How To Win in Modern Wellness: A Q & A with Modern Wellness Expert Sam Tejada

by Rob Fletcher | Mar 1, 2024 | Featured, Wellness & Lifestyle | 0 comments

Sam Tejada is a retired firefighter paramedic in Broward County, Florida and a health and wellness expert leading the industry through his company, Liquivida. Sam has multiple wellness centers throughout the nation. The Liquivida franchise is changing the course of healthcare, taking a proactive, preventative approach to health rather than the reactive process we are so used to – waiting until you’re sick and then seeking medical attention. Through his book, “How To Win in Modern Wellness,” Sam is on a mission to inspire, educate, and rewrite the script on health and wellness.

Sam, can you share a little about your background and how you came to be considered as a sought-after expert in the modern wellness industry? How did you get started?

I got into this industry as a side hustle on my days off from the fire department. While working for a private company, my eyes were opened to the benefits of alternative types of healthcare, like IV therapy, that, at that time, could only be enjoyed by those who could afford it. I saw this glaring disparity as an opportunity to save far more lives than I could as a firefighter. I had a mentor, attended seminars, conferences, and courses to learn everything I could and started Liquivida to bring the benefits of preventative medicine to the masses.

You’ve been doing this for nearly a decade. What are your thoughts on the health and wellness industry? Where do you see things going?

The proactive approach to health and wellness is a change that has been needed for a long time. The industry is expanding and evolving very quickly. Consumers are the ones who are driving this, choosing services and modalities that will maintain and optimize their health rather than taking medications and treatments to manage their sickness. Alternative therapies are reshaping the health and wellness landscape, and medical professionals and entrepreneurs are paying attention to that. I think this rapidly growing industry still has plenty of room for growth and that we’ve barely scratched the surface to help improve people’s lives.

What does Liquivida do to help improve people’s lives?

We began solely as an IV Vitamin infusion company. Since then, we have grown into a full-service wellness franchise, expanding to include such services as regenerative therapies, medical grade weight loss, HRT, SmartGraft Hair Transplants, sexual health, and medical aesthetics.

Why did you write the book, “How To Win in Modern Wellness”?

I’m a person who strongly believes in the value of relationships and collaboration. When I entered the modern wellness industry, I made the conscious decision not to go the cut-throat route when it came to my competition. Over the years, I have developed strong ties and initiatives with many other industry leaders. As I engaged with these trailblazers and visionaries, we began discussing standards and regulations and exploring ways to expand access to preventive treatments and modalities, and I knew what was needed. We needed more people to get into this industry.

I deal with medical professionals who are tired of sick care, frustrated with insurance companies, and only able to spend barely 10 minutes with a patient. I also speak to a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs who have a passion for health and wellness. It occurred to me that they all needed two things. Number one – to be motivated. And number two – to have some direction on how they can make things happen on their end. So, this book was created as a sort of educational and inspirational guide for them. To make it a true resource, I decided to ask these industry leaders to talk about what they’re doing, their successes, failures, insights, and lessons learned. In the end, the book is to help our industry grow – whether through creating more franchises or creating even more competition for ourselves! 

What advice would you share with medical professionals and entrepreneurs who may want to enter the health and wellness space?

Honestly, the first thing I would tell them is to read this book! The people who have contributed to it are some of the sharpest minds and highly regarded people in the industry. They have so much insight, experience, lessons, and strategies to share.

The second thing I would do is strongly encourage them to go the franchising route. This is an incredibly rewarding industry, but there is also an incredible amount of knowledge, regulation, oversight, and compliance involved. Franchises, like Liquivida, have already navigated that. We’ve made it easy for people to implement IV therapy because we’ve laid the groundwork for it for the past decade. Instead of people having to try to figure out how to succeed in this industry, we’ve already done it. We’ve taken the guesswork out of it. We’ve done it with IV therapy and expanded into all the other services and modalities we offer. We’ve done it with our franchise models, and we’ve done it through the organizations and platforms that we’ve created to be able to give medical practitioners trying to get into the industry the support they need.

With consumers reading all about things like regenerative medicine, peptides, gene therapy, and all of these other modalities, they are seeking treatment and better health. There’s so much to learn, so how can practitioners who have not been doing these things for years make the transition? What resources are available for people who want to be able to keep up to date?

I would highly recommend that anyone entering this industry join one of the various accredited organizations, such as the A4M (American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine) and AIVA (American IV Association). We all participate in them to make things easier for people trying to get into the health and wellness space. These organizations provide invaluable resources, education, and training. I was recently named Chairman of the American IV Association’s Leadership Advisory Board, which is playing a pivotal role in unifying, shaping, and driving the IV Hydration Therapy industry forward safely, supporting IV hydration therapy providers across the nation by delivering patient safety and best practices.

The most important thing we can do in and for this industry is focus on the importance of bringing everybody in this world of functional medicine together. Sharing knowledge, ideas, and resources – having one united, strong voice- is the path to really changing the course of medicine. Of course, being under the umbrella of a franchise, with the oversight, training and support they provide, is the most effective way to access the knowledge you need. But all the leaders in this industry collaborate because we understand that we need to create that one strong voice. We’re getting on different podcasts, interviewing one another, sharing our expertise, and really standing together to grow and fortify this industry.