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- đź’° This $115M Entrepreneur Turned Pain Into Profit
đź’° This $115M Entrepreneur Turned Pain Into Profit
Learn how Eric Spofford went from battling drug addiction to becoming an 9-figure entrepreneur and master of the game.
School of Hard Knocks
February 20, 2025
What’s up, Hard Knocks Community?💰
Today’s episode of the School of Hard Knocks Newsletter features entrepreneur, speaker, coach, and master of the game Eric Spofford. From battling drug addiction to founding and selling one of New England’s largest addiction treatment organizations. Today, Eric is a seasoned real estate investor and developer, leading Spofford Enterprises, which oversees commercial and multifamily real estate, private equity, a media company, and behavioral healthcare businesses.
Today’s Schedule
Turning Pain Into Profit: How Eric Spofford went from battling drug addiction to massive success as a 9-figure entrepreneur
From the Hard Knocks Library: Who Better Than You?: The Art of Healthy Arrogance & Dreaming Big
In Case You Missed It: In Miami, we asked women billionaires how they got rich.
Let’s go!🔥
Turning Pain Into Profit
Eric Spofford grew up in the greater Boston area and his early life was full of instability and chaos. He became involved in drugs at a very early age and by the time he was 14, he was selling drugs and addicted to Oxycontin.
Eric's addiction progressed to what he calls "movie quality drama." Throughout his teens and early 20s, he was in and out of jail, sustained multiple stabbings, overdosed five times, and wound up on life support.
On the morning of December 7th, 2006, Eric experienced a moment of desperation. He had just been released from jail, was dope sick, and robbed someone with a kitchen knife for $82. He used the money to get high for what would be the last time.
A couple months shy of his 22nd birthday, Eric realized he had to either change his life or wind up spending his life in prison, or even worse, wind up dead. That day, he got sober and just recently celebrated 18 years in recovery.
In 2008 at the age of 23, Eric started his first business: a sober living house. Over 13 years, he scaled the business to become one of the largest providers of addiction and mental health treatment services in New England.
In December 2021, Eric sold the business to a private equity company for $115 million. Since then, Eric built his personal brand online and provides coaching to entrepreneurs. Through Spofford Enterprises, he’s also an active day-to-day CEO of several businesses, including an addiction treatment business with three facilities in California, Ohio, and Pennsylvania and 200 employees.
Eric has also done hundreds of millions of dollars in real estate transactions. His aggressively growing real estate business puts together single family homes with low-income housing tenants. Those properties are then sold to investors looking to generate cash flow and experience the tax benefits of real estate.
Today, Eric lives in Miami, Florida. In addition to leading Spofford Enterprises, Eric has numerous accolades to his name, including testifying before the U.S. Senate, being awarded Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration, and becoming a published author.
Eric Spofford
On a recent live call and Q&A, inside the School of Mentors community, Eric dropped a ton of wisdom for today's entrepreneurs. Let's look at four of the best takeaways:
Lead the Way
To acquire more customers and earn more money in your business, Eric says you need to become an expert-level marketer and salesperson. The main goal of marketing is to produce leads, which you can do through ads, creating a website, and building up your social media presence.
The main goal of sales is to then turn those leads coming in from your marketing efforts into revenue. Becoming a marketing and sales master is the key to sustainable success. Sure, you may be an expert in the service you provide or the products you sell, but people need to know you exist and get excited about your offer in order for your business to be profitable.
Fear of Flying
When you're experiencing moments where you feel like you're holding yourself back, Eric says to go in confidently with both feet. Life goes by so quickly and we all eventually run out of time. If we don't take those chances while we can, we may wind up with massive regret down the road.
What holds most of us back is a fear of failure and embarrassment of not getting it right. Eric says that what should scare you more is what would happen if you don't take that risk.
When you feel the fear taking over, ask yourself if it's bigger than the regret you'll experience if you never try. Give those opportunities all you've got while you still can.
A Separate Path
If you're going to take the entrepreneurial road instead of the traditional 9-to-5 path, Eric advises people to build up their risk tolerance. There are no guarantees in life and not every business idea is going to work out.
Throughout his own journey, Eric realized one thing successful people have in common is tunnel vision, or the ability to focus on one thing obsessively until it works out. When he first started his sober house, Eric didn't make money for the first three years. It was tough, but he saw his vision through because he never gave up.
Entrepreneurship isn't easy and it certainly isn't for everyone. However, if you believe in yourself, do the work, and stay in it for the long haul, the foundation you build will lead you to success.
Gathering Guidance
When faced with difficult decisions in life, two words immediately come to Eric: pause and prayer. Taking a day or two to sit with everything in silence or in communication with God often sparks the intuitive actions or guidance he needs to handle a tough situation.
It's tempting to want to ask everyone you know for advice, especially when you're first starting out as an entrepreneur. Eric leans on people he respects in business for advice. He seeks out those with integrity, character, and expertise in the areas in which he needs help.
A lot of people tap family and friends for advice, but their opinions can cloud your vision, especially if they've never been in business. When seeking advice, look for a mentor who's been where you want to be. Spending time in meditation or prayer can also provide you with the insight you need to make your next move.
Connect with Eric here:
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Words of Wisdom
“Whether you think you can, or think you can’t - you’re right.”
In Case You Missed It
We went to Miami, Florida to interview some of the wealthiest female entrepreneurs and business people in the world. We asked them about the most amount of money they have made in a year and their best life and career advice. We interviewed people in a variety of industries such as beauty, oil, and more. Check out the interviews here!
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