Jasmine Star (00:00:01) - Welcome to the Jasmine Star Show, ladies and gentlemen. We're doing something a little bit different. And it is different because I am starting off with a test of a co-host series, and I'm going to start this series with none other than a brilliant, kind, hilarious, funny. Well, don't say I'm not going to just plug your ears. Plug your ears because I can't say nice things to him because, you know, I mean, his ego might not. Yes. The head is progressively getting bigger over time. So excited to introduce you to Marcus Murphy, one of the smartest, kindest, brilliant men that I have had the opportunity to befriend and then now call an industry peer. We are going to be interesting, this series with Marcus, and we'll get into the backstory of how and why it started. But thank you.

Marcus Murphy (00:00:51) - I just bring people on here to cry that what you're trying to do. I feel like you're dry. You're just like, This guy's great and he has this.

Marcus Murphy (00:00:57) - The music comes out, Arms of the Angels. No, I'm so obviously excited to be here. And any time that you would ever invite me is just an honor.

Jasmine Star (00:01:06) - Okay, so we're going to get down to business. We're gonna talk about a lot of stuff. We are probably going to get a little mushy, too, because we go back. We go back. But let's start the story here. Let's start the story about if it's cool with you. Yeah, I hit you up randomly. I'm in Santa Barbara with JD and Luna, and it's like probably 5:00 in the morning West Coast.

Marcus Murphy (00:01:22) - But your message was hilarious. Okay, tell me, because your message was like, Hey, Marcus, I'm thinking about this thing about like a co-hosting for our podcast and do you know anyone? And then you just like hung up. And I went, Wait a minute. Like you knew that that was going to hurt my soul. Well, I did.

Jasmine Star (00:01:36) - It because here's the thing. You know me like, I don't want to come out and like straight up ask for things.

Jasmine Star (00:01:40) - So I hint like, hey, you know, do you like blue skies? You know, do you know of anybody brilliant who's like a great conversationalist.

Marcus Murphy (00:01:46) - Who might want to and, like, wants to go deep?

Jasmine Star (00:01:48) - Devilishly handsome, too. Oh, gosh.

Marcus Murphy (00:01:51) - Oh, Gina. Gina, did you hear that? My wife. Let's talk.

Jasmine Star (00:01:53) - About Gina. Let's talk about Gina. Okay. So I was going to start about us being co-host of podcast, but let's go back. Okay?

Marcus Murphy (00:01:59) - Let's go way.

Jasmine Star (00:02:00) - Back. Let's go way back. Yeah. When Marcus I get an email from a stranger on the internet. Yeah. And this.

Marcus Murphy (00:02:06) - Broke a broke.

Jasmine Star (00:02:07) - Stranger. A broke stranger. I didn't. I actually didn't know how broke you were. The levels of rudeness.

Marcus Murphy (00:02:13) - It's like, okay. Yeah, it was. Yeah, it was definitely. It was a broke I've ever been in my life. Yeah, that was. But that email was full of all the joy and all the.

Marcus Murphy (00:02:22) - Yeah. All the substance. But yeah, I just took a shot. Shot my shot. Yeah.

Jasmine Star (00:02:25) - Shot your shot. So back story JD and I photographers building our business online. I got an email from a guy named Marcus saying that he was going to marry his dream woman. But wonderful woman who made you better. Yes. And I have to tell you, as a person who reads I know a good writer and I read this email and I was like, I know I am being marketed to I am.

Marcus Murphy (00:02:46) - I was like, whoever this guy is, I just wrote really good sales copy.

Jasmine Star (00:02:50) - It was the best. I know I was sold. You didn't even know how big your gift it was back then.

Marcus Murphy (00:02:55) - It was so nerve wracking. So at the time, Gina was a missionary in Thailand and we didn't have any money. And I was just trying my best to be like, I know that this is so important because at the time she was a photographer and she was following you and she loved you.

Marcus Murphy (00:03:07) - And I remember it was interesting because she loved your photography, but is your blog right? They should love reading. Speaking of good writers, everybody in the world, Jasmine Star, I knew that if I could gift her with one thing, it was like worth trying to get the person that she loved and admired and felt connected to. And I knew that would just make the day special. So when I shot my shot, I was like, I better write this like 15 times. Yeah.

Jasmine Star (00:03:29) - I read it and I was just like, I don't know who this guy is and I don't know who this girl is, but I'm like, I need to shoot this wedding. Yeah, it was a crazy thing. And so we are in Orange County at the time and the wedding was in Syracuse. Yeah. And I'm like, I had.

 Marcus Murphy (00:03:40) - Full amazing Syracuse, New York, everybody. So. Yeah, absolutely. We're just. Yeah. Destination.

Jasmine Star (00:03:45) - Yeah, yeah. You sold it. You shined that little pebble that it was.

Jasmine Star (00:03:48) - It only.

Marcus Murphy (00:03:49) - Rains 300 days out of the year and.

Jasmine Star (00:03:51) - It rained on your wedding.

Marcus Murphy (00:03:52) - Day. Did you know.

Jasmine Star (00:03:53) - It was one thing to be expected?

Marcus Murphy (00:03:54) - It was lucky.

Jasmine Star (00:03:55) - But here's the thing. We met, and through the correspondence of us preparing for the wedding, we got to know each other. And then JD and I shot your wedding. We had a blast. And you pulled us out into the dance floor. Oh, yeah. I acted like I walked up begrudgingly, but it was just like, Please, I did. I brought a separate pair of shoes. I was like.

 Marcus Murphy (00:04:15) - Oh, this is such an early day too. How long are you and JD been married at that time?

Jasmine Star (00:04:19) - What was the year of the wedding? So 2009 we would have been married four years. Yeah.

 Marcus Murphy (00:04:23) - That's wild.

Jasmine Star (00:04:23) - Right? I know.

 Marcus Murphy (00:04:24) - Gina. I've been married for 14 years. And I think that it's funny because I look back at that photo, I have the photo of us on the dance floor.

 Marcus Murphy (00:04:29) - Yes. And I just remember sitting there going, like, not only these people, bless us, but if you look at it now from like this freight train that we've been on to this moment where I pulled up into your front door and sat down for this interview, there's some crazy universe stuff going on. Right. And I think that's that's why maybe all that happened, right?

Jasmine Star (00:04:46) - Absolutely. It did happen. And I don't believe that anything happens without a reason in my mind. Couldn't think of the reason being this big and us coming this far together and still like being able to maintain a relationship to where like, we cool and we type, but we're not like somebody who's like, Oh, I'm texting you every day. Yeah.

 Marcus Murphy (00:05:00) - But you know what's really interesting is like as you rose and there was probably a lot of people that wanted something from you or there was always people that were trying to text. And it's funny because as I've gained any notoriety at all, I feel like there's also those genuine relationships.

 Marcus Murphy (00:05:12) - It's like when we. Link up. Yeah, it's meaningful. Yeah. And when we're not, there's no real like, it's great because that makes it so much more authentic for me. So yeah, we had like our every time we were together was always great, but also at the same time I was always like just from afar, loving and watching and rooting you on.

Jasmine Star (00:05:28) - Yeah, I'll never forget JD and I were in a rough spot through our adoption processes. We just didn't know. We were always waiting. We were waiting and waiting. And then randomly, he and I are in San Francisco and I get a text message from you and you're like, Hey, bud, just thinking about you, praying for you. And it was just like you had no idea the type of day that we had had. And I'm like, this guy. Like this guy. You just very intentional with relationships. And so you and Gina were some of the first few people to be like, Dude, we have a daughter.

Jasmine Star (00:05:52) - And you being a girl dad.

 Marcus Murphy (00:05:54) - You know, so pumped you were. And it's funny because when I was we were planning this. I have two girls for everybody. I have Lawrence who is seven and Pearl who is five, and they're obsessed with Luna. They're just like, okay, so are we going to FaceTime while you're there? Is Jasmine and Mommy like all these funny questions? And I'm like, Yeah, she is. But it is. It's what a amazing story to be a part of. And the fact that, like, you shared that with us so early, we just knew like, Luna existed so much like way before she showed up.

Jasmine Star (00:06:20) - And then you guys held space for that. And so I just want to say thank you. Absolutely. Okay. So one of the reasons we kind of show is this where is the tissues? You know? Yeah, No. Okay. So one of the things that I'm really fascinated with and before we started rolling, I asked you if it was okay if we talk about this.

Jasmine Star (00:06:37) - Yeah, sure. Because you and I are cool and we've always been supportive of each other without expectations of each other. And so I've seen you on a wildly impressive journey. And so the Marcus, who sent me an email from Syracuse, New York, dude.

 Marcus Murphy (00:06:50) - Way along on.

Jasmine Star (00:06:51) - Well appreciation for that brother, right?

 Marcus Murphy (00:06:54) - Like there's some building blocks there for sure. Yeah. But yeah, that feels like light years ago my mind as to who I've stepped in, like what I've stepped into.

Jasmine Star (00:07:03) - Okay, so if we look at this journey of 14 years. Yeah, when I look at what you've done in 14 years, I can't help but think, what did he do? Like, you know, we sat down before we started rolling. I was just like, brother, Like you went from can you hook a brother up to I'm buying like 40 acres for myself in California. I'm building multiple businesses. Well, I was like, I'm trying to be polite. I was like, Brother, you are rich.

Jasmine Star (00:07:28) - So how do we talk about the journey that brought you here? Because I want to separate Marcus, the person and the journey. And then at different point in time, maybe we have a conversation truly about the business you're working on now. But like as my co-host, as you ask questions, I want people to know, like what is possible when they look at what is a seemingly impossible situation. Yeah.

 Marcus Murphy (00:07:43) - So I think the biggest change was that it was always in me, right? The abilities were always there, but I don't think I accepted them. I don't think I wanted them. I think I pushed everything away. I said, Oh, that's not me. Like it couldn't be. And I grew up poor. Like, that's tough when you grow up. Single mom household, like classic Dad, Gone story, all that. We were always struggling for money. And so my mentality around money was just like, I don't deserve it. And clearly. Right or I don't have it.

 Marcus Murphy (00:08:10) - And there was a lot of shame with that and kind of feeling like I didn't. No one ever taught me about money, so I shouldn't have it. And then when money started coming was only when I walked first into action. So it's like really interesting you said that, but I feel like emotions and all these things that we want usually happen after you take a like on the other side of fear. And so for me, I knew that if I was going to do anything, I had to kind of step out and be like who I'm supposed to be. And I had to spend some time figuring out who that is. And when I realized that I fit into a world as a speaker and a host and as a know entrepreneur, and that became more of my identity, I realized that, you know, the money followed it, followed all of that, and then opportunity and then people, oh my gosh, I would say people was probably more important as I started to put myself out there and putting my story out there.

 Marcus Murphy (00:08:56) - I actually think, Jasmine, the measure of great stories are the ability for people to insert themselves into them. And I think that I finally told the right story, and I feel like everybody started to come around it and find themselves in that story and start to propel that story. And it got faster. And then all of a sudden now it's like, Oh, well, who is that guy 14 years ago? Yeah, because I know who he is. But I couldn't look at him and be like, Wow, you you weren't ready then for this. You couldn't step into this. Okay? I was fine.

Jasmine Star (00:09:25) - No, you weren't ready for this. Yeah. Before we get to this and actually, like, unveil like, who this version of you is, like, let's go back. Would you say, like, your first step out iteration version of yourself was when you were working at Yelp? Yeah. Okay, so let's start that story there.

 Marcus Murphy (00:09:40) - Yeah. Okay. So it was funny because Yelp wasn't anything.

 Marcus Murphy (00:09:42) - Yelp was like the Yellow Pages. We had to tell people, No, it's the Yellow Pages online. We were like trying to teach people about the Internet, right? And but I remember taking that job because we want to have a family. We had the business together, but I kind of like Gina was ready to have a different life and be a mom and just like try to figure that out. So it really was like, okay, what am I going to do? And I literally you.

Jasmine Star (00:10:01) - Guys are in San Francisco.

 Marcus Murphy (00:10:02) - So we were in Phoenix first and then and then. And then Yelp took me out to San Francisco because I went through that organization like a missile, it felt like. But I started out as like a sales person. Kind of account manager, $40,000 a year. But when I got in, it all made sense to me. It was like, it's like, have you ever seen The Matrix when everything's like the green little things? I felt like I was in my world and I was like, Where? Where was this before? And I got in and all of a sudden I started doing really well and using relationships and I started training people and doing things.

 Marcus Murphy (00:10:32) - And then I started speaking in training and people were like, Oh man, this guy is.

Jasmine Star (00:10:35) - So you're speaking in training on the inside of Yelp? Okay, yeah, yeah.

 Marcus Murphy (00:10:38) - Because somebody was just like, Hey, we're having this series on talking about the new salespeople that are coming in, who wants to speak to them. And so I went out there and I just laid it down and they were like, That's actually incredible. And all these people were pumped up and like, Do you want to do more of this? And all of a sudden it got into like, we don't have a national trainer for helping us figure out the sales stuff and account management. And then they flew me out to San Francisco and I started moving quick, like through the company. And when I left, I mean, I was at a place where I felt like I even outgrew that and that I'd never felt that before. So.

Jasmine Star (00:11:09) - And what was the title of that role?

 Marcus Murphy (00:11:10) - Yeah, so that was a national account manager role that was basically like almost three years, three and a half years.

 Marcus Murphy (00:11:16) - And honestly, when I left that role, there was still something like tugging and being like, This isn't it? It's great. And it showed me that I'm capable of things.

Jasmine Star (00:11:24) - Were you itching to leave or did you get an invitation? Like what did that juncture look like? So there's somebody who's listening and they don't know that they're at the beginning start of Yelp, right? Like they might be like, I'm brought in for a $40,000 sales job and they don't even know what Yelp is and they don't. Right. Okay. So they get there. And then you said, I've outgrown this position. Did you start hunting or how did that pivot take? And then what was like the tools that you needed to take a leap?

 Marcus Murphy (00:11:48) - I would never share the person's name, but it's important to share the story. Okay, I wanted more money. And I remember sitting there being like, I'm doing all this stuff and I'm really making an impact here. I think they might from 40,000 to 80,000. That was it, right? And when I was sitting there going, No, no, no, I think that there's like a way bigger opportunity here.

 Marcus Murphy (00:12:07) - And I went and talked to my boss's boss's boss, right? Because they gave me an audience and I said I'd like this and or else I have to probably move on because I need to support my family. And they looked at me and she said, I will never forget it. She said, Well, so-and-so out there does fine on that salary and they have a family and they have a house and they have all these things. And I was like, I'm not them. I'm not them at all. And I just remember sitting there going, You know what? Some people were going to see what I see or they're not. And I had to I was I forced myself to leave because I loved it there. But I knew that I had hit a ceiling.

Jasmine Star (00:12:43) - Yeah. Okay. So then for me, okay, so that pivotal moment happens and then what? What's next?

 Marcus Murphy (00:12:49) - Where do you go? So I have a crazy world called SAS software as a service, and it's like everybody's kind of heard of Salesforce or those kinds of things.

Marcus Murphy (00:12:57) - There was an up and coming company called Infusionsoft and a little.

Jasmine Star (00:13:00) - Tiny, tiny little tiny. How do you get how did you man, you have like a timing.

 Marcus Murphy (00:13:05) - I have no idea, dude.

Jasmine Star (00:13:06) - From Yelp to Infusionsoft. And it was.

 Marcus Murphy (00:13:08) - Crazy because they were at a point where they were about to blow up and I didn't even know it. So I came in and they had this thing and they're like, We kind of have like, this partner.

Jasmine Star (00:13:14) - Okay, hold on. You're a storyteller. Yeah. Do you find Infusionsoft? Does it find you like what happens? Like, do you see this role? Like what? Talk to me about like, what are you looking for?

Marcus Murphy (00:13:24) - Right? When I had the conversation, when I was like, okay, I'm out. I cannot grow any further here. I can't make more money. I feel like there's something there. I started to look, but really what I did was I reach out to my network and I just said, Well, who's who has a job that they love? So I looked at people in Let's pause.

Marcus Murphy (00:13:39) - Yeah.

Jasmine Star (00:13:40) - Instead of looking for a role, you look for people who have a job they love. Oh yeah. Thinking what?

 Marcus Murphy (00:13:46) - I just wanted to see somebody that was out there being an evangelist for their company. And that's hard to find, to be honest. I rarely meet people that are coming up and be like, Oh my gosh, I love where I'm working. This is what I'm doing. It's like, no, most of the time I get a lot of complaints and people that are just kind of dissatisfied. Yeah, smart.

Jasmine Star (00:14:03) - Yeah.

 Marcus Murphy (00:14:03) - Okay. So I had a friend of mine named Ryan, and he was, like, floored about his job. I didn't ask him about it. He was just talking about it. And he's like, This place is different. They've got a dream coach. They've got like, what dream coach? Like, what's a dream coach? I'm poor. Like, what's a dream coach? You know? And and so he was unpacking all of that for me and I was like, Whoa, this business seems crazy.

 Marcus Murphy (00:14:23) - He goes, Oh, you know what? You might be perfect for this role. And it was a partnership role. So like my first time into like, business development partnerships. And of course I approach it in my own way because if you're going out to do partnerships, I love connecting with people. I love being relational. But they had me come in and I walk into this building and no joke, they have a full Astroturf football field, American football field in the middle of the building. And I was like, What is this? They have banners hanging like it's a national championship.

Jasmine Star (00:14:50) - Did you think Mecca did? I arrived. I arrived.

Marcus Murphy (00:14:53) - I literally was like, What? And I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I was like, This is different. And then I see this thing called the dream wall. And it was all this chalk written handwritten dreams from all the employees that work there. And they were talking about all these different things that they wanted to do biking around the world, taking a sabbatical for six months to take their kids somewhere.

Marcus Murphy (00:15:12) - Right. All those were up there. And I said, Hey, what is that? And they're like, Oh, yeah, our employees write their dreams down. We have a dream coach that works with them, even if it takes them outside the business or away from us. We want them to accomplish their dream and we feel like they work harder for us getting to their dream and the fact that we support it, even if they have to take some away from us. Right. And I was like, I have never heard a company ever in my life articulate anything like that to me. So I was intrigued. And then I said, This is where the part that I think is great. They have their core values on the wall, that all ten core values right there. And I looked at that core value all and I go, Who wrote my core values down? Like who wrote those? Like I didn't go, Oh man, these are nice. I hope that I can put those on someday.

 Marcus Murphy (00:15:50) - I was like, somebody wrote down what I care about on that wall. So I knew that there was something different. And as I started to get into it, they had me do a presentation. I'm like, I'm going to kill it, right? And I remember.

Jasmine Star (00:15:59) - Getting Wait, they have you do a presentation as part of your interview?

 Marcus Murphy (00:16:01) - Oh, yeah.

Jasmine Star  (00:16:02) - Were you prepared? No. They said on the fly, do a presentation. Yeah.

 Marcus Murphy (00:16:06) - They're like, Can you teach us something? Here's a board. I was like, okay, wait.

Jasmine Star  (00:16:09) - Wait, wait, wait, wait. There is the version that we look back on which is fond, and then there's reality. Like, take us back to that moment when you say that. And of course, on the outside, because I know you like you.

 Marcus Murphy (00:16:20) - Cool. Was I.

Jasmine Star  (00:16:21) - Sweating?

 Marcus Murphy (00:16:21) - Yeah, I was sweating jazz and then sweaty armpits and then my hands were sweating.

Jasmine Star  (00:16:26) - And what do you say?

 Marcus Murphy (00:16:27) - I just said, absolutely.

 Marcus Murphy (00:16:28) - And what do you teach? I went up and wrote out a formula.

Jasmine Star  (00:16:31) - Do you walk really slow up to that whiteboard to be like, What can I think of in the next 15 seconds?

 Marcus Murphy (00:16:36) - You know, what I think actually happens is I feel that when I'm at my best, I don't need a ton of prep. Like I really feel good about just showing up and being able to connect disparate dots really fast and being able to do something. Also, I've been doing a lot of this for a long time, so speaking and having something in my back pocket to be able to pull out and be like, Yeah, I'm going to present this felt right.

Jasmine Star  (00:16:56) - It's such a gangster that's so gay, That's okay. No, you could own it. That's a compliment. That's a that's a gangster. All right.

 Marcus Murphy (00:17:02) - Dang. But anyway, I taught this equation about, like, here's what I think success is. So I wrote out this big acronym and talked about how to cast a vision and backed into it, right? And I talked about action.

 Marcus Murphy (00:17:11) - And then at the end of it they go, okay, this is interesting. And then I got into the role and they said, by the way, totally offering you the job. This is great, but we want you to be on the road and like speaking in other countries and all over the place to represent our business. Like we feel like business development and partnerships are only going to happen because there are people like you out there that can truly articulate it. That wasn't even a role like that didn't exist there. And when I got into it, it was one of the best partnership roles and things that ever happened, but they just saw a skill set. And that's why I can say work for companies you love and admire because they're going to find where you fit and they're going to enable you to go fast. And I'd say that's the one pivotal role I had before I met Ryan Dyson. Changed my whole life after that.

Jasmine Star  (00:17:51) - Okay, so let's pause here. Yeah, I want to get into meeting Ryan and how that changed your life.

Jasmine Star  (00:17:56) - There's a story like Sub Narrative where, Gina, you're beautiful, beautiful, brilliant, kind, better, half way better half way. Or like the 90% 90.

 Marcus Murphy (00:18:06) - She's neuroscientist who deals with chronic pain. I'm just going to real quick pause on this. So, Gina, my wife, is a neuroscientist who deals with chronic pain, a genius. Right. And went back and did all this stuff after 15 years of not being in school, went back and.

Jasmine Star  (00:18:18) - Got it right. Like, let's pause that there because I'm watching this from the outside. So Gina pulls back from her photography career to really focus in on her family and during that time is not in school and yet decides 15 years out of not being in school.

 Marcus Murphy (00:18:31) - I'm being a science background at all. Right. I'm just going to go to the number two neuroscience program in the world. And whereas in England, right. And she applied for it and got in, which is the craziest part. But here's the part. So she's a chronic pain specialist who deals with like neuroplasticity and all these words that a lot of people don't know.

 Marcus Murphy (00:18:49) - But it's about like how there's trauma, emotional, deep work that has to happen. And that pain is actually just a way of helping you or protecting you and your body so you don't deal with your emotions. Right? So I can't stub my toe in the house, right?

Jasmine Star (00:19:02) - Like, tell me, God, don't have a sense of humor. Yeah. It's like.

 Marcus Murphy (00:19:05) - I know. It's like, No, Gina, my foot's broken. She was like, Do you want to talk about your dad? I'm like, No, I take me to the hospital. No. So, yes, Gina, way beyond light, years beyond. I just I don't even know why she's with me. But I also feel like that. Yeah, I couldn't do any of it without her.

Jasmine Star (00:19:20) - Yeah. So when you're. When you're traveling with Infusionsoft, right before you're meeting Ryan, what's that home life balance? Because people listen and we hear these stories in these arcs and it's like freaking amazing and powerful, like, wow.

Jasmine Star (00:19:29) - But there's multi facets and there are people who absorb the cost, pay the cost and invest in it. So where is she at with the girls? Right here.

 Marcus Murphy (00:19:36) - So when I went to Infusionsoft, we had just we were just pregnant. So we with Florence and actually Florence was born while I was at Infusionsoft, like when I was officially coming into that role. Yeah, I think that life was pretty crazy. It's like now I'm not supporting us, I'm supporting our family. And Gina being home with Florence was awesome. It's not for everyone, but Gina wanted that, so I knew that I needed to support that. So that actually drove a ton of got to move, got to shake, got to go, right. Like step into it or don't, man, because you got to take care of your family. And we all have a vision for what we want our life to look like. And that's where I think that I wanted to put that in there. It's a. Whole vision of how we wanted to live our lives.

 Marcus Murphy (00:20:14) - I might have been working. I might have been the one who stepped up and did the presentation. But I was only doing that because I knew what we wanted.

 Jasmine Star (00:20:20) - Amen. Yeah. Did you write a dream on the dream wall?

 Marcus Murphy(00:20:23) - I did.

Jasmine Star (00:20:24) - Do you remember what it was?

 Marcus Murphy (00:20:25) - I do.

Jasmine Star  (00:20:26) - Are you okay sharing it?

 Marcus Murphy (00:20:27) - I can. It's going to sound insane, but I like that it's a little insane.

Jasmine Star  (00:20:31) - I don't hang out with normal folks, so.

 Marcus Murphy (00:20:33) - I'm going to share it here. But listen, Jasmine stars fan, whoever you are out.

Jasmine Star (00:20:37) - There, we ain't got fans. We got listeners. All right. Action takers, action tapes.

 Marcus Murphy (00:20:41) - We got action takers. So let me just share my little okay, my dream, my actual dream is to be a late night TV show host. But here's the thing. Not in the traditional sense, like I want to be Letterman, right? Because TV is kind of whatever. But that is what I want to do. I want to be that for the rest of my life.

 Marcus Murphy (00:20:56) - That's what I want to do. And all the businesses I build, the reason why I'm doing that is the capital to be able to get into the game anyway and have a media company and all that. But I've always wanted to do that since I was a child and I've never shared that. But I wrote that on the wall and I remember the dream coach kind of coming over and being like.

Jasmine Star (00:21:10) - Interesting.

 Marcus Murphy (00:21:11) - Yeah, that no one has ever written that. Why do you want to do that? Like I was listening to Conan the other day. So two things. I'm obsessed with comedians. I think that if anybody wants to learn how to speak or be, just be obsessed with that timing delivery humor, It's awesome. It's really good tools. But I was listening to Conan and he they did So in 28 years of being a host, they did 6400.

Jasmine Star (00:21:30) - Shows good.

 Marcus Murphy (00:21:31) - Or it might have been 4600 fact check me. But it was a lot. And that means that they were literally doing a show every day, Monday through Friday.

 Marcus Murphy (00:21:38) - And I was sitting there going, everybody was like, Oh my gosh, this sounds like a slog and terrible. I'm like, Sign me up. I want that. Yeah. So I wrote that down. So yeah, I'll put it on the universe. Maybe it'll come back to me, but that is it. Well.

Jasmine Star (00:21:49) - You spilled the tea before we started rolling, and I actually do think it is coming back to you. It's here in.

 Marcus Murphy (00:21:53) - Its own kind of.

Jasmine Star (00:21:54) - Way. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. All right. So when and how do you meet Ryan Dice and where is he at in his career?

Marcus Murphy (00:22:00) - Oh, man. Ryan Dice. Everybody got to look him up. He's probably the person who doesn't want any fame, who's famous and his own way. I was speaking. That's why I think this is so crazy when fugitive's like you could speak and go on stage and send me to Africa and Europe and everywhere else. I was in London. I was speaking at an event and I see all these people in the lobby and this was a big business event right in Chelsea.

Marcus Murphy (00:22:22) - And I was about to go on later on in the day, but I was just out in the lobby and I see this little guy, super little tiny.

Jasmine Star (00:22:29) - Oh, wow. Wow.

 Marcus Murphy (00:22:31) - Really small micro man walking through. Now, there was this guy walking through with his wife and everyone just mobbed him and he was like, Oh, okay. And they're like, That's Ryan Dice. Somebody said it. I don't know who at the time, but they're like, That's Ryan Dice. And I was like, okay. And then, of course, because I'm like, I want to downplay like, who's that? Don't care. Right? But he was they were like, Do you want to meet him? And I was like, No, right? What would it meet him? And then he gets up. He literally walks in, graciously says hello to people, his wife Emily, who's wonderful, they were kind of like talking. He gets in the back, mix up, goes on stage.

Marcus Murphy (00:23:01) - I sat in the back and I watched this guy lay down knowledge for 45 minutes and everybody's just like, Hang in there. And I eventually go, I called Gene. I went back to the hotel. I don't know what time it was here. And I called her and I said, I want to work for this guy.

Jasmine Star (00:23:16) - Really?

 Marcus Murphy (00:23:17) - I never met him. I didn't meet him to that point. I said, I want to be with him. I want to work with this guy. And then here it is. I'm speaking at an event and not.

Jasmine Star (00:23:25) - The same event that you.

 Marcus Murphy (00:23:26) - Saw event that I saw him at speaking of another event. And all of a sudden they're like, Hey, Ryan Dice is going to be on the panel that you're hosting.

Jasmine Star (00:23:34) - Let's go.

 Marcus Murphy (00:23:34) - And all of a sudden we started talking.

 Jasmine Star (00:23:36) - We okay, but wait a minute. I need to. So I'm very selfish. Yeah. You know, I'm selfish. Like, I want to figure out what is in your brain.

 Jasmine Star (00:23:43) - Yeah. You find out that you're on a panel with somebody, you're like, I'm going to work with this guy. I was like this. So what are you doing in advance of that? I mean, are you preparing or you're just like, whatever happens?

Jasmine Star (00:23:52) - No, no, no, no. This one felt heavier. You know, there are moments where you can just go off the cuff and get a job. This felt like trajectory stuff. So I knew that I wanted to be like, okay, I'm going to pause for a moment and make the most of this. But what I really wanted to do was be myself and make sure I show up authentically in that so that there is an opportunity for a relationship, a friendship. Because we were friends before we ever became employee, employer or like any of that. So we became friends first. And in fact, when the job came up, they were looking for someone to run monetization for the company. I texted him, That's how we were friends.

Marcus Murphy (00:24:25) - I texted him and said, Hey, should I apply for this? And he wrote back, Absolutely not. Which is which is actually a really funny response because at the time I was still working for Infusionsoft and Ryan Nucleate, who was the founder of You Just stuff. He's like, You're off limits. Oh, so he's like, The way you can apply is if you go to your executive team at Infusionsoft $100 Million SaaS Company and tell them that you want to apply for another job away from their company. And so I did that.

Jasmine Star (00:24:50) - Okay, wait, let's pause. Let's pour one out for Ryan. Man, that man's playing a different game. Yeah, like he saw a talent and he said, the way that we be on the up and up with everybody is if you do that, he would say.

Marcus Murphy (00:25:02) - He would never have been like, wow, poached your guy. So I went and talked to the executive team and this is why this company, Infusionsoft Clay Mask shout out to these amazing founders.

Marcus Murphy (00:25:12) - They're like, because we don't have that same executive role for you here, but we know that that's like a big part of this journey. And so they said, you can go apply. I was like, Do I still have my job if I don't get that job? And they said, Yeah, you do. And I went and flew down to Austin, Texas, where digital marketer was. And I Wow, That.

Jasmine Star (00:25:30) - Is a lot about so many people who are involved in this story.

Marcus Murphy (00:25:32) - Man, I feel like. So when you ask me, it feels like everything happened really fast. I put out a story and these people got to insert themselves into it. Now, in retrospect, when I run into Clay or other people or be on a podcast where I get to talk about them, it was the right move. You know it was the right move. Yeah. And when you think about like holding on to a tight like to an employee that might not want to work for you or something like that, sometimes it's like, that's a cyclical dude.

Marcus Murphy (00:25:59) - That is a longer story than that immediate moment and how you feel. So I will sing praises. I have literally sent so many people to Infusionsoft and partnered with them on all kinds of stuff. At Digital Marketer, they had so much preference because they treated me great and I loved being there. And so yeah, Ryan and I, we vibed out there. Another guy named Richard Linder, who ended up being one of the most pivotal leaders in my life. They both put me through two days of interviews. Just it felt grueling at the time because there was a lot on the line. This is the six figure moment, by the way. Like I always say that people when you're talking about money and I usually don't talk about money a lot, I think if you talk to people who are wealthy, they remember that moment that that tipping happened. And sometimes it happens way early in their life and they're just like, that was just a cool little milestone to my seven, eight figures. Right? But I feel like there is a mindset shift there because once you can make 100,000, you'll always make that.

Marcus Murphy (00:26:45) - Yep. Once you make a million, you'll always make that. Yeah. And I feel like those milestones are so interesting because that was that pivotal milestone for me where I was like, I'm here now in some way. Like I can step into this a little bit and be the executive who makes six figures and who yeah. So Ryan, they gave me that opportunity and worked there for four years, almost four years, and literally changed my life.

 Jasmine Star (00:27:07) - Okay, so there is digital marketer. Digital marketer. Yeah. Okay. So I wanted to connect the dots so you get in for monetization. Do you excel within that? Do you change?

Marcus Murphy (00:27:16) - Yes. So it's kind of crazy because I wouldn't have excelled had I not had leaders like Ryan and Richard who were there. Richard Linder, by the way, was the president very much running all of the business behind the scenes. Ryan was always great at being not only just the strategist and being the face and being the person who's out there in the world who people want to learn from.

Marcus Murphy (00:27:36) - But you also have to have the operator in that situation. And the operator, Richard, is probably one of the smartest people I've ever met, one of the greatest copywriters I've ever known, but is not the guy that's out there on stage running out and welcoming him. TNC Right. So they were pivotal in that way. I got in as the director of monetization, which does anybody know what that means?

Jasmine Star (00:27:55) - Let's make some money. Yeah.

Marcus Murphy (00:27:57) - That's like put this bucket here and collect water called money. And so I was looking at the business and saying, what can we do to make money? Yeah, sales was under that, even customer success because we took the customer success team and turned it into, yes, we need to serve people, but also make sure they're aligned with our products. So that was really good partnerships for sure. And then the difference between that company and the other one is that they also own an event called Traffic and Conversion Summit. And so not only do you have this company that's like the biggest marketing training company in the US, they also have this big event and that's where I got asked to host and emcee and start to like teach one.

 Jasmine Star (00:28:30) - Step closer to Late Night.

Marcus Murphy (00:28:31) - Maybe it was it was pivotal because they didn't know that I could do that. Technically, when they hired me, they didn't think like, Oh, this guy is just a really incredible teacher and speaker. But at Digital Marketer, one of the like we have a thing called a character diamond, which will impact someday. But the real pivotal part of that exercise was that we had a North Star and we had a non-negotiable in our business. The North Star was that we had to be savant like in terms of what we know, like as marketers, but also that our non-negotiables we would never teach something we don't do. So it's a requirement that if you're in the company, you're part of the product, so you productize and create an SOP and you teach everybody else what to do. And that means from stage as well. So whenever I was like going into LinkedIn and joined the board and did all that stuff, I was teaching our community of many, many, many thousands of people all over the world what I was learning and doing and what was working.

Marcus Murphy (00:29:21) - And all of a sudden that became like, Now I'm an educator and a teacher, as well as being somebody who has an executive role in the company.

Jasmine Star (00:29:29) - Okay.

Marcus Murphy (00:29:29) - So a lot of words.

Jasmine Star (00:29:31) - Well, it's a it's a lot. It's a lot in 14 years. Yeah. And so where are we at in the journey like your four years at digital marketer. Yep.

Marcus Murphy (00:29:40) - So we were this is basically when I left digital marketer that was three years ago in this journey. So basically this is all the way up until year 11 of my of my current career journey.

Jasmine Star (00:29:51) - So you you leave digital marketer in 2020.

 Marcus Murphy (00:29:54) - Yeah basically right before the pandemic like oh that's interesting. Smart move.

Jasmine Star (00:29:58) - Wait, it's very smart. Like, yeah.

 Marcus Murphy (00:30:01) - I'm going to go struggle for a while. Guys, I'll see you in a little while.

Jasmine Star (00:30:03) - I want to revisit my roots.

Marcus Murphy (00:30:05) - Yeah, a lot of consulting in that that year. The consulting gigs. Yeah, that was. That was a really. Outrun. And that took us all over the world to I think the speaking was the biggest thing that opened our world for us and being able to be the people out there that are practitioners who are sharing great content because there was a lot of theory but not a lot of practitioners.

Marcus Murphy (00:30:25) - Yes, like I am very much anti. This is what I feel and think. Yeah, it's like, no, no, no, what'd you do? Right? And are you in the trenches doing it? And if so, can we extract that information? So we became those type of teachers and I did that for almost four years, moved around. I was the head of partnerships, the head of sales, the, I don't know, a personality at one point. And then I felt like it was time to go. And this is where it's wild because even Good Morning America wrote that article and it's because I left a dream job that everybody on the planet probably would have loved if they wanted to be like, You're an executive at a huge company, you're making a lot of money and you're technically a personality and they're getting behind you, and then you just go, I'm out. And everybody's like, What? Like, why? Right. Even right. Ryan was so surprised and then kind of like took a minute and then went, I don't know what's down there for you.

Marcus Murphy (00:31:11) - Like he said, Hey, everybody has to jump off that cliff to go there. I don't know what's down there for you, but I think that I need to celebrate the fact that you're going to jump. Right. And so, gosh, I feel like I got emotional there. I don't know why, but I've had people like Ryan in my life who were and Ryan and Richard and Clayton and those types of people who have always kind of just been like, how do I help you jump? You know? Yeah, not in a suicidal way. Like, you know, like, you know, do it. But seriously, like that kind of encouragement where it's like you are at that affirmation of you are at that point and we see it, but we can't tell you what's going to happen.

Jasmine Star (00:31:45) - But okay, so Ryan says jump, jump, Yep. And you then get into consulting because you jumped during a pandemic. Yeah.

Marcus Murphy (00:31:54) - Awesome. I want to do. Yeah. Okay. I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I also knew that I was not going to figure it out by being employed.

Marcus Murphy (00:32:00) - Like I even had opportunities to own certain pieces of things. Entrepreneurship was all around us, but I knew that if I was going to find this thing that was kind of still out there for me that I couldn't achieve it. It's very rare to be a wealthy, have a lot of freedom and be an employee, by the way, I don't know who that's for, but.

Jasmine Star (00:32:19) - That's the whole word.

 Marcus Murphy (00:32:20) - It's a it's an interesting thing to think about in terms of all these people who aspire for wealth and freedom. But it's like I got I'm tethered to something else that is dictating my world. That doesn't sound like people that I meet who are wealthy. Wealth is an interesting thing because it's both money, but it's also all the time. It's the ability to make decisions, ability to do nothing at all. But that only comes from people that are like not under anyone else's schedule. So anyway, that's a total tangent. But yeah, that moment where I left, I didn't know what I wanted, but I knew I needed to go figure it out and I needed to clear my space.

 Marcus Murphy (00:32:51) - So yeah, consulting was a way of doing that. But I was in the garage in the middle of the summer in Austin with a whiteboard, writing out all my.

Jasmine Star (00:32:57) - Nights in fridges, right? It was like it was a tundra.

Marcus Murphy (00:33:01) - Sweating it just literally. But I felt like all these great ideas came from some person in a garage. I don't know why. And I just put my wife. Gina literally was like, What are you doing? And I'm like, I'm putting this up here. I feel like, you know, Apple started a garage, like Google. Google started somewhere.

Jasmine Star (00:33:15) - I'm sitting at my future. Great story. This is.

Marcus Murphy (00:33:17) - My story. Literally, I want to be like, Yeah, you know, the garage, my my sharpies were melting. Yeah. So I did that and wrote out a couple crazy ideas and started to run after them. And one of those was, I need to create a media company. That was something that kept coming up over and over again.

Marcus Murphy (00:33:33) - In my mind, it's like, What can you do? What problems can you solve? What do you enjoy doing? And when I started writing those things out, it just I didn't need to know what I wanted to do. I just needed to take steps to get the space, the capacity to kind of have it come to me.

Jasmine Star (00:33:48) - Okay, that is actually like you teed me up to pause. Okay. To pause there, because I really want listeners to hear that you consistently made courageous decisions even without knowing the exact next best step. Okay, so that was the pattern. So wherever you are listening right now and you find yourself right now driving, cooking, picking your kids up, playing, working out is like there is something in you. Like this whole message is for you. Like jump and not in the suicide way, right? Okay. So, so.

Marcus Murphy (00:34:18) - We're going to come back.

Jasmine Star (00:34:20) - It's like.

Marcus Murphy (00:34:20) - That's going to be a super sticker.

Jasmine Star (00:34:23) - That's be a real.

Marcus Murphy (00:34:24) - That's a three second.

Jasmine Star (00:34:24) - Reel. Yeah. No. Okay, so we're there. Yeah, we're going to pause there because I want to come back and actually talk about that. But that brings us to why I so desperately wanted to start the co-host podcast series with you, because you and I embody very similar strides. It's just like, we're okay being on. Okay. Oh, you know, and it's so good. Is that another real is that another quotable? Did we or are we just like rolling with it?

Marcus Murphy (00:34:48) - I think a lot of people were sitting around going like, what is the super strength? But also, ah, here's the crazy part that's equally my brokenness to stop.

Jasmine Star (00:34:56) - Stop. Okay. Gina jr Do you want to talk about my dad?

Marcus Murphy (00:34:58) - Does your foot hurt right now because I have somebody I want to talk to you about. But yeah, there is a double edged sword to that, right? But at the same time, like for us, I don't know if I could operate the other way.

Jasmine Star (00:35:09) - Okay, so we're sitting. I'm working out. It's 5 a.m. in the morning in Santa Barbara, California. I text Marcus. Hey, do you know anybody who might want to co-host? To which Marcus replies, There is like a light skinned brother who might want to step in ish. I was a little bit. A little bit. A little bit racially ambiguous.

Marcus Murphy (00:35:23) - Kind of yellow.

Jasmine Star (00:35:24) - Kind of yellow. Yeah. Who wants to step in? And I was just like, Listen, we could do something amazing. And so I asked Marcus to aggregate really brilliant people. And those are the conversations we are going to be having. I will be returning to the conversation with Marcus, but I am so excited to introduce you to some really incredible, interesting, brilliant people. The goal is to really test Marcus on his late night chops, like we're going to bring some laughs, hopefully bring some tears, like, okay, no, I'm just kidding. Yeah, a lot.

Marcus Murphy (00:35:51) - Just me crying mostly.

Marcus Murphy (00:35:52) - None of our guests just be sobbing over here.

Jasmine Star (00:35:55) - I'm just here. I'll just wipe. I'll wipe his eyes. Very excited for what's in store. Thank you for being on this journey. Thank you for testing. If you like what this is, please make sure that you at mention Marcus and mentioned at Justin Star and you can be found on Instagram. It can be.

Marcus Murphy (00:36:09) - Yes. Marcus a Murphy.

Jasmine Star (00:36:10) - Marcus a Murphy. Like a player. Hey like that or.

Marcus Murphy (00:36:15) - Allen like my middle name.

Jasmine Star (00:36:17) - What? I'm trying to give you swag. Yeah. Dip into a Syracuse Murphy.

Marcus Murphy (00:36:20) - You got it?

Jasmine Star (00:36:21) - Yes. Marcus a Murphy on Instagram. Thank you for listening to The Jasmine Star Show. It is an honor and privilege. As we experiment, have fun and encourage you to do the same.