October 22, 2025 • 40 mins
If you’ve ever wondered why some podcasts quietly stack momentum while others sputter out by episode 21, this conversation with Alan Lazarus pulls back the curtain. We get honest about the real work: pairing repeatable systems with genuine people skills, playing the long game with weekly cadence, and aligning passion with purpose so profit arrives as a result—not the goal.
Alan traces a winding path from a life‑altering car crash to building Next Level University, revealing how each iteration of his show sharpened the niche and strengthened the promise: 1% improvement, every day. He explains the two‑train model that keeps creators afloat—let a short‑term train fund your life while a long‑term train (your podcast) compounds trust and opportunity. We break down the “triad of failure” that derails new hosts—wrong expectations, wrong approach, wrong time perspective—and replace it with a durable blueprint: clear listener targeting, dependable publishing, and continuous upgrades to titles, artwork, audio, and show notes that boost discoverability and retention.
We also dig into the craft that separates memorable voices from forgettable feeds: storytelling with hook‑story‑lesson‑future pace, asking “who is the listener?” before you hit record, and using analogies that bridge the abstract to the obvious. Alan’s take on the industry’s future is practical and optimistic—barriers keep falling, reach keeps rising, and the most serious creators will win bigger than ever by mixing consistency with care. If you’re ready to stop dabbling and start compounding, this conversation gives you the mindset, the model, and the next steps to become unignorable.
If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review. Tell us your current publishing cadence and what you’re changing after this episode—we’ll cheer you on.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carl (00:04):
Welcome to Communication Connection Community, the
Podcasters Podcast.
This podcast takes a deep diveinto modern-day communication
strategies in the podcastingspace.
We chat with interesting peoplewho make the podcasting and
speaking spaces exciting andvibrant.
We also dive into thepodcasting community with news,
(00:24):
updates, latest trends andtopics from this ever-evolving
space.
Let's dive into today'sepisode.
Alan Lazaros is the CEO,founder, co-host, powerful
combination of technicalexpertise and business acumen.
(00:46):
He is a business coach,consultant, trainer, and speaker
who specializes in helpingbusinesses maximize their
growth, impact, andprofitability online.
He's very heart-driven.
He has a no BS approach toinspiring, motivating, and
educating.
What it really takes to get tothe next level.
He's been a podcaster for anumber of years.
I am so thrilled to talk tosomebody who eats, sleeps,
(01:10):
breathes, lives, speaking, andpodcasting as much, if not more,
than I do.
Alan, welcome to the podcast.
Alan (01:18):
Gratitude first.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for bringing theenergy.
Thank you for having me.
I started listening to podcastsabout nine years ago, and they
really helped me reorient mylife in a much more constructive
and positive direction.
And so now I'm a podcaster whohelps people do that, and it's
really a dream come true.
So I appreciate it.
Carl (01:35):
Let's talk about that.
Let's talk about the impactthat podcasts have had on you.
And then I want to talk aboutyour journey through
communication and podcasting aswell.
I know there's a lot to unpackhere, but let's talk about first
how it's impacted your life.
Alan (01:48):
Okay.
So the first thing to realizehere is so I'll provide a little
bit of context.
And this will be the very shortversion.
So when I was really young, myfather passed away in a car
accident when he was 28.
And I got in a car accidentwhen I was 26 that really
shifted my perspective.
And before that, I was anachiever.
(02:09):
I was improvement oriented, butI wasn't self-improvement
oriented.
So after 26, I really got intonot only self-improvement, but
holistic self-improvement.
And then I started to reallyfind my calling for lack of
better phrasing, which is Ispeak into the lives of other
people and I help them be moresuccessful and more fulfilled.
And I do that throughpodcasting, coaching, training,
(02:32):
speaking, and writing.
And all of those things, thosefive things I just mentioned,
podcasting, coaching, training,speaking, and writing, they all
have one thing in common, whichis hey, you need to be an
effective communicator.
And so I've spent the lastnine, almost 10 years now, since
26, since that car accident,really trying to perfect my
(02:52):
craft in how to speak powerfullyinto the lives of other people
and lead by example too, becauseit's not just the message, it's
the messenger.
And so, number one, improvemyself, lead by example, that
kind of thing.
And then number two, how do Iuse my experiences and my
knowledge and my awareness andmy attitude to help people
(03:12):
really prosper and inspire,motivate, and educate others?
And so that's really what I'mhere for.
So when it comes to the secondpart of your question about
communication, podcasting, allthat, I started a little podcast
called Conversations ChangeLives about seven or eight years
ago now.
And my business partner now,his name's Kevin, he had a
podcast called the HyperConscious Podcast.
(03:32):
So the Conversations ChangeLives Podcast, he was my first
guest.
And then I was his first gueston the Hyper Conscious podcast.
Then we teamed up and wecreated the worst naming named
podcast of all time, which isthe Conversations Change Lives
Meets Hyper Conscious Podcast.
And we did that for about 20episodes, and we eventually went
all in on the Hyper Consciouspodcast, change the way you
(03:53):
think, change the way you act,change the way you live.
It was all about holisticself-improvement.
It was about self-awareness, itwas about understanding
yourself at a deeper level.
It was about what motivatesyou, it was about the
fundamentals of success andfulfillment.
And then 650 or so episodeslater, we rebranded to what's
now known as Next LevelUniversity.
And it's self-improvement,health, wealth, life, and love
(04:16):
in your pocket from anywhere onthe planet, 1% improvement per
day, totally free.
And we're now realize inhindsight we've become sort of
the male role models we neverhad because we both grew up
without dads.
And so that's a very, veryshort way to tell you and
condense the last decade, butreally 35 years, into what was
definitely more than one minuteand a half.
Carl (04:34):
So you've basically taken your professional life and your
personal life, and they're verymuch in sync with what you're
talking about on the show.
It's not like there's anyseparation.
Okay, obviously there's somepersonal things you're not
sharing on the show, but a lotof what brought you to the
podcasting space is because ofthat personal experience.
And it's very, it's veryinteresting that your business
(04:56):
partner also, and I haven't metKevin, but has a has a story as
well that probably complementswhat you've been doing.
And of course, both of you inthe earlier stages developing
the business model and also thepodcast, you made no mistakes,
right?
It's perfect right from dayone.
Alan (05:11):
It's yeah, no.
So you're funny, perfect fromday one.
Ideas don't come out fullyformed.
We, in hindsight, let's justsay if I could go back in time,
I would tell myself a thing ortwo.
And no, we failed forwardmassively.
We've made more mistakes.
That's actually one of thethings that we tell our clients
because I coach business ownersand he coaches podcasters.
(05:32):
And some podcasters want tostart a business, and some
businesses need a podcast.
So we do both.
But ultimately, I say that allthe time.
I said, listen, we've madeevery mistake in the book.
So we have learned to overcomeand learn from our mistakes over
time.
And that's one thing that youreally, when you spend a lot of
time in a certain industry or acertain space, the experiences
that you gain through justmassive pain, suffering, and
(05:54):
failure, you just end upeventually really good.
But it's basically only becauseof all those failures and pain
and stuff.
And so we're not going to helpour clients skip steps.
And even on this podcastinterview right now, if you're a
podcaster, a communicator,writer, speaker, trainer, I'm
not going to help you skipsteps.
What I will help you do isincrease the rate at which you
(06:16):
improve by helping you not avoidthe mistakes we've made, but
maybe understand them, recognizethem sooner, pivot sooner, and
improve quicker.
Because ultimately that's whatit is.
What if I could tell you thatyou could be where I am in five
years instead of the 10 that ittook me if you had me in your
corner?
And that's really theproposition I think that's a
(06:38):
very honest proposition.
Carl (06:39):
And anyone who thinks that, and obviously I said it as
a joke, because just like you,and we work in very similar
spaces, which I think is alsomake that clear, because even
though we work in similarspaces, we come from different
backgrounds, we have differentexperiences.
And I'll say this out loudthere's more than enough work
for both of us to keep us busyforever and a day.
So there's no poaching ofclients, there's nothing like
(07:02):
that.
There's more than enough peopleinterested in the podcasting
space to keep us both very wellemployed for the next, I don't
know, as long as podcasts arearound and they're different
evolutions.
But what I like is that you'vetaken this experience and you've
been, hey, you know what?
You're going to make mistakesalong the way.
I've worked with clients whothink it's going to be perfect
(07:24):
in their first 10 episodes, andthey'll get those instantaneous,
massive results thatexperienced business owners and
celebrities and thought leadersare getting, not realizing that,
hey, they've been on a journeyfor a while.
Then all of a sudden flick theswitch and hey, here's a podcast
with the, you know, the likesof Oprah Winfrey or Joe Rogan.
They didn't just fall off aturnip truck and here's a
(07:45):
podcast, and it's massivelysuccessful.
There was a journey that theytook to get there, and they all
can report in some capacity oranother that they failed along
the way to get there.
So thank you for letting usknow that there has been, you
know, failing forward.
I love that expression, failingforward.
What I want to do is share someof the things that you've
learned along the way,business-wise, podcasting-wise.
(08:07):
Let's start there.
What are some of the keys thatyou've learned?
Alan (08:11):
Well, there's certain fundamentals that are obvious in
hindsight.
And so at this point, I have a10,000-hour tracker and I track
coaching, speaking, podcasting,and training.
And I'm at like 8,000 or sonow.
And the reason I say that isnot to brag.
The reason I say that isbecause I I want people to
understand that I'm not justsaying these things.
(08:33):
When you've done 8,000 hours ofthis work, patterns become so
obvious.
All different industries, alldifferent backgrounds, all
different cultures, my coaching.
I have 28 people on my roster,about to be 29 right now, but
I've coached hundreds over theyears.
I was fitness coach, then I wasmindset coach, then I was peak
performance coach, then I waslife coach, then I was business
(08:54):
consultant, now I'm businesscoach.
And it's been just a main focalpoint.
So all these differentindustries, all these different
backgrounds, everything fromreal estate agents to hey, I'm
16, I want to start a YouTubechannel all the way to 63.
I'm in New Zealand.
I've been in, you know, homestaging for two decades and I'm
already a multimillionaire, butI want to grow and scale, and I
don't want to work 12 hours aday anymore.
All the different walks oflife.
(09:16):
There's a couple fundamentalsthat are just true for
everybody.
I'll start there because we'retrying to cast sort of a wide
net here.
Business is about two mainthings.
You have to be really good atthese two main things.
And if you're not good at both,that's okay.
You can get a business partner.
All right.
So the first one, and this is amust, particularly in the 21st
(09:36):
century, you have to be good atsystems, you have to be good at
metrics, you have to be good atdiscipline, you have to be good
at consistency, you have to begood at grit, you have to be
good at org structure, and youhave to be good at technology.
Okay, that's the lefty.
Okay, that's the left side ofthe formula.
And then the right side, andvery few people are good at both
(09:56):
of these.
Business is about people.
You have to be good withpeople.
So Kevin is much better withpeople than I am.
He's relatable, he's likable,people don't think he's
arrogant.
I am the esoteric computerengineer, weirdo who thinks in
numbers and metrics all thetime.
And so I'm okay with people,and I think I've become a strong
(10:16):
communicator, particularly toengineers.
But Kevin's the people person,always has been, always will be,
and I'm the system structure,discipline, metrics, habits,
organizational.
And we work together very well.
A lot of people who startpodcasts or who start
businesses, what they don'tunderstand is that they are
really good at one or the other,and that you need to be
(10:37):
ambidextrous in the 21stcentury, ready and lefty in
order to be effective inbusiness.
And the other thing peopledon't understand, I'm glad you
mentioned it, is the people thatare successful in podcasting, a
lot of times they had a career20, 30, 40 years before that, 10
years before that, that builtup to the moment when they
started a podcast.
And then that was theircredibility that actually made
(10:58):
the podcast big.
So, Brene Brown, for example,maybe she has a podcast, I think
she does, but she was aresearcher and a writer for
decades before starting apodcast.
And so if you're a podcasterwho wants to start out with
podcasting, but you don't have acareer behind you, it's going
to be a lot harder to grow andscale to that same level.
It maybe it's possible.
(11:20):
I personally haven't seen a tonof it, but our company produces
50 shows at this point, threeof my own.
And we have really goodunderstanding and metrics of the
different demographics andwhere you can hit the top charts
and how to actually succeed.
But ultimately it comes down toa few fundamentals.
Number one, you have to be goodat those two things that I
mentioned.
Number two, you have to bereally good at effective
communication.
Some people are just not strongpodcasters.
(11:42):
And here's the thing, you'vegot to understand there's what,
three million podcasts?
Most of them are not still inproduction.
So I think the stat is 70% ofpodcasters don't make it past
the 21st episode.
Something like that.
If you are not a strong order,strong speaker, strong
communicator, if you don't havediscipline and consistency and
(12:03):
your audience cannot rely onconsistent content, why would
they listen to your show whenthey could listen to someone
else's who is consistent, who isa strong speaker, who does
speak into their lives?
And then on top of that, youhave to know who your listener
is.
You have to have an actualniche that solves a real need or
real problem.
And then underneath that, youhave to build a business that's
actually profitable to sustainthat podcast.
(12:24):
And so we could talk for daysabout all that.
One, it's way harder than youthink.
Number two, you can win, butit's a survival game.
Who can survive the longest?
Because ultimately, mostpeople, I mean, we've got our
first year in podcasting, weonly had a thousand and
fifty-four listens for theentire year.
We did an episode a week, everyweek for a whole year, and we
(12:47):
only had a thousand fifty-fourlistens.
We get more than that per daynow.
And so there's a compoundingaccumulation effect that happens
with listens and listeners overtime.
And some of our older episodesget more listens than our new
ones.
And so the key is to beconsistent, to have a target
audience, to understand whatthey need, value, and struggle
with and what they want forsuccess, and then to help them,
(13:09):
and then to have aligned guestsand to be consistent and
disciplined.
But ultimately, it comes downto people and it comes down to
process, and you need to be goodat both.
Carl (13:16):
And I think that you hit the nail on the head when you
said that some people are goodat one and some people are good
at the other, but very rarelyare you good at both.
But you need to be able toembrace both or have somebody on
your team that can fill thegaps where you can't, or have a
business partner just like youdo, who's good at what you're
not exactly the best at.
(13:36):
And you're a very goodcommunicator, by the way.
Just saying it's working verywell.
I'm sure as a I'm very much anextrovert as well.
So the people part, therelationship building, the
communication piece, it comesmore naturally for me.
I did want to touch on a coupleof things that you said.
It's harder than you think.
And there's many differentlayers to that.
(13:57):
Not only is it harder than alot of people think, and we try
and make it as simple aspossible, hence our branding.
And you've indicated this,you've hinted at this more than
once.
It's a long game, not a shortgame.
Yeah.
I always will share with peoplewho are looking at podcasting.
I'll say if you get a thousanddownloads, a thousand downloads
in your first year, you're doingwell.
(14:17):
I know.
Very well.
And people look at that andsay, Well, that doesn't sound
like a lot.
Let's break it down more andlet's look at what that really
is.
So when you share that successstory, that you're getting that
a day now.
Alan (14:31):
Yeah, exactly.
Carl (14:33):
Imagine those first 10 episodes or that first 52
episodes, if you had quit inmonth nine or in month 10
because you weren't getting10,000 downloads a month.
Alan (14:44):
Yeah, which we are now.
That's the wild thing, is inthe beginning, to your point, we
have this uh triad of failure.
So if you have a formula forfailure, here it is.
Number one is you have thewrong expectations, number two,
you have the wrong approach,number three, you have the wrong
time perspective.
So imagine someone who thinksthey're gonna hit the top charts
the first week, who thinkspodcasts and isn't consistent,
(15:07):
and then the third one is theythink they're gonna blow up in a
year.
That's the wrong expectation,that's the wrong approach, in
consistency, and the wrong timeperspective.
And this is why you can talk toan experienced podcaster who
wasn't famous beforehand.
You have to say who wasn'tfamous beforehand.
The right expectation is okay,I'm gonna be consistent and I'm
(15:34):
gonna get a few people wholisten.
And then if it's good, thosepeople will tell people, and
those people will tell people.
And most businesses andpodcasts grow through referral
and organic reach.
Number two, the approach.
The right approach is stayconsistent, improve the quality
of your communication, figureout who your audience is, meet
(15:54):
your listeners, learn aboutthem, learn from them, learn
what they want, need, like,value.
And then the last piece is theright time perspective.
Try really hard to play thelong game.
Now, the reason why most peopledon't play the long game is out
of necessity.
This is what I came up withthis to try to help a lot of my
(16:14):
business clients realize how tosucceed long term.
I call it the short-term trainand the long-term train.
So everyone out there watchingor listening, whether you're
starting your own business oryour own podcast, or you're even
in a corporate career, you needa short-term train and a
long-term train.
The short-term train has apurpose.
(16:35):
The purpose of the short-termtrain is to pay the bills, to
keep the lights on, and to makesure that your current lifestyle
has enough revenue to sustainitself.
Okay.
The long-term train is the onethat will eventually provide
way, way, way more results overthe long term.
(16:56):
And so I'll give you anexample.
So right now I'm running twotrains the short-term profitable
train that pays for the teamand the production company and
the expenses and all thesoftwares.
And I mean, we're coming up ona half million dollar business,
and that's great.
And I'm really proud of us, andthat's awesome.
What people don't understand isthat the expenses of a business
of that size is ridiculous.
(17:17):
So, yeah, we make a halfmillion dollars in 2024, but
we're going to spend 400,000 ofthat just to sustain itself.
And then hopefully it'll be sixnext year and seven, and then
you know, 1.5 and all thatstuff.
That's how you grow and scale abusiness.
So the short-term train for mepersonally that is profitable is
business coaching.
So I have 28 clients, I coachbusiness owners on how to start,
(17:41):
grow, scale, and monetize theirpodcast.
That is what pays for thepodcast.
The podcast is a long-termtrain that builds credibility.
So if you have your two trainsand they actually feed each
other, it can be very powerful.
So my long-term train is thepodcast called Next Level
University, and that gives methe credibility and the warm
(18:02):
leads to coach people.
And then the coaching feeds thelong-term train with marketing
dollars so that I can grow,expand, and scale.
And I think a lot of peoplethink podcasting is going to be
a short-term train when inreality it's actually a
long-term train, and you'regoing to need a short-term train
that actually feeds it longenough to where it can
eventually replace your mainincome.
Carl (18:22):
Right.
And just like in business, asyou've expressed, with a
podcast, you also need torealize that there's a time when
you need to consider levelingup.
Those first 10 episodes, 52episodes of that first year, you
may be able to do it on a verydifferent budget or not
shortcut, but you understandwhat I'm saying, where there's
(18:44):
things that you can do, butthere's a time where you might
need to level up.
You might need to level up thequality of your guest.
You might need to changecertain softwares that you're
using for recording, or youmight want to consider doing
recording some of your episodesin a studio, whatever it is.
I find that there are stillpodcasters out there that are
still trying to do the samething the same way they did four
(19:06):
and five years ago, and wonderwhy their show isn't getting any
different results.
Alan (19:12):
Yeah.
So this is the packagingmatters more than the product.
The way that I try to mitigatethe challenge that you see
there, and I see this challengetoo.
I'll give three examples.
So we'll call him Fred, Ted,and Ned.
All right.
Fred starts a podcast, and allof them, Fred, Ted, and Ed, all
have a podcast with a thousandepisodes.
(19:34):
They've all been doing it forthe same amount of time in the
same way, in the same niche.
Fred does a thousand episodes,but doesn't improve each
episode.
He's the same, he doesn'timprove his speaking, he doesn't
improve his packaging, hedoesn't improve his marketing,
he doesn't improve his branding,he doesn't improve the digital
assets, he doesn't improve thewebsite, he doesn't improve the
team, the production quality,the audio quality, the
(19:54):
microphone, he doesn't improveanything.
It's just a thousand episodes.
All right.
Ted improves by, let's say, atiny bit, and he improves
himself a ton, but he doesn'timprove the packaging.
So the packaging stays thesame, the marketing, the
branding, everything externalstays the same.
But Ted improves his quality ofhis output, his communication,
his effectiveness in addingvalue.
(20:14):
He improves himself and hisspeaking as an orator.
Okay.
Ed improves both.
Ed improves himself by 1% perepisode, and he improves the
packaging.
He gets a new mic, he gets anew software program, he uses
StreamYard, he tries thesedifferent things.
That person who's gettingbetter at both oratory speaking,
(20:37):
his expertise and improving thepackaging of the show, Fred,
Ted, and Ed, Ed is gonna beleagues ahead of Fred and Ted.
Here's the real thing that yougot to understand, and this is
the math behind this.
So I actually did this once,and I I'm a math guy, so forgive
me for that.
I put a dollar into a financialcalculator and I put three
percent.
So I have clients that doweekly, bi-weekly, and monthly
(21:00):
coaching.
And one of my clients, hisname's Cole, this is probably
four months ago.
He said, Alan, I'm thinkingabout going to weekly coaching.
Should I do it?
Is it time?
And I said, My fear is you'regonna burn out.
But let me show you the math.
I pulled up a financialcalculator, I put a dollar in
it, and I said, Cole, is it fairthat if you were to come to
(21:21):
weekly coaching, is it fair?
And this is not a sales pitch,by the way, so don't think that
this is a mathematical thingabout podcasting.
All right, is it fair that Ican help you improve yourself by
at least one percent per week?
And he said, Yeah, definitely.
Is it fair that you can improveyour system, metrics, habits,
your system of success is whatwe call it, by one percent per
week?
He said, Yeah, absolutely.
I said, Okay, is it fair thatyou can improve your execution
(21:44):
of that system by at least onepercent per week?
And he said, Yeah, absolutely.
I said, Okay, so I'm gonna puta dollar in a financial
calculator.
There's 52 weeks in a year, I'mgonna do this for a decade.
Let's just see what happens.
So dollar in a financialcalculator, 3% per week for a
decade.
Guess what it comes to?
Math is hard.
Carl (22:04):
I know it's you're geeking out with this, I know, but math
is hard for me.
So I'm guessing it's over amillion.
Alan (22:10):
It is 4.7 million, right?
4.7 million.
So you would be 4.7 milliontimes more successful.
Okay.
Now here's the wild part.
I said I'm gonna change 52times 10, 520, to 260.
So there's 52 weeks in a year,divide it by two, that's 26.
So instead of weekly coaching,you're gonna do bi-weekly
(22:32):
coaching for a decade instead.
So 260 instead of 520.
Guess what it comes to?
Again, math is hard.
I'm gonna guess it's a million.
No, no, 2000, 244.
It's unbelievable what happenswhen you cut the frequency just
in half.
And so my point of the Fred,Ted, and Ed thing to bring this
(22:54):
back to relevance is the personwho improves themselves, the
quality of the show, andimproves the marketing of the
show consistently and does aweekly show rather than a
bi-weekly show, is going toabsolutely dominate compared to
the person who kind of does itlackadaisically and doesn't
(23:16):
really improve.
Carl (23:17):
Wow.
And again, I'll say it again,math is hard, but thanks for
giving you some numbers to playwith.
And I'm sure that, and ifyou're listening to this and
then you're going, wow, thinkabout that.
Because if you're a podcaster,or even if you're not a
podcaster yet, if you're comingto this space and thinking,
maybe I'll do an episode amonth, okay.
I'm sure there's math for that.
I'm sure it isn't a very goodnumber, but think about the
(23:39):
impact that you're going to haveon your prospects, your
clients, yourself, your businessgrowth and development doing it
every week versus even everyother week.
And let's not even talk aboutonce per month.
I'm assuming you don't eventalk to clients who only want to
crank out one episode a month.
It's not even a conversationstarter.
Alan (24:00):
Yeah, you're not relevant enough.
This is the thing that I thinkpeople need to understand, and I
don't want to project ontoanybody, but ultimately you're
not relevant enough.
Imagine if Game of Thrones onlycame out with an episode once a
month.
It wouldn't pick up the sameway.
The frequency, I always call itfrequency, intensity, density,
duration.
I'm a math geek.
Ultimately, the frequency hasto be relevant enough to where
(24:21):
you stay top of mind.
Doesn't mean you have to do adaily episode like we do.
That's actually nuts.
Uh, don't do that.
Carl (24:27):
You have to be at a certain level of crazy to do a
show every day.
Or let me take it from anotherperspective.
You need to be at a certainlevel of experience development
to be able to take on a dailyshow.
I started doing a show threetimes a week, and that were
basically got whittled down toonce per week, then every other
week.
(24:47):
So I'm experimenting withdifferent pieces, and I figured
out that for me personally andfor a lot of my clients, once
per week totally makes sense.
I know I'll eventually be doinga show every day.
But, anyways, it's a certainlevel of you have to look at
where you're at.
Alan (25:01):
When we started, we started with one a week, we
jumped to two a week, we jumpedto three eventually years later,
and then we got to five, andthen we jumped to seven.
But that's only when we createda production team.
So Kevin went away to Scotlandfor 13 days, and we had to
record 28 in a single week.
And these are not little microepisodes, these are an average
(25:22):
of 25 minutes each.
And it was wild week.
I mean, we were burnt out, butagain, we are obsessives and
we're nuts.
But ultimately, if you are apodcaster, communicator,
speaker, trainer, you've got tohave enough frequency to stay
relevant, to stay top of mind.
Imagine a TV show that onlycomes out with one a month.
I mean, it's not gonna gainenough traction.
(25:44):
And so weekly run rate is agreat start, I think.
Carl (25:48):
Here's a question for you because I've had clients and
some of them are still with me.
Some of them have since takenon other directions, shall we
say, or faded into the sunset.
They'll take a break.
I'm gonna shut down for thesummer, gonna take a couple
months off.
And again, I know I think Iknow what your answer is going
to be, but thoughts on that?
Alan (26:07):
Yeah, I think that's a terrible idea.
I'm scared to say it.
I'm trying not to be such asocial coward.
I'm an engineering mind, and soI learned very young when a
girl says, Hey, do I look fat inthis?
and you say yes, level six outof ten, that doesn't really fly
very well.
So I've kind of bottled up mymathematical mind.
But in just statistics andmathematics, that's a terrible
(26:27):
idea.
You should never take thesummer off.
You should stay consistent.
And when it comes to success, Ihave this written on my
whiteboard.
At the top, there's a truenorth star that says
transformation.
And I tell this to my businesscoaching clients, and I'll say
this here just because I thinkI'm probably starting to turn
everybody off.
Uh, I care about your successand your fulfillment.
So success is number one,fulfillment is number two, and
feelings is third.
(26:48):
And I say that to my clients.
I say, listen, I'm not here tomake you feel good about
yourself.
I'm here to tell you what willactually get results.
And usually what actually getsresults does not feel good.
And so, yeah, I think takingthe summer off is a terrible
idea.
Carl (27:05):
It's like, what's the adage?
Nothing good or nothingworthwhile in life ever came
easy.
There's usually a certainamount of pain to go through it.
You know, the whole concept wetalked about earlier, failing
forward, failure is a verynegative word, or it's been
perceived to be negative, mostlythrough our education systems
that have allowed failure to beif sorry you didn't make the
cut, eh?
(27:26):
You failed.
That's that's a bad thing.
Failing forward is a good thingif you are allowing yourself to
transform, to learn, to grow,to do all of those things.
We could talk about thisforever.
You're coming back on the show.
I don't know when, but we'llwe'll have to have a deeper, you
know, we'll have to figure outwhat are some of the strategies
that we can share together basedon what our experiences have
(27:48):
been collectively and what we'velearned individually as well.
I do want to quickly pivotthough, because I want to make
sure I give us enough time totalk about something that you've
experimented with or haveexplored, and that's 25 impact
points of effectivecommunication.
We talked a lot about thepodcast and communication being
a piece of that.
I don't expect you're going togo through all 25, but can you
(28:09):
give me even the top three ortop five things that, in your
experience and estimation, arecrucial?
Alan (28:16):
Absolutely.
I'll speak for a podcaster, aspeaker, or a trainer.
These are the three that Iwould pick.
And I have them up in front ofme actually on my phone because
you and I had prepared for this.
And ultimately, the number onethat jumps off the page is
storytelling.
I took a storytelling course incollege.
I was a computer engineer andit was an elective, and I ended
up loving it.
But ultimately, hook storylesson future pace.
(28:39):
You have to be able to tell acompelling story that has some
form of a lesson within it.
And I've been doing thatthroughout this episode, and it
really is an art form.
It's an art and a science.
And Morgan Freeman, forexample, can read a freaking
recipe off of the fridge andmake it more compelling than
anyone because he has the rightstorytelling ability and
(29:00):
oratory.
And that's what these 25 impactpoints will help you do.
So one of them is storytelling.
That's number one.
Know your audience is the nextmost important one.
And that's why I always askpodcasters before I go on.
I've been very grateful andvery fortunate to have guested
on over 450 shows now.
And I always, always, alwaysask the host, who is your
(29:22):
listener?
Because who you're talking to,I need to understand what are
you struggling with?
What do you care about?
What do you value?
What are you trying to succeedat?
Because people don't listen topodcasts just to be entertained.
I think that's a big piece ofit.
And I think being entertainingis important.
I probably am not.
But ultimately, you want to getsomewhere.
You're here trying to getsomewhere.
(29:43):
You're trying to get to somegoal, you're trying to get to
some next level, you're tryingto get to some part of your
life.
So you have to know theaudience, you have to know what
they want, you have to know whatthey need, and those aren't
always the same thing.
And you have to understandthem.
I would say the third one isprobably related to.
Examples and analogies,metaphors.
You have to be able to takewhat someone doesn't yet
(30:06):
understand and apply it tosomething they do understand.
So, for example, earlier I wentdown the esoteric math
financial calculator thing.
That didn't land super well,and the reason why is because I
didn't connect it to somethingpeople already understand.
So I did a poor job on thisone.
But ultimately, what'ssomething other people
understand?
Okay, so imagine a train in theHarry Potter movies at a
(30:28):
standstill.
It takes a ton of effort andenergy and steam to get it
moving even a couple inches.
But once that thing's going 80miles an hour, even if there's a
brick wall, it'll blow throughit like paper.
That I took something that youdon't understand, and I'm gonna
apply it to what we talked aboutabout podcasting.
(30:49):
In the beginning, podcastingfeels like drudgery.
It feels like you're losing, itfeels like nothing's working
until eventually you start topick up steam, and then nothing
can stop you.
If you stick with it longenough, nothing can stop you.
And so that's a good example ofusing a relatable analogy or
metaphor to help peopleunderstand something that maybe
you understand that they don't.
(31:09):
So you have to understand.
So number one would bestorytelling, number two would
be know the audience, and numberthree would be understanding
your examples, your metaphors,your analogies.
You have to be able to relatewhat people don't understand to
something new that that you wantthem to understand.
Carl (31:24):
Again, I'm blown away by by where our conversation is
going.
We're gonna make sure, by theway, that the full list of 25,
we're not just going to give youthree, we're gonna give you the
full list of 25.
There is a checklist that willbe in the show notes.
I do have a quick question Iwant to ask you though before we
get your information and giveyou the final thought.
(31:46):
Let's truncate this as much aswe can.
Podcasting's been around over20 years, we're probably coming
up on 25.
Where do you see it going overthe next two to five years?
Alan (31:56):
I think a lot of people during the beginning of COVID
started podcasts.
And I don't quote me on thestat because I don't remember
the exact numbers, but I'mpretty sure the number of
podcasts pre-COVID that were inproduction was a million or so
globally.
Carl (32:14):
Just shy of a million, yeah.
Alan (32:16):
Just shy of a million globally, and then it jumped at
the peak to five million, andnow it's back to probably two
and a half because most shows dofall off.
And I'm not sure those two anda half million are in
production.
I mean, most podcasts are outthere and and they just stopped
them.
And we've had many clients thatcame and stopped, and that's
part of it.
It's attrition, it is what itis.
But where do I see the industrygoing?
(32:37):
I think the barrier to entry inpodcasting is getting lower and
lower and lower, and theopportunity is getting bigger
and bigger and bigger because Iremember six or seven years ago
when I said I was starting apodcast, people would say,
What's a podcast?
That doesn't happen anymore.
So there's 5.44 billion peopleonline, and that's gonna
(32:58):
exponentially increase.
So we're heard in over 175countries.
There's 8 billion people on theplanet as of recently,
actually.
We crossed the 8 billion mark.
There's 5.44 billion online onthe internet, and that's gonna
increase exponentially now thatuh Starlink is out there and
everyone can have access to theinternet via satellite.
And so the market is growing,the need for it is growing.
(33:20):
And if you can build a businessof products and services
underneath your podcast whereyou actually have a congruent
listener need with product andservice, you can really do
something special.
And your podcast can be leadgeneration to help people in a
profitable way in your business.
(33:41):
And so I see the industrygetting more and more and more
lucrative for the people whotake it seriously, but less and
less and less lucrative for thepeople who just want to show up
and make a quick buck.
Carl (33:54):
Or just do it for fun or for a hobby.
There's less chance of thoseindividuals seeing some
monetization from it.
Alan (34:04):
For sure.
And I I think the monetizationpiece is what people are going
for too quickly.
I think your podcast should bebuilt underneath your passions.
What are you obsessed with?
What do you want to talk aboutall the time?
If it's film, make a filmpodcast.
Turn your passion into purpose.
Purpose is serving other peoplewith your passion.
So my passion isself-improvement in business.
(34:24):
So my purpose is to help othersimprove themselves and their
businesses.
And then profit is third.
That's the one we go for first,but it's third.
It needs to be turn yourpassion into purpose into
profit.
Profit has to be third.
It can't be 15th, becauseyou'll go broke, but it can't be
first.
If you're in podcasting forprofit, you're screwed.
Like genuinely, becauseeveryone's gonna know that.
(34:46):
They know you're in it for you.
It has to be for the listenerfirst.
Carl (34:50):
It floors me the number of individuals coming to the space
for the first time saying, Iwant a podcast and I'd like it
to be a revenue stream.
And I I just cringe when peoplecome to that space thinking
they're going to, again, wementioned this earlier that
they're going to get rich or getdiscovered, and that's going to
make them the $10 billion.
I know that's not a number,that's not a mathematical term,
(35:13):
but $10 billion.
$10 billion.
Like they're the they'll beinstantly famous just because
they have a podcast, or if theyjust do a few, that's going to
lead to the monetization andthey'll get all the sponsors and
all of those things.
And it's yes, there's a lot ofmoney in podcasting.
There is, but there's also the,as you've said, there's the
taking it seriously.
(35:34):
Yeah, okay, have fun with it,but it's taking it seriously and
also staying the course, doingit for the right reasons, I
think is what I'm driving up.
Alan (35:41):
I agree a thousand percent.
If you are doing it for theright reasons and you do work on
yourself and you work on yourcommunication and you work on
understanding your listener andadding value, you will be
profitable long term.
Carl (35:55):
But don't expect it to happen tomorrow.
Alan (35:57):
Yeah, but don't expect it to happen right away.
I think for the first year,expect it to be a money pit.
Carl (36:03):
A grind, if nothing else.
Expect it to be a grind.
Alan (36:06):
Yeah.
Carl (36:06):
Alan, this has been a great conversation.
How can people get a hold ofyou if they want to follow up
with you or learn from more ofthe services that you provide?
Alan (36:16):
There's two ways you can reach out.
Oh, there's more than that.
You could just probably Googlemy name, honestly.
And I'm very grateful to beable to say that at this point,
because in the beginning I couldnot say that.
The main way isnextleveluniverse.com, spelt
just like it sounds, nextleveluniverse.com.
The podcast is nextleveluniversity, because the
(36:38):
person who has that URL ischarging too much money.
So we said nextleveluniverse.com is the
website.
Next leveluniversity is thepodcast.
And the idea is simple.
No matter how hard your pasthas been, no matter how hard
your now is, if you takepersonal responsibility for your
own choices, you can have abigger, better, brighter future.
And there's always a nextlevel.
(36:59):
And we can help you get there.
Imagine having a mentor or acoach in your pocket every
single day.
1% improvement in your pocket,health, wealth, life, and love
from anywhere on the planetcompletely free.
And it's really cool what youcan do and what you're capable
of with a mentor in your pocketevery day.
And we take our listeners on ajourney too.
It's it's not, hey, you shoulddo this.
It's hey, we're doing this, andyou might enjoy it too.
(37:20):
And so we lead by example ineverything that we do.
And uh, I really appreciate youhaving me.
Thank you.
Carl (37:26):
All of the links for Alan will be in the in the show
notes, the links to the podcastand that checklist too, those 25
things that Alan was referringto.
Oh, again, Alan, you're comingback on the show.
Don't know when, but wedefinitely have to have you back
and see if there's someopportunities to join venture
because that's another thingthat I think that people don't
do enough in the business world.
(37:47):
And even in the podcastingspace, is they work in silos and
they don't realize that if theyjust coordinate, collaborate
with other people, even for justidea sharing, even that it can
really make the world a betterplace and also make a huge
difference personally andprofessionally.
Before I let you go, though, myfriend, I'll give you the final
thought.
Alan (38:06):
The final thought.
That's a tough one because Igot so many thoughts.
Um just please, not amathematical one.
Just yeah, I got you.
I got you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's so funny.
Uh Kev Kev always says I'm themath geek, which is true 100%.
So uh the final thought wouldbe this.
You have a passion, you havesomething that is unbelievably
(38:28):
interesting to you that youadore.
It's probably always beenthere.
So for me, I've loved moviessince I was a kid.
I love film.
I'm obsessed with film.
Okay.
I've also been obsessed withachieving goals since I was a
kid.
I help people achieve theirgoals even when they don't want
me to.
I don't know how to talk aboutanything other than goals and
dreams.
I probably peppered it intothis conversation 50 times.
You have a passion.
(38:49):
You have an obsession.
And that is something that canserve others.
Imagine how good you could beat something if you were
obsessed with it.
And you could use thatobsession to serve others, that
passion to serve others, andthen for a profit.
And so my final thought wouldbe this take personal
responsibility for your ownfuture, identify what you are
(39:09):
obsessed with, what are yousuper passionate about, and then
how can you pour into the livesof other people with that thing
in a profitable way long term?
That's how you create both asuccessful and a fulfilling
life.
Carl (39:21):
But no, it will not be easy.
That's a great place to leaveit.
Alan Lazaros, thank you so muchfor being my guest today.
Alan (39:28):
Thank you.
I started with gratitude.
I want to end with gratitude.
Thank you for having me.
I will definitely come back onand uh keep doing what you're
doing.
Carl (39:35):
And hey, thank you for being a part of the show today.
So glad you can join us.
Believe it or not, I can't workthis magic by myself.
So thanks to my amazing team,our audio engineer Dom Carillo,
our Sonic branding genius KentonDoborowski, and the person who
works the arms.
All of our arms actually, ourproject manager and my trusty
assistant, Julovell Tiongco,known to us here simply as July.
(39:57):
If you like what you heardtoday, let us know.
You can leave us a comment orreview or even send us a voice
note.
And if you really liked it, wehope you'll share it with your
friends and your colleagues.
If you don't like what youheard today, well, please feel
free to share with your enemies.
And if you know someone whowould make a great guest on the
show, let us know about it.
You can get in touch with us bygoing to our show notes where
(40:18):
all of our connection points arethere, including the link to
our website, LinkedIn, andFacebook as well.
And if you're ready to be aguest on podcasting, or even
start your own show, let's havea conversation.
We'll show you the simplest wayto get into the podcasting
space and rock it.
Because after all, we'rePodcast Solutions Made Simple.
Catch a game next time.
Welcome to Communication Connection Community, the
Podcasters Podcast.
This podcast takes a deep diveinto modern-day communication
strategies in the podcastingspace.
We chat with interesting peoplewho make the podcasting and
speaking spaces exciting andvibrant.
We also dive into thepodcasting community with news,
(00:24):
updates, latest trends andtopics from this ever-evolving
space.
Let's dive into today'sepisode.
Alan Lazaros is the CEO,founder, co-host, powerful
combination of technicalexpertise and business acumen.
(00:46):
He is a business coach,consultant, trainer, and speaker
who specializes in helpingbusinesses maximize their
growth, impact, andprofitability online.
He's very heart-driven.
He has a no BS approach toinspiring, motivating, and
educating.
What it really takes to get tothe next level.
He's been a podcaster for anumber of years.
I am so thrilled to talk tosomebody who eats, sleeps,
(01:10):
breathes, lives, speaking, andpodcasting as much, if not more,
than I do.
Alan, welcome to the podcast.
Alan (01:18):
Gratitude first.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for bringing theenergy.
Thank you for having me.
I started listening to podcastsabout nine years ago, and they
really helped me reorient mylife in a much more constructive
and positive direction.
And so now I'm a podcaster whohelps people do that, and it's
really a dream come true.
So I appreciate it.
Carl (01:35):
Let's talk about that.
Let's talk about the impactthat podcasts have had on you.
And then I want to talk aboutyour journey through
communication and podcasting aswell.
I know there's a lot to unpackhere, but let's talk about first
how it's impacted your life.
Alan (01:48):
Okay.
So the first thing to realizehere is so I'll provide a little
bit of context.
And this will be the very shortversion.
So when I was really young, myfather passed away in a car
accident when he was 28.
And I got in a car accidentwhen I was 26 that really
shifted my perspective.
And before that, I was anachiever.
(02:09):
I was improvement oriented, butI wasn't self-improvement
oriented.
So after 26, I really got intonot only self-improvement, but
holistic self-improvement.
And then I started to reallyfind my calling for lack of
better phrasing, which is Ispeak into the lives of other
people and I help them be moresuccessful and more fulfilled.
And I do that throughpodcasting, coaching, training,
(02:32):
speaking, and writing.
And all of those things, thosefive things I just mentioned,
podcasting, coaching, training,speaking, and writing, they all
have one thing in common, whichis hey, you need to be an
effective communicator.
And so I've spent the lastnine, almost 10 years now, since
26, since that car accident,really trying to perfect my
(02:52):
craft in how to speak powerfullyinto the lives of other people
and lead by example too, becauseit's not just the message, it's
the messenger.
And so, number one, improvemyself, lead by example, that
kind of thing.
And then number two, how do Iuse my experiences and my
knowledge and my awareness andmy attitude to help people
(03:12):
really prosper and inspire,motivate, and educate others?
And so that's really what I'mhere for.
So when it comes to the secondpart of your question about
communication, podcasting, allthat, I started a little podcast
called Conversations ChangeLives about seven or eight years
ago now.
And my business partner now,his name's Kevin, he had a
podcast called the HyperConscious Podcast.
(03:32):
So the Conversations ChangeLives Podcast, he was my first
guest.
And then I was his first gueston the Hyper Conscious podcast.
Then we teamed up and wecreated the worst naming named
podcast of all time, which isthe Conversations Change Lives
Meets Hyper Conscious Podcast.
And we did that for about 20episodes, and we eventually went
all in on the Hyper Consciouspodcast, change the way you
(03:53):
think, change the way you act,change the way you live.
It was all about holisticself-improvement.
It was about self-awareness, itwas about understanding
yourself at a deeper level.
It was about what motivatesyou, it was about the
fundamentals of success andfulfillment.
And then 650 or so episodeslater, we rebranded to what's
now known as Next LevelUniversity.
And it's self-improvement,health, wealth, life, and love
(04:16):
in your pocket from anywhere onthe planet, 1% improvement per
day, totally free.
And we're now realize inhindsight we've become sort of
the male role models we neverhad because we both grew up
without dads.
And so that's a very, veryshort way to tell you and
condense the last decade, butreally 35 years, into what was
definitely more than one minuteand a half.
Carl (04:34):
So you've basically taken your professional life and your
personal life, and they're verymuch in sync with what you're
talking about on the show.
It's not like there's anyseparation.
Okay, obviously there's somepersonal things you're not
sharing on the show, but a lotof what brought you to the
podcasting space is because ofthat personal experience.
And it's very, it's veryinteresting that your business
(04:56):
partner also, and I haven't metKevin, but has a has a story as
well that probably complementswhat you've been doing.
And of course, both of you inthe earlier stages developing
the business model and also thepodcast, you made no mistakes,
right?
It's perfect right from dayone.
Alan (05:11):
It's yeah, no.
So you're funny, perfect fromday one.
Ideas don't come out fullyformed.
We, in hindsight, let's justsay if I could go back in time,
I would tell myself a thing ortwo.
And no, we failed forwardmassively.
We've made more mistakes.
That's actually one of thethings that we tell our clients
because I coach business ownersand he coaches podcasters.
(05:32):
And some podcasters want tostart a business, and some
businesses need a podcast.
So we do both.
But ultimately, I say that allthe time.
I said, listen, we've madeevery mistake in the book.
So we have learned to overcomeand learn from our mistakes over
time.
And that's one thing that youreally, when you spend a lot of
time in a certain industry or acertain space, the experiences
that you gain through justmassive pain, suffering, and
(05:54):
failure, you just end upeventually really good.
But it's basically only becauseof all those failures and pain
and stuff.
And so we're not going to helpour clients skip steps.
And even on this podcastinterview right now, if you're a
podcaster, a communicator,writer, speaker, trainer, I'm
not going to help you skipsteps.
What I will help you do isincrease the rate at which you
(06:16):
improve by helping you not avoidthe mistakes we've made, but
maybe understand them, recognizethem sooner, pivot sooner, and
improve quicker.
Because ultimately that's whatit is.
What if I could tell you thatyou could be where I am in five
years instead of the 10 that ittook me if you had me in your
corner?
And that's really theproposition I think that's a
(06:38):
very honest proposition.
Carl (06:39):
And anyone who thinks that, and obviously I said it as
a joke, because just like you,and we work in very similar
spaces, which I think is alsomake that clear, because even
though we work in similarspaces, we come from different
backgrounds, we have differentexperiences.
And I'll say this out loudthere's more than enough work
for both of us to keep us busyforever and a day.
So there's no poaching ofclients, there's nothing like
(07:02):
that.
There's more than enough peopleinterested in the podcasting
space to keep us both very wellemployed for the next, I don't
know, as long as podcasts arearound and they're different
evolutions.
But what I like is that you'vetaken this experience and you've
been, hey, you know what?
You're going to make mistakesalong the way.
I've worked with clients whothink it's going to be perfect
(07:24):
in their first 10 episodes, andthey'll get those instantaneous,
massive results thatexperienced business owners and
celebrities and thought leadersare getting, not realizing that,
hey, they've been on a journeyfor a while.
Then all of a sudden flick theswitch and hey, here's a podcast
with the, you know, the likesof Oprah Winfrey or Joe Rogan.
They didn't just fall off aturnip truck and here's a
(07:45):
podcast, and it's massivelysuccessful.
There was a journey that theytook to get there, and they all
can report in some capacity oranother that they failed along
the way to get there.
So thank you for letting usknow that there has been, you
know, failing forward.
I love that expression, failingforward.
What I want to do is share someof the things that you've
learned along the way,business-wise, podcasting-wise.
(08:07):
Let's start there.
What are some of the keys thatyou've learned?
Alan (08:11):
Well, there's certain fundamentals that are obvious in
hindsight.
And so at this point, I have a10,000-hour tracker and I track
coaching, speaking, podcasting,and training.
And I'm at like 8,000 or sonow.
And the reason I say that isnot to brag.
The reason I say that isbecause I I want people to
understand that I'm not justsaying these things.
(08:33):
When you've done 8,000 hours ofthis work, patterns become so
obvious.
All different industries, alldifferent backgrounds, all
different cultures, my coaching.
I have 28 people on my roster,about to be 29 right now, but
I've coached hundreds over theyears.
I was fitness coach, then I wasmindset coach, then I was peak
performance coach, then I waslife coach, then I was business
(08:54):
consultant, now I'm businesscoach.
And it's been just a main focalpoint.
So all these differentindustries, all these different
backgrounds, everything fromreal estate agents to hey, I'm
16, I want to start a YouTubechannel all the way to 63.
I'm in New Zealand.
I've been in, you know, homestaging for two decades and I'm
already a multimillionaire, butI want to grow and scale, and I
don't want to work 12 hours aday anymore.
All the different walks oflife.
(09:16):
There's a couple fundamentalsthat are just true for
everybody.
I'll start there because we'retrying to cast sort of a wide
net here.
Business is about two mainthings.
You have to be really good atthese two main things.
And if you're not good at both,that's okay.
You can get a business partner.
All right.
So the first one, and this is amust, particularly in the 21st
(09:36):
century, you have to be good atsystems, you have to be good at
metrics, you have to be good atdiscipline, you have to be good
at consistency, you have to begood at grit, you have to be
good at org structure, and youhave to be good at technology.
Okay, that's the lefty.
Okay, that's the left side ofthe formula.
And then the right side, andvery few people are good at both
(09:56):
of these.
Business is about people.
You have to be good withpeople.
So Kevin is much better withpeople than I am.
He's relatable, he's likable,people don't think he's
arrogant.
I am the esoteric computerengineer, weirdo who thinks in
numbers and metrics all thetime.
And so I'm okay with people,and I think I've become a strong
(10:16):
communicator, particularly toengineers.
But Kevin's the people person,always has been, always will be,
and I'm the system structure,discipline, metrics, habits,
organizational.
And we work together very well.
A lot of people who startpodcasts or who start
businesses, what they don'tunderstand is that they are
really good at one or the other,and that you need to be
(10:37):
ambidextrous in the 21stcentury, ready and lefty in
order to be effective inbusiness.
And the other thing peopledon't understand, I'm glad you
mentioned it, is the people thatare successful in podcasting, a
lot of times they had a career20, 30, 40 years before that, 10
years before that, that builtup to the moment when they
started a podcast.
And then that was theircredibility that actually made
(10:58):
the podcast big.
So, Brene Brown, for example,maybe she has a podcast, I think
she does, but she was aresearcher and a writer for
decades before starting apodcast.
And so if you're a podcasterwho wants to start out with
podcasting, but you don't have acareer behind you, it's going
to be a lot harder to grow andscale to that same level.
It maybe it's possible.
(11:20):
I personally haven't seen a tonof it, but our company produces
50 shows at this point, threeof my own.
And we have really goodunderstanding and metrics of the
different demographics andwhere you can hit the top charts
and how to actually succeed.
But ultimately it comes down toa few fundamentals.
Number one, you have to be goodat those two things that I
mentioned.
Number two, you have to bereally good at effective
communication.
Some people are just not strongpodcasters.
(11:42):
And here's the thing, you'vegot to understand there's what,
three million podcasts?
Most of them are not still inproduction.
So I think the stat is 70% ofpodcasters don't make it past
the 21st episode.
Something like that.
If you are not a strong order,strong speaker, strong
communicator, if you don't havediscipline and consistency and
(12:03):
your audience cannot rely onconsistent content, why would
they listen to your show whenthey could listen to someone
else's who is consistent, who isa strong speaker, who does
speak into their lives?
And then on top of that, youhave to know who your listener
is.
You have to have an actualniche that solves a real need or
real problem.
And then underneath that, youhave to build a business that's
actually profitable to sustainthat podcast.
(12:24):
And so we could talk for daysabout all that.
One, it's way harder than youthink.
Number two, you can win, butit's a survival game.
Who can survive the longest?
Because ultimately, mostpeople, I mean, we've got our
first year in podcasting, weonly had a thousand and
fifty-four listens for theentire year.
We did an episode a week, everyweek for a whole year, and we
(12:47):
only had a thousand fifty-fourlistens.
We get more than that per daynow.
And so there's a compoundingaccumulation effect that happens
with listens and listeners overtime.
And some of our older episodesget more listens than our new
ones.
And so the key is to beconsistent, to have a target
audience, to understand whatthey need, value, and struggle
with and what they want forsuccess, and then to help them,
(13:09):
and then to have aligned guestsand to be consistent and
disciplined.
But ultimately, it comes downto people and it comes down to
process, and you need to be goodat both.
Carl (13:16):
And I think that you hit the nail on the head when you
said that some people are goodat one and some people are good
at the other, but very rarelyare you good at both.
But you need to be able toembrace both or have somebody on
your team that can fill thegaps where you can't, or have a
business partner just like youdo, who's good at what you're
not exactly the best at.
(13:36):
And you're a very goodcommunicator, by the way.
Just saying it's working verywell.
I'm sure as a I'm very much anextrovert as well.
So the people part, therelationship building, the
communication piece, it comesmore naturally for me.
I did want to touch on a coupleof things that you said.
It's harder than you think.
And there's many differentlayers to that.
(13:57):
Not only is it harder than alot of people think, and we try
and make it as simple aspossible, hence our branding.
And you've indicated this,you've hinted at this more than
once.
It's a long game, not a shortgame.
Yeah.
I always will share with peoplewho are looking at podcasting.
I'll say if you get a thousanddownloads, a thousand downloads
in your first year, you're doingwell.
(14:17):
I know.
Very well.
And people look at that andsay, Well, that doesn't sound
like a lot.
Let's break it down more andlet's look at what that really
is.
So when you share that successstory, that you're getting that
a day now.
Alan (14:31):
Yeah, exactly.
Carl (14:33):
Imagine those first 10 episodes or that first 52
episodes, if you had quit inmonth nine or in month 10
because you weren't getting10,000 downloads a month.
Alan (14:44):
Yeah, which we are now.
That's the wild thing, is inthe beginning, to your point, we
have this uh triad of failure.
So if you have a formula forfailure, here it is.
Number one is you have thewrong expectations, number two,
you have the wrong approach,number three, you have the wrong
time perspective.
So imagine someone who thinksthey're gonna hit the top charts
the first week, who thinkspodcasts and isn't consistent,
(15:07):
and then the third one is theythink they're gonna blow up in a
year.
That's the wrong expectation,that's the wrong approach, in
consistency, and the wrong timeperspective.
And this is why you can talk toan experienced podcaster who
wasn't famous beforehand.
You have to say who wasn'tfamous beforehand.
The right expectation is okay,I'm gonna be consistent and I'm
(15:34):
gonna get a few people wholisten.
And then if it's good, thosepeople will tell people, and
those people will tell people.
And most businesses andpodcasts grow through referral
and organic reach.
Number two, the approach.
The right approach is stayconsistent, improve the quality
of your communication, figureout who your audience is, meet
(15:54):
your listeners, learn aboutthem, learn from them, learn
what they want, need, like,value.
And then the last piece is theright time perspective.
Try really hard to play thelong game.
Now, the reason why most peopledon't play the long game is out
of necessity.
This is what I came up withthis to try to help a lot of my
(16:14):
business clients realize how tosucceed long term.
I call it the short-term trainand the long-term train.
So everyone out there watchingor listening, whether you're
starting your own business oryour own podcast, or you're even
in a corporate career, you needa short-term train and a
long-term train.
The short-term train has apurpose.
(16:35):
The purpose of the short-termtrain is to pay the bills, to
keep the lights on, and to makesure that your current lifestyle
has enough revenue to sustainitself.
Okay.
The long-term train is the onethat will eventually provide
way, way, way more results overthe long term.
(16:56):
And so I'll give you anexample.
So right now I'm running twotrains the short-term profitable
train that pays for the teamand the production company and
the expenses and all thesoftwares.
And I mean, we're coming up ona half million dollar business,
and that's great.
And I'm really proud of us, andthat's awesome.
What people don't understand isthat the expenses of a business
of that size is ridiculous.
(17:17):
So, yeah, we make a halfmillion dollars in 2024, but
we're going to spend 400,000 ofthat just to sustain itself.
And then hopefully it'll be sixnext year and seven, and then
you know, 1.5 and all thatstuff.
That's how you grow and scale abusiness.
So the short-term train for mepersonally that is profitable is
business coaching.
So I have 28 clients, I coachbusiness owners on how to start,
(17:41):
grow, scale, and monetize theirpodcast.
That is what pays for thepodcast.
The podcast is a long-termtrain that builds credibility.
So if you have your two trainsand they actually feed each
other, it can be very powerful.
So my long-term train is thepodcast called Next Level
University, and that gives methe credibility and the warm
(18:02):
leads to coach people.
And then the coaching feeds thelong-term train with marketing
dollars so that I can grow,expand, and scale.
And I think a lot of peoplethink podcasting is going to be
a short-term train when inreality it's actually a
long-term train, and you'regoing to need a short-term train
that actually feeds it longenough to where it can
eventually replace your mainincome.
Carl (18:22):
Right.
And just like in business, asyou've expressed, with a
podcast, you also need torealize that there's a time when
you need to consider levelingup.
Those first 10 episodes, 52episodes of that first year, you
may be able to do it on a verydifferent budget or not
shortcut, but you understandwhat I'm saying, where there's
(18:44):
things that you can do, butthere's a time where you might
need to level up.
You might need to level up thequality of your guest.
You might need to changecertain softwares that you're
using for recording, or youmight want to consider doing
recording some of your episodesin a studio, whatever it is.
I find that there are stillpodcasters out there that are
still trying to do the samething the same way they did four
(19:06):
and five years ago, and wonderwhy their show isn't getting any
different results.
Alan (19:12):
Yeah.
So this is the packagingmatters more than the product.
The way that I try to mitigatethe challenge that you see
there, and I see this challengetoo.
I'll give three examples.
So we'll call him Fred, Ted,and Ned.
All right.
Fred starts a podcast, and allof them, Fred, Ted, and Ed, all
have a podcast with a thousandepisodes.
(19:34):
They've all been doing it forthe same amount of time in the
same way, in the same niche.
Fred does a thousand episodes,but doesn't improve each
episode.
He's the same, he doesn'timprove his speaking, he doesn't
improve his packaging, hedoesn't improve his marketing,
he doesn't improve his branding,he doesn't improve the digital
assets, he doesn't improve thewebsite, he doesn't improve the
team, the production quality,the audio quality, the
(19:54):
microphone, he doesn't improveanything.
It's just a thousand episodes.
All right.
Ted improves by, let's say, atiny bit, and he improves
himself a ton, but he doesn'timprove the packaging.
So the packaging stays thesame, the marketing, the
branding, everything externalstays the same.
But Ted improves his quality ofhis output, his communication,
his effectiveness in addingvalue.
(20:14):
He improves himself and hisspeaking as an orator.
Okay.
Ed improves both.
Ed improves himself by 1% perepisode, and he improves the
packaging.
He gets a new mic, he gets anew software program, he uses
StreamYard, he tries thesedifferent things.
That person who's gettingbetter at both oratory speaking,
(20:37):
his expertise and improving thepackaging of the show, Fred,
Ted, and Ed, Ed is gonna beleagues ahead of Fred and Ted.
Here's the real thing that yougot to understand, and this is
the math behind this.
So I actually did this once,and I I'm a math guy, so forgive
me for that.
I put a dollar into a financialcalculator and I put three
percent.
So I have clients that doweekly, bi-weekly, and monthly
(21:00):
coaching.
And one of my clients, hisname's Cole, this is probably
four months ago.
He said, Alan, I'm thinkingabout going to weekly coaching.
Should I do it?
Is it time?
And I said, My fear is you'regonna burn out.
But let me show you the math.
I pulled up a financialcalculator, I put a dollar in
it, and I said, Cole, is it fairthat if you were to come to
(21:21):
weekly coaching, is it fair?
And this is not a sales pitch,by the way, so don't think that
this is a mathematical thingabout podcasting.
All right, is it fair that Ican help you improve yourself by
at least one percent per week?
And he said, Yeah, definitely.
Is it fair that you can improveyour system, metrics, habits,
your system of success is whatwe call it, by one percent per
week?
He said, Yeah, absolutely.
I said, Okay, is it fair thatyou can improve your execution
(21:44):
of that system by at least onepercent per week?
And he said, Yeah, absolutely.
I said, Okay, so I'm gonna puta dollar in a financial
calculator.
There's 52 weeks in a year, I'mgonna do this for a decade.
Let's just see what happens.
So dollar in a financialcalculator, 3% per week for a
decade.
Guess what it comes to?
Math is hard.
Carl (22:04):
I know it's you're geeking out with this, I know, but math
is hard for me.
So I'm guessing it's over amillion.
Alan (22:10):
It is 4.7 million, right?
4.7 million.
So you would be 4.7 milliontimes more successful.
Okay.
Now here's the wild part.
I said I'm gonna change 52times 10, 520, to 260.
So there's 52 weeks in a year,divide it by two, that's 26.
So instead of weekly coaching,you're gonna do bi-weekly
(22:32):
coaching for a decade instead.
So 260 instead of 520.
Guess what it comes to?
Again, math is hard.
I'm gonna guess it's a million.
No, no, 2000, 244.
It's unbelievable what happenswhen you cut the frequency just
in half.
And so my point of the Fred,Ted, and Ed thing to bring this
(22:54):
back to relevance is the personwho improves themselves, the
quality of the show, andimproves the marketing of the
show consistently and does aweekly show rather than a
bi-weekly show, is going toabsolutely dominate compared to
the person who kind of does itlackadaisically and doesn't
(23:16):
really improve.
Carl (23:17):
Wow.
And again, I'll say it again,math is hard, but thanks for
giving you some numbers to playwith.
And I'm sure that, and ifyou're listening to this and
then you're going, wow, thinkabout that.
Because if you're a podcaster,or even if you're not a
podcaster yet, if you're comingto this space and thinking,
maybe I'll do an episode amonth, okay.
I'm sure there's math for that.
I'm sure it isn't a very goodnumber, but think about the
(23:39):
impact that you're going to haveon your prospects, your
clients, yourself, your businessgrowth and development doing it
every week versus even everyother week.
And let's not even talk aboutonce per month.
I'm assuming you don't eventalk to clients who only want to
crank out one episode a month.
It's not even a conversationstarter.
Alan (24:00):
Yeah, you're not relevant enough.
This is the thing that I thinkpeople need to understand, and I
don't want to project ontoanybody, but ultimately you're
not relevant enough.
Imagine if Game of Thrones onlycame out with an episode once a
month.
It wouldn't pick up the sameway.
The frequency, I always call itfrequency, intensity, density,
duration.
I'm a math geek.
Ultimately, the frequency hasto be relevant enough to where
(24:21):
you stay top of mind.
Doesn't mean you have to do adaily episode like we do.
That's actually nuts.
Uh, don't do that.
Carl (24:27):
You have to be at a certain level of crazy to do a
show every day.
Or let me take it from anotherperspective.
You need to be at a certainlevel of experience development
to be able to take on a dailyshow.
I started doing a show threetimes a week, and that were
basically got whittled down toonce per week, then every other
week.
(24:47):
So I'm experimenting withdifferent pieces, and I figured
out that for me personally andfor a lot of my clients, once
per week totally makes sense.
I know I'll eventually be doinga show every day.
But, anyways, it's a certainlevel of you have to look at
where you're at.
Alan (25:01):
When we started, we started with one a week, we
jumped to two a week, we jumpedto three eventually years later,
and then we got to five, andthen we jumped to seven.
But that's only when we createda production team.
So Kevin went away to Scotlandfor 13 days, and we had to
record 28 in a single week.
And these are not little microepisodes, these are an average
(25:22):
of 25 minutes each.
And it was wild week.
I mean, we were burnt out, butagain, we are obsessives and
we're nuts.
But ultimately, if you are apodcaster, communicator,
speaker, trainer, you've got tohave enough frequency to stay
relevant, to stay top of mind.
Imagine a TV show that onlycomes out with one a month.
I mean, it's not gonna gainenough traction.
(25:44):
And so weekly run rate is agreat start, I think.
Carl (25:48):
Here's a question for you because I've had clients and
some of them are still with me.
Some of them have since takenon other directions, shall we
say, or faded into the sunset.
They'll take a break.
I'm gonna shut down for thesummer, gonna take a couple
months off.
And again, I know I think Iknow what your answer is going
to be, but thoughts on that?
Alan (26:07):
Yeah, I think that's a terrible idea.
I'm scared to say it.
I'm trying not to be such asocial coward.
I'm an engineering mind, and soI learned very young when a
girl says, Hey, do I look fat inthis?
and you say yes, level six outof ten, that doesn't really fly
very well.
So I've kind of bottled up mymathematical mind.
But in just statistics andmathematics, that's a terrible
(26:27):
idea.
You should never take thesummer off.
You should stay consistent.
And when it comes to success, Ihave this written on my
whiteboard.
At the top, there's a truenorth star that says
transformation.
And I tell this to my businesscoaching clients, and I'll say
this here just because I thinkI'm probably starting to turn
everybody off.
Uh, I care about your successand your fulfillment.
So success is number one,fulfillment is number two, and
feelings is third.
(26:48):
And I say that to my clients.
I say, listen, I'm not here tomake you feel good about
yourself.
I'm here to tell you what willactually get results.
And usually what actually getsresults does not feel good.
And so, yeah, I think takingthe summer off is a terrible
idea.
Carl (27:05):
It's like, what's the adage?
Nothing good or nothingworthwhile in life ever came
easy.
There's usually a certainamount of pain to go through it.
You know, the whole concept wetalked about earlier, failing
forward, failure is a verynegative word, or it's been
perceived to be negative, mostlythrough our education systems
that have allowed failure to beif sorry you didn't make the
cut, eh?
(27:26):
You failed.
That's that's a bad thing.
Failing forward is a good thingif you are allowing yourself to
transform, to learn, to grow,to do all of those things.
We could talk about thisforever.
You're coming back on the show.
I don't know when, but we'llwe'll have to have a deeper, you
know, we'll have to figure outwhat are some of the strategies
that we can share together basedon what our experiences have
(27:48):
been collectively and what we'velearned individually as well.
I do want to quickly pivotthough, because I want to make
sure I give us enough time totalk about something that you've
experimented with or haveexplored, and that's 25 impact
points of effectivecommunication.
We talked a lot about thepodcast and communication being
a piece of that.
I don't expect you're going togo through all 25, but can you
(28:09):
give me even the top three ortop five things that, in your
experience and estimation, arecrucial?
Alan (28:16):
Absolutely.
I'll speak for a podcaster, aspeaker, or a trainer.
These are the three that Iwould pick.
And I have them up in front ofme actually on my phone because
you and I had prepared for this.
And ultimately, the number onethat jumps off the page is
storytelling.
I took a storytelling course incollege.
I was a computer engineer andit was an elective, and I ended
up loving it.
But ultimately, hook storylesson future pace.
(28:39):
You have to be able to tell acompelling story that has some
form of a lesson within it.
And I've been doing thatthroughout this episode, and it
really is an art form.
It's an art and a science.
And Morgan Freeman, forexample, can read a freaking
recipe off of the fridge andmake it more compelling than
anyone because he has the rightstorytelling ability and
(29:00):
oratory.
And that's what these 25 impactpoints will help you do.
So one of them is storytelling.
That's number one.
Know your audience is the nextmost important one.
And that's why I always askpodcasters before I go on.
I've been very grateful andvery fortunate to have guested
on over 450 shows now.
And I always, always, alwaysask the host, who is your
(29:22):
listener?
Because who you're talking to,I need to understand what are
you struggling with?
What do you care about?
What do you value?
What are you trying to succeedat?
Because people don't listen topodcasts just to be entertained.
I think that's a big piece ofit.
And I think being entertainingis important.
I probably am not.
But ultimately, you want to getsomewhere.
You're here trying to getsomewhere.
(29:43):
You're trying to get to somegoal, you're trying to get to
some next level, you're tryingto get to some part of your
life.
So you have to know theaudience, you have to know what
they want, you have to know whatthey need, and those aren't
always the same thing.
And you have to understandthem.
I would say the third one isprobably related to.
Examples and analogies,metaphors.
You have to be able to takewhat someone doesn't yet
(30:06):
understand and apply it tosomething they do understand.
So, for example, earlier I wentdown the esoteric math
financial calculator thing.
That didn't land super well,and the reason why is because I
didn't connect it to somethingpeople already understand.
So I did a poor job on thisone.
But ultimately, what'ssomething other people
understand?
Okay, so imagine a train in theHarry Potter movies at a
(30:28):
standstill.
It takes a ton of effort andenergy and steam to get it
moving even a couple inches.
But once that thing's going 80miles an hour, even if there's a
brick wall, it'll blow throughit like paper.
That I took something that youdon't understand, and I'm gonna
apply it to what we talked aboutabout podcasting.
(30:49):
In the beginning, podcastingfeels like drudgery.
It feels like you're losing, itfeels like nothing's working
until eventually you start topick up steam, and then nothing
can stop you.
If you stick with it longenough, nothing can stop you.
And so that's a good example ofusing a relatable analogy or
metaphor to help peopleunderstand something that maybe
you understand that they don't.
(31:09):
So you have to understand.
So number one would bestorytelling, number two would
be know the audience, and numberthree would be understanding
your examples, your metaphors,your analogies.
You have to be able to relatewhat people don't understand to
something new that that you wantthem to understand.
Carl (31:24):
Again, I'm blown away by by where our conversation is
going.
We're gonna make sure, by theway, that the full list of 25,
we're not just going to give youthree, we're gonna give you the
full list of 25.
There is a checklist that willbe in the show notes.
I do have a quick question Iwant to ask you though before we
get your information and giveyou the final thought.
(31:46):
Let's truncate this as much aswe can.
Podcasting's been around over20 years, we're probably coming
up on 25.
Where do you see it going overthe next two to five years?
Alan (31:56):
I think a lot of people during the beginning of COVID
started podcasts.
And I don't quote me on thestat because I don't remember
the exact numbers, but I'mpretty sure the number of
podcasts pre-COVID that were inproduction was a million or so
globally.
Carl (32:14):
Just shy of a million, yeah.
Alan (32:16):
Just shy of a million globally, and then it jumped at
the peak to five million, andnow it's back to probably two
and a half because most shows dofall off.
And I'm not sure those two anda half million are in
production.
I mean, most podcasts are outthere and and they just stopped
them.
And we've had many clients thatcame and stopped, and that's
part of it.
It's attrition, it is what itis.
But where do I see the industrygoing?
(32:37):
I think the barrier to entry inpodcasting is getting lower and
lower and lower, and theopportunity is getting bigger
and bigger and bigger because Iremember six or seven years ago
when I said I was starting apodcast, people would say,
What's a podcast?
That doesn't happen anymore.
So there's 5.44 billion peopleonline, and that's gonna
(32:58):
exponentially increase.
So we're heard in over 175countries.
There's 8 billion people on theplanet as of recently,
actually.
We crossed the 8 billion mark.
There's 5.44 billion online onthe internet, and that's gonna
increase exponentially now thatuh Starlink is out there and
everyone can have access to theinternet via satellite.
And so the market is growing,the need for it is growing.
(33:20):
And if you can build a businessof products and services
underneath your podcast whereyou actually have a congruent
listener need with product andservice, you can really do
something special.
And your podcast can be leadgeneration to help people in a
profitable way in your business.
(33:41):
And so I see the industrygetting more and more and more
lucrative for the people whotake it seriously, but less and
less and less lucrative for thepeople who just want to show up
and make a quick buck.
Carl (33:54):
Or just do it for fun or for a hobby.
There's less chance of thoseindividuals seeing some
monetization from it.
Alan (34:04):
For sure.
And I I think the monetizationpiece is what people are going
for too quickly.
I think your podcast should bebuilt underneath your passions.
What are you obsessed with?
What do you want to talk aboutall the time?
If it's film, make a filmpodcast.
Turn your passion into purpose.
Purpose is serving other peoplewith your passion.
So my passion isself-improvement in business.
(34:24):
So my purpose is to help othersimprove themselves and their
businesses.
And then profit is third.
That's the one we go for first,but it's third.
It needs to be turn yourpassion into purpose into
profit.
Profit has to be third.
It can't be 15th, becauseyou'll go broke, but it can't be
first.
If you're in podcasting forprofit, you're screwed.
Like genuinely, becauseeveryone's gonna know that.
(34:46):
They know you're in it for you.
It has to be for the listenerfirst.
Carl (34:50):
It floors me the number of individuals coming to the space
for the first time saying, Iwant a podcast and I'd like it
to be a revenue stream.
And I I just cringe when peoplecome to that space thinking
they're going to, again, wementioned this earlier that
they're going to get rich or getdiscovered, and that's going to
make them the $10 billion.
I know that's not a number,that's not a mathematical term,
(35:13):
but $10 billion.
$10 billion.
Like they're the they'll beinstantly famous just because
they have a podcast, or if theyjust do a few, that's going to
lead to the monetization andthey'll get all the sponsors and
all of those things.
And it's yes, there's a lot ofmoney in podcasting.
There is, but there's also the,as you've said, there's the
taking it seriously.
(35:34):
Yeah, okay, have fun with it,but it's taking it seriously and
also staying the course, doingit for the right reasons, I
think is what I'm driving up.
Alan (35:41):
I agree a thousand percent.
If you are doing it for theright reasons and you do work on
yourself and you work on yourcommunication and you work on
understanding your listener andadding value, you will be
profitable long term.
Carl (35:55):
But don't expect it to happen tomorrow.
Alan (35:57):
Yeah, but don't expect it to happen right away.
I think for the first year,expect it to be a money pit.
Carl (36:03):
A grind, if nothing else.
Expect it to be a grind.
Alan (36:06):
Yeah.
Carl (36:06):
Alan, this has been a great conversation.
How can people get a hold ofyou if they want to follow up
with you or learn from more ofthe services that you provide?
Alan (36:16):
There's two ways you can reach out.
Oh, there's more than that.
You could just probably Googlemy name, honestly.
And I'm very grateful to beable to say that at this point,
because in the beginning I couldnot say that.
The main way isnextleveluniverse.com, spelt
just like it sounds, nextleveluniverse.com.
The podcast is nextleveluniversity, because the
(36:38):
person who has that URL ischarging too much money.
So we said nextleveluniverse.com is the
website.
Next leveluniversity is thepodcast.
And the idea is simple.
No matter how hard your pasthas been, no matter how hard
your now is, if you takepersonal responsibility for your
own choices, you can have abigger, better, brighter future.
And there's always a nextlevel.
(36:59):
And we can help you get there.
Imagine having a mentor or acoach in your pocket every
single day.
1% improvement in your pocket,health, wealth, life, and love
from anywhere on the planetcompletely free.
And it's really cool what youcan do and what you're capable
of with a mentor in your pocketevery day.
And we take our listeners on ajourney too.
It's it's not, hey, you shoulddo this.
It's hey, we're doing this, andyou might enjoy it too.
(37:20):
And so we lead by example ineverything that we do.
And uh, I really appreciate youhaving me.
Thank you.
Carl (37:26):
All of the links for Alan will be in the in the show
notes, the links to the podcastand that checklist too, those 25
things that Alan was referringto.
Oh, again, Alan, you're comingback on the show.
Don't know when, but wedefinitely have to have you back
and see if there's someopportunities to join venture
because that's another thingthat I think that people don't
do enough in the business world.
(37:47):
And even in the podcastingspace, is they work in silos and
they don't realize that if theyjust coordinate, collaborate
with other people, even for justidea sharing, even that it can
really make the world a betterplace and also make a huge
difference personally andprofessionally.
Before I let you go, though, myfriend, I'll give you the final
thought.
Alan (38:06):
The final thought.
That's a tough one because Igot so many thoughts.
Um just please, not amathematical one.
Just yeah, I got you.
I got you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
It's so funny.
Uh Kev Kev always says I'm themath geek, which is true 100%.
So uh the final thought wouldbe this.
You have a passion, you havesomething that is unbelievably
(38:28):
interesting to you that youadore.
It's probably always beenthere.
So for me, I've loved moviessince I was a kid.
I love film.
I'm obsessed with film.
Okay.
I've also been obsessed withachieving goals since I was a
kid.
I help people achieve theirgoals even when they don't want
me to.
I don't know how to talk aboutanything other than goals and
dreams.
I probably peppered it intothis conversation 50 times.
You have a passion.
(38:49):
You have an obsession.
And that is something that canserve others.
Imagine how good you could beat something if you were
obsessed with it.
And you could use thatobsession to serve others, that
passion to serve others, andthen for a profit.
And so my final thought wouldbe this take personal
responsibility for your ownfuture, identify what you are
(39:09):
obsessed with, what are yousuper passionate about, and then
how can you pour into the livesof other people with that thing
in a profitable way long term?
That's how you create both asuccessful and a fulfilling
life.
Carl (39:21):
But no, it will not be easy.
That's a great place to leaveit.
Alan Lazaros, thank you so muchfor being my guest today.
Alan (39:28):
Thank you.
I started with gratitude.
I want to end with gratitude.
Thank you for having me.
I will definitely come back onand uh keep doing what you're
doing.
Carl (39:35):
And hey, thank you for being a part of the show today.
So glad you can join us.
Believe it or not, I can't workthis magic by myself.
So thanks to my amazing team,our audio engineer Dom Carillo,
our Sonic branding genius KentonDoborowski, and the person who
works the arms.
All of our arms actually, ourproject manager and my trusty
assistant, Julovell Tiongco,known to us here simply as July.
(39:57):
If you like what you heardtoday, let us know.
You can leave us a comment orreview or even send us a voice
note.
And if you really liked it, wehope you'll share it with your
friends and your colleagues.
If you don't like what youheard today, well, please feel
free to share with your enemies.
And if you know someone whowould make a great guest on the
show, let us know about it.
You can get in touch with us bygoing to our show notes where
(40:18):
all of our connection points arethere, including the link to
our website, LinkedIn, andFacebook as well.
And if you're ready to be aguest on podcasting, or even
start your own show, let's havea conversation.
We'll show you the simplest wayto get into the podcasting
space and rock it.
Because after all, we'rePodcast Solutions Made Simple.
Catch a game next time.
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