You think you know the story.
Guy starts small. Works hard. Gets rich. End of story.
Wrong.
That’s the fairy tale they sell you. The real story—the one that matters—is what happens after the money hits. It’s about the guy who built a multi-brand empire, from ALTRD to MOTION, but still wakes up every day with the same mindset he had when his address was a double-wide trailer in Tennessee.
That guy is David Lee Saylor.
Most people chase the spotlight. David chased leverage. And the first, most powerful piece of leverage he found wasn’t a product or a partnership. It was a location.
“People think I’m crazy when I tell them,” David told me, leaning back in his chair, the SaylorMade Podcast mic just out of view. “But that trailer, that Tennessee starting point? That was the best business decision I ever made.”
The Geographic Arbitrage of Humility
While others were burning cash on high-rent, high-ego cities, David was quietly executing geographic arbitrage. He kept his overhead low. He kept his focus high. He built the foundation for a brand ecosystem that now includes CBD Plus USA (run by his wife, Haley), Planet Vapor, and Colorado Cures.
This isn’t just a business model; it’s a family-first business model.
Think about that for a second. The man who has scaled multiple national brands still attributes his success to the simple fact that he didn’t try to look rich before he was rich. That’s the pattern interrupt. The secret to getting rich is not spending money.
But you can’t build an empire alone. Every great general needs a Power Trio. For David, that’s Matt Williamson and Tanner Carroll. They are the engine. They are the execution. They are the reason a simple idea from a simple place can scale to the level of ALTRD.
The Content Court and The Culture
Success attracts attention. But authenticity attracts culture.
David doesn’t just build businesses; he builds assets that generate culture. Take the ALTRD basketball court. It’s not just a place to shoot hoops. It’s a content factory. It’s a magnet.
And who does it attract? The people who move culture.
When you see David linking up with Jack Doherty (15.3M subscribers), Antonio Brown, or Murda Murphy, you’re not seeing a celebrity endorsement. You’re seeing a validation of the SaylorMade mindset. These aren’t just partnerships; they are associations built on mutual respect for the grind.
It’s the ultimate fan angle: the guy from the double-wide is now playing on the same court as the cultural heavyweights. And he’s still the most grounded person in the room.
I asked him, “With all the success, the brands, the partnerships—how do you keep the double-wide from fading into the rearview mirror?”
His answer was immediate, without a hint of pretense.
“It’s not a rearview mirror thing. It’s a foundation. Every time we make a big decision, I think back to that trailer. Did we have to do this? Is this necessary? Am I doing this for the business, or for my ego? If the answer is ego, we kill it. Ego is the silent killer of scale. My job is to serve my family and my team. The money is just the score.”
That’s the quote. Write that down.
It’s a masterclass in leadership. The man who could buy any house in any city chooses to anchor his decisions in the scarcity and resourcefulness of his past. He uses his origin story not as a trophy, but as a guardrail.
The Final Lesson
The brands—ALTRD, MOTION, CBD Plus USA—are massive. The reach is global. But the lesson is local.
David Lee Saylor didn’t escape the double-wide. He weaponized it. He took the humility, the resourcefulness, and the family-first focus forged in that small space and applied it to a massive scale.
The next time you see a post from the ALTRD court, or hear him on the SaylorMade Podcast, remember this: The most powerful thing you own is your origin story.
Don’t let success change your values. Let your values change the definition of success.
