Jasmine Star (00:00:00) - So in early 2023, I hosted my very first mastermind and it was a six month mastermind. It was $25,000. I had this incredible group of people that I was working with, and when the six month mark came, there was a waitlist for the mastermind. People were wanting to apply. In fact, we opened up the waitlist for applications and started getting our mastermind members to reinvest for the second half of that six month program. And then I did something that made no sense. Welcome back to The Jasmine Star Show, where we discuss business mindset. And today, one very specific shift that will help you make better, well-rounded decisions and lead your company through, dare I say, more complex situations. So how's that for an intro? And did I did I hook you? Okay, so you're probably thinking, all right, Jasmine, enough with the dramatics. Spill the tea. Let's go. Good. I'm happy you're here. And I got you. So a few months ago, I recorded a podcast with my mentor Susan, and in that episode, we shared a concept that she's helped me work through, and it took me.

Jasmine Star (00:01:02) - I'm going to tell you, be very honest. It took me a while for me to completely understand it, which is, and I quote, this is her quote being a CEO requires thriving in the ambiguity of paradoxes and opposites. And when she said this, she was saying how being an entrepreneur is one of the hardest things in the world. And I believe that this is the reason why it could seem counterintuitive. I'll tell you why Susan said it like it's getting kicked in the stomach again and again, and then getting up after every single blow, even though it hurts. She said that you have to have a really big heart for what you do and the people you lead, and you have to make really tough decisions that can impact other people's lives. You have to balance quality and velocity at the same time. You have to be really optimistic and believe in the future that you can create. When everything around you is telling you that it might not be possible and at the same time be paranoid about everything that's happening around you.

Jasmine Star (00:02:03) - Okay, paradoxes and opposites. So in this episode, we're going to go over what this concept actually means, because it took me a while to understand it, why it's important to make this shift as an entrepreneur and like the impacts it had in my business, examples of paradoxical pairs in business. So that you have examples and you can apply it to your business. And we're also going to go through strategies for thriving in these paradoxes. All right. So let's start with things first. What does it actually mean to thrive in ambiguity of paradoxes. In opposites this means accepting that seemingly contradictory ideas, things that just really don't belong together and contradictory situations can coexist and even be beneficial. Okay, so let's break this down. For example, creating a well thought out plan, but at the same time remaining adaptable to changes or modifications. Cool. Let's keep going with this idea. We're going to start stringing this out because I'm telling you, this has had such an impact on my business in the last two years.

Jasmine Star (00:03:03) - It was not easy. It was simple. I just had to keep on reminding myself that two things that don't make sense can actually and should actually coexist. Now, this means that we're going to move away from either or mentality. You know, a lot of us are conditioned to think it's either this or that, and then we're going to lean towards having a both and perspective. This is like abundant both and and then we're going to break this down. But first let's define opposites okay. Opposites as you know are contrasting concepts like strong and gentle, tall and short, good and bad paradoxes. Now these are statements that seem contradictory, but they hold some truth, like the more you give, the more you receive. So thriving in the ambiguity of paradoxes and opposites boils down to just this clear cut answers are usually not the answers. Instead of seeing things as competing like innovation and stability, trying to see them as two sides of the same coin, both can be valuable. And the key is figuring out how to make them work together for your business to succeed.

Jasmine Star (00:04:12) - The business world is hardly black and white. The most successful companies are the ones that can navigate the gray areas. So how do we break free from this? It's either this or that and embrace both and well, I want you to keep listening. But before we get there, let's talk about why this type of thinking will move you forward. Because you're like, If I'm going to change, tell me, white. Great. I'm glad you asked. There are many reasons why it's beneficial for CEOs to make this shift, but I want to go over five of them. Number one, you'll strengthen your decision making when you consider opposing viewpoints. You gather more comprehensive pictures of the situation and make decisions that are more likely to be successful. So here's an example. Imagine a business owner who's considering pivoting his business on one side. He knows the business needs to adapt to the market and stay relevant. On the other side, he's concerned about the risk involved with changing and shifting to an entirely new ideal client.

Jasmine Star (00:05:10) - By seeing both ways and comparing both options, the business owner can come up with a solution that fits both sides, like perhaps a phased approach where they test new offers gradually. This way, he can minimize risks while capitalizing on growth opportunities. The second reason is increased innovation. Embracing opposites can spark creativity and lead to new ideas that just wouldn't have come otherwise. So the business owner who's like the one who's considering the pivot, well, he might combine the need to adapt with the desire to minimize risk by creating what we call a bridge product. Now, this bridge product would cater to both existing and potential customers, offering features that address the needs of the new market segment while maintaining features similar to the existing customers. So what does this do? It allows for a smoother transition for existing customers while attracting new ones with innovative elements. Okay, and as a side note, an example of a bridge product could be. You've probably seen these before the Nespresso brand. Now, Nespresso offers regular single sized coffee like the Keurig for like for like the Keurig K-Cup lovers and espresso options for their existing customer base.

Jasmine Star (00:06:22) - Now let's chat about another example. Let's say you created courses, but you realize that a better offer for a larger and new market would be a membership. Well, you could offer the membership at a discounted price for the course purchasers as a way to guide them to your next new offer, that membership. Okay, so we saw it in espresso and we saw it in potentially your business or a business you might want to be wanting to build. Now for the third reason it is beneficial is for greater adaptability. The business world is always changing like we know this. This is exactly why adaptability is one of my company's core values. It's vital we have to be adaptable, and by being comfortable in ambiguity and opposites, you're going to be better equipped to adapt to new challenges and new opportunities. That is a skill. Now let's go back to that pivoting business owner. We're using him as an example. Let's imagine that the market shifts requires an even more drastic pivot than initially he had anticipated. Okay. Well, because our owner is comfortable considering opposing viewpoints, he's open to exploring entirely new business models.

Jasmine Star (00:07:29) - He's open to it. He's not saying, no, no, I can't. I can't do that because it's not currently. No. This adaptability allows him and his team to stay ahead and be successful no matter what. Now the fourth reason is stronger relationships in business. Collaboration is really important. When you can understand and appreciate different perspectives, you can build stronger relationships with your team, your clients, your partners, whoever. I've said it once and I'm going to say it again, relationships are the backbone of business, and you want to know what else? Relationships that are built on understanding. Man. That's incredible. You go deep with it. So imagine you're that business owner and you got to explain a big pivot to your team. Now just imagine the team is naturally worried. Or at the very least they're wondering what this means for their jobs, right? That's where understanding different perspectives really comes in. By acknowledging their concerns and explaining how the pivot benefits them, you open up a two way street of communication.

Jasmine Star (00:08:29) - Now this transparency builds trust and it gets your team on board, making that transition really smooth for everybody. And by the end of the conversation like this is when you know that this is where the gangsters, well, this is when, you know, I'm stepping into leadership. We can hope by embracing both sides and seeing that two sides of the coin actually exist. Maybe your team can be excited and they feel like they're on the cusp of a huge opportunity. You can do that by embracing these paradoxes in opposites. Now, the same goes for your customers too. Some customers might be hesitant about the new direction, but if you can address their concerns directly and show how the pivot solves problems they might not even know they have, you can actually strengthen that relationship. And it shows that you care about their needs and that the pivot isn't just some random move, it's for the benefit of them. Let's pause here and I want to talk about an example. Social curator started off as a membership. This meant we provided marketing resources for small business owners to build a brand and market it on business.

Jasmine Star (00:09:30) - We're basically like saying, get your posts and find a way to get more customers, and we're going to teach you that process. Now, when we were just in membership, it was difficult because people went into the membership. They would download whatever resources that they needed, and then they would have to go on their social platforms and post it manually. A point of friction, which was stopping people from taking action was like, I got to download, I got to upload, I got to find a different way to schedule and plan it. Well, we saw that friction point, and then we decided that we were going to take the membership and turn it into a SaaS offering. Which meant we had to build our own tech stack so that we can integrate with the larger social platforms. Okay. So we knew that we had to create a membership that looked and felt the same, but actually had a subscription model component to it. We had to make changes. That is a pivot from our current customer base.

Jasmine Star (00:10:19) - Our members needed to be told, this is in your best interest. They had to be told there's going to be changes, but it's going to be easier for you now. There's going to be changes. But guess what? Nothing is changing by the cost of your membership. You're just going to get more and it's going to be easier. We had to convey that the pivot was in benefit for them. Okay. Now let's get into point number five. This helps you create a competitive advantage. By embracing opposites you can create a unique market position. And this can be really valuable in industries where competition is really fierce. A perfect example to explain this point would be Apple. Okay, so Apple combined luxury with accessibility in the tech world. Now you might be thinking, okay Jasmine, Apple products are so expensive. Of course they can do that. And to that I say true. But do you or somebody you know have one, two or even three Apple products? That's because they need it accessible, expensive, luxury and yet accessible.

Jasmine Star (00:11:22) - This strategy is in place and that helps Apple stay ahead in the tech market. Remember our business owner, the one that was making that big pivot okay. They balance staying true to their brand and bringing in fresh ideas. This creates a unique selling proposition, a fancy way of saying they carved out a special spot in the market. So think about it. Competitors who play it safe, sticking to that one approach while they get stale. They either cling to the old ways, losing customers to other, more exciting options, or they copy everybody else and they blend into the background by embracing opposites. Our business owner created a whole new lane in the market, one where they set the rules. Now the competition won't know what they hit them because they're going to be playing like ketchup. But our owner, on the other hand well, him and his team, well, they're going to be ahead with a loyal customer base and a fresh approach that keeps attracting new people. That is the power of embracing opposites.

Jasmine Star (00:12:21) - So now that you have an idea of what this concept looks like, I want to share an example of a company that does this very well. You've probably heard of the outdoor apparel brand. Patagonia is like fancy outdoor stuff. Well, I think they've done an incredible job at thriving in the ambiguity of opposites and paradoxes, and they've done this with purpose and profitability. If you're familiar with the brand, then you probably know that they are super into activism in the environmental world, and this is where purpose really comes in. They even donated 100% of their Black Friday sales to environmental causes, like in a year, because they were protecting endangered wildlife habitats, which is incredible. That is true, true purpose. But here's the kicker they've also been hugely profitable. They haven't sacrificed making money to be good to the environment. In fact, their purpose has helped them become more profitable and vice versa. Their focus on sustainability it well, it really resonates with clients who are willing to pay a little bit more for high quality, long lasting clothing.

Jasmine Star (00:13:27) - While some companies feel like, oh well, we have to choose between philanthropy, which is their purpose, and we have to choose between profitability. Patagonia makes those opposing ideas work together. Okay, so let's be honest. That can feel a little bit uneasy, right? Like we're wired, we're trained. It's either or. It's good or bad, strong or weak, right or wrong. We crave clear cut answers, especially as we're building a business. So I'm going to talk to you about an experience where I had this idea of something that seemed like it didn't make sense, but I was able to build and stand in my purpose as well as drive profitability. So in early 2023, I hosted my very first mastermind, and it was a six month mastermind. It was $25,000. I had this incredible group of people that I was working with, and when the six month mark came, there was a waitlist for the mastermind. People were wanting to apply. In fact, we opened up the waitlist for applications and started getting our mastermind members to reinvest for the second half of that six month program.

Jasmine Star (00:14:35) - And then I did something that made no sense, but I listened to my intuition. Something wasn't in alignment. So when we're listening to this paradox of opposites, I decided to close the mastermind to have space to build out a new offer that felt more in alignment with my goals, and something that every mastermind member needed. I said, listen, everybody in this mastermind needs to know this one thing. And we spent so much of our time in the mastermind discussing that one thing, that if I had the second iteration of mastermind and brought in a new group of people, there's a good chance that they would be talking about the same thing. Now, I decided to say I'm not going to do a mastermind, and instead I'm going to create a live course. And then we launched it at the beginning of 2024, almost in response to saying, listen, every frickin business owner needs to think y'all like, I would fall on a sword about your biggest launch ever. We did eight weeks of live education, and my mind was blown by the things that people have been doing.

Jasmine Star (00:15:41) - So I took a break from the mastermind to create this course, and that didn't make sense because people are like, you're turning away a huge, massive revenue stream in your business. I'm like, I know, but I actually need space to build out my purpose and to build out more profitability. So the time I took building out the course, we launched the course and the course was highly profitable for us. And here's the good thing. Now that we have the chorus, your biggest launch ever out and about. It doesn't have to be either or. It could be both. Now, if I decide to host a mastermind in the future, well, my mastermind members are going to get access to the course so they can have more value and get more results. Okay, and as a side note, I'm not planning on launching a mastermind anytime. Well, I'm not going to say anytime soon. We have inner workings and we do have a waitlist, so if you want more information regarding the mastermind, you can go to Jasmine's dot com forward slash mastermind.

Jasmine Star (00:16:35) - But no, this is not a pitch for it. I'm just saying I took time off in a paradox that made no sense to understand. It's two sides of a coin. I can create more value for more people by taking a step back, investing in my purpose, and finding a greater way to profitability. Yes, man. Okay, so here are two strategies to help you become aware when you're operating in that if or mindset. Okay. If you're like, I can only choose one. Well, there's a way to move out of that strategy. Number one, do a both and brainstorm. So take seemingly two opposite concepts related to your business and see how you can combine them. For example, both high end and affordable. Traditional. Modern. Simple. Complex. What kind of unique ideas can come from forcing this pairing? Now to do this, just grab a piece of paper and pen or you can open a Google Doc. Now pick two opposing concepts relevant to your current business, and then spend a few minutes brainstorming new ideas that somehow bridge those two extremes.

Jasmine Star (00:17:40) - Okay, so so here's an example. We spoke in the early days of launching Social Curator, when we didn't actually know what it was intended to be. It started off just as a membership for resources. And then over time, we started adding other classes accountability pods, business coaching for myself, live training, other courses, and as we created more value on the inside of social curator, we decided to raise the price. So by raising the price, people were saying, wow, social curators really expensive for a planning app. And what we decided to do is saying, are we expensive for a planning app? Or are we really inexpensive in terms of a social media manager? So we had to change the narrative of instead of saying either or, we could say both, and we can be in the high end market and be affordable at the same time because we're high end for a social media planning app. And if that's the only thing that you use it for, you would be doing a massive disservice because you're getting business coaching and other resources.

Jasmine Star (00:18:48) - So in terms of having a social media manager to help you do that with a digital social media manager, which is what is, well then like game over, we could be high end as well as affordable. And that really only came by way of doing a strategy of getting out of either or and doing both. And now let's move to strategy number two. I want you to try the paradox lens approach. This strategy involves viewing paradoxes as opportunities instead of roadblocks. Okay, so here's how it works. Imagine it paradox you're facing like needing to be both decisive, but you also need to be open to feedback. That's a paradox. Instead of seeing these as conflicting ideas, I want you to view them as complementary. Decisive action is really crucial, but so is the ability to adapt based on valuable feedback. For example, you might make a decision but then set up some kind of like feedback loop to monitor how effective it is, and then you get to make adjustments. This way you embrace being decisive and adaptable.

Jasmine Star (00:19:47) - Now let's break this down even further using an example on my team. So I like making decisions based on information. The only issue is that I move fast. I think fast and I decide fast. Now, a few years ago, the team had expressed that they wanted to speak into the decision making process. Now I believe this was good in theory, but in reality it forced people to sit in a bunch of meetings and that's the last thing that anybody wants. I didn't need decisions to be made by tribunal. That slows it down as well as innovation and how fast we're working. So here's how we solve for it. Key stakeholders, the people who would be the most responsible for that project or initiative would meet and discuss the decision that needs to be made. But before making the final call, myself or another team leader would make a video or an audio message outlining, hey, here are the key points. Here are the factors that we considered, and here's how we arrived at this potential decision.

Jasmine Star (00:20:39) - Then we asked the team for their feedback or insights as they responded. Not only does this save a lot of time, it also allows for the team to express their concerns and helpful feedback. But it really does help avoid that groupthink. Like, we all need to sit around and all of us need to talk, and all of us need to come to a decision the key stakeholders do. Then we need to be open for feedback. So here is a. Another recent example, we had our podcast producer and our video content manager come to us with this idea of a YouTube community. Now, when you see things through the paradox lens, you can turn contradictory ideas into opportunities for navigating uncertainty and finding really great and innovative solutions. So what is the YouTube community have to do with paradoxes? Well, by following the new structure of her coming to a meeting and saying, hey, do we think we should start growing a community on YouTube, here's all of these ideas and initiatives. What we did was we said, can you please put together an itemized list of what you're proposing, who the key stakeholders are and what decision are we actually making and who's involved.

Jasmine Star (00:21:52) - So she laid all of that out. She presented it. She gave us a task to review it. We were reviewing in advance. And then we shall meet and have a meeting around how we get this paradox and make it into an opportunity. So are y'all. We went all in. We went on. This was like a rather high. It was a high level episode today. You know what I'm talking about. Like, if you're here now, this, my friends, is dedication to you. Massively up leveling from wherever you are to where you want to go. So I want to take a second. I want to review what we talked about because we covered a lot. We talked about ditching the either or thinking and embracing the both. And this means welcoming like contradictory ideas that can actually work together for your business success. Remember, this shift can lead to better decisions, more innovation, and the ability to adapt. Even have stronger relationships with your team and your customers. And if that's not enough, it can give you a serious edge over your competition.

Jasmine Star (00:22:50) - We covered two cool exercises, the Both and brainstorm to spark creative ideas by mashing up opposites. And then we also covered the paradox lens. I want to say thank you for listening to The Jasmine Star Show. You might by now have realized a shift in the content that we are creating. I want to say thank you because people are sending DMs, and I understand that when I shift the direction of what we're talking about, I strongly believe that we're guiding you to the next level in bigger ways. I understand that the marketing concepts I used to speak about were a heck of a lot simpler. The marketing strategies I used to go into were highly focused on social media. And here's one thing that I realized is that if we continue to drink milk, our stomachs will never be prepared for heavier food. I am not here to create infancy style businesses. I want you growing. I want you succeeding. I want you stepping into maturity with the confidence that you have the skill set and the tools and the conversations to help get you there.

Jasmine Star (00:23:51) - I'm creating for the version of me who I really wanted and needed 4 or 5 years ago. If that's where you are. Hold on. We're up leveling even more if that's where you want to be. Congratulations, you're on the early side of going all in. If this has been helpful for you and you're down to do this thing, I would love to have a review on the podcast. Also, if you are watching engaging out on the go, take a picture, post it to stories and tag me. I personally reach out and say thank you. Sometimes I even send voice memos to say like, yo, thank you for being you and thank you for listening to the podcast. It is an honor, it is a privilege, and it is a blessing to create these shows for you. Thank you for watching and listening. The Jasmine Star Show.