Next Level University

When You Start To Outgrow The Stuff You Love… (2090)

• Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

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Are you growing faster than your old passions can keep up? In today’s refreshingly honest episode, Kevin opens up about questioning his love for MMA and what it revealed about his evolving identity. He and Alan explore what it means to shift from consumer to investor thinking, why discipline matters more after you succeed, and how true wealth often hides behind simplicity. From walking away from overpriced habits to mastering car negotiations, this episode is packed with wisdom for anyone serious about long-term growth.

🔗 Find out more:
Reach your potential in life and business: Business Growth University - https://www.buzzsprout.com/2501638
Grow, scale, and monetize your Podcast: Podcast Growth University - https://podcastgrowthuniversity.buzzsprout.com/
Big goals don’t happen by accident. Next Level Dreamliner helps you plan, track, and follow through. Grab your copy 👉  https://a.co/d/9fPpxEt

Free 30-minute Business Breakthrough Session with Alan -
https://calendly.com/alanlazaros/30-minute-free-breakthrough-session?month=2025-04
Free 30-Minute Podcast Breakthrough Session with Kevin -
https://calendly.com/kevinpalmieri/free-30-minute-podcast-breakthrough-session-with-kevin

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NLU is not just a podcast; it’s a gateway to a wealth of resources designed to help you achieve your goals and dreams. From our Next Level Dreamliner to our Group Coaching, we offer a variety of tools and communities to support your personal development journey.

For more information, please check out our website at the link below. 👇

Website 💻  http://www.nextleveluniverse.com

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We love connecting with you guys! Reach out on Instagram, Facebook, or via email. We’re here to support you in your personal and professional development journey.

Instagram 📷
Kevin: https://www.instagram.com/neverquitkid/
Alan: https://www.instagram.com/alazaros88/

Facebook ✍
Alan: https://www.facebook.com/alan.lazaros
Kevin: https://www.facebook.com/kevin.palmieri.90/

Email 💬
Kevin@nextleveluniverse.com
Alan@nextleveluniverse.com

LinkedIn ✍
Kevin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-palmieri-5b7736160/
Alan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanlazarosllc/

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Show notes:
(3:04) Shifting from consumer to investor thinking
(6:15) Discipline after success
(9:04) Living by principles, not perception
(16:31) Making sacrifices for the long game
(21:29) The truth about productivity Vs. Popularity
(24:42) Next Level Dreamliner: The planner, agenda, journal, and habit tracker to rule them all. Get a copy: https://a.co/d/9fPpxEt
(27:09) How to spot fake success
(33:09) Real-life lessons in negotiation
(40:37) Knowledge is power and protection
(46:17) Growth means letting go
(48:01) Outro

Send a text to Kevin and Alan!

Kevin Palmieri:

I had a very sad moment recently where I questioned the depth to which I still like mixed martial arts, and that was really, really, really identity crisis type level shit for me, because I thought that was a day that would never, ever, ever come.

Alan Lazaros:

I said to Kevin years ago he had a dream eight years ago to one day maybe be on Joe Rogan, the Joe Rogan experience, the Joe Rogan podcast. And I said, brother, by the time you become the man who would be invited, you might actually not want that anymore.

Kevin Palmieri:

Welcome to Next Level University. I'm your host, Kevin Palmieri.

Alan Lazaros:

And I'm your co-host, Alan Lazarus.

Kevin Palmieri:

At NLU, we believe in a heart-driven but no BS approach to holistic self-improvement for dream chasers.

Alan Lazaros:

Our goal with every episode is to help you level up your life love health and wealth.

Kevin Palmieri:

We bring you a new episode every single day, on topics like confidence, self-belief, self-worth, self-awareness, relationships, boundaries, consistency, habits and defining your own unique version of success.

Alan Lazaros:

Self-improvement in your pocket, every day, from anywhere, completely, completely free. Welcome to Next.

Kevin Palmieri:

Level University, next Level Nation, today for episode number 2090,. You can tell we're talking about some pretty positive stuff when you start to outgrow the stuff you love. So I had a moment. We're recording this on Thursday and this Saturday there is I wouldn't say it's a big UFC fight, but it's a pay-per-view and in the US it costs $80 to order a pay-per-view and I'm literally like I can't, I don't think I can do it?

Kevin Palmieri:

I don't think I can do it 80 big ones 80 big ones for three hours. I mean that's a lot of freaking money. That's a lot of freaking money. That's a lot of money. And I had this moment where it was like am I gonna like not order these anymore, or am I gonna order, like maybe one every so often, like there's some cards coming up that I I would like to order but who knows, by the time we get there listeners, what is a card, a?

Kevin Palmieri:

card. Yeah, so a card is a series of fights, that's, that's all it is. They have some that are free on espn, but you got to pay for espn plus gosh darn it. And then they have what is called pay-per-view, where you have to order the fights and you have to literally pay 80 bucks and then you get access to the fights and these are usually bigger fights with bigger names and belts on the line and and for those who don't know, ufc is mixed martial arts and that's like. This is real fighting, this isn't wwe, fake wrestling, this is like real kickboxing, jujitsu wrestling, muay thai, all that stuff and also listeners, because now that I have business growth university, I need to protect our reputation here.

Alan Lazaros:

for a second, kevin does not think $80 is a lot of money because we can't afford it. Kevin is transforming his relationship with money.

Alan Lazaros:

And back in the day. I don't want to interrupt you, but I want to share this. Back in the day, kevin had more consumer thinking and less investor thinking and we had a client, a big, big potential client, who Kev was like oh well, he's a multimillionaire, so he'll do it. What's 500 amongst friends? And we lost the client. I said, kev, just how do you think he became a multimillionaire? You think he became a multimillionaire by just giving away money all the time. The point is is that the more you improve your financial acumen which is what kevin's doing he's got an investor mindset. When he says eighty dollars is a lot of money, he means the compound effect of spending money needlessly is really detrimental to your future well, and what could I mean?

Kevin Palmieri:

what could I do with that? Eighty dollars? That's a date, a really nice date night for tyron and I. There's a lot. There's a lot I could do with that. 80 and yeah, it's. I mean, yes, I could afford to do it, but it's. It is becoming the principle.

Kevin Palmieri:

It's really weird for me because it's it's almost like as as we make more money and I have access to more money, I have to be way more disciplined to spend less forever. And it's weird because that's not what you ever see. You never see that. You never see that. That's not really what you hear about. You do hear about that from certain people who actually want to help you and add value. When you say like, hey, how did you amass a fortune? It's like, well, I was very, very stingy with my money, but that doesn't look good on social media, so most people aren't doing that. So it's just weird. It's a very I don't know. It is a very weird feeling for me. Where I told Alan, I said it's sad. It makes me sad because it's I have very few things, very few hobbies already, like I don't box anymore. I don't box anymore, I don't rap anymore, really at all that's something you and I were talking about a little bit, but no more jujitsu no more jujitsu.

Kevin Palmieri:

160 macaroos a month man, yeah, that was 160 bucks a month. That's expensive, that's expensive. But again, that's the thing. Like I don't know, it's going to keep trending this way, but that that's a very early next level lesson for me and and for me and from me, is that the more, the more you get the results of the thing you want, the more you have to do the behaviors that got you the results in the first place. It's not the opposite. So I'm I'm dieting and I'm dieting pretty hard at this point. Now is the time to turn the fucking heat up, not turn it down, not this. It is not the time to turn it down. And I don't know. Yeah, it's sad, it makes me sad a little bit, but I do think the benefit and the many benefits of it drastically outweigh the downsides. And I don't know, will that shift in the future? I don't know. I don't know because I never thought it would shift in the in the beginning. So we'll see what happens it's cool to see you.

Kevin Palmieri:

So principle based I don't like it. I don't like it. I literally this is, it's fucked up bought a brand new car. Brand new car yeah, yeah, brand new car. 400 horsepower 0 to 60 in 4.3 seconds fastest car I've ever driven, not even close, I always. I've had it for like two weeks, but I also did this with my old car. I always drive around in eco pro, occasionally, like on a friday I'll let myself I'll let myself drive it in sport, yeah, but it's like especially when you're pulling out in a specific highway.

Alan Lazaros:

The tesla has a sport mode.

Kevin Palmieri:

That thing you gotta fucking goes, man yeah you got to, but I don't want to waste the battery and I don't want to waste gas and it's like it's just weird yeah, it's so weird how you have. You have to have more discipline and more obedience when you get the thing, almost more when you get the thing than you did to get the thing. It's really weird why. Why is that?

Alan Lazaros:

I love it. I'm so glad you asked. This is gonna sound super fucking corny with great power. Oh comes great responsibility.

Kevin Palmieri:

I was going to name this episode that and I was like, nah, that's bad, that's a bad name, you should have Bad name?

Alan Lazaros:

No, but it is ultimately that right. Just because you have the money doesn't mean you should spend it.

Kevin Palmieri:

I feel like this is also the opposite of what everybody else talks about. You should spend it. And, hmm, I feel like this is also the opposite of what everybody else talks about. It's like I have a really nice car. I'm super grateful. No, zero point. People know me at the gym people. There's this lady who she loves me. She also has a BMW. She always parks next to me. She loves parking a BMW. She always parks next to me. She loves parking the BMWs together Awesome, whatever. And she's like where'd your car go? She's like you got a new car and the first thing I said was it was cheaper. It was cheaper. That's the only reason I said that on.

Alan Lazaros:

I try to say that on social media. Yeah, that's funny.

Kevin Palmieri:

And then I explain it, and then I explain it. I feel like for most people it's the opposite. It's like I don't want anybody to see what I do and think the reason I'm doing it makes it smart for you to do it unless you have all the data.

Alan Lazaros:

You remember back in the day when I was landscaping on the side for 200 bucks for a friend's mom, when I could have been consulting for 450, 450 an hour? Yeah, does that make at least a little more sense now.

Kevin Palmieri:

Zero fucking sense. Dumbest shit I've ever heard in my entire life. I will never understand as long as I live. I don't it's dumb, it's the principle real quick, real quick.

Alan Lazaros:

Hear me out there's a.

Kevin Palmieri:

There's, there's a book.

Alan Lazaros:

That's how you sell Kevin something. Wow, that's how you sell Seven something. There's a book called the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People yeah, stephen Covey and it talks about paradigms. Paradigms are your deep beliefs about life. We just did an episode recently on that. Do you remember the title?

Kevin Palmieri:

Definitely not. No, definitely not. That was not recent, I don't think was it?

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kevin Palmieri:

We did it about philosophy, remember? Oh, here's why goals aren't enough. 2087. Strong work.

Alan Lazaros:

Thank you for that Producer of the show.

Alan Lazaros:

So In the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, highly recommend it. Great book, one of the classics personal development. They talk about paradigms and there's a part of the book that shows all the paradigms. There's, you know, family-centered paradigm and there's money-centered paradigm, and there's career-centered paradigm and there's health-centered paradigm, all the paradigms AKA what is your belief about life? He suggests that a principle-centered paradigm is the best paradigm, the most effective. A principle-centered paradigm is what we talked about in that episode, which is I have core principles of integrity. I have principles that I live by, and it's not about ufc, it's not about the fucking bmw, it's about who you are, it's about your principles. You don't spend money needlessly. That's.

Kevin Palmieri:

That's a principle and if you have that, principle, you will be a very wealthy man. It's a hard principle to adopt, and it's a hard principle to exist with because it's always okay, perfect, you're. You've always had that principle. No, maybe not always, but for as long as I've known, you had that principle.

Alan Lazaros:

Well, I over.

Kevin Palmieri:

I overwrote it for a time and there's a whole reason for that, but yeah, when you decide I've been wearing the same two shirts for the last six fucking months. What is that like? Yeah, because we're talking about it on my end of me now adopting it for you, you can take that side, the frugal, the frugality. You can take that way too far, too, okay, 100. So what is that like for you? For me, it's a constant guilt and a constant equation of, and constant. I mean, this is very. This is relatively new to me. I'm not. I've not been this quote unquote way for long, but it's like 80 bucks. Would I be able to explain to alan that it was worth 80 bucks? Nice. Or would I be able to explain to taran that it's worth 80 bucks? No. And then it's another 20 bucks for food.

Alan Lazaros:

It's a hundred dollar night minimum would I be able to explain that? A hundred dollars?

Kevin Palmieri:

a year,200 a year. That's a lot of money. That's a lot of money. So what is it like on the other end?

Alan Lazaros:

$5,200 a year for just that one habit, you better love it.

Kevin Palmieri:

And if you do you do right? I don't love it that much. Exactly.

Alan Lazaros:

Not that amount, and it's actually more than that too, because if you really wanted to take that money and invest it back in our company, we can make a lot more money with it. So that's why, for me and again I don't know how to answer this, because everything is either a mathematical no brainer or not so the reason why I bought new shirts these shirts are $27 each I don't want to waste any more time deciding what to wear, and I started BGU so I knew that I needed to be taken seriously. I needed to look nice on the new podcast because business owners don't like to learn from a fucking 12 year old fair, all right. So when do you know when to make the choice? It? For me, it always is a mathematical no-brainer. I'm very spock, like in this, so it's hard to explain. Like the Tesla, for example, emilio and I share a car Half the insurance, half the car payment, half the electricity. It's unbelievable. It's so smart. It's a mathematical no-brainer.

Alan Lazaros:

I just got off of a monthly meetup. Shout out to anyone who was at the monthly meetup on the five things I learned from 10 000 hours of coaching, training and podcasting. On the meetup I showed the picture that I sent to you of 1998, google, the garage and then 2024. And the distinction number five was the most important investment you can make is in your own personal development. And Google I researched it invests 15% of its gross revenue back in the company in R&D, research and development. It invests way more than that back, but just in R&D.

Alan Lazaros:

And I said why is Google doing it and you're not? If you want to go from a garage to this giant complex in this photo and you want to be like Google, you have to invest in your own research and development. So you have to buy books, you have to take courses, you have to get a fucking coach, you have to do all these things. You don't have to do anything. But if you want to be really successful, you have to. So you never. And again, I always feel like I'm picking on you. I know I'm not. I know you know I'm not. I need other.

Alan Lazaros:

I'm used to it when we first met each other, you weren't convinced that books were of value. You weren't convinced about learning. You were playing video games while learning. And now I bought a course once for two, two thousand dollars and it was a hefty investment, but I've I mean it's definitely paid off. It pays. It's an investor's mindset. Ultimately, investors invest today for a bigger, better, brighter tomorrow.

Alan Lazaros:

There was a person that I coached in the past. She was my EA and she came over once and she came in a Toyota that had paint chipping off the top of it and I know this person's investments, I know the numbers of all my clients and I said, by the way, congratulations, you're going to be in 20 years. You'll have $11.4 million, statistically speaking, or more, most likely more. She said seriously and I was like hold on, like you have never calculated this. She's like no, my dad set that up for me.

Alan Lazaros:

You're going to be a multimillionaire and you've never considered this. You're going to be a multimillionaire and you've never considered this. First of all, that's all good, you do you. And then I talked to Kev about it. Kev said everyone else would assume she's broke, it's perception hit. That was a perception build for me and I want to share this. When I saw she was driving a Toyota with paint chipping off it that was 20 years old that my brain went smart. That person will be a multi, multi, multi-millionaire and they never will have made more than 25 an hour because of how intelligently they invested their capital.

Kevin Palmieri:

Go ahead if that person was your real estate agent?

Alan Lazaros:

how would you feel about that? I would. I would feel the exact same, but I also know that no one else does that now. That's why I have a tesla now, because now I understand perception versus.

Kevin Palmieri:

Well, that's, that's the thing. I did an episode on uh pgu about this what's what's best for bit? Essentially, what's best for business isn't always what's best for you, and what's best for you isn't always what's best for business. Yeah, and this is the hard thing about dream chasing is like, yeah, you might need a two thousand dollar laptop, you might need that and that's for business. It might not even be what you want. I didn't necessarily want the laptop I have. I didn't. I was used to a laptop. I liked that laptop.

Alan Lazaros:

I didn't want to get rid of it, how much better it is though I still fucking have it right here the tank, the tank I love this laptop. We built this business on that thing we did, is it?

Kevin Palmieri:

yes, it's, it's abundantly obvious, but I didn't. It's weird, it's. It's so many of the things that you do, so many of the things that you feel the pull to do to fit in with other people, are quite literally stopping you from accomplishing your dreams in the future. And that's the weird. That's the weird part of it. It's it was like 6 50 and I was waiting for alan and I looked out the window and I saw one of my neighbors walking and I was like, oh, my goodness, that would be nice. They go for a walk at seven o'clock, not from that place, but of like. This is just what the fuck it takes.

Alan Lazaros:

It is what it is and we want to make it clear too Kevin and I are building a multi-million dollar company together.

Kevin Palmieri:

I don't want to make it clear, I'm just giving my perspective for me, for me and for us. That's what it takes. I'm not saying that perspective. It's important for people to know For me, for me and for us, that's what it takes. I'm not saying that's what it takes for everybody.

Alan Lazaros:

That's what I meant.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I don't want don't assume any of the stuff I say is going to is going to cross over to you as a dream chaser, entrepreneur, business owner, whatever out there, because again, we're doing some very weird excessive stuff. Like we, we're doing some pretty weird excessive stuff. I don't expect anybody, but there was that that piece of me like well, this is just what it takes. I mean it is. It just is what it is. If you want more than those around you, whatever that means more health, more wealth, more love, more fulfillment, more opportunity, whatever you're going to have to put in more than the people around you, and it just is what it is. And I don't know, I don't think it's a, I don't think it's a, I don't think it's a bad thing, as long as you're okay with it there's a good metaphor of the more the higher you want to climb in life, the more you have to invest time, effort and money.

Alan Lazaros:

And between Kevin and I's computers, I bought a $2,000 laptop. This is a gaming laptop. This and this is years ago, but between you and I's computers that's 4500. We spent more on our laptops than most people do. Why? Because we work on them and I said this to kev you use it every single day well, I wouldn't even.

Kevin Palmieri:

I think there's a lot of people that have, I mean dude, the laptop I have is the cheapest version you can get of that laptop. Most people go with the big one, really yeah, I I have to imagine yeah, I mean, this thing is dinky, I could, I could discus this thing a a good distance. I mean it's little and very light and very thin. The the thing for us is and again, you out, if you're a dream chaser, entrepreneur, business owner whatever the opportunity that this can create in terms of financial rebound.

Alan Lazaros:

Do you remember when I used to say I never do the thing for the thing. How do I make this land? I didn't buy this laptop because I wanted to buy a nice laptop.

Kevin Palmieri:

Well, I think that's the difference. That again, how many people actually you didn't buy?

Alan Lazaros:

that laptop because you want a nice laptop. You bought that laptop because that laptop is required to do all of the work that we do in the world, but how many?

Kevin Palmieri:

I think it's harder for. Maybe it's harder for someone to equate how fast they make their money back. Yeah, this is a 2,000. I've already made that back a thousand percent guaranteed. I could. We could look at the numbers right. That's why we bought the laptop for because of the opportunity that would it would create for us. But again, that's, that is a relatively new thought process for me. That is not the way I always thought. How would you?

Alan Lazaros:

explain that? Because another good example is I just got the iPhone Pro 16 Max and I talked to Kevin off-air not long ago. I said, dude, upgrade, it's time, it's time. The real reason why is the camera. Oh my, I mean, you think I'm in IMAX with this fucking thing. This is unbelievable. It's good for business. Yeah, I use this every day for business, every single day. There's not a single day that goes by where I don't use this iPhone to run our business.

Alan Lazaros:

I'm the CEO of a company that requires an iPhone and a laptop, and you went to a breakfast place yesterday. You were out of the office and Kevin said offline. He said it's good for me to be out and to see, because I take for granted how much more productive I can be. One of the reasons I don't like traveling, I do miss the studio, but, dude, the productivity hit was so big the amount of hours you and I used to invest in the car that now we can do paid sessions. We can do whatever productive you name it. We can do whatever productive you name it. And one of the things that I think can land really well for everybody on this episode is that what is the most sexy and shiny is always the least productive, and what is the most productive is always the least sexy. And you have to find. I think 80-20 is really valuable.

Alan Lazaros:

Invest 80% of your life in productivity and building the difference in a consumer and an investor is the consumer is the one who's losing. The consumer is the one consuming content. The creator is the investor who's creating content. And not all consumers lose. If you're consuming books, if you're consuming courses, if you're consuming coaching, if you're, if you have mentors not all consuming. I buy movies too. I'm not saying all consumption is bad, well, conscious, I think it's going to be conscious, conscious consumption. So. But the creators, the investors, they're winning. They're the ones who and again, the investor mindset, it's a mindset, it's. I was talking about this on the meetup you learn from your past and then you invest the present, because the future gets better when you do.

Kevin Palmieri:

I thought you were going to say the future will be the present eventually, but it will. I thought that's what you were going to say. I know that, but that's what I was. That's why I was following this.

Alan Lazaros:

The future is going to be the present eventually, and when it is, I hope it's a higher level, it's the next level. The next level does matter more than the current level, because the next level mattering more than the current level, eventually the next level is the current level and you're 35, I'm 36. Our life is so much better than it was when we were younger in every way, and the reason why is because you and I's thinking, you and I's invest. We invested, brother. When we were in our 20s, we were fucking losers compared to everybody else. Dude, I went from a top 1% earner to a loser living with his mom. That was an investment and it's paid off really, really well. But I remember being made fun of by all my friends. I remember I was dating a girl.

Kevin Palmieri:

I was like seriously.

Alan Lazaros:

I said no, no, no, but you don't understand, I'm building a company. They're like okay, and I'm like no, no, no, in my thirties I'll be really successful. And they were like, yeah, I bet the way welcome.

Kevin Palmieri:

I understand, though I understand I'll never, I will never, ever not understand why people don't get it. It doesn't makes total sense to me. It's like oh so in 10 years you'll be successful so yeah that's, yeah, yeah, that's the goal. Well, 10 years a long fucking time. We done so, I done, did it well, we did, and and I'm very grateful for that. But I also understand. I don't know. I don't really hold it against people because it's like dude I didn't think we'd be successful.

Alan Lazaros:

Fucking mean about it.

Kevin Palmieri:

Well, they didn't have to be so mean about it, that's fair but I I think they probably thought you could handle it, you know you're a podcaster now.

Alan Lazaros:

You're a bodybuilder now you know what?

Kevin Palmieri:

fuck yourself. All right, what's your next level lesson? You said you were gonna. You had a question. I don't know if you still do, but you said you had a question. I don't know if it's what, what?

Alan Lazaros:

what would sell it? Yeah, man, you are, you have it. Man, you have the investor mindset now, forever, whether you want it or not. You're never going to be able to go back and it's nice, you'll be, you know. It's just, it's a way of thinking, and sell it. Yeah, sell it. Nlu listener, what is happening? I just wanted to jump in here and let you know if you want to get to the next level faster. We have a free virtual monthly meetup at the first thursday of every month. You can connect with like-minded people and become a bigger part of this amazing global community. The link to register will be in the show notes.

Kevin Palmieri:

I don't know. You can either eat the sunflower seed today or you can put that mother goose in the ground and it eventually will blossom an entire flower that is also filled with sunflower seeds, and then you could have like five of them, five of those seeds, and then plant the rest, and the next time you'll have 15 seeds to eat. Nice, and you just do that, you just keep fucking doing that. Eventually you'll have so many bags of sunflower seeds you won't even know what to do, and then you can sell those shit and then you'll have a sunflower seed business and you can work laptop lifestyle.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah, you can work from the beach, you don't have to do anything. That's literally. That's literally what companies do.

Kevin Palmieri:

That's I know, I know, well, I think that's, I think that's kind of that's an here's the thing. I think one of the reasons influencing is so dangerous is because most people aren't actually as successful as they show. So when they tell you how they got successful, that's, it's all false because they're not actually successful and it sets you up to think that you're going to do the same thing and maybe you don't have to invest as much along the way I had. I went on a podcast recently and this person and I have been talking about potentially working together. They had a social media expert on social media expert. That's in quotations and you know me, I go, I gotta go check. But to see what this, every, all of their shit's paid for. All of it, every, every, here's how you tell.

Kevin Palmieri:

Okay, if you want to tell somebody has fake followers or fake likes or fake comments, one, every single post they do has any, no more than 500 different. There's no, what's the word I'm looking for? 500 likes, yeah, it's everything's like 16 500, 16 400, 16 600, 16 700. That ain't the way it works. First of, all.

Kevin Palmieri:

That is not the way it works and if they have that many likes and they have four fucking comments, those aren't real people, yeah. And if they have 200 comments and they're all fire emojis, those probably aren't real people either, because people say words. Usually people say words, but I felt bad for the person who had this person on because they got hoodwinked, yeah, and they. They probably think I got a big guest. Million followers like this is going to be really good. No, it ain't no dice. That is not real. You have more followers than that person does person who hosted that person. You have more followers than they do 100.

Kevin Palmieri:

So I think that's why it can be very hard, because so many of the people telling you to invest in yourself never did so they can't really talk to you about the journey, and I think that's what makes it really hard get rich quick schemes are fake for sure, all fake. All of them are fake all of them.

Alan Lazaros:

One last story, please. Okay, I was on with a client earlier. Shout out to you, you know who you are. When I tell this story, you're definitely gonna know who you are. He said sometimes I feel like I'm behind and then something happened recently that made me realize how far ahead I am. There's this guy I was following for years this is like three or four years ago. He's a youtuber and, uh, the youtuber was in a video saying, hey, I make about a hundred thousand dollars a month. And apparently in britain there was this whole thing that came out the exact same year that he did that video. They found out that he made less than a hundred or no, I think a little more than a hundred thousand dollars the entire year, because in britain I guess it's public with how much you make because of taxes or whatever.

Alan Lazaros:

I don't know how the parliament and all that works in Britain. I'm from the US, but I remember saying brother, of course, brother, of course. Listen, I'm not saying everyone's lying, but you can't assume they're not. You can't assume they're not. I was on a bgu episode recently and I told a story and it had to do with amy lennyus on the team and I said amy, if you're listening, listen, I don't know if it was three years ago or three and a half or four. It makes the story worse for me to even say that, but I can't not say it. It might be three and a half, it might be three, it might be 3.2, I don't fucking know the. I know it was about three years ago.

Alan Lazaros:

No podcaster in history goes through that level of diligence to make sure that they're accurate. I don't want to embellish Now. Sometimes I probably do, sometimes I'm a little under, sometimes I'm a little over. But I'll tell you what. We make a lot more money than that YouTuber, way fucking more. And I know that because I can tell the numbers. When I walk into a panera, I see the numbers, emily, and I have a game where we guess their gross revenue and their pnl and all this stuff. Pnl means profit and loss. I realize now people.

Alan Lazaros:

Here's the deal. When you are naive, you will get hoodwinked. If you're a chess master and I'm trying to cheat in chess, you're gonna notice. If you're a podcaster and you're trying to cheat in chess, you're going to notice. If you're a podcaster, and you're a really good podcaster and you know how this industry works. Kevin cannot get hoodwinked in podcasting. He's been in the industry for 10 years. He can't get hoodwinked. No podcast course that's full of shit can sell Kevin a course. Why? Because he's got knowledge. Knowledge is power in the sense that when you know more, no one can fuck with you and it's really, really empowering to learn. And just all I'm saying is naivete is scary. We all start off naive. I was naive as shit, see you, and I started out in this industry super fucking naive for sure, and especially compared to now, started out and stayed for a while, not just started and over time you learn okay, I guess that's not real and that's not real and that's not real.

Alan Lazaros:

Oh, that's tough, oh, okay, and eventually you become bulletproof when you learn about an industry. Last last piece, I'm on with a different client and he's like brother. I go to this car dealership with my girl and I know this guy I had dinner with this guy not a month ago Owns a bunch of dealerships, right, I can't believe this fucking asshole. Anyways, I'll keep it all anonymous, but basically they tried to hoodwink him. You know how, the moment you get there, they set you up and all this stuff. Of course. I said, brother, you were just at dinner with him a month ago having him teach you how he takes advantage of dumb people.

Alan Lazaros:

This car dealership owner was bragging about how he takes advantage of people who don't know anything, and this client of mine, by the way, is not a fan of this person, can't stand this person. I said, brother, you went to his dealership, expect it. They can't fuck with you because you know more. My favorite thing, kev, this is sneaky. I've never talked about it before. My favorite thing with my clients is I make them unhoodwinkable. I make them unhoodwinkable. You cannot fuck with one of my clients. Because I got you, I know who's legit and I know who's not, because knowledge makes you a very, very capable person, because you can't get screwed with.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, yeah, certainty, certainty. I think that's why so many people like when do you get the most stressed out? When you're going to buy a car. That's the time, because you know these people are they. They have all the stops, they have all they know exactly. Well, let me, uh, okay, hold on. Let me put it to four boxes here. Okay, three choices. All three are higher than you wanted, but the lowest one is close to a little bit more than you wanted to spend, so like that's close enough, okay. And then there's just stuff that you don't know like what to ask for, and yeah, it's interesting kev goes three years ago, gets a oh, I got fucking gaffed three years ago kev goes.

Alan Lazaros:

Three years ago I got gets a worst bmw for way more money, gaffaffed. The same Kevin, but different Kevin, because he's smarter, now goes and gets a way nicer car for way less money. That is the value of intelligence and knowledge and awareness.

Kevin Palmieri:

I got gaffed last time.

Alan Lazaros:

You crushed it this time, man.

Kevin Palmieri:

Better late than never. I was in the finance office getting a sign in papers and they're like all right with everything, it's going to end up being blank. This, this amount, oh, fuck it, I'll say it, I don't care. Six hundred and five dollars. And I was like I agreed to six hundred flat and they're like well, it's only. It's only like five and I was like I'm gonna go through the whole thing, the whole, it's the whole thing yeah, this is really good for anyone listening.

Alan Lazaros:

All right, cool, how many of our listeners are gonna buy a car? Let's do it. Let's do it.

Kevin Palmieri:

Let's do it okay alan and I had a conversation. So I saw somewhere I saw an instagram short about my car, you being able to purchase it for 550 a month, to lease it for 550 a month. I was like I don't fucking think so, there's no way. Then I went and researched it. Well, they're doing 7500 ev special, so they take 7500. They give you a credit immediately. I have a bmw already, so I'm gonna get another thousand dollars off, interesting I.

Kevin Palmieri:

So I texted somebody at the dealership because they're always trying to have me bring my car in and trade it so they can get more money out of me. Of course, always. Hey, hey, jeff, are you guys doing the 8500 incentive? Yes, and as a matter of fact, we also have a 5300 incentive tomorrow only. Are you able to come in? Yeah, okay, it's not tomorrow only. Just so you know. Just so you know. I went in chat gbt. Give me numbers. Let me figure this out. Chat gbt, make sure that's off of the manufacturer's suggested retail price, not already factored in. Ah, interesting, text them back. So the price on the website, the 65 000, is that with the five thousand dollars, five thousand, three hundred dollar credit or without. They said no, that's without it.

Alan Lazaros:

So that that actually comes up it's called list price is what that means, list price. And, by the way, they always list it high to anchor you high, or they list it really really, really low to get your ass here's what they typically do. They list it high as the full value of the vehicle and then they list it really. You can get it for up to or as low as 479 a month that's assuming that you get one with two tires.

Kevin Palmieri:

Well, and you have $799 level credit.

Alan Lazaros:

You have perfect credit and $10,000 down and $10,000 down Cash.

Kevin Palmieri:

All of that shit. Okay, I text them. I'm like, yeah, I'll be down tomorrow, what time's good. They're like noon. I'm like, yeah, noon's great Ask for our sales manager, jeff. It's like, all right, cool. So I just I drive down, but I already clean. I went through the car wash. I already emptied out my car. I gave it a gentle detail full tank of gas.

Alan Lazaros:

I went in knowing that's I would have told him you're the chief sales officer of a multi-million dollar we'll get into that.

Kevin Palmieri:

Okay, immediately I go in. Really nice guy. The guy I worked with is really really cool dude, but it was like I was like how long have you been here? It's like about a year. It's like cool, I'm gonna eat you alive. Yeah, cool, here we go. Uh, this is what I want to look at. If you can hit the number, I will buy it today. My car is gassed up, cleaned, ready to go. I got both keys with me.

Alan Lazaros:

Registration all of the stuff, everything we need, he's like well let's go take a look at it.

Kevin Palmieri:

Don't need to, I don't need to. You want to test drive it? Don't really care, nope, don't need to. He's like come on, let's go test drive it. As we're walking out there, I literally said brother, again, I'm happy to test drive it. If we can't hit the number, I don't care, this isn't going to work. I said so how realistic is it that we can get this for $550 a month? He's like we'll see what we can do. Okay, so we test drive it and I'm talking to him and him and I want to give it. Do you want to give it a little shine? Him and I had a really good conversation.

Alan Lazaros:

Just to unpack this. He's trying to get you to invest more time so you're more likely to not say no at the end. When you find out it's actually $900.

Kevin Palmieri:

He wants you to. You want to feel yourself in it.

Alan Lazaros:

You have the experience.

Kevin Palmieri:

Like brother, I don't care, I'm not worried about it, I don't need to test drive it. Several of the cars I've bought in the past I couldn't even drive a stick. So in the past I couldn't even drive a stick, so I couldn't even test drive it. So I just bought them and then learned how to drive them on the way home. Don't worry about it, we're gonna be fine. So we go in this 15 minute test drive. Awesome car is great, love it. So we get, we get back and we, we sit down. He's like what do you think I was? Like if same shit, you know, same shit. If we can be at 550, I want tax, title, docs, registration, docs, registration and inspection included. Nice, let's go. And he's like how much do you want to put down? I said zero dollars.

Alan Lazaros:

I don't want to put anything down Approximately zero, zero dollars.

Kevin Palmieri:

He's like wait what. He's like you're going to have to put something down. I said that's not what I read.

Alan Lazaros:

I read I I would have put zero down.

Kevin Palmieri:

This is so he's like all right, let me go see what I can do. Comes back same, same shit. Every dealership you get three numbers boom, boom, boom, boom. He's like so this is if you put a thousand down, this is if you put three thousand down, this is if you put five thousand down. I was like dude, we are not even close.

Kevin Palmieri:

It was like the lowest price was 757, the same amount that I was paying for my old car nice and I was like no, no, no, nope, I gotta be, we gotta be at 550 he's like kev I can't do 550 and I said well, what can we do like what can we do? Nice so we go back and forth and I was like 600. If you can get it down to 600 tax titles, everything included, I'll sign and go.

Kevin Palmieri:

He's like you're gonna have to put something down. I said, all right, I need to make a call. Nice, let me make a call. So I called Alan, of course. Hey, man, I'm freaking out. I sound really confident on the podcast talking about it, but I'm losing my shit. I've got to put $1,000 down.

Alan Lazaros:

Thoughts, and he's like yeah. Crunch the numbers. Yeah, it's a no-brainer, mathematical no-brainer. I said it's going to be $600.

Kevin Palmieri:

It's going to be $600. Cool, and I was like but it'll be $575 or whatever if I put 1500 down or 2000 down. Should we do that? And no, don't worry about it. Thousand down, cool guy comes back if you can get it to 600.

Alan Lazaros:

I can do it. I gotta teach in the middle of this what we're doing. The person who is willing to walk away always has the most leverage. Always because otherwise this salesperson lost a client, a future customer, and wasted their fucking time yes, before this happened.

Kevin Palmieri:

Sorry for, for I gotta get back in before this happened you know I gotta be off at eight, right, I'm kidding no, no, we'll have.

Kevin Palmieri:

You know I'm joking. Based on the, based on the car that I had test driven, we could not even get close to the number. So the car I test drove was $69,000. And we couldn't get there. And I was like, all right, well, fuck that car. I did all this pricing on a car that was $64,995. Nice, that's on a car carrier on its way here. I want that one. Nice, you really did. Crush it. I did, I did. Really well, I did. Yeah, you crushed.

Kevin Palmieri:

I didn't know what color this was, I didn't know what the fucking interior was. I was like I just want that one. I didn't know what this car looked like. And he's like, okay, I don't know when it'll be here, I don't care, don't worry about it. Can we make that happen? He goes, he's like he comes back with more and this was, this was an interesting thing and again, I'd be careful with this. He draws a line on a piece of paper and says will you sign on this piece of paper? If I can go up there and I can come down, it'll end up being six hundred dollars with everything included. You'll buy the car today. Said yep, 100 done. He walks away. I mean you want.

Alan Lazaros:

Why what he's doing there? Yes, he's getting your unconscious. So your central nervous system is connected to writing. When you write something down, it plants deeper in your subconscious and you're. It's very hard to walk away after that and you also and you also commit like a little.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, you feel, you feel guilty if you sign something and then exactly yeah, but it's mostly the negated.

Alan Lazaros:

I immediately chat gpt unconsciously for sure.

Kevin Palmieri:

I immediately GPT'd whether or not this was legally binding. Right after I signed it, I was like I fucked up, I'm in trouble.

Alan Lazaros:

I wasn't prepared for that chat. Gpt'd didn't say anything about that shit.

Kevin Palmieri:

And then I was like no, we're good, I can walk if I want. He comes back, holds out his hand. I look down 600 flat, cool, shake hands, awesome, alright, we'll run you through the stuff. Sign this, sign this, we go. So we got to go see the finance manager. He's the dude you signed all the final paperwork with Awesome. He's the dude who sold me my last car.

Alan Lazaros:

He's in a trench coat. You got to go through a cave.

Kevin Palmieri:

He's very nicely, very nicely dressed, you know, very nicely dressed. He's fresh and we're going through and he, we're going through and he's all right with everything. It's going to be whatever 605 or 610 bucks a month. I said I can't do it. And this is like the last signature. I said I can't, I can't do it. Good for you. And how fucking criminal is this process?

Kevin Palmieri:

oh, it's brute you oh my god, yeah, and I said I don't want the tire package, I don't want the door ding pad, I don't want any of it, I don't want anything. 600, that's it.

Kevin Palmieri:

Just give me 600 a month and I'm out of here, flintstone, my ass home in this 100 if you get it below 600 so him and I go back and forth and at any point did you tell them you're a fucking business owner? Yeah, okay the kid, who the kid who the the guy who I did the test and they they know because I talked to him last time. Okay, he's like you're still doing a podcast, they don't mess with you as much I emilia.

Alan Lazaros:

We sold her prius. I told you this I'm like listen, brother, stop. We've got eight other people, one of them's in our condo complex ready to pay 75 cash like do you want the car or not? We own three businesses between the two of us 7500.

Kevin Palmieri:

I know what you're doing 7500.

Alan Lazaros:

yeah, I know what you're doing, I 7,500,. Yeah, I know what you're doing. I'm fucking on to you Do you want the car or not? They literally left, dude. They dipped and they tested whether or not we'd call back. We didn't.

Kevin Palmieri:

They came back. Look, I respect it. I respect it. They did everything you're supposed to do.

Alan Lazaros:

I also sort of felt like I was doing a drug deal because we were cool under floodlights and I had 7500 cash in my fucking back pocket all right.

Kevin Palmieri:

Last thing, and then we'll get out of here, so I'm signing the final paperwork 600, 612, whatever the number was. 615, I was like it's got to be 600. I I don't. I literally can't buy it if it's more than 600 between my business partner and I. Like we have a binding agreement, so I threw you under the bus like I can't, I, I won't be able to move forward with my life if I cool alright.

Kevin Palmieri:

Alright, let me go talk to the guy Boom, boom. Alright, are you willing to leave us a five-star review? I said I'll fucking take a picture with a guy and leave you a five-star review. You're good, I'll post it on my social. Go out take a picture.

Kevin Palmieri:

Now it's not like I needed a new car yeah until I realized I was about to go over my fucking lease miles on my other car. I kind of did yeah, last last thing, the only reason I went up. So my number was 550. I'm going to get a brand new car for 550 bucks a month. I'm going to save 200 bucks a month. It's going to be awesome. The only reason I was even willing to go up to 600 is because I was looking the night before and my car. I had a three year lease. I didn't know it was 7,000 miles per year. I thought it was 10.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah.

Kevin Palmieri:

I was at 20,000 miles and I only had 21,000 miles and I have an entire year. Looks like Taren's driving so things. I lost a little bit of the positioning, so that's the only reason.

Alan Lazaros:

So the point of this episode and again, thank you for sharing. I know that was a lot. Knowledge is power. When, when you understand awareness instead of knowledge is power awareness. You know, you understand cars, you understand business, you understand bmw and you understand that dealership. You know what they're doing, you're on to them, you, you won't get hoodwinked when you have higher awareness and and I hope that, if nothing else lands, that's what lands in this episode and this, this episode was when you start to outgrow the stuff you love.

Kevin Palmieri:

We kind of went off into investing and again, this is all along the same lines, because that's the reason I have outgrown a lot of the stuff. What?

Alan Lazaros:

would have happened to old kev if he walked in there. I would have paid the first number they gave me for 69 000 bmw, I would have been jeffed my brother, I'm gonna need you to sell I would have been jeffed.

Kevin Palmieri:

I would have been it's all good, it's all good you don't. Next level lesson just like anything else, you got to know what questions to ask. Uh, next level lesson honestly, you most likely are going to outgrow the stuff that you love. I don't not all of it, maybe, and depending to the degree that you want to grow, you don't have to, you don't have to outgrow everything, but I don't think it's a bad thing.

Alan Lazaros:

I think, if anything, it's a really positive sign of evolution yeah, my next level lesson is when you have higher awareness than than other people, you are in a very um good position, and as long as you're a good person, you won't take advantage of them. But if you have lower awareness, you can be manipulated. That doesn't mean everyone's going to manipulate you, but some people fucking will, and the Next Level University podcast is hopefully equipping you with some high level awareness so that you can get to the next level but also not get hoodwinked.

Kevin Palmieri:

All right If you are a podcaster or a business owner. You heard about the other two podcasts that Alan and I have. Well, alan has two other ones. I have one other one Podcast Growth University how to Grow, scale and Monetize your Podcast, and then Business Growth University.

Alan Lazaros:

What's your tagline? Reach your potential in life and business. Perfect.

Kevin Palmieri:

Those two podcasts we will have in the link sorry links in the show notes below. And if you are somebody who wants to get to the place of sustainably consistently journaling, we have the Next Level Dreamliner. I brought mine to the coffee shop yesterday and I was like I'm cool as shit.

Alan Lazaros:

Look at this thing, kev, I'm going to rip a page out of this. I'm going to have you sign it, are you? Are you game to buy one? I'm kidding 'll buy one, I'll take you out back. I'll take you back. I'll take you to my finance manager. He'll. He'll get you a dreamliner. Hook you up, it's only gonna be seven thousand dollars a month.

Kevin Palmieri:

Yeah, uh, do you?

Alan Lazaros:

you want the platinum cover no, I don't need it silver you want silver cover, do you? Want to pen with it yeah pen with it. Okay, all right, that'll be 300. You want the non-leaky pages? Okay, okay, good, all right, so we'll have that.

Kevin Palmieri:

The links will be in the show notes yeah, we'll have that in the show notes as well. All right, cool as always.

Alan Lazaros:

We love you, we appreciate you, grateful for each and every one of you and NLU we.

Kevin Palmieri:

Thanks for joining us for another episode of Next Level University. We love connecting with the Next.

Alan Lazaros:

Level family. We mean it when we say family. If you ever need anything, please reach out to us directly. Everything you need to get a hold of us is in the show notes.

Kevin Palmieri:

Thank you again and we will talk to you tomorrow you.

People on this episode

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Alan Lazaros

Host
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Kevin Palmieri

Host