Avoid This $10,000 Marketing Mistake TODAY | Teddy Tarantino DSH #769
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I could go to a CVS and fill my prescription. I could go to another CVS and just go fill that same prescription. So there was nothing. It's kind of like, I'm crazy that this is the real thing, but there was no database saying that this prescription was filled, but not just that, it was actually the doctor. So I could go to five different doctors and get the same prescription for multiple things. Whoa. Yeah. So you could print money.

Alright guys, crazy story for you guys today. Teddy Tarantino. Thanks for coming on my guy. No problem. How's it going? Good man. Man, on drugs since 10 years old. Pretty much, yeah. What was the first drug? So I consider alcohol to be a drug. So alcohol is probably the first thing I ever did. So that's what, fourth grade? I probably got drunk for the first time in like kindergarten. What? Yeah. That's like six. Yeah. So you were... I mean, like I was at a family party. So like...

Hispanic culture Parents were drinking and I snuck off and I just started drinking some wine coolers, but I did get drunk Wow, but I didn't really but that was like a one-off instance. I wasn't drinking every day Oh, yeah, I got drunk for the first time probably in like kindergarten makes you wonder if it affected your brain development drinking that That's the least of it So I would imagine that my brain development has gotten pretty fucked up from drugs at a young age Wow, have you ever done a brain scan? No

No. I'd be so curious to see yours. Yeah, I'm interested to see, but I don't know. I also got clean young, so I got clean at 17 too. Oh, wow. But I remember when I was on drugs watching a documentary about addiction and they were doing brain scans on people and the most interesting part was they would flash pictures of

And the pictures would be so fast you can't even see them. Yeah. And when they would show a thing of crack, like a vial of crack, the person's brain would go crazy. Whoa. And this person was clean like years, having done crack in years. Holy crap. And their brain would go nuts. And I remember like being on crack at the time. I was like 14, 15 and being like, damn, I'm never getting clean. That's nuts. Yeah. The subconscious is powerful, right? Yeah. The brain's crazy. Holy crap. So crack at 14. How did that happen? Was it like...

I was so... When I'd get into anything, I'd really get into it. Most addicts are like that. Some people become addicts later in life. I was just always obsessive. I didn't have anything I was into. And once I got into drugs, I really got into it. So I dissected every part of it, the culture and selling it. Weed. And then weed led to cocaine. And then when I was selling cocaine...

Eventually, you run into someone who cooks it. And then I was selling to this guy who lived in a crack house. And he smoked crack, but he doctor shopped. So that's also how I got introduced to painkillers. So he was doctor shopping for Oxys and Roxys and had all the prescriptions you can want. But he just sold those. He had been on heroin before, and he got off of it. So his only thing was crack.

And the first time I saw it, I was like, I'm never, ever, ever going to try that. That's crazy. And then you see it a couple more times and get normalized. Yeah, you kind of like it kind of gets normalized. And I tried it. And the first time I smoked crack cocaine, I knew I would struggle with this for the rest of my life. Whoa. The first time. Yeah. It was not good. I never bought powder cocaine ever again. And I knew that forever. I would always want to do this. Jeez. So what's the difference between cocaine and crack?

Um, man, I guess it would be like, I'm really into cars. So probably be like driving fast on the street versus driving on the track. Okay. So you're faster. Yeah. So it's just like, you know, you think you could push your car on a road, but until you track your car, you really don't know where your car can do. And then, um,

It's just way more intense. Wow. What's doctor shopping? I've never heard that. Oh, really? So back in the day, there wasn't a database. So if you gave me a prescription for Oxy's and Roxy's and Klonopin, I could go to a CVS and fill my prescription. I could go to another fucking CVS and just go fill that same prescription. Holy crap. It's kind of like crazy that this is a real thing. But there was no database saying that.

this prescription was filled. But not just that. It was actually the doctor. So I could go to five different doctors and get the same prescription for multiple things. Whoa. Yeah. So you could print money. Yeah. So back in the day, I mean, dude, if you...

If you weren't on drugs or on pills, I was like, bro, we're getting you an MRI. We're going to the emergency room. Because if you don't know the game, I could get a piece of it. So I would teach. I was also under 18, so I couldn't even get my own script on my parents' present. So my hustle was that I would try to get people to get a script or fill a script. And then you would go to multiple doctors, and that was doctor shopping. And then you would go to a lot of these mom-and-pop places that –

They just look the other way. Yeah, like sketchy pharmacies? Yeah. And all these big ones end up buying those, right? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, the pain clinic industry was crazy back then. People who owned those made millions and millions of dollars. Wow, is it still like that now, you think?

Uh, no, because, well, now you're not really going to make tons of money like that because now they have that database. But now what people do is they just get people to go shop for them. So I'll get like five homeless people to go and do that for me and bring me the thing. Not homeless people, but sometimes, you know. Wow. So they get people to doctor shop for them. But now they're more strict. But it went from...

Oxycontin, then they stopped doing oxys or selling them at the pharmacies. It was hard to get them to roxies. Then it went to Dilaudid. And then it just switches to a different drug. So if they say, we're not going to do roxies anymore, then people just start doing fentanyl. Damn.

So that's where it's at now people are just doing fentanyl now. It's like straight fentanyl and that's people's drug of choice So there was a time if someone got fentanyl in their heroin or whatever they'd be like upset Now they like want that what like they're they want fentanyl they want yeah, can you die easily off that? Yeah, dude, it's crazy It's like russian roulette right now with my god on the epidemic and they put it in cocaine like uh

I've owned drug and alcohol rehabs for years. And I had a client who went to the gas station, bought a dime of Coke, did it at the gas station and died. Whoa. And there was fentanyl in his Coke. They put it in everything. It's crazy. Holy crap. So when you're in rehab, you can leave? Well, this kid graduated. Oh, got it. Yeah. Damn. Yeah. There's different levels where people get jobs and they're an outpatient or something. Yeah. What's the level of people that come back to rehab once they're in? Is it like prison? Because prison is like 80%, right? Yeah.

I always compare it to the gym. How many people sign up to LA Fitness and then freaking don't get in shape? Right. You know, so...

I would probably say the national average is single digit success rate. Wow. So you're talking 8, 12 or 8% or 10% or lower. My treatment center for years, we were at like 15%. Oh, wow. So double, double the national average. And that really just goes to, cause we have long-term care. The only real statistic of like who makes it and who doesn't, that is like

a fact is the longer time spent in treatment, the better your success rate. But that's also more money for the insurance company. So they don't really want to, you know, use that type of statistic because they have to dish out more money. So they probably only want you there for like a month, right? Dude, they're fighting you every day. Really? So when you go to drug rehab, they don't say, hey, you're approved for 30 days.

They say, what are you using? How long are you using? Okay, you could go to detox four days. That's it? Then on day four, you got to call the care manager, and then you have to negotiate more days and be like, he's not doing well. He still has these symptoms, or he's still symptomatic, or whatever. So then they'll give you, okay, one more day. So maybe you'll get five or six. Then when you go to a lower level of care, they'll give you 10 days. So they give you days at like a clip, and then you have to negotiate more

with the insurance company. And then most insurance, if you have really good insurance, will cover you for 30 days. But I would say out of all the insurance out there, there's probably 20% that cover for a luxury, nice drug rehab. Most of them are going to send you to a county funded place or a state funded place. Yeah. And yours was a private place? Yeah, we were like private high end luxury. So we were like the top of the top

which is also the hardest because insurance doesn't want to pay for that. There's some insurances that would look at our website and be like, oh, this is luxury. We don't even... Damn. Just because it was luxury, they'd be like, you don't need...

any of this just go to the hospital so you're probably dealing with a lot of known people and high-end ballers and stuff no you would think so but you can work your mom can work at kmart you can have good insurance oh yeah so you can have good insurance just based off having a decent employer that offers a good health care okay so there are actually people who have tons of money who have really shitty insurance yeah and just because you have good insurance doesn't mean it's good for substance abuse

So your substance abuse benefits could be crap or your policy just doesn't have that coverage. I'm in that boat because like self-employed insurance is tough to find good ones, you know? So I have to pay a shit ton for it. Yeah, for insurance. Yeah, and it's like, dude, I don't even like Western medicine anyway. It's like, why am I even paying a thousand a month for this? Yeah, it's kind of crazy or insurance or South Park just did an episode of like the American insurance industry. It was so funny. It's such a scheme, right? Yeah, the insurance company is like,

the mafia. Yeah. No, they're, you know, you're, they make up their own rules and they pay whatever they want to pay. And then it's like, um, it's crazy because there's no black and white. Like if this happens, this is what we're going to pay. It's like you submit a claim and then they like, you got to debate and then I've had siblings on the same policy and one pays 50% one didn't pay anything. And then you got to fight it. And then whatever, I mean,

It's really, it's sad because these people have insurance. They've been paying for insurance. They should be insured. Yeah. And they got the best lawyer. So if you can't afford a good lawyer to fight it, you're sad. If you really get into it, they'll be like, okay, we're going to stop paying you until this is done. So then you won't take any more. You can't take any more of their clients or whatever. Holy crap. Yeah. And you built your rehab center to 20 million in revenue a year?

Yeah. That's impressive. Yeah. Was that one place or was it like? No, multiple locations, like five locations at one point. Holy crap. Yeah. That's huge revenue. And this was back in the day too. Yeah, it wasn't too long ago. I mean, I left the company about a year and a half ago. But yeah, I didn't even know until the other day. But the other day, one of my employees was like, yeah, we had 200 employees. Like we had 200 employees. I thought we had like 130. How were you able to scale that quick?

Man, a lot of – that's actually slow in treatment. There are people who scale 10 times that. Oh, really? Dude, I mean, to me, we were like modest growth –

and uh strategic and there are some people who do well they they got into the drug rehab business and went full-fledged and a lot of them failed you know the business has gotten worse and worse every year just because insurance don't want to pay and so competitive and saturated but um I thought that was like that pace we grew but I didn't think it was like dangerous growth you know a lot of people

they like filling the beds is the hardest part. So a lot of people would be like, well, if we build it, they'll come. And I've seen so many places expand and not be able to, when we were growing, we were growing, um, 20 beds at a time, 15 beds at a time. There are some people who they'd have 50 beds. They'd open up another 200 beds. Jeez. You know, it's too fast. Yeah. And it's like, care goes out the window. It's like, these are people's lives. So it's,

Staff in a facility takes a long time because even though you have good staff, it takes like a year for you to get a good core staff. I don't care who you are because

It just takes a while for you to get those solid people. Yeah, the chemistry of a facility. But a small facility could have 60 staff. So even though 200 seems like a big number, we started out with 60 employees. Wow. So one center is at least 60 employees. That's crazy. I didn't know that much went into one center, 60 employees. Yeah. Your overhead at a small treatment center could be 200.

200 grand a month without marketing. And if you're not filling the beds at least 50%, you're probably losing money. Oh, at our facilities, if we're not full more than like 75%, we're breaking even. Wow. So you got to be like 80% plus full. Yeah, just to make a little bit of money. And the turnover is high. So you got to constantly be... Yeah, it's crazy. I mean... Is that why you left? The business is really crazy. Like I am...

I'm a different owner than a lot of owners. A lot of owners, they just care about the money and whatever. But dude, I ran group at my treatment center every week for six, seven years. Group? Yeah, so I would run a group. Oh, a group? Yeah, so I would bring in a speaker. I would meet with the clients. I knew almost every client's name. I would talk to the families. Oh, wow. So I was pretty involved. A lot of owners, after they get off the ground, they're not really even going to the facility. They're staying at the corporate office. And it's like, dude, I was really involved, and it's like,

Man, I've probably been to like, how many funerals have you been to? Only like two, actually. How old are you? 27. Yeah, I'm 33. I've probably been to like 50. Holy crap. Yeah. So you go to your patients' funerals? Yeah. I mean, I'm in recovery myself, so it's like half of those are my friends. Damn. You know, maybe more. I've probably been to like 100 funerals. Oh my gosh. Yeah. 33? Yeah.

It's tiresome. If you work in treatment, you can almost work anywhere because it's 24-7. It doesn't close. There's no business hours. You're picking up people from the airport. There's people trying to leave at all different times. You're talking to the family. You're dealing with a disgruntled population. I mean...

You're dealing with people relapsing, wanting to come back. You're dealing with stopping them from sleeping with each other. They're pranking each other. It's like a crazy summer camp hotel hospital. So that stress was just too much for you? I think I really loved it for a while, but there was a time where...

Dude, like the deaths and the overhead. And we were expanding and making the same money every year. So we would double in size and we were making more money three years ago. Wow. So it's like the industry was just so difficult and...

Dude, some people are still crushing it and killing it, but a lot of people are really scaling back and hurting. Yeah, I've had two owners on the show. Eric Spofford, if you know him. Oh, yeah. I think he sold his. Yeah, I think he sold his in like the height. Oh, yeah. Like when he first sold. Dude, if I would have had what I had back then, I'd probably be making five times the money. He had a nine-figure exit, I think. Something crazy. And then Chad Carlson. Not familiar. He has one in Cali, but yeah, his is smaller.

But yeah, that makes sense why your recovery rate was double the average because you were hands on. I was hands on and we had a lot of scholarships. So usually if someone runs out of insurance, their insurance is going to come in for 30, maybe 45 days, 15, 20 days of outpatient. We had graduate houses where you could stay there indefinitely. Wow. So I've never even heard of a facility that would do this, but you could stay in a graduate house indefinitely. And our first graduate house had 10 beds all

all 10 of those clients were clean two three four years damn because you know it's just like you know when you're in the military you're surrounded by like-minded people if everyone's waking up and going to the gym you're waking up and working out you know so it's like when you are in a safe environment um your chances of staying clean are so much higher yeah and then it's when people leave or they get their own place and i'm not saying you got to live in a halfway house forever but statistically if you stay in a halfway house for like a year you know you have a

twice better chance than someone else who immediately goes back to their own place. Wow, that's cool. And insurance doesn't cover that though? No, that was just cash pay. We charge like $120 a week in rent and they would just stay there. But if they stayed clean, they don't have to leave. Wow. So you were drug testing them? Yeah, absolutely. So even though they're in this aftercare, someone had years clean. They're still getting drug tested. They're still having like a house meeting once a week. There's still structure, still curfew.

And some of these people just loved it. When you would go to their rooms, it was so weird because usually at a halfway house, people are trying to get out of there. Our houses were so nice that a lot of them during COVID, bro, you couldn't go rent a place for a hundred bucks a week anywhere. So when you would go to their rooms, dude, guitars on the wall, pictures of their family, they decked it out. That's cool. Because they want to stay in that house. It was a nice house. Most sober livings were in like shithole areas or sober livings were like nice houses.

So a lot of them, they were like, man, I'm never going to leave here. Like they didn't want to fuck up because they knew, you know, it's hard to find a place like that. What was that moment at 17 for you? Was it a specific incident that happened that made you like stop? So people always ask me two questions, like how I got on drugs and how I got off. And I

I got on drugs because someone taught me. Someone showed me. Someone introduced me. Someone, you know, piqued my interest. And it was the same thing when I got off drugs. So I started going to 12-step meetings. I'm like a super hardcore 12-step person. And it's like when you start to go to meetings and you're surrounded by thousands of people who have gotten clean and their lives are just so, like, interesting and, like, you're just blown away. It really inspired me and made me feel like I could do this forever. And, like, one day, like, the...

uh, the switch flipped. Like, I remember I was like, I don't know if I could stay clean. You know, I still want to get high. And I was just like, you know, I'm young, whatever. And I'll never forget. Once this one meeting, this guy Ray Googs was speaking and, uh, dude, this guy was a heroin addict for like 30 years, lived in Washington, DC homeless. And, uh, he was probably 55 years old. And I'll never forget. He said he had five years clean.

And he said he was working on his second bachelor's degree. And he said, this time next week or this time next year, I'll be going to law school. Wow. And I was like, get the, and like, dude, I just couldn't like, you just don't hear about stuff. Yeah. And then I started following him around. I would just see him. I'm like, he wasn't full of shit. And, um, he actually ended up working for me at the treatment center for years. Nice. And, uh, actually became a lawyer. And, uh, you just hear stories like that. And dude, it just started to change how I, how I thought about getting clean. And, um,

I wanted to do drugs because drugs were like crazy. But like what was even crazier was like being clean. Like what if I didn't even drink or smoke or anything? What if I did get totally 100% sober? And I was like...

That would even be crazy, you know? Yeah. So, yeah, like, I went from being the kid who, like, everyone in school was like, dude, that kid smokes crack. Like, get the fuck away from him. To, like, being someone who, like, doesn't drink, doesn't party, none of that. Wow. Total 180. Were you a big adrenaline junkie? Still am. Yeah? Yeah. So you just had to find a healthier... Yeah, I think my first three years clean, four years clean, like, I really practiced, like,

uh the part of your brain that has like the breaking so like dude i just believe that like i just never had that like i never had a slow down button i never had like a consider the consequence button like if it felt good i wanted to do it a thousand times you know and i really like my first

Probably five years clean like I didn't go to strip clubs. I didn't go to clubs I didn't socialize with other people that weren't in recovery. I started reading tons of self-help books I was I got introduced like yoga and it's like I didn't even know how to be a kid Wow, you know so like my whole story is that like I just wanted to be cool my whole life Like I just wanted to fit in and be with the older kids Yeah, I was always lying about my age and I was always driving when I shouldn't be driving and leaving the house when I shouldn't be Leaving the house. I couldn't follow rules. Mm-hmm

And it's like I really had to learn that, like, all my shortcuts were actually fucking holding me back. Damn. You know, everything I tried to do to, like, cut the line ended me up in a fucking handcuffs, you know? Wow. So I really had to relearn just how to be with myself, you know? Yeah, that's deep, man. So you had to grow up quick.

Yeah, I had to grow up quick, but I also regressed and I also learned how to ride a bike. At 17? Well, yeah, because I knew how to ride a bike, but when I was in seventh grade, I was selling Coke and I was going to parties and I was hanging out with people in college. So when I used to see little kids in my age riding the bikes, I'd be like, you guys are losers. When I first got clean, one of the first things I did was bought a bicycle and

And I used to bike and I got into biking. I started going to spin class. - Wow. - Like I used to think like, bro, you're going to spin class. Like you're a fucking loser. And it's like, I really had to like relearn to do things that I used to think were like corny, you know? And I got into biking. Like I still go bike ride, you know, like.

I learned how to like be myself, you know? Yeah. It's easy to form those beliefs to fit in with a friend group. You start like hating on certain people, you know? Yeah. Especially when you're young, everyone's competing to be cool. And like, you know, all my friends, I thought we were so cool. And like all literally like 70% of the kids I grew up with are either on heroin or in prison. Damn. You know?

Where'd you grow up? I grew up in a nice area. Wow. That's ironic, right? Yeah. So I grew up in a really nice area called Davie, which, you know, you have like million dollar homes and then you have trailer parks. It's like, it's like just because you live in that area doesn't mean you have money. You don't have money, but it's a big, like, I don't know, diverse town. Yeah. And dude, there's just so many kids there that were just so bad. Like in that area, I'm sure Fort Lauderdale in general, we had the

Most pain clinics in the country. Broward County had dispensed more medication painkillers than other states combined. Holy shit. So like that town was just like everybody started doing opiates. Wow. So like you would go to a party and yeah, you would see a kegger and people smoking blunts, but you'd also see people doing Oxycontin like it was nothing. Damn.

You know, when Oxycontin started to go away, people started to do Dilaudid. And Dilaudid, yeah, it works if you eat it, but you mainly shoot it. So then these people are shooting pills now, and then they're shooting heroin, and then, you know, they're heroin addicts. Holy crap. Like, all my friends that I grew up with is crazy. Like, they all got addicted to IV heroin. And you said a lot of them ended up dying, too. Yeah, I mean...

Like I said, I've probably been to like 100 funerals. Did that numbness ever stop? So when I was using it, it never really bothered me because when people would die, I would be like, oh, well, it was a girl. She probably weighed 90 pounds and didn't oxidize and just couldn't handle it or something. But when I got clean, it started to happen more and more. And then...

man it's like when you're using you have no feelings like you're totally numb and then when you get clean it's like the opposite effect wow I started crying watching the fucking Publix commercial you know like I just started to have so much emotions and then like

feel attached like i never felt attachment to people i never really had like friends and then i start making friends in recovery and they start relapsing now i'm like worried about them now i'm like fuck this is what my parents went through you know yeah and then it comes around full circle and i'm like do they die and then you're like you know it starts to really affect you and um at nine months clean the first kid i ever sponsored was my childhood

friend and drug dealer i had last time i had seen him he was selling pills out of like a motel six and people are shooting up on the bed he was selling pills he was with his lady who was smoking crack fast forward i'm clean like nine months i'm speaking out of rehab and i remember he was like yo i know you and i started like i didn't recognize him because he lost so much weight in jail yeah and i started sponsoring him and um dude he died of an overdose oh so i was 17 and this kid died of an overdose and my first sponsee ever

And that's when I was like, damn, like, like we really are like in, in recovery, like they give out chips because symbolize that you're gambling with your life. And it's like, damn, we really are. Then fentanyl came out. Fentanyl didn't come off like two, three years after that. So when fentanyl came out,

- Man, I think right now, I think like 120 people die a day. - What? - A fentanyl overdose. Yeah. - That's insane. - It's like 70,000 people a year. - Holy shit. That's in the US or worldwide? - No, it's in the US. - Wow. - So it's in the US. So before fentanyl, the number was like 30,000. - Wow. - So the number has doubled since fentanyl.

That's crazy. So, like, while we sit here and do this podcast, someone will overdose and die. That's nuts, dude. Yeah. Yeah. These days, you got to really test the drugs if you're going to even take them. Yeah, and no one does that. It's like no one's testing their drugs. You know, there might be, like, a small percentage, but...

It blows my mind. Some people like do their drug of choice is fentanyl. They're looking for fentanyl They're not like they're not testing it because they want the fentanyl. That's insane. Yeah, it's crazy What do you transition to after this? I know you did some adult industry stuff, too Yeah, so like I've always been into like like sex and drugs, you know what I mean? Yeah, like when I got clean like I kind of had this like perspective of like anything adult is like bad and there's a lot of like Christian people in recovery so like

I kind of, like, never really talked about it or whatever, but I've always been, like, promiscuous. And even in recovery, that's, like, not a good thing to be promiscuous, especially your first year. Maybe your second year, but, like, your first year you should probably, like, chill out, which I did. And then, like, as I got older, like, I just got, like, more interested in, like,

uh i think at like 21 or 20 i went to my first swingers club i went to a swingers club like dude i had never seen like this in my whole life i didn't even know that existed yeah i thought i didn't even know this went on like in america i was blown away that this is even legal and i went to my first swingers club like blew my mind that's when i got like introduced like the idea of polygamy or like open relationships and i started to become like really open-minded

And when I was 22, I had a friend who had like a big male escort agency. It was like one of the only straight male agencies. And I remember my friend could like never stay clean. And I would tell him like...

Dude, it's probably because you're doing this escorting shit. And then he got clean and we became like closer and friends. And I remember he was like, yo, I need you. I was like, for what? He's like, I need you to like hook up with this lady in Miami and she's going to pay you. And I was like, dude, I'm not hooking up with an old lady. And he was like, who said she's old? I was like, she's not old. And he sent me a picture of her. I was like, dude, she's hot. And then I was like, that girl is going to pay me. And he's like something like that. And I went down there and it would be like her sugar daddy.

would pay for guys to hook up with her she would be blindfolded it would be like what yeah it'd be like 20 minutes and he paid me three grand whoa so the first time i got like three grand he's not in the room he like walks out and like waits in the living room and he just does this as like a treat for them whoa and um he told me that she thinks that we're paying her

or like you know i don't know what it i didn't ask a lot of questions you know and uh i would do that like a couple times a month and dude that was like an extra nine grand in my pocket and um that's when i started to like really see like this other world of like

you know, escorting and it was fun. And then my friend, Alex Adams, shout out. He's a number one male porn star ever. He has like billions of views. Most viewed. I never heard of him. I know most people have, cause he does POV. So you never see him, you know, but if you watch his stuff, you're like, Oh, I've seen this guy before. So he like really is like the king of like the step brother thing, which that genre just like took off. Yeah.

But he has billions of views. His name's Alex Adams, but he probably don't. He's not on social media big. He plays video games. But dude, makes millions of dollars. Killing it. And back in the day, I used to think people who do adult entertainment don't make any money. Yeah, yeah. Especially men. So I saw him go from like, and he's also sober or clean. He's in recovery a long time. Nice. So I saw him get clean, start his little film company by himself. Wonderful.

one dollar nothing you know and go from like toyota corolla to like multiple mclarens and rolls royces damn and at the time he was super successful i was making money you know i was ready like a millionaire i was your age 27 and he and i asked him how does it work and dude he like showed me like the ins and outs of it and i posted my first video and i would not show my face because i'm still like the ceo of this company yeah

And, dude, none of my videos were getting any views. You got to get views to make money. Yeah, the odds, right? Yeah. So I was like, what am I doing wrong? So I was like, he does a lot of talking. So then I started to talk in them. And I got the number one video in 2018. No way. Yeah. My videos started making so much money. And then I was like, oh, my God, it's going to take off. And then people started recognizing my voice. So then I was like, dude, I can't own a rehab and do this. And then...

You know, I really am super loyal. And, like, dude, I don't want to screw over my business partners. And, like, you know, drug rehab is such a sensitive thing. Like, no one wants to send their daughter to a rehab that's, like, owned by a guy who's doing all the entertainment. I'm also super young. I started the treatment center at 25. So, like, a lot of people already didn't take me that seriously. So I overcompensated by being, like, super professional. Like, man, we just did things, like, by the book, you know? Yeah.

Then when I left the treatment center, I started posting my videos and I didn't realize that because of COVID so many people had gotten into that industry that it was kind of what happened with my old industry was so saturated. I thought I was going to make all this money.

And the videos make, like, a little bit of money, like, on OF and stuff like that, and, like, a little bit, like, on Pornhub and Xvideos and stuff like that. But not like I imagined. So, you know, I listened to one of your podcasts, and you were saying, like, a lot of my success is, like, timing. Yeah. And, like, yeah, I've had success. I also have done a lot of things that didn't work out because of timing. Same. Yeah, I've definitely had my share of those, too. Yeah. Yeah, OF is hard for guys, too, I heard.

Anything adult is hard for guys, you know, because 99% of the clients are men. Right. So it's like... And you don't do gay content, so it's even tougher. No, yeah. I mean, if you did any type of...

Even sus content. You know, I know a kid who, like, he makes, like, sus videos. What's that? Well, he'll make, like, a TikTok of, like, him and his friend doing something borderline gay. Yeah. But he doesn't do anything gay, like, on camera. But he'll send, like, solo videos to guys. Like, I've had guys ask me for, like, I had this guy offer me, like, $1,200 for my underwear. Damn. And I was like, one, like, I don't need the money that bad. Yeah. I don't even feel right sending my underwear to, like, another man. I feel that. So it's, like...

But I did ask him, how much would you pay just to see? And I just kept upping it. And he was like, yeah. And he said he'd pay up to $1,200. I was like, no, I can't. Holy crap. I just couldn't do it. It's tempting, though. Yeah. I mean, I guess if I really needed the money. But I'm already successful. I don't really need $1,200 that bad. So I was just like, nah, I don't feel comfortable doing it. But I don't know. I refuse to do any of that. Even when some of the men messaged the OF page, they

well like when they're clearly interested in me i'm like i just can't do it i feel uh you gotta hit up adam 22 yeah do a little collab with lena yeah that'll skyrocket your numbers jason love i heard made a ton off that video yeah so he made a ton of that video because that was like the first boy girl that she had did and because he's just a giant black dude and they're white and interracial stuff like that just pops off but like even with like podcasts so imagine this

I'm sure so many people are like, oh, if you get this guest on your show, it's going to pop up. Yeah. It doesn't work. No, it's not like that. It's not like that at all. Like, I had a podcast for a long time, Hell Has an Exit. And, dude, we would pay big money for a lot of guests. Yeah. And, yeah, it would help, but it wouldn't. So a lot of people think, like, in the adult industry, oh, if you shoot with this person, you'll blow up. It's not really like that. It's kind of like you just have to keep pumping out good content. Facts. And, dude, I've shot with some girls that –

look like the girl next door they're not like the most attractive looking girl they're very average looking and they will do way better than like a superstar girl that everyone knows wow i've shot with girls that they only did that one video with me and everyone wants to see more videos then because they're not known yeah so you know yeah like it would be cool to do something adam 22

But it's like, that's not a game changer for your career. That's relatable though. Because with the pod, I'll have on huge celebrities sometimes and it won't get as many views as just a normal guy. Dude, I've listened to, I remember I saw a podcast with one of like my favorite artists and it was horrible. Mike Posner, right? No, I saw his on yours. Yeah, but that only got like 10K and I'm like, holy shit, like Mike Posner, like I should have gotten 100K.

Yeah, I love him, and I'm such a fan. He's, like, one of my favorite people just because, like, I followed his whole, like, trek to Everest. Yeah. It was dope, his hike across the country. Yeah, his story is so cool, but I just think that, I mean, I was surprised that it got 10K. I actually haven't listened. I was trying to listen to it today. I was like, I wonder if it came out yet. It's out. It's out, yeah, but I was like, damn. Yeah, he's such a huge name. I think people don't know him, like,

because like i'll tell people like oh you know mike posner and people are like no and then you play his song yeah and they're like yeah i'm also like a big black bear fan so i just that's a good one too yeah i want to get him on music yeah but it's like you would think

And then even if it does go crazy, I had videos get millions of views on TikTok. And it's like, dude, it's not bringing in a ton of money. I'm not Joe Rogan. So even with the podcast, I stopped doing my podcast because, dude, I probably put like 500 grand into my podcast. Dude, most podcasts lose hella money. I was unprofitable for six months, the first six months. I've been unprofitable for like three years. Well, I never paid guests. That's a dangerous game. I was paying guests. I had like a whole team. We were pushing out ads. And not just that, like...

We never ran ads. So I know like sponsors. Yeah. Yeah. You need to, I know. I was just like, I don't want to do ads. That's how you offset everything. I know. And it's just like, and then we would do ads and we'd make like 500 bucks. Yeah. It's not a lot, but it offsets all the like filming costs and studio and I was flying, you know? So after a while I was like, you know, I want to do something else. So yeah.

Yeah, don't start a pod to make money if you're watching this, guys. You're not going to make shit. Yeah, and originally I didn't. I did it just because I loved having people's stories on there. It was like an addiction podcast. But then eventually I was like, well, let me throw all this money at this and see what happens. And I was like, fuck that. Yeah, I feel that. So what are you working on now then? I'm really trying to come out with my books. Oh, yeah? Since 17, I've been keeping a diary. So I have like 40 composition books and probably like –

I have Word documents of diaries that are so big that you can't even open it. It crashes. Holy crap. So I've been keeping a diary for literally 16 years. So every day you're writing it? Not every day, but every day for probably four years. Nice. Yeah. Maybe five years almost every day. And then after that, I've kind of like did it once a week, every two weeks. Sometimes I would go a couple months without writing, but I would update like my whole life. So...

I had it up for a while, and honestly, it, like, makes me so uncomfortable reading my old writings. It's like, this kid is so fucked. But, like, in my mind, like, I don't know. I'm like, I don't want to see that stuff. I would imagine anyone reading their old diary kind of, like, super cringe. But I did put it out, like, before I had the treatment centers, and there are people today who still know me from that. Wow. But, um...

I just love helping addicts. So whether I do the podcast or not, I'll always kind of do something creative to spread that message. Yeah, I'm sure you get messages daily. You've saved probably hundreds of lives indirectly that you don't even know about. I get so many DMs all the time. I just got one the other day. Someone read it to me that runs the Instagram page. And it's like, do I get so many people who are like,

Bro, I had no idea that recovery was even a thing because where they live, when they go to meetings, it's all like older people. And he literally flew down, went to South Florida, started going to meetings and is clean like three years. And he did the podcast. Wow. So it's like, you know, we've had like people that are like podcast alumni who like they started off as listeners. They were using and now they have years clean. That's cool. So, yeah, it's inspiring because that's relatable, you know, for sure. Yeah, super cool. Teddy, where can people find you and what you're up to next?

You can find me at Teddy.Tarantino and Twitter, I think it's just Teddy Tarantino. And yeah, that's pretty much it. We'll link below, brother. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for watching, guys. Thank you, bro. Yep. Thanks for watching, guys, as always. See you next time.