IAM175-Podcast Host and Author Helps Clients Fix Digestion and Activate Awesome Health

 

Wade T. Lightheart, host of the AWESOME Health Podcast, is a 3-time All Natural National Bodybuilding Champion, advisor to the American Anti-Cancer Institute and Director of Education at BiOptimizers Nutrition, one of the world’s most innovative nutritional supplement companies. 

He is also the author of several books including the best-selling books, “Staying Alive in a Toxic World” and “The Wealthy Backpacker.”

• CEO Hack: Predictive index to get people in the right seats
• CEO Nugget: Increase the customer experience as opposed to automated systems
• CEO Defined: (1) Ultimate accountability person (2) One who is passionate about what he/she is doing

Website: https://bioptimizers.com/

Health course: https://bioptimizers.com/IAMCEO

Products on amazon: 
https://www.amazon.com/Premium-Digestive-Enzymes-Women-Men/dp/B01N0VM4E8

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Transcription:

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:26

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I've Wade Lightheart of the AWESOME Health Podcast and co-founder of BiOptimizers. Wade, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Wade T. Lightheart 0:38

Great to be here, Gresh. Thanks for having me.

Gresham Harkless 0:41

No problem. I appreciate having you on Wade. And what I wanted to do is read a little bit more about you so people can hear about all the awesome things that you're doing. And Wade T. Lightheart, the host of the AWESOME Health Podcast, is a 3-time All Natural National Bodybuilding Champion, advisor to the American Anti-Cancer Institute, and Director of Education at BiOptimizers Nutrition, one of the world’s most innovative nutritional supplement companies. He is also the author of several books, including the best-selling book “Staying Alive in a Toxic World” and “The Wealthy Backpacker.” Wade, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Wade T. Lightheart 1:14

Sure, am.

Gresham Harkless 1:15

Awesome. Let's do it. So the first question that I had for you was here a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. And what led you to start your business?

Wade T. Lightheart 1:23

Well, you know, I think I was unemployable. But at the time, I had hit the age of 25, or 26 years old, I had kicked around a bunch of different jobs, mostly everything from manual labor to working in stores, to warehouses and all this sort of stuff at being a doorman, a bartender, and I realized that I was really more of an independent thinker. And those types of situations just didn't work well for me. And I decided to strike out on my own and start my own company and never looked back ever since.

Gresham Harkless 1:51

Nice. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. It's a common trend for most entrepreneurs and business owners that you kind of look at things in a different way. And there doesn't seem to be a path or a chart. So you decide to blaze your own trail and create your own path.

Wade T. Lightheart 2:01

Exactly.

Gresham Harkless 2:02

Awesome. And now I wanted to drill down a little bit deeper and hear a little bit more about like what you're doing with BiOptimizers and your Podcast.

Wade T. Lightheart 2:08

Basically our company, we fix digestion. That's our tagline. And our bottom line is our mission is to end physical suffering and activate awesome health. My co-founder and I met Golan, we were both personal trainers. We did let's where I got into the industry of my own kind of CEO of my own company started just as a company of one where I was a personal trainer, and I ended up serving a lot of CEOs was very good and a great insight which paved the way for the future. But what we found is that about 12% of the hospital visits right now are gastrointestinal-based conditions.

And for many of the pharmaceutical treatments, we don't actually address the fundamental foundational problems. And these conditions are growing rapidly across the population. And it's having a huge impact. I think last year, it cost over $150 billion in gastrointestinal-related diseases. And I had my own gastrointestinal problem. And 2003, I competed in the Mr. Universe contest.

And after that, I gained 42 pounds of fat and water in 11 weeks, I'd really blown out my digestion on following a performance-based diet, as do a lot of CEOs who kind of push hard mentally, but will often suffer physically. And that was humbling. Fortunately, I found a doctor that helped me rebuild my body from the inside out.

And it was so affected. I've recaptured my health and my performance within six months. But I went kind of went to a new level. We coached over 15,000 people from our online business after that we started an online business simultaneously. And from there, we realized that there are a lot of people are suffering from this problem. And ultimately, we moved into becoming a company that solves digestive health-related issues which are so common.

Gresham Harkless 3:35

Exactly, that makes perfect sense. And how do people like kind of understand that they have these issues? Like you mentioned, the digestion issues? Is that something that you can just see or is it kind of take place after the fact that you realize that I have an issue?

Wade T. Lightheart 3:48

Well, it starts out relatively simply, it starts out with feeling bloated after you eat, or it starts with acid reflux, constipation, or feeling sluggish in the morning, waking up with brain fog. These are how these things start. And then maybe excessive weight gain or trouble sleeping, or all sorts of this kind of tiny side effects that people will take some Tums for, they'll take Pepto Bismol because their stomach is upset, or they have heartburn or they go see their doctor and they get on a proton pump or something like that.

And I ran into those problems. And then once I figured out how to solve them, then I realized, okay, here are the early indicators of where someone is going off course. And how do you correct that before you run into a major disease or dysfunction?

Gresham Harkless 4:32

Exactly, exactly. And it's always said that your health is your biggest wealth. So being able to take care of that would definitely give you the opportunity to continue to grow and expand your business. And now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And you might have already touched on this. But what do you feel kind of makes you or your organization unique?

Wade T. Lightheart 4:47

Well, one thing is we're a digitally based company. In other words, we were one of the first pioneer companies we started in 2004. And all our staff literally work all around the world. We connect using functions like Zoom and Skype and we built digital communication platforms and management and tracking systems, one of the big think secret sauces was a course that you can take called Traction, it's a book that gets a grip on your business, it was a great way for developing a way of kind of bringing together all these people from around the world into a cohesive unit that we could track and grow our business.

And that was a big advantage for us, I think something that people particularly who are living in this new world economy where you can actually get high-quality talent, maybe outside of high-income parameters. In other words, you can pay a person, maybe half to three-quarters of what you would pay them in, say, working in a major city.

And they make and have a better quality of life by working in a jurisdiction, which is more economical, they can work from home, and you can connect them in a way that allows them to feel part of something just the same as you were coming into an office without all the extra overhead.

So you can use that extra money to drive the business forward at a faster rate than you could if you were going through maybe a more traditional brick-and-mortar setup, even though we produce physical products, we don't have to maintain the overhead costs that many of our competitors need to and I think that's the range of where we're going in the future with companies.

Gresham Harkless 6:12

Yeah, definitely would agree with that. And especially like you said, with all this technology that's out there, you know, it really gives companies like yourself that you've mentioned, where you guys are able to put those profits into building an even better business and continue to innovate and continue to be ahead of the curve. So I think it definitely is beneficial to the overall world by being able to kind of do that, and increase win, win, win environments.

Wade T. Lightheart 6:33

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 6:34

And now I want to just switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack, can you kind of touched on this, this is an app or book or habit that you have, but it's something that you feel like makes you more effective and efficient as a CEO.

Wade T. Lightheart 6:43

Well, definitely traction, we also use a hiring process that leverages a system called Predictive index. And that's helping people get in the right seats, oftentimes, you'll have very talented people who might be successful in one area of the business, but they might be working in an area where their talents aren't actually going to shine.

Or they're particularly good at one area, and you automatically assume that they're going to be able to take those abilities into another area as the company grows. And oftentimes, that sets people up for failure.

And so with these types of assessment tools, you can quickly profile what kind of candidate you would need for a position, and that wastes a lot of time of where you would try and find out, can you get talent, because, at the end of the day, the quality of the people that you bring into your company is going to determine how well that company performs over the long run, especially as the company grows simply because there are so many moving parts in any corporation, that talent is going to ultimately determine talent and culture and creating a culture, I think that allows the talent to shine and creates a kind of an autonomous environment where they get the advantages of working almost like a solo entrepreneur, but they're part of a bigger microcosm as a business unit.

And that's what we offer as a company. And I think a lot of people who are caught in the computing world caught in the kind of corporate rat race that was maybe popular in the 80s are recognizing, hey, this is a better way to build a company, it's better for the company and creates a better lifestyle. And you have the ability to find out the kind of nuances in a person's psychology that would allow them to be successful using those tools and methodologies.

And now because of online communications, to me, it makes no sense to drag everybody into an office commuting and wasting hours of their life, when they can just open up their laptop and be at work instantaneously. And when they're done, they can close it off and get back to their regular lives. And I think people really appreciate that in our company and the opportunities that they have with other companies to do that.

Gresham Harkless 8:43

Yeah, definitely imagine that especially when time is one of those resources, you cannot get back no matter how hard you try, once that minute is gone, it's gone. So to be able to kind of leverage that to put that in one in an efficient way, but also to in being able to make sure you have the people that are on your team, making sure that they are doing what they are, quote-unquote called to do and what is in alignment with their talents and what their gifts are. It definitely sounds like that creates an entire culture. And it translates itself to the products but also to the business as a whole, which is of course one of the most important things.

Wade T. Lightheart 9:13

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 9:14

And now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you can happen to a time machine. What would you tell your younger business self?

Wade T. Lightheart 9:23

I would say the cultivation of a great customer experience particularly now that we're living in a digital world where I think online retail is now outperforming traditional retail and the companies that I think that is going to dominate the market and have the most success in the market are the digitally based companies which reduce overhead but increase customer experience so that customer instead of talking to a digital answering machine speaks to a real person that person is trained and as knowledgeable and passionate about the products or services that you offer and can communicate in a way that makes that person feel valued, feel respectful, and also feels that they're talking to a real person. Because I think the more digital that we go, or the more technologically advanced we become, the more we crave communication and connection with other human beings.

And in this kind of race to technological advancement, I think that's an oversight that a lot of companies make, there's nothing more frustrating than saying, as a customer of a company calling and getting an answering machine that you have to punch 15 different buttons in an automated system to eventually hold for an operator, it's lovely when you can either you don't have enough staff to answer that call that they can just leave a quick message.

And then a real person calls them back at the time that's convenient for them, or chats with them or texts them and responds to their requests urgently.

I think also removing the obstacles about the fear, for example, by offering really good guarantees on your products, like we do 365 Day guarantees in case people want to return that product, there are no questions asked, we also, try to look at ways to plus that for example, let's say someone bought one of our products, it didn't work for them for whatever reason, we do a little bit investigation when we talk to them and realize they actually bought the product that they needed another one of our products, we'll send them that product.

And people are absolutely blown away that we're you know, our like our commitment is for our companies, we fix your digestion. And if we can't you get all your money back. And so we're committed to that mission above and beyond what they might have experienced from another company.

And that has built brand loyalty with us that I think other companies, maybe they provide a good product or service. But the problem is they don't create that connection and interaction. And I think if you can do that, as a company in today's world, it makes you stand out amongst the kind of digital faceless corporations that people get so frustrated with.

Gresham Harkless 11:51

Yeah, I would definitely agree with you on that. And I think that there's definitely an opportunity for a lot of industries where it merges the technological with the physical, we're having people connect with all these technological advancements that we have. But most people kind of use you wander away or not. They either don't have any technological advancements, or they're using nothing but technology and use, you lose what is the essence I think of what all this is trying to replicate, which is that people interaction.

So I definitely agree with you on that. And I think it's definitely a good reminder for all of us as entrepreneurs and business owners.

And now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote-unquote, CEOs on this show. So, Wade, I wanted to ask you, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Wade T. Lightheart 12:30

Well, there are a couple of different things. I think that being a CEO means number one, I think one of the things that we have everybody read in our company is a book by Jocko Willink, which is called Extreme Accountability. At the end of the day, the CEO is the ultimately accountable person inside a corporation, both from a legal standpoint and also about setting the direction of the active processes of the culture of a company. And if you don't set that culture or those processes in the company, they emerge anyways.

And if they're not successful that you know, and chances are they won't be as good as they could be. That's on you, the CEO, you're at the end of the day, the buck stops here. I think the other thing about being a CEO, is it's an opportunity to serve maybe in the 80s, it was all about how much money you could make.

And that's one thing. But as social psychologists have demonstrated, recently, Dr. Daniel Kahneman share that people after 150,000 a year, the marginal increases in happiness are almost negligible, where people find their value, their purpose, their mission, and their joy is about being able to serve people in a way that creates that connection and creates legacy and serves a greater mission for the greater good.

And I think as a CEO, if you can connect with your mission, your reason why, and able to communicate a serviceable experience to people in a way that they feel good about that ultimately translates into joy, happiness, and that extra owns that you need the offense to compete in a competitive world.

And so I think if you're going to be a CEO, you better be passionate about what you're doing, why you're doing it, and who you're serving. Because if you're not, you're going to end up maybe financially successful, but you're gonna run into physical, psychological, or emotional distress that isn't going to be worth whatever you gained on one side of the coin.

Gresham Harkless 14:20

Yeah, that makes perfect sense. It is a great perspective to kind of keep in mind because we're all kind of trying to showcase our talents and our abilities and our calling and trying to manifest that self in our work and everything that we're doing.

So it's a great reminder to kind of keep in mind that we need to stay true to what that is and what that looks like. So Wade, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out of your schedule but I wanted to do is pass you the mic so to speak, and see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know and how best they can get a hold of you and of course subscribe to your podcast and get copies of your book.

Wade T. Lightheart 14:51

Yeah, so if you guys listening are interested in finding out more information about what we do or how we go about doing it you can go to bioptimizers.com/IAMCEO, inside of that one of the things that we've done uniquely as a company is we're very education dominant. So I created an 84-day awesome health course.

Basically, it's what I've compiled over 30 years of the experts that I've gone to kind of systematized and summarize a complete health system that allows you to perform at your highest level, if we give that away to people, they can kind of it's like 5 to 15-minute videos, where I give you the synopsis and summary of literally 30 years experience and you can dive deeper into it. Or you can just take the nuggets and apply them in your life. Because at the end of the day, you cannot perform at your best.

And you certainly cannot perform for an extended period of time if you do not have your health in order. And so taking time investing in that and doing it in a systematized way, I think is a great investment for anyone.

And of course, with the high-stress lifestyles that CEOs tend to experience digestive-related illnesses that lead to greater disease is something that needs to be addressed early on in order to prevent those big life-threatening situations come down the road. So we're here to provide that we're here to help out feel free to connect with us at bioptimizers.com/IAMCEO and we'll be happy to share what we can do for you.

Gresham Harkless 16:10

Awesome, awesome, awesome, truly appreciate that Wade, we'll make sure to have those links in the show notes so that people can follow up with you. But again, I appreciate you obviously for taking some time out and all the awesome things that you're doing. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Wade T. Lightheart 16:22

Thanks so much, Gresh really appreciate it.

Outro 16:24

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co

I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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