A guy listened to 500 episodes of Alan's podcast and changed nothing. That is when Alan told his co-host their show sucked.

Alan Lazaros has published an episode every single day for nine years with Kevin Palmieri on Next Level University. Zero revenue in 2017. $452,000 in 2025. A 25 person team. And his read on why most founder podcasts go nowhere is not the one you expect.

Want your show handled so it can actually feed the business? https://propodconcierge.com

3 THINGS YOU CAN DO AFTER THIS EPISODE

1. Make every episode point at one next thing. Alan's show promotes whatever is coming up next. Pick the one thing you want people to do this month and point every episode at it until it is done.

2. Name the one step between your episode and your paid offer. Alan has free layers, then a paywall, then programs, then one on one. Each layer invites people one step deeper. Most founder podcasts jump straight from episode to book a call, and that gap is where the business dies.

3. Say out loud who your show is not for. Alan tells listeners on air that if they want big rewards for minimal effort, his show is not for them. 30,000 followers turn into 39 clients, on purpose.

He walks through the business model behind it. Social media is the mall. The podcast is your store. 30,000 people at the top, 39 one on one clients at the bottom, and every layer built to add value and invite people one step deeper. The podcast sits at the top and feeds everything, and everything feeds it back. Then he gets blunt about the part founders avoid. Knowledge is not power. Behavior change is. Your podcast has a constraint right now and you are probably not looking for it.

In this episode:
- Passion, purpose, profit, and why doing them out of order kills shows
- Nine years of real revenue numbers, stated on air
- How 30,000 followers becomes 39 clients, on purpose
- Why being for everyone means being for no one
- The 500 episode listener who proved the show wasn't working
- The compounding math on never missing a day
- Prep, rep, reflect, perfect, and finding where your show sucks

About the guest, Alan Lazaros:
Co-founder and co-host of Next Level University with Kevin Palmieri. Former computer engineer turned business, peak performance and fitness coach. Roughly 2,500 daily episodes, 39 one on one clients, over 7,286 coaching sessions logged. He also runs the Next Level Hope Foundation for kids of single parents.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alanlazarosllc/
Website: https://www.nextleveluniverse.com/
YouTube, Next Level University: https://www.youtube.com/@NextLevelUniversity

Alan's whole answer is get a little better every episode and never miss. That falls apart fast when you are the one editing, cutting the clips, writing the descriptions, chasing the guests, and posting all of it. Stop that now. That is not your job. You're supposed to be working on the business. The podcast is supposed to feed the business. You record, we handle the rest.
Apply here to see if there's a slot open: https://propodconcierge.com

This has been the Founder Podcast Lab. See you in the next episode.

She wrote a check with a comma in it every month for six months, and the podcast still wasn't paying for itself.

Aubrey Fitzloff runs an independent insurance agency in South Carolina. Last year a marketing firm pitched her a podcast as a funnel into the parts of the Carolinas she can't drive to, lined up about 40 recordings in a 60 day sprint, and sent an invoice every month. At six months and more than $20,000 in, she had to make a call. She let them go.

Want your show handled so it can actually feed the business? https://propodconcierge.com

She kept the show. What changed was what she expects from it. She can't tell you her download numbers and says they don't matter. The business that did come in came through the show, not from it, and it came slowly, out of relationships she was in no rush to convert. So now she doesn't chase new guests. She has 40 to 50 episodes already recorded, she's connected to nearly every guest on LinkedIn, and when one of them hits a milestone, that's the week their episode goes back out. It's the most repeatable networking play we've had on this show, and it costs nothing but attention.

In this episode:
- What over $20,000 in six months actually bought, and why she stopped writing the check
- Why she refuses to pitch a guest at the end of a recording, even when the fit is obvious
- The download numbers question, and why she stopped asking it
- How she uses LinkedIn to decide which old episode gets republished this week
- Why a rebrand for discoverability beat a clever name built off the company

About the guest, Aubrey Fitzloff:
Owner of LifeTime Insurance Agency, an independent brokerage serving North and South Carolina with health, Medicare, life and disability coverage. She hit 20 years in the industry this year and hosts the Carolina Business Leadership Show.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aubreyfitzloff/
Company, LifeTime Insurance Agency: https://ltins.com/
Podcast, Carolina Business Leadership Show: https://www.youtube.com/@carolinabusinessleadershipshow

Sitting on episodes you recorded months ago. Doing the clips, writing the descriptions, figuring out the promotion, all while the business needs you. Stop that now. That is not your job. You're supposed to be working on the business. The podcast is supposed to feed the business. At ProPod Concierge, you record, we handle the rest. A full month free, not a trial, in exchange for honest feedback and a testimonial if we earn it. If your show is already handled and it isn't eating your week, skip this one.
Apply here to see if there's a slot open: https://propodconcierge.com

This has been the Founder Podcast Lab. See you in the next episode.

He went on a construction podcast to add value. They stopped the recording and the host looked at him and said, I need to hire you guys.

That host became a client at high four to five thousand a month. Then he referred two more. One guest spot, one relationship, a multiple five figure return.

Want your show handled so it can actually feed the business? https://propodconcierge.com

Derek Links:
Website - https://thecoosolution.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@thecoosolution?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/derekfredrickson/

Derek Fredrickson runs his own show twice a month. He has been on more than 100 other people's shows in the last 18 months. That ratio is the whole lesson. In this conversation he explains why your podcast is a supporting asset and not a pipeline, why the opportunity comes through the show instead of from it, and what he actually does when he is sitting in someone else's guest chair.

He is also the reason it is sustainable. He built the system and hired the people before he ever launched, so the only thing he touches is the recording.

In this episode:
- Why you do not get clients from your podcast, you get client opportunities through it
- The guest spot that became a client and two referrals, told start to finish
- How to guest without pitching, speak to their audience but really to the host
- Why he spends more time on other people's shows than his own, and what that does to your own delivery
- The audit that tells you which steps of your show actually need you
- Sending a client episode after a sales call, the unpaid sales force that closes in the client's own words
- Start at a cadence you can hold, because scaling down costs you the trust consistency built

About the guest, Derek Fredrickson:
Derek Fredrickson is the founder of The COO Solution, which puts fractional COOs and integrators into founder-led businesses so the company can run without the owner sitting in the middle of it. He launched the company in 2024 and started The COO Solution Podcast about a year and a half ago, running it every other week.
LinkedIn: [ADD LINKEDIN]
Company, The COO Solution: [ADD WEBSITE]
Podcast, The COO Solution Podcast: [ADD SHOW LINK]

Okay, quick one. Founder or business owner, if you are recording and then doing the editing, the clips, the descriptions, chasing the guests, all of it yourself, that is the reason you have no room to go be a guest anywhere else. Stop that now. That is not your job. You're supposed to be working on the business. The podcast is supposed to feed the business. You record, we handle the rest.
Apply here to see if there's a slot open: https://propodconcierge.com

This has been the Founder Podcast Lab. See you in the next episode.