Top Podcaster And Co-Founder Of Next Level University Kevin Palmieri On The Importance Of Success With Fulfillment (#243)

Jeffrey Feldberg: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast where you learn how to extract your business and personal Deep Wealth. 

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This podcast is brought to you by Deep Wealth and the 90-day Deep Wealth Experience. 

When it comes to your business deep wealth, your exit or liquidity event is the most important financial decision of your life. 

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Kevin Palmer is the CFO, Founder and Co-host of Next Level University, a global Top 100 self-improvement podcast with over 1000 episodes and 600,000 plus listens in over 125 countries. Some people find rock bottom. Kevin found out that rock bottom has a basement in his mid twenties. Kevin had it all.[00:02:00]

He had a beautiful girlfriend, a high paying job, a sports car, dream body, but he ended up sitting on the edge of a bed debating suicide. After hitting the rock bottom moment, Kevin went all in on holistic self-improvement. Kevin was determined to overcome his anxiety and depression and finally live the life he always dreamed of.

Kevin now hosts a podcast that is a multi six-figure business, impacts hundreds of thousands of people in countries worldwide and has recorded over a thousand episodes. Kevin has given hundreds of speeches, training and coaching calls to people worldwide by focusing on learning what he didn't know and unlearning many things at the same time.

Kevin's life started to shift, consistency, commitment, habits, mindset, confidence, fear, relationships, limiting beliefs, and everything in between our front and center for Kevin. Kevin believes in a heart driven but no BS approach to [00:03:00] holistic self-improvement, and looks forward to teaching people what it takes to get to the next level.

Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast, and wow do we have a guest lined up for you? A podcaster of podcasters, a podcast extraordinaire, an incredible story individual who has been to the brink and back, and come on. Let's face it, as business owners, there are times where, you know, we just get there. How do we give ourselves that little nudge to take it to the next level?

I promise you, you're gonna come out today feeling a whole lot better than coming in. So that said, I'm gonna stop it there. Kevin. Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast. And Kevin, you know what? There's always a story behind the story. What's your story? What got you to where you are today?

Kevin Palmieri: Yeah. First of all, thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. Thank you for the wonderful introduction and kind words. I always start simply with this, Jeffrey. I started just like everybody else, I started from a place of not knowing what I wanted to do, not knowing who I wanted to be. So I was raised by my mom and my grandmother.

Shout out to mom and [00:04:00] MEMA as we call her, mema.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Uhhuh.

Kevin Palmieri: I didn't know my dad. I didn't meet my dad until I was 27. So obviously as a young man that has potential positives and potential negatives. So I just for context, I think it's good to throw it out there. But other than that, I knew at a pretty young age that I didn't wanna do the same thing that a lot of my friends were doing.

So while everybody else was applying to college, getting ready to go to college, I decided I am not gonna go to college. That's not for me. I did a bunch of odd jobs, cleaning toilets at a bathroom, gas station attendant many different things. Eventually, I got a very unique opportunity in an industry called weatherization.

So we would go into state owned buildings and we would make them more energy efficient. That was my job. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: Uhhuh. 

Kevin Palmieri: We worked for the state, I got anywhere from 60 to $120 an hour.

As a 25 year old man with no college degree, that's pretty darn good, right? So if you looked at me from the outside, you would see a young man who had a high paying job.

My girlfriend at the time was a model. [00:05:00] I had the body of my dreams cuz I just won a body building show, sports car, new apartment, all the things. And if you checked in with me. Two years later, I was on the edge of the bed in a hotel room, debating suicide.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow.

Kevin Palmieri: So it looked like externally. I had all the unique measures of success.

Internally, I was insecure. I was afraid of my own shadow. I was depressed, I was anxious. It looked like I had success, 

Jeffrey Feldberg: Uh huh. 

Kevin Palmieri: I never really defined what success looked like to me.

Until I felt that extreme amount of pain and that extreme amount of necessity, that was kind of the kick in the butt for me to say, Hey, it's time to figure out what do we really wanna do here?

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so Kevin, from the outside looking in, you're right, you had all the trappings of what people would call success, but what was missing for you when all was said and done?

Kevin Palmieri: Yeah. So. I preface it with this, I think that my internal state and my external state were just too far apart.

Internally. I felt like a [00:06:00] thousand dollars house. Externally, it might have looked like I was a million dollar mansion, and I think that plays tricks on our psyche when that happens.

So that's part one. I think part two is I was designing for a life of happiness, not for a life of fulfillment.

And happiness is very results driven and it's very fleeting.

If this interview goes well and you like me, I will feel happy.

Regardless of how this interview goes, I am fulfilled because I am in the process of doing what I believe I should be doing to become the best version of me, and I had a life that was optimized for happiness.

That was the biggest thing. Now it's interesting, right? so I've been podcasting since 2017.

When I left my job and went from making six figures to zero figures, I was far less successful. I definitely had less happiness in my life, but I was far more fulfilled

And life got better from there. So for me, that's the unique measure that I didn't have, that I now do, and I understand.

For me, that's what I've always been chasing.

Jeffrey Feldberg: [00:07:00] Yeah, Kevin Ray outta one of my own personal playbooks, which says something along the lines of this, all the zeros in the bank account, all the accolades, all the success in the world mean nothing. In fact, it's a failure if you lack fulfillment. And, hearing your story of what you went through it almost sounds like, I don't wanna put words in your mouth, but if I said the term imposter syndrome was that something kind of racing through your mind and what you were feeling back in the day?

Kevin Palmieri: I still have that. I always do research before I go on a show. I research this and I was like, interesting. We interviewed Coach Michael Burt. I saw Coach Michael Burt. I saw a lot of guests that I know, and it was like, do I belong?

Right. I still have that 1,270 episodes into my podcast, and yeah, I still have that.

So I think it was more back then because I didn't have a lot of knowledge. , I didn't have a lot of extrinsic value and I think I wanted to use external results to bridge that gap. Now I think it's because every time I get comfortable with what I'm doing, [00:08:00] there's a new opportunity that's presented I try to approach that opportunity and I think that's where imposter syndrome comes, where you are afraid that people are gonna find out your biggest thing, that you're afraid people are gonna find out.

I think that's really what imposter syndrome is. So I still. Transparently

Jeffrey Feldberg: You know, It's interesting Kevin, just to share both of us being vulnerable for the whole world to listen to here. You know, I'm coming into this podcast thinking, my God, this guy's done a gazillion podcast. Hopefully he'll teach me a thing or two along the way here. And you know, hearing how you're feeling coming in, it's, you know, life's interesting I would love your thoughts on this.

And then I want to talk about what you're doing with Next Level University and how you're changing lives and paying it. From where you were back in the day and we fast forward to today with social media and just the change of pace and how we're now really gaining that social programming of looking at people and seeing what looks like the perfect life, the perfect vacation, the perfect everything.

And it's just one picture out of thousands of pictures, which is nothing like [00:09:00] reality. Do you sense a change in what's been taking place from our mindset and how we're being programmed to think and what are you seeing with.

Kevin Palmieri: 100%. Yeah. The interesting thing is most people don't ever have the opportunity to go behind the curtain of social media.

So we were interviewed one time my business partner and I, we used to do interviews together until we realized that's probably not the best use of our time. So we ended up splitting that up.

But we were interviewed. A model who is just unbelievably gorgeous, on her social media. You would think this person has a 10 outta 10 confidence level, like nothing could possibly shake this person. And she didn't wanna use video that day because she didn't feel like she looked good enough.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Huh?

Kevin Palmieri: And that was just such an interesting dichotomy for me of you are a model. and your social media is basically how pretty you are, but in this moment, that's not up to the standard that you wanna show.

That is way more common. I've worked with professional cheerleaders who have [00:10:00] literally been in the N F L, on the N F L teams, and they have the same thing where they don't necessarily feel good enough in certain situations.

So I speak to that just from the understanding that social media is a high. It is polished. It is chosen with high levels of intentionality, and usually it tells 1% of a hundred percent story.

So until you can disconnect, and here's why it's so important, I think social media is a good representation of momentary happiness.

I don't think you can recognize fulfillment in a picture on social media, right? I don't know that you can really, unless you're fulfilled and you can say, I can tell by the look in that person's eyes that they really love what they're doing, but that's another level of consciousness.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Kevin, we're gonna get into the Next Level University, but before we do, for every episode wherever possible, I love to have the listener walk away with something that they can do today, something actionable that can make a difference. I mean, some of the topics we've been talking about that could be, forget an episode, that can be an entire [00:11:00] series.

We've talked about imposter syndrome, we've talked about social media and social programming. Given where you've been, where you are and where you're heading when it comes to mindset, because mindset is so often undervalue. By, just the general public or what you're hearing out there. But for me, mindset is the art side of business.

That's where the magic happens. Not in a spreadsheet, not in a formula, not in something complicated. It's the art side, which sometimes it's intangible. It's hard to even put words around. So from the art side of things, from a mindset perspective, What would be something today, walking outta this episode that's really worked well for you?

For the people that you've coached, for people going through Next Level University, what would be a strategy or a tip for our listeners?

Kevin Palmieri: Yeah, start internally with your. . I know a lot of us as business owners, we want to go crush it and track the data and make money and make impact and add value and change people's lives. But at the end of the day, so much of what we do and what we don't do is inside of us. And for [00:12:00] many of us, it's unconscious.

We are unconsciously showing up and unintentionally doing things in certain ways. So what has really benefited me is trying to make sure I learn as much about myself than anything else because I am the only thing that I will take with me for the rest of my life. I am the only thing that's gonna show up on this interview that like your self-improvement set point is going to determine so much. So make sure you're reflecting on your past. Make sure you're sitting with your insecurities. Make sure you're admitting what you're really good at, what you're not good at. If you have an ego flare with somebody, question, why is that? Why was I unkind? Why do I feel super confident?

Why do I not Just levels of why. Asking yourself why is a very powerful behavior.

Jeffrey Feldberg: I love that. And Kevin, let me ask you this, because you have the experience and you really cut across a wide swath of people in all different stations of life, throughout your career and growing up, and what you've done. So for the Type A personalities, which are a lot of the [00:13:00] listeners, and I'll put myself in that camp as well, and perhaps you as well, were very similar that way, and it's easy as a type A personality to really say, you know what, okay, I'm just gonna come out.

I'm gonna be invincible. I'm gonna show everyone why I'm the best of the best. But it's actually the wrong thing to do when people wanna see that, Hey, you have some flaws, you have some kryptonite that can bring you to your knees. Why do you think that is? And why is it important for us to open up as hard as that might be?

And people may say well, being vulnerable is being weak. We're actually gotta be strong to be vulnerable. But why is that the case that the likability factor shoots through the roof when we can open up and show our vulnerability.

Kevin Palmieri: Yeah, because at the end of the day, now, more than ever, we buy more into people than we do anything else. And if you really want to impact somebody, if you really want to influence somebody, if you really wanna shift somebody's purchasing decisions, anything really, they have to resonate with who you are as a human being.

We're well beyond. You should be perfect and make no mistakes and [00:14:00] always show up perfect. We're way beyond that, where now I believe if human beings resonate with you, you will be far more successful.

It's no longer follow the leader because you're supposed to. It's follow the leader because the leader makes you feel safe.

They make you feel empowered. And more than anything, I think they make you feel like you can be imperfect because they show their imperfections, that it creates a culture of this is real life. and we all have strengths and we all have weaknesses. I'll cry on a team call because if I'm going through it, I'm going through it.

That's the way it is that day. So I think it, it creates a culture, not only in the brand and the business, but on the team behind the scenes. And those are the people who see you at the high moments and the low moments.

Jeffrey Feldberg: . Well That's terrific of you. You know, Really you're being the change that you want to be. And as you're talking, I am reminiscent of that saying, whoever said that business isn't personal was never in business because business is completely personal. So let's change things up [00:15:00] here and talk to us about Next Level University, and I loved your tagline, level Up your Life, love, health, and Wealth.

You just knocked off all the key areas of life, so how did it start and what's going on with Next Level University?

Kevin Palmieri: Yeah, I was in 2017, I was actually interviewed on a YouTube show, and at the end I said, imagine if you could do that for a living.

That was my thought process in the time I ended up having a successful year at work and realizing this isn't it, there has to be more to life. And it all happened in a very synchronistic time.

I ordered all the equipment to figure out how to start a podcast, and I started a podcast and it was called The Hyper-Conscious Podcast. So when I talk about awareness, I was obsessed with becoming more aware of everything life. My relationships. So that's where it started, and that was in 2017.

Eventually I ended up leaving my job, partnering with who was one of my best friends at the time, and we said, all right, we have to turn this into a business at some point. [00:16:00] So that's when we said, all right, what are we gonna do to make money? So we started coaching. Right, and that turned into a bunch of one-on-one coaching clients, and it's grown from there.

So at the end of the day, next Level University is a podcast that does seven episodes a week. And one of our other mottos is self-improvement in your pocket every single day from anywhere on the planet, completely free.

If we're gonna suggest you get better every day, I'd like to be the person who's there helping you get better every day.

Jeffrey Feldberg: What a commitment, and for our listeners, to put this in perspective, you know, there's a lot of podcasters that struggle with one episode a week or maybe two a month. Here you're knocking off every single day, seven days a week, all throughout the year. So, wow. Kevin, that's quite the commitment. What got you there?

Kevin Palmieri: Yeah, it's interesting. We started with one and then that was like, all right. Eventually that got easy, and then we were like, all right, let's do two, and then. One of our mentors, Evan Carmichael, he challenged us and said, you guys are way too good to not be doing more episodes.

And we were like, interesting. Somebody way [00:17:00] ahead of us believes in us. Okay. So we ended up doing three episodes a week after that. Somebody else challenged us, another guest we had, so we, I think we went to four, then five. And then when we were at five, we're like, look, we might as well just do seven.

There's seven days in the week, so we might as well do it. But the other thing though, the interesting thing, and I think this is important is as our systems improved, it was far easier for us to put out more content, right? Because now we have a team that is in charge of content. So that was impactful.

But at the end of the day, our mean thing is impact.

I think of it from a place of, so mastery impact profitability mastery. I'm mastering how to podcast seven days a week, plus I go on 10 to 15 shows a week. So that's a lot of episodes, right? Impact comes from that. Ultimately, eventually the result of that will be profitability that can go back into the business, but I wanna go mastery, impact profitability.

I think that's the best way to.

Jeffrey Feldberg: That's terrific. And while you're doing all that behind the scenes, you're paying it forward and making a difference, being that [00:18:00] change maker. And that's really where the magic happens and where things are at. So congratulations with 

Kevin Palmieri: you. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so, Kevin, I'm curious with Next Level University, you're doing your coaching, you're really interacting with who knows how many people, a lot of people and successful people and people getting to success and people turning their lives around. Is there an 80 20 Pareto's law? Do you see that in effect here, where 80% of the problems, the issues that people, you know, they're kept up at nights, they're causing them heartache are coming from 20% of the same few issues again and again. Are there any patterns like that and anything that you can share with us?

Kevin Palmieri: I have really seen three things stop people from whatever their level of success

It's false expectations. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: Okay. 

Kevin Palmieri: It's an misaligned approach or a skewed time perspective.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Okay.

Kevin Palmieri: And those are, I work more now with podcasters, businesses and brands with their podcasts than anything.

And here's the interesting thing. When you start talking with [00:19:00] somebody, they will tell you their expect.

And you would say the same thing, Jeffrey. You can tell when somebody tells you their expectations if they're gonna succeed or not. Like you want a hundred million dollar business this year, I don't think that's gonna happen.

That's probably not super realistic. That expectation determines the approach, right? I'm gonna sink all my money into this year one, and we're gonna crush it. Maybe not. And then the third thing is the time perspective. So I think of it this way, if you call me up tomorrow and say, Hey, we're gonna go on a run.

I'm gonna ask you one. , how far is this run? How long are we running for? Because that changes my expectations, which changes my approach, which helps me understand the unique set of the time perspective. Those three, I've seen hold so many people back because if you have the wrong expectations, you are kind of setting yourself up for failure, really.

So those are the big three.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so let's reverse engineer that. You're kind enough to share, Hey, if you're doing these three things wrong, here's what likely the outcome's gonna. So now let's reverse engineer that and quick thought experiment. We're gonna be taking on an [00:20:00] important initiative, perhaps a big initiative, something that can be really a game changer.

It'll move the dial for us personally, for the business. How should we approach that, Kevin? What does that look like?

Kevin Palmieri: Yeah, I like to say look at the ceiling and the floor. So in terms of expectations, I think many of us look at the ceiling. So podcast. people. Look at Joe Rogan. It's like, well, he's got, you know, a hundred million with Spotify. That is a statistical anomaly that most likely will never happen again in a subset of subsets.

So if you look at the ceiling, okay, Joe Rogan what's the floor? The floor is, there has been 3 million podcasts started, but right now there's only 225,000 in production.

So most people fail within the first month. That's the floor. You might actually be more successful than you think.

Interesting. Okay, so that's expectations. The approach might be okay let's say this. I was told when I started X that X was a great way to get more results with less work. Interesting. Who told you that? This person. Okay. [00:21:00] I think they're misleading you when in reality your approach should be, I need to put in way more work in the beginning and then eventually, hopefully I'll be able to maybe take my foot off the gas cuz I'll have enough momentum and we'll be into exponential land by then.

And then the time perspective thing is, I don't know, I think a lot of people are looking at the anomalies and they're saying again that, the Joe Rogan's, the good example. There's so much that goes into growth that I don't think people really give credit to. Again, just podcasting as an example.

If you do one episode a week for a year, that's only 52 reps. Imagine going to the gym 52 times and expecting to have the most successful powerful body of all time. It's most likely not gonna happen. Right? So that unique time perspective of 52. is not that many, depending on what you're doing. 52 coaching calls, that's not a lot.

52 movies, that is a lot. So contextually understanding that time perspective and saying, okay, in my unique case, in my industry, based [00:22:00] on where I am, what is a long-term perspective, and what's a very short one?

Jeffrey Feldberg: I have some great insights there. Let me ask you this. So podcasting and social media, from a business perspective, from a brand building perspective, it's something that you're focusing on now. So for the business owners that are out there that are thinking, yeah, you know what? I've thought about this.

Maybe I could be doing some kind of a podcast or on one of the social media channels, what would you say to them?

Kevin Palmieri: Yeah, I would say most people aren't creating enough content. You'll hear Gary V ,the content king. Talk about that all the time. So a podcast is a great way for you to do two things. One, connect directly with your audience. Three things really. Number two network, if you so choose with people who might end up being clients or investors or whatever it is.

Three, it helps position you as an expert in your field because, This is what you do in an ideal world. You sit down, you get yourself a nice studio set up like Jeffrey has. You record audio and video. Audio goes to all the podcast [00:23:00] platforms, video goes to YouTube, and then you have yourself or your team cut the video up into segments of you adding value.

This is how I, tell people, I want your podcast to be you solving one unique problem in one unique. For one unique person, and that's your brand. And your podcast is part of the brand. The social media is the part of the brand. So you are allowing yourself to add free value in various pieces, various levels of your business, where ultimately, , if it works the way it should.

Somebody finds you on social media and says, this Jeffrey guy is really either a, having great guests, or When I see the content, it's valuable. Lemme check out this podcast. Interesting. I didn't know Jeffrey also had whatever. Below that is the Facebook group or whatever it is. Ultimately, if you add enough aligned value to your audience, they end up becoming a customer or a client if they're supposed to.

So it's a very good way to, build the no, like trust, but also [00:24:00] influence and impact from a place of value. You're not asking for anything. You're giving a lot.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And I'm wondering, Kevin, you've been at this for a while, coming outta the pandemic. My sense anyways, and you can tell me if I'm on base or off base with this is. People's expectations have changed. It's when doing business, it's no longer a logo. I want to know the person behind the logo. I want to get personal with them and know what they're all about, what their values are, what the culture of the company is, all those kinds of things.

Are you seeing more of that? Has that become more predominant out there on the business side?

Kevin Palmieri: Yeah. I think people now are more conscious and hyper conscious of where their dollars are going. They don't want their dollars to go to something that is perceived the opposite of their character.

Right. So you'll see, Tiger Woods however, many years ago, right? Tiger Woods was the face of a brand, did something that's many people didn't resonate with.

They pulled away, he lost a lot of sponsorships. I'm sure his revenue went down. It's because we now associate the leader of the business as the character of the [00:25:00] business.

And the character of the business. Oftentimes the character of the brand determines whether or not we're willing to invest. So 100%, I think everybody is a personal brand.

It's just whether or not you choose to leverage it that way.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so Kevin, for a listener out there who's saying, okay, you know what? Yeah, I think I know we should be on social media. We should even have a podcast. You're helping people with that. You're helping business owners with that. You have your podcast, growth University going on, so I show up.

I'm now enrolled in the university led by you and the team. What's going on there? What am I learning? How are you.

Kevin Palmieri: Yeah. So Podcast Growth U is a free podcast too. So we, I have another podcast about podcasting if you want that. But the way we have it set up is for most of our clients, they are busy entrepreneurs, CEOs or brands. So we say, all right, cool. This is what we're gonna do. Every other week you and I are gonna hop on a call.

We're gonna do a Zoom call for an hour, and we're gonna talk about where are the sticking points, what should we [00:26:00] be doing? Let's look at the data, let's talk about social media, let's talk about the funnel, let's talk about everything. So we're hyper-focused on that. And then our amazing team is going to do all of your audio editing, all your video editing, creating your social media content, posting your episodes everywhere so you can be the business owner and you can be the brand builder, and you can do the other things that are important for the business while we take care of the content that really.

our main focus is how do we save you as much time as possible so you can go do the other big rocks when it comes to your business.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And for our listeners, I hope you can appreciate this, because what Kevin is talking about, this is not some theory, this is not something in the classroom. He's been there, he's done that. He's in the trenches. This is not somebody saying statistics say this, and theory says that he's taking what he's learned the hard way.

He's got the PhD from the school of Hard Knocks, and you're the benefactor of that with Kevin and his team to take whatever social media outlet you're gonna be using to take [00:27:00] that. And really, with your magic wand, Kevin, you and the team, getting that out there in a time saving way so that business owners can grow their brand, get new customers, get the word out there, and really build that better mouse trap, so to speak.

Kevin Palmieri: Yeah, and it's the awareness piece too of like that's one of the interesting things is I'll literally turn clients away when they come and say, yeah, I wanna have a million downloads this year. It's not gonna happen. I need to, going back to those three points, I need to make sure you have realistic expectations, a realistic approach, and a realistic time perspective.

That's why I do what I do, because so many people start and quit because they're not getting the results they think they should or on both ends, they think they should have more listens or they think they don't have any listens and it puts you in a weird place. So yeah, that's the ultimate goal is just share the awareness.

If I have an awareness you don't. Awesome. If I can help you raise your awareness with mine, that's what we're all in this for. At the end of the day.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Kevin, going back to the three points that you mentioned earlier, and the listeners will probably not hear this from anyone else. [00:28:00] When they're being told, oh yeah, we'll help you get your podcast up and running again. You'll be the next Joe Rogan and you'll have a gazillion downloads and the money's gonna start pouring in.

So to set expectations across the board, money, time, results, everything else they're working with you, they're gonna get something out there. When can they start seeing results? How long is that gonna take? And dollar wise, what would they be spending to start seeing a little bit of the needle starting to move?

Kevin Palmieri: Yeah, so this is what I say. It depends on the level of effort that you're willing to put. If you're willing to post on social media every day and you're willing to build real, authentic relationships with your listeners. You're willing to turn your podcast into a business.

The people who come and say, I wanna get the most out of the least, that doesn't work with a podcast that well. So that's what I'll always say is if you wanna make money in the first year, sure, absolutely. That is definitely possible. If you wanna make a million dollars in the first year barring some sort of specific niche that you're in, or you're marketing you're connecting with high Wealth individuals, that's probably not gonna [00:29:00] happen.

So it all depends on the person, their capabilities, their. and their commitment. And then what I would say is the average cost of doing business with us is 500 bucks a month. For me it has to be sustainable, right? Because if it's not sustainable, you're not gonna make $500 your first month, most likely.

So I wanna make sure it's sustainable long term.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And for our listeners out there, if you were to do this yourself, just think of what it would cost. Forget the money. Let's look at the time. You gotta put the team together. You gotta find the experienced people. Make sure you're getting the right people, not the wrong people. I would suspect they're gonna be spending way more time, and certainly they're not gonna be able to do it for that small investment, Kevin, that you're talking about and the roi.

with the right amount of time and the effort is just tremendous.

Kevin Palmieri: Yeah. There's a lot that goes into like, there's the social proof of having a podcast too. I've had many clients that get speaking gigs somebody goes and looks at their body of work, and Jeffrey, you're a great example. When you have hundreds of episodes. [00:30:00] That's a really good suggestion of, oh, what would Jeffrey speak on?

Oh, let me go list to one of his solo episodes. Interesting. Great speaker. Very authentic, can speak to our audience. Your resume gets better as you do more content. right? So you know, I have a resume of 1,250 something episodes. That's really good if somebody wants to listen. But you also can listen and say, all right, either this guy knows what he's talking about, or if he's just BS in every episode, do we feel comfortable bringing him in to speak to whoever it is?

It builds up that brand trust, and I just think there's many intangibles that are just not measurable, that a podcast really helps you with.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Absolutely. And for the people that are out there saying, yeah, you know what, Kevin, you've sold me on the podcast and even your team getting me out there on social media fight. Oh my goodness. Speaking is just, I don't think I can talk and getting up in front of people is a hard thing for me to do.

What would you say to that person of why they could actually do it?

Kevin Palmieri: In the beginning it's hard for everybody. I think the problem with many of us is [00:31:00] we think where we are today is where we are forever, and we think where somebody is today is where they were forever. I couldn't speak in the beginning either. I'm still nervous when I give speeches, but there is some strategies and tactics.

And I think the other thing too is I don't expect you to be good in the beginning. I am the type of coach that will jump on a call with you, and I will literally help you format your episode. I'll help you figure out what to say, what not to say. I'll give you framework so you feel more comfortable. That's what I would say.

You'll have somebody in it with you that's gonna help You'll have somebody who's there to support you in the good moments, but also the challenging

Jeffrey Feldberg: Kevin, if you're looking for some rough episodes of just learning the rope, just go to our podcast. The first few episodes. There you go. We're the poster child, so if we could do it, anyone could do it. Because looking back and listening, it was, oh my goodness 

Kevin Palmieri: Same here, Jeffrey. Yeah, same 

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so Kevin, let me ask you this, because really if we roll everything together here now, what we've been talking about, whether it's through the podcasting and helping businesses get a presence and build a brand or the next level university and the different courses that you're offering. For me, really it's the [00:32:00] art side of success.

And when you look at your journey to date and the people that you've worked with, what do you think is going on? What have you been able to find and perhaps remove if it's. blocking someone from realizing their full potential.

Kevin Palmieri: I didn't realize this, Jeffrey, but a lot of people are afraid of success.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Oh, interesting. What's going on there?

Kevin Palmieri: I assumed everybody was afraid of failure like me. There is a subconscious, so I had a client who we did a call and she kept bringing this up, how she's always been torn down by people. She's beautiful, she's intelligent, she's wealthy, and she's very confident.

And she literally on the call said, I'm sorry if that comes off as arrogant. I'm sorry if I seem too confident. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. And I just asked a simple question. I said, why do you feel the need to set you're sorry? 

And she said, in most of the other rooms I've been in, I've been villainized for X, whatever it may be.

And I said, okay, on a scale of one to 10, how afraid of being successful and being torn down even more, are you? And she said, 10 outta 10 that's why I stopped myself from [00:33:00] being successful, and it was just a very interesting thing. So I have seen that most of us, whether we don't believe in ourselves or we do believe in ourselves, we are usually the ones holding ourselves back when it comes to that inner stuff, right?

If that person didn't realize that she was afraid of success. She would go her whole life chasing and trying to achieve what she actually doesn't want, what she's actually pushing away. So that's one of the big things I've seen is yeah, we're, a lot of people are afraid of failure, but a lot of people are also afraid of success subconsciously, and they don't realize it yet.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Kevin, as you're talking through that, I'm thinking of our listeners, and you know what? We're all human. We all have, maybe it's a fear of failure in this case, a fear of success, and I also know you do group coaching, and so for our listeners out there, if you're nodding your head, yeah, that kind of sounds like me, Kevin, you're talking about this person.

But yeah, that could just as easily be me. Why not go to Kevin's website? We have that in the show notes. Sign up for the group coaching. Have Kevin and the team help you get through that work through some of those issues. Anything else, Kevin, that you're seeing? [00:34:00] So, fear of success, which you know, isn't so obvious you wouldn't think of that necessarily.

Anything else that you're seeing that's holding people back?

Kevin Palmieri: Yeah, they're relationships. That's a big one. One of my favorite questions slash least favorite questions, cuz I know it can be a little painful, but are the people in your life the best from your past or the best for your future? That is a question to sit with because again, a lot of the people we have in our lives, if you classified why they're there, you'd say They've always been there. We went to high school, we went to college. We used to party together. We used to work out. We used to date whatever it is. Just because somebody used to hold a spot in your life doesn't mean they should forever.

Giving people the permission to admit that, it's a strange thing that we have a lot of shame around.

We have a lot of shame around outgrowing people or leaving people behind. That's one of the things that I've noticed about people is sometimes we want attention and we want people to hold space more than we actually want to be loved and appreciated.

Jeffrey Feldberg: That's interesting. What terrific insights. And Kevin, as you're talking about that, I was reminded, I believe it was [00:35:00] Jim Ron. I could be off base. I'm fairly certain that it was Jim Roh who said, Every one of us, we are the average of the five people that we spend the most amount of time with.

And so for our listeners, who are you spending the most amount of time with? And if you were to go to some people that you trust, not those people that you're spending the time with, but people that know you, trust you, and know those people. Ask them. Do they represent me? Are they a good representative?

Could I be doing better? Could I be doing worse? And to your point, birds of a feather fought together. And that goes both ways. So something to be really really careful of. I'll just share with you, Kevin, some of the worst and biggest mistakes of my life have come from when I haven't been in the best of company.

And we'll just leave it at that. But lessons learned and for listeners as.

Kevin Palmieri: same.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so, Kevin, we could just go down all these different rabbit holes and I would love to. That said, we're starting to bump up again some time. So let's start to wrap things up and I have the honor and the privilege of asking this question of every single guest.

And I'll set this up and I'll ask the question. So Kevin, if you look to the movie [00:36:00] Back to the Future, you have that magical DeLorean car that will take you to any point in. So Kevin, here's the fun part. You look outside your window tomorrow morning and there it is. Not only is the DeLorean car sitting there, but the doors open, it's waiting for you to hop on in, and now you're gonna go back to any part of the younger Kevin.

Kevin as a child, a teenager, young, adult, whatever point in time that would be. Kevin, what are you telling your younger self in terms of life wisdom or lessons, or, Hey Kevin, do this, but don't do that. What would that sound like?

Kevin Palmieri: Yeah, I think I would have maybe one for each kind of season of life. One would be, it's not your fault.

Think I internalized my dad leaving for a long time as this was something of my doing, even though I had no influence or control over it. So that would be one. The other one, it's an interesting thing in high school, nothing really matters as much as you think it does.

You know, You think everything's the end of the world and usually it isn't that. So I would've told him that, and then when I first began the entrepreneurial journey, [00:37:00] I would've told him. From day to day progress is invisible. You cannot see it. It almost doesn't exist, but from year to year progress is impossible to miss.

I think that would've been something very valuable for me to know when I first started this journey.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Wow. A lot to think about. Some terrific advice. You're filled with wisdom, Kevin, but you're also vulnerable with yourself from how you started the interview all the way through, and that you've been consistent 

Kevin Palmieri: Thank you. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so for our listeners, Kevin, who want to reach out, perhaps they want the coaching or help with the podcast or Next Level University, where's the best place online that they can reach out to you?

Kevin Palmieri: Yeah, if you're interested in the podcast, just search Next Level University. All of our podcasts are on all the platforms. They're all up on YouTube as well. If you wanna watch us and then if you're interested in anything. just ask questions. I'm not gonna sell you on anything. Just shoot me an email, kevin[at]nextleveluniverse[dot]com.

I'll respond to you. We can set up a free call to chat about whatever it is,

Jeffrey Feldberg: For our listeners, it does not get [00:38:00] any better. The Master of Masters put his personal email address out there, so take him up on that. Ask him the questions. You'll learn a treasure trove. Well, Kevin, it's official. It's a wrap, a heartfelt thank you. Thank you for your insights, your vulnerability, your wisdom, and as we like to say here at Deep Wealth, please continue to thrive.

Prosper and say healthy and safe.

Kevin Palmieri: Thank you my friend. 

Sharon S.: The Deep Wealth Experience was definitely a game-changer for me. 

Lyn M.: This course is one of the best investments you will ever make because you will get an ROI of a hundred times that. Anybody who doesn't go through it will lose millions. 

Kam H.: If you don't have time for this program, you'll never have time for a successful liquidity 

Sharon S.: It was the best value of any business course I've ever taken. The money was very well spent.

Lyn M.: Compared to when we first began, today I feel better prepared, but in some respects, may be less prepared, not because of the course, but because the course brought to light so many things that I thought we were on top of that we [00:39:00] need to fix. 

Kam H.: I 100% believe there's never a great time for a business owner to allocate extra hours into his or her week or day. So it's an investment that will yield results today. I thought I will reap the benefit of this program in three to five years down the road. But as soon as I stepped forward into the program, my mind changed immediately. 

Sharon S.: There was so much value in the experience that the time I invested paid back so much for the energy that was expended. 

Lyn M.: The Deep Wealth Experience compared to other programs is the top. What we learned is very practical. Sometimes you learn stuff that it's great to learn, but you never use it. The stuff we learned from Deep Wealth Experience, I believe it's going to benefit us a boatload.

Kam H.: I've done an executive MBA. I've worked for billion-dollar companies before. I've worked for smaller companies before I started my business. I've been running my business successfully now for getting close to a decade. We're on a growth trajectory. Reflecting back on the Deep Wealth, [00:40:00] I knew less than 10% what I know now, maybe close to 1% even. 

Sharon S.: Hands down the best program in which I've ever participated. And we've done a lot of different things over the years. We've been in other mastermind groups, gone to many seminars, workshops, conferences, retreats, read books. This was so different. I haven't had an experience that's anything close to this in all the years that we've been at this.

It's five-star, A-plus.

Kam H.: I would highly recommend it to any super busy business owner out there.

Deep Wealth is an accurate name for it. This program leads to deeper wealth and happier wealth, not just deeper wealth. I don't think there's a dollar value that could be associated with such an experience and knowledge that could be applied today and forever. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: Are you leaving millions on the table? 

Please visit www.deepwealth.com/success to learn more.

 If you're [00:41:00] not on my email list, you'll want to be. Sign up at www.deepwealth.com/podcast. And if you enjoyed this episode, if it added value, if you walked away with some new insights and strategies, please leave a review on your favorite podcast channel. Reviews help us reach new listeners, grow the show. And continue to create content that you'll enjoy and as we wrap up this episode as always please stay healthy and safe.