Quarter One Review: How I’m “Laying Bricks” to Build Relationships and Open Up New Opportunities

Tell me if you can relate to this…

When I get obsessed with something, I start to see a new level of results. But I have to fully immerse myself into that ONE thing and give it my all.

You see, being obsessed helps you narrow down your focus and allows you to dedicate more mental energy (and time) to make quicker progress.

In this episode I’m spilling the tea on my latest obsession, what I’ve learned and realized in quarter one, and the most creative way I’ve ever pitched myself to be on a podcast. (spoiler alert: the crazy podcast pitch worked!)

Click play to hear all of this and…

(00:00:16) THIS is how I know I’m about to level up.

(00:02:18) The decision (and mindset shift) I made that’ll help grow my podcast.

(00:04:21) What the numbers showed me when I analyzed my podcast data.

(00:06:12) The experiment I did that helped set me up for future success.

(00:08:04) The absolute BEST way to network.

(00:13:45) The most interesting thing I learned in Lake Tahoe while spending time with a group of male entrepreneurs.

(00:19:06) The most creative way I’ve ever pitched myself to be a guest on a podcast.

(00:21:49) The reason I’m glad I attended a mastermind while in the midst of a promotional period (even though I wasn’t sure about it).

(00:27:11) The thing everyone wants to avoid even though it helps you grow.

(00:29:44) The emotional rollercoaster I went on and how it ended.

(00:34:11) How I started finding a balance between work and relaxation.

(00:35:16) Why you should reflect on your past experiences and consider them as necessary steps to building.

Resources Mentioned:

1. Listen to The Framework You Need When You Pivot with Sam Parr >>HERE<<.
2. Listen to Investing, Fundraising, and Podcasting: How Perseverance Leads to The Greatest Successes with Josh Muccio >>HERE<<.

For full show notes, visit:

https://jasminestar.com/podcast/episode421

Transcript

Jasmine Star (00:00:01) - It's a. It's.

Jasmine Star (00:00:16) - Welcome to the Jasmine Star Show, where we talk about life, business and mindset and everything in between to live a life you not only love but deserve. So I want to start with something a little bit different and if it tanks, I have zero attachment to it. What? We've started noticing that with the podcast at the top of 2024, I was listening to a podcast and the podcast host, his name is Sam Parr, and he said that any time he became obsessed with something is when things really took off in his life and business, and it caused me to think about times in my past where I had become obsessed with things. And it was true. Whenever I became obsessed with something, I found a way to win on my own terms. So the first time I became obsessed with something, it was with photography. I had dropped out of law school. I became so obsessed with photography that I would like eat, breathe, dream, sleep photography, and it caused my learning curve to be very, very, very sharp.

Jasmine Star (00:01:13) - And then the next time I became obsessed with learning something, it was the art of digital marketing and creating online resources. I became obsessed with it, and then the next iteration was becoming truly obsessed with learning how to build a tech company, SAS software, as a service. Every time I became obsessed with something, my learning curve is super freaking sharp. And so at the top of 2024, I was asking myself, what am I obsessed with? In the answer was, I had no idea. It had been a few years and I actually felt it in my bones. I felt like there was a missing piece, and it wasn't until that conversation stopped me in the tracks and I had to realize, I'm not obsessed, and I'm not moving forward on any one thing making casual small steps. So I took about a week asking myself what I wanted to become obsessed with. And so wherever you're at right now, take some time and figure out what do you want to become obsessed with? And so I made a big, bold declaration in January that I was going to become obsessed with my podcast.

Jasmine Star (00:02:18) - If I'm being very honest, the podcast started off as a labor of love. In November 2018, we dropped our first episode of The Jasmine Star Show, and we had received over a million downloads in the first five months, and we knew that there was something special about it, but we actually didn't know what we were doing. And so if you flash forward to the top of 2024, we still didn't know what we were doing, we were creating and we were consistent and we were iterating, but we didn't know what we were doing. And so I thought to myself, if we got this far, not really knowing what we were doing, what would it look like if we knew what we were doing? So I set out to find a podcast mentor. I started listening to other podcasts about podcasting. I decided to go all in with our film crew because I want to grow my podcast on audio outlets as well as video. We're making a big move in YouTube, and so for me, building out the podcast became my obsession and and I told the team that by quarter two of 2024, I wanted to move from dropping two episodes a week to three episodes a week.

Jasmine Star (00:03:27) - Now we are a tiny but mighty team, but that was a big ask. Like, we wanted to increase our output by 33% and not change anything with the team structure. That was a big ask, but the team said, okay, we're down to try. And so on the back of this, we are adding a third episode a week now. If you've been following along with the podcast for a while, you will notice that we do a solo episode. That's just me on my own, and then we do a guest episode that has been the cadence. And when I went back through, we studied the analytics for the past two years. And you guys, we got in the weeds. I was looking at completion rates. I was looking at the top three podcasts, the lowest three podcasts, and we broke them down by quarter. We said, do longer episodes do well? Do shorter episodes do well? If I'm doing a solo, is it a mindset? Is it a business? So we were trying to figure out based on data alone, what was the best performing podcast.

Jasmine Star (00:04:21) - But here's the tricky thing. All of our data showed that everybody's kind of consuming the same thing at the same amount. And so I looked at that data and I was like, it's inconclusive. But my podcast mentor looked at it and said, Jasmine, that's atypical and job well done. That means that your audience trusts you enough that when you bring on a guest, if you do something solo, if you do something business, if you do something mindset, if you do something personal that people are showing up in the same capacity, he's like, so now we need to ask them, what do they want more of? So in light of us asking what you want more of, this is me clearly letting you know that my inbox, my DMs, they're nice and open for you. Tell me what you like more. Do you like the business conversations? Do you like mindset? Do you like a particular type of entrepreneur? And so on that note, I am doing a very personal podcast and I'm inviting you today, right now to.

Jasmine Star (00:05:15) - Try something new with me. And I think that what I have done on the podcast is unintentionally and unknowingly. I tell stories only in retrospect. So I talk to you about a really cool event. I talk to you about something I learned. I talk to you about something I taught about on stage, which is great and it's fine, but what I'm not talking about is the idea that brick by brick we build into the next level. What are the actual bricks that I'm laying now so that in a year or ten years, if you're listening to this podcast, you don't have a question of how it happened. You're not second guessing. You're not like, that's a lucky girl. She just is lucky. No, I want you to see that I have the willingness and the chutzpah to do things that you can do to. Quite honestly, I am not special. I am not gifted. I am not lucky. I am not set apart. I'm just a person who is unattached to trying new things and letting the data speak to me.

Jasmine Star (00:06:12) - So on that note, this is a new experiment. What I did was I looked back and I said, If I'm going to be obsessed with the podcast in 2024, oh well, at the same time, continue to build my business and iterate and support the team and grow, all while doing all of that. What would it actually look like? What am I doing now that at the end of the year I will look back on and say, those are the things that changed. But the crazy thing is, you don't actually know in the moment what you're doing and how it will play out. So what I decided to do this year is an experiment. Once we pass a quarter, maybe like a month later, I'll look back on the previous quarter and see what had happened. So from January all the way through March, that is quarter one. So I had some time to look back and say what happened in January, February and March that the future version of me will look back and say, thank you for laying the bricks.

Jasmine Star (00:07:08) - Thank you for laying the foundation for the skyscraper that you want to build. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to bring you on that journey. I'm going to walk you through the eight events that happened in quarter one. I didn't say 88. Now, some people might have one event and that's really fine. Some people might have 80. For me, there were eight things that I think or I hope will have an impact at the end of the year and at the end of the decade. So I'm going to bring you along those journey. If you have questions like leave them in the comments or shoot me a DM. All right. So starting with January 2024, on January 10th, I flew to Florida and I had a co-host podcasting session with my good friend Jan Gottlieb. Now, the thing about the co-hosting sessions that I'm very interested in is how do I expand my network? By giving value? Because I see a lot of business owners and they're like, how do I expand my network? How do I collaborate, how do I do different things? Which is awesome.

Jasmine Star (00:08:04) - But when you're only saying, how do I get that? What you failed to add into that equation is what can I give? How do I give 51% in order that hopes on the hope that somebody might give something small in return. So this idea from having my co-host decided how do I expand my network, but also giving. So I invited Jen to a studio in Miami, and she invited five people to come and be guests on my podcast. And so what I wanted to do was I really wanted to start building networks on the East Coast. I'm a West Coast girl. I largely say my network is definitely West Coast. I wanted to start building out a network out there, which is why I chose Miami and Jen lives in Miami. Then what I wanted to do is I wanted to think about future things that would have a return on investment, like, how do I build a Miami network? How do I build a Boston network, a DC network, a New York network? How do I build those networks that would in turn help me in the future connect with other people? So then I thought, could I find future guests of my podcasts by the guests that Jen introduced me to? I'm inviting Jen to make introductions so that hopefully, who knows at some time in the future if I go back to Miami, I have people to pull on in order to incorporate them into my podcast and network.

Jasmine Star (00:09:20) - When we were in Miami, Jen introduced me to one of the guests invited, her name is Kim Patel. Now Kim is a gangster. Y'all go back and listen to Kim's episode. She is a 100 millionaire, 100 millionaire, 100 millionaire. Yeah, I think that's the right word. See, you're growing even there. She's very, very strategic. She's wealthy. She's an investor. She's brilliant. She creates content. She's so well-spoken. She talks about the grit. She was a guest. I frickin fell in love with her. And I wanted to know that her as an investor, I thought to myself, she's probably going to be a key person who might help me make introductions to other business owners in Miami. She's located in Miami, so I was like, if I ever come back to Miami and I want to do the podcast again, I would love to ask him to see if she might be able to make introductions. So that was something I lodged away and didn't think about. I was on social media, I was following her and I had sent her a DM.

Jasmine Star (00:10:12) - Just we engage with each other. And then she had said. Jasmine. Are you familiar with Jeanette? Junie is Junie. And I said, yeah. I followed Jay and Radhika Shetty. That's their iced tea line. And she's like, oh, I'm an investor in Junie. Can I send you a box? And I was like, sure, I would love it. So that when I was promoting Kim's episode on my podcast, I opened up a can of Junie. So what I am trying to do is I'm thinking about ways of adding value. Yeah. Kim was a guest on my podcast and yes, we sent her collateral and yes, she gets to have the videos and all of the social content as a small thank you, but what could I do to start creating more visibility for what she's investing in and who she is and the people she run with? Okay, it's just one tiny break on January 11th, the day after I was in Miami for an event called The Pitch, I did a podcast with Josh mucho.

Jasmine Star (00:11:05) - Listen to that podcast to get the backstory of why I was in Miami. I also created a vlog. So if you are watching on YouTube, watch the vlog because it gives a lot of behind the scenes and gives insight into how you could be pitching to other investors. And if you're listening to the podcast, go over to YouTube and you are missing the goods on the YouTube. Okay, so when I was at the event, I wanted to apply the same reasoning. When Jen, my co-host, brought in people, I thought to myself, how do I add value to create connections? I applied this same philosophy at the pitch event, so when I was there, I kept asking myself, how do I add value? How do I add value? Because I am. I know you wouldn't believe it. I am a very high introvert, very high. I am quiet in most situations. I have my back against the wall. I am a watcher. I'm a looker. I am not the center of attention.

Jasmine Star (00:11:53) - So when I go to events like this, I don't know how to jump into conversations. It's just not me whatsoever. However, when I think how can I add value? I have a distinct way of coming in and doing what I do. So I was listening to the business owners who were pitching to the investors. I was listening to the investor conversations when they weren't recording, but they had audio piped into the room that we were watching. And I thought to myself, I should say this thing to that investor. I should make a recommendation for that for this business owner. Oh, I think I have like a go to market strategy. That would be really helpful for them. I want nothing in return. I just want to make sure that I'm giving value. So at the end of that day at the pitch, I followed up the following day to Josh and his wife Lisa, and I sent them my own video footage and I said, hey, there is a clip that I think that you guys put out, and they were really trying to build out their network on LinkedIn.

Jasmine Star (00:12:44) - And I said, if you post this video on LinkedIn and you explain what the pitches about and the value that it brings to people, I really think this would be a powerful piece of content. And they responded generously. They said, thank you so much. We really appreciate you being there. That was a brick. If we flash forward to March of 2024, I got an email from Josh and Lisa and they said, we're going to be recording the pitch in California. Would you like to go? And the answer was yes. I didn't know in January that laying that brick would have an impact on a future invitation. Third event in quarter 1st January 25th, I went to Lake Tahoe and it was a like ski snowboard trip. But like, your girl is brown, like I've. I've never been on snow with anything other than like shoes. So please do not give me a board. Do not give me a ski. I will break my face. But I went because I wanted to get uncomfortable.

Jasmine Star (00:13:45) - And the group I went with. There were a total of eight guys and myself now. I met these guys through a executive coaching program called Hampton, and we've been working together for a year. Y'all. Like we've known each other personally professional. We have torn each other's businesses apart and then we have helped rebuild them. Like, I feel like these guys are some of the best solid gentlemen and it is an honor to build alongside them. So we just decided let's all just get together, like all of us. Let's just get together. So one of the guys in our cohort, his name is Adam. Adam has a house in Lake Tahoe, and the house is, like, gorgeous. It's massive. It's like nine bedrooms, like 87 bathrooms. It's like. It's like an amazing place. So we all went. Everybody had their own space in his house, and we just decided to get together for three days and talk shop. And the reason why I was going and the reason my biggest takeaway was at the time I think about this will be a brick in my future.

Jasmine Star (00:14:42) - In what way? I don't know yet, but I can tell you I walked away from that event and all they challenged me to do was think bigger. They kept on saying yes, Jasmine, but bigger, and I didn't know until being around them that I was limiting myself to how big I could think. You should never limit yourself to how big you can think. You should only ever think as big as the other people who are thinking the biggest in the room. I have been in rooms where I thought I was a big thinker. Until I got into that room and I realized I need to think, behave and do things differently. A brick was laid. I don't know what it is quite yet, but I will look back at that trip and say they were the people who forced you out and into something new. Another thing was that I learned in Lake Tahoe with them. That's going to change. Me as an entrepreneur is we lived in the same house for three days. I was the only girl, and I have to tell you that guys eat and behave differently.

Jasmine Star (00:15:43) - Like, I know that's not like a new thing, but just think about like a group of entrepreneurs who all hail from like biohacking university. And I say that as a joke. I'm really I'm so intrigued. I'm fascinated. I have learned so much like y'all. We would spend hours talking about eating and sleeping and rejuvenation. And I mean, you guys, they were talking about everything that was they eat differently. We went into the house and you could tell that this was like a guy's trip, because I opened the fridge and there's like a packet of mustard and like 87 Celsius. And I was like, So we didn't do a grocery run, but I was the only girl, so I was not going to be like, are we going to have snacks? Because then all of a sudden, if you're like, name it and claim it. So then all of a sudden I'm asking about snacks. Who's going to go get the snacks? The girl. No, no, I was not going to do that.

Jasmine Star (00:16:32) - So I was just like, I literally I had to heaven. I can't believe I'm actually saying this on the podcast. I had this old bag of almonds at the bottom of my suitcase. They probably been there since, like the Clinton administration. I have no idea. But I opened up these almonds and I was like, praise baby Jesus, there's food. There's food in this house. And so I'm eating old almonds cause I'm just like, I'm not gonna break. Like, these guys ain't breaking. They're all big buff, all that whole thing. Like, they're not hungry. I will not be hungry. So I ate my almonds. And then we went to. We went out to dinner at the Ritz-Carlton in. I think it's called Truckee. I don't know, something like that. So it's just off the slopes and we're there. And I have to tell you, many of them don't drink alcohol. And so we're there and everyone's like, oh, I'll have the finest bottle of sparkling water.

Jasmine Star (00:17:13) - And we're ordering our meal and they're talking about their protein intake for the day. They're like, oh yeah, we're not hitting our protein. And I was just like, okay, one, I like protein too. I'm also like a pescatarian. And so I was like, I'll have the fish. And the guys are like, who's doing the tomahawk? I thought they were joking. And they're like, okay, great. Everybody orders. And then they're like, we'll have two tomahawks for the table. I was like, we all have an entree. And the guy's got two tomahawks. No. Do you guys know what a tomahawk is like? It's like £487 of cow in a bone. And they just put it on the table and everybody ate it. I was just like, I am literally eating with Vikings. I was fascinated, but they were so hellbent on hitting their protein that they just did it. And I thought to myself, interesting. You're hellbent on hitting a number and then you just do it.

Jasmine Star (00:18:06) - Interesting. Interesting. I learned from them how they think and how they act, because it's one thing to sit on a call with these guys once a month for two hours and hear them talk. It's another thing to sit with him for three days and see how they talk and act. And so there was a couple things that had happened on that trip that I felt like, okay, this is a brick. And so I set up three calls after that trip with three different guys who I was like, I need to dig deeper and figure out like how they're thinking, and then ask them a couple questions in relation to the business I want to build. So. The fourth event in quarter one. The fourth of eight was on February 1st. Okay, let's go back to January 11th. That's the day that I'm going to go to the pitch, but I work out six days a week. So when I'm on the road, I'm working out as well. I woke up really early. I was listening to the podcast while I was working out at the gym, and as I'm listening to her podcast, I have a bunch of questions about what she's talking about, and she was talking about building her business to eight figures.

Jasmine Star (00:19:06) - And I was like, oh man, I wish I could ask her this question. I wish I could ask you this question. So then what did I do? I took a picture of myself, like literally a selfie of myself at the gym listening to her podcast, and then I just added that little sticker. Anyways, we're not going to get into what exactly I did, but the DM showed receipts of me listening to her podcast and I was like, I have a terrible idea and I'm unattached to the idea, so can I pitch you my terrible idea? And then she responded and said, yes. I said, here's my terrible idea that I'm completely unattached to. Can we have a podcast together where I ask you the follow up questions to your own podcast that I think if I have these questions, other people have these questions. And I said, but I know that you're not really taking podcast interviews right now, but I know that you go on to walk every day. Could the podcast be you and I walking and it's a walking podcast, so you would be walking anyway.

Jasmine Star (00:19:54) - But now we get it recorded for my podcast. And she agreed. January 11th we're in Florida. So then I pitch her February 1st, because JD and I and Luna are going to be in Las Vegas on February 1st. We adopted Luna on February 2nd, 2020. So we go back every year on February 2nd and we celebrate the day we became a family. Layla lives in Vegas, so I was like, let's just fly in a couple of days earlier than the second I could podcast with Leila on the first and then the second, third and fourth are just like our family weekend, she agreed. I was like, I'm going to walk with Leila Hermosa. We're going to have part two. So then all of a sudden it rained like torrential downpour and I was like, you've got to be kidding me. I had our videographer flying in that morning to Las Vegas and we're watching the weather and I'm like, dang it. And so then her head of content says, hey, we have to call the shoot.

Jasmine Star (00:20:48) - We're not going to do it. I said, no problem, because what else do you say? Of course you say no problem. And so instead of looking at it as a missed opportunity to not lay a brick, what I told myself is when you get to podcast with her again in the future, it's going to be better that this is happening for you. So I was bummed, but I wasn't deterred. Okay, now we're in the month of February, the fifth event for what I believe. Quarter one just laying bricks. That's what I hear laying bricks during our launch promotion. So we started a launch in February and we ended it in March. We started promoting. We have a three week promotional period, and at the same time, I met with a group of women for an in-person mastermind in Laguna Beach, California. Now, I think that it's a little bit crazy to do a mastermind when you're in the middle of a promotion. I think it was pretty crazy, but the reason I was doing it was I thought to myself, the future version of me wants to learn from these women to uplevel my launching strategies.

Jasmine Star (00:21:49) - Like, where's my brain in the middle of it? What's going on? So that I can then ask questions and get insights and feedback from really incredible people. So I decided to go, and what I was expecting was, oh, I'm going to be getting like real time insane launch feedback, which of course I did. But I also allowed space for bigger thinking. Again, what is the pattern here? You think as big as you allow yourself to dream? But when you're around other people who just think that anything is possible, you then start believing that anything is possible. Like your your definition of anything changes. I've always believed that anything is possible. Like my dad came to this country from Mexico and he is ingrained from us from birth. You're in the land of dreams. You're in the land of milk and honey. If you don't have what you don't want, it's because you didn't work for it. That's America. That's. And I was raised to believe this. And so all of a sudden I think anything is possible.

Jasmine Star (00:22:38) - But then all of a sudden you start redefining what anything means. And being around these people allowed me to lay a brick to say that your new version of anything can exist. And being around these people, I realized that crazy isn't so crazy when you get other people to do it with you and you just don't feel like you're alone, that somebody says, are you guys, I think this is crazy. And we're like, that's not crazy, you'll kill it. The fifth brick, fifth event out of eight. That really changed what happened in quarter one. We were in our cart open. So during the promotion we say you can now buy. And that cart open period was eight days. During these eight days I took a consulting session. Now here's the thing. I don't actually actively promote my consulting sessions. I do them sparingly and with a lot of strategy behind it. I was approached for a consulting session, and I knew it was going to be a great opportunity because I really wanted to talk to this person.

Jasmine Star (00:23:32) - This person has a behemoth of a business, and he had been watching things that I'd been doing online. He had seen. Speak, and his team reached out to the team and said, can we set up a session? And this is the one day he's available? And I was like, I know it's crazy, you guys. We're in the middle of card open. I need to take this meeting. And so I did. So we got together to talk about his go to market strategy, how they need to change opportunities. And then I broke down his marketing and sales funnel. And I was there with his team and his chief of staff, and we broke it down. And then a crazy thing happened in that conversation. He said, jasmyne, can your team take over our marketing? And I was like, I'm sorry, I don't I don't think I understand, he said. We hire agencies to do what you do. Can we hire you? And I was like, I, I don't want to build an agency.

Jasmine Star (00:24:20) - I, I do not want to build an agency. So my answer was no. I was like really clear. I was like, no, that's not what I want to do. That's not where I'm at. And then he has a question that I think maybe, maybe in the future might change the way I look at all business. And he said, what would it take? He said, what would it take for you to say yes? And I said, can we talk in a month? And so that's what's going on. We're setting up a meeting, and I get some time to figure out what would it take to become involved in a behemoth of a company and take things over. I don't know if it's a yes. I don't know if it's. No, but just dwelling in that space is like there's something there that other people see, and it's a brick. It's a brick of possibility. We're on 7th March 14th, an entrepreneur Q&A with Rob Dyrdek. Now, I have to tell you, there are very few shows that my husband and I could ever watch and have any sort of commonality like he is not into like, Love Is Blind and I'm really not into UFC, although occasionally I can be because their storytelling and marketing is absolutely fascinating.

Jasmine Star (00:25:29) - So when you're looking at the UFC from a business lens, that business is freaking fascinating. But the pummeling of each other's faces and then them having like, cauliflower ears and like, no eyebrow bones, it's rather scary. Neither here nor there. So when we first got married, there was a show called ridiculousness on MTV, and it's like the one show that my husband and I could actually watch together and like, ridiculously enjoy. So I started becoming an early fan of Rob Dyrdek. Not from when he did Fantasy Factory, but from that crazy weird show. So I subscribed to his podcast, I listen, I follow, I think he's freaking brilliant. I love the way his brain thinks. I think that what he's done in media and how he's leveraged his opportunities and the way that he is investing to create wealth is fascinating. If you are not watching what this cat is doing, stop what you are doing and go watch him. It is fricking incredible the way that he has been stacking bricks. Anyway, I scored tickets to an entrepreneur Q&A with Rob Dyrdek.

Jasmine Star (00:26:24) - I have already mentioned Sam Parr in this podcast, but Sam Parr was also a guest on my podcast. Go listen, I'm going to link to all of these shows in the show notes. You have to listen to that Sam Parr podcast. He's really smart, has a deep passion for entrepreneurs. Anyway, hosting the event hosted the event in LA and I told myself that my goal in going is to get uncomfortable. I want to do uncomfortable. Hold on, I can't. You guys. I'm trying to ignore. I'm trying to. I'm trying to ignore my daughter. I'm trying to ignore my daughter. So unbeknownst to you, all the camera angles are here. And if you're watching on audio like, please go watch this on YouTube. Okay? The camera angles are set up so that in our house, JT and Luna can enter and exit through the front door. They got home a little bit early while I'm recording so I can hear them coming in, but we don't stop recording because I can hear them coming in.

Jasmine Star (00:27:11) - And so I'm pretty sure. I'm pretty sure JD had instructed Luna. No talking, no talking. But what I hear in the background and maybe it's picking up on the mic or maybe it's not, is I hear Luna saying Papa, it's scorching me Papa. And so I am hearing her like whisper, not whisper. And so I'm just like, listen, I'm not going to edit this out of the podcast. If you hear my daughter like whispering like the child of the corn, she's fine. She's with her dad. Like we're trying to keep it professional. Ladies and gentlemen, we're just rolling with it. Okay, so we're back at the Rob Dyrdek Entrepreneur Q&A session. So I told myself to get uncomfortable. Why? If I'm not uncomfortable, I'm not growing. If I'm not uncomfortable, I'm not expanding. If I'm not uncomfortable, I'm doing things the way I've always done them. Which if you're doing things the way you've always done them, not only are you not growing, you're regressing.

Jasmine Star (00:28:01) - So I went to this event and I've mentioned I'm a very high introvert, and I'm going to this event by myself because I was only able to get one ticket. I don't know anybody else who's going to the event, but Sambhar is hosting and he is interviewing Rob. And so I told myself, the main objective why I'm going is number one to get uncomfortable. And then I decided to give myself an extra, extra challenge. I hate asking questions at Q&A sessions. I don't know why. It's a personal pet peeve. I love when other people ask them I just would die if I ever asked a question. So I told myself, if they have open Q&A, will you ask a question? Oh, you're gonna see, you're gonna see. I'm gonna add a little bit of B-roll and photos from that night, so you can take a good gander and guest of what happened. And then I asked myself if I had the courage in hotspot to get a front row seat. So let's go into the logistics of getting a front row seat.

Jasmine Star (00:28:53) - That means you have to get there early, and when you get there early, 1 or 2 things happen. You have to wait in line. So then you look like the dope who showed up early to wait in line. Or even if they let you in, you're the dope who's like, saving seeds. Like it's like Easter Sunday morning at church. You know what I was like, okay, so do I bring things. So this is me in my head. Do I bring things to put on my seat to save my seat? Okay. But then do I just sit in the seat, or do I get up and then try to network with other people who also got there early when I don't even freakin network? Really? Well, I just really don't. So this was a new opportunity to flex big muscles. And my big question was, can I get out of my shell? And can I actually walk away with making not like a networking, but. But actual a potential ally, peer and maybe friend.

Jasmine Star (00:29:44) - So keep it posted. Show a little B-roll. And so this is why I'm actually this is my ploy of getting people from listening. Just from the audio podcast over to YouTube, you get to see premium content not going to reveal until you get to this point in the podcast. All right. This is the eighth brick and last brick of quarter one. Remember, I'm looking back at what were the opportunities that we were setting forth that would maybe or maybe not parlay into something. So we took a trip to Hawaii March 15th to the 22nd, does a week, and we've been waiting just over four years to go to Hawaii. In November 2019, we were placed with a family for adoption, and we saw photos of the birth mom and I was struck. I was struck so like hard about how the birth mom looked like my mother in law look like Jade's family. Like she literally looked like she could be Jade's sister and I took it as like a sign like, oh my God, we can adopt a child that looks like actually our family.

Jasmine Star (00:30:47) - And I thought, hand to heaven like, this was going to be our baby. And we were one of two families. And then two days before Thanksgiving, we got word that we were not selected as the family. And I remember that day I was on a photo shoot, I was shooting photos and I was crying, crying in my car. Then I should dry my tears, go out and do a two hour photo shoot, get back in the car. And I went home and I saw JD in the house and he was cooking and he had the kitchen fan going in. His back was to the door and he didn't hear me come in and I saw him crying. I mean, he's so sad. Oh, it was like a very hard day. And so we had to do now. We had to we got to do things giving with our family. And I didn't want, I didn't want to go. I was so sad. And so we decided that. On Thanksgiving, we would just book a flight somewhere.

Jasmine Star (00:31:39) - So we ended up doing Thanksgiving with our families. And then we got a red eye to Hawaii. We went to Maui, and it was there in Maui that I couldn't sleep. I was really stressed. I was really sad. And I would wake up early in the morning and I would walk down to the water and the moon would be shining on the water. And I remember having conversations with God and I'm like, dude, it's been like three years. I don't I don't want to fight anymore. Like, I don't have the fight in me anymore. Like, please just take it from me. I don't I don't need to be a mom. It's cool. I'm very happy. I'm very satisfied. I'm good. So please just take it from me. Like, let me end it. And then the next morning I did the same thing. And the next morning I did the same thing. And then finally, on the last day of our trip, I felt like a weird shift in energy.

Jasmine Star (00:32:24) - I felt a big shift in change, and I was just like, okay, I think that I am ready to stay committed. I'm going to stay committed. And if it happens, it happens. And if it doesn't, it doesn't. The first week of December, we left Hawaii. And then that following January, about a month later, we got word that we were placed with Luna. And so I feel like what happened in Maui in December of 2019 actually was able to facilitate what needed to happen in January of 2020. And like, maybe I sound super woo and people are like, oh, that's so like much maybe. Or maybe I was holding on to something that was the energetic block of me getting the thing that I actually wanted. So you sometimes in life we have to like, let go in order to receive. And that was me just being like, it is okay. I don't need it to be my way. So at that time, I had always said, if it ever happens, I would love to bring our daughter back here.

Jasmine Star (00:33:18) - And that's where we're going. Yeah. So we went back to Maui and what we decided to do was Jade's birthday is March 7th, in my birthday is April 6th. So we just decided to split the difference. And we said for our birthdays, we're going to treat each other to a trip to Hawaii. And so then all of a sudden I was there and I was like, so you know how we said we were doing this for our birthday and we weren't going to get each other gifts? And Jade is like, yes. And I was like, okay, well, can you get me a gift? And he's like, okay, okay. And I said, I really want a photo shoot. And he's like, Jasmine, we just did a photo shoot at Christmas. Why do you want another one? And I was like, because that photo shoot wasn't in Hawaii. Like, hello. So we did a photo shoot. Everything was just it was all so special. And one of the things that we worked on before the shoot, we talk about building bricks, is having the cognizance in the awareness that I am working when I'm in Hawaii.

Jasmine Star (00:34:11) - And so it's like a work nation, and it's where I'm at in my life, in my business, that I will plan sometime this year to to unplug and take a full, formal, complete vacation. But I, you know, in March was teaching your biggest lunch ever. It was a life course experience. So I have to find a way to work my life and my business together in one. So I had a great conversation with my therapist and she invited me. I wrote it in my notes. She righted me for me to ask and clearly define what does strength and relaxation look like when they're combined? And so I kind of feel like this is like a great place to conclude the biggest lessons that I learned in quarter one. If I had to sum it up in one way, it would be what did? And yet what does strength and relaxation look like? So I walked through eight bricks of building my business in 2024, and some of them were disappointment, and a lot of them were big question marks, and some of them were strategy, and some of them was just the act of building.

Jasmine Star (00:35:16) - And so if you're watching this, it's okay and highly encouraged for you to take a second and look back at the last three months and just write down, was there a brick in here? Was there a brick that you didn't know was a brick? I'm really excited because every year I keep an annual journal. This is my annual journal. And I wrote in my annual journal what happened in quarter one? I can't wait to get to the end of the year and go back and say, locate those quarterly breaks. And I can't wait to go back in another year and then in another decade and say that thing that you did, that podcast that was canceled, that event you went to buy yourself, that connection that you made, that story that you created. What if you were to ask yourself, or what if you were to tell yourself, I am not creating content, I'm creating art. I'm creating documentation and proof that you could do what you want to do. If you have the humbleness and the humbleness, how about if you have the humility help? I see humbleness and humility.

Jasmine Star (00:36:12) - You just do both. Maybe you just do both of those things. What if you have the humility to say words wrong on your podcast and still keep moving forward and creating not content, but art understanding that this is going to be the thing that moves your business forward. Thank you for having and going on the journey with me. I don't know if I will do this type of podcast again. It is all like front power to the people if you want to hear. Quarter two. Stacking of bricks. Let me know. We will record it. Another one for you. And if not, no strings attached. It's all good. I'm here to serve and serve. Well, thank you a million times over for listening to the Jasmine Star Show. And if this episode would help somebody and in the process of building, send it to them. Send it to them. Say, hey, I thought you might like this. As we both build and I say that to you, I hope you like this because we're both building.

Jasmine Star (00:37:02) - Have a good day.