Hi there. Welcome to the Jasmine star show where we talk about everything from life, turning your passion into purpose, business and everything on the in between . I'm your host, a photographer and business strategist from Newport beach, California.
Speaker 2Yup . [inaudible] .
Speaker 1I don't know about you, but when I was in high school I felt misunderstood. I mean, I didn't feel misunderstood in that like rebel without a cause kind of way just in like that teenage anx type of way. So I was really studious. I was class president, I played basketball, I was co-captain of the varsity cheer squad. I have no idea why I was a cheerleader. I literally, I look back and I'm like, girl, why you can't even do a toe touch either way. I tried out for the squad and I made it, but the life I lived at home was really different than the life that I lived at school. My dad was an immigrant who came from Mexico when he was 12 years old and my grandmother took under the table jobs in sweatshops in downtown Los Angeles while my dad and his siblings hid in a basement apartment for months. By the time a neighbor enrolled my dad into school, he learned his English from watching television all day. When he got to high school, my dad was fluently speaking English but didn't know how to properly write it and had missed years of math classes since his hiding in the basement type of days. So as a result, he flunked out of most of his classes, but somehow graduated from Roosevelt high school in East Los Angeles. Shortly after my dad graduated high school, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and this was during the height of the Vietnam war. So when he came back, he earned his us citizenship and then he later sponsored his family. It was about this time that my parents met at East Los Angeles college. I don't want to throw anybody under the bus, but like my parents didn't meet at East LA college. They met at an East LA college party. What they hate when I mentioned that, because my parents are so super conservative and they're like, party, what's partying? Sorry, mom, sorry dad. Um, it's just the truth. So my mom's family moved to Los Angeles from the beaches of Puerto Rico where she came here and then she kind of just meandered her way through high school. So during my senior year of high school, I felt like my parents and I spoke entirely different languages. S a T GPA, honors, AP, valedictorian, FAFSA applications. I know they tried their best, but they didn't really know how to help me get to college. And because of this, I just felt really alone. Okay. So here's where the real talk starts. I didn't know what back then, but I was choosing to feel alone. I was choosing to feel misunderstood. I was choosing to believe that I was the only person who struggled with this. And I want to be very careful that you hear what I just said. I was making a choice. I could've easily have chosen to think that I wasn't alone and I could've easily have chosen to think that I wasn't misunderstood. I could have found other people like me who faced similar familial and cultural challenges. And then maybe I could have asked them for advice. I could have worked harder at explaining why I felt misunderstood and alone, but I didn't. I chose to believe otherwise. And the crazy thing is I actually see this happening a lot on social media. I mean, it's tempting to think that what we're going through isolates our story from others that , I've always known this, but a few weeks ago I sent a newsletter to my subscribers and it was solid proof that we are so connected by our difficult similarities with others, but we just don't share it out of fear of what other people will think. So let me read the email to set the stage and then I'll follow up with what happened as a result of sending this newsletter.
Speaker 3You ,
Speaker 1I have this dream that comes to me when I least expect it. It's a dream on repeat, but something I enjoy. The minute I wake up, I'm sitting on the sand in new port beach surrounded by hundreds of clear glass bottles in my hands is a stack of tiny papers and I'm feverishly scribbling notes and stuffing them into nearby bottles. You've come too far to stop. Now it's time to dig deep and push through. Get back up. God has your back. Your success will silence their doubts. Enjoy the journey. In my dream, I throw the bottles into the ocean with the hope. My messages find their way to someone who needs it. Today as you read this, my dream is becoming a reality. I'm sending you this note in hopes you remind yourself that I'm standing on the edge of an ocean rooting you on. Imagine me waving to you from the shore promising it will be okay. Your work will pay off. Your efforts are not in vain. You've got this. I hope you find this message in a bottle and remember that you're not alone. I'll continue writing notes on paper so you find them as you sail towards your success. When I sent this newsletter, our customer success team and I read through every email responds to it and there was this massive outpouring. In fact, our customer success architect, her name is Felicia, you'll love her. She's amazing. She had created a spreadsheet to catalog the responses so we could find commonalities. We're very nerdy on our team, but we understand that when we understand people who are listening to podcasts or reading our newsletters, the better we can serve them. So after we found these commonalities, I discovered that there was so many of them were connected. And so here are a few of the responses, but I want to take a note and let you know that all of the emails shared very common threats . Now I've changed the names to the people who are on these emails because I want to respect their privacy , but these are actual responses we got to. Nika said, fear seems to always be present in hard to push down. Jenny said, I know it's not in vain in my hard work will pay off, but man, it's hard to see it. Jennifer said, work has been tough and draining for the past couple of weeks and this just reignited some excitement that I used to have. Kristen said, I've had an embarrassing time lately and I just feel like throwing in the towel on my dreams and my goals. What is the point? Life sucks. And then you die. Why even bother trying to live into this vision? What a joke. It'll never happen. I know. Super positive outlook on life, isn't it? But that's why I appreciate this message so much right now. It's a great reminder that we never know when what we share will help someone in need. And tonight I was the one in need and it has helped me place my soul in a place that I desperately needed to be right now. Can you believe that this newsletter was sent to hundreds of thousands of people and like so many of us felt the same, but would we have ever known? What I'm saying is this life and business is all about choices. We could choose to believe that we're alone or we could choose to reach out and let people into our story. And when we do this, we understand that it's a lot more common than we think. We can ask for help and we can share insights and we can use lessons to help others. It's totally our decision. The biggest choice though, is to decide to succeed. Now, I have to be very clear and let you know that success doesn't necessarily mean that you've received like awards or accolades or you have this like fatty bank account. Oh , you know successes in, Oh, I have a big team. It's nothing to do with Instagram followers or Facebook followers or YouTube subscribers. I believe that success is so far from those things because those things don't matter. The best decision that you can make for your business is to decide to succeed in whatever success means for, you know , maybe success means that you take a two week vacation per year with your family to relax and unplug. Maybe success means closing your laptop at 5:00 PM every day and spending the evenings with your friends or taking Sundays off to recharge. Maybe success means that you have the time and the energy to volunteer at your favorite charitable organization. Whatever it is, the best decision you can make for your business is to decide to succeed and succeed on your terms. So tell me, friend, what do you choose today? I would love to hear from you. So if you think others need to hear this message screen, grab this podcast and share it on Instagram stories or on Facebook. The more we collectively highlight the truth of our journey, the less alone we make ourselves and the less alone we make others feel. You can find me at social media, at Jasmine star, or to remain audio buddies. Feel free to subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss a single episode.
Speaker 2[inaudible] .