Jasmine Star 00:00:00  And I told myself, Jasmine, if nobody else comes in this room, you have content. You will speak to empty rooms until the rooms become full. You will make podcasts that nobody else listens to. You will write blog posts that nobody reads. You will send newsletters. When people aren't opening email, you will send text messages that are left unread. You will do it until they start showing up. They start reading, they start engaging and they start responding. Welcome to the Jasmine Star show. I'm going to do another episode called Laying Bricks, and we're just going to hit the ground running at the beginning of 2024. I introduced a podcast where I wasn't sure how people were going to respond to it. I called it laying bricks because at the time I couldn't think of a better name, and I was just thinking laying the bricks to my future foundation. I think a lot of times people can look at entrepreneurs or look at business owners and be like, wow, it happened so fast for them.

Jasmine Star 00:00:53  And what I'm trying to do with the Laying Bricks episode is to talk about how slow it actually happens. So what are the bricks that I am laying to my current foundation for future success? And so at the start of 2024 and now we're at the start of 2025. We've been doing this a year. This is my fourth episode of The Laying Bricks. And so I'm going to take you through the end of 2024 to bring us to the beginning of 2025. And I am doing this because I want to share virtually, in real time what has been happening and what has been working. Why? Because I'm hoping that it invites you to take action. It inspires you to do more and then shows you the behind the scenes nitty gritty. It's not so glamorous that ultimately leads you to where you want to go. Okay. So if you want to listen to all of the Laying Bricks episodes so you can literally hear everything that I did in 2024, and I'm going to actually share things in this episode that I laid the groundwork for at the beginning of the year.

Jasmine Star 00:01:49  So essentially, 11 months later, something good came from an investment of time, energy, or a relationship. So if you want to listen to those episodes in chronological order? I'm going to link them in the show notes. Okay. So I want to go back to quarter four of 2024. And we're going to be focusing on October through December. So I'm going to take you to the beginning of October. So starting with October 1st through the third, that was my first live mastermind event. We had 27 figure entrepreneurs. And here's a crazy thing. When I started my mastermind, I had this goal and this dream and objective to have a mastermind for seven figure entrepreneurs. And what was unexpected to me was all of the applicants were women. And it opened my eyes to a couple things. There was a need and there was a desire. Now, it also struck me as a little bit crazy because I never said that this was an all female mastermind. It's just what happened. And if I was being very honest, I took a step back and I'm like, wow, that's crazy that no guys actually Participated or became involved.

Jasmine Star 00:02:59  And then I thought to myself, everything is happening as it should, and everything is happening for me. Because what I didn't realize was that by getting all of us in the room, it fundamentally shifted the way that I saw needs in an entirely different way. So let's dive in. Okay. I felt very nervous. I felt very hopeful. And I felt excited because while I was planning for the event, we knew we were going to have it in Newport Beach, and all the doors seem to close for venues. Now. This is my hometown. I've been living here over a decade and I was like, why is this not working out? And then I realized that those doors were closing because I was supposed to open the door to my home. Now, most people would not really expect this of me, but I'm a very private person. I am an outgoing introvert, but I am tenfold as much private as I am an introvert. So to bring people into my house is a big thing for me, which is why when I get to record these podcasts in my home, number one, it's ticking off that little introvert box.

Jasmine Star 00:04:01  And the number two, I want to bring you into my space. I want to make you feel like we're going deep together. But it's easier to do that in a virtual way, right? But to bring 27 figure entrepreneurs into my home, it was a big leap. So my husband and business partner had this conversation and he said, if you want to do this, let's go. And I was so excited. And so we started off with a beautiful cocktail hour in Newport Beach. And everybody met each other. And I have to tell you, it was a little bit nerve wracking, right? Because people in the mastermind we had met once before meeting in person. So we connected for like two hours. We spoke, people got to introduce themselves, but meeting online and meeting in person are two very different things. And so we went to this cocktail hour. But here's one thing that I actually didn't expect because I don't normally host events at my house. We needed tables and chairs and furniture to furniture to be delivered to our home to facilitate not just the 20 people, but we also had a teammate here, JD.

Jasmine Star 00:04:59  We had two videographers. I mean, there was like a total of 26 people in our home and we go to this cocktail hour. I come home, I'm tired, nervous, excited for the next day, and what do JD and I do till 1:00 in the morning? We're setting up tables, we're laying out flowers, we're organizing chairs. And I was like, this is crazy that I am this amped, this pumped, and like, so nervous because I think that there's this small part of me, it's like, well, what are people going to think? What are they going to say? Is this experience what they wanted? Most of the time, I've only ever been parts of masterminds where we go to like very, very nice hotels and they're coming into my home and weird childhood things coming up. Is it going to be enough? And so the day before, JD and I sat and we hosted them here in our living room, we had these beautiful tables set out, we sat and we had these custom made notebooks for everybody.

Jasmine Star 00:05:49  And I just said a prayer. I was like, whoever comes in to my door, may they feel totally seen, heard and supported that I might not have the fanciest of homes or the nicest, most luxurious resorts in Newport Beach. We could have done that, but this was an entirely different experience. Now I want to share three of the biggest takeaways from this mastermind event, because this episode hopefully is not just for me, but what are the three active takeaways that you can take? Let me share with you the three active things that people took away from this event, having been seven figure founders. Number one team structure. They implicitly understood that while they had teams, everybody who has a seven figure business has a team. But what everybody across the board had said, the structure of our team needs to change or we need to expand the team. So being able to come in and the mastermind is just not about me or my insights. It's about everybody else's insights. It's like, what are you doing? What industry are you in? How is this parlay? What's similar? What's not similar? And so at the end of the event, 50% of the people in the room, ten out of 20 people knew that they had to go home, and they had to let go of some team members.

Jasmine Star 00:06:56  Now, letting go of a team member is so difficult. It is really hard. But to be able to let go of team members and do it with a group of people who are checking in and how are you doing? How did it go? What are you learning? How might you improve? What are the things that you would change? It quickly normalized what it means to shrink a team with the strategy of growing the team leader. The second biggest takeaway was learning from myself and then learning other people in the room. Is that the quality of your systems, your business, will scale. The more it becomes systematized. If you have a client and you treat them one way and then another client, and then you treat or have them onboard or follow through in one way and then another client, if they're all different, you're essentially tripling. The amount of time it would take is if you had one system in every client, every customer, every student went through the same thing. You're saving time and you're saving money now, the quality of your systems, how good that system is so that somebody can come in, follow the system and deploy on it.

Jasmine Star 00:07:53  The quality of that determines how fast and quickly you can grow and scale. And the last active takeaway would be people who are experiencing similar growth patterns. Is that sometimes when you're growing alone in business, you ask yourself, well, is this is this normal? Is this how it should be? And so you can easily tell yourself a story. You know, it should be going faster. I should be doing more. But when you get into a group of people who are running similar sized businesses with similar size pressure points, you're like, oh, this is normal. And if there is somebody who has a bigger business with a bigger team, you can ask them, what did you experience as you were scaling from 3 to 4 million? What was the pressure points? What should I be looking out for? I think that that was something that was incredibly powerful. It was so cool for me to see and experience as a host, but also from an outsider looking in, okay, that was the first or the third.

Jasmine Star 00:08:42  We're going to go to October 10th to the 12th. I went to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and I went there as a part of a mastermind. I am a part of. There were nine of us, and I am the only female in this group, which is fine, totally different. Now, for people who have heard me talk about Hampden, it is this executive group coaching like kind of leadership program that I'm a part of. They will often ask me questions around what is it like or what do you get. And so I was asked by somebody in the community for a series of questions. And they also asked for a description of how I would describe our group. And so this is what I wrote. Our ad hoc ethos has become like who we are. No ego. No best. Honesty rooted in empathy. Commitment to our monthly calls, showing up for each other and doing everything you can for homies in the group. We're an eclectic bunch, bootstrapped to VC, concentrated on personal brands to zero brand presence, seven figure profit to pre Prix profitability, but we remain stalwart on challenging beliefs.

Jasmine Star 00:09:48  Following up with stated goals or commitments. Questioning the modes of operation. Lastly, if as a group we had core values, they'd likely be humility. Give more than you take. Competitive greatness. Does this help? Please let me know. I'm here to support. Knowing what you know now about that group. We rented a home in Jackson Hole and we walk in and it is literally cabin style. Big, big. Beautiful. Earth. Earth. Earth I don't know. Fireplace. I was trying to be fancy. I don't know, it's like people who have big, big homes with big high ceilings and then a fireplace. Don't call it a fireplace. They call it. I think they call it a earth. I think whatever, I'm not that fancy. I will say that when we got into the house, all the guys were really cool. They were really cool. I was the only girl. They were like, okay, Jasmine, you'll take the master and the ensuite. I was like, thank you gentlemen.

Jasmine Star 00:10:40  Yes, I will, I will not be sleeping in the twin beds in the kids room in the basement. Thank you. And they didn't charge me more. Thank you. Gentlemen. Thank you. While we waited for everybody else to arrive, we ended up at this place called the Mangy Moose. Tell me you're in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Without telling me you're in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Hanging out at the mangy moose. And so when people are talking about, oh, how do you get together? And what do you guys do? Honestly, we go to these events and there's no structure. So talk about the juxtaposition that just a few days before I was hosting mastermind and oh, there was structure, there was timelines. They were going they were doing. And then we get to Jackson Hole and people are like, should we like, go to the grocery store? We didn't go during peak season. We were there during off season. And so a lot of the town was closed. And so we're like, where do we go out to eat? We're just randomly walking around to see what restaurant is open.

Jasmine Star 00:11:26  And the Mangy Moose was where we ended up. But I have to tell you, it's those conversations around a lunch table that really transform how I'm thinking about my business. Everybody sits there and you just spitball and you're challenging each other, and then you're laughing, and then you're asking, hey, this is a pattern I've seen. So we've been together as a group for two years, and so it's been really cool to look across the table and be like, listen, this is not the first time you said something like this. What are you doing to change it? And so that level of dynamic has really been powerful for my growth. And so my biggest takeaways from that event was how to create strategic partnerships. You will see me creating strategic partnerships in 2025 if all goes well. Right. This is a laying bricks episode quarter for 2024. At the end of the Laying Bricks episode of quarter one, 2025. Not recorded. Still not even going this. I'm recording this at the top of January right now, and you're going to be hearing this like in a week or so.

Jasmine Star 00:12:21  And so I hope that at the end of quarter one, you will hear me tell you a really positive experience about a series of partnerships that really change the nature and the outlook of what I'm doing for creating content or not. I'm starting the work now. We'll see. But that kicked off in October. All of the groundwork that I needed to do to cultivate those relationships, to ask for a partnership here now in January 2025. The second biggest takeaway is I am even more convinced of the role of content and how it plays and makes differences in businesses. Here's why. There is this huge, gorgeous, beautiful lake by the Tetons. I didn't even know what the Tetons were. You guys, there's so much I don't know about this beautiful country. I am a city girl. I'm born and raised in Los Angeles. I had never been to Jackson Hole. It is gorgeous. I didn't even know what the Tetons were. I went there and I just all of a sudden it was like down this rabbit hole of what is this magical place and how are the trees this glorious.

Jasmine Star 00:13:21  And so we went to this place called Jenny Lake, and we were going to be hiking up to a waterfall now. Side note Blake. Blake is one of the co-founders of a company called Boom Pop, where they professionally organize corporate trips and events and for teams to go through. And so we're obviously like, Blake, this is what you do. So, hook us up. And so he's like, we're going to go on a hike, and he's like, you guys, it's going to be a chill hike. Not too long there and back to the waterfall. It'll be about an hour. So I go in like Nike high tops. Like, but not like Nike. I'm going in those old school slides, like the ones with no traction because I was like 30 minutes. Not going to be a big deal. Four hours later, I took no water. I took no snacks. Your girl without snacks for four hours is not a friendly person. You guys. We hiked and so I'm there and I'm like, okay, I have four hours with these guys.

Jasmine Star 00:14:11  We're gonna talk until every single person as we're walking around and I'm like, I'm asking, what are you doing with content? And we had an opportunity for me to speak into their business and saying, there's so much that you are sitting on, please take advantage because this is pure market differentiation. So I had eight conversations around content, and I am still, if not more than ever, convinced that content must be the thing that's going to change the game moving into 2025. And lastly, when I was there, one of the guys in my mastermind, his name is Adam Schaffer and he is a podcast host for a podcast called Mind Pump. Now, Mind Pump is one of the biggest health and wellness podcast period. Like they're the top of their space. And so after two years of being Adam's friend, we were there and we were talking and he's like, hey, I really think you should come on the podcast. And I was like, yes, please. What a win. Now, was I intimidated because, I mean, no one's looking to me for health and wellness, you know what I'm saying? At least not yet.

Jasmine Star 00:15:09  But being able to go in there and talk about building a personal brand in the health and wellness space and talking about things that people can do to change their lives to betterment. Talking about my health journey. It was a really cool experience. It debuted on my pump, and it was really cool to be exposed to a very large new audience. October 16th and 17th. Yes. About a couple of days later, in our quarter two Lane Bricks episode, I had explained that I was a mentor for an event called the Inc magazine and the UPS store. Small business challenge. So I was a mentor of this. And so I was able to mentor a business to talk about how they might succeed in a short amount of time so that they would be eligible for a $50,000 business grant. Well, when I went to the live event in Miami, this is back in quarter two. The editor in chief of Inc magazine was in the audience, and I had no idea that he was there. So he came up to me.

Jasmine Star 00:16:00  He introduced himself. Very nice guy. I said, thank you so much for this opportunity. Well, when they were planning the Inc 5000 conference, my name was dropped as a potential speaker. So it was very good and lovely that I had met the editor in chief. And so as my name was passed around as a potential speaker, I definitely think it was in great alignment. So JD Luna and I, we went to Palm Springs for the event. Now early that morning, I make sure that I work out 5 or 6 days a week. So when I'm on the road, I'm working out. I'm walking to the gym at this hotel and it's very, very dark. I think it's like 530 in the morning. The sun is not out and I'm walking and I see a gentleman walking ahead of me. And listen, as a girl who's walking in the dark and nobody else around, and I see somebody else in the front and he's carrying a water bottle, so I'm assuming he's going to go to the gym.

Jasmine Star 00:16:51  I start walking a little bit closer to him, so my mind will get you into the mind of my psychotic. I watch too many Dateline NBC episodes and I'm like, just in case I have to yell. There's another guy who looks like I'm going in the same direction. So it's like safety first. Like no stranger danger. So I'm kind of like walking a little close to him. And then unbeknownst to me, he turns around really fast and he's like, whoa, you scared me. And I was like, no, no, no, I can't scare you, bro. You gotta you gotta protect me. So we have this, like, kind of like short five minute conversation. We walk in and he introduced me to his wife. His wife was already at the gym working out. We said hello. I introduced myself, I thought she was just lovely, amazing, very strong entrepreneurs. And I was like, great, that's it. That's all I said. Well, when we're there, I go back, I get ready to ready to speak on stage? Let me set the stage because I'm about to step on the stage for you.

Jasmine Star 00:17:35  We are at a large hotel with a very large conference center. They have the main ballrooms. They have adjacent ballrooms where people are speaking. And so they said, Jasmine, this is going to be your point of contact at the event. So I put on my lanyard, my placard. I walk in, I'm at the trade show floor. I check in, I was like, hi, I'm here, I'm speaking. And they're like, okay, great. They're like, oh, we hope you're wearing comfortable shoes because you have a walk ahead of you. I was like, oh, okay. Are we going to be here in like the conference rooms? They're like, no, you're off site. And I was like, oh, Lord. So I'm escorted out of the conference center, out of the hotel itself, across a very hot pavement to a hanger of sorts. And there is nobody there. I walk in and there's three people in the room. Two of them are my videographers, a bunch of empty chairs and one person sitting in a chair, and you want to know who that person was.

Jasmine Star 00:18:34  The girl that I met at the gym that morning. So shout out to Cindy. Thank you for being the one person who's going to show up to this event. So this was not in my notes and I debated even saying it. But like, here we are. I will tell you that as a speaker in a new part of the world, I am not known as like an Inc magazine speaker. I was just nervous. I was like, not only am I in this room, that's literally a hike and a half to get to. Nobody is here at the venue right now. And so I think to myself, oh, this is embarrassing. So I actually went up to my videographer. I was like, okay, so the room looks a little bit empty. So how about you bring in the cameras a little bit and crop out that I'm not speaking to people. So we have a quick laugh. Whatever it is, what it is. Except for the fact that we went in and I knew that even if not a single person beyond Cindy showed up.

Jasmine Star 00:19:29  I knew that if nobody else showed up that my videographer was there. It's my responsibility to create content on behalf of my business, regardless of what is going on around me. And I told myself, Jasmine, if nobody else comes in this room, you have content. You will speak to empty rooms until the rooms become full. You will make podcasts that nobody else listens to. You will write blog posts that nobody reads. You will send newsletters. When people aren't opening email, you will send text messages that are left unread. You will do it until they start showing up. They start reading, they start engaging and they start responding. That was the commitment that I made. I made peace with it. So we start the event and the chairs in the front were about like half full. And I was like, here we go. And next thing you know, more people show up and then more people show up and then more people show up. And what I found out later was that people were tweeting and they were putting on Instagram Stories that they were enjoying this particular presentation.

Jasmine Star 00:20:34  And so it caused and they were using the hashtag for the event, and it caused people to walk outside of the venue to a venue that people didn't even know existed to be in the room. We ended up with a full house, and I don't say that for any other reason than saying if I was there for the full house, I would have been disappointed, but I wasn't. I was there to create the content until people came to the room on the 18th. Literally the next day I was on a flight to Scottsdale, Arizona where I met a woman by the name of Natalie Dawson. Now she is a co-founder for Ten Ventures. Now, I have to tell you, Natalie and I crossed paths about 3 or 4 years ago. I spoke at an event in San Diego and she was in the audience. I didn't know this at the time. Well, about a year and a half ago, she reached out and said, Jasmine, will you come on my podcast? That is how I met her.

Jasmine Star 00:21:21  And then I ended up having her on my podcast because she's phenomenal and she's bright and somebody who I'm just looking to as saying you're playing a different game. And so in quarter four, I decided to do a deep dive into what is the direction that I'm doing and how am I going to be building, and what do I need to do that's different than what has been. So I'm reaching out to very strategic people to say, what are you doing and how are you doing it? I literally sent her a text message and I was like, she's not going to say yes. She's so busy and she travels a ton. I'm like, chances are she's going to say no, but I sent it out anyway. And I said, listen, I'm going to be in Arizona. And I didn't actually tell this to Natalie, but maybe this is my time now. I said, I'm going to be in Arizona, and I'm going to be meeting with somebody who's business. I sit as an advisor. And I said, are you going to be around? And she said, yes.

Jasmine Star 00:22:09  Now, I had said I was going to be out there for that meeting. But what I didn't tell her was I had a choice of dates for that meeting. And whenever she was going to be available, that's when I was going to schedule the meeting. I was actually leading with prioritizing her time so I could get a yes. I was like, just give me the date because I could reverse engineer everything else, you know. And so she said, hey, I'm available on this date at this time. I said, great, I'm there. I literally booked a ticket that day. I reached out to their company. I said, hey, I'm going to be in Arizona. Let's have our quarterly advisement meeting in person. They said yes. Boom! Done locked it in. So I really, really, really went in with one question. I asked to meet because I told her I wanted to put myself out without attachment. I wanted to start building relationships, knowing that people were going to say no.

Jasmine Star 00:22:53  And in this case, she didn't. So I am walking up into this building, so I get an Uber. I'm walking up to this beautiful building. It's large and it's massive and I'm like, wow, what they're building and what they're doing is so different than what my version of reality is. So we sit down, we make small talk for a very short amount of time, and then we hit the ground running. So I spent with her about two hours talking about the nature of her business. And here's one thing that I really appreciated about her is she said, hey, Jasmine, I'm available to meet at this time. I said, great, I booked my tickets, no questions asked. And so then the day before she says, Jasmine, I'm able to meet for these two hours and then we can get a quick bite to eat after she literally set up a container of time and let me know when her availability was. I'm already learning from her by saying, I'll set the terms, and then I'll let you know in advance what I'm going to be available to.

Jasmine Star 00:23:41  So we spoke two hours about her business and all. I went in, I was just asking myself every single ten minutes, what am I learning? What could I incorporate from what she's doing and her lessons and what wasn't for me? What could I learn? What could I incorporate, and what wasn't for me? What was it like to hear and say that's not in alignment to the thing that I'm building right now? And I will tell you that it was so powerful to see the way her brain processes and works. So after lunch, I darted off to the airport. So I landed very early, had a meeting, Uber to her office, flew home, and then I got home to hang out with baby girl. And then I went to date Night with J.D.. I said, baby, I know we have a really busy week. I will be home for date night and I was, thank you very much. So then on the 22nd, on the 21st of the 22nd. So just two days later, I flew to Dallas for an event called the High Level Summit with a company called Go High Level.

Jasmine Star 00:24:43  They're actually not called Go High level. They're called High level, but people just refer to them as go high level. So now you hear it both ways. So I was hired to be their keynote speaker, and I was so honored and so impressed. I have been watching this company for years. I have been so focused on the founders. There's three founders. I just deep dive into their story. I want to know what they're about. I loved how they started off with a niche and then expanded into multi dimensions of their software. And so I knew that I wanted to learn from them as tech founders, and I was there as a keynote speaker. But the really cool thing about their venue was that I was able to come into the control room and watch their keynote sessions. From being in the audience, but above at the same time. So I sat and learned from them, I think three hours on the day that I was supposed to give a presentation, I was like, this is so valuable.

Jasmine Star 00:25:33  There's just no way that I cannot pay attention to what these people are sharing. So a lot happened at this event. So much happened at this event that I am creating. Another podcast I'm going to be sharing soon called The Three People Who Impacted my business the Most this year. So I'm not going to spend too much time here because there's a whole separate podcast coming from that. On October 29th, less than a week later, I spoke at Pasadena City College for a summit of business leaders and community leaders. Now it was called The Future of Work, and I was commissioned to give the keynote session. So they told me why I was asked because I felt like this isn't necessarily business, but it's called the future of work. Of all the people, they could be asking, why are they asking me? And they told me that I am of an underrepresented demographic in the business and the tech space. That hit me like pretty deep, because I was very humbled at the thought that they would see me in that light.

Jasmine Star 00:26:29  So they asked me, jasmyne, what can you share that will enlighten city officials, leaders, schools and government officials for how we need to train the next generation of people entering work? I shared the entire presentation on YouTube so you can go and definitely check it out. I'm also going to link it on the show notes. On November 5th, less than a week later, I was in San Jose to record what did I just talk about? That Mind Pump episode. I connected with Adam in October. I was in November Mind pump episode flying into San Jose. Now, I had mentioned in quarter two, I have invested in a podcast mentor and he told me, Jasmine, your main initiative is to get on other podcasts. He's like, growing a podcast is so difficult, but the best way to grow your podcast is by being a guest on other podcasts. So this opportunity to go on the Mind Pump podcast, which is not in my industry but is very large, was a very big honor.

Jasmine Star 00:27:26  So the team created a growth plan in a system. Okay. They had said, we want you to podcast with us. And then after can we talk shop about the systems that we're creating with our online content? I was so freaking honored because I have so much respect for these guys and the fact that they said, hey, we want you to speak into what it is we're doing. Just for a moment. Just for a moment. I'm just going to say, just for a moment, I give myself like, 10s to be like, dang, this feels really good. They see what it is you're doing and other people are seeing it. So shut up, keep your head down and still keep doing the work. On the way back home, get on a flight. I realized that I was left unsettled. The podcast was fine, like it went out. It's already been published. You can check it out on mine pump. But when I got on the plane, I realized something's just not right.

Jasmine Star 00:28:17  So I brought out my notebook and I just started writing. And I'm going to tell you the three biggest lessons that I left after this podcast. And they might not be what it is you expect. That number one, I realize that I need to contextualize my message for the listener. That is not a skill set that I had. I say the same thing the same way in every single thing. I am consistent. Great. But for an entirely new listener base who does not know who I am, that I'm not a standout in the fitness, health, and wellness world that I didn't contextualize for the listener. The second thing that I learned is I need to explain the benefits of my beliefs in a super simple way, because anytime you have a guest coming on a podcast, they're essentially saying, hey, how you see the world or the beliefs you have. There's a different way of seeing them. That's literally every podcast in the nutshell. That's exactly what it is they're saying. Any podcast, that's the goal of a guest.

Jasmine Star 00:29:15  And what I was saying was that these are the benefits I believe in, but I did not make it as simple as I could have and as I should have. And the third thing that I learned on this podcast was that I, as a podcast guest, I need to connect the dots for the listeners. I cannot expect a listener to connect the dots. And so I felt like I got home and it was like a little bit like I was so happy. But I was also bummed because I knew that I could have done better. Had I known what I needed to know. And you guys, I've been a guest on the podcast for years now, since 2020 was when I started being guest on podcast. So it's weird that in 2024 I'm just realizing, girl, you need to uplevel because you're playing a different game, and if you want to up level and play a different game, you want to be a guest on a podcast. Contextualize what it is for the listener. Explain the benefits in a very simple way, and you have to connect the dots for people.

Jasmine Star 00:30:07  Don't assume that they could follow along your journey or what it is you're proposing. So after I wrote those notes on the flight home, I put them into practice the very next day because on November 6th, I recorded a podcast with Ed Mylett. Now, I did my first Ed Mylett podcast in 2019. If you don't know who Ed is and you are a podcast listener, pick any two episodes that you want to listen from Ed. Hopefully you listen to mine and you will see what makes him so frickin magical. The guy is a built thinker, speaker, inspirational podcaster and so we have remained pretty good friends since 2019. I didn't know what I was meeting in 2019, and now I'm able to text editor and just thank him again and again for the impact that he's had in my life. So his podcast, he started in 2019, it's just blown up. It's just it's mass appeal. It goes to a very broad audience. And so he has like personal development. He has celebrities on his show.

Jasmine Star 00:31:07  He does health and wellness. I mean, it's the widest range. And yet he just finds a way to drill down. Who his target demographic is. So when Ed asked me, hey, Jasmine, can you be on my podcast? I moved everything around on that day because I was like, I am absolutely going to be on his podcast now. At the end of Ed's podcast, it hit so differently than at the end of the Mind Pump podcast. Why? Because I learned the lessons that I needed to learn. I literally said, Jasmine, you have to make the benefits easy. You have to connect the dots and you have to contextualize it for people. So at the end of that podcast, I felt really good, not because my message was different, but was because I distilled down what it is you do. So here are the results. The podcast debuted on December 10th, and it was one of the top three podcasts of all podcasts on December 11th. Now, I don't say that because I was the guest.

Jasmine Star 00:31:55  I can just literally say I saw a gap, I wrote lessons, I found a way to get better, and I have a long way to go. But this is something we can all do as entrepreneurs. What are we learning and what actions are we taking to move the ball down the field. Okay, so after that podcast, I had to write down the three lessons that I learned after that lesson. Number one process how we get better. Lesson number two take full ownership. The reason why the Mind Pump podcast didn't do as well as the Ed podcast was because I didn't have it together. That's my responsibility as a guest. And then lastly, get in the reps. Don't let a snafu or a fall or a misstep ever stop you from stepping into the next thing. So on December 12th, six days later, I flew to Napa with JT and Luna, and I was in Napa from the 12th to 16th and Brendan Burchard had a three day event. Now, this event was so incredible and I learned so much.

Jasmine Star 00:32:50  So don't hate me when I say I'm actually creating another podcast just so I can give you a full breakdown, because everything that I learned in terms of marketing and funnels and personal development, I needed to share it with you. And I can't just do it all because in this podcast was going to go on forever and ever. So that podcast is coming out soon, But I'm going to start by sharing what you can expect. You're going to see a new plan for my lead growth. You're going to see how I restructure my funnels, and you are going to see how I'm looking at my business in long term lead cultivation. So my goal is to share everything that I know so that we grow together. And I think that it definitely deserves its own podcast. So that is coming soon. So in the third week of November, I started creating social content for a launch that was coming out in January. So your biggest launch ever officially debuts on January 28th. Now, if you're following along with the math here, we started creating content for that launch ten weeks in advance.

Jasmine Star 00:33:45  In fact, it was like 11 weeks in advance. So we started creating this, and I've realized that the more I launch and the more I'm strategic with my marketing efforts, the better the results are. I think that so often it's like the longer I wait to create the marketing content, the more stressed and overwhelmed I feel. And then we're thinking things off the fly. And if we just start earlier with a strategy, everything starts pouring out better. At the time of this recording and when it debuts, ads will have already been started. And this is content that I had created literally months ago, but it was months within a strategy. So 99% of our launch content is done before we begin promotion at the time of this recording. And when you hear it, when it drops in a week, we will have already been going through promotion and all of that content had been done. So the biggest takeaway from what I've been learning again and again is launching that I want you to walk away with is anything is possible.

Jasmine Star 00:34:40  If there's a strategy and a plan that will empower you to do it correctly. When I think about the amount of content that the team and I have been creating, I think it's a freaking crazy. I think it's exhausting. But when you start it off, it's like sometimes people say, well, how do you eat an elephant? Well, you eat an elephant one bite at a time. If you're heading into a promotion, you're like, oh my gosh, this feels like an elephant. One bite at a time, baby. Take your content and plan for it strategically. On December 2nd, I had an interview with Inc magazine. Do you see how all of this starts coming and interweaving that? I started a project at the end of 2023 for the Small Business challenge that deployed at the start of 2024. The live event was in quarter two of 2024. Then I speak at an event in October, and then in December I get asked as an interview for Inc magazine. It's like when we talk about these bricks.

Jasmine Star 00:35:33  I had no idea that saying yes to a project would result in the things that it had. So this is the whole concept of laying bricks. You don't know what you don't know until it's in retrospect. So I was at the Inc 5000 event in October. I had already mentioned that. Now they reached out because they wanted to write two articles, and I'm going to be able to share these articles in the show notes, so keep your eyes peeled. But the two key takeaways was one. You never know who's in the room. I had no idea that a writer was in the room, and the presentation that I had given when I was in Palm Springs, and to have a crystal clear message so people know how to go deeper with you. The writer came to me with three very specific ideas and said of these three ideas, which two resonate with you? But the only reason she was able to do that because the messaging was very crystal clear. That is a message that I want to share with you, so that people know how to contextualize and ask you how you might empower them, and they might empower you.

Jasmine Star 00:36:24  So now we are on December 3rd. The fourth. I actually went to a Mergers and Acquisitions and Consulting for equity event in San Diego, California. Now I actually sent a newsletter. If you are not subscribed to my newsletter y'all, I share the tea every week. It's written by me. I sent it basically in real time. And so if you don't mind, I'm going to read that newsletter. But if you want to be on the weekly update, you can go to Jasmine star.com/subscribe and I'll be sure to link it in the show notes. But I'm going to read it here because it gets to the point the fastest. Welcome to the tornado that is my mind. Much like you, I'm sure you have a million things swirling and going around, and you're carefully trying to hold on to your basket, your Toto, your ruby slippers and all everything else in between. I saw wicked this weekend, so if I make Wicked or Wizard of Oz mentions, please ignore me. I'm slightly obsessed. Of the many thoughts that are going around, here are current ones that are floating to the top.

Jasmine Star 00:37:14  Pack your bags for tomorrow's San Diego event. Did I prep questions for today's Ink Magazine interview? Should I be wearing makeup for the interview? It's too late for that. Just stop caring. Send me a list of toddler activities to do in San Diego. I need to tell the team that I'll be vlogging my experience at tomorrow's event. Should I talk about tomorrow's San Diego event? Perhaps. But be forewarned. We're not walking down the yellow brick road. This. This is the Emerald City, the ultimate destination. I got a ticket to this event from a friend. As an. I wasn't exactly invited. Just call me the Cowardly Lion. Jumping at the chance to join Dorothy on her way to the Wizard. If you're hoping that I am going to drop the Oz references, please stop reading this now because we're only going to intensify the event focused on consulting for equity. I currently serve as an advisor for companies, but I want to learn more. And mergers and acquisitions. Financers. Investors and owners.

Jasmine Star 00:38:02  Oh, my. But here's the truth of the matter. I snuck into the back door. I was slipped a ticket from someone who received a formal invitation. I'll be the smallest munchkin in Munchkin Land. And that's exactly how I know it's the right room for me. When the opportunity landed in my lap, I didn't know what to say. I was like the rusted tin man with a mouth that didn't quite open. I squeaked out. Yes. But as I write this note to you, it feels more like a yes with a question mark. I am not sure I should be there. I am not certain I'll understand what they're talking about. I am not somebody that they typically invite. And that's why I want to vlog this event. I want to show you what it's like to be an outsider on the inside. I'm going to take my camera and document the path as I continue the Emerald journey. And you get to come too. We're off to see the wizard. Here's to us defying gravity.

Jasmine Star 00:38:47  I sent that as a newsletter, and that was a very long winded way to make a pitch to subscribe to my newsletter, but also a very long way to tell you that there is a is a vlog coming and it feels very open and vulnerable. And that vlog will not be shared on the podcast, so be sure to subscribe on YouTube for all of those good things that are coming up. And so I want to make sure and share everything I learned. It was so powerful and it was really life changing. On December 15th to the 19th, I was on a leadership retreat in Deer Valley. I was at Park City, Utah. I had never been before, and I have to tell you that JD and I had always dreamed this is a very personal thing and nobody really cares. But you want to know what? When you have these little like moments, you're like, I would really love to go there. JD and I had always said for years we would have really loved to go to the Montage Deer Valley.

Jasmine Star 00:39:35  But we don't ski. We don't snowboard in like we're brown, we don't hit the slopes. You know, it's like, I like to watch the slopes from the inside with a cup of hot cocoa. Yes. And amen. We always said we're going to go there, but it just had never come to fruition, except for the fact that Luna, who was four years old, kept on saying, I want to see the snow, I want to see the snow. And so it was the end of the year, and I told J.D., I really wish that I can get in the room with two key players on the team to really drill down exactly how 2025 is going to unfold. Like, yes, we have a plan, but I want to drill down the exact steps, the exact timeline, the clearest path. And he said, well, why don't we? I said, why don't we? What? It's like, why don't we get in a room? And I said, oh, it's right before the holidays, I don't think we should do it.

Jasmine Star 00:40:19  And he said, just ask if they would like to be in the room. And he said, but, but make it really incentivizing. I was like, okay, send them a slack message. Five minutes later, they said, we'll see you in Park City. We were going to Park City. However, I was like, we're not going anywhere in Park City. We have to go to Montage Deer Valley because Bucket List baby. And so we went two days before so that Luna can experience what it is to be in the snow. And I have to tell you, when we arrived, you guys, it was so idyllic. It literally felt like a contemporary version of every Christmas movie. We needed special tires for people who live in the snow. You think this is normal for me? I was like, special tires. We need special tires. You have to have special tires. We're driving up into the snow and there's flurries going around. I have never seen it snow in my life.

Jasmine Star 00:41:00  I've seen snow. I've never seen it snow. So I'm screaming in the car like, oh my God, it's snowing. What is this? And Luna is just like, what life are we in? We get to the hotel and we're watching outside the windows as we're dining, as there's snow swirling around us. And all I thought to myself was, this is the dream. It might not be your dream, but it was my dream come to fruition. It was me. It was my daughter. It was business, it was pleasure and it was dreaming. And it was ideation. And it was. How fast can you say something and make it a reality? The question was, why can't you get in the room? And I told myself a story. It's too much. It's the holidays, it's this. But you do not get what you do not ask for. So being able to watch my daughter and my husband build a snowman. Now I have to tell you, y'all, we were so ill prepared.

Jasmine Star 00:41:51  Who the heck wears jeans in the snow? We do. We didn't have clothes. And so then I get to the hotel and I'm like, oh my gosh, we're like, my daughter's perpetually wet. So I went to the hotel and I was like, so tell me, how do I rent snow gear? And they're like, you actually have to have it shipped in. And normally people are planning this like six weeks in advance. And I was like, oh, I planned this trip like five days in advance. So what we did was we just let our daughter, we literally put on pleather boots and jeans and I was like, have at it, baby girl. Just get soaking wet, get freezing. We're gonna do what it is we do. And we brought her in. We put her in the bath and then we put. We just dried her clothes in front of the fireplace. I was like, basically Laura Ingalls Wilder. This was little House on the Prairie. I was just roughing it.

Jasmine Star 00:42:30  No, I'm just kidding. By the time the team arrived, we had such a good sense of family time that I was ready to dig in and do the work. And so I wanted to blend my business and personal goals. And as far as the business is concerned, I did it again. You're going to hear me say this word. I created a vlog around this because I wanted to show you how we plan for our 2025. And so you're going to see behind the scenes. So you're going to go there with us. So be sure to again subscribe for YouTube for that. I'm going to be sharing that in February. So right now that brings us to January 2025. And I want to end this episode because I've never had the opportunity to actually forecast. Usually the laying bricks episode are this is what we did this quarter. I'm recording this in January and in just a couple of weeks, we are launching your biggest launch ever, and I'm going to say it and I have no attachment to it.

Jasmine Star 00:43:21  It feels really good. I believe that launching your biggest launch ever is going to be our biggest launch ever. And we've put in the reps and we've done the work, and we had the strategy and we made the plan, and we've taken the mistakes that we've learned and the lessons that we learned. And we've made some three pretty significant changes to the offer, to the level of support and to the overall messaging. I don't think that I would be able to say that as confidently as I did, having not, like, stuck a fork in a socket in 2024. I think that I learn best by just tumbling again and again and again and finding a way to get up. So I sit now and saying, listen, you have no attachment. You've already won. There's no way we can lose. We only learn. But for all intents and purposes, you've won. So where my head is now is play. Play the game. Have some fun. Figure out how you can break things and make them better.

Jasmine Star 00:44:17  How do you support people in a new and entirely different way? How do you create space for the life you want to live and the passion you feel? You've been called on this earth to do. My word of the year is flow f l o w and all I feel going into this launch is flow. But I know that the only thing I can expect is the unexpected. So when the unexpected happens because it is coming, I am not excited for it. I dread it. It's coming. But when it comes, I get to choose how I want to show up in it. And this year, it's flow. I want to say thank you for listening and watching the Jasmine Star Show. The Laying Bricks episode is just all of my thoughts and lessons. Scribble down if it feels like it's all over the place. Welcome to my head. And if you feel like you would like to continue on this process in 2025, please let us know. Leave a comment, shoot us an email, help at Jasmine's store or more than anything.

Jasmine Star 00:45:14  Share this episode on social media. Better yet, better yet, better yet? Share it with a friend. If you're like, hey, I really think that it's interesting watching a person get kicked in the teeth a few times over and then find a way to keep on going and show how long the journey to success actually is versus what it looks like. Send it to that person. I want to say thank you. I want to say Happy New Year. I know it's too late in the year to say Happy New Year because you have to say it like before January 4th, I don't care, I don't care. Happy freaking New Year. I look forward to continuing on this journey with you. Thank you again.