run into the brick wall, if you will, to kind of like push through it, right? Because we are afraid or we're taught to be afraid of failure or mistakes or those kinds of things, because somewhere along the line, some of us were taught that that's a weakness. But it sounds like you were just like, no, because pushing through this wall is gonna help you help more people. Exactly. In your mind. Are you a different person? Do you feel like you're a different person from that? Like,

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20 year old paramedic firefighter version of Sam? To the CEO version? I'm definitely more seasoned, I'll tell you that for sure. Okay. Do you approach life differently, or do you feel like you're still kind of that, that young spirit moving through life? So, you know, one thing I always tell everyone is like, your inner child is always living within you. You know, the five year old Sam, he's still there, you know.

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Maybe in the professional setting, I don't act so childish, but when I can open up, you know, I am who I've always been. You know, I don't put on an act. I'm not, you know, an individual who likes to be pretentious. So what I would say is the experience has allowed me to actually handle situations completely different based off of those experiences. You know, it's.

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That's where you become a true professional, a true executive is throughout the years of just learning. But I also think that a lot of CEOs let that success or business success change them in a way. So it's like, it's refreshing to see someone like you who seemingly seems unaffected by the successes that you have and maybe more motivated by them, but not tainted or kind of changed in a way. It sounds like you just are still Sam.

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just more successful in business. Yeah, I agree with you, Matt. It is, you know, some people, they allow those experiences to change them as a person, where literally, their personality changes. They'll actually become very hateful against a certain type of people that could have screwed them over. For me, that's not what it's all about. For me, as you take those experiences, and my goal is to be able to share it, share it through different ways, share it through something like this podcast, share it through

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Publishing a book, how I did, you know, I'm working on my second book. So people that are going through the same journey that I've gone through, they have the ability to hear that someone else went through it and it's gonna be okay. You know, learn from other people how they've been able to navigate through a lot of these situations and use that. You know, so for me, I like to use those experiences to help the next guy. It's not just for myself, it's, you know, there's a very important part of paying it forward.

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if you can. Yeah. Well, I mean, from the short time that I've known you in this way, it seems like you're fueled a lot by that, by helping others through what your company offers to your clients. But also in this way, you say like, paying it forward to people that maybe are struggling or are hitting that first brick wall that maybe you've already passed through and you can kind of help them in that way. And it's not just like that's what fuels you and maybe not necessarily the next sale or the next.

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franchisee or I mean, those are great, right? Those are nice to have. But is that true? Are you someone that's more fueled by the fact that you are helping so many people, whether that's through the product or through your experience? I mean, you hit the nail on the head on the head. You know, you hit the nail on the head there. It's that is what drives me. That is part of my purpose. And, you know, when you start thinking about your future and being able to leave legacy behind, that's what I want my legacy to be about is exactly what you just said.

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How do you not lose yourself in that? Oh, you do lose yourself. Okay. You lose yourself, but you have to be able to take a step back and find yourself again. You know, there's a lot of things that you have to do. You know, I have my mentors, I have my coaches that, you know, I go to certain boot camps, you know, for mindset, to work on your inner self, to have like what you mentioned earlier, that you will have, when you work on yourself, you are gonna have.

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other type of breakthrough moments. It's not just having a breakthrough moment, because you had a bad upcoming or you had something that happened in your life. There's gonna be other things that are gonna affect your life as well too, that you're gonna have additional breakthrough moments and then you're gonna be able to handle yourself in a certain way to keep on pressing forward and continue to elevate. I think that requires a lot of self-awareness, which I would imagine that you have a good deal of. You're aware if you're falling down.

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you're falling down that wormhole or you're going in the wrong direction. Do you have an awareness to kind of stop yourself or do you have these coaches to kind of be like, hey Sam, cut it out? I do have a good amount of awareness myself, but most importantly, it's the people that I surround myself that are in my inner circle. Those individuals, when they see you kind of getting off track, when you have a good, strong inner circle, they'll let you know. And...

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You know, you respect what they tell you, you take it in and you adjust certain things and head in the right path. Yeah, you have to build that trust. And like you said, it's the people around you. And I think that's where a lot, in our previous conversation about CEOs kind of losing themselves a little, I think that's where people get lost is that their tribe around them changes. Yes. And they allow that to happen and then they lose the true people that are there to.

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build up the human and not build up the CEO or the, you know, whatever that may be. And I think it is, it's the people that you surround yourself with for all of us that keep us on the track that makes the most sense for our humanity, I guess. Yeah, you know, one of my business mentors, Yada Kadylev, early on when I first started the company, you know, I would meet with him for lunch. He was one of my first clients. And one of the things that he mentioned to me, he said, throughout this succeeding process,

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There's certain things that can make you lose yourself very quickly. So once you start making money, right, your lifestyle changes a little bit. You get the nice car, you get the boat, you're able to go out to very lavish dinners, you're going out to nightclubs, now you're hanging out with people in those environments, you got drugs, alcohol, and when that starts to happen, you start to lose yourself. So that's where you have to be very aware of what you're surrounding yourself with.

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so you don't lose yourself. What is your like CEO Sam running a franchise business, all these successes, what is like a typical day look like for someone like you at this level, what you're doing? Like, do you have a regimen? Do you have like a, like you're kind of like a buy the book kind of guy or what does a day look like for you? So there's discipline in place, but you know, obviously myself as a CEO of a.

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multi-location business all throughout the nation. There's a lot of traveling involved. It does shift a lot, but typically my day starts off with me waking up and focusing on myself, doing some guided meditation. Then from there, taking my shirt and supplementation that I do, obviously I'm big into health and wellness, getting a workout in, again, taking care of myself. And then from there,

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you know, zoning in on what the day has to come, you know, and executing. It seems like a lot of the people that I talk to about these kind of like internal shift, fire kind of life shift moments, a lot of them have this me time in the morning, if you will, that's like meditation focused or journaling or working out or whatever it may be. And it's very much like, this is my dedicated, this is the only way that I can be me so I can show up in all the other parts of my life. And it sounds like...

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That's kind of how you roll as well, which is telling, because that seems to be what everyone else does. So it sounds like if you take care of yourself, then you can take care of other people. That's true. Yeah, you know, like when you're on the airplane. Mask. Yeah. Put on the mask first before you help the other guy. So you gotta put on your own mask. You gotta take care of yourself. Make sure your mind is right. Make sure your body's right. And then from there, help other people.

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Was that always your mantra? Because I know you said that you had always felt like you wanted to help people. Was it ever a moment in your life where you were helping people too much, but forgetting about yourself? Absolutely. Okay. Actually, when I first started the business, Liquivita, and I was working three jobs, right? I was still working the part-time gig on my days off. I was working the fire department and Liquivita. I was so focused on helping other people where I actually lost control of my health and I gained a tremendous amount of weight.

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And it was kind of crazy because it's like, all right, you got this firefighter who was previously on the fireman's calendar, you know, most ripped guy at the fire station to all of a sudden he's in the health and wellness business talking about preventative health. And here goes, Sam, you know, walking around chunky, you know, so for me, but, you know, I knew everything I needed to do. We all do. You know, and that was a moment where I just said, you know what, I got to start taking care of myself. I can't be so focused on everyone else.

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I gotta take a step back and start exercising, eating right, doing everything that I coach everyone else about. I think it's super common. I just think of people in the medical field that are so busy helping other people that they forget that they have to help themselves first. So I mean, I'm glad that you found that space and you realize that that was important because I'm sure I'm pretty positive that's doing that.

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has amplified your success in what you do because by being healthy in your own self, whether that's mind, body, all the pieces, you're gonna be able to show up so much better as a business person. Yeah, yeah, it is. You show up better, your mind is sharp, you look in a certain way, you're not overweight, you're fit, so you're able to lead by example. What's the hardest part of your life? The hardest part of my life?

33:25

I'll tell you, it's really managing time. You know, time is very, when you get as busy as I am right now, you know, time is very difficult to manage. You know, everyone needs you as you keep on growing the organization. So you have to learn how to properly delegate and prioritize like, you know, the different things that are coming your way, especially when you're traveling a lot. You know, when you want to maintain your health and you're traveling and you get to the hotel at 12 o'clock at night.

33:53

and all of a sudden you still haven't ate dinner and all there is is hotel lobby food. It's like, you have to figure out how to manage these things. So, but time management is probably one of the most important things, you know? Yeah, and is that a current challenge or is that just an every once in a while kind of challenge? No, that's a current challenge. That's a very, very tough challenge for me right now. And you know, you hire people, you have an executive assistant, but even that, you know, what happens is you hire these people and you're just getting more and more busy.

34:22

Well, I mean, I guess if we if we look at the trajectory of your life and the things that you've done This is just another one of those things that you'll eventually conquer and you'll you'll figure out the way that works best for Sam to Be successful as a human and do what he wants to do and what makes you happy. Are you happy with what you do? Oh, I love it. It's my passion. Yeah, I do it all day all night. I do it on the weekends It's really this is my hobby. It's my passion people look at it as work

34:50

I don't look at it as work. Yes, you'll have the days and times where you get frustrated. What I tell people, it's just like the kid who's addicted to video games. When he loses one of those levels, he's ready to throw that remote control to the TV. He's upset, but at the end of the day, he goes back and he's back on there, doing the video game stuff. So this is my video game. This business, it's like, you'll have those days where it brings you down, but I just keep on going at it.

35:17

I mean, that's awesome. A lot of people can't say that, and hopefully people listening are like, you know, I should go after that thing that drives me because I probably can make it something that is worthwhile and gets me to that place. You showed your book, and then you also said you're working on another book, but you also just said that like your challenge with time. So how did this come about? Like, what is the book and how did you make that happen in the?

35:44

plethora of time that you have in your life. Yeah, so the book, it's called How to Win in Modern Wellness. And as you can see here, there's a bunch of faces on the cover of the book. So when I got into the industry, it was a very cutthroat mentality, the industry, where like the competition was just against the competition. People were butting heads. And I told myself, I says, there's no way that we're all out here preaching the same thing, that we wanna change the course of medicine.

36:11

you know, by taking this proactive approach to your health and wellness. Why are we against each other's throats? Right? If anything, we should be against like, you know, big pharma and all of these other people that are causing this. So instead of going that cutthroat mentality, I said, you know what, I'm going to build strong relationships with my competitors. And I did that. So fast forward about eight years into it, I hired a publicist that, you know, heard my story and says, you got to get that out to the world.

36:40

So what I ended up doing is I gave a chapter to all of my big competitors that I've built relationships with. I have 17 chapters in the book and they all have a chapter in the book and we're all talking about how we're winning together in modern wellness. So the second one was actually supposed to be the first one which I've been journaling for about four years. And the second one is just every time something comes up throughout my succeeding journey.

37:08

that I think is powerful that someone else would benefit from who's going into the entrepreneurial world. I've put it into that journal to actually put it into a book. And we started actually putting that book together, the synopsis and everything else. And that book is made for entrepreneurs that are going through that succeeding process that sometimes feel like this is just gonna fail and that they're failing. And it just has a lot of these hooks and these bits in there that will let them know

37:38

They're not the only ones that went through that struggle, in that it's going to be okay. I mean, that's the exact reason that I do the LifeShift Podcast because everyone's story, there's something about everyone's story that can resonate with someone, whether it's a situation like mine, which changed my life in different ways, a situation like yours that changed your life in different ways as well. Like there's...

38:01

there's hope that when we share our stories or through your journaling and whatnot, that someone reads it and go, oh, I'm not the only one that does this. And look, Sam was successful, even though he hit the same barrier that I'm hitting right now. So how can I be inspired and move forward? So I love that. Do you have a projected, like, when you're gonna have that out there for the world to see? Well, my goal is by next year, that book will be ready. So yeah, yeah. It's gonna be a unique, very interactive type of book. So what I'm doing is,

38:30

I have a... Like journaling? No, not like a workbook, like a journal. So what I'm doing is I'm taking all of these different topics and we've organized it and I'm actually publishing a lot of different articles on these different topics. You know, like we'll have a chapter on finance, which will have about five or six different articles that have been published. So what I'm doing is I'm actually publishing...

38:58

about 150 different articles throughout the year. And then what we're doing is we're taking all those different articles, and they're all being published in high domain authority publications, New York Weekly, CEO Weekly, things like that. And then what we're doing is we're taking all of those articles and putting it into the book. So when people read a chapter and they see one of the articles, let's say in the finance section of the book, if they wanna share it, they'll have the QR code.

39:25

where they'll have the link and they can share that one section to their friends, their coworkers, etc. So it's a little bit of a different book. It's an idea that I came up with. When you read stuff, sometimes you just want to share that section. So you'll have about 150 articles that make up the book. No, that's awesome. And especially in, even if it's not health focused, it sounds like it's more entrepreneurial focused. It is. That's true. Yeah. So I mean, that's perfect because there's going to be elements that...

39:54

Maybe they're reading it and they know their friend is struggling with that. Maybe they're not personally, but they're like, oh, wow, I'm going to send that. That's I like it. I like that uniqueness. That's my goal. It's like I could see, like, let's say a business owner reading the book and they just like a section of the chapter where now they could go ahead and take it and go to like their next team meeting and be like, hey, guys, check out the link I just sent you. And I'll just be specific to that that topic. You know? Yeah. And it's not like, oh, let me.

40:24

Let me scan this for you or let me, you know, it's none of those things. It's actually things that have already been published that have probably people commenting on or other people have talked about those things as well. So that's, that's super awesome. I mean, I don't know where you're going to find the time or where you have found the time for all of that, but. Well, I have a strong team. I have a strong team. You know, I have full-time writers, videographers, all that stuff. I have a huge internal marketing team within LiquiVida. So, you know, they, they helped me make it happen. Well, and there you go. There's that delegating. There's probably a chapter about how you.

40:54

have to learn how to delegate and share responsibilities, even though you feel like you should be doing everything because it's your own business. So I'm sure you had those moments as well. Yeah, you know, I was thinking when you were talking about that first book where, you know, kind of the impetus of it was the fact that people were kind of like butting heads and kind of fighting in a way in the industry. Part of me thought, well, how many of those people that were really fighting hard, probably didn't make your book first of all, but those people that are fighting hard probably don't care like you do.

41:24

about the actual product, about the actual value to the client, because they're more that other CEO that we talked about of like, money, money, money, money, money. They're transactional. Exactly. They're not about relationships. Not about relationships, but I also thought too, like some of these things that I see you that are pushed out in the health space or health and wellness space, you're like, I don't know that you really buy the fact that you're selling this and this is of value. Whereas when I hear your story.

41:53

So much of it is not backed by the actual product that you're talking about, but is in your service for others. The fact that you are creating everything that you're doing in your life is to better a different human and not necessarily to fill your pockets, which I think made me think of people butting heads and that's probably why, because they were like, oh, competition is gonna take my money away from me. So I don't think. Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. And the thing I say is,

42:21

there's enough meat on the bones for everyone to eat. The money is the side effect of you doing the right thing. So the money will come. And as long as you're doing what's right and you're putting what's right out into the universe, the universe will reward you with the financial gain. I love that your conversation or what you said about how this is your hobby, this is your video game, this is your...

42:49

Like I love that because I wish for so many people you could find that thing that not only is this hobby and this passion and this thing that you love, but also is that, you know, there's enough meat for everyone kind of thing. Like that's gonna also be able to be your lifeblood in a fact that it sustains your ability to live as well, as well as it filling your heart, which is so cool and so inspiring that you found the avenue through.

43:16

lifeguarding through firefighting, through being a paramedic, through, oh, I have two days off after working one full day, now I need something else to do. And it kind of like brought you down this avenue to find this space where you could create this for you, but not only you, all the people that are part of your organization. So like, it's just so interesting to like trickle that back to like the kid who got a lifeguard job because he wanted to help people. Yeah, I agree, man.

43:44

I agree. You think back to like those moments where you're just like, how did I get here? Or is that not confusing to you? You know, Steve Jobs, you know, one of the quotes he said is, you can never connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect the dots looking backwards. And you see it, you see how every single life moment took a place in getting getting you where you're at today. Yeah. If you right now 2024 Sam could go back to, I

44:14

Maybe the kid version of Sam graduating high school and looking to see what's next. You're not going into school to be an ER doc. You're gonna go and be a paramedic or you're gonna be a firefighter. What would you wanna say to him knowing what you know now? Put your hands around a camera and learn how to build and produce a lot of content. I'm not kidding, man. Back then, it didn't matter too much, right? Did it matter as much back then? What year was that? Senior year was 2005.

44:43

which no, it didn't matter. You know, iPhones didn't even exist in 2005. So, but if I knew, so in high school there was a broadcasting class where, you know, they teach you how to do film and all that other stuff. If I knew today would be what it is with content, I would have been a master at it and I would have taken that elective course. I really would have. And it's not even about being behind the camera type of content, but even written content.

45:10

Like I would have focused more in English class and have stronger vocabulary. I would have been able to type, you know, like a nice person who knows how to type instead of doing this thing. So it just would have made a huge difference to where I'm at today. If I knew that. Yeah. Cause you already had the, the helping bug. So you didn't need that. You didn't need the push there. You just needed like a little extra skills here. You might be even farther. You might be helping even more people now at this level. If you had known those things.

45:40

It's so interesting to think about. I think back, I ask people this question of like, if they could go back to a certain version of themselves and like so many of us on the trauma side, on the trauma informed life shift side, it's just like, that kid just needed a hug. You were like, you were giving the hugs. You were the person, or I don't know if you really were, but it seems like you were that person that was doling out all the hugs, helping everyone else. So you just needed the extra tools that maybe those people had on the side.

46:10

Back in high school, I used to love dressing pretty cool. I was like the cool kid, but I wasn't the cool kid that was looking to bully people and make people feel less than what I am. And I was the guy who I got along with every single person, whatever walk of life they were walking in. I got along with the special need kids. Like I was just that guy, it's just like we're here together type of deal. I believe it.

46:38

I believe it in the way that you tell your story is just so real. So thank you for what you put into the world. Cause I mean, even though I haven't encountered your business or any of these pieces, I love this energy that you're putting into the world. And now I'm affected by it, by just you sharing your story here with me. So thank you for what you do and the passion that you have for what you do, just as a human. So.

47:04

I just want to say that. Appreciate it for. Just being you. Thank you. Because it is impactful, whether people are your customers or not. So thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah. If people want to learn more about Sam, or they want to look at your books, or they want to get on some kind of list for that next book, or they want to learn about your business, what's the best way to like find you, get in your space, connect with you? Absolutely. So you can just Google me if you want, Sam Tahata, and you'll see everything that pops up. My personal website is samtahata.com.

47:33

And then our company page is liquidvita.com. And if you want to find me on social media, which obviously I share a lot of content on social media, you can find me on Instagram. And that's sammy, S-A-M-M-Y, underscore, Tahata, T-E-J-A-D-A. Awesome. And we'll put those links just for easy access in the show notes for everyone. Or if you're watching this on YouTube, you just scroll down and it'll be down there.

47:59

And just thank you for wanting to come on the show and share your story in this way and answer my weird questions. I just really appreciate it. No, listen, thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Awesome. If something, if you're listening and something that Sam said triggered you or like he was talking about in that book, maybe it's not for you, but someone else that you know in your life might need to hear something that Sam said. We'd love it if you share this episode with them. I think the more people that we can impact in this world is, I mean, Sam's a...

48:27

living testimony of that with his business as well, and just him as a human. So we'd love that if you share this episode. And with that, I'm gonna say goodbye and I'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Thanks again, Sam. Thank you.