287. How to Build a Business From Nothing with Jasmine Star

22:22Yeah. Putting up Christmas lights. Seven figures. Yeah. So all of these things are possible. And I love that you're saying, like, identify the things that you love, but also the things that somebody will eventually pay you for because people are already coming to you for your expertise. Absolutely. So we're talking about how action is so crucial here. And you're very clear that waiting for clarity just keeps people stuck. So why does clarity only come after you take action? Prior to the action, everything is a hypothesis. Yeah. It's a hypothetical. It's just a guess. Yep. It's just a guess. So early on, I would spend most of my life guessing what the outcome could be.

23:09And the distance between guessing and then taking action, the more I've matured as a woman and as an entrepreneur, is I guess much less. Yeah. The longer I wait guessing, the least amount of time I have to take action. So if we go back to the start of this conversation is, I take action only because of the test. Yep. I'm going to test this. I'm going to test this. I'm going to test this. and I have no attachment to the outcome because the test doesn't mean anything about me. It means something about the thought I have. Sometimes it's a great thought. Sometimes we need to think different thoughts.

23:38And in both those situations, sometimes it's not great for the ego, but you want to know what? That's entrepreneurship. Yeah. That's entrepreneurship. I think sometimes the only way you figure out it was the right or wrong decision is by making the goddamn decision. Absolutely. And it's like, yeah, you can play out that hypothetical all you want, but you will not know until you know. I've seen death by hypotheticals. so many times in my career. It's just like you get started and then you think about everything that could go wrong. And I get that. But in the beginning, now I don't think about what can go wrong.

24:09I'm just like, we're going to deal with that when we get there, but I'm not going to spend any energy behind it. But in the beginning, I started tethering it by, okay, I can think about everything that can go wrong, especially when I was new and I felt like everything. So, you know, I'm daughter of an immigrant, first generation Latina. I'm the first in my family. In my second year of business, I made more than my dad. My dad has five children and a stay-at-home wife. That money to me was so mind-boggling that we can go out to a Mexican restaurant and I'm telling everybody, order soda. We're not ordering water.

24:39Get your own burrito. We're not cutting them in half anymore. And that was such mind-bending money. And I think to myself that we all have the possibility to step into that if we don't hold attachment to the outcome of our small micro tests. The messages I get a lot, and I imagine you do too, are this belief that you and I have something that the person listening or watching doesn't. And if somebody is messaging me, it is a conscious thought, but I think often it's more subconscious, which is like, I don't have that in my DNA. Yeah. Like there's something about them that they're able to do this and I'm not.

25:23Debunk that for me. Well, what you believe to be true is. It just is. Yeah. And then, so I've done a lot of work in therapy and I've never been the person who could like think positive thoughts. I can't think my way into positivity. I can't think my way into a different outcome. That's just not my hard wiring. So what we've discovered is to try on different phrases that might feel enough true to get me to action. Do you feel like that's because of your background of being an immigrant? Like probably like there are people who can easily believe like I can become the president. Yeah, you know, it's like that just never white men.

25:59Yeah It's just never resonated with me. Yeah, because i'm like, uh, no you Probably won't yeah, it just wasn't there. So what is the second can I what is the second thought after? Oh, you probably won't is it these are the reasons or is it like more like identity based? It depends like if we're using the example of like a president I probably wouldn't get into the reasons why, but for a long time, it was like, do you believe you can build an eight figure business? And I was like, I'm not sure. So I spent a lot of time exploring what were the beliefs I had specifically, surprise, surprise, money.

26:31Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Money that I became my own ceiling every single time. I was like, because you were scared of making more money. I don't think I, I honest to God, don't think it It was fear. Okay. I just, I think the narrative, if I'm being honest, the narrative I chose was, you don't have what it takes because you weren't raised. Yeah. You didn't know. It probably wasn't shown to you. It wasn't modeled. So there was no way you could even dream that that was. I was 25 years old and I never imagined in my life that I could start a business. yeah i it never never occurred to me like the idea that i would get paid to hold a camera or be a consultant or speak on a stage like that was so foreign i didn't believe it it was like a mind but like you can be an astronaut right you could start your own business those are the equivalent right so the ones that actually started to stick with me i would ask myself like wait why what happens here because after like a lot like a lot of maturity as a person a lot of maturity around money stories, a lot of maturity with therapy.

27:36But for me, when we go back to that, I always think to myself, okay, what can you believe about the situation? So somebody's watching, they're just like, well, they're just built different. That's not for me. Okay. If you said it, you believe it and it's true. There's a different story. Maybe you don't think you can build an eight figure business. Okay. Maybe that's your truth. That's the limitation you want to fight for. Awesome. No problem. Do you think that you can make an extra$4 ,000 a month? Yeah. Because it starts somewhere. Belief is built on history and reputation. Prove to yourself that you can make 400 extra dollars and then 500 and then a thousand and then 2000.

28:17And the minute you look back and say, I've proven to myself that I can make$750 more off a digital product a month, My children's lives have changed. I have autonomy. I can take my family up to eat. I could save for the Disney cruise. You do that, game over. You've proven to yourself. But you're talking yourself out of an eight-figure dream because you can't make eight cents on your own. Start small. What do you believe? Fight for that.

28:43Also, your path is not going to look the same. My path isn't the same as yours. Yours isn't the same as mine. But we are living proof that it is possible. 100%. So rather than thinking, oh, they have it so I can't or that person is a photographer so I can't be one or they have something I don't. Think about all of the things that we might have or we might have had when we were starting that you also have. You have the hope and the want to do this. You have a certain skill set. You hopefully will get to at least the belief in yourself. like we are living testament that these things are possible.

29:29They're not going to look the same, right? There are privileges that all of us have that are unique, but it is so easy to look at a dream that someone else is living and go, well, that's not possible for me. No, it is. They're living proof that it is. I always call them like frame breakers. Who's going to break your frame? Because whenever I look at somebody else doing something, like we and you and I were having a conversation before we started recording and a really cool opportunity comes your way there you I will be hard-pressed to find another woman to be like yes girl you're gonna own it you're gonna rock through you're gonna melt their faces off let's go you're a way maker and a frame breaker for me yeah so I have to find it in me to celebrate this because it creates expansion in my life to be like she goes first watch me be second totally but not just in this particular no but I talked to you nine months ago about something that I was trying to launch that you've already done and I had the same thought for you where I'm like oh, that would be really cool.

30:20She has a cool thing that I want. And there is a moment where maybe it's envy or jealousy. And we've talked a lot on this show about how actually those are the most powerful tools in your toolbox to figure out what you want. Right? Because if you are, if you are jealous, if you're envious, if you're like, oh gosh, I really wish I had that. And in no way am I like, oh, this other person can't have that because I want it. Right? It's more just like, oh, I want that too. Great. It means you want it. So jealousy is wanting what somebody else has envy is not wanting them to have it. So ladies and gentlemen, be jealous.

30:52Yeah. It's a good thing. It teaches you what you want. And so many people, when I talk to students and bordering entrepreneurs, I'm like, what do you want? They can't tell you. A lot of people can't tell you. So if, if people are having a hard time verbalizing what they want when they're jealous, Highlight. What is that? And identify it. Name it. Focus on it. Where your attention goes, your energy flows. Yeah. When somebody is thinking, yep, okay, I'm ready to start this business. Let's say they do steps one, two. Where do they get stuck? Of what? If we're being honest, every step. Sure. I mean, every step.

31:37Yeah. So that's just the misnomer. It's like new levels, new devils. Like when you ask. Ooh, right though? I've never heard that one. Oh, good. Oh, good. New levels, new. So you have expansion slated big time in 2027. 2026, yes. And then even mega in 2027. So you're going to be facing challenges in 2027 that the 2026 version isn't even prepared for. But what you go through this year is going to prepare you for what's happening in 2027. So we have to know that every wall that you hit because surprise, surprise, Tori hits walls. Crazy. is that we say I'm one rep closer to my PR. So I want to be very clear that every step will be hard.

32:19Now, because we're super into data and analytics, we can tell. So we get established business owners who want to get consistent revenue to 10K a month. And then we take bordering new photographers, I mean, photographers, new business owners who want to build businesses and every step. But I will tell you, the first one, big time, is who do you want to serve? I want to serve women. Okay. Not specific enough. Not specific enough. And so we see the first thing is like, well, if I identify, it gets too close. And I'm like, no, no, no. In today's day and age, the closer you get to your dream customer, against all odds, you attract more.

32:55But it's because you're very clear and you're unafraid to say who you serve. Yes. Now, the next big one, because we actually have people talk to customers And they're like, admit in public, I want to do something. Yes, baby. We're teaching you how to talk about your business. We're teaching you how to put yourself out there. You're practicing here. So in the real world, when you get knocked down, you're like, I've been here before. I'm stronger now. And then the second big hurdle is the minute they've identified their offer, their proposition, who it's for. We green light the offer. It is going out and what we say is like a seed launch.

33:27This is beta testing, small baby steps. Let's see how much money you can make by your immediate audience. and the biggest hurdle. It's like, now it's time to post. Post? People are going to make fun of me. A hundred percent. They're going to talk about me behind my back. They're going to tell me I'm cringe. Oh yeah. And my cousins, like, what are they going to say? They're going to go, who do you think you are? And my husband's embarrassed because this is my third time trying something. I've tried other things before. Also, if your husband's embarrassed, get a new husband. I have no patience for unsupportive partners.

33:58I'm like, no, get the fuck out of here. No, but I, yeah, that's, it's so, it's the, oh I actually have to put my money where my mouth is. I have to go out and be vulnerable. Which is what it is. It is a handout and asking of like please maybe see me and see what I'm trying to do. That's very scary. But I mean I always think but I flip the energy and I know you're not saying hey please see me. It's what we've identified with messaging is you have a problem. Yes and I'm solving it. And I have a solution. Yes totally. And so you don't have your handout saying ladies see me. You're saying you're struggling with your finances.

34:29No that's a great. You know what you're doing and so to me it's a place of power. You're not begging for alms, baby. You have the secret sauce. Are you willing to put it out? No, but I think that is the reframe because I think my version is what people are thinking, which is like, I have to beg people to take me seriously. No, no, no. No, no, no. There's no begging. You are worth your weight in gold. Add tax. Yeah. Okay. So that one, the charge what you're worth, because a lot of people follow me, talk about pay equity, talk about negotiating. And charging is such a black box. What do I charge?

35:06How do I charge? Am I charging too much? Am I charging too little? Tell me how to figure that out. And I know that's a big question, but for somebody who's just starting the business, how do they figure out, yeah, okay, I don't have a ton of experience yet, but also, I also know my value. I mean, listen, you can take the girl out of the hood. You can't take the hood out of the girl. I start like a swap meet philosophy. Yeah. When you're getting started, you might be so overqualified and have family connections and have investments, but the market's never wrong. The market doesn't care who your daddy is.

35:40They don't care about your trust fund. They care about the solution to their problem. And if it's an untested solution, we all have to have the humility to put something out there. And the more demand there is for that, the faster you raise your price. So I always suggest start at a baseline. and then every increase thereafter, you could be raising it. So for instance, when I first started as a photographer, 10 hours of wedding coverage for$1 ,000 and included, and included, and included all of the images. I wasn't, I was unproven. I wasn't proven. But every three clients, every three clients I booked, I raised my prices$300.

36:21It was a 33 more or less percent increase. Which is huge. huge. In one year, I was charging$5 ,000 a wedding. And when I ended my career, I was charging$30 ,000 a wedding. The market's not wrong. When we launched the consistent 10K, we launched it as a beta. I know my reputation. I know our programming. I know our coaches. I know our accountability. But guess what? It's new. I'm not going to cash in on equity from something else. This is unproven. So the people who joined early, we've now raised the price like three or four times. Yeah. Because we're getting results. Exactly. So people are like, where do I start?

36:59As low as you can go, babe. Yeah. And the market will push the price. Yeah. And this is where I tell people, if you are starting a business, and this is where we might actually disagree, I think starting as a side hustle is so crucial. Yes. Okay. I agree. Well, I think there's two kinds of entrepreneurs. I think there's the leap in the net will appear entrepreneur. Okay. Which you might be more of than I was. I was the, I need the ducks in the row and then the backup ducks and then the backup net and the net. Like I needed all of that before I quit and still the universe made the decision for me.

37:27I did not quit on my own. And I think it's so much easier to grow a business when you are not dependent on that business to survive. Like in the early days. And it's also easier to pussy step the things you need to do because you have your paycheck. Yeah. So I am a full believer in side hustle until it's a real thing. Yeah. I've done that in every single parts of my career. I've never once not like, oh, I'm fingers crossed. There's always been a strategy behind it. But I also knew that if I waited too long, it would be slower to take action. My husband and I, we say, burn the boats. The boats that took you to the new island, if they're out in the water, you will want to swim back to them because they feel safe.

38:07But going back, there's no land from which you came. It doesn't exist anymore. You can't go back to your old job. You're not the same person. So what you once tolerated and once had you fulfilled, even if you go back because you quote, quote, failed with this thing, you're no longer the same. You have tasted the nectar and ambrosia. So you better find something else or make this thing work. So I'm a little bit more pushy in that way. But I mean, it's like we're Mexicans. I put a recans. Like we believe in can. Like none of this can stuff. No, I totally agree. And for me, it was more that I got to make strategic choices in my business.

38:39Like I killed, we were talking about this on your show. Like I was coaching people one-on-one. I killed that. And on paper, that was a terrible decision because immediately like, you know, a couple thousand dollars of revenue dried up. But I was like, this is not sustainable if I want to grow this business. And I think if I had quit too early, I probably stayed too late. But if I had quit too early, it would not have been, yeah, it would not have been helpful. But I do love the idea of at some point, like you will never feel ready. Oh yeah. Like ready is a decision, not a feeling. Oh yeah. Yeah.

39:15A hundred percent. I think that people think like when I'm confident, I'll take action. when, yeah, it's you take action to feel confident. Literally, you build your confidence in running a business over time. Like, again, the I want the Jenna Kutcher business. It's like, I did not have the skills to run the Jenna Kutcher business. And I got them. And I'm still, you know, I still learn from her all the time. Like, I got them by putting my reps in. That's right. Yeah, absolutely. That's right.

39:44This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. When BetterHelp came to us and wanted to sponsor our show, we were the first to ask them questions about therapist compensation because we've heard a lot about it. BetterHelp's model is designed to offer both strong earning potential and real flexibility with compensation that takes into account the full scope of care, not just live sessions. There are also additional benefits that BetterHelp provides their therapist, like a monthly health stipend for eligible therapists with a full caseload and opportunities for bonus over time. And beyond compensation, there's a real focus on supporting therapists' long-term success and well-being, which includes access to hundreds of continuing education courses, the ability to receive therapy through the platform themselves, and a large peer community where they can connect, learn, and share best practices.

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42:08what is a common busy work task people mistake for progress when building a business posting on social media without a strategy yeah like so people will spend um on average so part of what we do on the sas companies we have data and analytics in we're constantly surveying people and people on average are spending between 42 and 47 minutes on a single post yes yes Yes. Yes. I almost threw up. Oh, wow. It's a long time. It's a long time. And so this is why that time is a waste of time because it could literally be cut down by three-fourths if you just decided this is going to be like what you had even mentioned before.

42:47It's like, this is the theme or what we call content pillars. This is the content pillar. I'm going to show up. I'm going to take action. And done is better than perfect. Another one of your lines too. Yeah. I didn't come up with it, but yes, it is the thing I live my business by. And so people will say like, oh and then they go down the scrolling like doom scroll right right and then they go and see who's other things and so you get super distracted on something which is the name of the game on social media it is a device it is a platform that is intended to distract and dissuade you yep so yes i want you posting on social media but you got to show up with a plan and a strategy yeah i would agree with that i would also say the other one is um oh i gotta get the right like brand colors or like the right logo and the right website like that is the one that everybody thinks is progress, they're like, well, I can't launch it.

43:31I don't have the right logo. Okay. Has anybody told you they haven't started a business? I need my mission statement. Yes. What? I need my 45-page business plan. No. No. No, no. If you looked back at the business I launched that turned into her first 100K, it is the ugliest website you've ever seen. Of course. It is a logo I designed myself on Canva that I also took in on probably like two hours to find the right template for. And it's terrible. But like, I launched it. We got it up. That's right. We got it up. The market will always fix it. Yeah. The market's never wrong. And my own experience.

44:09Yes. Like after six months, I'm like, yeah, that's not a great logo. We're going to fix it. Oh, I want to redesign this thing on my website. You're able to do that because the thing already exists. You don't have to tinker until it's perfect because it won't be. It will never be perfect. You said that your first business is often a bridge, not the final destination. Why is it such an important reframe for beginners? Oftentimes, people have, myself included, had this attachment that this was the end-all be-all. And it's easy to get to a destination. Exactly. I would often call my business, my baby, my baby.

44:45But when you actually think about it, a baby requires 24-7 attention. The baby is mercurial. The baby can't speak. You can't speak to the baby because the baby doesn't understand. The baby runs the schedule. The baby demands, supersede your demands. And I started thinking, I don't know if I want my business to be my baby. I want my business to be a fountain, a machine. I was going to say the kid off of college, but I like the fountain even better. They're like, I hear from you twice a year. Okay, have fun. We want this thing that gives us light. Totally. That pours back into us. that we run it.

45:21It serves us. And so that's where I kind of am just like, the bridge was the thing that will take me to the next evolution of me. When I first started my business, I could never imagine sitting in this chair, in this spot, speaking to you. My reality is so much bigger and greater than my dreams could ever be. So if I continue to think that where I'm at right now, like the consistent 10K is my destination. No, maybe it's just a wider bridge. It's taller and it's wider to get you to the next thing, to get you to the next thing. And when I take my last breath, may I say that the destination was never the business, it was the purpose.

46:03Yeah. And I think the dreams that we're talking about, there are people out there who are going, oh my God, 10K? Yeah. That's so crazy. I want everybody listening to go back to what you said, which is maybe it's just$400 extra. $40. Let's play that game. Yeah. What would$400 mean to you today? It would be massive for almost everybody listening. That's what I'm saying. Yep. And so we say, I don't know,$10 ,000 a month from a digital product could ever be on my alley. And also, I'm so scared of my own dreams. Like, I don't have the capability for that. Yeah, you might not right now. Right, but you haven't been taught.

46:40Right. You don't know. Right, you haven't put in your reps. No. If I go try to deadlift 300 pounds, yeah, it's not going to work. Right. It's not going to work. I deadlift 30. That's right. And if I tried playing the tuba, I wouldn't know. I'm not going to be like, oh, you're a capable fool. That's literally the example I give all the time. For me, it's literally speaking Italian and playing the tuba. Those are the two examples I give all the time. Yeah, if I tried to go and, I don't know, order food at an Italian restaurant in Italian, they're going to be like, okay. But we tried. But in this situation, you don't pick up a tuba and say, you bloody fool.

47:11Right. What an idiot. How dare you? Come on, can't you do better? You had no idea. And yet, people start a business and then what they say, it's you idiot. How dare you try? How stupid? Do you know how dumb you look? What in the world? You're so bad at that. Of course you're so bad at it. Of course. Of course. Of course. And as the business grows, you continue to stay bad. If you don't have the stomach to be bad at everything for a long time, you will never find your way to success. Yeah. That's the game. I just want to tell people, we get into business to change our life in terms of personal development and change our legacy and change our futures.

47:44But every step of it comes at the cost. Yeah. It comes at the cost of uncomfortability, feeling dumb, questioning the decisions you make. And what you say is, what used to be my PR is now my warmup. That's the game. And the thing that we might have that somebody listening doesn't, you know, to answer that before of like, what do they have that I don't, is that resiliency of like, yep, I'm going to be stupid about this. And we have a lot of stuff figured out. Again, I'm still Googling things all the time. What was that acronym that somebody just said on the call? I don't fucking know. It's so, so common.

48:20I'm having conversations in our business right now. We're trying to solve this problem. We don't know how to solve it. We're going to figure it out. We'll figure it out. But it's going to be uncomfortable for a while. That's right. What is the simplest first offer someone could create? You modeled it perfectly in your business model. Perfectly. Hey, thanks, friend. It's literally a small group of people paying a small amount of money to work with you so that you figure out your messaging, figure out the common points, figure out how you get somebody a transformation. People always say, well, when they hire a photographer, they're getting photographs.

48:55When they hire a coach, they're getting the coaching. No, they're not. They're getting the transformation. Jinx. Okay. And so in the beginning, you have an idea. In the beginning, you think you know how they're going to get a transformation. It will never happen the way that you think. It will never. Because when you're in the middle of it, you're like, oh, that's not working the way that I thought it would. And then all of a sudden, the more people, the more reps that you go through, clients or customers, the more you realize, oh, this is how we standardize the transformation. This is how we guarantee.

49:24This is how we can create an ROI guarantee because we know the system is so good. So I believe the easiest way is to get paid for something you know and do it again and again and again and then get bigger over time. Yeah. Yeah. That is the perfect example for people who don't have like the large audience. Cause that's the other thing is like, Oh, I have to have, I even 10 ,000 followers on Instagram. I want to like, I'm right down the barrel with you all here. I had 4 ,000 Instagram followers when I quit my job to run my business full time. 4 ,000. Like that was enough. But even now, so even somebody says that, yeah, but Tori, you're X.

50:00Okay, fine. But let's just use like actual like quant and facts is that the algorithm now is not indexing on followers no it's indexing on interest it's actually never been a better time to be a small creator a hundred percent because the more nation specific you get around a particular person's problem and your solution is drilled down for it the algorithm is so good it's going to be sending it to dream customers where in the past we were hoping that the right followers were following the right time would see the right post for the conversion now you don't need that the way that you needed it then.

50:28It's different. It's never been a better time to create an offer online and sell it. Have you seen a woman who is a manager at a Ace Hardware who just films herself as customers come in and they're like, oh, she's like, what can I help you find today? And they're like, oh, I'm looking for this kind of wire. And she's like, aisle 12, halfway down on the second shelf. This video goes on for like two minutes. She posts the same kind of videos. I watched the whole thing. The whole thing. And I'm like, what's the fascination? I think it's, she's so good at her job. Like I love watching people be competent.

51:03She's just like, it's like competency porn. It's like, oh, she's like, oh, she knows exactly where it is. She's like super friendly people, like the interaction she has with customers. It's like a little TV show. And I'm like, it's so smart. She's doing what she's already doing and she's filming herself doing it. And do you know that Ace Hardware, what do you think? Like they're paying nothing for it. The halo effect of that marketing. Oh, she should get a brand deal. She's making money off the platforms just posting that. Like, that's the perfect example of like, yeah, on paper, does she have the skills needed to be a business owner?

51:33Like, actually, she does as like a manager and everything. But that is a perfect example of she is making something out of like seemingly nothing. Yes. And do I watch it every time? Absolutely, I fucking do. Absolutely, I do. And it's my little, I'm like, oh, my show's on. Here we go. I'll find her because I got to show, I got to credit her in the caption. It's so good. You describe entrepreneurship as creating options, not just income. What is the first option business ownership gave you? Maybe it was full burrito and a soda for your family, but like what made you realize this is so much bigger than money?

52:09When I became in control of how I spent my day. And that was, I didn't have to, I'm born and raised Southern California. And so like an average commute here is an hour each way. And the fact that you could choose to no longer do that, the fact that you could choose to work at six o 'clock in the morning and then take a three hour break in the middle of the day and live life on your own terms. And then the second optionality was to tell my family when we go out to eat, you don't pay for the bill. And when people say like, what does success feel like? I mean, Tori, you're living and you're sitting in like a dream of mine.

52:43That was, this is not success. The success is being able to sit with my family and every single time we got the bill. Yeah. We got the bill. And that just is like, it's power. Yeah. It feels so good. Yeah. That is the difference that I found with talking with women, educating them about money, educating them about growing businesses. Like the stereotypical entrepreneurship content that's really just focused at men is about stockpiling and is about your investment gains and is about like how much money can you rake in? Like, that's the fun of it. But for women, every single woman I talk to, it is everything you just said.

53:23The money's fine, but the money is what gives you the flexibility to have a scholarship at your college, have the ability to take your parents on a nice trip, to donate to causes you believe in, to stand up and say, no, I'm not going to accept this kind of treatment. even if you're paying me X amount and being able to walk away. Like that is the actual feeling that entrepreneurship and just financial freedom generally give you. And people want to look at my story and, you know, oh, it's because she budgeted. Like, yeah, my first 100K was about budgeting. It was about saving. It was about investing.

54:04And like I did all the financially right things. Yes, I continued those. And that's why I've been able to keep my money. But the reason I went from 100K at 25 to multi-millions at 27 and all of that, that money afforded me, that was entrepreneurship. That was the only thing. The investing helped? Absolutely. That's right. But it was starting the business. That's it. That's it. That's it. And I think that that is the biggest misnomer is that we have aspirations to grow within an organization, which is awesome. Which is awesome. And you can become a millionaire that way. Of course. But you're not listening to this if you don't want to be a business owner.

54:39Like, so I'm talking to those people. Yeah. Yeah. And oftentimes being a business owner doesn't have to look the same way for everybody. I keep on going back. It's like, what is an extra 2000 or$4 ,000 mean? No, I think it's worth hearing 17 times. Like it, it has the capacity to transform your life. Absolutely. Yep. Absolutely. What if like, let's just pretend, let's just pretend that you put 50 % of what have you made from your side hustle into a Roth IRA or into investment. Or paying off debt. Oh, yes. Yeah. 100%. What does that do for your life? Yep. What does it do for your family? Yep. Everything.

55:16Everything. Optionalities mean I don't have to agree based on everybody else's timeline and everybody else's rules. When you have money, the game changes. Yes. Period. The end. Yep. Absolutely. This episode is so good. And I was literally sitting in Jasmine's living room recording this being like, oh, goddamn. This one's so good. And even though I've heard Jasmine's story a few times, it's never not incredibly encouraging, especially if you dream of being a business owner like her or like myself, which leads me to a brand new tool, my team and I built specifically for those of you who are looking to figure out how to actually build a business you'll love.

55:50The number one thing I hear from people is they're like, I don't know what business I would start. I don't have enough skills. Or maybe I have so many things I want to do that I don't know what the most profitable one is. How do I actually build a business that's going to get me out of my job I hate as soon as possible. So we built you an incredible tool and resource. This resource takes your actual job, maps it to real entrepreneurship options you probably haven't considered, and walks you through picking one and taking your first move. So no matter what you do in your 9 to 5, we're going to help you match those skills into a profitable business.

56:24Find out which of your job skills are already worth somebody paying you money for, match what you do every day to a business idea that you maybe haven't considered yet, and figure out what your first real offer might look like and the exact next steps to make it happen so you can start making money. Head on over to herfirsthunderk.com slash ffpod to get this guide for free. There is no reason not to grab this. It's free. And I know you want to be a business owner or you wouldn't be listening to this episode. I've given you this free incredible tool to get you started. HerFirstHunderK.com slash FFPod.

56:56All right, let's get back into it. When we think about someone who feels stuck at a job that they've outgrown, how can entrepreneurship expand their sense of possibility without requiring a massive leap? I mean, you do as much as you can, however you can, when you can. That's it. And so what happens or people like, I'm so exhausted from my job. That's real. And this specifically, I mean, even more so for single moms. That's a real thing. I just spoke with somebody after a speaking engagement and she's a single mom. She's a realtor. She's with a brokerage, but she's like, I want to get my own leads from social media.

57:34I want to go out on my own. And I looked at her and I said, okay, it's too risky for you to leave the brokerage because they're giving you leads. So when you are at the brokerage, nine to five, it's 10 toes down. They're paying you, you do it right. if this requires you to get up another 40 minutes in the morning and stay up 40 minutes at night for 12 months in order to have the pathway out, it will suck. But it's the way we get out. And so we have to acknowledge, we have to do things that we're uncomfortable with. We're going to do what we can, however we can, when we can. It might not be as much as we want, but it's something.

58:11And that something's better than nothing. Well, and if that is your dream, like I absolutely do not think hustle culture is great nor sustainable there are periods of hustle there's seasons absolutely there is season I had Jenna the first time she came on the show we talked about this like when I wanted to be a business owner so bad I was willing to sacrifice some nights and weekends because that for me exactly was my goal when I wanted to be a New York Times bestselling author like I went too far and I won't do it again but like I learned a lot during that period of like, I wanted to put everything out in the field so that when I woke up, a couple of weeks after the book had come out, I could say, yep, I did everything that I could do.

58:54And then what's going to happen is going to happen. But I did everything I could. Now, a prolonged season of that is not sustainable nor healthy. Agreed. But I do think that if you have a dream or have a goal, it will take sacrifice. It just will. For a woman listening to start a business, but feels behind, underqualified or overwhelmed, what is the first step you'd want her to take this week? Well, first and foremost, I'd look at her and say, welcome to the club. You are one of us. There are more of us than there are not. And then the first step, I would go back to say, there's going to be days that it's very hard.

59:34Yeah. And there's going to be harder days and there are easier days. And there's going to be days where you find yourself working alone. and then there'll be days that you find yourself questioning whether or not the work that you're doing is good enough because you have enough taste to know what good is and enough sobriety to look at what you're doing and know that it's not it. And the chasm between what is good and what you're doing is so great that you wonder, can I ever achieve that? That is all normal. Yeah. But the thing that you have to go back and do every single day is to start with why.

59:58Why are you doing this? Yep. And it's okay if you're doing it for$1 ,000 a month. That's beautiful. That's amazing. But let's go a little bit deeper. What does$1 ,000 mean? What does it do? And I think that every time it gets like so rough, see, I start talking about my daughter. It dang, it just hits. I can't get one sentence out. I just think that my entire life, my capacity as an entrepreneur, like what I'm building and what I have capacity for, the minute she entered my life, everything changed. Because I'm like, oh, it's no longer about this. It is about what you are building and showing her.

1:00:30So when I take her to places, I said, mama never had this access and you do. You will stand on my shoulders, but beyond anything else, make sure you're putting people on top of yours. And so to me, when I go back and say those late nights and those weekends that you don't want to work and when you get a lot of hate online or when you just feel so exhausted, when you feel like you've made the wrong decision, again, 17 times in a row, you think to yourself, I might not be doing it for me, but I'm going to do it for her to show her what resilience means. And I'm going to do it to show it to myself that I'm doing it for her.

1:01:02Game over. You can't beat me. Because I'm not doing it for myself. I'm doing it for her and all of the other little girls who never believe that they can start a business.

1:01:14See, I talk about her and then I thrive. See, it's like - Well, I'm crying too. We have the crying sandwich today. You got me at the beginning, you got me at the end. No, that's what it's about. Yep. And I think it's, whenever you have a goal, you are going to hit the times where you don't want to keep going. And you have to remember why you care. Like, why are you doing this? Because that is the only thing, even psychologically, that's going to keep you moving. 100%. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. Plug away, my friend. Where can people learn more about you? Plug away. I answer my own DMs.

1:01:50So should be a DM. I love that. At Jasmine Star. Say hello. If you are interested in learning more about the consistent MK, send me a DM. It says method. M-E-T-H-O-D. People are going to love this episode. Thank you. I appreciate you. Thank you for listening to Financial Feminist, produced by Her First 100K. If you love this show and want to keep supporting feminist media, please subscribe or follow us on your preferred podcasting platform or on YouTube. Your support helps us continue to bring this content to you for free. If you're looking for resources, tools, and education, including all of the resources mentioned in this episode, head to herfirst100k.com slash sspod.

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