We had the good fortune of connecting with Dwayne Mariner and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dwayne, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
My wife and I had long been trying to figure out an escape from ER nursing. We had traveled around the country nursing in every level of Emergency. We nursed in Level 1 trauma centers, Level 1 pediatric trauma centers, rural Emergency rooms, stand alone ERs, ICU, psychiatric facilities, stroke centers, advanced stroke centers and cardiac centers. We were no longer fulfilled by the revolving door of ER medicine. That being said, we started trying to decide what we could do to continue nursing, but in a preventive capacity. We, as trained ER nurses, had no idea how to start or run a business. We had an idea with very little knowledge of where to start. We only wanted to help people stay out of the hospitals and IV vitamin therapy seemed to be the way.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Alpha Hydration Services is your personal wellness, vitamins, and hydration company. We come to you, in the comfort of your home or you can come to us and discuss your wellness needs. We have IV vitamin infusions, IV hydration, Vitamin booster shots and can customize our formulations to get the most benefit for you. We can address fatigue, jet lag, chronic dehydration, nausea, party recovery and even offer weight loss and beauty injections and infusions. Wellness begins at the cellular level with proper nutrition, vitamins and hydration. We are experts in IV infusions and our experience is unparalleled. ER physician and ER RN owned and operated. We have grown steadily and always stay ahead of the curve with education, research and additional services. We are offering stem cell therapy, ketamine therapy, PRP joint injections, as well as peptide therapy. Anybody who has ever started a business will tell you it is the hardest, most rewarding thing you can do for yourself. Easy and business do not often collide in the same sentence. It takes a lot of work, preparation, maintenance, planning, adjusting, mitigating and managing. Perseverance is key to opening and running a business. Finding a niche and how to market have been the most challenging obstacles to overcome as well as licensing, regulation and compliance. Nothing worth doing comes easy and there are always hiccups in the process. You really never overcome the challenges of business, you only adapt to each and every challenge presented. We aspire to be exceptional at everything we do, and we challenge our employees to be the best they can be for our clients. We only want to help and give people the tools to be healthy by taking an active role in their bodies.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We have had the opportunity to host several friends and family in LA. No trip for us is complete without a drive up the PCH, The scenery is magnificent and there are nice little spots to stop and eat or take in the surroundings. We have done the “touristy.” things as well. I recommend the open bus tours of LA, lots of history in this city that most people don’t even take advantage of living here. The Magic Castle, if one can obtain tickets, is a must see. It’s expensive, but there is nothing like it anywhere. Good food, cool atmosphere, great magic and an overall amazing experience. Who knows you may catch a star there as well. We enjoy taking people to Smokehouse in Burbank. Food is good and the atmosphere is an old school. steakhouse, slightly dark and dated. Try the garlic cheese bread and thank me later! We also like to take family and friends to tour houses, famous, infamous, and on the market. Only in LA can you see a 50 million dollar house simply by driving around. We have been known to pull up to the Playboy Mansion and stare at the rock speaker, been runoff a few times, but it’s fun nonetheless. How can you sum up LA and fun? You can’t! I recommend LA Dodgers games, greatest stadium, in my opinion, in MLB plus the team is fun to watch. Have a Michelada and tell them Dwayne sent you(it won’t get you anything). Food food food, LA has it all and you can’t go wrong trying a new food or restaurant. Lastly, I recommend an IV Vitamin Infusion from Alpha Hydration. It’s amazing for travel recovery and prep, hangovers, energy, general fatigue, overall wellness and hydration. It works and can change how you feel about IV infusions. LA where everybody is obsessed with health and wellness is probably the epicenter for IV therapies in the USA. Highly recommended for first timers and seasoned pros as it can only improve your LA vacation.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We would be remiss if we didn’t tell the story of our incredible partner and physician Jon Prince MD. We had been home in Texas for Christmas and family time when we decided to jump into an IV wellness company. We, my wife and I, had been working with Dr. Prince for about 2 years and had a personal relationship as well. Dwayne RN, BSN had been working in the ER that night and was patiently waiting for Dr. Prince to get there for his overnight shift. Dr. Prince walked in and Dwayne immediately grabbed Dr. Prince sat him down, as he has a tendency to get distracted with cleaning his area, and proposed a new opportunity! Dwayne sat Dr. Prince down and stated “give me your life, give me everything important to you! Give me your DEA, MD, Social security number and everything I could use to ruin your life and we are starting a business!” Dr. Prince without a second of hesitation says “Ok”. We had a theoretical business idea and then the real work was about to begin.

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