We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Todd Vande Hei a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Todd, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Was there a defining moment in your professional career? A moment that changed the trajectory of your career?
It all started with a prostate exam. My ex business partner (Brad), within the first month of our new relationship, suggested I change my diet: remove gluten, dairy, eggs and sugar; add more red meat. He was a strength coach, and in the early years, we were primarily focused on personal training and nutrition. I took his advice, and by the end of the 2nd month, many of my chronic health conditions faded away, including daily headaches, periodic migraines, neck and low back pain, fatigue, and brain fog. It was a shocking and unexpected outcome that came along with improved body composition. At that stage we had no ability to test to see what was happening with my body in a quantifiable way. A year later, feeling like I was still on an upswing in terms of health, headlines showed new research claiming red meat causes cancer and heart disease. I had a freak-out moment, deciding to pay a visit to my primary care physician. My first appointment was to check vitals and draw blood. I told the nurse I wanted to get a physical, and as per Brad’s recommendation check my sex hormones. But my primary purpose was to get his “take” on whether or not, despite feeling better than ever, I was killing myself with red meat.
I had my follow up visit with the doctor. Rushing in, looking into a manilla folder with my lab results, he said, while raising his eyebrows, “you’re at that age; drop your pants and put your chest on the table.” Not that it wasn’t important to get screened for prostate cancer, but I had other issues on my mind. I asked about my sex hormones. He said he didn’t approve the test, looked me up and down, and told me I should be careful about what I put into my body (I didn’t realize it at the time, but I think he was accusing me of illegally using hormones to add muscle, which was not true). Frustrated, I then asked about my diet. He said I should be careful with so much red meat, that my cholesterol was creeping up, and that he would put me on a statin if it continued. He recommended research shows eating Fiber One cereal at night to drop it, two of the very things I believed were instrumental in helping my body heal itself: gluten and dairy. I asked who did the research. He answered, “General Mills.” He saw the look on my face and added, “and some MD’s I’m sure.” He rushed out of the door after handing me a coupon for the cereal! Despondent, I shuffled to the front desk, asking them if I would be able to have the doctor speak with Brad about nutrition. They said that the doctor doesn’t do that.
I merely wanted to know if I was on the right path with my nutrition and got a prostate exam instead, which falls within standards of care for doctors. Within his scope of work, he was doing the right thing. After a year of learning more about the medical system and its problems, the fact that medical school does not educate doctors on nutrition, and that it is an area of healthcare with many unknowns, I decided to assemble a team of specialists, working together in teams, testing regularly to quantify results, ensuring we’re on the right path with every one of our clients (we call them students), not solely relying on the questionable and ever-changing research on how nutrition affects health. I’m old enough to remember when margarine, made of cheap vegetable oils, was considered health food; butter clogs the arteries. Now, it’s the opposite. I’m young enough to remember when carbs were/are considered bad.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I spent most of my career in carpet manufacturing as the President of Fabrica. We were owned by a publicly-traded company called the Dixie Group. I had a conflict with the board, was fired then retired. I thought I was done working, but at the tail end of the housing crisis, lost everything. Putting my resume together for the first time in 20 years, I was referred by a friend to a strength coach named Brad. He was struggling with his gym. He reached out to me to ask for help. We immediately formed a partnership and went to work on saving his business. We ended up shutting down his business focused on strength training for young athletes, and opened Stark, targeting people like me. Today’s version of Stark is made up of health teams of doctors, phlebotomists, dexa techs, chiropractors, nutritionists and health coaches, trainers and program designers, all having the debate I wanted between my doctor and Brad over a decade ago. The primary take-away for health is that, in my opinion, for practitioners to be exceptional, they need to be humble, recognizing that we don’t know everything about the human body. As a result, a practitioner needs to be constantly learning; constantly questioning. That should be baked into the culture of medicine. It’s generally absent, with practitioners like my PCP approaching me with a paternalistic attitude, not listening, putting me into a bucket with a bunch of assumptions, and applying generic, and for me, inappropriate solutions. Today, I still avoid those foods but with confidence. My labs and DEXAscan results show that, at any age, I am the picture of health. We know because we test at Stark for progress and refer out for standard screening for disease states like prostate cancer.
I’m most proud of Stark’s team-oriented culture, exhibiting humility and care for our students and patients, putting their health above all things. As a result, we are a source of trust and truth in a very noisy and confusing space. I believe the world needs better health, that the medical system isn’t able to deliver it, and I’m “all-in” with my time and my life savings to provide a much-needed upgrade.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
As we planned to shut Brad’s business down, Stark needed cash to launch. I borrowed $30,000 from two friends at the end of 2010 at 20% interest and put $42,000 of my last remaining $60,000 into the business, supporting a family of five, with no other income streams and a salary of $2,000 per month (if we had the cash). Almost 13 years later, we have three locations, a full medical staff, and have served thousands of students and patients, transforming and saving lives like Brad did for me in the early years.
Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?
This is a concept I learned from several mentors in my early years in business: have unwavering discipline around where you fit into the market, and keep that discipline simple. Stark’s is exactly that in a very confusing industry for patients: find the very best solution for our students and patients, regardless of the cost, and back into the price. By the nature of that strategy, it’s going to be expensive. But the world is filled with businesses trying to sell for less. We are trying to sell for better. It’s also a simple marching order for our team. Always pursue best in class. Don’t be distracted by cost. Let the rest of the world have that. The outcome associated with this strategy is that very, very wealthy clientele trust us. They trust us because we are clearly looking out for their best interests.
Contact Info:
- Website: starklife.us
- Instagram: @testodderone
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/testodderone
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vandehei/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/toddvandehei
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@StarkTrainingCA
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/stark-west-hollywood-5?osq=stark+health
Image Credits
Lauren Hillary