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

0:0010 years ago, I made the decision to build my personal brand that was elevated, yet approachable, and reflected who I was, not just what I did. I created my website with ShowIt because it's true drag and drop freedom so you can easily build and update your site. Plus, their real human support team, game changer. Want to try it for yourself? Head to jasminestar.com forward slash show it for a 14-day free trial and first month free when you subscribe.

0:40Welcome to the Jasmine Starr 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. Well, we started noticing that with the podcast, at the top of 2024, I was listening to a podcast. And the podcast host, his name is Sanpar. and he said that anytime 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.

1:17And 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. 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, SaaS, software as a service.

1:57Every time I became obsessed with something, my learning curve was super freaking sharp. And so at the top of 2024, I was asking myself, what am I obsessed with? And 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?

2:36And so I made a big, bold declaration in January that I was going to become obsessed with my podcast. If I'm being very honest, the podcast started off as a labor of love. In November 2019, we dropped our first episode of the Jasmine Starr 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.

3:13And 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 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. Now we are a tiny but mighty team.

3:54But 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 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.

4:33We said, do longer episodes do well? Do shorter episodes do well? If I'm doing a solo, is it a mindset solo? Is it a business solo? We were trying to figure out, based on data alone, what was the best performing podcast. But here's a 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, huh, 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.

5:12He'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 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 talked to you about a really cool event.

5:53I talked to you about something I learned. I talked to you about something I taught out 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 10 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 too. Quite honestly, I am not special.

6:29I 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. 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, all while 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.

7:09So 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. 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.

7:44I didn't say 80, eight. 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, Jen 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?

8:23Because 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. But when you're only saying, how do I get that? What you fail 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.

8:58I'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 podcast 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.

9:45When we were in Miami, Jen introduced me to one of the guests who invited her. Her name was Kim Patrell. Now, Kim is a gangster. Y 'all go back and listen to Kim's episode. She is a hundred millionaire, hundred millionaire, hundred 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 freaking 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.

10:23She'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. Just, we engaged with each other. And then she had said, Jasmine, are you familiar with Juni T? Juni is J-U-N-I. And I said, yeah, I follow Jay and Radhika Shetty. That's their iced tea line. and she's like, oh, I'm an investor in Juni. Can I send you a box? And I was like, sure, I would love it.

10:55So that when I was promoting Kim's episode on my podcast, I opened up a can of Juni. So what I am trying to do is I'm thinking about ways of adding value. Yeah, Kim was a guest of my podcast and yes, we sent her collateral and yes, she gets to have the videos and all of those 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 brick. On January 11th, the day after I was in Miami for an event called The Pitch, I did a podcast with Josh Muccio. Listen to that podcast to get the backstory of why I was in Miami.

11:33I also created a vlog. So if you're 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, man. 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 the same philosophy at the pitch event. So when I was there, I kept on asking myself, how do I add value? How do I add value?

12:06Because 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 center of attention. 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.

12:40And 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 should put out. And they were really trying to build out their network on LinkedIn. And I said, if you post this video on LinkedIn and you explain what the pitch is about and the value that it brings to people, I really think this would be a powerful piece of content.

13:17And 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 one, January 25th. I went to Lake Tahoe and it was a like ski snowboard trip, but like your girl is brown. Like I've never been on snow with anything other than like shoes. So please do not give me a board.

14:04Do not give me a ski. I will break my face. But I went because I wanted to get uncomfortable. And the group I went with, there were a total of eight guys and myself. Now, I met these guys through an 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 felt 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.

14:41So 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 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. 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.

15:34I 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. 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.

16:17And 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 like, 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, huh? 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? Cause then all of a sudden, if you're the, like name it and claim it.

16:51So then all of a sudden if I'm asking about snacks, who's going to go get the snacks. The girl, no, no, I was not going to do that. So I was just like, I literally, I mean, hand 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've 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 going to break. Like these guys ain't breaking.

17:15They'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, I'll have the finest bottle of sparkling water. 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.

17:47I'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. Now, do you guys know what a tomahawk is? Like, it's like 487 pounds of cow in a bone and they just put it on the table and everybody eat it. I was just like, I'm literally eating with Vikings. I was fascinated. but they were so hellbent on hitting their protein that they just did it.

18:24And I thought to myself, interesting. You're hellbent on hitting a number and then you just do it. Huh, 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 them 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.

19:04So 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 Layla Hormozy 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. And I was like, oh man, I wish I could ask her this question. I wish I could ask her this question.

19:34So 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 gonna 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?

20:06And I said, but I know that you're not really taking podcast interviews right now, but I know that you go on a walk every day. could the podcast be you and I walking and it's a walking podcast. So you would be walking anyway, but now we get to record it 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 family. Layla lives in Vegas. So I was like, let's just fly in a couple of days earlier than the second.

20:45I can podcast with Layla on the first and then the second, third and fourth are just like our family weekend. She agreed. I was like, I'm gonna walk with Layla Harmozy. We're gonna have part two. So then all of a sudden it rained like torrential downpour. And I was like, you've gotta 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. 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.

21:32So 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 up-level my launching strategies.

22:14Like 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 gonna 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 definition of anything changes. I've always believed that anything is possible.

22:49Like 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. And I was raised to believe this. And so all of a sudden I think anything is possible. 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.

23:24And you just don't feel like you're alone. That somebody says, 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.

23:57This person has a behemoth of a business and he had been watching things that I had been doing online. He had seen me 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 cart 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.

24:27He said, Jasmine, 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. I, I do not want to build an agency. So my answer was no. It 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 asked 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? Huh? He said, what would it take for you to say yes? And I said, can we talk in a month?