Transcript
Homeless drug addict and this self-made multi-millionaire. What if I told you they’re the same person? He was living on the streets of skid row the worst homelessness district imaginable with no hope for a better future and now he runs a business that makes tens of millions of dollars that start up with A genius idea from his dark past as an addict meet Khalil Rafati and his journey began at a massive Disadvantage now was born in Toledo, Ohio a little rural town It was a really really tough upbringing a lot of violence sexual abuse neglect Just dark my parents were immigrants.
Neither of them spoke English very well They just were not equipped to be parents ten years old I was already running around older kids in the neighborhood and trying to take puffs off their joints Good turn then all of a sudden 11 years old 12 years old now. I’m chugging beers When I was looking for attention anyway, I could get it whether it was vandalism or shoplifting With less than a thousand dollars to his name he moved to LA to become rich and famous I got into a rock and roll band because that seemed to be easier plus doing drugs was more acceptable That was kind of beginning of going really bad 27 years old smoking heroin.
I was so arrogant that I thought that it was glamorous. What drugs were you taking? Oh God, what drugs weren’t I taking ketamine and GHB the ecstasy every night I knew I was never gonna get out at that point I completely gave up and just didn’t care anymore The drugs had taken my soul from me without my consent and I went straight to hell Today Khalil runs a juice bar chain that makes tens of millions of dollars a year But before we get into how he built it, I had to check it out because this place is unique I love the store.
It’s definitely a labor of love. I’ve been doing this for 11 years He showed me so many interesting things that made it so obvious why this business is booming. But before we get to that Things had to get even worse
He ended up living on the streets of Skid Row, the most notorious homeless district in the world. It’s s*** that people wouldn’t believe exists. You’re watching people get thrown out of windows, you’re watching people get stabbed to death in front of you, another person is taking a s*** on the sidewalk right next to you, you’re getting jumped, you’re getting beaten, in and out of jail, in and out of jail, in and out of jail, overdose, into the hospital, out of the hospital, back into jail, back into overdose, back into the hospital.
It’s just a disgusting, filthy existence. And he was living like this for almost two years. My teeth were falling out of my head. I had open sores all over my face.
I had ringworm, I had scabies. I was 109 pounds. So Khalil showed me his current workout regimen. This is Kelly Matthews.
Hey. Nice to meet you. The greatest trainer on the planet. And it was, um…
I might have to stop, I’m really dizzy. I took it easy because I didn’t want him to look bad. I might have to go throw up. Are you?
OK. Yeah. Uh-oh. I mean, we were almost done anyways.
Is that a…? This is called a SUV. Damn. Wow.
Oh, you have to shut your door harder. These things are tanks. Handmade in Germany, so… Is that good enough?
No. You really have to slam it. I don’t want to break it. No, you can’t.
This was my dream car forever. I think this is maybe my fourth or fifth midlife crisis, so I figured, why not? If I push Sport Plus, then it’s… Oi!
Obviously, he had to recover first to be at the stage he’s at now. And after everyone he knew gave up on him, he finally got professional help. Dove headfirst into 12-step programs. I went to meetings every single day.
Every single day. Twice a day. I went back to washing cars, which I was great at. I started cleaning people’s apartments.
In order for me to change, in order for me to start living a new life, there had to be a paradigm shift. I got a sponsor. I did exactly what the f*** my sponsor wanted me to do.
to do. He made me do the cleanup commitments at meetings. He made me do the coffee and cookie commitment. Don’t buy those disgusting little cookies.
Get them nice cookies. Get them nice coffee. And what he didn’t know at the time was that this silly little commitment of making sure there’s coffee and cookies at the recovery meetings would change the course of his life forever. And I want to bring some strawberries this time.
I’m going to grab some blueberries. And I went all out. I spent like 60 bucks or something when you’re supposed to spend like six bucks. I set up this spread.
Here comes the druggy buggy dropping off all of the Salvation Army guys. And when they saw that food, the look of joy, the look of, oh, my God. And this love and passion for serving the best foods that make people light up is exactly what you see today.
These are all the different superfoods that we put in into. But this is a heirloom variety of maca that I found when I personally went to Peru and I went up into the Andes and I met all the different growers. These cacao beans are from the jungles of Ecuador, but it’s loaded with all kinds of minerals, magnesium, tryptophan.
I could call up Cisco and they could pull up a big semi here once a week and unload boxes of a bunch of pedestrian grade s**t. But then we would be serving pedestrian grade s**t. If you’re going to be the best, be the f**king best.
I was told early on in my recovery, pick up trash when you see it and throw it away. And don’t look around to see if anybody saw you do it. Don’t do it because you look cool doing it. Do it because that’s what we’re supposed to do.
My soul, my being was being cleansed and tiny, tiny fragments at a time. I was building self-esteem through esteemable acts. And so much of me changed through such a silly, basic notion of stop being a victim, stop feeling sorry for yourself and go do s**t for people who are less fortunate than you.
I say 1% better every day, no matter what. Get up every day, go for a walk, read a page of a book, go be kind to somebody, volunteer some…
1% better every day and after five years of doing this coffee and cookie commitment He had saved up some money from different jobs Invested it and became a sponsor to help others recover as well So I thought well What if I just open up a facility and then I can kind of help a bunch of people at once This recovery program was the idea for his first business.
I took a massive chance I took every penny that I had there was no guarantee that customers were gonna come And it’s a challenging business to be in would this one take off Maybe it felt right to him at the time because he switched addictions away from drugs to healing and wellness And when he invited us to his house this passion for self-care is clearly visible in this oasis of a home He’s built for himself.
Wait, you have a sick Is it is that a $6,000 toilet as well because I know Noah Kagan had one. Those are 12 That’s the latest model. I said to myself I’m really never gonna drink and do drugs again. I am gonna create a life.
It’s so Amazing that I never want to go back and if sitting down on a very expensive toilet that washes my apple for me That’s what I want to do Well, I created this area for earthing and I was so proud of myself now. This has turned into the $20,000 litter box.
I Use the space is like my biohacking place. So this is a far infrared sauna I mean it takes someone who’s obsessed with health to create a company like this that cares about the work-life balance of the beast And I’m making the honey. So it’s even more organic and all these crystals.
I surround myself with beautiful things beautiful things Just clear any dark energy It’s either the power of belief the placebo effect or I’m actually absorbing that power and energy because I feel it But who cares? I don’t this is my dance. This is what I do. It’s silly.
It’s funny It clearly makes him happy. So how did the recovery business do and how did he start his multi-million-dollar juice bar empire? Riviera recovery took off. I hated it.
It was such a nightmare I spent many nights crying myself to sleep, but it was super successful financially
I fantasize about having a little juice bar where everything would be organic and where everybody would be happy and I would hire like people From the neighborhood. So he sold his business took all the money he saved up and put everything on the line I borrowed a couple hundred thousand dollars from a guy who knew me really well and saw how hard I worked I very naively signed a lease without having a lawyer look at it And then like 11 months later the place still wasn’t open and the landlord’s threatening to you know Sue me if I don’t pay rent.
Ah, we didn’t have money for a sign We didn’t have money for shelves and I literally thought to myself like what the fuck was I thinking this is insanity I’m gonna be responsible for rent now who’s to say that people are gonna show up There was no guarantee it would succeed, but there’s something interesting he did to make it work Eventually besides that what’s mind-blowing to me are the time horizons where all this happened in his mid 30s He was homeless and addicted to drugs at age 40 He was recovered and had a business and then he was putting everything on the line again people in their mid-20s You know, I’m 26.
They feel so far behind That’s so great you have no idea how young you are I’m 52 in the greatest shape of my life Let’s say you’re 40. You think you’re old you think life has passed you by 10 years are gonna go by and you know The first thought you’re gonna think after you get that 50 year birthday celebration, you’re gonna go I was so young Why didn’t I take advantage of it when I was 27 28 29?
I thought well, I haven’t made it yet I’m gonna kill myself. Can you imagine I know we ambitious weirdos are putting so much pressure on ourselves to achieve so much in such Little time but talk about a perspective shift. We have time. I am barely getting started now I will turn it into a billion-dollar brand.
I’m gonna take it global and build something really meaningful. Look at the life. He’s created and In 2011 the first Sun Life Organics store was finally set up. I was really fucking scared It’s the day was before we’re supposed to open and
these kids walk in. My partner at the time was like, oh we’re not open yet. I’m like, actually you guys like frozen yogurt? They like go to pull their wallet I’m like, oh no no we don’t even have our POS system.
The lady’s like, no no no this is ridiculous like they have to pay you. And I’m like, no please let me just do this. I’m opening tomorrow. You guys are kind of like my first customers.
Can you please just let me do this because I need to feel good right now. She’s like, wow okay. And like 10 minutes later she walks back in and she goes, could you come outside for a moment? The kids just wanted to say something to you.
And so I ooh always makes me emotional. I go to walk outside. They were a choir and they launch into these hymns of praise. And I start crying because I’m so scared it’s not gonna work.
All the neighbors, all the co-tenants start coming out and they’re all filming and these kids are like belting out these songs of worship. And I just knew it was gonna work. I woke up in the morning, five o’clock in the morning went there like trying to put everything together.
Still super like nervous but had the faith from the experience with the kids. There was a line out the door all day and that line out the door never went away. And Sun Life took off and it got its own momentum. There’ll be 13 locations with another five, six, seven coming.
Had I not gone through everything I went through I couldn’t be who I am today. Thanks so much for watching. YouTube thinks you’re also gonna like this video over here so maybe I’ll see you over there.