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Wade Houston: From Rock Bottom to President of a $100M Company | DSH #1770
00:51:13
Wade Houston’s story isn’t about hype — it’s about mentorship, discipline, leadership, and rebuilding your life from the ground up. In this episode, Wade opens up about hitting rock bottom in his early 20s, getting sober, finding a billionaire mentor, and completely rewiring how he led people, built companies, and defined success. He walks through scaling a functional medicine business from $4M to $12M, becoming President of 10X Health, navigating hypergrowth, acquisitions, leadership mistakes, and ultimately leaving to build his own coaching and consulting empire. This conversation also dives deep into ego, emotional intelligence, stoicism, personal development culture, and why mentorship can compress decades of learning into a few years. If you’re an entrepreneur, leader, or someone rebuilding their life — this episode hits. What You’ll Learn 🧠 Why mentorship compresses decades of trial and error 🔥 How emotional intelligence transforms leadership 📉 How ego quietly destro...
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- [00:00]
Host
I always tell people having a mentor saves you decades of time.
- [00:03]
Wade Houston
Decades. I mean, I would have never been able to manage employees in this way. I go to him all the time and be like, I became fairly self aware. And I'm like, look, I'm not a good leader. I'm not nice to these guys. I'm condescending. They don't look up to me because I'm just a dick to them, you know, my sales guys. And I was like, all right, let's start working on, you know, how we manage people. And that was the first thing, like, emotional intelligence, communication, leadership. That made the biggest difference. I knew enough about sales and marketing and operations from a technical standpoint. But that mindset, and also the stoic mindset that he really helped me with, I legitimately thought life was about money, and he really helped me see that. Well, bro, you've already made a lot of money, and you've been miserable before, so that's not what it's about. And he started to help me develop this stoic mindset.
- [00:40]
Host
And that's coming from a billionaire to say that, yeah, that's pretty crazy.
- [00:43]
Wade Houston
And I have other mentors on the street that could use some of the stoic mindset that are. That are miserable. Really. You know, in some realms, they're miserable. And the coolest thing for me is that they've come to me in later years and been like, hey, we've watched you change your mindset and grow and quit drugs, quit going to the strip club. And there's still some things, mentally that we struggle with, and they've come to me for advice.
- [01:10]
Host
Okay, guys, we got Wade out here in Miami. What's new with you, man?
- [01:15]
Wade Houston
Happy to be out here. We got the Miami 2 in. In Vegas. You know, it feels like a desert Miami out here.
- [01:20]
Host
Yeah, you picked fountain blue, so it's perfect.
- [01:23]
Wade Houston
And they have, like, poppy steak. And all of the. A lot of the establishments in Miami are here in Vegas, so it feels comfortable.
- [01:28]
Host
Yeah, yeah. It's like you never even left.
- [01:31]
Wade Houston
It's just dry.
- [01:32]
Host
Yeah, I know you were out here a lot when you were doing 10 XL, too, right?
- [01:35]
Wade Houston
Yeah, yeah. It's, you know, there's two sides of Vegas, and there's two sides of Miami, right? You can. You can party and gamble and do whatever you want, but then there's, like, a health and wellness side of it. And, you know, luckily I was able to find that out here, so that's.
- [01:47]
Host
My side of it.
- [01:48]
Wade Houston
Yeah. It's nice, right?
- [01:49]
Host
Yeah. I actually don't Party. I don't drink. I don't really smoke.
- [01:52]
Wade Houston
Nice.
- [01:52]
Host
Gave it up. What about you?
- [01:53]
Wade Houston
Yeah, me neither. I've been sober for six years. Damn.
- [01:56]
Host
Well done.
- [01:57]
Wade Houston
Yeah.
- [01:57]
Host
Yeah, I'm not, like, completely sober. Like, I'll have a drink here and there, but. Oh, my God, you should have seen how it used to go.
- [02:03]
Wade Houston
What'd you do?
- [02:03]
Host
I used to drink till I would, like. I. They call me tomato face. Yeah. I'm allergic to alcohol.
- [02:08]
Wade Houston
Yeah.
- [02:08]
Host
So my whole face would be red. And then I would just make a fool out of myself.
- [02:12]
Wade Houston
Yeah.
- [02:13]
Host
Just a lot of insecurities back then.
- [02:14]
Wade Houston
Oh, I have. I have a very high tolerance for all drugs and alcohol. And so I would drink until I black out, and nobody would know that I was blacked out. Geez, this one summer, I pissed the bed, like, 30 times.
- [02:24]
Sponsor/Ad Reader
Holy shit.
- [02:25]
Wade Houston
Pissed on a cop car. They got aggravated assault on an officer.
- [02:29]
Host
So you were a drunk?
- [02:30]
Wade Houston
Dude, I had three DUIs and three assault charges within four years.
- [02:35]
Host
Holy shit.
- [02:36]
Wade Houston
From ages 17 to 21, 22. And so after my third DUI, I got court mandated to go to AA and to stop drinking. And that's when I. At least partially, I stopped drinking, but I never stopped doing drugs.
- [02:50]
Host
Yeah. So you were an angry drunk, it sounds like.
- [02:52]
Wade Houston
Oh, dude, I was the worst. Well, the thing is, nobody would know. So people would be like, wade's completely sober. He's the. He's the best out of all of us. Give him your car keys. Let him assume responsibility. And I'd be blacked out. And so I'd wake up in the morning, and I would get a dui or I fight with somebody. My third dui. I call my buddy Pete. I'm in a jail cell. I'm like. I get my one call. I'm like, yo, Pete, can you come pick me up? And he leaves me there for, like, three hours, doesn't pick me up, and I don't get a second call. So I'm like, man, what the heck? Like, I thought he said he was going to come pick me up. I'm sitting there. I'm sitting there. He finally. He's got a huge shiner under his eye. And I'm like, yo, bro, what happened to you last night? And he's like, you. He's like, you gave me your car keys and told me not to let you drive. And then you beat the shit out of me and stole your car keys. And that's why you got your third dui.
- [03:44]
Host
No wonder you didn't come.
- [03:45]
Wade Houston
Dude, I was just A mess, man. I was a mess. That was, that was like. Yeah, when I was 21.
- [03:49]
Host
Wow. You got a good friend for him to forgive you like that.
- [03:51]
Wade Houston
I know, right?
- [03:52]
Host
Geez. Yeah. You ever miss drinking?
- [03:54]
Wade Houston
Not at all. No. I never even think about it. You know, there's like. I think ketamine and mushrooms to me were the things that I really liked the most. And I think there's some really nice therapeutic benefits to them. And I think that they have good properties for people in general. Not just for, like recreational use, but I think for therapeutic use. But nothing else do I even think of. It's never even like on my radar. I don't even really like drinking. It's been.
- [04:18]
Host
Yeah. If I had to pick one class, I would lean towards psychedelics myself. Yeah, Yeah. I had the best experience on those.
- [04:24]
Wade Houston
Yeah, I mean, they're awesome. There's. There's a lot of research right now talking about some of the benefits for even longevity. Like Brian Johnson just had this thing and I don't know if it's true, I haven't done any research, but about some of the longevity benefits of psilocybin.
- [04:36]
Host
Really?
- [04:36]
Wade Houston
Yeah. I mean, we'll see.
- [04:37]
Host
Wow. He does some pretty thorough research.
- [04:39]
Wade Houston
Yeah.
- [04:40]
Host
When I hear something like that, I actually get really excited.
- [04:42]
Wade Houston
Yeah, me too. I was like, wow, this is pretty cool.
- [04:44]
Host
He's someone who I really started asking questions about health wise. Like myself. Like, once I started seeing him do all that stuff, I'm like, I need to get myself right.
- [04:53]
Wade Houston
Totally. Yeah. I mean, he's just next level.
- [04:55]
Host
Yeah.
- [04:55]
Wade Houston
You know that for me, it was when I first met Gary, I was like, breca. I was like, holy crap. I'm not optimized in my health at all. And I thought I was, you know, I was disciplined, I worked out, I ate fairly healthy. But Gary showed me so many things. And then when I saw Brian Johnson, same thing, I was like, wow, there's a whole nother three levels ahead that I'm not paying attention.
- [05:13]
Host
Yeah, there's levels to it. Yeah. What were your health issues when you met Gary?
- [05:17]
Wade Houston
So I had autoimmune hepatitis. So 10 years ago, I got diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis and I changed my entire diet. I started doing some glutathione injections. I got off all the prescription medication that the traditional doctors told me to be on and put my autoimmune in remission completely. Holy crap. Within six months of getting off the medication, changing my diet, doing these glutathione injections, my liver enzymes were Completely normal. And the doctors were in shock. They were actually. I went back in, and they're like, wow, holy crap. The medication has worked incredible. It's been six months, and we haven't seen anyone have these effects of the medication. And I'm like, I was so pissed. And I was such a prick at the time. I was like, fuck you guys. I've been off the medication for six months. And they were like, wow, no way. And I proceeded to try and educate them on what I had learned because I had hired a nutritionist. I went deep on autoimmune and the liver, and I read all these books, and I educated myself. And they were like, yeah, but that's not in our scope of prescription, in our scope of education. So that's when I started to see the difference between traditional and functional medicine. And then years later, you know, got into functional medicine. But I also had a lot of intestinal issues. So even later on, I had to really fix my enzymes. I had to fix my gut microbiome. And so I worked with a lot of nutritionists over time as well.
- [06:36]
Host
So were you working with Gary before it was 10 XL?
- [06:39]
Wade Houston
No. At the beginning of COVID I took over a clinic called Health Gains, very similar to Streamline Medical, which is what Gary was running before he got acquired by Grant. I had heard of Gary because he started working with some celebrities. And I had also seen. I don't remember if it was on YouTube or where it was, but I saw some stuff of Gary where I was like, wow, that guy's really freaking smart. And I love the way he talks about some of this medicine. One of my employees left Health Gains and started doing IVs on the side for Gary at Streamline. And he called me and he's like, hey, man, this guy's really next level. He's doing IVs on all these celebrities. He just got acquired by Grant Cardone. I said, yeah, I just saw the news article. And he said, they actually probably need someone like you to mix medicine and business. I said, great. You know, tell them what's up. And so I got a call three hours later from Grant's team, and that's how I eventually became president of 10X Health.
- [07:36]
Host
Wow. Did you immediately get the president role, or did you have to work your way up?
- [07:39]
Wade Houston
Yeah, so, no, I have president right away. So in the year and a half before they called me, before I had my interview, I had went from sales manager to director of growth to CEO of this company called Health Gains. And we scaled from 4 million to 12 million in the year and a half that I was there. And when they were at 4 million, when I joined, they were losing 500k a year. When I left at 12 million in top line revenue, we were doing about 1.4 in net profit. And my mentor's a 10 figure guy and I got really, really blessed that he helped me all along the way. But I rearranged everything about this company. I mean, we rearranged the sales process, the marketing funnel, the operations, the SOPs, the culture. I mean, dude, I went in there and it was like the most micromanaged, stiffest, worst culture I had ever seen. And I literally said, guys, untuck your shirts. I'm gonna start playing some future, we're gonna have fun, I'm gonna teach you some shit. And I'm also gonna teach all of you about your minds. Because a lot of you have the skill and the capability, but you just don't have the mindset to be coachable, to grow, to get through your fears, to have focus. So I started teaching all of them. Every single morning I would lead an all teams meeting and I would do a 10 minute guided meditation. I also gave them a book called Mindset by Carol Dweck. And so I started teaching them about their minds. And every single morning I would remind them, guys, if your manager gives you feedback about something that you did, they're giving you feedback about an action that you took, which is something that you can change. They're not attacking your personality or your character. So don't internalize feedback. If you're not getting feedback, it means that we're not growing. And if we're not growing, you're never going to achieve your goals. And if you're not going to achieve your goals, then you're not going to make more money and live this life. So I created this personal development culture. It was just wildly successful. I made a lot of mistakes along the way. But once I went to my interview at 10x, I did so much research, I funnel hacked them three different times under three fake names. I took one of my employees from Health Gains Co. And I said, hey, go apply to 10X for a sales position. Tell me what the manager knows, ask him all these questions. So she did and came back to me. That was seven days. She got an interview, turned around. My interview was two weeks later. So I go in knowing everything about 10X, their process, their holes, everything that they don't know. Plus I had literally just scaled a business from a small little Florida clinic to nationwide 300% in a year. And so when I went out, when I went up there, they asked me, what have you done? What are your qualifications? I told them real quick and then I just asked them like 20 questions that they were like, geez, I don't know how we're going to do that. I don't know how we're going to do this. I don't know how we're going to do that. And for that 10x community with big ego and a massive vision who just acquired the most prolific traditional or functional medicine provider for them not to know the answer to these questions, they were like, damn, we need someone like you. Wow. And so I forget. It was a 20 minute conversation with Brandon Dawson, a few other executives, and he was about to go speak on stage at his Cardone ventures event. After 20 minutes he goes, all right, this has been awesome. He said, dwayne Jeff, he said, wait, what position do you want? I said, president. He said, dwayne, Jeff, figure out his comp, figure out his equity. I got to go speak on stage. And he got up, shook my hand and left.
- [10:56]
Host
Holy crap. So you got it on the spot.
- [10:57]
Wade Houston
On the spot. But then we negotiated for almost two months. My comp and my equity, dude, we just went back and forth and back and forth and they had no idea how much I knew about deal structure, about comp and about, about equity. My mentor was a deal guy. My mentor is a lawyer. He was in private equity. He's on investment banking firms. He's been through like hundreds of deals and he owned his own company also. And so they had, I mean, I'm going back and forth about, you know, my vesting schedule and cliff Equity. And I'm talking about, hey, this, I think this is phantom equity. And I don't think this is right here and there. And they're like, jesus, we had no idea, like. And I went through all my non complete, my non compete and everything, like really with a, you know, with a comb. And I just don't think that they expected that. I think they thought like, oh, you know, this is a kid that grew very quickly but that he might not have the acumen that I had. And so we went back and forth until everything was exactly to my, to my liking and to theirs too. I think it was a fair deal. And then I started and it was just game on from there.
- [11:57]
Host
Wow, that is nuts.
- [11:58]
Wade Houston
Yeah.
- [11:59]
Host
You mentioned you have a ten figure mentor earlier. How did you acquire him?
- [12:02]
Wade Houston
Okay, so it's crazy. May 6th of 2019 is when I hit my Lowest point, my rock bottom. I got drugged and robbed at a club in Miami. I really haven't drank in 14 years, but there was this three day period in which I actually did drink that brought me to my bottom. I was blowing coke and doing ketamine. So I get to this point, I get to my bottom, and I decide, hey, May 6, 2019, I'm gonna change my life. I'm gonna go to AA and I'm gonna get a sponsor, and I'm actually gonna do the steps because I'd known what AA was, but I'd never taken the program seriously. So I did that, and within three weeks, I meet this woman, this older lady from New York, and she says, hey, why don't you talk to anybody? You seem like you speak really well. You're a social kid, but why don't you talk to anyone? And I said, ann, I feel hopeless. And she said, why? I said, where's all the ballers? And she goes, what do you mean? I'm like, I don't want to be like any of these people. I'm trying to be rich. I'm trying to be a baller. I'm trying to drive a Ferrari. I'm trying to have a hot wife. And she was like, oh, Wade. She's like, look, I'll put three guys on paper here and their numbers reach out to them. But before I do, let me just text them first to make sure it's okay. One of them happened to be my mentor. So this is by complete random chance.
- [13:11]
Host
Wow.
- [13:12]
Wade Houston
I go and have coffee with the guy, and he's not really. He's working with like, two other people, but he's not. Like, he has a program. He's not. He's very, very, very selective guy, and super private guy. Very discreet. So I walked through everything with him, my whole story and everything, and he goes, look, I'll work with you, but two things. If I ever tell you to do anything, don't question why you're not in a position to do so. And you got to meet me at my house every Saturday morning at 7am if you're a minute late, I'll never talk to you again.
- [13:38]
Host
Holy crap.
- [13:38]
Wade Houston
Yeah, bro. He's a savage. And he's the craziest background I've ever heard. Like, his family got killed in gang violence in New York City when he was a kid. Brother gone. Like, he made his way out and became like a super successful lawyer. Super well polished. But he also has like, that street tenacity in him, and he's Literally the smartest person I've ever met in my life. So, yeah, I got really, really blessed. And I would show up at 6:50 every single Saturday. We'd go take a walk and we started playing tennis together. And then I started and we'd become really, really close friends.
- [14:12]
Host
That's incredible.
- [14:12]
Wade Houston
Yeah.
- [14:13]
Host
Yeah. I always tell people having a mentor saves you decades of time.
- [14:16]
Wade Houston
Decades. I mean, I would have never been able to manage employees in this way. I would go to him all the time and be like, I became fairly self aware and I'm like, look, I'm not a good leader. Like, I'm not. I'm not nice to these guys. I'm condescending. They don't look up to me because I'm just a dick to them, you know, my sales guys. And it was like, all right, let's start working on, you know, how we manage people. And that was the first thing, like emotional intelligence, communication, leadership. That made the biggest difference. I knew enough about sales and marketing and operations from a technical standpoint, but that mindset and, and also the stoic mindset that he really helped me with, I legitimately thought life was about money, and he really helped me see that. Well, bro, you've already made a lot of money and you've been miserable before, so that's not what it's about. And he started to help me develop this stoic mindset.
- [14:59]
Host
Wow. And that's coming from a billionaire to say that, yeah, that's pretty crazy.
- [15:02]
Wade Houston
And I have other mentors on the street that confuse some of the stoic mindset that are. That are miserable. Really. You know, in some realms, they're miserable. And the coolest thing for me is that they've come to me in later years and been like, hey, we've watched you change your mindset and grow and quit drugs and, you know, quit going to the strip club. And there's still some things mentally that we struggle with. And they've come to me for advice. These are, you know, people that live on North Bay Road in Miami, you know. Yeah.
- [15:32]
Host
So that's nuts, dude.
- [15:33]
Wade Houston
Yeah, it's been pretty cool Journey, dude.
- [15:34]
Host
That is awesome. So how long were you with 10x a year. A year?
- [15:38]
Wade Houston
Yeah, one year.
- [15:39]
Host
And then that's before I went pretty haywire, right?
- [15:42]
Wade Houston
Yes. I left December of 2022. I actually stayed on and consulted for them for the next year. Okay, look, when you're working 18 hour days and you have four offices and you're speaking all over the place like I. I was still an employee Even as president, like, yes, I was still an employee and I really wanted some freedom. So I started a consulting agency. I started consulting for them and a couple other, you know, major functional clinics. When I left, there was, there was no longer the buffer that I provided, you know, the diplomatic buffer that I provided between Gary and, you know, everyone else there. And I think over time there, that friction really became so apparent. Look, even if I was there at some point, this was destined to happen. But yeah, then I watched, I'll never forget, like eight months in August of 2023. I started to really see the fireworks. And I was like, kind of on my way out. And then I finished my consulting gig. And then right when I finished, I was getting all these messages from people being like, well, it's getting really bad. And then their lawsuit was shortly thereafter.
- [16:48]
Host
It was a very interesting story because their, the revenues were going up, right? Yeah, they were like, how, how explosive was the growth when you were there?
- [16:55]
Wade Houston
So we went from about 800k a month to five, four and a half million a month.
- [17:01]
Host
Holy crap.
- [17:02]
Wade Houston
Yeah, bro. That's hypergrowth. And imagine hyper growth in an industry that's not mature yet. Right? So we're trying to scale functional medicine nationwide, which is very difficult because you have different regulations for medicine in all different states. So you have to follow different regulations in every state. You have to get different license, different doctors, different certifications. You have to create this crazy complex web and everything has to follow hipaa. A typical business doesn't have to deal with nearly as many complications or compliance as this. So not to mention you have the 10X brand and the events, and those events produce unpredictable, massive spikes in revenue. We're talking like, okay, so typically I was taking somewhere between 50 to 120 orders for a genetic test per day. All of a sudden, in one weekend, we would take 4,000 orders.
- [17:54]
Host
Holy shit.
- [17:54]
Wade Houston
And even trying to forecast the demand, we'd be like, okay, so last year we took 1700. This year it looks like based on the attendance, whatever, we're projecting 2,400. So I'll say it'll be about 3,000. And then we blow through it and it's 4,000. Now the provider for the person that, the vendor that would help us with the genetic test, you know, process the results. Their capacity was like 150 tests per day.
- [18:22]
Host
Jeez.
- [18:22]
Wade Houston
So now we're 45 days out of them being able to process, right? So now I'm scrambling, I'm looking for all different vendors to try and process these. But it's not really that developed. The industry hasn't been that developed. It's not like there's a player that's like, oh, yeah, we can do 5,000 a day, we're good. So now it just becomes at hyperscale, it became a game of acquisition where we're like, hey, this vendor cannot grow and cannot scale fast enough. Even if I used to go into these vendors and be like, hey, look, what do you need to increase your capacity? And they would be like, this machine that cost 250k, and I'd be like, yo, I'll give you 150k. I'll front load you 150k. And then as we order that many in invoice, you can take it off that and the other a hundred K you front and get this machine. I'm going to grow your business and I'm going to give you money up front. Like, let's do this. So they'd buy one machine, but they'd be hesitant to buy 2 and 3 and enter. So I'd have to go in and be like, hey, what's your timeline? When do you want to sell? How much do you want? And so it just became a game of acquisition in order to scale from 9 million to 50 million in one year. Just became a game of how quickly can we acquire other clinics and vendors?
- [19:24]
Host
Wow, that is explosive growth.
- [19:26]
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- [20:32]
Wade Houston
A year and a half before that, I was a sales manager and now I'm heading M and A of a nine figure company. Yeah. It's crazy, dude. Every single day I'm calling my mentor, like, Steve, what do I do? How do. How do I have these conversations like, how do I acquire? And he's like, brother, good thing that you're good at sales and communication, because it is all sales and communication. When I joined 10X, we acquired the company that I built before.
- [20:58]
Host
So you did?
- [20:58]
Wade Houston
Yeah. So I built health gains. And then when I had the conversation with 10X, I said, hey, guys, look, I have a non compete. You know, it's within 30 miles. And they're like, no problem. You know, you. You can have an office in Scottsdale, so you're not compete as void anyway. But would that company actually help us scale? I was like, yo, I just built the sickest platform. Sales team, technology, ops, compliance, everything that we need, we can plug this into 10x to be able to scale more quickly.
- [21:22]
Host
Yeah.
- [21:23]
Wade Houston
So, yeah, within three weeks of being president of 10X, we sent health gains an LOI and we closed after three months and then integrated that entire team that I just built into 10x.
- [21:32]
Host
That's nuts.
- [21:32]
Wade Houston
Yeah.
- [21:33]
Host
So how many companies did you end up acquiring in that year?
- [21:35]
Wade Houston
Four. Wow.
- [21:36]
Host
So every two, three months.
- [21:37]
Wade Houston
Yeah.
- [21:38]
Host
That's so crazy.
- [21:39]
Wade Houston
It really was.
- [21:40]
Host
Geez.
- [21:40]
Wade Houston
Yeah. For me, it was the coolest feeling in the world to build a company, then leave, not tell anyone that I might potentially come back or acquire them. Have all these employees be super sad, right, because they went from super micromanaged working for an owner that they hated to like the chill guy who taught them meditation, personal development, and listened to rap music. And then I leave. They're crying, literally, like, I have people crying, and I'm like, guys, I promise I'll be back. Couldn't say a word. Didn't talk to any of them for three months because I didn't want to blow the deal. And 10x was like, yo, you don't have any communication. And then three months later, I walk back in the door, me and Brandon, into health gains. None of the employees have any idea this is going on. It's on a Monday afternoon, and we walk back in and they're all kind of looking around like, what's Wade doing here? You know, I got my little 10x shirt on. It's me and Brandon. Brandon's like, guys, congratulations. We're super excited. You know, as, you know, 10x health is blah, blah, blah. We've just, you know, acquired you guys, and we're super excited for you to be a part of the team, you know, you guys all know who Wade is. And Brandon says, look, I don't have any part in the day to day operations. I'm the CEO, I run Cardo Ventures, but Wade is the president and he has all, you know, day to day operating authority. And so dude, for me to have gone into this company year and a half before as like a test out sales manager to then coming back in, acquiring the company, being president, taking the owner's corner office, like sitting back, I'll never forget, and I go, Brandon, what office should I take? He goes, any fucking office you want. It was for me it was the coolest. Coolest.
- [23:12]
Host
No, that's nuts. And you were under 10x ventures, the biggest company in there too, right?
- [23:15]
Wade Houston
Yeah.
- [23:16]
Host
So you probably had a lot of pressure from Grant to perform.
- [23:18]
Wade Houston
Yeah, so it was. And we were, we were performing, you know, really well. I think the, the biggest thing that happens when you have such a marketing vehicle, right. We have the 10x name, we have Gary who, who's a firepower and he was working with all these celebrities. We were growing by word of mouth like crazy, hardly spending any money on marketing.
- [23:36]
Host
Yeah.
- [23:36]
Wade Houston
Now when you're growing that fast, it's just all about fulfillment, right? It's, it's all about fulfillment, customer service and setting the expectation for some of these clients that they're going to have a delayed process. And that was the hardest thing. Like we just could not possibly keep up with the demand and scale no matter what we did.
- [23:49]
Host
Do you think that delays what started the downfall?
- [23:52]
Wade Houston
Yeah, I think there was a lot of issues there because. Well, what started the downfall is this. Running. Scaling a functional medicine company in which your top of funnel is an at home genetic test, then moving people into a blood test and then having other services. Scaling that nationwide is way different than getting Gary running a concierge medical practice with 40 A list celebrities and another 200 of like the top people in the world.
- [24:19]
Host
Right.
- [24:20]
Wade Houston
So you have to operate these two businesses very, very differently. And we were operating out of different systems, different CRM, different medical records and there was no congruency. And so the issue was when there was any overlap and there eventually became a lot of overlap with somebody handling and servicing some of Gary's stuff and then Gary feeding people into this system, it became very messy and that's where everything was the downfall. Because Gary didn't want to really fit in this new corporate style system. Right. And honestly I don't blame him in some ways because when some of these A list celebrities want an IV at 11 o' clock at night, and Gary would actually just go and do it. He might have not recorded things in the corporate way that was needed. And so, yeah, that created problems like he should have. But by the same token, are you going to fault Gary for going to do 100k or a 50k IV at 11 o' clock at night? Like guys driving revenue.
- [25:16]
Host
Yeah.
- [25:16]
Wade Houston
And so that was sort of the battle that they always had was like having a medical provider fit into a business system and then having a business system cater to the medical needs.
- [25:25]
Host
Yeah. It's almost like mixing a personal brand with a corporate business. Right.
- [25:27]
Wade Houston
Yeah.
- [25:28]
Host
Trying to balance that.
- [25:29]
Wade Houston
Yeah. And look, it's tough. You're always going to have. When you, when you have big egos, like at the end of the day, you know, you have a big ego in the 10x brand and then you have, you know, Gary, it's. There's always going to be some form of clash.
- [25:40]
Host
Yeah, yeah. Ego's always been an issue in any business.
- [25:44]
Wade Houston
Totally.
- [25:44]
Host
Right.
- [25:44]
Wade Houston
We saw it before in health gains. So when I joined Health gains, they were like, yeah, we actually had a doctor who was the face of the brand, but his ego got so big that he wanted to do this and he just left. And now we're left with the business without a face doctor. And that's where I came in. So I had already seen it in the industry before. Yeah. You know, it's, it's. And especially in medicine, if a doctor starts to grow a personal brand, they start to work with celebrities and then they're really saving or altering people's lives, inevitably their ego is going to grow. Right. If you're saving someone's life, you're going to start to think, wow, I'm moving up in the chain of command in the world. I have some power that other people don't have. I don't care who you are and how humble you are, you're going to develop some form of an ego that will show at some point. Yeah.
- [26:29]
Host
In any business. Right.
- [26:30]
Wade Houston
Yeah.
- [26:30]
Host
Podcasts, you could be a doctor, a lawyer, entrepreneur. Doesn't matter. And once you start experiencing success, the ego creeps up.
- [26:36]
Wade Houston
Totally.
- [26:37]
Host
Then it becomes a matter of keeping it at bay.
- [26:38]
Wade Houston
Yeah.
- [26:39]
Host
Keeping it on track. Right.
- [26:40]
Wade Houston
I think ego is very important to drive things forward. Like, you know, if you can channel your ego and have a certain level of belief and confidence, that's really good because you're going to need that to persuade, you know, people to move in the direction that you want. But keeping your ego in line Is also very important because if it gets in the way, then you're going to turn people off and you're not going to have a business.
- [27:00]
Host
Was that ever an issue for you?
- [27:02]
Wade Houston
Yeah, for sure. You know, when we first started experiencing success, right. So. So my first three months at health gains, I went from sales manager to director of growth. And then my ego was like, I'm sitting there in executive meetings thinking, wow, I'm smarter than all these people, right? And. And it definitely got in the way for a while because instead of me letting a lot of my executives make mistakes and empowering them, I would just tell them what to do over and over and over again. And I would always get to the end of the meeting and they'd be like, wow, we hadn't thought about that. And I'd be like, you fucking idiot. I think I have to do everything for everyone. And they could see that, that my ego was coming through, that I thought I was better than everyone, right? And so eventually I did become aware of that. And I told my mentor, I'm like, yo, Steve. Like, I just don't think I'm doing the best job I could with my. In my executive meetings. And he was like, yeah, brother. Your relationship with your director of operations, from what you've told me, you're just running her over all the time. Because I was running sales and marketing, and I was forcing her to make sure she delivered on the operations in the way that was best for sales and marketing. But sometimes I wasn't keeping the medical practice in mind that the doctors also had an agenda, and she had to deal with these doctors who also had an agenda and an ego. And also she comes from a compliance background, right? So there's always this sales and marketing versus operations, because operations is fulfilling and they want to make sure that they do everything right. But sales and marketing is trying to push revenue as much as possible. And so I would just run her over. And then eventually I got to this point where I'm like, what am I doing? Like, I need to educate her on business. And so I would. I started 30 minutes a day. I started taking time and helping her understand lead funnel, how much we spend on leads, what our conversion was, what the sales process looked like, how much we paid these guys, what our net profit was. And once I explained to her everything, I was like, listen, now that you understand this, let me negotiate a new package to the owner that gives you a 10% bonus based off of these certain metrics if you can fulfill on the revenue that I need. You to help me with. And I changed her life. I taught her all about business. I increased her package, and then eventually she moved up and took it. But had I continued to be a dick, she would have been like, fuck you, and we would have never grown.
- [29:15]
Host
Wow.
- [29:15]
Wade Houston
But so that, that was a. For me, that was a huge turning point.
- [29:18]
Host
Yeah. That's huge. A lot of leaders lead by fear, right. They lead by being a little mean, a little hard. High standards.
- [29:24]
Wade Houston
Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, it's just. It's never going to help you get to the. To the level that you want. And what I realized was it was one of the best feelings of all time for me to walk back into that business and have everyone in that business be like, we love working with this guy. This guy's a leader. And to see how their lives had changed, to see that. That woman who had these two boys and, like, barely affording her car and barely affording their school and always dressed in crappy clothes and always telling me she couldn't afford anything to. Eventually, I ended up helping her way more than 10%. We got her comp up like 40% higher than it was when she initially started.
- [30:01]
Host
Wow.
- [30:02]
Wade Houston
And eventually when she. When we were at 10x and we acquired this old company, I moved her up to director of operations. Now she's making like 3x. What she was driving a nice car, nice shoes, feeling good, kids are on fire. And for me, it was just like one of the most emotional feelings ever. To really change somebody's life, that's beautiful. And you can't do that by being a. And just letting your ego get in the way.
- [30:27]
Host
Yeah. You would have fired them, right?
- [30:28]
Wade Houston
Yeah, totally.
- [30:30]
Host
Yeah. That's so cool, man. So after 10x, what was the transition, what was that like for you, mentally?
- [30:34]
Wade Houston
The saddest few months of my life, bro. Yeah.
- [30:37]
Host
Because you went from 6Xing a business in a year to you're on your own. Right.
- [30:40]
Wade Houston
Chilling. And I don't think it's funny that you understand that that quickly that it was so difficult to be the golden boy, moving at such a high pace that everybody wanted. I would get 300 emails a day. I would get WhatsApp, Slack text, Instagram calls, people in my office, helping salespeople, helping my executives. I was wanted all the time to phantom. PHONE rings, you know, have you ever had a text all day long, I felt like my leg was ringing and I would pull out my phone and nobody wanted me. And after taking my phone out of my pocket, like 200 times in three weeks. It was so sad. I was like, man, like, I'm not the guy anymore. And even though I was consulting for them, I was maybe working like 10 hours a week, not much. And so I actually got really lost in my life at that point. I felt sad, I felt depressed. I felt like I didn't know what I wanted to do. I felt completely out of discipline. So I had built myself personally by being very disciplined. I started waking up early and praying and meditating, eating healthy and working out from the beginning of COVID all the way through. And that really helped me as a leader as well, because people saw, wow, this guy's discipline changed my mindset. When I left 10X, I started waking up at 9:30, 10 o'. Clock. I would go to this workout class, only because the models went there. I was just literally go home, I would take a bath, I would jerk off, I would look at some cars, I would answer two emails, I would take a nap, I'd wake up, I'd go out to dinner with one of the models that I grabbed from the workout and then I would go back home and do it all over again. And it was so unfulfilling. And after two months of that, I was talking to my mentor and he was like, bro, you're pretty off. You're hiding some stuff from me. What's up? And I was like, yeah, man, I'm actually really unfulfilled right now. I've lost my discipline and I don't know what I want to do. So we went back to the drawing board and he was like, okay, do the old exercise. What are your skills? What's your experience? What's your interest? What's your purpose? Pray, pray on this topic, meditate on this topic and start journaling. Like, what? What should I do with my life? And ask God, like, really, what should you do with your life? So after two months of doing this, I did not receive one sign of inspiration from God. Zero. Nothing. Nothing changed in my mind. I, like, just didn't feel any different. And then my friend invites me on a boat, and on that boat was Wes Watson. You know, this is. Okay, so I meet Wes for the first time and okay, by the way, I have this consulting company. And in this consulting company, I had started building out supplements for some of these brands. So I made all of 10X's supplements and these two other brands, I made their supplements. So I have a supplement manufacturing company that I created. I meet Wes on a boat. I start talking to him. He asked me My story, I tell him, you know, the abbreviated version. And then I'm like, and what do you do? And he kind of tells me. And I look up his Instagram real quick and I'm like, looking through, and I'm like, brother, do you have your own supplement company? I see you're repping, like, first form. And he's like, nah, man, coaching's good. And I'm like, dude, you don't have to do anything. I'll make all your supplements for you. I'll create your logo with the packaging, formulation, third party logistics, everything. I'll do it. I'll handle it for you. I was like, I bet you I can add 2 to $3 million, bottom line next year just. Just in your supplement company. He's like, motherfucker, I net more than $2 million a month. And I was like, doing that coaching. And he's like, yeah. And I was like, damn, man. And he was like, look, the real question is, why are you not coaching? And I was like, bro, I don't want to take selfie videos. Like, I don't want to. I don't want to do this content shit. And he goes, do you really think that you've been through everything that you have? Drug addiction, overdosing, judicial consequences, being in debt, pulling yourself out of all that, getting sober, getting healthy, becoming a businessman, scaling companies to stay quiet and not help other people. And I was like. And then I realized I'd been praying for two months on this subject, like, what should I be doing? What should I be doing? And I started thinking like, well, I've just been praying about this. And I was like, nah, man, you're right, 100%, but I just don't want to make content. And he was like, why? And I was like, my ego. I don't want to be judged. And he was like, you selfish fuck. And I was like, damn. And I was like, man, I think maybe I should do this. And I go downstairs in the boat, and on that boat was also Brandon Carter, Kim Kito, and Mike Rashid. And I go down, we're talking all this stuff, and by the end of the conversation, they're like, bro, you should get online. You should really do online coaching. I'm like, damn. I went back upstairs. I'm like, yo, Wes, send me the link for three months. Let's get going. So I did. I signed up with him right then. He's taught me how to coach online. And when I opened my online coaching business through Instagram, had 3,000 followers, I just started posting Stories exactly like you told me. Twelve people reached out in the first week and said, we've been waiting for you to open a coaching program. We had been hoping that you would eventually have a mentorship program. And so, dude, my very first month with 3000 followers, I netted 30k.
- [35:33]
Host
Holy crap.
- [35:34]
Wade Houston
And I was like, holy shit, there's. There's something here. And what I realized was, through my past two, three years, I had already been coaching people and mentoring people. I had personally developed all my employees. I taught them about mindset and goal setting and daily habits and nutrition and. And meditation. I had taught all these executives more about business and other realms than they knew. I gave them a new life, a new. And all these people were like, holy shit. You've already helped us so much. Like, we got to sign up with you. And so I opened my coaching program. I still had my consulting business, and I was, like, working a lot at that point, because now I'm trying to make content, figure out Instagram, have my coaching business, and I'm still doing the consulting. And so I did that for 6 months. And as soon as I got to 80k net per month in coaching, I was like, all right, I can sunset the consulting, because my consulting was doing 80k a month.
- [36:23]
Host
Damn.
- [36:23]
Wade Houston
So I did that, and then that was at like 15,000 followers. You know, I still wasn't at, like, a crazy.
- [36:29]
Host
And now you're at how many?
- [36:30]
Wade Houston
Like 175.
- [36:32]
Host
So you've 10x your followers since then.
- [36:33]
Wade Houston
But, dude, the craziest thing has happened for me. I got to a point on Instagram where my strategy no longer worked the way that it used to, and I had to really change my strategy. Like, the amount of stories that I post, what I talk about, what I do. And you've probably experienced this too.
- [36:49]
Host
Yeah, I think everyone on Instagram house.
- [36:50]
Wade Houston
Yeah. And so I didn't even realize it, right? Like, I just. I was like, holy shit, I'm not. My sphere of influence is no longer one degree away from that natural market that I have now. It's so far away. And I've grown through the Explore page. Just my reels were going viral. I didn't even have really many collaborations. I wasn't paying for anything. I never paid for a follower paid for anything. It was just the reels. And so I got to a point where a lot of my audience was. Wasn't necessarily qualified for my offer.
- [37:15]
Host
Right.
- [37:16]
Wade Houston
So eventually I got on YouTube, and I only have 9,000 subscribers on YouTube. I've been on it for like six months. My income from YouTube is now outperforming my income from Instagram.
- [37:27]
Host
Yeah, that's how it is right now, man. Even King Keto who you just talked about, he does 500k a month. And it's, he doesn't run any Facebook or Instagram ads. It's all YouTube ads.
- [37:35]
Wade Houston
YouTube, dude, it's so crazy.
- [37:37]
Host
That's where the money's at right now.
- [37:38]
Wade Houston
I have a video with 783 views. 783 views. And that video has already done me like 75k.
- [37:46]
Host
Holy crap.
- [37:47]
Wade Houston
Just because it gets to the right people, it says how I scale the business from 4 million to 12 million. So anybody in that bucket, any business owner that's operating at that sort of revenue level sees that I walk through everything that I did. Like a simple audit. And then I went category by category, the changes to make. And I have people just click that link and be like, yo, bro, I don't even need a sales call. Yeah, I'm just that I'm sold off that video.
- [38:08]
Host
That's why I think Hormozi does so well too.
- [38:10]
Wade Houston
Totally.
- [38:11]
Host
His target Persona is like a high end buyer that can afford a $5,000 workshop. Like, it's nothing.
- [38:15]
Wade Houston
Yeah, he's done such a good job. And yeah, watching that masterful $100 million.
- [38:20]
Host
5 million.
- [38:21]
Wade Houston
Oh my God. I just watched Dan Henry's breakdown of it.
- [38:24]
Host
I got to watch that.
- [38:25]
Wade Houston
Oh, dude, it's epic. Like he just really walks through everything psychologically in the most unbelievable way I've ever seen.
- [38:31]
Host
Yeah, he simply, he makes everything simple too, which I like. Like I saw his landing page. It was very simple.
- [38:36]
Wade Houston
Yeah, very. You know, since, since day one, he's, he's done the best job at distilling high level business info for a fifth grader. I've never seen anyone make it so simple.
- [38:45]
Host
Yeah, he dumbs it down, right? Yeah, yeah. It's a very, very powerful skill to have. Yeah, a lot of politicians have that skill too.
- [38:50]
Wade Houston
The best skill. In fact, I would say that the main reason for a lot of our success on the medical side at 10x was I made a focus on teaching doctors how to speak to patients in a way that they could better understand. Because traditional medicine, a doctor can speak to a patient any way they want. You got X, Y and Z. Here's the prescription. Insurance will cover it. Don't worry. So a patient's not really going to question anything. They don't even care. It doesn't matter if they don't understand because they don't have to pay for it themselves. In functional medicine, you make a prescription and the patient's going to pay for it themselves. So now they're going to make a decision with their own money. So they better understand, because now we're talking about a business decision.
- [39:28]
Host
Yeah.
- [39:28]
Wade Houston
And so if the doctor wasn't able to articulate to the patient in a way that they could understand persuasively in almost like a simple sales language, then we were never going to scale. But once I taught doctors how to speak in that way, man, it was game over there. Now they're teeing up the patients so that when someone calls them to close the order, the doctor already made it very digestible.
- [39:47]
Host
It's a good point. It's a very good point. I just. I go to holistic dentists now, but I pay 10 times the price because insurance doesn't cover it. But they fill your cavities in a way where there's no microplastics in it.
- [39:58]
Wade Houston
Nice.
- [39:58]
Host
So I don't mind paying that, but they had to explain it to me that way.
- [40:01]
Wade Houston
Yeah.
- [40:01]
Host
So if they just said they're filling the cavities and didn't explain why and the price was more, I wouldn't have paid.
- [40:06]
Wade Houston
Dude, those. Those. A lot of the fillings, like traditional fillings. Yeah. Can cause some of the most problems.
- [40:11]
Host
Oh, yeah. Especially the mercury ever.
- [40:13]
Wade Houston
Yeah. It just leaks into your body.
- [40:14]
Host
Yeah. It's bad.
- [40:15]
Wade Houston
Yeah.
- [40:16]
Host
Yeah. Gary Bracket talks about that a lot.
- [40:17]
Wade Houston
Yeah.
- [40:18]
Host
Like, even root canals, right?
- [40:19]
Wade Houston
Yeah, root canals. The worst. Yeah. I was talking to Luke Belmar about it because I remember he was having some issues with his teeth. And then he went in and this doctor in Mexico really, like, educated him fully on it. And then he just became so passionate about it. He said he thought he had a parasite because he was, like, struggling so much, and essentially that's, like, how it was functioning in his body.
- [40:36]
Host
Saw that. Yeah. You've been traveling a lot lately, right? I think I saw you on someone's vlog the other day.
- [40:40]
Wade Houston
Champ.
- [40:40]
Host
Was that Champ.
- [40:41]
Wade Houston
Yeah, we were.
- [40:42]
Host
We were, You know. Was that your watch or his?
- [40:48]
Wade Houston
No, that was his. That was his. I. I wore no jewelry. I actually haven't been wearing any. I mean, I have some chains, but I haven't been wearing my watches.
- [40:55]
Host
I don't wear them anymore.
- [40:56]
Wade Houston
Traveling, like, once in a while at home, I might wear them to dinner.
- [40:59]
Host
Dude, I don't wear them anymore.
- [41:00]
Wade Houston
Yeah.
- [41:01]
Host
It's not worth the anxiety.
- [41:02]
Wade Houston
No, it's not. And I don't know I guess there became a point where I was like, I don't know, I don't care about it as much as I used to. I guess if I had a Richard, I would, or, you know, but I don't know. At the end of the day, I just haven't traveled with him at all. Also, I spent a lot of time in Colombia and the very first time that I was in Medellin, I got extorted by the cops.
- [41:19]
Host
Holy shit.
- [41:20]
Wade Houston
And so I was like. And dude, I'm in bright camo, you know, camo pants, pink hoodie, like driving a Mercedes S class, which in Medellin, like doesn't exist.
- [41:30]
Sponsor/Ad Reader
Yeah.
- [41:30]
Wade Houston
And so like immediately got extorted and had to pay him off.
- [41:33]
Host
And that happens in Mexico too, right?
- [41:34]
Wade Houston
Yeah, totally. Yeah.
- [41:36]
Host
You gotta. When I travel, I always go with a local now.
- [41:39]
Wade Houston
Smart.
- [41:39]
Host
Yeah. You gotta be with someone that speaks a language, talk your way out of situations. Because we are targets.
- [41:44]
Wade Houston
100, you know. Yeah. I try and dress like so simple. Basically everywhere I travel now I just dress like in black. Very, very simple. But luckily I speak Spanish fluently. Especially.
- [41:54]
Host
Yeah. In Miami. You have to, right?
- [41:55]
Wade Houston
100.
- [41:56]
Host
Yeah.
- [41:57]
Wade Houston
Yeah.
- [41:57]
Host
How's the dating scene out there?
- [41:58]
Wade Houston
Oh, man, it's. It's tough.
- [42:00]
Host
It's tough. I mean, any major city is gonna have.
- [42:05]
Wade Houston
Yeah, any major city is very tough. You know, I think also I don't go out, I don't drink, I don't party. Not that I want that kind of a girl anyway. But that leads me to meeting less girls, per se.
- [42:17]
Host
Right.
- [42:18]
Wade Houston
I would meet girls at the gym and at church. But at church I'm not trying to like, you know, move a conversation down the line. Right. And it's like in passing, you see girls. It's not like I'm like spending time doing it. I also have done so much work on myself that I'm gonna need a girl who's like pretty mature and developed. But I also like a certain look. The look doesn't rarely ever have the intellect and maturity and open mindedness that I'm looking for. So I'm. I'm looking for a unicorn.
- [42:51]
Host
That's a valid point. Usually the more attractive ones have not as much development on the mental side. Right, Totally. Just in general, in general, obviously there's outliers.
- [42:59]
Wade Houston
Yeah, for sure.
- [43:00]
Host
You know, it's the trade off. I've noticed.
- [43:02]
Wade Houston
And I am a pretty intellectual, you know, observed person. I've observed many areas of my life. I've developed a spiritual relationship. I'm healthy, I'm all these things. But I'm also, I have like a very hood street background. I mean I sold crack when I was younger. I spent a lot of time in areas that I shouldn't have. And so I have some tendencies that wouldn't usually ever have the same intellect or you know, observed mind as most people. So usually I'll find a girl that's like in this lane, but maybe she doesn't look this way or have any of the like open mindedness that I would want or it'll be in another lane. So anyway, I'm just very picky.
- [43:44]
Host
Yeah, that's tough. You might have to go international to find the one.
- [43:46]
Wade Houston
For sure.
- [43:47]
Host
Yeah, for sure. I think America is.
- [43:49]
Wade Houston
Spain was really good for me. We were in Marbella. That was Champs Vlog. We were in Marbella and there was definitely some, there was definitely some winners out there. For sure.
- [43:57]
Host
I love the innocence too. In certain countries.
- [44:00]
Wade Houston
Totally. I always say this like, but then there's okay, there's this other balance of like in Miami, a lot of girls have these expectations and those expectations are not the woman's fault at all. They're the fault of the men who give these expectations. They're like the middle age rich guys who are just buying a lot of shit, right? And, but think about it. If you're a hot girl and your friend's like, hey, this guy invited us to go to like this table tonight, we can like go to a club completely free and they have like a driver and a phantom and all this stuff like, and you say yes one time and then you're like, wow, that was really nice. You start to have this creep, this lifestyle creep. And then when they're like, oh yeah, he's got a jet and he's going to fly us to Tulum for the weekend and we can bring 10 of us and he's like a really nice guy. I wouldn't date him, but he's like a nice guy. Like you guys want to come. All of a sudden they start to become really accustomed to that and then they think that's normal in real life. So that when they come to find a 38 year old guy who's like ball and but doesn't have a jet and who's not paying for everything, they're like, which way do I want to go? Right? So they have these inflated expectations. Instagram has just completely messed the mind of girls. Completely made them like not humble at all. But then if there's a girl who maybe hasn't become accustomed to that Life. I want to make sure that she can at least hold her own in conversations around higher level people. Right. Like, let's say you and I are at a party with some people. Let's say we go to this event tonight and I have a girl with me. The last thing I want is to meet the CEO of Symbiotica or something and have this girl who can't even hold the conversation.
- [45:36]
Host
Right. Because she represents you.
- [45:37]
Wade Houston
Represents me. And I'm like, really picky about that too, because I can pretty much get along with anyone and I'm genuinely interested in people. So if she can't hold a conversation, then, like, it's just not going to work.
- [45:46]
Host
Yeah, no, that's valid, man. Your girl is a representation of you. That's what some people don't realize. And vice versa, too.
- [45:52]
Wade Houston
Yeah, yeah. And every time I meet a girl, I'm like, yo, would this girl be a good mother? Right. Because I'm at the point in my life where I'm like, okay, I'm going to date a girl. Like, I want to get married and have kids. And so if she's not going to potentially be a good mother, like, I'm not trying to waste my time.
- [46:04]
Host
Yeah. You said you're 38.
- [46:06]
Wade Houston
Yeah, 38.
- [46:07]
Host
So you've held on. Yeah, held on for quite some time.
- [46:10]
Wade Houston
Well, I. Okay, imagine from age 13 to 31, I smoked weed and ate Xanax basically every day of my life.
- [46:17]
Host
Jeez.
- [46:18]
Wade Houston
Every girlfriend that I ever had during that time knew less about me than, you know about me now. Wow. Like, I was just a closed book, bro. I wasn't this social. I was just drifting through life. When I got sober at 31, for a year and a half, I didn't speak to a single girl. I just literally went into monk mode. Like going to aa, working with my mentor, building myself. Then I took over that company, Health gains. Scaled that. Then I became president. Scaled that. So for four years, I was so focused on just digging myself out of debt, digging myself out of that position, building myself as a human being, that I had this late start. I started my life at 31. Really? So from 31 to 35, 36, I wasn't focused on girls and dating at all.
- [46:58]
Host
Yeah. Because a lot of the good girls are in their 20s, so you kind of missed that window, right?
- [47:02]
Wade Houston
Yeah. And Then so at 36, like, you know, it's like, damn. And then I got online and build a personal brand, and I'm out here talking about, like, mindset, and it's just like, yeah, the flood of applications in my inbox is the craziest shit, dude. I would have never had any idea, really. I mean, I've never, like, had a problem, like, talking to girls. Yeah. But it's insane. Like, it just blows my mind, dude, the amount of messages I get. Just straight nudes, like, off the jump, like, hey, love your mindset. Nude video.
- [47:33]
Host
What?
- [47:34]
Wade Houston
Unbelievable, bro.
- [47:35]
Host
Girls are out here really doing that.
- [47:36]
Wade Houston
Unbelievable, dude. My sales team will message me and my guy. I'll be like, bro, I didn't, I didn't open this one for you. Like, I'll put it in primary. It's. Yeah. I mean, because I think also they see content where I'm talking about, money's not everything, but I have money, you know, Material possessions aren't everything, but I like this stuff. Being observed in your mind, being poised, being emotionally intelligent is really important. Finding contentment and happiness is imperative. God is imperative. Health and wellness is imperative. And so when they see, wow, this guy, like, has been through so much shit and he talks about all these things, they're like, well, that's what I want right away. So they feel like they know me in a way before ever even. It's not just like, oh, there's some attractive guy. It's like, oh, I like what he, what he stands for.
- [48:22]
Host
I can see that. That's definitely a rare mix of traits to have at your age and still be single, to be honest. Right. You know, that's a very. I feel like that's an older perspective.
- [48:28]
Wade Houston
And, And I'm vulnerable. Like, I really don't care, bro. Like, I, I, I'll tell you all this not because I care. I'm worried about people judging me. But I got through the point of being fearful of being judged. I just want to help people. And God made it so clear that, like, bro, your past happened so that you could actually help people overcome the same shit. So I think my vulnerability, too, a lot of times they'll see that and be like, wow, yeah, that's like a mature trait.
- [48:54]
Host
That was my biggest fear growing up. Fear of being judged. Public speaking. Now I'm still trying to overcome public speaking. Like, I'm starting to speak more, but it's definitely a little bit of a fear still. I know you're getting into public speaking.
- [49:04]
Wade Houston
More and more, but, dude, you're such a.
- [49:06]
Host
You're such a clean speaker on podcast. Yeah, public speaking is a little different. You know, you got a live audience. I'm getting better, but just growing up in school, I hated it. Dude, you know, wow.
- [49:15]
Wade Houston
Whenever I see your content, I'm like, man, you speak about as clear as anyone I've ever seen.
- [49:19]
Host
Yeah, I guess. Well, I'm 1800 episodes in now, so I've gotten better. But you should watch the first, like, 50. It's cringe. Wow. Yeah, it's disgusting.
- [49:26]
Wade Houston
But my first story on Instagram, I posted a story and my ex girlfriend was the first person to comment. And she goes, I don't think this is for you. Wow. That was the first comment I ever got on any social media, on any selfie video.
- [49:39]
Host
And did that motivate you or did that.
- [49:40]
Wade Houston
Yeah, dude. It motivated the shit out of me because I was like, this girl. Like, I'm a good speaker and I'm here to help people. And luckily, Wes had drilled into my mind, like, you're going to get hate. You're going to get all the people that don't want to see you win. You're getting all these people in your natural, you know, market that. That don't want to see you doing better than them or. Or get online. And so I was like, all right, nice. Like, if this guy's telling me that, yeah, it.
- [50:00]
Host
Yeah, hate's inevitable. I'm at a great relationship with it now. I've accepted it. You. You could be Mr. Beast and still get hate.
- [50:05]
Wade Houston
Yeah.
- [50:06]
Host
You know what I mean?
- [50:07]
Wade Houston
I think the. The day that I started getting hate comments is when I realized I had arrived. Because for maybe three months of my content, I never received a, like, real hate. Like, not any comments. And what I realized was my content was lukewarm. It wasn't controversial. And if I wasn't taking a stand for something and making a change in people's lives, then I would never get hate comments from the people who didn't want to make that change. So as soon as I started seeing these hate comments, I'm like, oh, wow, I'm being polarizing enough to make a change in somebody's life that somebody else has to hate.
- [50:41]
Host
Right. That's when you know you're being yourself.
- [50:42]
Wade Houston
Yeah.
- [50:43]
Host
Yeah. If you're not getting any hate, you're. You're putting on a mask, in my opinion.
- [50:46]
Wade Houston
Totally.
- [50:46]
Host
Yeah. Because you got to be able to piss someone off. I can't agree with everything people say.
- [50:50]
Wade Houston
Yeah.
- [50:50]
Host
100, you know, away. This has been cool, man. I can't wait to see what you do next. Where could people find you, work with you, become a client and everything?
- [50:57]
Wade Houston
Instagram's the easiest place. Instagram or YouTube. My Instagram's Wade Houston, but we still answer all the DMs, so just shoot me a DM. That's easiest way.
- [51:06]
Host
Slide in there, guys. Peace.
- [51:07]
Sponsor/Ad Reader
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- [51:10]
Host
It helps the show a lot with the algorithm. Thank you.