21 Felonies at 16 to $175M Empire (INSANE True Story)

Dropping Bombs

Brad Lea

Business, Entrepreneurship

4.8 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 November 2025

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

LightSpeed VT: https://www.lightspeedvt.com/

Dropping Bombs Podcast: https://www.droppingbombs.com/

From pronounced dead to $100 million—recovery mogul Ryan Zofay unleashes unfiltered truths about ultimate transformation in this raw Dropping Bombs episode. The founder of "We Level Up" and author of "An Unlikely Businessman" doesn't sugarcoat his journey: 21 felonies by age 16, mother introducing him to drugs at 11, high-speed chase ending in death, then clawing back to build a $175 million addiction recovery empire. This isn't another rags-to-riches story—it's a masterclass in radical responsibility and trauma transformation.

Ryan exposes why voids create values, how unexpressed emotions fuel conspiracies within (like suppressed truths in society), and the real "man up" mindset that scales businesses amid chaos. Ready to level up? This conversation will shatter every excuse preventing your empire-level breakthrough.

🔗 Resources

🌐 Ryan Zofay Website — https://www.ryanzofay.com

🌐 We Level Up Treatment Centers — https://www.welevelup.com

📚 An Unlikely Businessman (Book) — https://ryanzofay.com/book-author/

📲 Ryan Zofay Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/ryan.zofay

👍 Ryan Zofay Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/theryanzofay

▶️ Ryan Zofay YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/@ryanzofay

👤 Ryan Zofay LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-zofay

𝕏 Ryan Zofay X — https://twitter.com/RZofay

🎵 Ryan Zofay TikTok — https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanzofay

Watch the full-length video version of any Dropping Bombs episode here on YouTube.

Brad Lea is a self-made entrepreneur who turned small-town grit into a multi-million-dollar empire. With over 25 years dominating sales and leadership, he's mentored thousands to outsmart, outwork, and out win their competition. His top-rated podcast, Dropping Bombs, brings raw, game-changing insights from the biggest names in business.

LightSpeed VT is Brad's brainchild—the world's leading interactive training platform. It's built to make your team sharper, faster, and more effective, without wasting time or money. Whether you're a startup or a Fortune 500, LightSpeed VT is how you scale success and dominate your industry. Curious? Check it out:

https://www.lightspeedvt.com/

Brad's also behind Closer School, the go-to program for mastering sales and closing deals like a pro. Want to 10x your income? This is where you start. His book, The Hard Way, lays out the brutal, honest lessons he learned building his empire—your blueprint to winning the game. Get it here: https://bradlea.com/product/the-hard-way/

This isn't just a video. It's a wake-up call. Watch it. Share it. Act on it.

Closer School: https://www.closerschool.com/cs

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	My sister passed away when I was five. Parents, divorce. Mom ended up in the arms of an abuser who stabbed her 13 times.
0:06.4	About 11 years old, you start doing drugs. Yeah. And she actually introduced marijuana to me for the first time.
0:12.4	Your mom did. Yeah. I was in a high-speed chase and we flipped the vehicle and I was pronounced dead at the scene.
0:18.4	I had 21 felonies at this point. My dad pretty much was like, I don't know you. You're not my son no more. My new drug was ego, money. I sold my soul to make the money. Like Jordan Belford, you stayed off drugs. You figured out how to open up a rehab and then grow that into a multi-million dollar enterprise. Your past perceived voids create your future perceived
0:38.3	values. Are you one of those advocates of crying for men? Yeah, I express myself for sure. This
0:43.2	year we are expected to break about 100 million. Dude, that's crazy. I'll start crying for that.
0:50.2	Like I'm coming to your session. And you get it, right? Right. So this is a funny story.
0:57.7	What it is, Brad Lee, back again with another episode of dropping bombs today in the
1:02.1	studio, folks.
1:02.9	I got a real treat for you.
1:04.2	As always, Ryan Zofay in the house.
1:07.6	What's happening, Ryan?
1:09.6	Dropping bombs, ready to drop some bombs. Folks, if you guys have never heard of this guy, I'm sure you will. He's coming up through the ranks. He's already, you know, broke records making money as an entrepreneur. Was it, like, rehab centers? Yeah, Truggan Hocka Reh Center. Yeah, so he's made millions of dollars in business.
1:35.6	And now he's starting to like, you know, teach people, you know, how he did it and the mindset that he had and how he broke through addiction and how to speak.
1:43.5	Like you're teaching speaking, how to get on stages, how to just basically, I like to say, quit being a puss.
2:34.9	You say it better than that. I actually kind of like that. That was my teachings originally was tough being a play. Man up. Yeah, man up with what I? Dude, there's a lot of people that would be petrified to get on stage. Why do you think that is? Sure. I mean, they don't feel confident in themselves. They're insecure. care. You and my dad was very similar to you. Had this, like, very, like, direct approach. And so looking back now, I can say I appreciated that stuff. But during the time I was going through it, it didn't feel so good. But that was definitely the message. Walk it off, man up. Rub some dirt on it. Yeah, rub some dirt on it, try harder. And I remember playing baseball. My dad was always like, get mad at it, get mad at his son. That's it. Get mad at it because I just get so pissed because I felt like I never could perform at his level. No matter what I did, he always felt like I could do more. And now I can honestly say, looking back that that was conditioning me to be the guy that I am today.
2:36.0	How old are you?
2:36.8	40.
2:39.2	How do I look at 40?
2:40.2	You look good.
2:47.3	You know, I feel like I'm mentally just maturing.
2:52.6	Like I think I probably should feel or should have felt the way I do mentally now when I was 30. How are you mentally? Like, how are you mentally? 40? Yeah, I mean, I definitely
	...

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