Beyond External Success: Alan Lazaros of Next Level University's Path to Fulfillment

[00:00:00] My father passed away in a car accident when he was 28. My trauma response to that was become socially definitely challenges with abandonment type of thing unconsciously. I went from external achievement and external success, but being internally unfulfilled.

[00:00:19] Welcome to the Wheel With It podcast with your host Devon at Wheel With It. No matter who you are or where you come from, there's a place for you. On this show, we have real conversations with fascinating people. Let's get into the episode.

[00:00:31] Hello, hello. Welcome to another episode of Wheel With It. I am your host Devon Wieters and today we have Alan Lazaros. He was fascinating to talk to. He has a great story. I think you guys are really gonna like this one. So here's my conversation.

[00:00:48] Hello, hello. Welcome to another episode of Wheel With It. My name is Devon Wieters and today we have Alan Lazaros on the podcast today. How are you today, Alan?

[00:00:59] I am very well. I want to start with gratitude always. I start and end with gratitude. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

[00:01:07] Thank you. Thank you for requesting us.

[00:01:10] You are so very welcome.

[00:01:12] It really needs a lot when people request us. So, have you and your business partner Kevin request us?

[00:01:19] Yeah.

[00:01:19] So, tell us about how.

[00:01:20] You've met Kevin.

[00:01:22] I have not.

[00:01:23] I haven't.

[00:01:23] Coming on after you actually.

[00:01:24] Okay, nice.

[00:01:26] Good, good, good.

[00:01:26] Kevin.

[00:01:28] Kevin Palmieri.

[00:01:29] Yeah, Palmieri.

[00:01:30] Yeah, he's a good guy.

[00:01:31] He's a good guy.

[00:01:32] You'll like him.

[00:01:33] So, to have both of you all do it.

[00:01:35] It's amazing.

[00:01:35] I have you back to back actually.

[00:01:37] So, tell us about yourself and then we'll go from there.

[00:01:40] Okay, so whenever, yeah, tell, I'll tell you where I am now and then I'll go back to the beginning, the origin.

[00:01:47] And we all have a story. I'm going to try to condense 35 years into a very short time here.

[00:01:52] So, now I am the CEO and CFO of a company called Next Level University.

[00:01:57] We are a podcast and a brand, but we also have a company built underneath that.

[00:02:02] We have an 18 person team now.

[00:02:04] We are heard in 175 countries and we're coming up on our 1900th episode.

[00:02:08] So, we've done a lot of episodes.

[00:02:10] We've been podcasting for a long time.

[00:02:12] Incredible.

[00:02:12] Like when I get to 1900, I don't know what I'm going to do.

[00:02:15] Thank you.

[00:02:16] The average length of the show is about a half an hour.

[00:02:18] So, a lot of times when people hear 1900, they figure it's micro content, but it's actually, we do the 1% improvement every day in your pocket from anywhere on the planet completely free.

[00:02:29] Next Level University.

[00:02:30] Level up your life, love, health and wealth.

[00:02:31] So, that's who we are and what we do.

[00:02:33] And the whole goal is to reach, help people reach their potential and be the best version of themselves.

[00:02:37] So, it's Next Level University, but Next Level U, pun intended.

[00:02:41] I always say I'm going to be 36 in November.

[00:02:44] It's actually coming up in 18 days.

[00:02:46] And I'm going to be Allen version 3.6.

[00:02:48] And so, Allen version 3.6 is going to be smarter, stronger, hopefully more virtuous, better than version 3.5, better than version 3.0, better than version 1.5 when I was 15.

[00:02:59] So, the idea is best version of yourself, bettering your best every single day.

[00:03:03] But that's where I am.

[00:03:04] Go ahead.

[00:03:05] That is an amazing way to look at things.

[00:03:07] So, yeah, we should all try to be better every day.

[00:03:11] So, tell us about how you grew up as much as you're comfortable with.

[00:03:15] I know it wasn't easy, but tell us about how you grew up.

[00:03:18] Yeah, started off tough, for sure.

[00:03:22] And definitely had a few beautiful gifts, for sure, too, that I'll be clear about.

[00:03:27] But when I was two years old, my father passed away in a car accident when he was 28.

[00:03:30] So, I had an older sister who was six at the time.

[00:03:34] I was almost three.

[00:03:36] And my mom was 31.

[00:03:38] My birth father's name is John McCorkle.

[00:03:40] So, my real last name is actually McCorkle.

[00:03:42] I had a stepfather from age 3 to 14.

[00:03:44] His name was Steve Lazarus.

[00:03:46] And my last name, I took his last name, I think, around age 6 or 7.

[00:03:53] And my birth father's family, it was Jim, Joe, John, Jane, Joan, Jeanette.

[00:03:58] Six kids, big Irish Catholic family.

[00:04:00] But when we were being Lazaruses, we didn't really associate much with the McCorkles.

[00:04:04] Then my stepfather left when I was 14 years old and took his entire extended family with him.

[00:04:09] I have yet to speak to any of them or see any of them since.

[00:04:13] I did talk to my stepdad a little bit on Facebook Messenger in my mid-20s.

[00:04:17] That year, that same year, my mom got in a fight with my aunt Sandy.

[00:04:22] And we got nauseous sides from that side of the family too.

[00:04:24] And I've seen a couple of my aunt Kathy and then my cousin Jeff from that side.

[00:04:29] And then he has a son named Dan, my second cousin.

[00:04:33] But for the most part, by the time I'm 14 years old, I lost three families in a way.

[00:04:38] Because we didn't really associate with the McCorkles much.

[00:04:40] The Lazarus sort of, Lazaruses went.

[00:04:43] And then my mom's side also went away too.

[00:04:45] And so that was a tough time for sure.

[00:04:47] My sister moved out that same year.

[00:04:49] And so my trauma response to that was become socially definitely challenges with abandonment type of thing unconsciously.

[00:04:55] And then, but I also aim higher, work harder, get smarter.

[00:04:58] It was fight to be better sort of thing.

[00:05:00] And when I looked into the future, there was no generational wealth, no father, no trust fund type of thing.

[00:05:06] And so I really took a lot of responsibility and became the man of the house at 14, so to speak.

[00:05:12] And I did really well in high school.

[00:05:14] I got into my dream college, WPI.

[00:05:16] It's Worcester Polytechnic Institute, kind of like a mini MIT.

[00:05:19] I became a computer engineer.

[00:05:20] I got my master's in business.

[00:05:21] And then I was off to the races in corporate.

[00:05:23] I worked for a bunch of different tech companies.

[00:05:25] I rose very quickly in income and in, I guess, social status is what you'd call it.

[00:05:30] And then I got in my car accident.

[00:05:31] Go ahead.

[00:05:32] Oh, I was going to say to us about the car accident, but you were already going bad.

[00:05:37] Yeah.

[00:05:37] In, I was in New Hampshire with my second cousin, Dan, the one of the very few.

[00:05:43] Yeah.

[00:05:44] Pretty much the only person that's really come back into my life from my mom's side.

[00:05:47] His name is Jeff.

[00:05:48] His son, his name is Dan.

[00:05:49] My second cousin, Dan was in the car with me, but I was at a three-way intersection, dark

[00:05:53] winter night back in 2015.

[00:05:54] The snow banks were covering the yield signs and I was supposed to yield.

[00:05:58] I didn't.

[00:05:59] My fault.

[00:06:00] I ended up on the wrong side of the road.

[00:06:01] And I saw, I looked down at the GPS.

[00:06:03] I look up and I saw the biggest brightest lights I'd ever seen.

[00:06:05] What I thought was a Mack truck.

[00:06:07] Two things saved my life.

[00:06:08] Number one, it wasn't a Mack truck.

[00:06:09] It was a lift kitted pickup truck.

[00:06:11] Fortunately.

[00:06:12] Number two, I was driving a 2004 Volkswagen Passat safest car ever.

[00:06:15] I used to call this car the tank.

[00:06:17] The whole front end was smashed in.

[00:06:18] This was not a fender bender.

[00:06:19] This was a bad car accident.

[00:06:22] Yeah.

[00:06:23] Frame stayed though.

[00:06:24] And the airbags deployed.

[00:06:25] So we were physically okay.

[00:06:27] Fortunately, no permanent damage physically, but mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

[00:06:30] My dad died in a car when he was 28.

[00:06:33] I've seen pictures of his car and this is a second chance my dad never got.

[00:06:38] So after that, I really turned my life around and I went from external achievement and external

[00:06:45] success, but being internally unfulfilled.

[00:06:48] And I flipped the script and I went all the way to deeply fulfilled internally, but I actually

[00:06:54] was not that successful externally at first.

[00:06:56] I pre car accident.

[00:06:58] I had rose really quickly in corporate.

[00:07:00] I paid off all my college debt, 84 grand off in a single year.

[00:07:03] I had a hundred thousand.

[00:07:05] Thank you.

[00:07:05] Thank you.

[00:07:06] Yeah.

[00:07:06] And I had a bunch of investments in Vanguard and stocks and tech companies and stuff.

[00:07:11] And then I liquidated all those assets.

[00:07:13] I went past broke, started my own company called Alan Lazarus LLC.

[00:07:17] What you'll never learn in school, but desperately need to know.

[00:07:20] And I was a speaker, like a motivational speaker, educational speakers, what I called it.

[00:07:25] And then I went broke.

[00:07:26] I was a fitness coach, fitness model, fitness competitor, but I couldn't sustain it.

[00:07:30] So I was internally fulfilled, happy, healthy, productive, but I wasn't externally successful.

[00:07:35] Then eventually I finally got to the place.

[00:07:38] I started a podcast called conversations change lives.

[00:07:41] My business partner, who you mentioned, Kevin started a podcast called the hyperconscious podcast.

[00:07:44] And we teamed up.

[00:07:45] I was his first guest.

[00:07:46] He was my first guest.

[00:07:47] Then we teamed up and then we started what's now known as next level university.

[00:07:51] And now we have an 18 person team and 1900 episodes and we're heard in 175 countries.

[00:07:57] And now we do podcast coaching and business coaching and podcast production.

[00:08:00] And we have a whole company underneath that.

[00:08:01] And we've got book club and meetups and all kinds of stuff.

[00:08:03] But ultimately I went from kid at 14, unsuccessful and unfulfilled to corporate after college, successful

[00:08:13] externally, but unfulfilled internally.

[00:08:15] And then I flipped the script and I went past broke and I was unsuccessful externally, but deeply

[00:08:20] fulfilled internally.

[00:08:21] And then finally in my thirties, I finally created what I think we all want, which is external

[00:08:26] success in tandem with internal fulfillment.

[00:08:29] So that's really cool.

[00:08:31] So tell us about what the journey to starting the business was like, because that was not

[00:08:36] a bit easy if you had literally nothing.

[00:08:39] Yeah.

[00:08:39] So business is the hardest thing in the world.

[00:08:41] One of the hardest things in the world, I should say.

[00:08:43] I think that how did I start the business?

[00:08:45] We have a framework called turn your passion into purpose, into profit.

[00:08:48] And the passion piece is what are you, what do you love?

[00:08:52] What do you adore?

[00:08:53] What do you love doing even when it's hard?

[00:08:55] So for me, weight training, I really have become obsessed with it.

[00:09:00] Podcasting, self-improvement, these kinds of things.

[00:09:02] These are passions.

[00:09:03] But passions without a purpose are empty.

[00:09:05] So how do you turn your passion into purpose?

[00:09:08] Purpose is for others.

[00:09:09] So the podcast is the vehicle, but the purpose is helping other people improve their lives.

[00:09:14] So my passion is improving myself and improve my life.

[00:09:17] And my purpose is to help others do the same.

[00:09:19] And the podcast is vehicle to do that in terms of the profit piece.

[00:09:23] It took us years to figure this out, but the passion, the purpose aren't going to sustain

[00:09:28] themselves unless you learn how to actually make become profitable.

[00:09:31] You, how do you make enough money to sustain it?

[00:09:34] They have a thing.

[00:09:35] So improve your pro your passion for a purpose, helping others, and then make money doing that

[00:09:40] to then reinvest that back into more passion and more purpose and then reinvest and reinvest.

[00:09:47] And so that's what a business is built on is I think in business, you have to be really good at three things.

[00:09:52] The first is metrics and systems and structures and math.

[00:09:56] The second is products and services and innovation.

[00:09:58] You need to have a good product service that you provide to people.

[00:10:02] In this case, this podcast is a service.

[00:10:04] And then the third one is you have to be good with people.

[00:10:07] You, and that's the one that I struggled with.

[00:10:09] I was an engineer, so I wasn't as good with people.

[00:10:12] I struggle with the math part.

[00:10:14] I'm like, I need a like marketing.

[00:10:17] Well, maybe not a marketing person, but I need an accountant to this thing.

[00:10:22] Luckily, my mom is a CFO, so we got that covered.

[00:10:25] Perfect.

[00:10:26] Like, how's the business doing now?

[00:10:28] Do you, what's the podcast about?

[00:10:30] Where can folks check that out?

[00:10:32] Oh, my goodness.

[00:10:34] Thank you.

[00:10:34] Thank you.

[00:10:35] Yes.

[00:10:35] We have a website called next level universe.com.

[00:10:39] All things next level universe.

[00:10:41] Spelt just like it sounds.

[00:10:43] We have a podcast, as I mentioned, called next level university.

[00:10:45] It's a place people go to learn how to reach their potential.

[00:10:48] The slogan is level up yourself, level up your podcast, level up your business type of thing.

[00:10:53] And how is the business doing?

[00:10:56] So this is the most in demand we've ever been.

[00:11:01] Kevin and I are actually quite overwhelmed.

[00:11:02] Today, I've had back to backs and think that the business is doing very well.

[00:11:07] It's doing very well.

[00:11:08] And I'm very grateful because there's two challenges in business.

[00:11:11] There's either not enough demand or too much.

[00:11:14] And I'd much prefer too much than too little.

[00:11:16] So I would, I would like a, I would like a little bit more demand.

[00:11:19] Cause I don't make money off this.

[00:11:21] So if you do have too much to ram, like you can.

[00:11:24] It's a good problem to have.

[00:11:25] It's a really good problem to have.

[00:11:27] However, it also is challenging because how do you sustain it?

[00:11:31] And how do you not only sustain it, but how do you grow it?

[00:11:33] And that's really the challenges.

[00:11:34] The bigger your business gets, that's great.

[00:11:37] And that's wonderful.

[00:11:38] But the more challenging it becomes.

[00:11:40] And I often say the world's biggest lie is that success makes life easier.

[00:11:45] When you get to the NBA, let's say that's your dream.

[00:11:47] Now you have to play against the best players in the world.

[00:11:50] So it actually doesn't make your life easier.

[00:11:52] It makes a lot of times success actually makes it's harder to sustain than I think people think.

[00:11:58] And so every time you level up in life, now there's more responsibility.

[00:12:01] And now there's more skills necessary to succeed.

[00:12:04] And now you have to sustain it and scale it.

[00:12:06] And if you improve yourself, I think, and you focus there, I think when you get to that next level, you'll be ready for it.

[00:12:13] So what would be your advice to somebody that wants to follow their dreams or their passion?

[00:12:21] The first one would be get very clear.

[00:12:24] You have to get really clear on what you're obsessed with.

[00:12:27] And I use obsessed in a positive way, not a negative way.

[00:12:30] So for example, I've always loved film ever since I was a kid.

[00:12:34] When I found self-improvement, I became obsessed.

[00:12:37] I read every book I could get my hands on.

[00:12:40] I listened to audio books constantly.

[00:12:42] I'm always trying to... Fitness is another passion.

[00:12:45] So you don't want to build your dreams around something that is superfluous.

[00:12:49] You don't want to build your dreams around something that's fleeting.

[00:12:52] We all go through phases, right?

[00:12:53] We all grow, change, evolve, adapt.

[00:12:56] There are certain things about you that's never changed.

[00:12:59] There are certain things about you that are never going to change.

[00:13:02] When you find those, that's what you go all in on.

[00:13:07] You don't want to build your career or your business or your dreams on something that's temporary.

[00:13:13] And you really do want to figure out and uncover and get clarity on who am I and what makes me different?

[00:13:22] Where am I the most unique?

[00:13:24] What do I care about deeply enough to build my career and my company on that?

[00:13:29] Where do I, what do I care about deeply enough to build my dreams on that?

[00:13:33] And for example, if you want to be an astronaut, you better be obsessed with space.

[00:13:37] And you better be so obsessed that you're willing to do everything you can to become an astronaut.

[00:13:41] And so I think a lot of people don't achieve their goals.

[00:13:45] And I read the stats on this.

[00:13:47] Actually, we do monthly meetups every month at Next Level University.

[00:13:49] And in January of 2025, we did one called clear goal setting for 2025.

[00:13:59] And we prepped.

[00:14:00] 2024 you mean?

[00:14:02] 2024.

[00:14:02] Thank you.

[00:14:03] Yes.

[00:14:04] In 2024.

[00:14:04] Good call.

[00:14:05] Good call.

[00:14:06] I'm always so future oriented.

[00:14:07] That's my bad.

[00:14:08] Yeah.

[00:14:08] So in January of 2024, we did one setting clear goals for 2024.

[00:14:11] We're probably going to do it again in 2025 actually.

[00:14:13] But I did some research and they, the research that I did showed only 4% of people have written

[00:14:20] goals and only 8% of those people ever achieve them.

[00:14:24] And that statistic alarmed me.

[00:14:26] And I do business coaching, right?

[00:14:28] So it's goals, metrics, habits, skills, and identity work that need to align to achieve

[00:14:32] your goals.

[00:14:33] And so I understand, I understand now why most people don't achieve their goals.

[00:14:37] And the reason why is the goals are predicated on a version of them that isn't real.

[00:14:43] So it's usually predicated on low self-awareness.

[00:14:45] And so if you have high self-awareness, you'll set goals that are actually congruent with

[00:14:49] who you are and who you aspire to be.

[00:14:51] Because we all have who we need to be, who we want to be, and who we actually are.

[00:14:55] And we're all trying to figure out the center point between those three.

[00:14:57] So ultimately, if you want to achieve your dreams and goals, you have to make sure they're

[00:15:01] aligned with who you are and who you aspire to be.

[00:15:04] And you have to be willing to do the work necessary to actually achieve them.

[00:15:08] So that's amazing advice, actually.

[00:15:10] I'm going to go back and listen to that.

[00:15:12] So anything else that you would like to add?

[00:15:15] Where can both take you out?

[00:15:17] Yeah.

[00:15:17] The only thing that I would add is whoever you are, wherever you are, keep after it.

[00:15:22] Stay hopeful.

[00:15:23] Living the dream and chasing the dream are the same thing.

[00:15:27] If you're, I always say this, if you're grinding and growing toward your goals and dreams,

[00:15:32] you are already living the dream.

[00:15:34] The people that are grinding and growing toward their dreams are always going to be the envy

[00:15:38] of the people sitting around feeling sorry for themselves.

[00:15:40] So I'm really encouraging people to dig deep within themselves and take personal responsibility

[00:15:46] for their own life and do all you can with all you have.

[00:15:49] Right.

[00:15:50] And that's the thing.

[00:15:52] But it all starts with personal responsibility.

[00:15:54] And if you can authentically say you're doing all you can with all you have and that you're

[00:15:59] bettering your best and you're getting better and you're improving and you're then your life

[00:16:02] will improve, too.

[00:16:03] And I think I think that's inspiring for all of us.

[00:16:06] That's an amazing way to end it.

[00:16:09] Where can people follow you on social media?

[00:16:12] Okay, so I'm on Instagram.

[00:16:13] I'm on Facebook.

[00:16:14] I'm on LinkedIn.

[00:16:15] I just created a thread account, which is an extension of Instagram.

[00:16:19] I think it's called threads.

[00:16:20] Yes.

[00:16:21] My Instagram is a Lazarus 88, A L A Z A R O S 8 8.

[00:16:26] And my LinkedIn is Alan Lazarus.

[00:16:29] My name, you can Google my name and then type LinkedIn.

[00:16:31] It'll come right up.

[00:16:32] And then my Facebook, I'm Alan Lazarus personal Facebook page.

[00:16:35] You can DM me.

[00:16:36] If you do DM me, please just provide context, obviously, to this episode.

[00:16:41] So I know.

[00:16:41] Yes.

[00:16:42] Don't randomly sign in there.

[00:16:45] Yeah, no, no spam.

[00:16:46] We all get a lot of spam.

[00:16:47] Just please provide context.

[00:16:48] But yeah, I'm on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn.

[00:16:50] I also do have a tick tock, but I don't check it often.

[00:16:53] So Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn are the best places.

[00:16:56] Okay.

[00:16:57] And we hope you guys enjoyed this episode.

[00:16:59] Follow him on social media.

[00:17:02] Tell him, thank you for coming on the show.

[00:17:04] Follow me on social media at we're with a pod and at Devin readers.

[00:17:09] And we'll see you guys next episode.

[00:17:11] Bye guys.

[00:17:12] That was fascinating.

[00:17:13] Wasn't it?

[00:17:14] He was just so sweet and had such a great story.

[00:17:18] I really liked that one.

[00:17:20] So again, follow him on social media.

[00:17:22] Follow me on social media.

[00:17:24] We'll have all those links in the show notes and we will see you guys next episode.

[00:17:28] Bye guys.

[00:17:29] Thank you for joining us.

[00:17:30] We hope you enjoyed the show.

[00:17:32] Remember to follow the show and our guests on social media and subscribe to the show on YouTube

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[00:17:43] See you next time.