You Probably Shouldn’t Look Up To The People You Look Up To (2242)

What if the people you idolize aren’t as real as they seem? In today’s straight-up, no-filter episode, Kevin and Alan expose the illusion behind fake success like botted views, viral hacks, and “polished” influencers built on smoke and mirrors. It’s a brutal truth hit about why integrity still beats algorithms and how chasing vanity metrics can wreck your purpose. This one will make you question who you follow, what you believe, and why slow, honest growth always wins. Real talk. Real work. Real results. Hit play, then go build something that can’t be faked.

Learn more about:
📚 Think deeper, grow faster. Join our “Next Level Book Club”  – Every Saturday –
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMkcuiupjIqE9QlkptiKDQykRtKyFB5Jbhc

👥 Grow together, rise higher. Join our Facebook community “Next Level Nation” - https://www.facebook.com/groups/459320958216700

📅 Join our “Monthly Masterclass” for one hour, endless breakthroughs. “The 5 Major Productivity Fundamentals You MUST Master to Achieve Your Dreams” - https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/Mz53nTahRyGRxkiAzh9bGQ#/registration

_______________________

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, check out our website and socials using the links below. 👇

Website 💻  http://www.nextleveluniverse.com

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/

_______________________

Show notes:
(1:46) Fake followers and YouTube illusions
(3:26) Playing the long game with integrity
(7:47) The truth about “botted” views
(10:07) Comparing yourself to false success
(11:05) Real success Vs. Online illusions
(14:55) Why character and consistency still win
(16:31) Outro

🎙️ Hosted by Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

Next Level University is a top-ranked daily podcast for dream chasers and self-improvement lovers. With over 2,100 episodes, we help you level up in life, love, health, and wealth one day at a time. Subscribe for real, honest, no-fluff growth every single day.

Chapters

• 1:46 Fake followers and YouTube illusions
• 3:26 Playing the long game with integrity
• 7:47 The truth about “botted” views
• 10:07 Comparing yourself to false success
• 11:05 Real success Vs. Online illusions
• 14:55 Why character and consistency still win
• 16:31 Outro

Transcript

Kevin Palmieri

(0:00) They say don't meet your heroes, and I honestly, unfortunately believe that now, today, more than I ever have in my entire life.

Alan Lazaros

(0:09) On the growth journey, some people will fall from the pedestal, naturally, and it can be very sad. (0:17) Welcome to Next Level University.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:19) I'm your host, Kevin Palmieri. (0:21) And I'm your co-host, Alan Lazarus. (0:24) At NLU, we believe in a heart-driven, but no-BS approach to holistic self-improvement for dream chasers.

Alan Lazaros

(0:31) Our goal with every episode is to help you level up your life, love, health, and wealth.

Kevin Palmieri

(0:37) 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

(0:53) Self-improvement, in your pocket, every day, from anywhere, completely free. (0:59) Welcome to Next Level University.

Kevin Palmieri

(1:05) Next Level Nation today for episode number 2,242. (1:09) You probably shouldn't look up to the people you look up to. (1:12) I know that's a bold statement, I know that might come off as blanket statement, whatever.(1:18) I got stories, I got receipts to back it up, and we're gonna go into that a little bit today, nothing too crazy. (1:23) Receipts. (1:23) Receipts.(1:23) That's what happened, like, that's the proof. (1:26) Receipts, baby. (1:27) Is that just slang, or?(1:29) I guess. (1:30) That's what the kids are saying. (1:33) I stay connected to the, to what's going on in the world, you know?(1:38) The kids? (1:38) Yeah. (1:39) You gotta know, whatever's happening with the kids is gonna happen, and that's a future prediction right there.(1:44) No. (1:45) Okay. (1:46) I was on YouTube today, and I happened upon somebody's channel that I used to really, really, really look up to, and really, really, really aspire to be, and, and things seemed a little wonky.(2:05) So they did a video yesterday, and it had, like, 1,500 views, it's okay, it's fairly normal. (2:14) New video, no worries. (2:16) Then every other video was, like, anywhere from 115,000 to 125,000 views.(2:23) Possible yes. (2:25) That's not usually how it works, though, right? (2:27) That's not how the algorithm works.(2:28) So I was like, what is this? (2:30) What, this is interesting. (2:31) And then I go and look, and one video has 150,000 views, and it has six comments.(2:37) And I was like, oh my god. (2:40) This isn't real. (2:41) And this person has a million subscribers.(2:44) So we, I'm working one-on-one directly almost every day with a client who has 165,000 subscribers. (2:52) One of the videos I did for them last week, again, they did it, I came up with the title and the thumbnail and all that, has 165,000 views, and it has 600 comments. (3:01) Kevin is becoming sort of a YouTube expert.

Alan Lazaros

(3:03) I'm just saying it. (3:04) Look, I'm just saying it. (3:06) I appreciate it.(3:07) It's good, it's important. (3:08) For anyone who needs help, reach out. (3:09) And this will be real.(3:11) Real help. (3:12) Actual help.

Kevin Palmieri

(3:13) Here's the weird thing. (3:16) What I know is not what we do. (3:21) This is always weird.(3:22) Because you could look and be like, well, why don't you guys have more YouTube views? (3:26) I understand. (3:27) Because I'm not willing to play the game.(3:29) That's right. (3:31) I know I could make us go viral. (3:33) As arrogant as that, I'm certain of it, I've done it.(3:36) I don't want to do it that way. (3:38) I don't want to do it that way. (3:38) Character over everything, baby.(3:39) Integrity first. (3:40) That's not it for us. (3:40) That's not it for us.(3:41) But I'm looking at this person today, and I'm going through their videos, because this is what I am obsessed with. (3:47) I'm obsessed with finding something like that and then doing research to figure out if this is real. (3:51) And you can literally go on different websites.(3:53) You gotta pay though, and I'm not willing to do that. (3:55) But it'll show you this date they had this many subscribers, this date they had this many subscribers. (4:00) There's no way this person has a million subscribers.(4:02) There's no way. (4:03) Yep. (4:03) There's no way.(4:04) No way? (4:05) No way.

Alan Lazaros

(4:07) So... (4:08) We're homegrown organic. (4:10) That's it.(4:10) Our subscribers are all real. (4:12) Always. (4:13) Yep.(4:13) The thing that we've learned... (4:15) And we do not have a million.

Kevin Palmieri

(4:17) For that reason.

Alan Lazaros

(4:18) We're not a million subscribers.

Kevin Palmieri

(4:18) It's me. (4:19) If you're watching us on YouTube, help us get up. (4:20) Please subscribe.

Alan Lazaros

(4:21) Please subscribe. (4:22) Yes.

Kevin Palmieri

(4:22) Please subscribe. (4:23) Please subscribe. (4:23) The thing we've learned over the years is that a lot of people are...(4:31) It's like in front of the scenes, they claim to be character-driven and they claim to be transcendent. (4:38) Oh, fuck. (4:39) Hold on.(4:40) Speaking of transcendent, Kevin just transcended right on out of here. (4:43) I unplugged my camera. (4:45) Pardon my French.(4:46) They claim to be all these things. (4:48) And again, like this is the exact... (4:50) If the camera turned off right now, Alan and I would be talking the same way we're talking.(4:54) I would have said the same thing. (4:55) Oh, fuck. (4:55) My camera got unplugged.(4:56) Yeah. (4:56) 100%. (4:57) We don't have to edit that out because it was a moment of...(5:00) Oh, no. (5:00) We don't say that. (5:01) We don't say that.(5:02) Mm-mm. (5:02) That can't go out. (5:03) That can't go out.(5:04) That will wreck what people think of us. (5:07) So many people are one way in front of the mic and a completely different way behind the scenes. (5:13) Now, some of that is just a byproduct of you have to have strategy.(5:19) I'm not saying you should just show up and give it everything you got and then hope that it works out. (5:24) I'm not saying that. (5:25) Yeah.(5:25) But remember...

Alan Lazaros

(5:26) There has to be some level of a performance in terms of not performance like fake, but performance in terms of you're adding value for a specific reason to a specific person. (5:35) There's always a reason. (5:35) We're going to be a little different on Business Growth University than we are on Next Level University.(5:39) Yes. (5:39) I'm going to be a little different on Conscious Couples than I am here with you.

Kevin Palmieri

(5:43) So, we did an episode recently on be careful what you put certainty into. (5:48) Be careful what you attach your certainty. (5:50) Something like that.(5:50) Yeah, yeah, yeah. (5:51) In my thesis, in my theory, in my hypothesis, if I'm using that word correctly, was that a lot of people attach to manifestation and spirituality because it brings certainty. (6:02) What I wanted to say and I forgot to say in that episode was a lot of the people that are like the most spiritual in the personal development, self-help industry, they have someone behind the scenes strategizing for them.(6:17) Oh, yeah. (6:17) For sure. (6:17) Absolutely.(6:17) So, it's not just like they don't just wake up and meditate and then put up a video and it goes viral. (6:22) Of course. (6:22) All of that is by design.(6:24) Yeah. (6:24) They have an agent. (6:25) They have a PR.(6:26) And I'm not saying that's wrong. (6:27) I just don't think most people... (6:29) Yeah, yeah, yeah.(6:30) Know that. (6:30) Most people don't necessarily know that and a lot of the people that you look up to probably are doing some shady shit behind the scenes that you'll never know about, unfortunately.

Alan Lazaros

(6:41) Okay. (6:41) So, I know we got to jump in six minutes, but you have worked with... (6:46) You said this to me behind the scenes.(6:48) We're going to say it in front of the scenes. (6:50) You found three YouTube channels within the last like three weeks that are all clients. (6:55) That are...(6:55) Okay. (6:56) So, that they got sold bullshit SEO stuff.

Kevin Palmieri

(7:01) Can you just go into that so that we provide context here? (7:03) You went on this... (7:05) Please don't say the name because I want to respect their anonymity.(7:09) I did a podcast pre-call with someone and they're like, any feedback for us? (7:13) And I gave them feedback and they're like, oh my goodness. (7:15) Can you help with any of that?(7:17) And I was like, yeah. (7:17) I can help you with all that. (7:18) They're like, all right, cool.(7:18) So, I didn't even go on this podcast and they wanted to work together. (7:21) It was awesome. (7:23) And...(7:23) I went on this podcast? (7:24) Yeah. (7:25) And I went out and first thing I did, I told Taryn, I was like, I have a new opportunity.(7:31) Might have a new client. (7:32) Awesome. (7:33) Awesome.(7:33) Super excited. (7:34) Then I go look at their channel and I see that they are... (7:38) Their views are not real.(7:41) Yeah. (7:41) And can you go into how you know that? (7:45) Because there's a lot of ways you can tell.(7:47) What people will do... (7:49) If you look at the location, if you're a United States based YouTube channel and all of your views are coming from like Pakistan or overseas, it's a very common thing that overseas people will reach out to you and say, hey, I'm an SEO expert. (8:03) I can help you get X amount of views in X amount of days.(8:05) That's one. (8:06) The second thing is you just look at the retention rate. (8:09) If you have 5,000 views and each one of those views is watching your videos for three seconds, those are not real people.(8:17) That is not how the... (8:19) It doesn't work that way. (8:20) And the comments thing.

Alan Lazaros

(8:21) If you have 115,000 views and only six comments like that person that we both are very upset that that is the case because we both used to learn from this person. (8:31) And we were friends of friends of friends with this person. (8:34) But anyways, so the other piece of this too is you do have a legit YouTube channel that you work with constantly, month over month, our biggest client.(8:44) And they have 2,000 views and 13 comments. (8:49) So there's plenty of... (8:51) The comment to view ratio...(8:52) I have a client of mine who's getting a certain number of views. (8:55) He's getting a bunch of comments. (8:56) Some of them are hateful.(8:58) Sorry, brother. (8:58) You're winning though. (8:59) Yeah, those are real people.(9:00) Those are real people.

Kevin Palmieri

(9:01) And you can tell by the source. (9:04) So if 99% of the views are coming from an external source, that means that that's not the way it works. (9:11) It doesn't work that way.(9:12) YouTube promotes stuff. (9:14) The algorithm pushes it. (9:15) It should be more based on that.

Alan Lazaros

(9:17) One last thing. (9:18) I have a client who started a YouTube channel. (9:20) Shout out to you.(9:21) You know who you are. (9:22) And it's a different client than the other one. (9:23) And she came to me.(9:25) She's like, my YouTube channel sucks. (9:27) And I was like, no, it doesn't. (9:28) You're doing a great job.(9:29) What are you talking about? (9:30) She's like, all these people have all these hundreds of thousands of views. (9:32) I looked at her channel.(9:34) Dude, she's got 350 views on a bunch of videos. (9:37) You started this four months ago. (9:40) In my head...(9:41) But remember, expectations versus reality. (9:44) She's looking at all these fake channels that have botted views. (9:48) And she thinks her channel sucks.(9:49) She's got comments. (9:51) She has 22 clients. (9:53) She's killing it.(9:54) Shout out to you. (9:54) You're killing it. (9:55) Do not stop.(9:56) This is the reason we're saying this to our listeners. (9:59) You might think, if I compare to someone on steroids, and I'm not getting those results, I might stop and think this isn't working. (10:07) When in reality, this is actually working great.(10:09) It just takes a long time when you're not on the sauce. (10:12) And that's a metaphor for what we're talking about with YouTube as well.

Kevin Palmieri

(10:15) Well, it's a metaphor for all of this, because this is such a common thing. (10:21) There was a huge thing that came out last year, the year before. (10:24) This dude who said, oh yeah, I'm all natural, and blah, blah, blah.(10:27) Liver King, for those of you. (10:29) If you thought he was natural, that's a different conversation. (10:32) But he built an entire supplement brand.(10:35) He made tens of millions of dollars, and then somebody leaked the emails of him reaching out to somebody saying, yeah, I do $10,000 a month worth of steroids, and I pay a marketing company $10,000 a month to blow me up, and he said, I didn't really want to get this famous. (10:54) None of that's real. (10:55) That's all made up.(10:57) That's so depressing. (10:58) But there's a lot of that out there. (11:00) It is depressing.

Alan Lazaros

(11:02) The internet is the Wild West. (11:03) What's the takeaway here for us? (11:05) The takeaway is, unsexy fundamentals.(11:08) Listen, the old me wouldn't have said this, because I don't want to flex, but assuming things continue going the way they're going, we have grossed well over a million dollars in real life. (11:29) Well over. (11:30) We're actually going to hit 1.7 accumulated over the eight years, and a half a million at the end of this year if we keep doing well. (11:38) That is from real work with real people in the real world, with no fake views. (11:43) The reason our YouTube channel ... (11:45) Go to our YouTube channel.(11:47) Look at the views. (11:48) There's no way those are bots. (11:49) There's only 35 views on some of our stuff.(11:51) Yeah, for sure. (11:52) Sometimes less. (11:53) Real success in the real world is possible without faking it.(11:57) I just really hope that that's what lands. (11:59) The 21st century is wild. (12:00) We don't fully understand.(12:01) I was on with a principal earlier. (12:02) I know we got to go. (12:03) I was on with a principal earlier.(12:06) She's a podcaster, and I coached her earlier, and I'm hoping we work together, because she's freaking awesome. (12:12) But I said, I want to pick your brain about what it was like to be a principal in the 21st century. (12:18) And I said, listen, we're both adults here.(12:21) I know you pretty well. (12:22) I'm going to share this. (12:24) When I was a little kid, me and my buddy Kiki had to find a porn magazine in the woods to try to see a naked girl, okay?(12:34) There was no smartphones. (12:36) There was no internet. (12:37) We had floppy fucking disks.(12:40) Nowadays, she said, Alan, I was a principal for 20 years. (12:45) The things that I saw with fifth graders on their phones made me so upset. (12:53) So here's my point.(12:54) I don't want to depress anyone. (12:56) I just want to be honest. (12:57) We do not understand what the 21st century is doing to our psychology.(13:03) I'm 36 years old. (13:05) I can handle this stuff. (13:08) I can discipline myself not to touch it.(13:10) I can make sure that my mind stays pristine. (13:15) When I was in fifth grade, I'm not so sure for sure. (13:18) And so my point of this is most of what you see on the internet is completely fabricated.(13:24) And there are a true few people, heart driven podcasters that really want to help you that really can help you. (13:30) And all I'm asking is that when you go on the internet and you go on YouTube, you find someone who's a real person in the real world who helps real people. (13:40) I know that sounds funny, but we actually help real people.(13:44) I have a book club with 53 members in it of real human beings that I actually see and interact with. (13:51) Like, there's no fake group. (13:53) There's no fake followers.(13:54) There's none of that shit. (13:55) And I just think that you can build a real business in the real world. (14:00) Despite the fact that most people on the internet just aren't, I think those are the places that people want to skip.

Kevin Palmieri

(14:06) Right? (14:06) It's like, you've been doing it for X amount of years. (14:08) You only have X amount of people.(14:09) It's like, well, if you did it, you might have more and that'd be great. (14:12) I hope you do, but you never know unless you did it for that long, but we make good money too. (14:16) I know.

Alan Lazaros

(14:17) I'm not, I know. (14:18) I see you. (14:18) We don't have 50,000 YouTube views on every video, but we make more money than a lot of the people that do that because it's fake.

Kevin Palmieri

(14:25) But yeah. (14:26) Yes. (14:26) But even the point that I'm trying to make is a lot of people want to start and then get to that place.(14:32) It's like, well, I don't want to go through the middle of, I've been doing it for three years and I only have 10,000 views. (14:37) It's like, first of all, that's statistically further than most people ever get, just so you know, but you're only comparing to the anomalies that you see that we don't know how they got there. (14:47) And I'm, I used to imagine they got there in very character driven ways.(14:51) I'm not, I don't really imagine that anymore. (14:53) I imagine maybe that wasn't the case. (14:55) Maybe that wasn't the case.(14:56) So that, that's the takeaway. (14:58) You have to be very careful with what you consume. (15:00) You have to be very careful with what you put faith into because a lot of this stuff is bullshit and you got to figure out how you're going to do it and stay in integrity because I don't know how these people put their heads down on their pillows at night and go to bed with some of the bullshit that they spew about this diet melts fat like butter.(15:17) That isn't fucking real.

Alan Lazaros

(15:19) That's not real. (15:21) So if anyone's out there watching or listening and you want real success in the real world, I promise you my clients would vouch for it. (15:27) I have 23 clients.(15:28) They would all vouch for this. (15:29) I could literally give you their email addresses. (15:32) I won't.(15:32) Don't worry. (15:33) But some of them have given me permission so that you can hear from their experience, not mine. (15:37) I will help you succeed in real life.(15:40) There won't be any fake. (15:41) It's going to be habits and metrics and goals and it's going to be work ethic and humility compounded over time, adding real value in the real world and building a real business. (15:50) And I'm just super excited to like be on that train, man.(15:53) I can vouch for Amelia and Bianca of all ventures podcast. (15:55) I can vouch for the we and the conscious couples podcast. (15:58) I can vouch for you podcast growth university.(16:00) Go to the YouTube channel. (16:01) There's no bodied views over there. (16:03) Right?(16:04) Same with business growth university. (16:05) One of my episodes has 113 views. (16:07) Awesome.(16:08) Real people, real people, real business owners in the real world. (16:11) So if you want to do it tried and true, we are your people. (16:14) Please reach out.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:15) Yeah. (16:15) We don't want to go viral. (16:16) We want to build a really fucking strong foundation that I don't care.(16:21) I'm not, I'm not interested in going viral. (16:22) Like I gave that up after I wasted seven hours making a video of me doing a front flip off of a porch into a snowbank. (16:28) That didn't work.(16:29) Nothing is going to. (16:31) As always, we love you. (16:32) We appreciate you.(16:33) Grateful for each and every one of you. (16:34) And if you are as committed as you say you are to getting to the next level, to playing the long game, to doing the unsexy fundamentals, make sure you tune in tomorrow because we will be here every single day to help you do just that. (16:46) Keep reaching for your full potential in real life.

Alan Lazaros

(16:49) Next level nation.

Kevin Palmieri

(16:51) Thanks for joining us for another episode of next level university. (16:55) We love connecting with the next level family.

Alan Lazaros

(16:57) We mean it when we say family. (16:59) If you ever need anything, please reach out to us directly. (17:03) Everything you need to get ahold of us is in the show notes.(17:06) Thank you again.

Kevin Palmieri

(17:07) And we will talk to you tomorrow.