Next Level University

There Is NO Magic Pill (2096)

• Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

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What if chasing your dream meant letting go of the fantasy? In this real and refreshingly honest episode, Kevin and Alan unpack the myth of the “magic pill” in personal development, business, and life. They share the raw truth behind success: it’s not easy, it’s not always fun, and it definitely isn’t instant. From feeding chickens to putting out daily fires, they explore why responsibility is the price of real growth and why that’s not a bad thing. If you’ve ever felt misled by the promise of overnight success, this one’s for you.

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:
(2:32) Why good vibes aren’t enough
(4:04) Lost dreams and new direction
(6:34) The real cost of growth
(9:38) Discipline over dreams
(13:40) Next Level Dreamliner: The planner, agenda, journal, and habit tracker to rule them all. Get a copy: https://a.co/d/9fPpxEt
(14:45) Time and effort are everything
(18:02) Prepare for what it really takes
(19:35) Building a business is brutal
(22:36) Pressure, priorities, and sacrifice
(24:35) Outro

Send a text to Kevin and Alan!

Kevin Palmieri:

The further into this journey I get, the less I believe in the magic of personal development, the less I believe in the naive beliefs that I once had that this was all fun and games and it was maybe for a greater purpose and it was meant to be. I don't know. The more aware I get, the less I believe in any magic for entrepreneurship.

Alan Lazaros:

When it comes to your long-term vision for what is possible for your life. I believe a childlike imagination can help you build it, and I think imagination is a critical component. Everything's built twice once in your mind and then once in reality, but when it comes to reality, there is no magic bullet.

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 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 free.

Kevin Palmieri:

Welcome to Next Level University, next Level Nation. Today, for episode number 2096, there is no magic pill. Alan and I were talking before this and he said you know, I kind of miss the days where we were naive.

Alan Lazaros:

Real quick, real quick, quick. I just want to sell this pill.

Kevin Palmieri:

Please imagine if I had a bottle or something I wish I wish you did instead of a mug there's this drink, yes right here a potion.

Alan Lazaros:

You drink this once every morning. It's caffeine. You'll be more productive that is a fact.

Kevin Palmieri:

It is an elixir. Some would say an elixir, some would say An elixir. Alan and I were talking and he said I kind of miss when we were more naive, when we just didn't really get it, when there was like a magic to stuff. There was a magic to everything. How, the more aware you get, I think all it is is you get more grounded in reality, and when you coach enough people.

Kevin Palmieri:

If I had a dollar for everybody who came to me with a really good idea and a really good attitude and really good vibes, we would have a boatload of money and I would also be doing them a disservice if I said well, that's enough. Yeah, that's all you need. You just need a good idea and some magic and then you're going to be fine. That's just not real. It's not. It doesn't work that way, and I think this is one of the downsides of growth and this is one of the parts that hurts the most is, the more aware you become, the more you see the downsides of everything, and I think it's just important to talk about.

Alan Lazaros:

Yeah, when you're a child, all these things. For anyone who has children listening, turn this off and or put in earbuds, please, okay. Disclaimer when you're a child, there's the tooth fairy and there's the Easter bunny and there's Santa Claus, depending on where you're from. Hanukkah, whatever it is Okay. And there's Santa Claus, depending on where you're from. Hanukkah, whatever it is Okay. There's a lot of you.

Alan Lazaros:

I remember when I was a kid, everybody had dreams I'm going to be an astronaut, I'm going to be a lawyer, I'm going to be, I'm going to be a police officer, I'm going to be a fireman, I'm going to, I'm going to do, I'm going to be a doctor, I'm going to do all. And then you get slapped. There's one person I'm thinking of and we coach them and they wouldn't mind me sharing this. I'll keep it anonymous. If you're out there listening, you know I've said this to your face, so we're all good. I said when we met you, emilie and I coach relationships, coach couples. We've been doing it for four and a half years Conscious Couples podcast, shout out.

Alan Lazaros:

When we first met them, I said this. I said you guys were on the boulevard of broken dreams. One of them had wanted to be in the NFL one day and the other one wanted to be a veterinarian and neither one of them made it. And they were in their 20s, kind of lost and hopeless, and they met each other and they have a great relationship, but they lost their dreams, they lost their drive. And when you're a kid, everybody's like, yeah, you can totally do it, you could be a veterinarian, you can be in the NFL, and not everyone says that. But you know, you want to believe in Pop Warner football and yeah, you got it. And then you look at the stats and it's the 1% of 1% of 1% of 1% of 1% of 1% that ends up in the NFL. And of all the people who say I want to be a veterinarian, how many of them actually end up doing it? I don't know the stats. I could look it up. I guarantee you it's very low.

Alan Lazaros:

And this person they didn't get into med school. This person was great at school, hardworking, individual. I'm a huge fan of this person. Now she's the GM for a pet food store, which is awesome. I'm helping her grow that scale. That it's awesome. Leadership, all of the stuff.

Alan Lazaros:

But I remember telling them between you, listen, this coaching, I'm just going to keep it real. We got to keep it real. You guys, when I met you were on the boulevard of broken dreams. You both had given up on your dreams. You don't. You didn't have goals and dreams anymore. And I'm not trying to be mean, but it's obvious you, you just aren't building anymore. So we created a vision, we created a map. They have a next level decade is what I call this. You and I gotta do this again, but essentially you go 10 years in the future and and they created this horsey farm that they want.

Alan Lazaros:

Recently the, the woman, reached out. She said I don't know if I want chickens anymore. They're. They're a lot of work. She was doing some some house sitting for some people with chickens, apparently. But that's the truth. Everybody wants chickens.

Alan Lazaros:

Until they feed chickens every day, there's a downside to fucking everything. There is real talk, everybody Real talk. There's a downside to everything. I love little tucker. He's our floof, I love him. We have to take him out three times a day, every day, manually. I can't stand that. Sometimes I got meetings, all this stuff. I would never give up talk.

Alan Lazaros:

Everything of value has to be fucking fought for. It takes time, effort and money. Everything you want a beautiful home time, effort and money. You want a beautiful dog time, effort and money. You want beautiful kids and a beautiful family time, effort and money. You want a magnificent marriage time, effort and money. That's the truth man, the fundamentals. So when you're a kid and that's the truth man, the fundamentals so when you're a kid, you believe in all these things and they are real, they got this. But you better be in the gym at least every other fucking day, and that's the reality. So everything has a price and I think if we make the promise clear and we're willing to pay the price, we can achieve our dreams. But don't get it twisted. Most people don't, because it's fucking brutal.

Kevin Palmieri:

I think many people struggle and sacrifice and grind and do it and do it and insert time and multiply time, and then they get to a place where they try to. Here's the thing. As a podcast coach and somebody who has helped a lot of podcasters, can I help you? Yes, will it be easier for you than it was for us? In some ways, can I make it struggle? Proof no, can't, can't't do it. It's not the way it works, it just doesn't. It doesn't work that way.

Kevin Palmieri:

There, I don't think there is really any system where it's like okay, I will put one dollar in and I'll get a thousand dollars out eventually. That happens, that can happen eventually, but not for the vast majority of the time. And and I think that's that's an important piece of it, and I think the other piece of it is that's what facilitates the growth anyway. That's it's not. If you just went to the gym and it was easy and you didn't have to worry and you didn't have to work that hard and you, then you wouldn't grow and you wouldn't appreciate the growth that you had, and that's a piece of it. And then the third thing I've you've heard me say this quote a million times and I I don't say this as often as I used to. I still agree with it, but I don't know. I wonder if it's it's two pie in the sky, and I want to make sure it actually lands. Your reality becomes the parts of your imagination that you hold onto and pour into the longest, becomes the parts of your imagination that you hold on to and pour into the longest Again.

Kevin Palmieri:

This was all in my imagination, most of it, not all of it, but I had to hang on to that when the world said, hey, that's dumb as shit. Nobody makes money podcasting. That's stupid. Why'd you leave your job? And I had to pour into it every day, every single day. We've done something to do this and grow this and make it better, but I had to let go of a lot of shit too. I had to let go of a lot of stuff. I had to let go of things that were in my imagination and I had to stop pouring into things that weren't conducive to this, and that's a really, that's a really challenging understanding too. I really, really want to have a car channel. I can't, yet I can't because can we go deeper?

Kevin Palmieri:

I can't, yet it's not optimal based on what we're doing. My time is is better spent doing podcast episodes or coaching people or spending time with taryn or being at the gym or learning new stuff. It's just not the best use of my time, as much as I want to do it. I think I was naive to the fact that it's like all right, cool, we'll make a business and we'll be successful, and then I'll be able to do like a bunch of different stuff. No, if anything, I have to do more of the same stuff better for a longer period of time, and then eventually there will be such an insane amount of momentum that I will have opportunities to do things outside of it, and then I probably won't even want to because it'll be like, yeah, that moment has passed.

Alan Lazaros:

I want to share this with all of our listeners and viewers. Kevin and I have grossed well over a million dollars in our time in business together Well over it. As a matter of fact, if I crunch the numbers, we're probably coming up on 2 million soon. Now, that's awesome. We have 105, I track this every day. We have 105 podcasters and business owners that we work with, paying us to help them reach their goals and dreams. That was, at one point, a magnificent dream. For sure, to build a successful business, fitness, personal development business. In this industry we are. When it comes to podcasting, we are the 1% of 1% of 1% of 1% of podcasters in terms of making money with a podcast. Okay Now, the podcast indirectly makes money. It doesn't directly make money. We don't directly make money. We don't have any ads. We only advertise our own stuff here. The dreamliner coaching, podcasting. We produce 70 podcasts, produce slash, consult with 70 podcasters. I'm including group coaching in that. Now, at the end of the day, that's all awesome and that all sounds awesome and it is awesome, and that was, at one point, a fucking. That was a dream. That was our dream. But here's the deal when kevin and I wake up tomorrow morning we have to service 105 people. I think that's. I really want to try to break this down. This is something I think everyone can relate to.

Alan Lazaros:

I ordered a shirt on Amazon earlier today. I have a gift card. The shirt's $27. It's going to come to my door tomorrow, one day Shipping. I'm super pumped.

Alan Lazaros:

Somebody had to make that shirt. Somebody had to quality assure that shirt make sure it's not ripped button. But someone had to package it. Someone had to put it in a box. Someone had to ship it to an Amazon procurement facility. Someone had to put a label on it. Someone had to scan a barcode.

Alan Lazaros:

I used to do automation, so I actually know all this and Amazon was one of our. Not really supposed to say that doesn't matter. Amazon was one of our big customers. We I think we called it Odin or something. Uh, the point is, is that somebody? How many people had to touch that shirt before it got right here and it's not this shirt, obviously, but for the metaphor, how many people had to put work in, had to work for me to wear this shirt? I paid $27 for this shirt to come to my front door. That was earned with other people's time, effort and money. That's what companies do.

Alan Lazaros:

So if you want to build a company, if you want to build a business, if you want to build an organization, you want to start a charity. Nothing is free. Nothing's free. It requires time and effort. You want a marriage Time and effort. You want kids Time and effort. You want pets Time and effort. You want a home Time and effort. You want a great yard. You know how hard it is to grow nice grass. I'm so grateful to have landscapers. They are unbelievable at what they do. They're out there all the time. I'm so grateful, particularly because I'm not a fan of doing landscaping.

Alan Lazaros:

Hello, hello, hello, nlu listener. Thank you, as always, for listening to Next Level University. Real quick, I just want to jump in and let you know about the Next Level Dreamliner. This is a journal that I use every single day Achieve your dreams 90 days at a time. It breaks down your dreams into goals, milestones and daily habits. We hope you enjoy it. The link will be in the show notes, but the point is, I get to do what I do best, they get to do what they do best and we pay for that, and I think that that mentality is really critical, and when you're an adult, you realize that when you're a kid, the electricity's on. You don't think about it.

Kevin Palmieri:

It's the best.

Alan Lazaros:

And then the best. And then your, your parents, yell at you like turn off that light, right, depending on what kind of parents you had? Uh, get out of the shower. It's like got it. The utility bills are nuts. But I also understand. Someone has to provide that electricity. Someone has to provide that water. I have someone that I coach who's in his water and all that stuff clean water, nothing taxes all this stuff.

Alan Lazaros:

At the end of the day, when you're an adult, you realize everything costs something, and I have time and effort. Your most valuable asset on this earth is time and effort. Where are you putting your time and effort? And to me, I don't waste time and effort anymore. Dude, I used to party and waste time and effort. I used to waste it, and I didn't have a family, I didn't have a mortgage, I didn't have a home, I didn't have a nice car, I didn't have a business, I didn't have an 18 person team, I didn't have a podcast with 175 countries that were heard in. So I didn't have much and I wasn't nearly as fulfilled. And I live a meaningful life, but I also didn't have any responsibility. In comparison, all success. This will be the last thing I say in terms of this and kick it to Kev. All success is built on responsibility.

Alan Lazaros:

I was coaching a GM yesterday and I said how many cooks do we have in this kitchen? Like, okay, so there's two investors over here, then there's these two investors, then there's you. You're the GM. I said who's the best in business out of all of you? She said, honestly, I don't think any of us are good at business. Okay, and Emilia chimes in. She says it's a franchise. They got sold on this. Yeah, that's true. Okay. So anyone who jumps into a franchise, usually it's we'll do the business. We're corporate, we'll teach you business. They're not teaching them. So I'm filling the gaps here.

Alan Lazaros:

I'm a relationship coach who's apparently teaching business on the side, but at the end of the day, she is the GM of her own pet store. It's unbelievable, it was a dream. But her life behind the scenes is super difficult. I'm behind the scenes with people all the time. I'm coaching people in the real world with real problems, with real financial statements, with real hey, how much are you spending? Well, that's 15 of your revenue. Can you tell her to maybe do a week instead of a month? What are we doing here, right? She's like, well, well, you gotta stand up to her, you're the boss and again, it actually is a week. It's ending up being a week. So, if you're listening, that's that's what that is. But the point is is that real problems in the real world come from real responsibility, and if you want big goals and dreams, you also gonna take on a ton of responsibility there's's just more fires.

Kevin Palmieri:

There's just more fires. I think that's the thing that I never thought about, that I didn't understand. Every person, every opportunity is a potential for X amount of fires, and that's really what it is. At the end of the day, the more clients we have, the more fires there are to put out, and then that becomes more of my job. My job is to put out fires more than it used to be, and that's weird. It's weird to understand that. It's weird to realize that. It's challenging to realize that. But again, I would rather this be easier than I thought. I would rather go into it thinking this is going to be absolutely terrible and this is going to be the hardest thing of all time, and then it'd be a little bit easier, because then at least you're relieved when, on the opposite end, I think a lot of us are misled into doing hard things with the assumption that it's going to be easy, and I don't think it serves us, I don't think it's healthy, I don't think it's.

Kevin Palmieri:

If I, if I called you and said, yeah, we're going on a camping trip, all right, what do I need? Ah, don't worry, don't even worry about it, you don't need anything. I got an air mattress. I got it all, everything. I need a jacket. Nope, got a little heater for the tent. When we get to the campsite and I say, ooh, kind of fucked us here, forgot the tent, I forgot the heater. We're going to have to sleep under the stars. You're going to freeze because you didn't come prepared. I told you it was going to be better than it is. You're fucked, you're in trouble.

Kevin Palmieri:

But if I said, yeah, you better bring a sweatshirt, you better bring extra socks, waterproof stuff would be good, extra water, definitely, like some meals, protein bars and that stuff. And then you show up and we're glamping. It's just this really nice, warm tent. I got a fucking TV hooked up. We're playing Xbox. You're going to have the time of your life. You're going to be like wait, this is what we're doing. Yeah, no, I got us, we're good. Why did you tell me to bring everything Just in case, just in case, in case.

Kevin Palmieri:

You never know. You never know what might happen. Those are two very different experiences and I think those are two very different dream chasing experiences as well. I would rather you leave here and be like oh, kevin allen are hard asses and they tell me it's going to be terrible and they're all about grind and blah blah. Honestly, from my perspective, I would rather you leave here and think it's going to be harder than leave here and say, oh, it's going to be easy. Anybody can start a business. Yes, anybody can pay $500 to your state or however the freak. You do it wherever you are. That's the easy part. Yes, anybody can start. Anybody can sign up for a gym membership. It's fine.

Alan Lazaros:

Zero to 10,. How hard is growing a business from your perspective?

Kevin Palmieri:

The heart. It's 12. It's the hardest thing ever of all time. It is the fucking hardest thing I would go is there anything you've ever done harder?

Alan Lazaros:

no, is there anything even close?

Kevin Palmieri:

no, because it never stops it's my favorite man it never. It's a treadmill that you can't ever get off.

Alan Lazaros:

It speeds up and the legos get sharper is there anyone you know in person who is a more successful business owner than you? Yes, yes, for sure. Okay, what percentage of people that you have, all the people you know, what percentage are more successful owners than you?

Kevin Palmieri:

I don't know they're, I don't know. I don't know if I have a percentage, because there's only so many people that are one in a hundred.

Alan Lazaros:

One in a hundred probably yeah probably one in a hundred. Okay, so kevin is top two percent in business owners that he knows in terms of success and actually creating and building a real business with a real team yeah, it's her world, in the real world, and he just said it's a 12 out of 10 hard. The hardest business is the hardest thing in the entire world well, anything if you decide.

Kevin Palmieri:

You know what. I got this nine to five, but I really want to go do something different.

Alan Lazaros:

You are choosing the harder from an external effort perspective explain because, you used to work a job that was hard, but it wasn't in comparison like it was hard and give me the pros and cons of the six-figure job you had before Pros and cons.

Kevin Palmieri:

Give me the pros and cons of the six-figure job you had before Pros. I kind of sort of knew where I was going to be, for how long I was going to be, how much money I was going to make. Work vehicle was paid for, the gas was paid for. I didn't really need, there was no overhead for me. It didn't cost me anything to work there. That was all really cool. I made really good money. That was kind of it. That was like those were the pros. You're missing one.

Alan Lazaros:

What, when you are done working, you're done working.

Kevin Palmieri:

Oh yeah, that's fair. Well, even in that, it's the best part, yeah but I was a foreman so it kind of wasn't.

Alan Lazaros:

But it kind of was Come on, no, I had calls on the weekend and stuff.

Kevin Palmieri:

No, no, I had to put together. I had to go work on Sunday and prep the van. No, no, it wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't, it was more than this but it was.

Kevin Palmieri:

Okay, now go into that Literally. And again, I'm not asking, this is not for sympathy. I could not fall asleep last night because I had so many ideas of what needs to get done. We're switching where we use a platform to record our video. It's 90 bucks a month. Fuck that, it's not worth 90 bucks a month. We're gonna find a way to get it in half. Cool, nice, that was just came to me last night. It's a guy. Why have I thought of that yet? All right, cool, let me do that. I could not sleep last night because I had so many things going on in my brain that need to get done. And and then first thing in the morning I have to fight myself to not open WhatsApp and check WhatsApp before I go to the gym. I have to make sure I don't check my emails, it's. I literally get anxious on Sunday because it's like, ah, I've gone too long without looking at WhatsApp. I need to go look Like, let me look quick to make sure nothing's burning down.

Alan Lazaros:

Like I, literally get anxious. Kev, you need to work on your anxiety or you need to delegate more. No, we're more successful than you, the people that say that we're actually significantly more successful than them. Well, they don't get it, and what they don't understand is what we're building. They don't get it.

Kevin Palmieri:

It's easy to read a book and say that it's like, oh yeah, that's what the book. No, that just is what it is. It's this, that's. This is the phase that we're in. We have very unique, specific goals, not only in the next, however long, but this year, and that's why we're doing things the way we are. But that's the thing. There is no, there is no pill. It's not. Oh, have you heard of this platform? Doesn't matter. Have you thought of this email? Sequence Doesn't matter, it's. Have you ever of this email? Sequence doesn't matter, it's. Have you ever used this message in this way? It doesn't matter, that's all I know. Supplemental that's all supplemental and supplements are great, but if you're not working out, you can take all the creatine in the world and it ain't gonna do shit. We gotta go, because I have a podcast speaking of. I have a podcast breakthrough session with a wonderful human right after this where, hopefully, I can tell them that there are rainbows and unicorns, but they're less rainbowy and unicorny than you think.

Alan Lazaros:

Love it. The last thing, next level lesson, kevin, when he did the camping metaphor, ask yourself this question which one is easier to sell? We're being honest at the expense of selling you something. It's easy to sell someone on something that looks grandiose, but then they get to the woods and they end up starving to death and choking on the dust of their own regret because they quit their job when they shouldn't have because they didn't understand what they were getting themselves into. So I miss somewhat being naive because we were willing to talk about mindset and this kind of stuff. But we're not naive anymore and we had to grow the hell up and that's okay. And the truth is, adults need to adult and they need to be honest about what it really takes. And if you want to have a farm, you're also going to have to feed the chickens, and that's a metaphor.

Kevin Palmieri:

You got to feed the chickens All right, as always. We love you, we appreciate you, grateful for each and every one of you, and at NLU we don't have fans, we have family. We will talk to you all tomorrow.

Alan Lazaros:

Keep it next level.

Kevin Palmieri:

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

Alan Lazaros:

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.

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Alan Lazaros

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Kevin Palmieri

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