Next Level Pros - #65: Addict to Entrepreneur: Turning Addiction into #1 Rehab Center in the World: Richard Taite

Episode Date: January 9, 2024

In this heartwarming episode of The Founder podcast, we're chatting with the inspiring Richard Taite, the mind behind Cliffside Malibu. He opens up about his emotional journey, including the highs and lows of selling his beloved business. Richard shares his personal struggles with addiction and how it led to the creation of Carrara Treatment Wellness and Spa. His approach to addiction treatment, blending top-notch care with a focus on co-occurring disorders, is truly insightful. Get ready for an episode filled with genuine reflections and Richard's unique perspective on recovery and wellness! Highlights: "Just because you have money doesn't make the problems go away." "We're teaching self-care and self-love because... I've never met a person who wanted to kill themselves with drugs and alcohol who loved themselves." "You have to understand that there's nothing to get, there's only to give." Timestamps: 01:22 Selling the Business and the Aftermath 06:27 Richard's Battle with Addiction 09:54 Childhood Trauma and the Root of Addiction 13:19 First Encounter with Drugs and Escaping Trauma 16:00 Homelessness and the Cycle of Addiction 21:31 Overcoming Guilt and Building a Strong Culture 29:34 Preventing Addiction and Fixing the Family Unit 34:48 Building a Strong Culture and Accountability 41:25 Carrera Treatment Wellness and Spa 48:19 Overcoming Depression and Finding Purpose Live Links: 🚀 Join my community - Founder Acceleration https://www.founderacceleration.com 🤯 Apply for our next Mastermind https://www.thefoundermastermind.com ⛳️ Golf with Chris https://www.golfwithchris.com 🎤 Watch my latest Podcast Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-founder-podcast/id1687030281 Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1e0cL2vI1JAtQrojSOA7D2?si=dc252f8540ee4b05 YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@thefounderspodcast

You try over and over and over again, but all the failure kind of bums you out. I'm the worst CEO. The last time I replaced myself, this guy sold my business in 13 months. He was a killer. He left our company and then I think three or four weeks passed away from fentanyl. Because now people are dying from fentanyl. All the time they're dropping. And he scores one time on the street because he's sick. One time. And he drops dead from fentanyl. All the time they're dropping. And he scores one time on the street because he's sick. One time. And he drops dead of fentanyl. Yo, yo, yo, yo. Welcome to another episode of the Founder Podcast. Today, I am joined by Mr. Richard Tate. He is the founder of Cliffside Malibu, which when he sold was the most famous, incredible rehab center on planet

earth. I am super stoked to be hanging with you tonight, Richard. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Yeah, man. So we are here in his home studio. What did you call it? The war room. The war room. Yeah. This is a pretty sweet setup he's got a uh for those that are watching on youtube and spotify he's got this really cool setup behind his home it uh it's got like a disappearing wall that goes out to the uh the back uh the backyard area beautiful fire it's a vibe it's a good vibe it's quaint yes sir so richard man you uh you went you sold your business about it's been about five years uh five and a half years five and a half years ago you sold off to private equity it was a nine-figure exit um tell us tell us about how it felt when

that took place when you exited the business you You know, you go ahead and you're chasing it all the time. And then pretty much like everything else you chase, when you get it, you hate it. And I remember the first week after the wire hit, it was the worst week of my entire life. You know, it's interesting because people that haven't gone through that, it's really hard for them to understand. They're like, sure, you pompous prick. You know, you've got nine figures wired into your account. Did you sell 100% of the business or did you roll forward any?

No, I didn't roll forward. Okay. So they're, you know, they're thinking at home, they're like, what a pompous prick, right? Like, cause I get it. And I felt the same exact way. The thing that most people can't understand that both you and I have gone through is like, just because you have money doesn't make the problems go away. Right. And, and when you no longer have gone through is like, just because you have money doesn't make the problems go away. Right. And, and when you no longer have something to chase, it, it creates a different problem. That wasn't my issue. What was it? I missed my friends. Yeah. See, I worked with all my friends and I would go into work every day and I'd hang out with my friends and we would do the best work and then so i left and not only did i not have purpose right but i wasn't with my

people and so i had nothing to do so walk me through like how you felt in that moment. The first thing I did was I went into shock because I couldn't believe, you know, what we did. But after that, the next, it was on a Friday. Then it was a Saturday and a Sunday. And, you know, people don't work on weekends typically. The client facing team does but right they didn't and uh so i wasn't missing anything and then monday came and i had nowhere to go and i was i felt myself getting angry and then i just got angrier and angrier and angrier and then it went to depression right yeah and it was like i was despondent now let me just tell you i had to go i was out of

steam right i mean i worked it was the right time to sell for me personally right financially no right i had to go though. Yeah. Okay. Because you do this for 15 years. You want to light yourself on fire. You're literally on fumes. Right.

But I've had a long time to rest and think about this. Yeah. And that's why we opened Carrera. Carrera Treatment, Wellness, and Spa. And let me tell you something. You're never going gonna see that again because private equity doesn't know how to do that. Okay?

And not only that, but who's gonna do that? Who's going to put a spa, you know, and have that part of their treatment center? We have a world-class spa in the treatment center. And I hired the spa manager, the spa director from the ohai valley inn which is a top 100 spa in the country right and i just grabbed her out of there and she's with us so when you say spa is this is this going to be like a day use spa or just part of the facility that people can go and utilize no this is not good

this part of the program okay okay i mean we're teaching self-care and self-love because here's the thing i've been doing this and and treated thousands of people and i can honestly in 15 years i can tell you i've never met a person uh who wanted to kill their kill themselves with drugs and alcohol who love themselves ever so So these are not bad people. They're sick. This is their turn. And I want to make certain that it's successful. Right. Okay. So, uh, you know, purpose is everything. Yeah. Okay. The people that matter, the relationships that matter in your life and, and how many people you can help. Because there's nothing to get. There's only to give. And if I live my life that way,

then I'm blessed over and over and over again. Because I'm not the smartest guy in any room I walk into. So Richard, I mean, this sounds very close to home and personal. So, I mean, tell us your story. I mean, obviously it sounds like you've been associated with, I mean, this type of addiction. Well, like I said, I've treated thousands of people. Yeah. And out of the thousands of people, not that it's contest, but, you know, let's call it what it is.

I might have seen out of the thousands of people, maybe a dozen who were as bad as me. And I don't think there was anybody worse than me. So like how long did you battle personally with it? About two decades. And I'm assuming like going through that. Almost two decades. I mean, is where all the inspiration came to go and treat these type of. Well, I got sober a certain way. And I was lucky enough to have a therapist that used the stages of change model to help me. Now, that doesn't treat anybody. But what it does is it tells you where you are in your arc of progress. Right?

So it's like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. You don't know the way out, but you follow the light. Right. Yeah. I had a certain outlook on this thing that I had never had before because I tried to get sober in AA. And it took me three years just to get 30 days right so it i mean obviously you know you you you try over and over and over again but all the failure kind of bums you out so i started doing therapy and i was lucky enough to have this woman that took care of me and i showed up on uh you know every friday never missed it and at month 11 i think she says to me

are you getting anything out of this and i said no and she said why are you here every friday without fail on time and i said because i'm slow but I'll get it I promise it's just not there yet hmm and at 15 months I got it because therapy is a language and it's here but it's really here so there's three things I want to talk about sure one what led to drug addiction in the first place and kind of your path into it to, well, let's do one at a time. I won't be able to remember. You're good. Hey, so I want kind of the beginning, the middle and the end is essentially what I'm looking for. So yeah. Tell me, tell me about the beginning. What initially, like, why did you initially turn to it and what, what

was, was there an initial battle or were you just both feet in? I'm the blame the parent guy. Yeah. Okay, pretty much that's just the way it is. Kids not getting their basic needs met as a child, right? Back in my day, you were getting hit all the time. Yeah. So me and my brothers just got wailed on all the time. So me and my brothers just got wailed on all the time. And so what happens when

that happens is if you're, let's say five years old and you're getting beat up and you're told you were bad and everything else, it's too scary for a five-year-old to say, my parents, you know, are less than perfect, right? It's too scary because you're relying on them for food and shelter, emotional, whatever. Completely dependent. Completely dependent. Right. And so instead what they do is they internalize it and they say, I'm bad. And then every time they're disappointed or hit or ridiculed or embarrassed, they reinforce that thought. So pretty soon you're a 45-year-old man and you're letting a five, six, and seven-year-old run yourself. And now all of a sudden you're bad. Okay. Next, you take a drink and you start abusing it because your head's

chewing on you, right? And so that just quiets the noise. And if you're being tortured like that all the time, and you get a respite from that, you're addicted. It's just like pain medication, right? No, they call it painkillers. Okay. But it actually works better on emotional pain. Do you know how people get addicted to painkillers? We're a depressive nation. We're depressed. They take a painkiller. They forget it all. And it's on. And then after seven days or so, right, they don't have it. It's got them. So did I answer your question? Yeah. So that initially kind of drove you into that. You were trying to escape some of the childhood trauma and everything that you were.

Yeah, it was such a, it was a really bad childhood for me. Right. And so then, and I had really bad examples. So I didn't know how to really socialize because it was such a dysfunctional family unit that I go out into the world and instead of ingratiating people right or you know instead i'm alienating people right okay because i don't know any better how did that make you feel as a child like towards towards others was it was it jealousy was it hatred was it no first of all you know if your eyes are bad and you're going blind and you don't never put on glasses, you think that's how everybody sees the world. So I didn't have any idea that, you know, I just figured, you know,

I, my friends were getting beaten and you know, I didn't, I didn't. You figured all parents were this way. That's right. That's right. Yeah. That's, that's a tough way, tough way to live. Remember, I didn't, I didn't blame my parents. Right. I blamed myself. Right.

You thought you were the bad person. That's right. Right. And so was it alcohol that you first turned to? Or what was it that you- No, the first thing I did was I smoked pot at 12 years old. Wow. Yeah, I stole it from my dad, from his bathroom.

And then I took it to my friend's house and we smoked on the side of his house the first time. And immediately hooked. No, no, no, no. I liked it because of the social aspect of it. I wasn't a likable kid. And so to bond, because we're all communal people, right? We need community. We need relationships. We need friendships. Right. And so to have that friendship with my buddy, Christopher was, you know, to me, everything, you know, I had nothing.

At one point, would you say that like things got out of control? So you're 12 years old. You first start down that path. The first time it got really out of control for me was I was 16 years old. My father told me to take the car into a mechanic. The mechanic drove me home, went into my bathroom and was in there for 45 minutes. So I knocked, I just walked in and he's smoking this white stuff out of a glass pipe and before i could say anything that pipe was in my mouth

shoved it in my mouth and i took that one hit this was from a mechanic that's right wow so just completely random life just happened wow and i took that hit of cocaine and that was it. I was done. And that was like every dollar I had would go to that. Wow. And then, so from then on, did it ever drive you to homelessness or on the streets or? Yeah, I was homeless for a short period of time. But, you know, I once lived in 25 places in five years. Wow.

I did the math, and I think it's every five months. Were you couch surfing? No, no, no, no, no. I'd get in, and I'd, you know, I'd pay my first and last and security deposit. Stop paying. Dude, I'd get paid, and the check would turn into crack coupons. I didn't have a choice. Yeah. Okay. So I keep, the only reason I know how many places I lived is because when I went to make my amends and pay everybody back, I pulled my credit report. Oh, geez. so i'm looking at it and i'm like jesus christ you're like 300 and plus thousand dollars in debt and you've lived in 25 places in five

years wow yeah so i was that guy wow and so like while this was happening because you didn't even realize how many places you were in had you lost like a level of consciousness where it was just like you were just day-to-day crack pipe to crack piper the way i did it was i typically did it for six to eight days in a row without sleep and i'd eat a big mac once a week to keep myself alive did you have a job at this time are you pushing drugs like what yeah no i've never sold drugs in my life oh i had a job but we're not going to talk about that because i don't know if the statute has run but i mean you you were working to to some level you had it you had an income but uh i mean all the income was going to yeah and i was doing really well too i mean i was doing very well yeah i was making a lot of

money and i was driving a two thousand dollar car and and all that money was going to drugs all of it wow wow so you find yourself in this so at what point did you did you make the decision i've had enough that came a couple times the first time I got sober was because I ran out of money. Okay. The second, and then I was sober for two years and nine months. And then I went on a 15 month run and then I got. So what, how did you, I mean, two years and nine months is quite a significant time, right? To be off drugs and everything else. Like what took you back? Yeah. I've got a 14 year old daughter. I don't think I'm going to tell you that one. significant time right to be off drugs and everything else like what took you back yeah i've got a 14 year old daughter i don't think i'm going to tell you that one okay but needless to say okay i went on that 15 month run and i didn't run out of money because

if i worked two years and nine months i wasn't running out of money. Right. Right? That wasn't going to be my issue. So what ended up happening was I've had maybe 300 different sobriety dates. So that's really, really bad. Wow. That's, you know, a loser in AA. Right. Right. This is the day.

But I had five effortless ones and but as alcoholics we don't focus on we don't focus on the four gifts we were given right we only focus i'm sorry we only focus on the four gifts we were given not not the 300 failures. Every second felt like an hour, right? And this time I was aware of it. And I was aware of it because of all the therapy I did. And it just intuitively, I got it. And I said, if this is going to be effortless, if I'm given that one gift, and I don't know if I'm going to get it for another five to 10 years, if ever again, right?

You better be serious about it. And I was just full of gratitude. And I just thank God. And I said, thank you. And I won't let you down. And that was it. Yeah, that's awesome. So you go and you make this change.

And it took some time, right? Like you said, you had all these sobriety dates and everything. And then at what point did you decide, you know, I want to go and help people like me that have, that have gone through this. Like, was it day one? No, no, no. Um, I've always wanted to open a sober living. I never knew anything about treatment because I'd never been. But I went to a bunch of sober livings. And at about 11 months, I bought this house in Malibu in 2013. But it was too big.

And it made me feel very uncomfortable. So I bought a sweetie little cottage down the street and i turned this thing into cliffside you turned it into cliffside that's right and you know i started giving people uh therapy because that's what i what i got and i knew that if we took them through the stages of change, we could get in there exactly where they were and get them to the light. But I was told that that was illegal. And I'm like, what's illegal about it?

And they said, that's called treatment. I said, wait a minute, I'm just giving these people more than I promised, right? And they're like, no, no, no. So I went and I got my license. To be able to give treatment. That's right. And that's when we did it.

And it was in 2005. 2005, you launch. I launch. And you start going. And based on some of our previous conversations, you said for the first few years you know you did you did fine and it wasn't until later that you're like we're gonna go and really crank this thing up yeah i for years had an issue i was conflicted um seeing aa you do it for fun and for free and you help people because you can. Right. And even though I had a treatment center and it's a business,

I couldn't wrap my head around getting money for helping people. You felt guilty about it. Totally. And it drove me insane. And then I went. Like, what were the voices in your head saying? Like, I'm just, I can't be doing this. Like, what were you hearing?

You're a d***. Yeah, you're charging people to help save their lives. Right. And then I went to this Swami named Swami Radhanath. And I would see him every single year. And I would go over this with him and my pain over it every year. And on year one, he looked at me and he said, huh? And I'm crying. And he looks at me and

he says, wouldn't it be a better world if everyone could help people for a living? Right. And he just kept saying it over and over again and it didn't click. And the next year we went through the same exact dance. And the third year we went through the same exact dance and the third year we went through the same exact dance, but I got it because remember I'm slow. And that happened in, at the beginning of 2012. And that's when I could align myself with it and be heart centered over it. Right. And the second I was heart centered and I was doing everything for the right reasons. It blew up. Awesome. What do you think separated you? Well, I mean, still separates you because you're back in the industry and whatnot from

every other treatment center in the world. Oh, that's easy. Carrera. Carrera. There's a buzz around Carrera. That's insane. Okay. Everybody in the industry knows that's insane. Okay. Everybody in the industry knows, you know, we're back.

Okay. Carrera is like nothing you've ever seen before. When I owned Cliffside, I owned it for 15 years. So think of it this way. What if you took the best people that ever worked for you over that 15-year period, right? You'd have an all-star team. Absolutely. I've got 24 of those.

Nice. And you're able to bring them back. They're the finest clinicians on the face of the earth. There's no debate about it. And what makes them the finest? Because not only are they the most learned, and I don't mean, they have more experience because we had so many clients and they would,

we worked at a pace that was, it was mindful yet it was like, it was at times it's like an ER room, right? And the pressure's like that. So the only way you really survive that is with good souls who are working with you and we've got the best souls. That's awesome. Yeah. So what,

what are some principles that you have lived by within your business that could apply to any industry that, that really has separated the way you've ran business? You have to be heart centered. And what does that mean? You have to understand that there's nothing to get, that there's only to give. And if you do the right thing, the money will come. Don't worry about it. You cannot be in faith and fear at the same time. Go try it, it doesn't work. I thank God in advance.

Nobody outworks me, okay? And I'm heart-centered. I i leave the idea is you leave this place better than you found it and if you don't if you're one of the best people in the world at treating drug addicts and alcoholics and you don't do it you're right absolutely absolutely if you don't do what you were called to do, right. The, what you've been put on, especially something like giving people back their family. Right. I mean, I I'm a father. Yeah. Okay. And when you have kids as late in life as I did, you don't just love your kids. You love all kids. Right. Right. So I have a different perspective

on giving a father back his daughter or a mother back her son. Right. I. So I have a different perspective on giving a father back his daughter or a mother back her son. Right. I mean, there's nothing better than that because now people are dying from fentanyl all the time. They're dropping. I had a, had a guy that worked for us. He was a salesman. Um, he had, uh, this was actually just a few months ago. Um, he, he left our company and then, and then I think three or four weeks passed away from fentanyl. I had a client who had seven years sober, got into a car accident,

got into a car accident, had surgery on his back. The doctors put him on opiates for longer than he needed to be. So now the doctor cuts him off. Now he's doctor shopping, going to all these doctors. Then all the doctors cut him off. And he scores one time on the street because he's sick.

One time. And he drops dead of fentanyl. Now, I have another center. And it's called One Method. Carrera is for ultra high net worth individuals, okay, who have to be comfortable, as comfortable as humanly possible, in a very uncomfortable time. But the other center I have is closer to my heart and I'll tell you why we get so

many calls for Carrera that the people that we take the people that can't afford Carrera we funnel downhill to one method okay one method is an in-network facility what does that mean that means they're for ordinary people, okay? Got HMOs, hardworking Americans doing the right thing. And then they get maybe surgery or a bad, whatever it is, okay? And then, you know, it's got them, they don't got it. So that's the thing we're interested in doing. And at Carrera,

we're looking, and One Method, we're looking to have 1,000 treatment beds, 1,000 military beds, and 1,000 mental health beds. Because I believe solving a social problem is worth a lot of money. After speaking to the Swami, that's what I think. And I know there's a problem in Washington too, because I landed there in Seattle and I drove into town and I saw the encampments and I couldn't take it. And in LA, same thing. And I don't like it. So what I want to do is I want to clean the streets i want to

literally pick people off the street and put them in a place and take care of them and change their lives for the better that's what i want i love it so i love the mission of going and cleaning up what's happening is what in your mind what can we do to prevent it from ever happening they're not what from ever happening people getting into drugs what are what are how how do we how do we solve the root of the problem you know it's interesting i had uh um tim ballard do you know who tim is i do not so tim don't hate me tim no you're fine. He's like the world leader of fighting human trafficking. Okay. See, that makes me a bad person now.

No, it's fine. No problem. So I had him on my podcast. And, you know, one of the things we talked about, so he is fixing the symptoms, right? Like fixing the issues, like the people that are, like he's going and saving children in foreign countries that are already put into sex slavery he's a hero what's that he's here he's here right but you know one thing that we talked about is like he's sitting there grabbing the bodies as they're falling over the you know the waterfall and he's catching some and not others right he's saving some lives but many are perishing along the way and and he's like i his ultimate goal is to how, how do we get to the

root of it? And so my question is in regards to that, like how, how can we as a society begin to approach and fix the root cause of all this? Be present with your children. When you're with your children, you don't, you're not on your children. When you're with your children, you're not on your phone. See, if you don't make your child feel like he's somebody, okay, then he grows up feeling like he's nobody. I get down at my child's level and I talk to him. Sometimes when he was a kid, you don't understand him. That's great, baby. Wow. Right? That's it. The words don't matter. It's the connection, right? And it's the soft heart, right? If you're like that with your children, if you're attuned to their needs, I'm not saying spoil your kids. It has nothing to do with it.

Listen, my kids are good people, really good people. I have no idea how they turned out that way okay but i tried to do the best i could okay and this is the result of course my ex-wife is the best mother on the face of the earth but to the extent that i contributed to it it had to have been good you know because my kids are good what i what i'm hearing you say is like we need to fix the family we need to fix the family unit the connection between fathers and mothers and children and uh being being better examples going back to the the basic foundations that made america great at one point modeling is everything modeling is everything i had a bad model okay my ex-wife had a great model she turned out great i turned out horrible okay now i saved it okay because you know by the grace of god i was

taken care of okay but it's kind of like we had a deal. Like, okay, I'm going to take care of you. Okay? But you're going to pay me back. Yeah. Right? And that's what I've spent my life doing, man. Yeah. Paying it back. You know, I know in like AA and like the 13 steps and those type of things, I know one of the big focuses is on having a belief in a higher power.

How do you attribute that to your success or your recovery or anything like that? Well, here's the thing about God. I love God. If I think about it too long, I get emotional because the way I operate is I do what I'm told, what I feel, right? And I just do what my boss says. And we have the same boss. And that's just the way it is because we've been talking for a while now and I'm not a Mensa

candidate. Okay. I operate one way, heart centered and nobody outworks me. And that's it. And I hire the best people in the world. We set the culture, we set the vision, and then I let them do their thing because I've never hired anybody that wasn't smarter than me. Yeah. I mean, it sounds like you're pretty phenomenal at building culture. What would you say, like, some of the core things that you focus on for creating a great culture? Accountability. Like, there's nobody who's, it would be funny.

If somebody in our company said, well, he threw me under the bus. If we ever heard those words, they'd be given their walking papers. That's not how we do it here. Everybody is accountable for everyone else. People make mistakes. You come correct. You say, hey, we f***ed up here. Sorry. We screwed up here. I'm sorry, we screwed up. I'm sorry, we screwed up here. And then once we hear that, it's like, it's a hug and a pat on the back. And it's like, thanks, man. And they know not to do this again. You'd look at them like, okay, we're done here. We're not going to do that again. Nope, we're not. And then it's over because they came to you. You didn't have to go to them. That's who these people are.

Can you imagine having 57 people like that? You can rule the world. It's amazing. Amazing. Yeah. Sounds like a fantastic place to work. Great, great place to be around. Well, they believe it.

They believe in it. Look, they've all seen it. Everybody knows how this ends, right? So all I care about and all they care about, okay, is giving people back their loved ones because that's what we do. I love it. It's a great, it's great vision. It's great mission. Like I'm a big guy or I'm a big believer in focusing on vision and mission and that mission driven businesses change the world. Right. And, and ultimately are the most financially successful, right? Because money is simply a derivative of value created. And especially if you're too stupid to know,

you know, how hard it is at the beginning. Yeah, absolutely. Right. Well, you're good if you don't know. Right. So do you see yourself selling this business or growing in this being the passion for the rest of your life? I just told you I wanted 3000 beds so I could treat. So 3000 times 12 is what? 36. Yep. So I just told you, I want to treat 36,000 people a year. Yeah. Does it sound like I'm retiring? No, no, no. Does it sound like, does it sound like we're selling, you know, but the, the beauty of is when you have a big vision like that, you can accomplish it a whole lot faster than you realize. Oh yeah. So what, I mean, what happens if we're five years down the road

and you've accomplished it? Are you keeping any, any keep running? After my last experience? Absolutely. I mean, look, nothing, nothing is, you know, I can get sick. Yeah. Right. And then, you know, you've got a family, right? But I've already sold a business. I know what that feels like. If I'm going to sell a business, it ain't going to be, you know, for that. Okay. If I sell a business, it's going to be after I find out who we are. You know, I want to find out who we are.

I mean, if you run fast, you have to run fast. Right. So running businesses, selling businesses, running incredible culture, obviously you've dealt with a lot of difficulty, right? Like going and building a nine figure business is no easy task. You keep saying nine figures. I never told you nine figures and I'm not allowed to talk about it. Oh, Hey, that's a, it's what I, what I read. Okay, good. It's what I read. So it's out there. Okay. that's uh it's what i what i read okay good it's what i read so it's out there okay i'm sure it's out there so you sell this uh large business right if we will sure um you know

what how do you deal with adversity and difficulty right like what what is your methodology in addressing like whether it's you, an employee difficulty or whatever? Like, you know, each one of us have a little bit different philosophy on that. So the 12 people, the core people that I had, they deal with it. And most of the time, I don't even know about it. See, you have to understand I'm the worst CEO on the face of the earth. Now I was telling, I would probably say that's not true. No, no. See, you think I'm being self-deprecating, but you'd be wrong. Okay. I'm an entrepreneur. I build things. Okay. You're a good CBO chief

visionary. I'm a, I'm a, I'm a dreamer. Yeah. I asked the right questions okay what if we could do that and then i go and find out whether we can do that okay that's how i operate which i would say makes you an incredible ceo no i'm the worst ceo the last time i replaced myself this guy sold my business in 13 months. He was a killer. Okay. This time. And he made significantly more than what you made. Oh, he beat the out of me. It was like, you know, like just worked me. Right.

And, um, I mean, I helped out when I, when I got there. I mean, I made certain to plug the holes and fill the gaps because these guys typically have three moves. Right. And then they disregard other stuff. So you're there plugging the holes, right? So there was that, but this new CEO that I'm about to marry. Okay. That's what I call it. It's a marriage. Yeah. Okay. Oh, I love this woman woman she is so much better than this other guy she is killer she took a business that was worth almost nothing and sold it for 850 million bucks in five years that's pretty sweet pretty sweet yeah right so better than most she's the best thing ever she's the best thing ever. She's the best thing ever. Sounds awesome.

And the only reason I'm talking about this right now is because before you air this, she'll be signed, sealed, and delivered. I love it. So she won't know how pregnant I am. I love it. So this new treatment center that you're working on, is it just for people that struggle with drugs and alcohol? Carrera Treatment Wellness and Spa is for people with substance use disorder. Obviously alcohol use, but today's alcoholic and today's substance user almost never is just that.

Everybody has some element of a co-occurring disorder. So, for example, bipolar disorder, or it could just be a major stress or major anxiety or depression, borderline personality disorder, right? It could be all these things or any number of those things. And so you treat them together because think about it logically, right? If you've lost a decade or two, right, to drugs and alcohol, you know, you ain't getting to rehab on a winning streak. You're walking in broken. Right. Right. And that's part of what the spot is about. It's like, think about this. People walk in completely busted, right? They've lost their teeth. A lot of times I had my teeth were all cracked. I couldn't see. Right. I hadn't been to a doctor or a dentist in a decade. I mean, I walked in

completely broken. And here what we do is we put you right back together. Okay. Because we've got doctors on there, like with a phone call in 10, 15 minutes, right? Nurses on staff the entire time, 24 seven, like at least a five or six to one ratio for, I'm sorry, maybe 10. I don't remember. I just did it and I don't remember. Okay. But it was abusive. I mean, it was so, it was so intent on meeting their needs, showing them that they're important. Like from the right, from the beginning, we're undoing it all, right? I ain't got nothing to do other than be of service to you and take care of you because you're worth it. That's the idea. And all these spa treatments, people can think it's elitist or whatever hey guess what that ain't for

them it's for me i'm my clientele because i gotta tell you something if i had a choice between going to a treatment center with bars on the windows okay or uh getting sober i or or staying loaded i'd rather stay loaded and i don't care who hears it, or what people think about it, because they don't know. Right? Okay. What what about people like us? Where do we go? Right? Okay, we get the top notch treatment, we get treated well, this is something that people who who are going through a horrible time in their lives and who have a life of comfort and convenience, this is for them. Okay. That's it. I love it. Top tier serving the, yeah, I love it. And these people, when you get them, right? Remember, these are the guys that, you know,

unless there was a God forbid, a specific injury, like God forbid, a rape or a huge beating or right. Some, something like that. It's pretty much always not getting your needs met. Okay. And it can be from another relationship, but it's almost always the parents, right? So when they come here, we're attuned to their needs before they even know they have one. That's the level of attunement we have. Okay. They don't have to ask for a light bulb to be replaced or toilet paper or any of that. That's nonsense. I love it. It sounds like a high quality. I'm excited to see what you do with it. This is all pretty new, right? You said you recently. Yeah. We recently got our license,

but I've been running one method because I was chomping at the bit, right? So we bought this in network center, and everybody came back to do it. And we've got this like, one method is going to be the same thing as Carrera, the same treatment. So they're going to get the best treatment in the world. They're just not getting wraps and scrubs and, you know, facials and massage. And, you know, they're just not getting wraps and scrubs and, you know, uh, uh, facials and massage and, you know, they're just not getting that stuff. I love it, Richard. Thank you so much for one, sharing your vision. I can tell the passion that you have. I mean, the emotion that comes out and like just your excitement to change and impact and develop lives. How can my listeners, the people that are tuning into this podcast podcast how can we help push forward the mission that you're trying to accomplish well if anybody has a problem with a loved one okay and they want them to have uh uh the best shot at getting well, all they have to do is go to CarraraTreatment.com and that's no E, no E, all A's, C-A-R-R-A-R-A, treatment.com. And they'll talk to one of the most compassionate,

professional, caring human beings in the world. And I know who's answering the phones because we're all close and I've trained them all right. So what we do then is if they can't come to us, we send them to one method and if they can't go to one method, we do whatever we can to find a place for them. Because if I ever had anybody that worked for me that just got off the phone with somebody because they couldn't go to one of our centers, they wouldn't be here and they know it. And they,

and I don't have souls that would even think that way. Everybody that calls gets the same treatment and the same love and the same care. That's somebody's kid. That's somebody's father. That's somebody's grandfather. That's somebody's father. That's somebody's grandfather. Okay. They matter to us. Yeah. I love that. And the, the one thing I know about addiction is that it doesn't, you know, only affect one certain class of people. It's every class, right? Like there's people silently battling. There's, you know, people that are going through things that we don't even realize. And so I think this message is necessary to to be heard to uh kind of wrap this this whole uh episode up i want to go back to one of the things that we talked about earlier you know you talked about your exit

you after your exit you went through a level of depression oh yeah how did you come out of that i got back i came back what did you do i grabbed my friends i grabbed my people and we came back we opened carrera you found you found new purpose well i re-found my purpose yeah i love that well thank you so so much for sharing, for being vulnerable tonight and sharing your story. Oh, please. I'm like John Boehner. I'm a crying baby. It's beautiful. It's beautiful.

So thank you so much for sharing your message with us. Until next time.