1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,160
Welcome to Milestone Moments, the show where we explore the journeys that lead to success.

2
00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:14,000
I'm Sheila Slick, your host and founder of Five Milestones. In every episode, we will bring you

3
00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:21,520
insights from the minds of entrepreneurs, leaders, and experts who will share not just their expertise

4
00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:27,440
but the milestone moments that have reshaped their journeys and led to significant achievements.

5
00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:33,120
So if you're looking for motivation, you're in the right place. Subscribe now and discover the

6
00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:36,160
milestones that mark the path to success.

7
00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:47,440
Welcome to another episode of Milestone Moments in Business and Leadership. I'm Sheila Slick,

8
00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:56,560
your host, and today my special guest is Kevin Palmieri, founder and co-host of the Next Level

9
00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:02,720
University podcast. Welcome to the show, Kevin. Sheila, thank you so very much for having me.

10
00:01:02,720 --> 00:01:10,960
I'm excited to chat. I am too and to learn. Well, hopefully, I was going to say you're

11
00:01:10,960 --> 00:01:15,120
setting me up here. Hopefully, I can live up to the reputation you're creating for me.

12
00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:24,880
Who does your podcast cater to? Our podcast, and it was never designed this way. This is just kind

13
00:01:24,880 --> 00:01:29,280
of how it worked is we found out that we had a lot of emotionally driven women listening to

14
00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:35,200
our show. I don't know if it was the vulnerability or the low self-worth that attracted people,

15
00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:38,560
but yeah, we found out pretty quickly it was a lot of women that were listening.

16
00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:45,120
And 1700 episodes later, we're going to get into some of those insights that you've learned from

17
00:01:45,120 --> 00:01:51,600
all of these audience members. What was that pivotal moment that led you to do podcasting?

18
00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:58,800
Podcasting what you do today. When I was 26, I was from the outside looking in very, very,

19
00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:04,000
very successful. I had all the measures of success. I had a six figure. Well, it was

20
00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:09,760
soon to be a six figure income. My girlfriend was a model. I had just competed in a bodybuilding

21
00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:13,280
show. So I was in the best shape of my life. I had a sports car. I had all the things, all the

22
00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:19,040
measures of success, but I was very, very, very miserable. You just never would have known it. I

23
00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:24,560
did not believe in myself. I did not understand what self-worth was at all. I felt bad about

24
00:02:24,560 --> 00:02:29,200
myself all the time. I was a shell of the person you would have thought I was.

25
00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:35,520
And I proceeded to work really, really hard to make as much money as possible. Cause I assumed

26
00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:40,880
if I make money, I'll feel really good about myself. Made the most money I'd ever made.

27
00:02:41,520 --> 00:02:47,680
And I realized that I lived my life unconsciously. I didn't ever really have a reason to do the things

28
00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:53,120
that I was doing. I didn't know why I was doing what I was doing. So I realized that for most of

29
00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:58,960
my life, I lived unconsciously. The opposite of unconscious is hyper conscious. So in 2017,

30
00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:03,360
when I was 27, I started a podcast called the hyper conscious podcast. And I wanted to have

31
00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:08,960
cool conversations with cool people. That was it in the beginning. I fell in love with podcasting.

32
00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:14,880
The second I started, as I fell out of love with my job, I don't want to do this job anymore.

33
00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:18,480
I've reached the pinnacle of where I'm going to climb. And it didn't fix any of my problems.

34
00:03:19,200 --> 00:03:25,040
I don't want to do it anymore. And I started to get more depressed and I started to get more

35
00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:31,440
anxious. And I started to watch my mental health kind of slip down a darker path as I left for

36
00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:37,600
work and I left for work and I left for work and just contextually, my job required a lot of travel.

37
00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:44,560
So I was spending weeks on end living on the road, living in sketchy hotels, driving up

38
00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:50,480
and down the East coast of the United States. So one morning I was working in New Jersey,

39
00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:56,640
staying in a sketchy hotel, six hours away from where I lived. And when I woke up that morning,

40
00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:00,400
I sat up and I slid to the edge of the bed and I was lacing up my work boots as I had done a

41
00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:05,120
thousand times before. But that morning it was like there was 10 televisions onto my head at

42
00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:10,640
the same time. And every single one was on a different station. Sheila, one was saying,

43
00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:14,880
you're stuck at this job forever. You're never going to leave here and make more money.

44
00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,560
This is it. You got lucky to get this job. Don't you dare leave this behind.

45
00:04:19,440 --> 00:04:23,840
If you ever did leave this job, what would your friends think? Make more money than any of your

46
00:04:23,840 --> 00:04:28,480
friends. And there's a lot of significance that comes with that. What would your family say?

47
00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:33,280
You're the most successful person in your family by far. It's not close. What's your family going

48
00:04:33,280 --> 00:04:38,080
to say? And if you did decide to leave this job, what are you going to do with your life?

49
00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:42,080
You're going to be a professional podcaster. That's our fallback plan. That doesn't seem very

50
00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:46,560
realistic. And it was in that moment, Sheila, where I thought to myself, well, if I was just

51
00:04:46,560 --> 00:04:49,920
to take my life, I would take my problems with me. I wouldn't have to deal with any of this.

52
00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:53,600
I wouldn't have to figure it out. I wouldn't have to start over. I wouldn't have to lose my reputation.

53
00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:59,360
I wouldn't have to do any of that. Luckily, I have really good people in my life. I'm very blessed.

54
00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:04,240
So I reached out to one of them. I explained what was going on. And he said, Kev, over the

55
00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:10,640
last couple of years, your environments have remained the same, but your awareness has changed

56
00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:14,400
a ton. You're way more aware than you've been, but you're still going and doing the same things

57
00:05:14,400 --> 00:05:19,600
you used to do. I think it's time for you to change your environment. So 2018, I left my job

58
00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:25,920
and I became a very broke, full-time entrepreneur and podcaster trying to figure out how to do this

59
00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:33,680
thing. That was the shift for me. I was so depressed. I was so anxious. The necessity was

60
00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:39,600
really high for me to take a chance to do something else. And I wanted a podcast. So we gave it a shot.

61
00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:44,640
That was that was the goal. And we gave it a shot. Well, thank you for sharing that story.

62
00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:51,120
Of course. And I'm glad that you found that friend, that strength to move forward. But it sounds like

63
00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:56,720
you didn't just take action that day. It's not like, all right, I'm going to unbutton my boots.

64
00:05:56,720 --> 00:06:03,600
I'm going to go launch the podcast. You what did that journey look like for you? What were some of

65
00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:10,320
the challenges that you had to face? You know, transitioning from I don't know quite what your

66
00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:17,920
career, what you were doing, traveling up and down the coast was right versus starting the podcast,

67
00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:24,640
which requires some skills and technical skills, communication skills, way more than I had for sure.

68
00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:30,080
I think the hardest things for me, a lot of the hardest parts were the internal stuff being broke,

69
00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:34,560
obviously, and making money and figuring out how to make money. That was terrible, right? I was

70
00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:40,560
very broke $30,000 in debt. That was terrible. But I realized very quickly that I was somebody

71
00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:47,760
who had a ton of self doubt. And I had almost no belief in myself or my capabilities. And I was

72
00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:55,440
wildly insecure. I just never was able to pinpoint that before. So honestly, that was some of the

73
00:06:55,440 --> 00:07:00,480
hardest things I had to overcome before every time we would like do an interview. I always thought

74
00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:04,160
I'm going to ask dumb questions. This person's not going to like me. I'm going to fail. I'm going to

75
00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:12,320
make mistakes. It's going to be bad. That ran my life for the first several years. It took me 150

76
00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:17,200
podcast episodes to feel confident as a podcast. That's a long time to do something before you

77
00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:23,840
feel like you're even remotely capable. And I started to realize that I'm wild. I was wildly

78
00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:29,760
insecure. It was really hard for me to see somebody very successful in me not to villainize them,

79
00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:34,080
not to tear them down, not to imagine that they must have cheated, lied, steal to get their

80
00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:38,880
results that they had. That was a really hard realization because it was about me. It was very

81
00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:44,960
personal. Do I like myself? Am I able to like this version of Kev who's super insecure?

82
00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:52,160
Sheila, those were the hardest things because they were internal. And when we did start making money,

83
00:07:52,160 --> 00:07:57,040
I still had to work on those. Right. I still didn't believe in myself. I still had low self

84
00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:02,960
worth. So I would say that the two biggest ones were low self belief and low self worth. Those

85
00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:07,360
are the two biggest things that I dealt with. And I still have minutes and moments where I deal with

86
00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:16,480
them today. So it sounds like your consistency. 150 episodes later, you found that aha moment

87
00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:20,880
where you're like, Hey, I finally feel comfortable, you know, with the microphone yet today when we

88
00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:26,400
met, I was like, Wow, are you always this, you know, cheery because you're a natural. I would

89
00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:34,960
have thought you've had all kinds of communication skills training or perhaps a toast masters.

90
00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:41,840
I appreciate that. I've I've just done this. I mean, this is probably my 2900th episode.

91
00:08:42,560 --> 00:08:46,400
I've just done this thousands and thousands of times. That's all it is. It's just

92
00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:50,640
that to speak to the consistency. Yeah, it's the consistency. The reason I am where I am is

93
00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:56,080
because I've done it more than other people have and mostly so I can believe in my own unique

94
00:08:56,080 --> 00:09:00,640
ability to do it. It just takes me a long time before it locks in like, Hey, Kev, maybe you're

95
00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:04,240
kind of maybe you're kind of good at this. You're not as bad as you think. It's still

96
00:09:05,280 --> 00:09:09,200
it's one of the hardest things to have self doubt. But it's also one of the most

97
00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:14,800
beneficial things if you can use it as an opportunity to just over prep and over

98
00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:20,240
deliver and over practice. So that's an important lesson for everybody is sometimes what feels like

99
00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:23,600
your kryptonite might actually be your superpower if you can you can flip it.

100
00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:29,680
Yeah, and continue growing and continue learning from our mistakes because we all make mistakes.

101
00:09:29,680 --> 00:09:35,360
So how did you pick your niche? Let's get back to who you serve with your podcast and see what we

102
00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:44,000
can learn from your guests and your personal experiences. Yeah, I don't I don't know if we

103
00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:51,360
really picked it. I think when my business partner and I connected, we were just talking about the

104
00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:57,120
stuff that we were going through. And a lot of what we were going through was being single and

105
00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:02,320
heartbroken and trying to figure out how to be better partners and trying to figure out how to

106
00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:07,280
be more confident and try to figure out why do I struggle with setting boundaries? Oh, does that

107
00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:13,360
come from self worth? Interesting. Why do I currently and constantly run away from rejection? Is

108
00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:19,360
that low self belief? Interesting. So it really became us just trying to talk about how do we grow

109
00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:27,360
as men. And eventually, it transitioned into, all right, we're going to talk about consciousness,

110
00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:33,120
and how to know everything about yourself and be super self aware. And then eventually that

111
00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:38,640
transitioned into Okay, now I feel like we're pretty self aware. I want to talk about how to

112
00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:44,640
become holistically self aware, like when Yeah, you're that's good. Like I know myself at a deep

113
00:10:44,640 --> 00:10:49,680
level. But how do I know more about relationships? How do I know more about health? How do I know more

114
00:10:49,680 --> 00:10:55,760
about wealth? So ultimately, our niche now is level up your life, your love, your health and your

115
00:10:55,760 --> 00:11:01,440
wealth, where the place you go to if you want to get all of those improved. And now we've noticed

116
00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:07,680
that it's not just women who listen anymore. Now we have a lot more men that listen, but it's humble

117
00:11:07,680 --> 00:11:16,080
humans. People that listen to us are very humble, heart driven humans. We're unsexy fundamental

118
00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:20,320
self improvement. I'm not going to hit you with here's how to become a millionaire tomorrow.

119
00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:24,160
It's not going to happen. I'm not going to say here's how you manifest your dream partner

120
00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:29,360
tomorrow. It's not going to happen. We're very unsexy with our stuff. But we're heart driven,

121
00:11:29,360 --> 00:11:33,680
but no BS heart driven. I love you enough to tell you the truth. No BS. I'm going to tell you the

122
00:11:33,680 --> 00:11:39,280
real truth, even if it makes me not look so good in the moment. So that's now really what our niche

123
00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:45,520
and our brand has become. So if it's you and your partner, how do you help your audience?

124
00:11:46,320 --> 00:11:53,120
Is it just through the podcast? Do you have any other platforms where you take their questions?

125
00:11:53,120 --> 00:12:00,000
Or do you invite them to be guests on the show? So the podcast is the are free. We do it every day,

126
00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:05,440
always going to be free value add to the audience. And then from there, we have a Facebook group

127
00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:13,440
that gets content in every day, we have an email list, we do free monthly meetups, we have one on

128
00:12:13,440 --> 00:12:18,080
one coaching, we have group coaching, we have free courses, we have paid courses, we have an app,

129
00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:25,200
we have a bunch of WhatsApp groups. So there is a lot going on behind the scenes. And ultimately,

130
00:12:25,200 --> 00:12:31,120
our thought is no matter where you end up in the business, whether it's always free or always paid,

131
00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:37,280
our goal is to add as much value to you as humanly possible. And that's really how we we help the

132
00:12:37,280 --> 00:12:42,080
the community. It's you work with us with one on one, you work with us in group coaching.

133
00:12:42,080 --> 00:12:46,480
It really depends on where the person is and where they're trying to get to. But our business

134
00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:51,120
is built on adding value. If we're not adding value, we're not we're not helping. And we want to help.

135
00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:53,760
What is your next milestone?

136
00:12:54,800 --> 00:13:01,040
I would say the next milestone is probably when we cross two thousand episodes.

137
00:13:01,840 --> 00:13:06,640
In the beginning, we would celebrate every like 50. It's like I episode 50, episode 100, 150.

138
00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:11,920
And then I think when we got to 500, we started celebrating like every 250. And then we went to

139
00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:17,520
a thousand. It was like, all right, maybe every 500. And I think as of today, we're at 700, 1770

140
00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:23,840
or 1780. So when we get to 2000, that'll probably be pretty surreal for me, because that's a that's

141
00:13:23,840 --> 00:13:30,000
a lot of episodes. And then after that, probably when we get to another million listens or at like

142
00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:34,720
one point one million, when we get to two, that'll be a it's weird. I didn't see any of this happening.

143
00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:39,040
I didn't predict any of this. This all feels very surreal to me. That's why I try to show up with

144
00:13:39,040 --> 00:13:44,080
positive energy all the time, because I'm very grateful. So, yeah, 2000 episodes, two million

145
00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:48,960
listens, those will be the next milestones for us. Well, I love it now. And you've monetized it.

146
00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:53,600
You've turned it into a business way beyond the podcast with everything that you mentioned.

147
00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:59,600
So if anyone wants to find out more about you or your business or your podcast, can you share

148
00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:04,480
with our audience where they can find you? Yes. Just search Next Level University. You'll see us.

149
00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:10,160
We're on all the podcast platforms. Every episode is in four K on YouTube as well. And then our

150
00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:15,440
website is next level universe dot com. Sheila and I had a little giggle behind the scenes.

151
00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:19,360
It's next level universe. Somebody wanted a lot of money for the other

152
00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:24,880
URL and we were not willing to pay it at that time. So the podcast is university website is universe.

153
00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:33,120
Yes, your branding should all be the same. And I'm still that is true. I'm going to help you

154
00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:39,120
find that perfect domain. It's just universe. I typed it in wrong. I'm like this page doesn't

155
00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:46,800
exist. No, no, you typed it in right. You did. So if you could share one out of all of these

156
00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:51,920
episodes, all of these people that you've helped. Right. And I loved humble humans. I'm wondering why

157
00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:57,920
perhaps you don't start a new one or do an episode called humble humans.

158
00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:05,120
But if you ought to use that title someplace, I like if you could share a key takeaway or a piece

159
00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:12,320
of advice. So humble humans can take that next step in their life. What would that be?

160
00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:19,760
Yeah, I remember we interviewed someone early on and I was like, my goodness, what a story and what

161
00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:24,880
a level of adversity that person had to overcome. We'll probably never hear a story like that again.

162
00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:30,080
And the next guest had one very similar and the next guest had one very similar and the next

163
00:15:30,080 --> 00:15:37,120
guest had one very similar. And eventually I put together that if you do things the right way in a

164
00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:42,320
certain order with a certain belief system and you work on yourself, your adversity can be your

165
00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:48,880
advantage. The thing that you're going through right now that is terrible might end up being

166
00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:52,640
the thing that you dedicate your life to helping other people avoid in the future.

167
00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:58,320
I, my goal is to be the person that I needed at my lowest point. My adversity

168
00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:03,840
became the advantage that then became the purpose. I think it's very similar and I think it's very

169
00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:09,840
appropriate for a lot of people. That was a lesson and a pattern I saw. And all of these people were

170
00:16:09,840 --> 00:16:14,000
living in their calling, living in their purpose, living in their mission, trying to help people

171
00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:18,320
avoid the stuff that they struggled with. So you might be going through something right now

172
00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:24,560
that might end up eventually being the greatest gift you've ever been given because then it becomes

173
00:16:24,560 --> 00:16:30,320
your purpose, your mission, your being. And it might be hard to believe that in the moment, but

174
00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:35,840
I know that I would have struggled to believe it as well. And now I am hopefully an example of that.

175
00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:41,040
Well, thank you so much for joining me today. You're very welcome.

176
00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:48,320
And I encourage everyone to tune in the Next Level University. It's available on the very same

177
00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:54,640
platform you're listening to this podcast today to hear more. And thank you all for joining us

178
00:16:54,640 --> 00:17:18,960
in another episode of Milestone Moments in Business and Leadership.