Speaker 1 00:00:05 Hey there, a thoughtful listener. Are you looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers, and clients? Well, I've had private conversations with over 2000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from. I've got a free video you can watch with no opt in required, where I'll share the exact steps necessary to be 100% inbound in your industry over the next 6 to 8 months, with no spam, no ads, and no sales. What I teach has worked for me for over 15 years, and has helped me create eight figures in revenue for my own companies. Just head to up my influence. Com and watch my free class on how to create endless high ticket sales appointments. Also, don't forget the thoughtful entrepreneur is always looking for great guests. Go to up my influence. Com and click on podcast. I'd love to have you. With us right now Kevin Palmieri. Kevin, you are a podcast host and you are the founder of Next Level University. You're found on the web at Next Level universe.com.

Speaker 1 00:01:20 Kevin, thank you so much for joining us.

Speaker 2 00:01:21 Josh, I appreciate you having me. As I said in the preamble, I have to match your energy because I know you have an abundance of it.

Speaker 1 00:01:29 We'll see. As I mentioned in our preamble, now the bar has been set, so it's only down from here if I don't hit that. well, Kevin, tell me a little bit about the work you do, who you serve, and, you know, you're you're why you have a passion for podcasting.

Speaker 2 00:01:46 Yeah. So I have a passion for podcasting because I used to listen to podcasts and podcasts changed my life. I was interviewed on a YouTube channel, and I said, at the end of that hour and a half interview, I said, imagine if you could do that for a living. And my buddy said, there's there's people out there that do. And I couldn't imagine a world where I got to wake up and do what I want every single day. And I knew if I could find a way to make that sustainable and make it happen, I would be the most fulfilled human possible.

Speaker 2 00:02:15 And that is now something I get to do. So our community is primarily emotionally driven people who want more success. We call them dream chasers. They're not necessarily entrepreneurs. They don't necessarily want to start their own business, but they know there's more to life. They know there's more to relationships, and they know they want more out of this amazing life. So that is our audience primarily, and we talk a ton about self-awareness and self-improvement. We're really a self-improvement brand at the end of the day.

Speaker 1 00:02:46 okay. So you kind of walk me through, who you work with and what that ends up looking like.

Speaker 2 00:02:51 Yeah. So we have a lot of different modalities, but we work with anyone from someone who is just dipping their toe into self-improvement. Maybe this is the first time they've ever said, look, I don't really know where I want to go, but I want to start tracking habits or I want to be more consistent, or I want to know what books to read all the way up to very successful business owners who need help with the numbers, or they need help with lead gen, or they need help with that type of stuff.

Speaker 2 00:03:16 So it really the ultimate goal, Josh, for us is we want to help people become more holistically successful. We've worked with very successful people externally who aren't as self-aware and not as fulfilled. Cool. We have a spot for that. We've worked with people who are the most heart driven humans on the planet, who just can't figure out how to get ahead when it comes to finances. All right, we can help with that. And it's anywhere from courses to one on one coaching to group coaching to live events. That is really how we deploy the value that we're trying to bring to the world.

Speaker 1 00:03:49 Yeah. And so help me understand how podcasting intersects with that.

Speaker 2 00:03:53 Yeah, it was in the beginning, I think, like everyone, I wanted to have cool conversations with cool people. Then eventually I had some mental health issues at work, and I ended up leaving my job and I said, I'm going to try to do this full time. So in 2018, I left my job and I started doing this full time.

Speaker 2 00:04:12 And then eventually it got to the place where we said, well, we have to figure out how to turn this into a business. The core belief for us from the very beginning is just ad, and this is very in alignment with what you are and what you do. Just add more value than any other human possibly could. I'm just going to add more value to your life than anybody else possibly could, because I want to really, really help you. Eventually, it got to the point where my business partner and I talked about coaching, and he said, you should start coaching people for free if you want to make money. The best way to start coaching people is do it for free. So that's how it really blossomed. We talked about self-improvement on the podcast. The only logical thing that made sense to me from a revenue generating standpoint was just coach people on what you talk about on the podcast, and then eventually the demand was too high for me to do one on one coaching. And then we did group coaching.

Speaker 2 00:05:04 So it was really add value, create a foundation of value. The demand came and then we just worked on scaling the demand through different avenues.

Speaker 1 00:05:16 Yeah. so can you maybe just give a little bit of this, you know, of a state of the Union, of, like, what the opportunity is in podcast. You know, here's here's my experience. I'm, I'm a I'm a devotee. I'm an advocate. I absolutely love the platform. I think that that podcasting has an allure, however, that, you know, folks can maybe underestimate the amount of effort that sometimes can be required. And I think it's pretty easy to overestimate the return on investment early on in the journey. So much like if you were to start a YouTube channel, you know, I generally tell people in the typical way of podcasting, it's going to be a grind. And I think that that bears out in the statistics. I think Pod Match did some good research and found that north of 90% of independent podcasters never make it to episode 50.

Speaker 1 00:06:14 They're victims of what's known as pod fade. so help me understand, like, are you are you working to solve that kind of problem and help podcasters stay podcasting, especially as they get into it?

Speaker 2 00:06:30 Yeah. And like you said, one of my ultimate goal. So I coached and I've coached hundreds and hundreds of podcasters and we produce a bunch of podcasts right now. One of the things I start with when I first initially start talking to someone is, I say on a scale of 0 to 10, how much time, energy, effort, and focus are you willing to put into this project? The answer usually dictates how successful they're going to be because like you said, Josh, I think everyone could value or could benefit from having a podcast. But if you just start a podcast because it's a sexy thing to do, unfortunately there are a lot of things behind the scenes that most people just won't see. So I think the state of the Union would be it's not as saturated as you think it is because, you know, right out of the 5 million podcasts that have been created, I think roughly 400,000 are only or roughly 400,000 only are still in production.

Speaker 2 00:07:24 In the grand scheme of things, that's not that much. What I would say is, if you're going to start a podcast, even before you start it, try to think outside of the box, because most independent podcasters are never going to make any money from ads from sponsorships or affiliates. But that's kind of how all of us are taught to make money, right? Mix, right. Reach out to brands, that type of thing. You got to have so many downloads to make that worth it. I always tell people, if you're creative, whether it's a coaching front, whether it's an online product or service, whether it's connecting with people and finding out a way to solve their problems, the more creative you are in any space, I think the more successful you're going to be. And I think podcasting is a very good specific example of that, because nine times out of ten, when someone starts, they start with the end in mind of ad sponsorships or affiliates. And like you said, I think most people die before they make it there because they run out of money.

Speaker 2 00:08:24 So go in with a with a thought process behind how you want to monetize. It doesn't mean you're selfish. It doesn't mean you're doing it for the wrong reasons. It means you actually want it to last long enough for you to deliver the amount of value that you have inside of you. So that's a big thing that I'm seeing, obviously. AI is taking podcasting over in some way, shape or form, but I still think the human element will always be superior. So, you know, the jury's not out on that yet, but I think if we just said one simple thing, it's that many people start podcasting because it's sexy. You don't necessarily have to do it the way everybody else is doing it, because most people don't succeed, unfortunately.

Speaker 1 00:09:02 Yeah. so if if someone does want to build a successful business plan around their podcast, how would you help them discover what that is?

Speaker 2 00:09:12 Usually it's okay. What would I hire you for right now? Let's say this person doesn't even have a podcast yet and they want to start one.

Speaker 2 00:09:20 What would I pay you money for right now? What is your perceived expertise? Well, I'm a fitness coach. Awesome. You should probably do a podcast on fitness coaching. All right. Cool. We're going to do that from there. I usually suggest people do so. Your social media is obviously in alignment with your podcast. After the podcast, we have to figure out where people are going to go, because most people are not going to jump from the podcast to your bank account. It's just too big of a leap. So usually it's some sort of group. Let's create some sort of free group where it is in alignment with what you're talking about on your social media and on your podcast, where we can continue to add value into people's lives. Josh, you do an episode every day. We do an episode every day. But what is your audience supposed to do if you only do one episode a week? What do they do for the other six days? They go find another podcast. Listen to If you have a Facebook group.

Speaker 2 00:10:14 We can add value into their lives every single day. After the Facebook group, I usually suggest some level of freebie and then under that is the paid portion. The biggest issue I've seen is there is usually a kink somewhere in the business model. Well, we don't talk about or we don't monetize the same way that the thing we talk about at the top of the business that is so common. People will come to me and say, well, I'm not making any money and I don't know what to do. You're talking about one thing, and your offer is completely misaligned for the audience that you're talking to. That's just that's a business 101. That's going to be a real struggle. And then it's really about talking to them about how long this is ultimately going to take. And it's usually not a new problem. Most people don't get that many listens in the beginning. It's not necessarily a new problem. So it's really strategy, support and awareness. Those are really the three pillars that I focus on.

Speaker 2 00:11:07 My goal is to get someone to do this long enough to actually see a result. At the end of the day, that's my goal, is to create longevity in the journey for you.

Speaker 1 00:11:18 and so, Kevin, tell me about, maybe some examples of folks that you've worked with and what their story has been and and how they've found not just fulfillment from getting behind the microphone, but that is actually been a net positive for them from a business perspective.

Speaker 2 00:11:37 Yeah. One of our longest clients that has been with us, she's done 360 some odd episodes with us, never missed an episode. And when she first came to us, I actually met her at an event and she had one of the most successful orthodontics practices in the US. And she said, I think the thing that makes me different from other orthodontists is I'm focused on happiness. I've done the grind. I've burnt myself out. My mental health has been in the toilet. I believe if I have a happy practice, I'll have a successful practice.

Speaker 2 00:12:10 She ended up selling her practice shortly after starting her podcast, and she said, I want my podcast to be reflective of the practice. So I said, okay, well, what about the business of happiness? That's going to be your podcast name? So I helped her name it. We did all the artwork, she got into the podcast, she started interviewing people. She started meeting people. She started going on other podcasts. She started working on her social media, all of that stuff, new website. And eventually it got to the point where she is doing some high ticket group coaching where she works with. And again, you'll see the alignment. She works with dentists and orthodontists who are burnt out. They're successful, but they're burnt out because they are struggling to let go and they beat themselves up all the time. Even though they're successful, they always want more and more and more. She helps them find presence, that type of thing. But that was all based on the fact that that's what she was really good at at the beginning.

Speaker 2 00:13:06 That was her unique niche. And now she has coaching programs and she has courses, and she gets paid to speak all over the place. A lot of it was just the fact that we helped her get more specific on what she's talking about, and now this is what she does full time. She sold her practice. She does an episode every week. She goes on another podcast and she has her cohorts that she coaches. So that's a really good representation of the ideal journey. The person's really good at something. They don't really know how to convert that expertise virtually and digitally. We help them do that, and then we're there talking to them what to do after and behind the scenes.

Speaker 1 00:13:47 Yeah. Kevin, your website is next level universe.com. and it looks like you've got some great resources. you've. Do you mind maybe just sharing about, you know, to our friend that's listening, how you might be of help there.

Speaker 2 00:14:03 Yeah, there's. I understand it can be confusing because there's a lot going on if you're looking for mindset stuff and self-improvement stuff.

Speaker 2 00:14:11 We have a podcast every single day. We talk about holistic self-improvement, helping people level up their life, their love, their health, and their wealth. Obviously, we have the podcast thing to help anybody who needs help with podcasts and podcast production. We have social media services where we help people with social media, and we also have a new department that we started recently where I interview people that don't have podcasts, because a podcast is a great way to get content, but not everybody wants to start a podcast to get content, so I interview them. We use that as content. We break it up for social media. So there's a lot of different things that we have, but it really all depends on, you know, what the end user is looking for. At the end of the day, we had a bunch of problems as business owners when we figured out how to solve them and then systematize them. People started to ask us to help.

Speaker 1 00:15:02 Excellent. All right. So your website next level universe.com.

Speaker 1 00:15:07 And Kevin, in terms of like someone connecting with you or reaching out or grabbing a call or something like that. is there a path there?

Speaker 2 00:15:16 I think the easiest way is just to email me. I'm happy to do a free call with anybody who's watching or listening that wants to chat. Just shoot me a message. Kevin at Next Level universe.com I do all my own emails, so I will get back to you and we can hop on a call. Or I can answer any questions you may have.

Speaker 1 00:15:32 Kevin Palmieri, podcast host. Oh, Kevin, to our friend that's listening. your podcast, if you just search, do you mind you mind, giving the titles, just so someone can search right now and find your shows?

Speaker 2 00:15:45 Yes. So next Level university is the holistic self-improvement one. And then I have a show called Podcast Growth University that is a podcast all about podcasts.

Speaker 1 00:15:56 Excellent. All right. Kevin Palmieri, again founder of Next Level University, found on the web at Next Level universe.com.

Speaker 1 00:16:05 Kevin, thank you so much for joining us.

Speaker 2 00:16:07 I appreciate you, Josh. Thank you.

Speaker 1 00:16:14 Thanks for listening to The Thoughtful Entrepreneur show. If you are a thoughtful business owner or professional who would like to be on this daily program, please visit up my influence. Com and click on podcast. We believe that every person has a message that can positively impact the world. We love our community who listens and shares our program every day. Together we are empowering one another as thoughtful leaders and And as I mentioned at the beginning of this program, if you're looking for introductions to partners, investors, influencers, and clients, I have had private conversations with over 2000 leaders asking them where their best business comes from. I've got a free video that you can watch right now with no opt in or email required, where I'm going to share the exact steps necessary to be 100% inbound in your industry over the next 6 to 8 months, with no spam, no ads, and no sales. What I teach has worked for me for more than 15 years and has helped me create eight figures in revenue for my own companies.

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