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Episode cover_Sam Tejada_How This Ex-Firefighter Is Transforming Modern Health_Forge Your Best Self
28 February 202440 min

How This Ex-Firefighter Is Transforming Modern Health: Forge Your Best Self

with Sam Tejada of Liquivida
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Contents:

We all strive to live our best lives. But how to make that possible? The answer is long-term planning for optimal health and peak performance, and Sam Tejada of Liquivida showed us how in this episode. Sam believes that gradual, consistent effort has the potential to result in big rewards, be it in terms of health or other areas of life. He emphasizes the importance of bringing your best both physically and mentally as an entrepreneur and shares his regimen for achieving mental clarity and a stronger sense of presence.

About Sam Tejada:

Sam Tejada is the founder of Liquivida—a brand dedicated to promoting holistic health and wellness. Being a health enthusiast himself, Sam passionately advocates for the benefits of proper nutrition and wellness practices to boost productivity, mental clarity, and overall life quality. His personalized approach to optimizing health has helped many individuals find balance and upgrade their overall performance.

Sam is a longtime entrepreneur who started his first business at the early age of 19. As a retired firefighter and paramedic, he launched Rescue-101, an esteemed provider of lifesaving training courses. Given his background as an emergency medical professional, he understands well the value of staying fit, healthy, and productive as an entrepreneur and is on a mission to promote health and wellness. Driven by his vision, Sam is eager to venture into politics and secure a position in local government, with the ultimate goal of bringing about change in the fields of medicine and business.

How to achieve optimal performance through long-term planning

Long-term planning often separates successful entrepreneurs from those who end up feeling overwhelmed or unsuccessful. It provides clarity, purpose, and direction towards your desired outcomes both in life and business. When it comes to health optimization, long-term planning becomes a powerful tool for reaching and sustaining high levels of physical and mental performance.

You can use long-term planning for optimal health and performance by building beneficial habits. This means consistently taking small beneficial actions that will over time, impact your health significantly. These habits include a well-balanced diet, regular exercise, adequate sleep, and regular medical check-ups. For mind sharpness, you can try brain performance supplements, mindfulness practices, and cognitive exercises in your long-term plan.

Finally, long-term planning involves adaptability. Your body changes over time, so your plans need to be revisited and modified regularly to ensure you reach your peak performance.

Sam’s best advice for entrepreneurs:

“If you don’t define your personal definition of success, you’re actually working towards absolutely nothing in life.” (34:27)

Episode highlights:

  • Embrace your struggles. The challenges in your life make who you are. They mold your character and shape your journey towards success. Remember, adversity often leads to perseverance and resilience. So, use these as opportunities to become stronger, wiser, and more resilient. (03:03)
  • Balance entrepreneurship with health. As Sam points out, you need to respect and nurture your well-being as much as your work. Otherwise, the unchecked scales can tip and lead you away from your goals. You can strike a balance between your health and work through responsible long-term planning, leading to not just a successful business but a fulfilling life. (09:38)
  • Stay consistent. Consistent efforts, even when they’re small, can yield big results over time. This goes for both your business and personal health goals. Consistency may seem difficult to maintain, but start by committing to it and making it a habit. Try sticking to a routine, even if it’s a simple morning ritual, until it becomes an inherent pattern. (16:00)
  • Support your franchisees. If you are a franchisor, your relationship with your franchisees extends beyond business. Acting as a mentor, offering them the tools and support they need, can help them to thrive. Your franchisees’ success is inherently linked to your own. (20:34)
  • Practice what you preach. Living by this principle ensures integrity and credibility. Regularly check on the progress towards planned tasks while sticking to the values and standards you expect of others. Your actions speak louder than words, so make sure they align with the commitments and objectives you set out. (24:12)
Resources Mentioned:

Transcript

[Intro]

A.J. Lawrence:
Hey everyone. Welcome back to another episode. Today we’re going to dive into how to be healthier, how to look at our own journeys as entrepreneurs, what we can do for it, more about getting into franchises, more of just like what does it mean to bring ourselves into our business? So, look, today I want to welcome Sam Tejada.

Sam, thank you so much for coming on the show.

Sam Tejada:
Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me.

A.J. Lawrence:
Yeah. Sam, I’ve been going through Liquivida, the IV drip franchise company you’ve built, and I’m fascinated by it because I’ve been looking at some of these IV things and the benefits and just like, okay, I want to learn more on this. But I’m even more fascinated from where you came from. You were a fireman. You had a business on top of that before you started Liquivida while you were a fireman. Can you maybe tell us a little bit about your own entrepreneurial journey right now?

Sam Tejada:
Yeah, absolutely man. If I were to tell anybody what my true title is, it’s really not CEO. It’s not a fireman. It’s an opportunist. Right? I’ve always been the guy since a young age that I see opportunities and I take advantage of them. Opportunities present themselves every day, day in, day out, and it’s up to you to be able to go ahead and reach out there and grab those opportunities. And that’s what I’ve done and I’ve learned that very early in life.

A.J. Lawrence:
Actually, I wanted to jump on that because I was looking at another interview you did, and you said something that really resonated with me. And we were kind of chatting just before the show. You were talking about your parents worked hard when you were young and things were tight, so much so that your mother would cut napkins in half to get two napkins. And I was joking with you, growing up I didn’t realize that ketchup came in bottles. Because my mom would always just grab ketchup, salt and pepper, soy sauce, whatever, the little packets at the fast food restaurant.

So to me, until I was like 10, I didn’t realize that you could get it. And I think that type of perspective can give you extra energy as an entrepreneur as you grow up, and maybe want to talk about how that impacted?

Sam Tejada:
Yeah, those were great impacts when I was a kid. Simple things as, listen, there’s nothing wrong with conserving energy. But simple things like at night, all the lights would have to be off so we could go ahead and save money and not have a high electric bill. If you’re washing the dishes, you turn off the water in the middle of it. I’m a convenience kind of guy. I want to work hard to be able to have the convenience where I’m not living in the dark. So growing up that way, I used to always wonder like, what’s nighttime? We have lights for a reason. Why can’t we just have the lights on so I can see the entire house? I can roam around the house. I want that convenience.

And those were motivating factors for me personally where I said, whatever I do when I grow up, I’m going to make sure that I can have all of my lights on at night. I’m going to make sure that I can have a nice piece of napkin that doesn’t fall apart because it’s cut in half. I’ll have a nice bottle of ketchup that I could put as much ketchup, not these little packets. Listen, my parents did what they could do. We migrated from a different country. Those are the things that sometimes pushes you a little extra to become who you are.

A.J. Lawrence:
No, I fully agree. They gave me opportunity at the end of the day, my parents. But I do think, you had said like you have shoveled snow, you did yard work, I think those types of things as a kid doesn’t guarantee you’ll be an entrepreneur. Doesn’t make you a successful entrepreneur. But it does kind of help in that journey where it’s like, yeah, I mowed lawns, I delivered the news. Those things just set you up to kind of grow.

Where did Liquivida come from? Because you mentioned that you’re into nootropics, you’re into sort of optimizing your life as an entrepreneur. Can you maybe talk about where this came from and how it’s growing these days?

Sam Tejada:
Yes. So Liquivida actually came from my involvement on my days off. I’m a retired fireman. I worked as a firefighter for 12 years here in Broward county. And most firefighters on their days off, they typically have some kind of side hustle to supplement their income. We work 24 hours on, we’re off for 48 hours. So during those 48 hours, most guys have like a side job at a clinic, a side job doing some landscaping, a pressure cleaning, cleaning company. And what I was doing on my days off, I was working with a alternative medicine company called Cenegenics. They’re the pioneers in alternative medicine.

They cater to some of the most affluent individuals on this globe. And what I do, I’d actually go to their homes and draw their blood every three months. I did that for about 8 years on my days off from the fire department. And throughout that process, I actually came across a few of those clients that were talking about this vitamin IV infusion stuff that they do at their other homes like in Colorado, California, and they were telling me that the guy that does administration of these IVs, he’s a paramedic. He’s a firefighter paramedic. So after I had like the fifth patient tell me this, I started looking into what was soon to be my competition.

I saw what they were doing. I thought it was pretty unique and I decided to launch the business. Now what I will tell you is, as a fireman, I’ve always had that I would consider myself a health enthusiast, right? Making sure that I’m eating right, making sure that I’m supplementing my body properly, exercising, trying to get as best sleep as possible on my days off from the fire department. Because at the fire department, you’re not in control of that. You get a 911 call at 02:00 in the morning, you’re in the middle of the interstate extricating someone out of the vehicle. So that’s really where my passion came with the health and wellness was really at the fire department. Had a lot of great guys that were into health and wellness that would do bodybuilding and everything else. And then from there, it just started to develop and grow into these other career paths.

A.J. Lawrence:
Well, what I found so interesting about Liquivida is the way it’s set up to be their wellness center, or sort of a, I’m forgetting the term that you guys use but basically to embed within an existing health clinic. Was that something that’s common in the industry or is it just this was a way to basically co-op?

Sam Tejada:
A.J., I’ll touch up on that. So that’s how I started the business and that’s how the business became a successful model. So that initial structure of being inside of a clinic, that was our MVP, our minimal viable product. And if the minimal viable product made it happen, that’s where when I decided to start franchising. Once we already had the state of the art wellness center, I says, well, heck, why don’t we just go ahead and offer the same minimal viable product that was racking in a lot of cash for us and give that opportunity to people who already have a wellness center but don’t offer IV vitamin therapy?

A.J. Lawrence:
I think that’s a cool idea. I am an entrepreneur, I have three kids, I’m in my 50s trying to be healthy, all this. And from what I’m trying to understand and my research, it’s gone from being like that crazy, like 70s stuff where it was like, yeah, you get your vitamin B shots with cocaine thrown in to now like, oh, hey, there is this. Especially with you were talking about regularly drawing blood, people are tracking their different vitals and stuff, and then fine tuning with diet activity, but also IVs. So how are you seeing entrepreneurs start using IVs to kind of help optimize their lives?

Sam Tejada:
So there’s a variety of different nutrients in the IVs that help optimize your overall health. And when you start talking about an entrepreneur, entrepreneurs are very high pace. They’re nonstop, they’re on the go. So number one, you can’t afford to get sick. So you want to build up your immune system and you want to make sure your immune system is at its peak. So some of the nutrients we put in our IV drips have things to help build up the immune system, like vitamin C, which is the ascorbic acid, zinc. Right?

And even some of the other B vitamins will help with the immune system. Then we also do intramuscular injections of some of these nutrients like Vitamin D3. Vitamin D is fantastic for the immune system. Now, as an entrepreneur, one of the main things for me, and I was telling you earlier when we had a little pre conversation before this podcast, is that for me, it’s about my cognitive health. I want to make sure I am as sharp as a tack. So I do certain things that literally put me in a high definition state. I hear better, speak better, mental focus and clarity is as sharp as a tack. And those type of biohacking modalities that we offer and that I do personally, I speak from firsthand experience on that.

A.J. Lawrence:
Well, all right, so if I’m an entrepreneur, where would I start? You guys would obviously, there would be some sort of blood panel. What would we be looking at?

Sam Tejada:
Well, that is part of it. The first step is understanding you and understanding what your goals are. Right? So how do we do that? We’re going to do a thorough lifestyle assessment. I want to know exactly how you live. I want to know how you eat. I want to know how active you are, the activities you do. I want to know what you’re being exposed to. Are you being exposed to any kind of environmental toxins?

A lot of people think they’re not. I got a buddy of mine the other day. What he does for a hobby, he goes shooting all the time. He’s at the ranges, he’s out in the parks shooting guns. I love to shoot guns, it’s fantastic. I don’t do it as much as he does. Well, guess what? He has extraordinary high levels of lead and he’s been feeling extremely fatigued. And we didn’t know if it was adrenal fatigue or hormone imbalance or anything. So that’s where what we do is we do what we call is look under the hood. Just like if you were to look under the hood in your car to figure out what the heck is going on with the car or the status maintenance wise of your car, we do that with your body. We’re going to do a body composition analysis. We’re going to see what your body’s made up of versus getting on a regular scale.

And then from there, we’re going to do that comprehensive blood work that you mentioned earlier. And that comprehensive blood work is not like your traditional doctor, where it’s two to three pages long. We’re diving deep. We’re looking at micronutrients deficiencies, we’re looking at hormone imbalances, we’re looking at autoimmune issues, food sensitivities, we’re looking at toxins you can potentially get exposed through food or environment. So at that point, we get a good bird’s eye view of what’s happening with your health. We understand what kind of goals you’re trying to reach. And then from there, we put your program together.

A.J. Lawrence:
That is cool, because I’ve looked at life force. I think that’s one of the blood ones, and there’s a few others I’m seeing.

Sam Tejada:
Oh, that was Tony Robbins book, right? Life force?

A.J. Lawrence:
Oh, is it? There’s a company called Life Force that my brother got me as a birthday present last year. And so last fall I had my blood done and it was like, oh, your t-levels are normal for your age. Your this is that and it was like 50 different things. So you start doing that, you bring it in. So you were talking about mental clarity.

Because I know definitely, and then Covid has been fun, trying to optimize sleep, trying to bring your focus, making sure I’m getting the right exercise, flexibility, movement, what do you look at to increase your ability to focus? You were talking about your clarity, all this. So what are the things you’re looking at to take to do that?

Sam Tejada:
So this is my personal regimen, and everyone’s a little bit different. That’s the personalization of the programs that we do, because we personalize it based off of someone’s deficiencies and what their needs are. So with me, my go to is first thing in the morning, I start off with my bulletproof coffee. Dave Asprey, he nailed know he hit the nail on the head on that one. So the bulletproof coffee, I put my MCT oil. I actually use the bulletproof MCT oil, which is the one that they label as the brain octane oil. It gets your brain firing in so many different directions and you feel it. It’s fantastic.

So that coffee has that. And also, I put the coconut oil, the Kerrygold grass-fed butter, and then I also have the coffee in there, and then the heavy whipping cream, which doesn’t have any sugar. So that’s how I start off my day, with that nice, beautiful cup of coffee. And then after that, I do two to three times a week an injection of Nad. So NAD, your body naturally produces it. The older you get, it decreases. But NAD has a direct correlation with how your cognitive health functions. So I do the NAD, and then the one that I love the most, it’s called synapsins.

Synapsins is a nasal spray. This thing gets you into high definition. I mean, literally, when I tell you, you see better, hear better, speak better, this is it. And I’ll tell you a little story about that in a second. So the nasal spray that you do first thing in the morning, it’s all natural ingredients. It has Rg3, which is the most potent extract of ginseng. It’s a pharmaceutical grade ginseng. Then it has NR, NR is the precursor to NAD.

So what it does, it opens up the pathways so NAD can do its job. So think about it. I have the NR opening up the pathways then I have the NAD that I did my injection two to three times a week that’s going in there into the brain and doing what it needs to do. And then the other component of the synapsins is the Methyl B-12. It’s the methylated version of B-12, which that thing is going to go ahead and give you that good sense of energy, give you the sense of being alert. The type of energy you get, it’s not chemically induced energy like some of these energy drinks you get at the supermarket. This is more of a good sense of liveliness. You just feel good.

A.J. Lawrence:
In starting that, so let’s say I’ve done my panel and I’ve gotten a recommendation to customize this around my own. And yes, everyone is going to be different, but is there sort of like a period of time I have to build up? How long does it take before you expect people are going to start seeing results from doing this?

Sam Tejada:
Yeah, it’s all compounded. It’s a long term thing. I tell everyone this is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s no different than someone who’s trying to lose weight. Listen, if you eat one salad ain’t going to lose much weight, but if you’re consistent with eating healthy, you’ll see it. And then the other question I usually get is, well, if I decide to stop three months after what I’m doing good, what’s going to happen? Let’s go back to that analogy about losing weight. Hey, you eat salads, eat healthy for about three months, you’re going to lose the weight. Well, what if you stop eating healthy and start eating McDonald’s all over again? What’s going to happen? You’re going to go back to where you were at.

So same thing. It’s compounded, it’s something that you have to be consistent with. You got to build up to it and then you have to maintain it.

A.J. Lawrence:
Well, then this actually then flip side brings it to the business model. So is this kind of part of the business model you have like subscription? Do people subscribe or do they pay per visit? Do they get like a monthly pass and you get x amount? How does that work for your business model?

Sam Tejada:
So we have a few different structures within our business model depending exactly what programs you’ll be participating in and the different modalities that we’ll be offering you. But yes, to answer your question, we do have subscription models where basically you’re getting on a monthly program that includes all of your supplementation, any kind of medications, peptides are included into that. The reason we do those membership models is, this stuff can get expensive. So when we have the ability to give someone a customized package where they’re going to be consistent on it, we want to save them a few bucks. And that’s how you save getting on those different packages that are subscription-based.

A.J. Lawrence:
Let’s put a pin in that and come back because I do want to talk about your franchise. But first let’s talk about that because I have seen it. You need a prescription, how is this? Because I see stuff like I did look it up on Amazon and there was some weird things. And the only true not knockoff of knockoff type was this Russian one. And I’m like, yeah, not going to touch that. Tell us a little bit, how do we get that, what to expect and all that.

Sam Tejada:
The synapsins is pharmaceutical grade. Will you find supplementation companies out there that sell it as a supplement? You can. I don’t know what you’re buying. So one of the things that you want to make sure of is that there’s true data behind whatever you’re putting into your body, making sure that it’s been properly tested by third party testing facilities that are registered with the FDA. So the synapsins that we prescribe, and yes, it is a prescription that requires a medical provider who has the ability to diagnose and prescribe, actually write a prescription for you for this. This actually goes to a compounding pharmacy based out of Texas, ours. There’s a few compounding facilities that produce it, but the gurus behind the product that actually develop and hold the majority of research is a lab that’s called PD Labs. That’s P as in Peter, D as in Delta labs. These guys, they have the secret sauce.

I’ve tried other ones from other compounding pharmacies, but the synapsins that they have, I mean they’re studying this product for all kinds of chronic Illnesses and they’re getting fantastic data for Alzheimer’s, dementia, Parkinson’s, and even TBI, the traumatic brain injury. Working with a lot of professional athletes. I think they have actually a study with the NFL for some of this stuff. So great product. But yes, it is a prescription and you should have a medical provider do your full assessment before you decide to actually start taking these type of stuff.

A.J. Lawrence:
That’s why, because every once in a while I will dive in like I think a lot of other people and go into some of these health hacking sites. And it’s like you go down these pathways and then you see the links and you’re like, yeah, I’m going to trust, blah blah blah, send me by bitcoin. I’m like, yeah, that’s exactly where I want to put in my veins.

So you guys, you’re compounding based upon the doctors and the whole health profile. So when you actually expand this and you started taking on franchisees, what was that process like? And who are you sort of looking for as franchisees here?

Sam Tejada:
So that was a whole ‘nother monster that I had absolutely no clue what I was getting myself into. Having one clinic or two of the wellness center clinics is one thing, but at the point in time that you’re going to duplicate the business to bring it to the masses, and when I say to bring it to the masses is not just the end consumer, but also giving the business opportunity to other individuals that are willing to make that investment into your brand. There’s a lot that’s required out of you. There’s a huge expectation from franchisees, and that’s one thing that I don’t think there’s going to be any podcast or any book that’s out there that’s going to be able to give you the actual real feeling and understanding of what that consists of as a franchisor. But once you’re in it, you’re in it. So part of that is having to build a true platform to give these new entrepreneurs. A lot of them are new entrepreneurs. Other ones are people that are diversifying their investments into different franchise systems, and you’re going to have to be able to give them all the tools and ammunition for them to be successful.

So in all reality as a franchisor, you’re not just selling a business opportunity. You’re also becoming their mentor, their coach, and you have to make sure that you’re readily available to be able to give them the support they need.

A.J. Lawrence:
And it seems like you guys are gaining some noise as a franchise to look at. I’ve seen some really good press in different types of, in general, industry wide things. I like that this is from you and from the business you’ve created, not some celebrity trying to add a couple of dollars on the side. So what’s usually the process for someone to look at your franchise, the things they are looking, the application process, the time frame, the cost involved. What does that look like?

Sam Tejada:
So when it comes to us actually vetting out a franchise prospect, someone who’s interested in being a franchisee, there is a thorough process that goes into place. Now, I will tell you, if I went back almost four years ago, there’s a saying in the world of franchising that when you first start franchising, you do the mirror test, right? And I remember when I first heard about the mirror test, I said, well, what the heck is the mirror test? Well, you pull the mirror out of your pocket and you put it under their nose. And if there’s any condensation on that small mirror, they’re a franchisee. I said, oh, okay. So basically, as long as they’re breathing, they’re franchisee. And the joke in the franchise world is that when you’re new franchisor, new franchise system, you want to keep on growing your company. You want to bring money in, you want to fund your growth efforts, so you pretty much take what you can get. It’s the worst thing ever.

I did it. I was guilty of it. And I had franchisees that were performing fantastic, some of the best performing locations. And these were just not the people you wanted to be in business with. It was risky. They put the entire organization at risk and then put us in a spot where we had to terminate a very successful franchise because of some of the bad practices that they were doing. And then you go into the litigation process. Now, for me, I embraced that process because I use that as a learning experience. But now fast forward four to five years later, the vetting process is completely different for us.

We want to make sure we do have the qualified franchisee in our system. We want to make sure that we don’t have someone who’s just trying to throw money at a business to make it a cash cow. We want someone who is passionate about health and wellness. We want someone who’s going to have extra feed to the mission that we’re trying to accomplish in regards to bringing health and wellness to the masses, in regards to changing the course of medicine. We want that franchisee who’s going to be active inside of their franchise location and actually work the franchise location, understand the services and modalities that are being offered, understand the overall business so they can hold their teammates accountable. I always say, if you don’t know enough to be dangerous in your own business, well, how the heck are you going to be able to be a mentor to your employees? You got to be able to inspect what you expect, right? So the vetting process for franchisees is definitely a lot more extensive now, especially because we work with certain franchise brokers that do their due diligence as well before even bringing anyone to the table. And that’s one thing that I want to make sure I put emphasis on in this conversation, is that only because they have a nice checkbook with deep pockets doesn’t mean they’re going to be a fantastic franchise.

A.J. Lawrence:
No. And it is interesting the more I look at the space and more as I think it becomes part of the overall discussion around acquisition entrepreneurship and just in building a successful entrepreneurial journey.

Looking at franchises, the differences between the different styles, the different types of clients, the different things you’re looking at. And also there seems to be a real interesting dichotomy around the ones that are self managing, not quite, and the ones that are very hands on and just sort of the expectations and the opportunities and also just the risk profile.

Franchises that expect to have the people involved in the thing seem to have a much lower risk profile. So I like that this is the approach. So this is more looking at someone who is trying to extend, kind of take that next step into it. Do you sell multiple locations? How does that franchise structure look for you guys?

Sam Tejada:
So it really depends the resources that the franchisee has, depending on what we’re willing to offer them. If this is their first time getting into business and it’s a new business venture for them, we’re going to try to restrict the opportunities of them. Having multi-units, it’s easy to sell that, but at the same time you’re putting your whole franchise system at risk doing so. Because the business that we’re in, it’s not like one of these frozen yogurt shops or make a quick sandwich type of thing. We’re clinical, so the stuff that we do, they don’t teach it in medical school. There’s a lot of training, a lot of fellowships that the medical providers have to go through. So it’s something that takes time. It takes time to nurture your team, build your team at your individual locations.

So myself as having multiple corporate locations till today, it’s a lot of work. So if we have a franchisee who’s interested in doing the multi-unit deals, that’s something that we’re going to really evaluate and see if it’s something that they even potentially have an operating team to do so.

A.J. Lawrence:
That’s one of the discussion I’ve seen is like, look, you come in, you find a way, see what works. And if you have success, then sort of do what you can to expand the amount of territories you have. But as you said, it has to work for the franchise itself and making sure you have the right people.

So do you have people who are managing, who have multiple locations? What is that looking like for you?

Sam Tejada:
We do have quite a few franchisees that have the multi-units and they’re working the locations quite well. So the interesting part about our business is we get not just the typical entrepreneur who wants to get into the industry, we get a lot of medical professionals that are great doctors and nurses that have absolutely no business experience. And franchising is a great move for them. Because for them to try to do it on their own, not have that business experience, at least they go into a franchise system that can provide them all of these different tools and ammunition for them to be successful through the different assets that we’ve created for them. The partnership, when it comes with the franchisee and you’re looking at the multi-unit deals, it really depends [on] their background and what they’re able to actually execute on.

A.J. Lawrence:
Let me ask one more question. I know a lot of this is in the FDD and there’s some structure so I’m not asking for detail, but what is sort of the financial and time commitment for a potential franchisee looking at this? And I know there’s very specific legal and stuff to go into the hardcore, but just generally.

Sam Tejada:
Listen, I’m your guy and I need to have those answers. So my expectation, and I say this, even with my guys that are on the sales side, is even though it’s in the FDD, it’s our job to know what the answers are when we’re asked those questions. So I appreciate you asking it. So, the financial part on the franchise, if you’re interested in purchasing a franchise, our initial franchise fee is $75,000. That’s what comes to us as the franchisor gives you the territorial rights, gives you the full onboarding, the training, the support, hiring and everything that there’s required to get that franchise launch from start to finish. We do give certain discounts to first responders, any medical professionals, and then also veterans. You get 15% off. I believe it’s 15% off. Don’t quote me on that. I should know that.

But it’s roughly about 10% off depending first responder, military, et cetera. So there are some cost savings there. And then the all in what we tell the franchisees is you should have anywhere between six to $700,000 ready to go, and you’re not going to necessarily use all of that. A good portion of that is for working capital to make sure that if the business is not ramping up and hitting its monthly break even points, you have enough to sustain your team members, your staff and everything else. Also, build out of the facility is included in that number, which if you negotiate a fantastic tenant improvement allowance with the landlord, you might not even tap into the $250,000 that we’ve allocated as a TI allowance. And then obviously there’s more of a breakdown which we could always reference the FDD to go into those little details of some of the other financial responsibilities.

A.J. Lawrence:
I’ve had Live Oak, which is the largest SBA lender. They have a whole practice around franchises. So someone can use the SBA if they’re looking at your company, right?

Sam Tejada:
Absolutely. So Liquivida, we went through a process to get certified and approved through the SBA as an approved franchise system. So if you go on the SBA’s website and look at approved franchise systems, you’ll see that our company, Liquivida, is part of it.

A.J. Lawrence:
Look, I’m fascinated by this and I’m definitely going to, once we get off this, I am going to ask for your FDD because this is something I think is a really interesting space.

One thing that I am curious about, because of this type of business model, how do you see this expanding? Like there were some really cool things
just in the past couple of days around the research done around the combination of drugs with high frequency sort of things. So they’ve been doing some tests by combining sort of a head cranial thing with high frequency that opens up some of the blood barriers with then types of similar things to what you’re doing with IV being able to increase the effectiveness and stuff. How do you see, as new stuff is happening, as new technologies, how does your business model? Do you include that? Is that something separate? What happens as things like that move forward?

Sam Tejada:
So we’re always looking at new things, new technology, new science that’s coming out. We do have someone who wears the role of the chief innovation officer, where they’re consistently going to some of these conferences, they’re researching and seeing some of these things that are coming out now on the topic that you brought up about the frequencies and whatnot. When you really look at the future of medicine, and we can’t speak too much on this because there has to be more data that comes out, but I can tell you through the different resources I have and the research that we partake in, everything that you mentioned about frequency, that’s bioquantum, it’s the future of medicine. My words on that in the next five to ten years, you’re going to see certain things develop and come out that’s not just curing disease.You’re going to see things that are reversing disease. And that, truthfully, is the stuff that’s in some of these other countries. They’re so far ahead. I mean, these guys, they’re doing it.

People are flying out there, people that are terminal, illnesses and diseases, and what they’re doing is unbelievable. So the whole frequency stuff is the future of medicine.

A.J. Lawrence:
Just because one of the things, when I look at these, I always worry, is this sort of the one trick pony? Like, okay, crumble, crumble, blew up. As you look at this, as you’re growing and you’re creating this really cool company and this franchise and you’re expanding, how do you look to define your own personal success here?

Sam Tejada:
So I actually wrote an article about the importance of defining your success, and you need to do that early on in life. And it’s critical that you do so, because if you don’t define your personal definition of success, you’re actually working towards absolutely nothing in life. Really, you are. And this is something that I actually try to coach young kids that are just starting and getting into college that are young adults and letting them know, you need to define what your true definition of success is. Listen, at the age of 20, I was a career fireman, part time gig on my days go off. I was making six figure income at the age of 20, right? Most people would say, Sam is extremely successful. I didn’t see myself as successful.

What’s successful to you? Mine has absolutely nothing to do with money. So my personal definition of success is being able to leave a legacy behind. That Sam Tejada was a great businessman who created tons of opportunity for people, who cared for the people. And part of that is me growing into a position of power to be able to make the change that the world needs. So it’s not being a firefighter.

A firefighter was one of the starting points. It’s not being the founder and CEO of Liquivida, that’s part of it. Ultimately, I want to see myself in a political seat, maybe involved in legislation. I would probably start with being a city commissioner, city mayor, and then working myself up to put myself in that position of power to make the change in the world of medicine and also the world of business, which is much needed. We’re living in a lot of these rules and statutes and standards that are so antiquated that need to be changed. So that’s my personal definition of success. But everyone should have their own definition of success. And financial freedom is important. But when you truly become successful based off of what your personal definition of success is, the money will come because it’s just a side effect of your success.

A.J. Lawrence:
All right, I very much agree. So quickly, where are you living?

Sam Tejada:
So I’m in South Florida, the Fort Lauderdale area. So some people, they call this paradise. In other words, I live in paradise.

A.J. Lawrence:
So if you’re down in Fort Lauderdale, go look Sam up and try and get him into office here. Let’s get you into office. It’s just, guys, we need more people who actually work and live and understand what it means to have a business to bring it into our legislative process. So, Sam, if that’s your journey, please let me know and I will definitely do what I can to help you on that. Because we need more people like you in there.

How can people, besides going down to Fort Lauderdale and voting for you. Whenever you’re ready, I’m not saying you have to do it right away.

Sam Tejada:
There’s still time. We’re prepping for it.

A.J. Lawrence:
How can people learn more about Liquivida and your own journey?

Sam Tejada:
So pretty straightforward. I usually say you could go directly to our website, liquivida.com. But if you want to take it even a step, a little bit more simple, and find even more information that’s not just on our website, just google Liquivida or Google Sam Tejada and you’ll see everything you need to see.

A.J. Lawrence:
Alright, we’ll put that all into the show notes. I really like your instagram so we’ll make sure we’ll put that in the show notes. It’ll be in the newsletter when this episode comes out, telling about it and then, of course, in our socials, we’ll have all sorts of links to it.

Sam Tejada:
Awesome. I love sharing content, I love sharing the process of succeeding, and my goal is to motivate others. Motivate others in the business world, motivate others to take care of their health. Again, health is wealth, the most important and the most valuable currency on earth or actually in the universe. It’s not a cryptocurrency. It’s not the US dollar. The most valuable currency is your health. So you got to make sure you take care of it. Because without your health, you got absolutely nothing.

A.J. Lawrence:
Hey Sam, thank you so much for coming on the show today. I really appreciate it.

Sam Tejada:
A.J., it was a pleasure, man. I appreciate you. Thank you.

A.J. Lawrence:
And Fun.

It was fun and you gave me a lot to think about. And everyone in the audience, thank you for listening today. I think looking at what Sam has done, looking at your own journey and how you can bring more to it and where you’re going on it, looking at how to optimize your own health and bring that presence, I know for my own efforts, it is really the difference between when I do the little things consistently, incrementally, just how much more I can be there for my own efforts versus a series of bad days. All of a sudden, it’s like, yeah, I’m not quite firing on all things so I think there’s a lot to bring out of what Sam’s doing. And always if you know some other entrepreneur who is looking at similar issues, send them this episode. Tell them to give it a listen, and then make sure they go subscribe on their podcast listening platform of choice. All right, everyone, thank you so much for listening, and I’ll talk with you again soon. Goodbye everyone.