Jasmine Star (00:00:00) -  Welcome to the Jasmin Starr Show. And today we are talking about business, marketing and leadership and the time that I invested in Vive, a leadership and growth accelerator provided by VaynerMedia and Gary Vaynerchuk. Now I'm going to start at the beginning of the story, because I promised that when I made this investment, I wanted to share every last bit of what it meant for me to be a part of a high level accelerator. Now, I have to say, I have to say, I have always known that when I'm the poorest and the dumbest and the least experienced in a room, I'm in the right room and I have to just start here. Boy, was I in the right room. Like there was no reason for me to be in this room. But you want to know what I'm already in? You can't kick me out. Sorry. I'm here and I'm doing the dang thing. So how did I get in the room? I received an email from a gentleman by the name of James Orsini.

Jasmine Star (00:00:55) -  Now, James is the president of business development at VaynerMedia and he and I have stayed in contact over the years. James is like, soft and kind and really brilliant. So it's like he's like a soft shark, right? Like he's like a shark who you would think would eat people out of business. And what he's done is he just eats you to be the better part of you. That analogy you got totally lost. We're just going to keep on running with it. He had sent me an email because back in 2017, I made an investment to go to an event called the Four D's provided by VaynerMedia. It was a one day event where we got to go through the workings of the agency itself. And then Gary came in for a Q&A and everybody got to ask him a question. And over the years, James had stayed in contact with me, and whenever on social media he would see I'd be in New York, he's like, hey, come by Hudson Yards, hang out at the office, let's have a conversation.

Jasmine Star (00:01:41) -  So he stayed in contact aka cultivated a relationship. So when I got an email from him and I'm going to read a bit of the email, the email which piqued my interest from the get go. Vive. This growth accelerator program is for high performers designed to answer quote, what's next in quote for your life, your future career. Rub shoulders with the accomplished, create your legacy and make your mark. And I thought to myself, wow, this is the time that I need it to be in the room because I am working on developing what's next, so why not be guided through this? So I hopped on a call, was walked through what the offer was. He said how much it was going to be. I said I would get back to him and then the next day I said I was all in. Now I have a plan. Any time I go to an event, I go in with a plan, a very loose plan. But I'm going to tell you that me going into vibe, I already knew that I shouldn't be in the room for all intents is like on paper, I shouldn't be in the room.

Jasmine Star (00:02:40) -  But physically, emotionally, spiritually, I felt I was already in the room. So there's this quote that I heard. It is best to be perceived a fool than to open your mouth and confirm it. So knowing going into this room that I am most likely the most foolish of all fools to ever walk in such a room like this, I decided my plan was to stay quiet, stay quiet and be listening. My mantra was stay quiet, be listening. And a few podcast episodes ago, we did a podcast with a woman by the name of Fawn Weaver. She is a CEO of Uncle Nearest, and she said that every time she walks into a room to develop her confidence, she says, I'm here to only do one of two things. I'm to share what I know or I am to withdraw. And what I said walking into this room is like, I am so wildly outmatched walking into this room that if it was any chance that I could deposit with somebody, I would focus on that because I knew I was gonna be making a lot of withdrawals.

Jasmine Star (00:03:36) -  There was so much knowledge, there's so much experience, so much joy in the room that I knew I was just going to be like, be quiet and soak it up. But whenever you have the opportunity to make a deposit, make it worth your time, make it worth their time. So the event was on a Wednesday, so JD and I flew in on Tuesday and we go to this restaurant there in Hudson Yards and it's called Milos and it's a Greek restaurant. And I'm telling you, the first time we went to Milos, it was like three years ago. And we walk in and I have never experienced a restaurant like this. Now, I know that Milos isn't unique, but I have to say just the layout, the views. You're at the top of Hudson Yards, and you're seeing beautiful views of the skyline and of the water. And as you walk in, before you get to your table, as you go to your window side table, they walk you through all the fresh fish of the day.

Jasmine Star (00:04:26) -  They literally catch fish in Greece and fly the fish in from Greece every day to New York City. I mean, that alone, it's just so ridiculous. And then they come to your table and they pour you this amazing Greek olive oil. And then with a small scissors, they will cut fresh oregano into the Greek olive oil and freshly baked bread. And they bring it to the table and you think to yourself, Opa. So we've always gone to Milos every time we go to New York. So JD and I. Go and we don't have a reservation. So we decide we're going to sit at the bar. And what we spoke there was JD asked for me to document how I feel. He's like, because I know you could be in your head, but let's just talk about how you feel. And he asked me this question because I'm a very high logic business partner. I'm a high logic partner. I'm a high logic woman. I depend less on how I feel. Feelings change, feelings are fleeting, and I depend more on my logic if I can logic my way through this.

Jasmine Star (00:05:28) -  But he said, for this moment, because it's a big moment, how do you feel? And I said, I feel like I'm in a freefall, but I'm not scared. In the freefall. I'm like enjoying whatever is to come. I said, I'm I feel open, I feel excited, and I feel trusting. So those are the words that I had the night before we started the event. So we had a glass of champagne. We were talking about this. We talked about life, we talked about what we were focusing on. And then the next morning we got up and we worked out together. It's like my favorite thing to work out with him. He is never about it because he thinks that like I'm like, hold on, let's get a picture, hold on, let's do a video. And he's just like, can we just work out? And I'm just like, okay, but what about my form? Like, I like literally I love working with the guy and I don't think that he enjoys it as much as I do, but that's okay, because we were there together and we were doing this thing.

Jasmine Star (00:06:17) -  And so he said, go back into the room, I'm going to go get us some amazing, beautiful New York coffee and you can go and journal. So I was journaling my feelings. Now, I have to say that as I am talking through this podcast and sharing all the details, we're posting a video of this podcast like we always do. But in the video we're showing videos and photos of the real time experience. So if you want to get a front row seat, you definitely want to watch the video and not just listen to the audio. I have to give a shout out Brent and Brent, forgive me, I'm going to screw up your last name, Brent slurs. Look, forgive me, I'll give you a little shout out on Instagram just here in the video. He took all of these photos. He's so stinking incredible and amazing. Okay, so this is the first day. It is a two day event. It's May 15th. We meet. They said, oh, in this email.

Jasmine Star (00:07:05) -  They're like, congratulations, we're going to meet at 30 Rock. So 30 Rockefeller Plaza this is for. And you guys here I am I'm a huge history buff. I'm such a nerd. I read all about the Rockefellers and I'm like, we're going to Rockefeller Plaza. This is like the Rockefellers owned acres. They built this whole plaza around who they are and what they're doing, their family home. So we get to meet there and at the top of Rockefeller Plaza. There was a time in American history, there's a very famous photo, and maybe we could show it here in the video, it is an old photo of workers on metal beams building 30 Rock. And they were on this break. There's nothing underneath them. They're literally just eating their lunch, having donuts and coffee, sitting. And there was a photographer who was taking a picture with them. And Central Park is in the background. It is a famous photo. Well, we meet at 30 Rock and then they take us up in our VIP elevator and they said, we're going to recreate the photo.

Jasmine Star (00:07:57) -  The famous 30 Rock photo with the members of five. And in the back of my mind, I'm just like, okay, take deep breaths. It's okay. You don't like heights. It's all good. It's all good. And so I just thought, we're going to be taking a photo at 30 Rock. But no, there's a new installation at 30 Rock where you actually sit on a metal beam, and then they suspend you in mid-air, and then the metal beam turns so that your back is no longer to Central Park. But you are looking at Central Park. So I'm just like, oh my God, I don't want to do this. Like I don't want I don't want to do this. And yet I do it because I don't know adult peer pressure. And I sat in the metal beam and I put my safety belt on and a reminded myself that I am doing new things to precisely get uncomfortable. And I was going to this event to see things in new ways. A look at God in a sense of humor.

Jasmine Star (00:08:47) -  I was literally doing new things, and I was literally looking at things in a new way, because when they raise you on the beam, you actually go over a glass partition so that you have clear on obscure views of Central Park. And as the beam turned and I saw Central Park, I thought to myself, this is freaking incredible. This is an opportunity that so few people get, and you get this moment with this group of people. And so then after 30 Rock, we went down to lunch and Rockefeller Plaza. I walked into the lunch. Now there I am. I'm on my phone because your girl is awkward. I am socially awkward. If I am talking about business, I am not so awkward because it's like the one thing I really love I enjoy, but like socially making small talk. You guys don't even understand how difficult is for me as an introvert and somebody who is just like, so and they're like, you know, do you watch sports? And I'm like, know what reality shows you're watching? None at this time.

Jasmine Star (00:09:44) -  And I'm like, do you like historical fiction? Boy, do I like I have very, very little in common with people. So I was like, okay, okay. The goal at lunch was to listen, listen carefully and listen to the multiple conversations that were happening at the table because I was there. To learn. So two gentlemen sat across from me and they were talking about podcasting, and they were talking about podcast frequency. And this was where the first time I realised I can make a deposit, because if there's one thing that I know, one thing that I know is that the system that we've created for podcasting, the system itself works and the system itself is strong. So they were talking about like podcasting and the frequency of it. I walked them through what our project flow in asana was to produce our podcast, and they're like, wow, I would really love to see how you're repurposing podcasts from other podcasts. You're on, I said, you want to know what? Let me reach out to our project manager and I'm going to have her send you our asana flow.

Jasmine Star (00:10:39) -  What did I do? I was making a deposit to somebody who found that valuable, but the rest of the lunch focused on listening. Now, I wanted to know how Gary was running this accelerator, because in the digital marketing space, if somebody is doing an accelerator, it's also known as a mastermind. I'm very familiar with the word mastermind. I was less familiar with the word accelerator. It's essentially the same thing getting a curated group of people together all around, like similar businesses or ideas or acumen or skill, and then finding a way that we all can create synergies and grow. So it's not like one plus one equals two. It's one plus one equals 30. The amount of people, that information that we're gathering in a short amount of time with people who all have a wild skill set, but in varying degrees in different areas. Wow. We could really expand. So in the past I've invested in masterminds based on a personal forefront person, right? A man, a woman, and around them they become the leader.

Jasmine Star (00:11:35) -  I have hosted a mastermind and I was the official host. Now with this one, Gary was not the official host. Andrea Sullivan and James Orsini are the official hosts of the event, and Gary is coming in at segmented times to do what Gary does. And I was really fascinated because I've never seen it in this way, to have a high ticket offer and having other people host it. So I started asking questions. I sat next to Andrea at lunch and I started asking, how did she get involved with VaynerMedia? How did she meet Gary? What was it like meeting Gary for the first time? How did he recruit her? What was the mechanism? What was the conversation like? How long was their first conversation? How long was their second conversation? How long did it take before she had an offer? What was it about the offer that made her? Because Andrew is wildly brilliant, she's wildly talented. She's captivating. She's like lightning in a bottle. You could just meet Andrea at Whole Foods and be like, I don't know who you are, but you're something special.

Jasmine Star (00:12:35) -  She has that genius. And so I wanted to know, how did somebody like Gary, in the midst of a bunch of other agencies who were vying for her attention and to employ her, how did she choose VaynerMedia? And the reason I'm asking this question is yes, because I'm intrigued with Andre as a human. I am also very intrigued with the qualities and the acumen and the ability that Gary possessed to attract that level of talent, because James Orsini is just as wildly talented. And I wanted to know, I wanted to get into the mind of Gary, his approach, and I wanted to get into Andre's mind. What did he say? What did he do? How did he behave? Why was I doing that? Because I believe in the future. I know it sounds weird. Well, look at. I'm just going to say it. I feel like the more that I say it, the less that I stutter. When I first started my career, first ever as a photographer, I couldn't even say the word photographer without stuttering.

Jasmine Star (00:13:30) -  Like people would be like, oh, so you know, what do you do? I'm a I'm a I'm a fool. And it was just like it was like remix. Spit it out. Like, what are you? And I didn't have the HubSpot. I didn't have the cones. I didn't have the courage to actually say the thing I wanted to be. And I refuse to be that person, that version of myself. So when I say right now, it makes no sense that I see myself in the future courting people who are lightning in a bottle, I see it. I see my job as a CEO and a visionary of attracting the best of the best talent into the thing that I'm building is to build this vision that's so big that these other wildly talented people feel like their big vision can work together with my big vision, and we can create something even bigger together. I wanted to know how that worked. And that lunch. I just sat there and I was like, listen, listen, listen, listen, take notes and see what actually can you duplicate in the future? Okay, so after lunch, we walked from 30 Rock from Rockefeller Center to Nasdaq.

Jasmine Star (00:14:34) -  And so it was going to be about, I think like 14 blocks, maybe a New Yorker. And you're like, it's not 14. Listen, it felt like a lot. I'm from California. We drive two blocks to the grocery store. So they're like, okay, it's gonna be like a quick 14 block walk. And I'm like, what the heck? Anyway, so I was very much in New Yorker. We walked and in the time that we were walking, I'm just listening to other conversations and talking to people about their businesses and what it is they do. Remember, this is the first time. Any of the ten of us are meeting. We're all strangers. We have not done anything together quite yet. So I have to tell you, we are walking to Nasdaq and Andrea meets a woman who I found out I wasn't eavesdropping because it's not technically eavesdropping. If you're walking alongside of them and you're listening to the conversation, I found out that the event itself had sponsors, that our lunch was sponsored, our lunch at Rockefeller Plaza was sponsored, and I was like, oh, that's really interesting, having a sponsor for an A growth or accelerator.

Jasmine Star (00:15:31) -  And I started asking myself, wait a minute, there are companies who would love to come alongside, you know, my own mastermind and sponsor a lunch for us and get some time to talk about the beauty of what that company does. And I was like, oh Lord, get away. That's important. Okay, so we arrive at Nasdaq and I have to tell you before actually arriving at Nasdaq. Now, let's pull back. Let's go back to Southern California, where I'm talking to my husband and my dad over dinner one night, and I'm explaining to them that I'm going to go to Nasdaq. And I have to tell you, like, very openly, my parents are not active investors. We don't come from a family of means. My father is an immigrant. My father is a pastor. And so oftentimes compensation from the church looks like a very, very solid yet meager paycheck and a lot of tamales and a lot of hugs and kisses. And so as adults, JD, my husband and business partner, we've taught ourselves what investing looks like.

Jasmine Star (00:16:26) -  And so we are active investors in the stock market. We are teaching my dad and my mom what it means to invest in what they could be doing with their investments or money now. And I said, dad, I'm going to Nasdaq. And I have to tell you, it was like the coolest freaking feeling. Like my dad looked at me and he was like, man, when I came to this country, I just never thought that my children would not only, like, have the chance to invest in the American stock market, but to go where all of it happens. So there we are, Nasdaq. I walk in and we're taken through like this back elevator, a long white hallway, and it talks about the history of Nasdaq. And then they're having like a little like a meet and greet. So they have like drinks. They have coffee. Everybody's meeting. Now, the reason we went to Nasdaq was because Gary was dropping his book day trading attention. And so he was ringing the bell at Nasdaq as part of the book promotion.

Jasmine Star (00:17:21) -  So Gary was there, his book writing crew, I would say there's probably a group of like maybe 50 or 60 people. And so then they opened the doors and as we walk in, oh, there was, okay, so I have to go back during cocktail hour. I already said I was awkward and I don't really know how to go up to groups and be like, hey, how are you? How's it going? Let's have a conversation. I don't know how to do that. And so what I did was like, I just constantly served myself sparkling water, and then I'd put the sparkling water down. I'd go back and serve myself another sparkling water, just like, just look busy. They open the doors and everyone walks in. And I noticed this quote on the wall and I thought, man, I had to take a picture of it. Quote. Those who questioned today are the ones who rewrite tomorrow. And I thought to myself, I'm in the right freaking place because I'm absolutely questioning what I am doing at Nasdaq in New York City.

Jasmine Star (00:18:10) -  With this group of people, I am questioning what I am building at this current time so that I can rewrite tomorrow. No, I have to tell you, JD and I are the kind of people like. We think and dwell about business all the time. We're the kind of people that when we go to a restaurant, we'll look like we'll count the tables. We'll say, how many turns are they doing? How much money are they grossing? What's like the margins on this? Like when we walk? Okay, so when we had our dog Polo Suite polo, we would take him to get groomed. And there was this gentleman at the front desk, and he was such a good human. He was so good at customer support. And I told JD I was like, this is the guy who I want to hire for our team. I literally tried hiring because he was so good at what he does. And so we look at everything in terms of business. Now Nasdaq is in the business of business.

Jasmine Star (00:18:51) -  I have to tell you, when all 60 of us walked into the room, there was a woman at the front and it was legitimately like she could have been performing on Broadway. And I mean this with the highest regard. Her pronunciation and elocution was absolutely beyond all capacities of true storytelling about what Nasdaq does and what they what they were and who they are and how they beckon in the future of America business. They gave us the whole spectrum. And I thought to myself, listen, I did not know much about Nasdaq. And now I'm like, wow, I'm a firm believer. I was marketed to, well, being in the room and this was my biggest takeaway from that moment is anytime you have the opportunity to sell your story and get people to believe, use it and use it well. After we had the history of Nasdaq, Gary was ushered up and then people started taking pictures with Gary in his book writing team. He had his publicity team and then we as a group for Viv. We got up to go and take a photo with Gary.

Jasmine Star (00:19:49) -  Now, after he went through these group photos, they had said, okay, you can now do individual photos with Gary, please line up in a line. And so I'm seeing these people take a photo with Gary and I'm just like, oh my God. I want a photo with Gary. I want a photo with Gary. But I wouldn't do it. I was like, you're not gonna do it. There's two sides of me warring, like, get the photo. Like, this is such a cool opportunity to get the photo. And the other half of me was like, no, there's other way more important people who should be getting their photo with Gary. And then there was a woman from Viv. She is like our concierge. She's like our point person. Her name is Julia. Julia came up to me out of nowhere. You guys, out of nowhere. She comes up to me and she says, Jasmine. She's like, I know Gary means a lot to you. Get a photo with Gary.

Jasmine Star (00:20:24) -  And I said, I can't, I can't get a photo with Gary. She's like, get in line and get a photo with Gary. And I was like, okay, I'm getting a line. I'm gonna take a photo with Gary. So I waited in line. I took a photo with Gary. Now here's the thing. Gary is like, they often talk about how some humans have the capacity to make another person feel like they're the only person in the room. The most oftenly sighted person in, like, recent American history would be Bill Clinton. They talk about his memory for faces, for names, for details that make people feel so entrenched with who he was like as a leader. And I think that Gary possesses the same quality. He remembers just enough about people like placement names, ideas and things. And so I was not expecting whatsoever for Gary to make a reference. Even though I interviewed him for my podcast, I had Amy Porterfield as a guest, and we interviewed Gary for his book, and the podcast went, I thought, like, really well.

Jasmine Star (00:21:17) -  And so I'm walking up to the podium to take a picture with Gary, and he was just like, hey, good to see you. And at this point in time, almost like he still doesn't remember. And he's just like, so what do you think about the podcast? Did you like the podcast? And I was like, oh my God, Gary freaking remembers the podcast. And I was like, and of course I'm sitting there like, my tongue is tied. I was like, it was. It was great. I don't even remember what I said. I think I said it was great. I think I said thank you so much. I was sweating profusely. I was so nervous. We take the photo, I walk off stage, and then one of the things that I was not expecting is that after Gary rang the bell, then everybody comes up and everybody announces we do the countdown. It was so freaking exciting. Gary rings the bell. They pop purple and yellow confetti in mid-air, and I happen to be standing next to Andrea and she.

Jasmine Star (00:22:04) -  Because remember, she's lightning in a bottle. She catches a piece of purple confetti she catches in her hand, and she just turns right over her right shoulder. And I was there. And she's like, here to remember y'all. I have that purple piece of confetti stuck in my journal so that I always remember what that moment meant for me. And so after this, they said, everybody, we're going to go down in Times Square. And so we're all walking down to Times Square, and I'm texting my family. And I texted my dad and I said, Bobby, I just took a photo with Gary Vaynerchuk at Nasdaq. And my family's like, you know, we're all hyping, like they're hyping me up like, oh my God, Jasmine, like, you took a photo with Gary and my dad responds with one line and he says, wow, Gary Vaynerchuk took a picture with my daughter. Like, leave it to my dad to find what is the most important thing to him. So we were outside in Times Square and everyone's like, look around.

Jasmine Star (00:22:53) -  And then we saw the group photo of Gary there in Times Square. And then they showed a photo of me and Gary in Times Square. And you guys, I just have to tell you, I just have to tell you, dang, was your girl geeking out? It was one of those things you're just like, okay, is this real life? After that event, Gary did a private book Q&A there at Nasdaq for a group of people, and it was really fascinating to see how he sees the state of marketing and what businesses should be doing and why businesses aren't excelling. I you know, when I say I'm like, oh, I felt like I was in a college class and he was like a professor breaking down things. It was fascinating because there in the room were professors from a college, and what they wanted to use was Gary's book Day Trading Attention as the marketing textbook for the semester. And so when I said, oh my gosh, it feels like I'm like sitting in a professor, they had said, well, we're professors and we're deans and we're admins of entire business departments, and we're using this because he's so avant garde when it comes to what we need to do for marketing.

Jasmine Star (00:23:57) -  And I thought to myself, this is why you invested. You invested for access, and you invested to sit under the tutelage of the people who are some of the best in the game. After we went to dinner at Little Maven and they all had assigned seating for us, and I happen to be sitting next to a woman by the name of Hannah. It briefly met Hannah earlier, and I come to find out that she's Gary's chief of staff, which means she's Gary's right hand and right brain, and she controls what he's doing, where he's going to be. It was really fascinating. So I did the same thing with Hannah that I did with Andrea. I asked, how did you meet Gary? How did he caught you? Where did you move from? What did it look like? How is that growth? What's the development? What is your day look like? I really wanted to know what does a high powered chief of staff actually do? And how is she so truly connected with what it is he does? So what was I doing at that time? Learning, learning, learning, learning.

Jasmine Star (00:24:50) -  So Gary came in. He does another state of the union talking about marketing. And then he was really open. He's like, listen, the Knicks are in town. They're playing in. I think it was like the semifinals. He's like, I can't miss this game. I'm going to the game with my son. And so he leaves and we're at Little Maven. And Gary is a partner in Little Maven, the restaurant, and the chef is Chef Capone, chef Capone, I hope I'm saying his name right. He walks in and he gives it. He razzle dazzle us. Now, this is another guy. I think that Gary just attracts people who are like lightning rods. So Chef Capone is, like, bombastic. Is that the word? He is just full of life. And he's in there and he's a storyteller. He's captivated, talked about how he started the restaurant, and then I don't know if you're familiar with an artist by the name of Keith Herring, very big in the late 80s.

Jasmine Star (00:25:36) -  And he says, oh, yeah, when you walk in the room was painted all black and had white lines and designs all over it. And he says, oh, Keith Herring painted this, and I'm like, Keith Haring painted that. I was like, oh my gosh. Now I have gone to other Keith Haring installations and I'm like, how did Keith Haring paint this? I'm like, I'm trying to do the math. And he's like, if anybody here believes that Keith Haring painted this, y'all are wrong. I just convinced you otherwise. And I was like, oh man, this guy totally had me. Now picture this. I'm sitting in a chair and the wall. It is a square room, and every last bit of this wall and ceiling is black but painted with white lines. There's not a there's not a space in this room that is not covered in white lines. And he says, this whole line stays connected for the entire duration of this room. And he's like, there's one spot in this whole room where there is a single line break.

Jasmine Star (00:26:26) -  That is the beginning and the end of this art piece. He's like, if anybody can find it, I'm gonna give you $20. And I look up in my eyes, land on one singular spot. And of course, because I am freaking valedictorian of winning any game, I was like, it's right there. It's right there at the end of the line is right there. And he's like, how did you figure that out? He's like, nobody's ever figured that out. He's like, you came in here, You study this. And I was like, no, not at all. So I got the 20 bucks, but I gave it to the server who was helping us because, you know, your girl was like a server for like, six years of my life, and that is a real grind. So I was like, well, number one, if I get 20 bucks, the servers didn't get 20 bucks. He was amazing. We had an amazing dinner and what did I do? I sat next to James.

Jasmine Star (00:27:07) -  I was talking to James about the same thing. How did you get involved? What are you learning? We talked about marketing, but because I'm a very high introvert, I ended up leaving dinner a little bit early. I know, I know, I left before dessert. I left before the other riveting conversations. I was just like I was energized out, and I knew that the next day was going to be a big day. Day two we start at Hudson Yards. It was pouring rain. JD walks me down to the building and I thought to myself, this is an opportunity that I don't want to forget. I don't want to logic my way through this. I want to say what I feel is deep and immense gratitude, and what I feel is if I went home right now, everything would have been worth it based on the conversations that I've been having. And so everything else was just upside from here. And so I walked in and we had this beautiful breakfast set up, and I just start talking to other people in the group where they out with their businesses, what are they doing with their businesses? And I realized that, like, hands down, by far, I have the smallest business, hands down by far.

Jasmine Star (00:28:05) -  I'm talking to CMOs of fortune 500 companies and the relationship that they have with the C-suite and how they're viewing marketing and their relationship, and then casting a vision. And I just thought to myself how fascinating it is for me to be so far out of my league and so happy and so welcomed as a result of that. So I have to tell you, I came in to this expecting like a leadership growth accelerator and my past experiences have been very like personality driven. There's a person, there's a leader, there's somebody who's doing it and going and running. And in this particular case, they brought in facilitators and I thought it was so fascinating. Let me just get to the main point of day to day two was 90% mindset. It makes sense if you're talking about growth and leadership. You have to have the brain, and you have to have the mindset to scale and to do these big things. I wasn't expecting it to be that much. But here's the thing. Y'all know, like on this show, it's like me mindset.

Jasmine Star (00:29:00) -  Woo. Elevation, growth, aspiration, expansion. That is what I do when I live in a breath. I was pleasantly surprised that it was it, but I was not expecting that. So in the beginning we did this exercise. They call it a lifeline. Now I have to give a shout out. I wrote everybody's name here because I need to make sure that Mona Patel gives a shout out. She was facilitating what we called a lifeline, and we were supposed to identify three highlights in our life that changed our perspective of how we view the world, and three things that have really shaped us, and probably not the positive ways. Things that really hurt us or shook us. And then she explained that after identifying these three things through a series of exercises, that this then becomes the lens at which we look at most, if not all, of the decisions that we need to make. Childhood, young adult. Adolescent. Early business experiences that really rocked us or really elevated us becomes the lens at which we look at every decision thereafter.

Jasmine Star (00:29:53) -  So without acknowledging the events that shaped your view of the world, without acknowledging that that is the lens you're looking through, you will always never see 100% of the picture because of the lens at which you're looking with. If you acknowledge the lens and you understand the feelings and thoughts that are associated with that decision, you then have a fuller scope and picture of why you're making the decisions that the way that you are. We talked about legacy. We talked about purpose journaling. We had a facilitator, Hemingway, Sarah Murphy, and she is the executive vice president of education at VaynerMedia. She came in, you guys, we did meditations. We sat in a dark room. We walked through exercises. We had time. We literally had over an hour to journal. So she would give us prompts, and then she would give us like 15 minutes to journal responses of what we want to build into, what our legacy is, why we started this very thing. And I thought to myself, I cannot believe that I find this number one.

Jasmine Star (00:30:47) -  So powerful. But number two, that this leadership and growth accelerator is rooted entirely in mindset and shaping the brain for who we need to become in order to become leaders that ultimately lead us to scaled growth. Y'all. It was freaking incredible. Andrea Sullivan is the president of Vive, and James Orsini is the president of startup operations for Vayner X. I have to tell you that it was really fascinating because they were facilitating they were the host of this event, and then they made time. When Gary came in for Q&A, they made sure everybody had time to ask a question. They were parlaying the questions to everybody, threading his philosophy, the company philosophy. They were so honest. Gary was so honest about the pitfalls, the struggles, the strengths, the highlights that I sat there and all I was doing was like, I am a sponge and I am taking so many withdrawals from the amount of knowledge that I'm getting from this room. My biggest takeaways would be. I don't have to be the front person for every event I ever facilitate that.

Jasmine Star (00:31:58) -  If I can ultimately attract people who are bombastic lightning in a bottle, that the business can grow beyond just me, that is the purpose of any business. I don't want to be in the business of Jasmine. I want to be in the business of business. And if I'm a host or a facilitator, a visionary is a part of that, then what I want to do, what I need to do, is get a team of people around me who can see it and facilitate it the same way. The second thing I highly took away, which is something I deeply knew, but sometimes it's like getting outside validation, just, you know, it's like that eight year old that never got the validation. Hello. That's my old story. And it's like, oh, somebody else is validating this idea that mindset work is worth every penny. That when I was hosting masterminds, it was so driven on the tactics and granular and scale and programmatic. This is the thing that we should do. And I wasn't giving enough time to the things that I know have made the biggest freaking difference in my business for me as a human and as an entrepreneur.

Jasmine Star (00:32:48) -  That was mindset. That was vision. Giving myself a facilitating time to develop that and also at the same time understanding how do we get you what you need to connect you with somebody who can? James and Andrea asked us this question towards the end. How do we get you what you need or connect you with somebody who can? They said their job as facilitators for growth scale in leadership is we're going to help you get what you need, and if we can help you get what you need, we're going to connect you with somebody who can. Case in point, we sit every Friday and we work through guests coming in. They teach us things. And there was a brand building on LinkedIn session that was facilitated by VaynerMedia. And you guys, that was freaking fascinating. I was like, LinkedIn, dang, man, I'm sleeping on it. That's going to be a big growth for me in quarters three and four of this year. Based on the things that I'm learning, that's neither here nor there.

Jasmine Star (00:33:47) -  I started asking subsequent business questions about a particular arm of the business. I wanted to get into the business of the business and they're like, okay, well, that's not this session. However, we're going to connect you with Hannah, Gary's chief of staff. The woman I sat next to at dinner, I had a 30 minute meeting with Hannah, and she broke down the exact breakdown of an arm of the business called Vayner Talent. How they build personal brands. Why I want to expand my personal brand. I got a front row seat to what they do, how they work, what I should be doing. I now walked away from that call and I was like, okay, how do I expand working with my videographers more? How do I rework what it means to create video content on the fly? How do I shorten the amount of time that the turnaround time that is taking for me to create this content? I walked away with such like tactical advice that I thought to myself, all of this is being facilitated by a powerhouse team, not by a powerhouse person.

Jasmine Star (00:34:39) -  That, my friends already already has been the biggest takeaways for me. So what does the rest of this look like? We meet every single Friday. Our classes, our meetups range anywhere from an hour to three hours. We can. Gary Vaynerchuk is going to have econ here in LA. Like as a hometown girl, I'm like, heck yes. So we're going to be going to econ. We're gonna be experiencing dinners and breakout sessions and VIP sessions there, and then we are going to be headed to New Mexico for another in-person event with Gary. So the biggest question that people are asking is what has been the most valuable? And I'll break this down as quickly as possible. Number one, the most valuable thing has been space. Space to think different and to think with guidance. They do a lot of guided thinking principles, space to think bigger and space to challenge my perspective. I didn't know that I was holding so hard on to a perspective that I have about building a business and specifically building my business.

Jasmine Star (00:35:35) -  All of that has been challenged and been turned on its head in the best possible way. The second most valuable thing has been a framework for how I am going to be conducting my future masterminds. I am going to reframe. I used to have these things called hot seats where we would do business breakdowns. I'm going to reframe them, and I'm going to be using the same model that Mona Patel had taught us, and I'll reframe. So same thing. But the mindset associated with the two is entirely different. I'm going to be focusing like they came in and they drove a clear line in the scene, like, this is for leadership and growth. My mastermind is going to be about building a brand and high level marketing strategies. Period. The end. This is what we're going to focus on. I know we could talk about a lot of other things, but this is the group who I want to attract building a brand and high level marketing strategies. Also, as a shout out, we have not announced when it's going to happen.

Jasmine Star (00:36:25) -  You could sign up for the waitlist if you're interested in the mastermind. It's Jasmine star.com/mastermind. We'll leave a link in the show notes. The third most important thing that I learned, that I'm most valuable, would be up close to the team behind somebody I truly look to and respect. Getting into the psychology of team building and what it is they do and how they do it has been so fascinating and so valuable. I learned more about courting, recruiting, empowering a team, humility, scaling a team. I learned more from his team than I could ever learn from Gary by himself. So the fact that I got to learn from Gary and his team was just this total, complete windfall. And one of the things that I really liked. So as an introvert and as of a defector, whenever somebody says something nice to me, I love hearing it, but I'm like, oh no, no, no, no, no. Like I do not like to be the center of attention. If anybody would ever give like toast or a speech about me, I think I would die.

Jasmine Star (00:37:27) -  I begged my husband never to propose to me to marry. We dated nine years. I'm like, please, when you propose to me, just swear to me up and down. Swear to me on my grandmother that you will not propose me in a public space because I don't want anybody looking at me. I'm that person. And so when I always had this idea that if you're going to be the front person of your business, then you know, you got to drink my Kool-Aid. What I saw with Gary's team was that they didn't drink his Kool-Aid. They drank the vision. They drank growth potential for themselves and for the organization. I saw it in real life. I saw it's possible if I see that something is possible somewhere else, I believe I have the capacity to. Replicate and duplicate it in my own way. I believe that that team has set the gold standard for all of us, but specifically me, because I saw it front row and so I can't wait to share another kind of like breakdown.

Jasmine Star (00:38:20) -  I'll do it at the end. So, you know, at the time of this recording, we're right at the beginning. Right at the beginning of it. We've only been like three weeks into a four month program, and I'll be doing another episode at the end of the four month program. And I'm going to talk about how it's shaped. And, you know, I will be launching my mastermind before the end of this program. So I'm going to love how the two intersect, and I'm already loving the way that my team is stepping up in new ways. Because I explained to them I saw what a powerhouse team looks like, and in order for me to be a better leader and in order for us to grow, we're all going to have to do that together. And you're going to be stepping into newer places for growth and potential. Thank you for being here on this journey. Thank you for allowing me to share the journey with you. And like always, when you share this podcast, like when you take pictures of you cooking or in the pickup line, or when you're walking your dog or when you're at the gym, shout out thank you! It's because of you that other people learn about this show, and it's because of you that we collectively, as a community, are growing, learning, and scaling together.

Jasmine Star (00:39:21) -  Like always, it is an honor, privilege, and blessing that you listen to the Jasmine Star Show. Thank you.