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049 - The Compound Effect of Vulnerability: Kevin Palmieri on Success, Scarcity, and Self-Worth
14 Plays18 days ago
In this raw and resonant episode of Vulnerability Muscle, host Reggie D. Ford sits down with Kevin Palmieri, founder and co-host of the globally-ranked Next Level University podcast, for an unforgettable conversation about how vulnerability saved his life.
Kevin shares his powerful journey from early financial instability and the absence of his father to climbing the ranks of success—only to find himself spiraling into depression and near suicide at the peak of his external achievements. From bodybuilder to podcaster to transformational coach, Kevin recounts the moment he hit rock bottom in a New Jersey hotel room and the brave call to a trusted friend that altered the course of his life forever.
Together, Reggie and Kevin explore:
- What true success feels like beyond money and metrics
- The meaning of vulnerability as strength—and the difference between sharing scars vs. open wounds
- How the Compound Effect and sustainability apply to podcasting, personal growth, and belief
- The emotional toll of overachievement and fear of success
- Building a purpose-driven business without sponsors or ads
- The secrets behind monetizing a podcast by solving real problems
- The inner work required to develop unshakable self-worth
- Healing the father wound: Kevin’s unexpected Facebook message and reunion with his estranged dad
- Identity, alignment, and how to chase goals while feeling whole now
This episode is a masterclass in transformation, mental wellness, entrepreneurship, and emotional intelligence—all grounded in personal truth. Whether you’re an aspiring podcaster, a high achiever seeking deeper meaning, or someone working through past wounds, this episode offers insight, hope, and practical wisdom.
Contact Info:
- 🎙️ Founder & Chief Success Officer, Next Level University
- 🌍 Podcast streams in 175+ countries
- 📊 Over 2,000 episodes & 1.3M listens
- 💼 Services: Podcast coaching, group coaching, personal development consulting
- 🌐 Website: www.nextleveluniverse.com
- 📧 Email: kevin@nextleveluniverse.com
- Facebook - Kevin Palmieri
- Instagram: @dontquitkid
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Transcript
Understanding Ourselves: Internal vs External Help
00:00:00
Speaker
When your car breaks down, again, I know we're not cars. I know we're not cell phones. I know. But when your car breaks down, you go to the mechanic. When you're having knee problems, you go see someone who has studied the knee. You go go to a physical therapist, a doctor. I think we just personalize it when it comes to, I should know myself better than anybody else.
00:00:17
Speaker
I'm not saying these people know you any better than you, but they do understand what's happening maybe better than we do because we haven't
Introduction to the Podcast and Hosts
00:00:25
Speaker
experienced it. Welcome to Vulnerability Muscle, the inspiring podcast challenging norms and helping you redefine vulnerability as a strength.
00:00:33
Speaker
I'm your host, Reggie D. Ford. Each episode of Vulnerability Muscle dives into a variety of topics such as mental health, social issues, and mindset shifts.
00:00:43
Speaker
We explore the power of vulnerability in fostering meaningful connections, healing, building resilience, and promoting personal growth. Sometimes these conversations are uncomfortable, but good workouts often are.
00:00:58
Speaker
So join us and flex that vulnerability muscle. Welcome to this episode of Vulnerability Muscle. I'm your host, Reggie D. Ford. Vulnerability Muscle, where we use our vulnerability as a strength to connect, to heal, to grow. And today I have an amazing guest, Kevin Palmieri.
00:01:17
Speaker
Kevin is the founder and co-host of the Next Level University podcast. Early in his life, Kevin found success in quotation marks, but after a brush with near suicide, he realized he wasn't living a life he truly wanted.
00:01:32
Speaker
He became passionate about self-improvement and dedicated to make or decided to make it his purpose in life to impact as many people as possible by becoming a role model, podcaster, and speaker.
00:01:44
Speaker
He has succeeded to make his podcast one of the top 100 with almost 1900 episodes and 1 million listeners in over 170 countries.
00:01:56
Speaker
Wow.
Kevin's Journey: From Insecurity to Self-Improvement
00:01:57
Speaker
He has taken his life to the next level and achieved both personal and professional success. Welcome, Kevin. How are you doing? I'm doing very well, Reggie. I appreciate the kind words. I appreciate the the powerful introduction, and I appreciate what you're doing in the world, my friend.
00:02:11
Speaker
Well, I appreciate you, and i'm i'm thankful that we get this time together. i Just hearing your story, it reminds me so much of my own, which I was mentioning earlier of, of achieving success in the traditional sense, but feeling unfulfilled with life.
00:02:31
Speaker
And so I'm, I'm, I'm super excited to, to learn more about your story. Um, and we're going to touch on the power of the compound effect, which I think is really cool. But before we get into that, i have a couple of softball questions that, uh, I'll ask. And it's the first thing that comes to mind. Okay.
00:02:49
Speaker
Okay. What comes to mind, Kevin, when you hear the word vulnerability? Strength. That's dope. yeah What do you do to center yourself or ground yourself if you're feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or maybe even depressed?
00:03:06
Speaker
I either, so usually i look at old content. We have so much content. it's easy meet It's easy for me to look back five years ago and see how much worse things were then than they are today. So I reflect for perspective.
00:03:19
Speaker
Ooh, I like that. I
Hitting Rock Bottom: Kevin and Reggie's Turning Points
00:03:21
Speaker
like that perspective. Cause it's hard to see when you look at yesterday, it's like, no, I didn't, I haven't grown that much since yesterday. But when you look at the journey, when you look at, i always tell people, ah think about the 10 year old, right. And how proud that 10 year old would be of you and where you are in your life right now. And like, you know, it's, it's amazing. So I love that. I love that. appreciate I appreciate that.
00:03:44
Speaker
Yeah. What is one of your favorite childhood memories? My favorite, one of my favorite. My friends and I rode our bikes and our scooters down the biggest hill in our town.
00:03:58
Speaker
And it is a, man I mean, this, this hill should be illegal for how big it is. I mean, it is, it is massive. Where is this in the world? It is in Uxbridge, Massachusetts. Okay. So yeah, just bombing down that hill with zero cares and zero regard for safety.
00:04:13
Speaker
I'm afraid I'm going to roll my ankle when I walk outside now. So I'm not doing any more reckless stuff. So that's a, that's a good memory for me. I love it. It brought me back to, and it's not even near this hill. I can already tell you that. It's the sizable hill that we used to ride down. And I had this cousin who she, we were on bikes.
00:04:31
Speaker
You know, when you're smaller, you don't have the weight to like really, you know, have that bike secure. And her bike started to shake and she flipped over and still to this day has like a a big old scar on her chin from where she hit the ground. Man, man. Oh, that, so i cannot I can only imagine what that hill was like it was It was reckless, but yeah, you gotta be you get the speed wobbles. Everything's over after that. Oh yeah, yeah. You lose total control.
00:04:58
Speaker
Oh man. So so Kevin, i I mean, one, you, the voice, the the setup, the the the podcast, the the university, I think it's all
Vulnerability and Starting Anew
00:05:09
Speaker
very amazing. But can you set me up going back, like set me up with with what life looked like building up to what you deemed success or what society may have deemed success?
00:05:20
Speaker
Yeah. So I was raised by my mom and my grandmother. I didn't know my dad. I didn't meet my dad until I was 27 with the understanding that he was my dad and happy to get into that if we want to dive into that. Lower middle class, didn't have a lot of money.
00:05:34
Speaker
I recall often hearing or overhearing how we were going to figure out how to pay rent. So that was that was fairly normal. Outside of that, again, bombing my bicycle downhills with my friends, all all other stuff was fairly normal.
00:05:49
Speaker
Where things really started to get weird for me was in high school, I decided pretty early on, maybe freshman year, that I was not going to go to college. And that was that was something, and didn't want to go pay $25,000 a year for somebody to help me figure out what i wanted to do with my life.
00:06:06
Speaker
yeah It didn't make sense to me. So I started training mixed martial arts in high school. Nice. And my goal was to be a professional fighter. That's what I was going to do. I was like, I'm going be a professional fighter. UFC was popping off. Like, that's what we're going to do.
00:06:19
Speaker
So I got a job at a local gas station and I trained marsh. I worked 6am till 2pm. I went to the gym and lifted for two hours and then I went and trained martial arts. And that was my life for like a couple of years.
00:06:30
Speaker
Wow. Tore my shoulder. Had to go get surgery. i was like, hmm, interesting. Maybe I should try to figure out a plan B. Maybe this college thing not going was a mistake. It was a big lesson at the time. So after that, I just kind of jumped from job to job to job. So I worked at a gas station. i was a personal trainer, truck driver, forklift operator, construction, tiling.
00:06:55
Speaker
i worked at a butcher shop. I did HVAC. Wow. A bunch of different stuff. Yeah. Yeah. Eventually, Reggie, I got a job in an industry called weatherization and I went from making $15 an hour doing construction to $50 an hour. Let's go. this new job. And that's what I was saying, Reggie. I was like, this is it.
00:07:14
Speaker
I did it. So if you fast forward a few years, I am- but What is weatherization? It's a great question. If you've ever had anybody come into your home and go up in your attic and like spray insulation or people do blown in insulation in the walls or weather stripping around your windows, caulking around your windows, that's weatherization. Okay.
00:07:35
Speaker
Okay. So I think I'm 24 at the time. At this point, I'm getting ready to compete in a bodybuilding show. So I'm quite literally in the best shape I will ever be in.
00:07:47
Speaker
My girlfriend at the time is a model. I have this high paying job. I have a brand new Subaru WRX, my dream car, loud exhaust, just driving around the neighborhood wreaking havoc.
00:07:59
Speaker
Great friends, new apartment. From the outside looking in, i was quote unquote successful. Internally, super insecure, super self-conscious, depressed, anxious, no self-belief, no self-worth. I have no idea how I even got to where I am today.
00:08:18
Speaker
Wow. So things kind of start to fall apart. So my girlfriend ends up leaving me. I was so depressed. I was so anxious. I was so afraid of my own shadow. She did the right thing. It was very hard for me to pour into her life when I could barely keep myself afloat.
00:08:34
Speaker
And she said something to me that I'll never forget that really defined where I was at that time. She said, I was going to leave you last month, but I was afraid if I did, you might kill yourself. And I remember thinking, and she she wasn't saying that from like a, it wasn't a negative.
00:08:48
Speaker
Right. guilt You're the worst. You're the worst. Yeah. No, and it wasn't that. But I remember sitting there at the table thinking, how the hell did I get here? How did we get here from the seeming peak that we just were at? Like what happened?
00:09:02
Speaker
oh Work slowed down. She left. So my bills doubled. Yeah. I am definitely dealing with a mild eating disorder from my bodybuilding show at this point.
00:09:14
Speaker
So everything was just bad. That was my initial rock bottom. ah Landlord came to me one day, Reggie. My landlord came and said, hey, I'm taking your ex to court.
00:09:25
Speaker
I said, no no no no no no, no, no, no. We don't have to do that. I'll figure out a way to make this work. I will never miss a payment. You won't even know. Yeah. Yeah. So I thought, well, here we go. This is a time, another time where I think money is going to solve my problems.
00:09:40
Speaker
So that next year starts, I grind my face off. I spend 10 months living on the road because all of our contracts were in other states and I'm i'm just all over the place. I made $100,000 at 26 with no college degree, thinking that everything was going to, do this is it, I did it, I'm successful.
00:09:58
Speaker
And remember thinking that nothing feels different other than my bank account. Yep. Because money only solves money problems. Money solves money problems. Yeah. I don't know if there's anything that can solve money problems as well as money, but the rest of the stuff you got to figure out kind of on your own. Oh, true. and Right? and i there's There's so many similarities in our stories. Wow.
Finding Fulfillment: Beyond Outward Success
00:10:21
Speaker
like When you said that, I grabbed my phone because...
00:10:25
Speaker
One of the very first, I guess, post or versions of me being publicly vulnerable was in a post that I made years ago where I took ah it was a, it was an old photo of my body, like, like, you know, built up, you know, i played football and like worked out all that stuff. And,
00:10:43
Speaker
I put vulnerable posts under it. was It was a thirst trap, right? But the the caption was where the meat was of my vulnerability, where at that point in time, I felt that I was in the quote unquote best shape of my life, probably externally physically physically.
00:11:00
Speaker
But internally, there was, there was i had, like, we can go from foot to, let's go from the foot. So plantar fasciitis, um terrible shin splints and knee pain, ah back spasms, hip injuries, and ah spat you know um chronic tension, headaches, all of these things, high blood pressure, leading to high cholester high cholesterol, all of these things were going on.
00:11:24
Speaker
And I was deeply insecure. i was I was mistreating people that I claimed to love. I didn't trust anyone. And all of these things were just underneath the surface of what people deem success or the best shape or all of those things. And so i just wanted to point that out that like, oh man, like just just connecting with you on that. Wow. Yeah.
00:11:48
Speaker
Yeah. I think a lot of us go through a similar journey and not everybody either wants to or is ready to talk about it or thinks it'll be worth it. I think that's a really... People will say like, thank you so much for being vulnerable. I i want to.
00:12:01
Speaker
i want to. this this is This fulfills me. This fills me up. i've I heard a great quote one time. I don't know who said it. I can't give them credit because i don't know who it was. But they said, when you're being vulnerable, you share scars, not open wounds.
00:12:14
Speaker
It's like, ooh. Ooh. Yeah. How powerful is that? So if if my wife and I just had a big fight, am I going to come on here and talk about all the lessons I've learned from it? Probably not. I'm going wait until that heals So i'm gonna I'm going to wait on that. Here's the here's the hard part.
00:12:33
Speaker
Life got much worse after that. like That was kind of another high point in what was a dark time. I had a moment where I thought, okay, I thought this money was going to fix all my problems.
00:12:45
Speaker
For most of my life, I have lived unconsciously. I'm coming to terms with the fact that I'm just living unconsciously. The opposite of unconscious is hyperconscious. I'm going to do what any man in his mid-20s would do. going to start a podcast about that. That's what I need to do So I started a podcast called the Hyperconscious Podcast.
00:13:03
Speaker
I fell in love with podcasting. just like you, I'm sure. But Reggie, as you know, in the beginning, there isn't exactly a line out the door of people saying, Reggie, this is a great idea.
00:13:14
Speaker
How much money do you need so you could do this full time and bring your mission to the world? Right. doesn't Doesn't really exist. So I had to keep going to this job that I now, I started to loathe my job. I didn't want to travel. I didn't care about the money. I wanted to be home. i i I realized that that job was all about money.
00:13:32
Speaker
That's what I was i was getting there. So I start calling out of work. I start leaving job sites early, showing up late. I'm getting more depressed, more anxious.
00:13:42
Speaker
I'm homesick before I even leave when I'm packing my bags. And eventually this all culminated in what I would consider my rock bottom basement moment. I woke up in a hotel room in New Jersey.
00:13:54
Speaker
I was there for work that week. It was six hours from where I lived at the time. Alarm clock went off at five o'clock, 5.15, sat up, slid to the edge of the bed, lacing up my work boots, done this a thousand times.
00:14:07
Speaker
That morning, it felt like there was 10 televisions on in my head at the same time, and every single one was on a different station. You're stuck here. You got lucky to get here.
00:14:19
Speaker
You'll never get another job like this again. If you ever left, what would your friends think? If you ever left, what would your family think? And the loudest, potentially most logical one was, do you really think you're going to be a podcaster?
00:14:32
Speaker
We're going leave this and we're going to go be a podcaster. Yeah. And in that moment, Reggie, I thought to myself, well, if I was just to take my life, I would take all my problems with me. And that was my rock bottom basement. It does not get much lower than that.
00:14:47
Speaker
But The whole point of the story is I had someone in my life that I felt safe being vulnerable with. I reached out to him. I expressed my feelings. I told him what I was going through.
00:15:00
Speaker
He gave me a new perspective, a perspective shift, some tactics. support, feeling seen, feeling like I belonged, ended up leaving that job three or four months later.
00:15:12
Speaker
And then I went into business with that person and he's now the co-host and the co-founder of this amazing thing we have going on. And wow. And now here we are, whatever it is, seven years later, and we've worked through a lot of that stuff. And we talk so much about being vulnerable, especially as men. And yes I cry on the podcast all the time. So it's been a very interesting journey of no expectation of external success, more external success than I ever thought I would have, trading all of that in, but actually feeling fulfilled. Yes. Yes.
00:15:44
Speaker
and now having external quote unquote success, but more importantly, honestly, is internal fulfillment and fulfillment, belonging and, and feeling like everything I'm doing is greater than me. I think that's a really important thing.
00:15:57
Speaker
Yes. That, that transcendence is so important in, in our ultimate, like, like to achieve what I feel is, is human, you know, the ultimate goal for humans is to, for this all to mean something more.
00:16:11
Speaker
than me showing up to a job, than me getting on this mic, than me standing in front of a crowd and talking. It has to mean more than that for us to truly feel the ultimate but fulfillment that we are destined for.
00:16:22
Speaker
And,
The Power of Consistency in Podcasting
00:16:23
Speaker
and oh man, what you, what you share, I think it's important. You said, you shared a couple of things. So what you shared about, uh, when you, when you, when we are vulnerable, when, when you are vulnerable, it's sharing scars, not open wounds.
00:16:34
Speaker
And I think that's a very critical piece because after I share and pour out my heart, these are often things from the past and the sometimes distant past, sometimes some time that I've had to process and understand this is not the fight that I just got into.
00:16:49
Speaker
This is not the the the argument that I'm currently in or the hardest thing that I'm currently going through. And I think that is important for people to recognize when when being vulnerable is like, you have to take time to to process and integrate those things and make meaning of those things before you get out because that's where the trauma dumping comes in. That's where like yeah like you you lose yourself in the expression of that vulnerability when that hasn't been the process.
00:17:18
Speaker
yeah Another thing you pointed out was you you called somebody. In that dark moment, you knew that there was somebody out there that you felt safe with that you could then be vulnerable with. And I love that it was a man, honestly, I really do. I love that it was a man that you felt that safety with and opened up and that there was support on the other side of that.
00:17:41
Speaker
Because I say like vulnerability, it's our biggest, some of our biggest fears around vulnerability is that you're gonna use whatever I say against me or you're you're gonna stab me in the back. You're not a safe person. It's gonna be used, like there's fear there.
00:17:57
Speaker
And so you need that safety. You need that psychological safety to be able to open up, to truly get the help and progress through. So um as as people listening out there, like if you're hearing a message of just go be vulnerable, it's not that. It's it's it's do it on your terms, one, um and do it with safe community. But there is also so much healing in it when you do find those things and they come together.
00:18:25
Speaker
and And like Kevin, so like, Keep it keep us keep it going. like so you You guys partnered up and you started this thing. What was that like, like just jumping out faith?
00:18:38
Speaker
I remember the day I left my job, I had a giant weight lifted off of my shoulders, but an even bigger one put on. But for like 20 minutes, it felt really good. yeah Like, ooh, I haven't really been without a job since I was like 16. I mean, I've had bouts, but...
00:18:55
Speaker
I'm not going back to a job. I'm going to try to make this work. So it was really exciting. It was, I was very naive and ignorant. So I think I was probably more excited than I probably should have been, but it felt, yeah, it made me feel like a kid again.
00:19:11
Speaker
It's like, um yeah I'm doing something so different than I ever expected to do That's, that felt really good. It felt really good. i would love to add to something.
00:19:22
Speaker
Oftentimes, I'll tell the story and people will say, how are you so vulnerable to reach out to Alan? yeah I wasn't. there There was very little vulnerability involved because him and I had such a deep relationship at that point.
00:19:35
Speaker
So the advice I always try to give when it comes to vulnerability is if you're listening to this episode right now and life is going amazing, first of all, awesome. I'm so happy and i'm I'm grateful that's the experience you're having.
00:19:46
Speaker
Right now is the time to practice being vulnerable. Yes. Because if you wait till the thunderstorm to build the umbrella, you're going to get wet. And luckily for me, I already had the umbrella. I had the umbrella relationship with Alan.
00:20:00
Speaker
It was the next logical step to reach out to him. But it was so much of the work that led up to that. So I always like to throw that out because I don't, number one, I don't want any credit I don't deserve. So it's not like it was this hercule Herculean effort for me to reach out to him.
00:20:16
Speaker
So much of that relationship, so much of that safety, so much of that psychological safety, as you spoke about, that was built over the last few years, not yes minutes. Yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:20:28
Speaker
I love that. um like So um my my rock bottom moment I want i want to talk about because... We asked the same question, which I just, again, the similarities and the parallels. i i was i you know went to school and got a degree in economics. And like I'm going to be a business owner doing something entrepreneurial. I didn't know what it was at the time. But ah go out and I study economics. i I get to the end of my college career.
00:20:59
Speaker
i was a student athlete, too, so played a little football. And I don't know what I'm going to do after school. So guess what? I go back to school. I go back to school. And that was the first time where actually had to pay some money for it, which ah luckily it ended up not being that much, but got a master's degree in accounting and actually had a profession that I could walk into.
00:21:20
Speaker
And ah did that, did ah transition from the accounting and external auditing route to wealth management And, you know, wealth management, like, what is this? Like, I'm coming from poverty. I don't know anything about this world, but it is it is fulfilling to know that I'm learning skills that I can then help other people with.
00:21:40
Speaker
And I started a company doing that work. and you know, in in the matter of the earlier phases of that company, I'm getting nominations for Forbes 30 Under 30, interviewed by them and And I'm talking to the Nashville Business Journal and all these great things.
00:21:59
Speaker
And I'm absolutely miserable. i I'm responding to congratulation messages on my phone and I'm laying on the floor and I'm crying.
00:22:11
Speaker
And I'm bawling. and And I love the the descriptive way that you said it was like 10 TVs on. And they were on full blast and they were on different channels. And I'm hearing all of these voices in my head, voices from the past.
00:22:27
Speaker
I've lost so many people at this point in life. My grief is through the roof. And i have this out-of-body experience in that moment where I ask myself, how in the world did you end up right here?
00:22:40
Speaker
I felt like I had done all the things right. I checked the boxes. I became successful. And yet I was miserable. And my vulnerability ended up, you know because leading up to that, I hadn't slept in virtually 30 days.
00:22:53
Speaker
And I was like, I need to sleep. I cried a lot that night. I laughed a lot that night. it was ah I was all over the place. But I got some sleep and I went to professionals. I didn't know. like There were some people in my life that I could be vulnerable with, but like I wasn't at that level yet. And I somehow trusted the professional relationship, my doctor, grief counselor, therapist. I had never gone to a therapist before that, but I was like, I need some help.
00:23:18
Speaker
and And that was the big, big shift in my life was saying, I need some help. So, yeah, I like what you said about i appreciate it building up to that moment. We all need help.
00:23:30
Speaker
We all need help. I just think it's way easier to personalize. Like when your car breaks down, again, I know we're not cars. I know we're not cell phones. I know. But when your car breaks down, you go to the mechanic. Yeah. When you're having knee problems, you go see someone who has studied the knee. You go to a physical therapist, a doctor. I think we just personalize it when it comes to, well I should know myself better than anybody else.
00:23:51
Speaker
I'm not saying these people know you any better than you, but they do understand what's happening maybe better than we do because we haven't experienced it. We haven't researched it. so But I understand. it's I think the stigma is less than it's ever been.
00:24:05
Speaker
Because of awesome conversations like this and and people like you who are doing this work out there. But I understand why it's challenging. I do. I get it. Yeah, definitely. We totally do. And, and, and y'all too, like the, like, I mean, 1900, 1900 episodes is, is amazing. thing Like I'm like, wow, I'm sitting here at what, maybe around 50. And I'm like, damn, the amount of consistency that it takes to push out that many episodes.
00:24:32
Speaker
Like, tell me about, about that and and how that relates maybe to the compound effect that, you know, We, when we started, we started with like everybody else. We were, okay, we're going to do an episode a week.
00:24:45
Speaker
Then eventually it was like, this is my full-time job essentially. So I'm broke. I'm not making any money. So let's just do another episode. I love podcasting. And it just, it just kept going from there. We went to three episodes a week and then four episodes a week. And then we kind of had a company that was running. so it was like, okay, five. Then we hired a team.
00:25:03
Speaker
and I think for the last like 1400 days or something, I don't know what it is. We've done an episode every day. So now we do, we do seven episodes a week. Wow. And, but, but this is the wild thing. One, if we didn't make it to 100, we never made it never would have made it to two.
00:25:20
Speaker
That's one piece. The second piece is... we still haven't accomplished what we set out to accomplish 2,000 episodes. So we're at 2,040 as of today. Nice, teeth let's you go. 2,040 is great, but all it is is a byproduct of a bigger goal that hasn't been accomplished yet.
00:25:37
Speaker
So we never said we're going to make it to 2,000. That was never the goal. It was, we want to have the most successful self-improvement company on the planet. That's yeah that's what I aspire to. I would love to do that. That would be amazing. But I think what has really helped us with compounding is for the vast majority of the time, after every episode, we would do most important win, most important improvement.
00:26:00
Speaker
What went well, what didn't go well. Okay, cool. And then we also paired that with prep, rep, reflect, perfect. Prep, before every episode, I researched Reggie.
00:26:13
Speaker
i I saw one of the Reggie's pictures looking jacked. I said, all right, cool.
Defining Success: Values and Continuous Improvement
00:26:18
Speaker
Somebody's active. On stage in a nice suit. All right, cool. Speaks to speaks to cool humans. All about vulnerability. Awesome.
00:26:24
Speaker
Cool. Research. So prep. Rep. Right now we're doing the rep. I'm doing my best, add value, cool. Reflect. When this episode drops, in theory, I should go listen to the whole thing, say this is what I did well, this is what I didn't, and then perfect. Let me take those lessons and make sure I don't make the same mistakes, make sure I get a little bit better.
00:26:42
Speaker
right, cool. We throw that in there. And I think the whole journey for us has been start with something that's sustainable, do that thing consistently, improve that thing consistently, and then there's a new opportunity for something that's now sustainable.
00:27:00
Speaker
One episode a week was sustainable. We improved, we did it consistently, rinse and repeat that. And now we get more listens in one day than we did the first year.
00:27:13
Speaker
We make more money in one month than we did the first three years. But that's just because we kept going and it's because most of the results come later in time as they as they compound. I'm sure we've all, and I know you have, I'm certain because you were in finance, but I'm sure you've heard the magic penny.
00:27:33
Speaker
Yeah. A penny that doubles. Yeah. It doesn't seem like it is going to add up to almost anything, but I think it's what, 10 million, 10.3 million or something like that. So yeah, we've we've been very blessed to have as much compounding pay off, but I have to give my business partner all of the credit in understanding the compound effect because he's an engineer and a math thinker. So he knew, he introduced me to the compound effect. I read the book.
00:27:59
Speaker
I didn't know anything about it. So I have to give all due credit to him for for helping me understand it. Yes. And and i want to I want to illustrate the compound effect what you were saying with the penny. So if you have if you're listening and you have your your phone or calculator nearby, going to do it right in front you all. But I want you to point put in the calculator 0.01 and then just multiply by two.
00:28:24
Speaker
And so we're going to do this for a month, 30 days, right? So that's a penny. It starts at a penny. When you double it, two pennies. And you do it again. So this is 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. three four five six seven eight nine ten We've done it for right? That's
00:28:42
Speaker
keep going eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen sixteen seventeen eighteen nineteen winny as ten thousand four hundred and eighty five 21, 22, 23, 24, 10,737, 25, So the 26, power 27, 28, 418.20. penny 29, doubled. 30.
00:28:57
Speaker
thirty ten million seven hundred and thirty seven or eighteen and twenty cent so the power of one penny double every day for 30 days turns into that.
00:29:11
Speaker
And that's what he's talking about. He's talking about that consistent effort. And I love what you said about what is sustainable for you. It may be one a week and maybe one a month, but like what is sustainable that keeps relevance in life and in in people's faces or in your own face and has impact that you can continue to do.
00:29:31
Speaker
And I think one important part to that is do it. Like, do it. Like, I have so many people in my life that they have brilliant ideas and want to do a lot of things and talk about a lot of things. And I think, like, we got to get from talk to just doing and executing.
00:29:51
Speaker
And it doesn't have to be perfect, right? the step Like, i'm I'm sure your setup did not look like what it looks like now on episode one. you And and and the like you said, the money wasn't what it was. the The viewers weren't or the listeners weren't what they were, but you have to start somewhere.
00:30:08
Speaker
And so I think that is so important. That's amazing. It takes so much humility, Reggie, to start embarrassingly small. Yeah. I think we're told a lie. So my business partner and I are completely polar opposites. He has a degree from one of the best technical institutes on the planet and a genius and has 12 out of 10 self-belief.
00:30:29
Speaker
Yeah. I have no higher education. i had very little self-belief. I was not a math thinker by any stretch of the imagination. He used to say stuff like, Just believe in yourself more, Kev.
00:30:41
Speaker
Thank you. Thank you so much for that breakthrough information. I've been trying. I need help in figuring that out. If only it was that easy. Yeah. I know for you, it seems so easy because you've always had self-belief, but that isn't the case for me.
00:30:53
Speaker
And when we started to, we would start to consume the same content and he'd be like, dude, how powerful is this message? And I'd be like, brother, the, if your goals don't scare you, they're not big enough message is dumb.
00:31:06
Speaker
I think it is dumb. Life is scary. Uncertainty is scary. Therapy is scary. Relationships are scary. Money is scary. The last thing you want to be afraid of is your goals. You want to run towards them, not away.
00:31:17
Speaker
yeah i don't, I can't vibe with that. I think that's terrible advice. So if anything, sustainability is personal. And you can't compare my sustainable to Reggie's sustainable to your sustainable to somebody else's.
00:31:31
Speaker
It's completely personal and it's completely subjective to you. Very honestly, seven episodes a week at this point is not hard. But that's because we have a team and i am my own boss and I make my own schedule. It's different, right? It's different. So I think one of the hardest things when it comes to goal setting and accomplishing goals is we have to start sometimes almost embarrassingly small.
00:31:57
Speaker
yeah And I think there's a TED talk. I don't know the name of it, but it's it's the three beliefs you must have to take a new action. kind One, you must believe it is humanly possible.
00:32:09
Speaker
Is it humanly possible to have a a successful podcast? There's people that do, so it's humanly possible. Cool. Is it personally possible? Can I personally do it? I didn't have a ton of belief in that one.
00:32:19
Speaker
The third one, and I think this is where a lot of us get stuck, will it be worth it? That will it be worth it factor. I believe it's personally possible to chat with Reggie.
00:32:31
Speaker
yeah I believe it's humanly possible. Reggie does interviews. I believe it will be worth it. Here I am. If you don't believe it'll be worth it, it would be highly illogical to take action towards it. Wow. I think that's where the paradox sort of starts.
00:32:44
Speaker
if you don't believe it's huge If you don't believe it's personally possible, you're not going to believe it's worth it to try. And then you get stuck in the cycle of, well, I couldn't do that. it's not I'm not that type of person. I love that. I haven't heard that talk. And in the thing that comes to mind for me, ah especially as it relates to that last question, will it be worth it?
00:33:05
Speaker
It's kind of a nuance to that. And an addition is, am I worth it? Mm-hmm. right? Am I worth being a top 100 podcast? Am I worth having the money that comes from that life? Because we sometimes are afraid of success subconsciously. We don't know it, but we're afraid of chasing that goal that is attainable for us.
00:33:27
Speaker
And I think like like ah that's one of the things I think drives me the most and towards towards things that I'm like, this seems hard as shit, but like if somebody in the world can do it, I can do it.
00:33:38
Speaker
Like if it can, like you said, to that first point, that usually motivates me enough. If it can be done, i can do it. Like I have the physical capabilities, the mental capabilities, social capabilities to do it. And it's a matter of putting those things together to get something done.
00:33:53
Speaker
Yeah. And embarrassingly small. I love that, what you said about that, because what helped me get over the doubt of starting a podcast and if it would be worth it or if anybody would listen and all those things was my my one of my my buddies from college. His name's Festus Azealy, former NBA player.
00:34:13
Speaker
ah he He shared a story about when he was having the same doubts and thoughts around starting his podcast. And he said that his publicist came to him and was like, what if we just made a podcast that totally bombed and nobody listened to it?
00:34:29
Speaker
Like, what what is the worst that can come from that? Right. So if that's the worst that nobody listens to it to it and and you get no view, like, OK. But you'll never know what the possibilities are if you don't try.
00:34:42
Speaker
And so, i Kevin, i you're inspiring the hell out of me right now. I appreciate that. Seriously, i want you to to to brag a little bit on on the podcast. So we know the number of of listeners. Like, can you do you have stats on listeners, on partners, on like, I want to know how to monetize things. Like, I know a lot of people also want to. So, like, can you brag on some of those things?
00:35:06
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, yeah, yeah, I suppose. So the the podcast industry is relatively horrendous when it comes to analytics, like notoriously so. I can tell you as of today, I think we have like 1.3 million listens, listeners in 175 plus countries.
00:35:23
Speaker
Do I know the rest? Not necessarily. I know we've made $1.4 million dollars in the business or something. And we've had the opportunity to to work with a lot of people. And if anything, I think the the best brag I can possibly share is every single dollar we've ever made has been in the service of helping somebody else.
00:35:44
Speaker
We don't do ads. We don't do sponsors. We don't do affiliates. You could offer me all the money in the world. I'm not interested. We promote our stuff. that is catered to helping out our audience. So all of the dollars we have earned are by helping people deeper in the business, accomplish more specific goals and overcome more specific problems.
00:36:05
Speaker
And if somebody, you're a podcaster out there and you're trying to monetize, I'm telling you for 99% of us that is the way to do it The way to do it is to solve a unique problem on the podcast and then solve that problem in a more unique, specific, valuable way behind the scenes and in exchange for funding. i mean, that is the way to do it.
00:36:25
Speaker
Most of us are not going to be bar stools. We're never going to be bar stool. right We're never going to be Joe Rogan. we're not That's not the approach that we're taking. Most of us have to solve a problem and then solve it better behind the scenes. And if you do that and you start conversations with your community and you add value and do the run the sales cycle and the follow-up process that, but it always has to be, how do I add more value than I ask for? i mean, that is business one-on-one.
00:36:53
Speaker
Yes. Yes. I love that. And so what would you say the problem that you all are solving is, and how do you do that outside of the podcast? We found early on that the majority of our audience, and it has kind of switched sense, but the majority of our audience was women who struggled with self-belief, self-worth, boundaries, and fulfillment.
00:37:15
Speaker
couple bodybuilders didn't expect that. I thought we were gonna be talking to men mostly. It makes sense. But it was the vulnerability piece that I think attracted women. I think that was a big piece of it. So for us, it started with one-on-one coaching.
00:37:29
Speaker
So if you're somebody who, and this was like 2019, if you're somebody who is just getting into self-improvement or personal development and you don't really understand how to be consistent and you're working through some self-belief and some self-worth stuff, awesome. Let's jump on a call and and we'll help you work through that.
00:37:47
Speaker
That evolved to group coaching, which we've done 18 rounds of, which has been great over the last few years. That evolved to... podcast production company that we have now.
00:37:59
Speaker
Then that evolved in me coaching podcasters. Now we have podcast group coaching. So Alan, my business partner, works with individuals and businesses to help them get unstuck and really get to the next level.
00:38:12
Speaker
And now I predominantly only work with podcasters doing the same thing. But everything we do is from like an identity approach. It's not here are the five ways. I need to know who you are as a human.
00:38:25
Speaker
I need to know your limiting beliefs. Are you afraid of success? Are you afraid of failure? do you self-sabotage? Right? So yeah whether it's personal development through the lens of how to be more successful or podcasting through the lens of personal development, everything is is personal development.
00:38:42
Speaker
go Oh man, that's so good. like that that's That's a blueprint. Because so many folks, you know if you're listening and you want to start a podcast or you have a podcast, like listen to what he said. right these are These are those tangential services that complement the work that they're doing on the podcast. You're talking about these things. You're helping people in a way.
00:39:04
Speaker
How can you extend that help, extend that service to other folks? Of course. ah that's so good. That's so good. i appreciate it, man. Yeah, i I'm curious because cause I think as i as I think back through some of the story that you've told, your story, your personal story of achieving and success and not in fulfillment, how does, you know, what if you make it to the number one podcast in the world, let's say, or in self-improvement, however you want to define it?
00:39:33
Speaker
um How do you find the balance of ah knowing that that is success in as you've defined it or or you know ah or fulfillment versus still trying to find more?
00:39:47
Speaker
I think one, understanding that success is a feeling far more than anything else. and Success is a feeling. That's why it's so hard to explain. Mm-hmm. That's part one. Part two, at this point, I'm very privileged to understand what my core values and my core beliefs are and how they either align or
Conclusion: Living with Purpose and Vulnerability
00:40:06
Speaker
misalign with my core aspirations.
00:40:09
Speaker
That's a big piece of it. And i think the other truth is we will never arrive Anyway, so even if we got to number one, it would be like, I still have work to do as a podcaster.
00:40:20
Speaker
I still have work to do as a husband, as a leader, everything, right? I will always have work to do. So we always call it grateful ambition. i'm I'm so, so, so, so grateful for everything I have. I'm grateful for the results that I have.
00:40:35
Speaker
I'm grateful for the audience, clients, everything, my body, I'm grateful for everything. And I also know I am capable of far more than I am currently presenting. And that's up to me to live up to my standard.
00:40:47
Speaker
I'm not saying Reggie has to live up to my standard. I'm not saying you have to live up All I'm saying is I know that I'm capable of more and I will always essentially be because this is going to go on forever, right? You don't ever get to your potential. You get to a version of your potential.
00:41:03
Speaker
So I think it's that. And it's easy to stay humble in the journey when you know you're never going to win. I mean, it's I'm never going to win this game. I can get better and better and better, but there is no winning this game. There is just better and more aligned and more value and more impact and all that.
00:41:21
Speaker
Yeah. and i And I think something you mentioned earlier is like when you started the podcast, you felt like a kid again. So maybe not winning, but you're playing. You're playing the game yeah and you're enjoying it and you have gratitude for it along the journey.
00:41:35
Speaker
I think that is such a beautiful thing because... Because the destination out there, wherever that is, whatever it is, right? Like, if we if we keep trying to crawl to it, it's going to keep getting further and further away. And it's like, well, can I appreciate this spot that I'm at right now? Can I appreciate level three of the game? Like, like yeah, let me appreciate that. So I think yeah i think that's as ah so beautiful.
00:41:56
Speaker
and appreciate it. And this is this is ah going backwards in the arc. But... um You mentioned that you didn't meet your father until, what, 27? Yeah.
00:42:09
Speaker
yeah Where was that in the journey of you having the the the suicidal ideations and starting the podcast and that evolution? Where was meeting him in that whole frame?
00:42:25
Speaker
That was before...
00:42:29
Speaker
I think that was before all of it. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I think it was before all of it. I had just, yes, I had just gone through the breakup not long before that.
00:42:42
Speaker
I was at home one day and I was going through my Facebook messages. And I didn't realize at the time that if you get a message by somebody who isn't friends with you, it goes to a separate folder. I didn't know that.
00:42:55
Speaker
So I was going through this folder. I was probably creeping. i probably like I was probably trying to find find some love at that point. Yeah. But I remember seeing a message and it said, hey, Kevin, I'm blank. I'm your father's girlfriend.
00:43:08
Speaker
And Reggie, I threw my phone on the floor and said, no, no, no, no. no no no And it was from two years prior. Wow. i didn't The message got sent two years prior and I never saw it So I picked it up and I opened it and i said, all right, let's take a look.
00:43:22
Speaker
Let's take a look at this. Hey, Kevin, I'm blank. I'm your father's girlfriend. He's been seeing you on Facebook. It looks like you're doing really well. And if you would ever like the opportunity to meet, he would love that.
00:43:35
Speaker
And I remember again, I threw my phone on the floor. I fell on the floor. I started bawling my eyes out because one, I never thought this would happen. Two, I have heavily villainized this man.
00:43:47
Speaker
I mean, I said the only time I'll see him is at his funeral when I'm peeing on his grave. Like I ah had some negative thoughts towards this man. And i didn't want to do it because I was afraid. I didn't want to meet him. I was afraid.
00:43:59
Speaker
So I texted one of my friends. I said, hey, my dad texted me. Or my dad messaged me. And they knew my story. And they said, what? What did he say? And I said, he wants to meet.
00:44:11
Speaker
And they said are you going to do it? And I said, I feel like I have to. I don't want to, but I feel like this is one of those boy becomes man moments for me. I don't want to do it, but I think I have to. And they said, do you want me to come with you?
00:44:23
Speaker
And I said, no, i have this is something I have to do on my own. Again, i don't know how to explain it. This is just one of those things. So I text back and I say, yeah, let's do it. We'll meet halfway between where we we live. i think we lived like two hours away from each other. So we'll meet in the middle.
00:44:37
Speaker
So I drive down to this diner, get there early because I'm nervous. I need to know. i need to know everything here. So let me get here early. I walk in, I get a seat at a booth and I had maybe the most humbling moment of my life.
00:44:51
Speaker
I don't know what he looks like. So when he gets here, I'm not going to know he's here. so he's goingnna have to find me So I'm sitting at a booth facing the window and I see this guy walk by.
00:45:03
Speaker
And I just remember thinking like, okay, that's him. I don't know how I know. Just a feel, just an intuitive feeling. That's my dad. All right, cool. He came in, sat down, is about about as awkward as you can imagine. i mean, I'm stoic. You're not getting anything from me. You'll get no emotion.
00:45:20
Speaker
At one point, he's crying, and it's like, you're not going to get anything from me. And it was just weird. It's just how do you catch up on 27 years of life in 27 minutes, right?
00:45:31
Speaker
But I took away probably three big things from that conversation. One, I had a ton of empathy.
00:45:41
Speaker
I had accomplished more in my 27 years of life. I was more fulfilled even though I was miserable. I was more self-aware. i had learned more about the world than this man had. And I felt bad.
00:45:53
Speaker
I felt bad for where he was in life. Two, it gave me forgiveness. I don't think he woke up one day and said, you know what? I'm going to try to screw this kid's life up.
00:46:06
Speaker
I think he was going through his own battles, his own struggle, and he didn't handle it as well as maybe I think I would have in his situation. And then the third thing, it was you have given so much privilege to him to be the villain in your story when he is not worthy of maintaining that level of power in your life.
00:46:25
Speaker
oo That was a big one for me. So I left that day feeling way better. I felt like I had accomplished something in life, even though I just was closing void.
00:46:40
Speaker
i ended up seeing him two or three times after that. And then it it became pretty clear pretty quickly that the way my lifestyle was, his lack of awareness of who I was becoming, it just wasn't.
00:46:54
Speaker
i mean, he would call me and they get mad at me if I didn't answer. he just didn't. He didn't get it. And the the yeah the straw that broke the back. I had put a picture of my wife up on Facebook, ah my wife and I on Facebook, and he commented and he said, the mustache has to go.
00:47:10
Speaker
That was all he said. The mustache has to go. Yeah. What are we? Read the room, sir. Sir, you need to read the room. And after that, I kind of just let it die. i One, I don't want to lead him on.
00:47:24
Speaker
Two, going back to the worth it factor, honestly, and this might sound hardcore, but this is this is the truth in my heart. It's not worth it for me to put in the amount of work it would take. It's just not. Yeah. I'm doing good. I'm fine.
00:47:35
Speaker
um on that That's healed for the most part. I still have stuff to work through, obviously, but... So yeah, I kind of let that die. But i there's a lot of lessons that I still take with me from that. And I still struggle.
00:47:48
Speaker
i do very honestly and vulnerably. I still struggle with certain men. You're very humble and you're very centered. So like you and i were two peas in a pod. There's certain times I'll go on podcasts that are hosted by men and I just...
00:48:02
Speaker
it's like I want a fawn or I want to pretend I'm somebody I'm not yeah so I'm still working through that obviously but yeah that was one of the most powerful things i ever did for sure god man thank you for sharing that course thank you that like it touched me um i that The liberation that I could sense and in recognizing that you know that relationship just isn't for me. right You gave it a shot and you you you did what you would you could, but you recognized for your own sanity and health and and livelihood and wealth their well-being that it just wasn't a relationship. and I think that takes so much courage.
00:48:46
Speaker
um like it It helps me because I... Damn, man. That's real. i I don't have a relationship with my father. And it's a different scenario where, um you know, for the first eight years of my life, he was in and out, like in the streets and, you know, ah didn't didn't ever really have a true, true relationship with my mom. So we never really bonded that closely.
00:49:13
Speaker
Then at eight, he went to prison and was in prison for seven years, got out for nine months, went back for another year. And then it's been out ever since. And when he got out, that's when we developed a relationship. We started to be,
00:49:31
Speaker
man, we started to be like best friends and more like brothers than, than father, son. And some situational things happened to where, ah you know, true colors were shown and, and now we're no longer and communication.
00:49:48
Speaker
And,
00:49:51
Speaker
about a year ago, this time was like the last time I saw him. Um, and that was after maybe four years of not seeing him. And it was random at Walmart picking up fishing equipment.
00:50:06
Speaker
And I saw his, his wife, uh, who he had newly recently at the time gotten married and I'd known her, she's my brother's mom. And so like, I'm, said hello to her, was cordial, and gave her a hug. And then the first time in five years, I think four or five years at that point, I go, what's up, old man?
00:50:26
Speaker
couldn't even look at me, didn't say anything. And I was just like, all right, well, I've tried and I've, I've not tried. wouldn't say I've tried cause I recognize the boundary that needs to be set, but I've, I've extended like the, the grace and the empathy and forgiveness and knowing that that's not a relationship that I need in my life. And so hearing you tell that story and and sensing, I could feel it in, in like the energy that you were,
00:50:54
Speaker
ah Speaking through the ah microphone, the liberation, it it gives me some some peace of mind. I appreciate you sharing that with me. Yeah, bro. this is I you sharing that.
00:51:07
Speaker
I think early on in the first couple episodes, I was more vulnerable about my personal story. And now you just brought something out of me in these months. And yeah, so. I'm glad I could.
00:51:18
Speaker
I'm glad I could. can end that story on ah on a high note though, at least. Let's hear it. Let's hear it. The first time I ever went to my dad's house, he gave me a bushel of weed to take home.
00:51:29
Speaker
He's like, hey, man, you you smoke weed? I was like, yeah, occasionally. He gave me like a whole, like the whole arm of a plant to take home in a bag. Like, okay. It's just weird.
00:51:40
Speaker
Just a weird relationship, you know? Just just super strange. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I love that. I love that. Man, I got to meet Alan. I want to meet you guys. oh he like he would See y'all's dynamic too, man, because I bet that's amazing. amazing. i's amazing So,
00:51:59
Speaker
And I, and I'm ah something you mentioned that I'm, I'm, I don't want to overlook is, is just the, the humility and humbleness that it means that you feel a level of comfort with me.
00:52:10
Speaker
ah do. Cause, cause I know the, I know the feeling with men and I know like I, I have, I don't know what your feelings are like, but I have a feeling with men that I, sometimes it's hard to trust. It's hard to let them in. It's hard to be close. And so,
00:52:25
Speaker
I appreciate you with with that. and i And I feel the same way. So thank you. Of course. i I mirror it back to you. I think going back to something you said at the beginning, a lot of what you were mentioning, the fears around vulnerability, they're not about you. They're about other people. And yeah I think that speaks volumes. Yeah.
00:52:44
Speaker
If you don't feel like you can be vulnerable with the people in your life, you're essentially saying you don't feel like you can be authentic. And that's, I'm not saying you got to change everything, but that's, yeah there's something there potentially.
00:52:56
Speaker
Yeah. and that's And that's hard, a hard life to live. If you can't be authentic, it eats away at you. hundred percent. Oh man. Kevin, I can talk to you all day. Same brother. Before wrap up, I got a, I got a ah fill in the blank segment. So let me know again, the first thing that comes to mind.
00:53:12
Speaker
Okay. Vulnerability makes me feel b blank. Lighter. Lighter. Nice. Consistency to me is blank.
00:53:23
Speaker
Everything.
00:53:27
Speaker
My biggest superpower is blank. The ability to suffer long after it's constructive. Wow. Expand on that.
00:53:39
Speaker
I was never the smartest. I was never the best. The thing that I had for whatever reason was I will just suffer. I think that's a muscle that I have. I expect very little out of life.
00:53:52
Speaker
I don't feel like I'm entitled to almost anything. so I think, yeah, i never I never was the smartest. I never was the most skilled. I never had the brightest future, but I'll just stay in the cold for as long as I can. And I think most people end up leaving before I do. So there's something to be said about staying power. And when it comes to success, if if we just podcast longer than anybody else, the odds of us being successful are pretty high, all things considered, right? So yeah just grit, just grit it out. There's something to that.
00:54:22
Speaker
That's dope. If I could tell my younger self anything or one thing, it would be blank.
00:54:30
Speaker
It's a mix of it's not your fault and you're way more malleable than you think. You just don't get it yet. Can you speak that same message to a listener who may find themselves in in the same by embodiment of what younger you felt at that time? Can you speak directly to them?
00:54:51
Speaker
I know you're out there right now and you you see people that have things that you don't have and you assume they're different than you and that is just not true. They have done different work.
00:55:03
Speaker
They've learned different lessons. They've tapped into different mentors. they're no They're not built any different than you most likely. They've just done things that you haven't done yet. So there's so much room for you to grow. There's so much room for you to expand.
00:55:16
Speaker
We just haven't done it yet. And we're only seeing the results of what we've created so far, but that doesn't mean we don't have results decades from today that are going to be way more wonderful. Beautiful.
00:55:28
Speaker
And lastly, I, Kevin, am living for blank.
00:55:37
Speaker
Purpose.
00:55:40
Speaker
What's your purpose? to be the type of person I needed when I was sitting on the edge of the bed. That is every interaction, every DM I respond to, I try to do it from that lens. I don't want to lose sight of how blessed and privileged I am to live this life. And if I lose sight of that, then this has all been for nothing.
00:55:59
Speaker
Wow. Man, that's a mic drop right there, y'all. Like Kevin, thank you so much for sharing your heart, opening your heart and sharing it with us today. I appreciate you so much. Are there any final thoughts, any things that you wish I had asked, any things you want to share, promote, anything like that?
00:56:17
Speaker
No, man, I appreciate you. i appreciate you. it's It's always, you never know what you're going to get when you jump on a podcast episode and and you're wonderful and I appreciate you giving me the space and I appreciate what you're doing in the world and you're leading a wave that needs to be surfed and I'm grateful you're surfing it for sure.
00:56:37
Speaker
I appreciate that. brother. and And you started the same way you ended with appreciation. You got this appreciation that sandwich. I don't know if you noticed that, but that's really dope. I appreciate it. This isn't about me at the end of the day. Like this is bigger than me. It's bigger than you. So the the fact that we get to be a part of it is wonderful.
00:56:53
Speaker
Absolutely. Kevin, how can people reach you and Alan and Next Level University? How can they contact you all? I appreciate it. Just search Next Level University. We're on all the podcast platforms. We're on YouTube and all that.
00:57:04
Speaker
My handle on Instagram, it's it'll make sense, is Never Quit Kid. So that is my that is my handle on Instagram. And then my email is kevin at nextleveluniverse.com.
00:57:16
Speaker
Questions, comments, concerns, podcasters, whatever I can do to add value, please let me know. Man, thank you, Kevin. And I hope that many people reach out and and take you up on that. But with all the things that you could be doing and all the places you could be, i appreciate you being here with me and embracing vulnerability.
00:57:32
Speaker
I appreciate you having me, brother. Thank you for joining us in another episode of Vulnerability Muscle. If you've enjoyed these conversations around vulnerability, please consider leaving a review.
00:57:43
Speaker
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00:57:58
Speaker
And don't forget to spread the word. You can follow us at vulnerabilitymuscle on Instagram and me personally at Reggie D. Ford across all platforms. Visit vulnerabilitymuscle.com for additional resources and support.
00:58:12
Speaker
And remember, embracing vulnerability is not a sign of weakness. It is the source of your greatest strength. Sometimes it's uncomfortable, but most workouts are. So keep flexing that vulnerability muscle.