Kevin Palmieri  00:00

Every night before I go to bed, my wife and I say one thing that we’re grateful for about each other. That’s another little love habit that if, and we talked about this in the preamble, if your business is doing really well, ask yourself why? Well, I measure everything that I do, and I know the most important behaviors. All right, cool.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  00:19

Good morning, and welcome to another episode of Better Business, Better Life. Today, I am joined by Kevin Palmieri, who is the CFO, the founder and host of the podcast, Next Level University. And I’m gonna let Kevin tell a bit more about this. But basically, it is a university that’s designed to help you to improve your, your your life, your love, your health, all the areas of your life that need improving. So welcome to the show. Kevin.

Kevin Palmieri  00:45

Debra, thank you so much for having me. I’m excited to chat and see where we go today.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  00:49

Absolutely. So tell us a little bit about what about Kevin as a person, and also what you’re doing with that next level University, and perhaps share a couple of things that you’re quite proud of that you’ve achieved in your life as well.

Kevin Palmieri  00:59

Yeah, Kevin is a person is just a man who likes adding value to people. And I think at the deepest of levels, I want to be the person that I needed. That’s one of the big reasons I do a lot of the things I do. And that’s one of the reasons I do them in the way I do. So I think that’s very, very important to me to stay aligned with that. What we’re doing with next level University is, like you said, we’re trying to take a holistic approach to quote unquote, success and helping people redefine success, to fulfillment. fulfillment, and happiness are two different things. And I think a lot of us are optimized to be happy, when in reality, happiness is fleeting, but fulfillment is you being on a journey towards something greater and really endless growth. And I would say the, the biggest thing that I am proud of, or the thing I’m most proud of, is the fact that every single one of our 11 175 episodes has been based on how do we add as much value as humanly possible to the audience. We try not to ever take shortcuts, we just we sit down and say what does Debra needs to hear today? And how do we add as much value as possible? So that’s something I’m very, very, very proud of.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  02:12

Yeah. And that’s a huge number of episodes. Congratulations.

Kevin Palmieri  02:14

Thank you so much.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  02:15

So you mentioned that you want to be the person that you need it. So can you explain a little bit about that? Where did that come from?

Kevin Palmieri  02:21

 Yeah, I remember. And I’m sure there’s, there’s some people that will resonate with this. But long before I was an entrepreneur, I always assumed I could never be an entrepreneur, I always assumed I can never be a business owner, I always assumed I can never understand the numbers in the margins. And I just didn’t resonate, or relate to the people who I saw in business. So my goal is for somebody to be able to look at me and say, oh, okay, he didn’t know any of this six years ago. And now he’s really, really good at it. How did he get that way? That I don’t ever want somebody to look at me and say, because Kevin did that? I can’t I want it to be the opposite. So it’s very important for me, as somebody who didn’t go to college and somebody who didn’t study, professionally, a lot of the things I do, I want to make sure that people can connect with that it’s very important for me to be relatable, it’s, it’s something that I am very focused on.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  03:19

I love it. I can tell that from the way that you’re talking.  So you didn’t go to college? And yeah, that’s really funny, is it because I actually, I had a bit of an ego challenge. I think in my early life, I felt like I had to get lots of qualifications in order to prove myself successful. So I’ve actually done a lot of different degrees. And, and in all honesty, I think I never regret anything. But if I could go back in time, probably wouldn’t waste so much time doing study, because I think I learned a whole lot more from running a business making the mistakes, you know, the things that you do in running a business. So what have been the biggest kind of challenges that you have come across? And how have you overcome them?

Kevin Palmieri  03:23

I appreciate it.  Yeah, it’s interesting. A lot of my struggles have been like the internal not in terms of like the external staffing or that sort of thing. It’s really been confidence. It’s been that how do I actually do this? Am I good enough to do this? Am I good enough to do what’s required of me to get to the next level of business, the imposter syndrome of anytime I try something new, like, can I actually do this? Right? I’m a podcaster. But now a podcaster, who has a business and speaks on business and speaks on leadership and speaks on relationships. So for me, I think a lot of the stuff Debra was the painful. Am I actually capable of doing this? Am I good enough? Am I smart enough? Can I be smart enough? That’s the battle that I have. Daily, I still deal with that.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  04:43

 Yeah, I think we all do right because there’s this thing called the inner critic and and whether we like it or not, we can never completely get rid of them. The most that we can do is work with them as opposed to against them, I think. And you’re in your next level University. I mean, when I first spoke to you earlier on, you mentioned this are the key areas of the life that it’s all about. Can you just repeat those For us, because I didn’t quite get them written down properly. And

Kevin Palmieri  05:02

Yeah, life love health and wealth. That’s our health wealth. That’s our real focus. We, I was financially successful in my mid 20s. I was also in the best shape of my life, but my relationship was burning to the ground. And I think you said this earlier in the preamble, we were talking about balance and how balance isn’t necessarily balanced, because it’s not 50% 50% 50% 50% it’s more of a juggling act. I was not juggling very well, in the beginning of my life. So I think to be fulfilled, you should be leveling up your health, and you shouldn’t be leveling up your wealth. And you shouldn’t be leveling up your love. If you want to have a well rounded, fulfilled life.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  05:43

Yes, yeah, no. Okay, I get that. I can, I can certainly think back to times when I have definitely had those things sort of out of kilter. Like you said, it’s not like there’s a, there’s not a perfect level, it’s different for every person, right. But it’s about making sure it works for you, and looking at holistically. Okay, so tell us a little bit about, you know, how do you work with people like what is your you obviously, set up the next other university podcast to help people tell us what that’s all about? Give us a bit more in depth information.

Kevin Palmieri  06:13

Yeah. So the way our business has been set up is based on impact first, so my ultimate goal and our ultimate goal when starting this was no matter what your financial setpoint or your self improvement setpoint, there is somewhere for you in our business. So we have the podcasts that seven episodes a week. So every single day, there’s a new episode.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  06:34

Are they short, sharp? Or how long? Do they go for 30 minutes?

Kevin Palmieri  06:37

Usually 20 to 30? Yeah. So the if you are somebody who is very new to self improvement, and you say, you know, I don’t have a lot of money to invest cool, it’s free. Every day, it’s always going to be free. No sponsorships, don’t worry about it. Then we have like free courses. We have paid courses, we have coaching, group coaching, retreats. So that’s the way our business is set up. But it’s really set up on how do we help people get from where they are to the next step. Not everybody wants in, at least in our community, not everybody wants to have an eight figure business, or a seven figure business, right. And I think a lot of people are used to being pushed well beyond what they want. Where for me, I just want you to get to where you want to get to because I realized for you, that’s the only sustainable way.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  07:27

And I think we’ve talked about this in the preamble is kind of this treadmill that we’re going to get pushed onto right? We people have the people almost set the expectations for us. And then we believe that is actually what we want. So how many of us actually take the time to go, we’re really what does my ideal life look like? And what is important to me, I mean, I, I always talk to my clients in business and say, Hey, look at work life balance. It’s different for every person, I know that personally, about 55 hours a week is about the best for me. If I do much more than that I feel exhausted if I do anything less than that I’m twiddling my thumbs. And so that’s best for me. It doesn’t mean that I don’t think about business on the weekends, not because I’m an entrepreneur, of course I do. But that’s my kind of ultimate. For other people. It might be 15. For some people, it might be 80. And none of those are right or wrong. It’s actually about what is right for you.

Kevin Palmieri  08:12

I wanted to present in the other thing, too, is okay. How important is your family life? Right? We I’ve worked with clients who they were very hesitant to say, honestly, my business is more important than my family. To me, it’s like, cool, there’s, I’m not going to judge you for that. That’s, that’s for you. And there’s other people who say my, my fitness is more important to me than my business cool. The faster you understand that, the more again, the more quote unquote, successful you’re going to be. Because maybe for you, to your point, Debra, working 40 hours a week, and making what you would make on that is the way you want to do it. And you want to have a well rounded life where you travel, and you have time with him, that’s great. You know, I think a lot of us start something. And we have the proverbial carrot on the end of the stick on the treadmill. And we say when I get there, everything is going to be great. And some of us get there. But we never redesign the treadmill, we don’t change the carrot out for something else. And then we’re always chasing, chasing chasing, when in reality, you might be way beyond what you wanted. You just haven’t checked in a while. It’s self awareness is such an important thing.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  09:19

Yeah, so where do people start? Because you know, this is really about I always talk about planning your life before somebody else does. And by that, I mean, you know, being really clear about what’s important to you, and making sure you’ve got those rocks, both personal professional in your doors, you’ve got the time for them. That could be your gym, it could be whatever else that you want to do. But I mean, where do you even start? Because if you’ve been told that you need to have an eight figure business and this is what you need to do. You might be completely constrained by other people’s beliefs in terms of what you do. So where do you start?

Kevin Palmieri 09:49

Yeah, I would suggest sitting down with a blank piece of paper and writing just write three columns. You’re gonna write your core beliefs. You’re gonna write your core values, and you’re gonna write your core aspiration. wins. And you’ll find very quickly. So say, your core beliefs are time with family is invaluable and can never be replaced. say that’s one of your beliefs, you grew up in a household where family was everything family was first, that’s going to dictate a large piece of your life that and that’s okay. You might have a belief that if I’m not working every second of every day, I could never maximize my potential. Okay? That’s a belief that you have your core values. What are your values? is self improvement a value? Is fitness a value? Is r&r, a value charity, that’s going to dictate how you do things in a different manner. And then the big one, the future one the goal one is your core aspirations, like, what do you really want, be brave, and pretend nobody’s ever gonna see this? Because nobody is. If it was up to you, and you could write down anything and everything you wanted? What would it be? Do you want to be a billionaire? Cool, right? It’s out, right? And then you sit with it and say, Okay, what conflicts here? I want to be a billionaire. But I want to spend 30 hours a week with my family, are those two going to actually compute together? Yes or no. And then at least you can see where your potential your potential blind spots are. I mean, you can’t really see blind spots. But you can see where the potential kinks in your potential future are. So I always suggest that because a lot of us don’t know what our core values are. We’re just running the same algorithm. We’ve been running for our entire lives. And if you don’t know what’s important to you, how can you design your life based on what’s important to you?

Debra Chantry-Taylor  11:34

Yeah. And I think it’s really interesting. I was set sharing with you a conference of the day that and one of the speakers actually, there’s about 130 people in the room. And he asked how many will actually had a plan for their life, not for their business, but for their life. And only two people put their hands up. And I was obviously one of them, because I like to plan my life. But some people get caught up in the how, when they’re trying to do these kinds of exercises. And it’s like, actually, the hell comes Once you’re clear on what you want is my belief. Is that what you believe?

Kevin Palmieri  12:00

Yeah, I think that it’s one of those things where I think a lot of people, they don’t go in the pool until they know how to swim. It’s like, well, it doesn’t, it doesn’t really work that way. So you’ve got to get in the pool, and then you figure out how to swim. Yeah, I think that’s very, I think that’s very accurate. But I do think for a lot of us, unless we can see the path and how to chart it, it’s very hard to imagine us taking that journey. So I understand both ends, I’m definitely more unnatural. I like to know how I’ve transitioned away from that, just because I don’t know how I’m gonna do most of the things now. But I’m definitely not naturally that way I was, I’m a very certainty driven human being. So I like to know how I like to know when I like to know why. But I’ve tried to let go of that. And I think that has been serving to your point.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  12:48

And I think that it’s I mean, it’s not so much that you absolutely need to know how you’re going to do it. And you have to have a plan to actually do it. But I think that if you try and let that thinking affect what it is you really want, that’s where it can be dangerous, because we can often kind of, you know, for me, for example, you know, I know that I want to take a significant chunk of time off to spend traveling, doing adventures, and my husband and my dogs and, and you know, you can write it down. And sometimes you don’t actually know how it’s gonna happen. But if you’re really clear on that’s what you want, then you can work out the how to do it. And I’m not a believer in this, you know, I want a million dollars in my bank account, I’ll write it down, and it will just magically appear not at all, but it’s like, actually, if you genuinely did want a million dollars in the bank account, write it down, then you can work out, you know, how can we actually achieve that? And like you said, looking to see if there’s anything that contradicts or doesn’t quite fit in congruent with each other. It’s important. Okay, so we write down our core beliefs, right that our core values with our core aspirations, we did a bit of a sanity check to make sure there’s nothing that’s kind of too conflicting, over prioritization, I suppose in terms of what’s really, really important, but then what,

Kevin Palmieri  13:46

Then you take action, then you say, Okay, well, what am I currently doing in my life that is in alignment with these, it’s almost like, if, okay, if you look at your core values, your core beliefs and your core aspirations, and then you look at your day to day, your hour to hour, your week to week, your month to month, year to year, and those aren’t in there, you’re misaligned. You’re 100% misaligned based on the fact that you can see the final recipe you can see the product, but the you don’t have the ingredients in the recipe. And then from there, in this is the important part, you be brave, and you start making changes. I do I believe that at a at a fairly deep level. Many of us again, myself included 100%. In the past, I have lost the perspective that sometimes progress is not upward. So you might say, You know what, I’m going to take a step back here. And it seems like you’re slowing down when in reality, you’re speeding up towards something else. So yeah, you you make sure that the ultimate product in the recipe, and the ingredients are all aligned and it’s a really good way for you to look at the roadmap and say, Oh, I’m supposed to be taking rights here, but I’m taking lefse now I wonder why I’m not where I want to be yet.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  14:59

Yeah, as you know, I do, you know, Whitman’s work with a lot of businesses and help them improve their business so they can actually create that better life. And he always says that, you know, we, as humans, we need to be doing that 10 year thinking that the big long term thinking because it actually helps us to slow down in order to speed up if you like, and being really clear on where you’re ultimately headed. is really, really important. Yeah. It’s hard. It’s hard. Yes, yeah,

Kevin Palmieri  15:25

It’s a challenge. But even if it’s five year, like, whatever you can, whatever you’re capable of putting out into the future, that’s good stretch as far as you can.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  15:34

Yeah. Don’t Don’t overstretch yourself. Okay? So redesign the treadmill. So this is part of the redesign of the treadmill riders actually being really clear about what we want to go working out the things we need to do. What about finding time, because you know, one of the biggest things that I hear is that this is all really well and good, but I’m too busy. I’m too overwhelmed. I don’t have the time to do that stuff.

Kevin Palmieri 15:52

Yeah, no, I understand completely. I understand 1,000%. It’s not that if you’re, you’re if you’re a business owner, and you’re the person in charge of making the scheduling and setting up the business, at the end of the day, you just have to reprioritize I know it’s easier said than done. But I think for many of us, we don’t believe it will be worth it. We don’t believe that me making changes here is going to be worth it. Because it’s going to affect the bottom line or it’s going to affect whatever it may be, when in reality. You just haven’t allowed yourself to do it yet. Probably. Because you’re not supposed to. You’re supposed to do supposed to do X amount of hours. So yeah, it’s it’s one of those things where I love mixed martial arts, and I love boxing and kickboxing. I can either a convinced myself, I don’t have time. Or I can say well, instead of spending three hours with my wife, tonight, I’m gonna spend two hours with my wife. It’s I just think of it as a bucket, I have to take one piece of food from this bucket, and I need to put it in the other bucket. And that’s why I consider a juggling. I consider it juggling your there’s always room for you to take one thing Oh, it’s just are you willing to pay the price for what that one thing is going to potentially lose? That’s really all it is.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  17:07

Yeah. Yeah. And I think I mean, Stephen Covey, back in the day, he had his whole thing about putting your rocks into your calendar first, because they’re the important things. And if you don’t make time for them, they won’t happen. It’s a similar kind of concept really isn’t. It’s like, at the end of there, there was a limited capacity of that bucket. Yeah, decide what the most important things are, and then fit the other things in around them.

Kevin Palmieri  17:25

Yeah, if it’s maybe for you, it’s every, I’m going to put on the calendar, every Monday night, I watch football, or every Saturday night, you know, my partner and I go to the movies, if you put it in there, you’ll find a way to get everything else done. Or you’re going to you’re going to realize very quickly what your essentials are and what your non essentials are. And then you can go from there. Or you can work on delegating better. I mean, that’s a whole that’s a whole other topic. But that’s another thing too.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  17:52

Yeah. analogy, and I think it’s you know, it is important, but I I think that by putting things in your diary and committing some time to them, it doesn’t mean because that’s so rigid, that doesn’t mean the freedom, the flexibility, it absolutely does. I can be really honest, I’m, I’m wanting to learn to play the saxophone. But I obviously don’t want it quite enough, because I actually have a slot for twice a week for me to practice my saxophone. And every week, I kind of made the decision that I will know too busy about other things on. So I’m not really quite committed yet to learn the saxophone. But at least it’s in there. And I suppose what that gives me it gives me a choice. I can either say actually, that half an hour isn’t there, I could take it right now. And I could go back to the saxophone, or I can choose not to. So it doesn’t actually restrict you. It’s just being more structured around making sure you do have that time if you want it

Kevin Palmieri  18:33

100% I get that a lot. And I understand I forgot. Like in the beginning, Debra, I did not want to do that. But now I have a spreadsheet that has 23 habits that I do every day. Wow. And those 23 Habits give me the freedom. It only takes me two and a half, three hours to get them done. If I’m really focused and productive. I can get my entire day done in three hours. Yeah. And then theoretically, I have as many hours as I want. But I do a lot of interviews and coaching calls. But still Yeah. It’s it’s not restricting. It does feel that way in the beginning. But it’s one of those things where when you create something concrete, it allows you to move freely outside of that. So I do believe it’s one of the most valuable things in the world.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  19:16

So your 23 Things has that come from doing this exercise around what is important to you and making sure you have those things to do.

Kevin Palmieri  19:22

Yeah, so we try to break it into health, wealth and love so under health one is like I track my calories every day I weigh myself every day I try to exercise for 30 minutes a day. Under wealth is I learned for 30 minutes today I prospect for a potential client, you know, making sure I’m moving the business rocks. And then love is meditation is one fitness is kind of self-love. Yeah. And then every night before I go to bed, my wife and I say one thing that we’re grateful for about each other. That’s another little love habit that if and we talked about this in the preamble if you Your business is doing really well. Ask yourself why? Well, I measure everything that I do. And I know the most important behaviors. Alright, cool. What if you brought that into, into health? And then if you brought that into your relationship, what would your health and your relationship look like, if you treated them the same as the business, the KPIs for your business, the KPIs for your life?

Debra Chantry-Taylor  20:22

I think that’s absolutely true. I know that and you have to be recognized, you know, some of your weaknesses as well. So I mean, I, I have to say that I am, I love to eat and drink. And I’m not so fond of going to the gym. And I know that if I just say, I’m going to go the gym, I won’t do it. So I actually have to have a personal trainer that holds me accountable that I have three sessions a week booked him with that are not negotiable. And then when I do it, I always come back feeling a whole lot better. But sometimes I just get I don’t really feel like going and it’s like, but I’ve got somebody there waiting for me. And I know that’s the only way that it will work for me. I do enjoy cycling and walking. So that stuff’s easy, but it’s the is the real physical weight training stuff that you’re not so fond of

Kevin Palmieri  20:58

Understandable, understandable, a great question that I’ve been trying to ask myself and I’ve been telling clients to ask is, instead of saying, what would I be happiest doing? What would I be most fulfilled doing? That’s a really important question for me, because I don’t want to go to the gym and do an hour of cardio. But I do know, I will be fulfilled after I do it based on the fact that I’m growing towards my ultimate goals.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  21:20

Yeah, that’s a really good question. So that might be fulfilled. What about if somebody is, you know, wanting to work on self-improvement and has all this stuff that they want to do? But maybe their partner, their husband, their wife, or partner? It might be? Isn’t that way inclined? What do you think? How do you feel about that?

Kevin Palmieri  21:37

I think there’s a couple ways to go about it. One, you can either lead. So you lead by saying, hey, in the car today, on our on the way to the grocery store, I’d like to listen to this book, are you into that? I think you’ll find that whether your partner says yes or not, it opens up the opportunity for a conversation. Right? At least you can you can have a conversation based on that. And there’s layers to that. So say that your partner says honestly, no, I’m not into that. Two ways you can go, is there something similar to this that you might be interested in, or what we call the vulnerable problem solver? If it gets to this point, all you have to do is say something along the lines of Debra, I’ve been having this feeling lately. And I just want to be vulnerable here. I’m scared to share this. But I’m a little bit nervous that our core value of self improvement isn’t what I originally thought it was. And then you have that conversation of I’m a little bit afraid that this is going to create distance in our relationship, and you just have a vulnerable conversation about it. It’s weird how a lot of the advice I give is like, have you talked about it yet? And people are like, No, not yet. It’s like, oh, okay, that’s the that’s the answer. The answer is we need to talk about it, there’s nothing you’re going to subconsciously do that’s going to make this aligned. So I think I think that’s one part of it. We say lead lever a piece, you lead by leading the way, you leave by saying you get to the point where you say, Oh, this isn’t actually going to work. And I can’t be myself, or you appeased by saying, well, when I’m with this person, I’m going to be a different version of myself. But I think you have to lead you have to lead the conversation. Be brave, be courageous, be vulnerable, and try to lean into your truth and talk about why it’s important to you why it’s important to the relationship. And it’s not the fact that you want the person that you’re with to change. It’s the fact that you want to have things in common with that person. So you can share that bond.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  23:34

And I think that’s the important thing, like we should never expect anybody to change because we want them to the only person we can change is ourselves, right? But we can certainly I think also lead by example. I mean, I know that my husband really doesn’t like going to the gym at all. But I’ve said to him, Well, hey, look, I’m gonna go three times a week. And if you want to join me, then that’s absolutely fine. And now all of a sudden, he’s coming three times a week with me. So because he sees it’s important to me, and he doesn’t mind doing it. And then he sees what effect it has on us. It’s like, okay, I can do that.

Kevin Palmieri  24:03

Yeah. And that’s accountability, right? It’s, if I’m already in the car, and I’m going to turn on an audiobook. The other person just has to say, yes, they don’t have to do any of the work, I’m already going to do it. If you’re along for the ride and you’re interested, I’ll get us going. I’ll even this is the other thing too. You can decide, okay, when it comes to, let’s just say when it comes to self-improvement, I’m going to be the pilot. I’m going to make sure everything is set up, I’ll make sure we have the book, I’ll make sure we have the audio book, whatever it is, we have the tickets, where the other person might be the co pilot, you’re leading the charge to your point, Debra, and you’re making it easier and more sustainable for them to build the habit.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  24:42

Okay, that’s great. I am you’ve given us so much stuff already. But I always do like to ask, you know, for sort of three top tips or tools that people can actually use because I like this to be a really pragmatic. Hey, here’s something you can go away and do straight away. What would be your kind of three top tips or tools that you’d share with the listeners?

Kevin Palmieri  24:59

Number one One, I would say, and again, for me, I think a lot of it is about awareness. I like I like awareness. And I like digging up awareness. Number one, I would say, ask yourself a simple question. But it’s a profound question that could change your life. What? If I could do anything in the world? In the service of humanity? What would that one thing be? I think that just can help you reset your goals. I think that’s one thing. Number two, these are my gimmies, I want you to create three habits under health. Three habits under health, it can be drink more water, it can be move your body, it can be way yourself, it can be yoga, it can be exercise. And then I think it would be beneficial for everybody to create three love habits, three things that you can do every day, that involve loving yourself, or loving on a partner, a family member or a friend. When it comes to the business, there’s a lot of things that we’re already doing, and that’s why we’re successful. But I want everybody to be as successful at home as they are when they leave home. And I guess many of us work from home now. But you know what I mean?

Debra Chantry-Taylor  26:05

Yeah, no, absolutely. So if I could do anything in the world in service of others, what would it be and allow your mind to kind of process and come up with it create three habits under your health. And as you said, that can be really simple things. It could just be taking your calories every day, weighing in every day. And then create three love habits yourself and your partner. I love and we have a similar routine at home as well. So that question that you ask your partner at the end of the day, so that’s, you know, what’s the one thing that you’re thankful for?

Kevin Palmieri  26:32

Yep. What’s one thing that you’re grateful for. And then Yep, and then we reciprocate.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  26:36

Yeah, that’s fantastic. And, and we we do that in the morning, as well as just to kind of be set up the day in terms of grateful for and setting out what we’re excited about as well, which antastic? Okay. What are the in terms of that? Because I think, I think for some of us, who are, I’m speaking, for someone like myself, who absolutely loved their work, and who find themselves I definitely, I could literally do the stuff that I do day in day out and never get tired of it. It sometimes has an impact, because I forget what the time is. And then I get my husband called me up kind of going Hey, Debra at 7:30, are you coming home and saving? Oh, yeah, sure, I’ll be home soon. Sorry, forgot about it. It can be difficult for us to to do more. In that love side of things, I’d love to have a little bit more about what you could do to actually strengthen that part of it.

Kevin Palmieri  27:16

Well, number one, it has to be an intentional focus. So make one thing you can do. And I’ve been, I haven’t been as consistent with this as I’d like to be. So I have to I have to say that because I can’t preach from a soapbox. But another thing that’s really, really good is to create an opportunity for proactivity instead of reactivity. So Sunday, my wife and I have this check in where we’ll sit down, and we’ll put our phones away. And it’ll literally be what’s one thing I did this week that you really liked. What’s one thing I did this week that you didn’t really like? What’s one thing you want more of one thing you want less of, you can make your own questions for this, but this is what happens. You might have that one thing, oh, every time I do this, I don’t put the thing away, or my wife doesn’t put this thing here. And she always leaves the closet open. And it’s now I’m starting to resent that I’m starting to resent but it’s not worth bringing up because I don’t want to have an argument. This gives you the opportunity for proactive feedback. Every single week, you can sit down and talk about what’s real, you can talk about what’s real. The other thing the other important thing, and depending on if you work from home, or how this is but get very familiar with what your partner’s love languages are, get very familiar with what they value and what fills their cup, and then make that one of your habits. Imagine if you had to check that box every day, I want to make sure I send a loving message to my husband, boom, you don’t get to check the box until you do it. That’s another another excellent way to make it a habit.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  28:48

Yeah, it’s actually quite funny. The Five Love Languages are really, really important. My husband has found something that’s added a sixth one. And it’s called talking about dinosaurs. And he shared that. And so I’ve realized that actually quite like quite enjoys dinosaurs. So we’ve had some conversations about dinosaurs, which is really cool. But yeah, you’re absolutely right. I think that because the whole the whole thing of the love languages, we tend to migrate towards the one that we are as opposed to the one that your partner actually is a need. And so it’s important to understand what theirs is and fill up their love tank as opposed to just doing what works for us, which is great if you have the same one not so great if your answer is slightly different.

Kevin Palmieri  29:23

Well, it’s hard that’s why it’s got to be a habit where it’s not natural. That’s that’s the interesting thing is like me, for me maybe having saying words of affirmation to my wife isn’t natural, because I don’t really care about words of affirmation. So for me, it’s like I would never think of that. But if I have it written down, like my wife gave me this yesterday, she came in with our cats and gave me this little what I love about you today. Oh, and we try to do just cute little things throughout the week that are just friendly reminders of hey, I’m thinking of you. I love you. I know I’ve been overwhelmed. I know I’ve been busy but I know this will fill your cup so how many proactive cup fillers do you know about your partner?

Debra Chantry-Taylor  30:02

And I love the idea of taking a day, a couple of hours throughout the week to actually talk about some of the little things because it’s a little things often, isn’t it? We sort of forget that. If the if you leave them, they become huge. But if you actually deal with them when they’re little, they can actually be quite quickly resolved. And that’s a little things often then build a much stronger relationship and communication. Yeah, proactive versus reactive. Yeah, no, that’s great. Okay, so a little bit about your, your Next Level University. So you do these seven days a week, 30 minutes or a podcast, and that is covering all three of those areas, right? The health and wealth love. Yep.

Kevin Palmieri  30:34

Yeah, we’ve done episodes on sales. We do episodes on self worth, versus self belief relationships. You know how to make more money, everything that we consider our listeners, Dream chasers. So they might be somebody who’s earlier in their journey. They don’t necessarily have a business yet they’re maybe they want to take the leap from corporate to a business or whatever it is. So our goal is to help them in all those buckets.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  31:00

Yeah. And so where will we the I guess you can google it? But what where do we find the podcast?

Kevin Palmieri  31:05

Yeah, it’s on all the podcast platforms, as well as YouTube. We’re on we’re everywhere. We’re anywhere you are, we will be there.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  31:12

Yep. So that’s a starting point. That’s kind of your free, you know, 30 minutes inspiration every day. They just said you’ve got some free courses as well. So a little bit about those.

Kevin Palmieri 31:19

Yeah, so we have a free course on the website where we sat down, and we said, Okay, how do we create the most valuable paid course possible? We finish the course. And we honestly, we don’t have anything for free. Let’s just give this away for free. So it’s us in the studio on video, there’s worksheets, there’s cutscenes. It’s an hour and a half on the fundamentals of success and fulfillment. And yeah, that’s completely free on the website. There’s no, no strings attached. It’s all yours.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  31:45

And then obviously, you and the team do work with people one on one as well as that right? Yep.

Kevin Palmieri  31:49

Yeah, we do. So I do a lot of podcast coaching and consulting. And then I also do peak performance coaching. And then my business partner does a lot of peak performance coaching. And he coaches right now 25 businesses every month.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  32:02

No, that’s great. Okay, so if they wanted to get ahold of you, personally, how would they get ahold of you, Kevin?

Kevin Palmieri  32:06

I would say the easiest way. So you don’t have to go scrolling through social media, you can just send me an email Kevin@nextlevel.universe.com is my email, I do my email. So I will see it. And I wil respond.

Debra Chantry-Taylor  32:18

Oh, that is fantastic. Hey, look, I’m certain that we could actually talk for ages because there’s so many things that we have in common, I think but it’s it’s been really kind of you really to share all this stuff to share this information. I do. You know, we always talk about doing what you love with people you love making a huge difference in the world being compensated appropriately, but having time to pursue other passions. And I think that’s your you’re the living embodiment of you know, how you can actually do that. Because it isn’t all just about business. I mean, business is obviously an important part for us. But it’s important that we actually have those other things in our life working well, the health, the wealth, the love. So thank you for sharing. Thank you for giving a lot of valuable information here. I’ll look forward to speaking again, hopefully soon in the future.

Kevin Palmieri  32:58

Well, thank you so much for having me, Debra. It was truly wonderful