KGCI: Real Estate on Air - From Dropout to Instagram Guru with Jasmine Star

Episode Date: August 29, 2025

Friday Focus is your weekly mini-series from KGCI Real Estate On Air—a deep dive into one theme, broken into tactical, easy-to-implement episodes. Every Friday and Saturday, we unpack the strategies, scripts, and systems agents use to win more business—without the fluff.Catch every episode in the series to get the full picture, and put these moves into play by Monday.SummaryThis episode is a captivating interview with business strategist and social media expert Jasmine Star, who shares her incredible journey from law school dropout to building a multi-million dollar business. The discussion delves into the mindset shifts required to transform your passions into profits, revealing how Jasmine built a thriving brand and a loyal following on Instagram without relying on traditional paid strategies. It’s an essential listen for anyone who wants to learn how to stand out and succeed in a crowded market.Key TakeawaysMindset Over Circumstance: Jasmine opens up about her humble beginnings and her decision to drop out of law school, emphasizing that a resilient mindset and an unyielding belief in your potential are more important than your background or qualifications.The Power of Authentic Storytelling: Learn how to use your personal story to build a genuine connection with your audience. The episode highlights that people buy from people they know, like, and trust, and that sharing your authentic journey is the key to building a loyal following that lasts.Creating a Niche Market: Discover why it's better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big one. Jasmine provides a blueprint for creating a niche market that allows you to position yourself as the go-to expert in a specific area, rather than competing with everyone.Mastering Social Media Copywriting: Get tactical advice on how to write captivating content that drives engagement. The discussion breaks down the art of social media copywriting, providing tips on using powerful "hooks" to grab attention and crafting a clear call-to-action to convert followers into clients.Topics:Jasmine StarSocial media marketingInstagram guruBusiness mindsetPersonal brandingCall-to-ActionReady to stand out on social media? Listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast platform and start building a brand that shines! Ready for more? Subscribe to KGCI Real Estate On Air and grab the Always Free Real Estate On Air Mobile App for iPhone and Android. Inside, you’ll find our complete archive, 24/7 stream, and every Friday Focus mini-series—ready when you are.

Tactical, focused. Just like a top producer. Here's a sample from this week's Friday focus on KGCI, real estate on air. Today we have Jasmine Star on, and I am so stoked to share it with you. She's been someone I followed for the past two to three years and continues to impress me and the whole entrepreneur world. In this episode, Jasmine breaks down her journey leading up to being the most sought-out business strategists and, of course, drops massive value on handling imposter syndrome as well as

tips that you can immediately implement on Instagram to grow your followers. For those who may not know her, Jasmine Starr is a photographer and business strategist from Newport Beach, California. She dropped out of law school and became an internationally recognized entrepreneur later to become the founder of Social Curator, a social media marketing membership for business owners. Jasmine empowers entrepreneurs to build a brand, marketed on social media, and create a lifestyle they love. Some days you'll find her featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Inc. Magazine, but most days you'll find her in sweatpants scrolling through Instagram. Her favorite days, though, are spent with her dog and her high school

sweetheart eating tacos. I hope you guys enjoy this episode as much as I did. Now let's get to it. This is Unleash Your Inner Legend, a podcast featuring modern day legends, sharing their life choices, habits, and routines that got them through where they are today. Get ready to be inspired and to take massive action to Unleash Your Inner Legend. Okay, everyone, Jasmine Star is in the house. What's going on, girl? I am so happy to be here. Thank you. I'm so happy that you're here. So you've been super busy killing it on stages, on your newly published podcast, on obviously your huge business that you've got going on. First, before we kind of start talking into that cool stuff you got going on, I would love to kick off this episode, really just talking about your journey on how you became. this mega kickass social media guru with a major following that so many business owners like myself respect. I know it didn't happen overnight. So I would just love to hear your story. You know, I think there's different iterations that we all take as entrepreneurs. And I think that

that when oftentimes that question, it almost, Holly, I'm not even lying. It almost makes me nervous because I was like, wait a minute, I'm a big entrepreneur. Like, wait, wait, wait. So I'm like, are you talking to the girl behind me? I mean, so I think it's really important. to take a step back and understand that there's been iterations in my business. I started first my photography business and really focused and honed in on serving this particular audience, right? So instead of being a photographer to all people, I decided to focus in just on wedding editorial and weddings itself. And people are like, that's such a small market. And I'm like, yes, but if I can, if I can really hone in on the small market, it will sharpen my learning curve. And then once I

sharpen my learning curve and I was able to build a business in a brand. From there, I started focusing on empowering photographers on how to build better businesses. And once I did that, I then pivoted and said, well, can I help small business owners? And this is where the awkward part of the story happens. Because I think that people like to put other people in a box and say, this is the box in which you reside. And it was around 2015, 2016, that something really started stirring in my heart. And I'm like, I love photography and I will always be a photographer, but I know that there's something bigger. There's a bigger purpose for me. And I have become like the biggest champion of claiming the thing that you want to become. And so in 2015, 2016, I started saying I was a photographer and

business strategist. And there was a lot of people with that side eye. Like, oh, like, oh, you know, bless her millennial heart. And I'm like, no, no, no. Like there's, I'm doing stuff. Like I'm doing stuff. And now to hear you say, oh, like to become this entrepreneur who's using social media, and I'm like, that's the story, Holly, like, whatever it is that you want to do and whatever it is that people who are listening want to do, I firmly believe that you must embody that name and title and say it again and again and again so that people believe it. And they won't believe you in the first month or even the first year. But when your actions map your aspirations, then you ascend. And I think that's like how did you get there. Well, girl, like years of hard work and then

embodying the thing that I wanted to do. I got to put a lot of emphasis on as far as you as a photographer because you weren't just like this cute little photographer that did it on the weekends. Like, you haven't made your successful business that you work really hard from. So it's like, how did you, and you said you felt it in your heart, but it's like, how did you literally just wake up and took that action on saying, okay, so I'm leaving, I'm taking this leap of faith and I'm leaving this major, I mean, thing that I worked so hard for my baby to now I'm going to go help others on a massive scale that's scalable so that people outside of my little realm can start feeling me. Like, how did you decide to take that action? So in 2000, oh goodness,

in 2000, my mom was diagnosed the brain cancer and she had an eight-year battle. And when you are in your formative years, like there I was like 19, 20, 21, 22, and she struggled all the way through until I was like 25. There's something that happens in your brain. Like you're mapped by the fragility of life. And so the whole thing that I look back at my life is I never wanted to end up wondering what if. Is that every time I'm on for another brain surgery, another round of chemo. I can't help but feel like she was looking back and saying what I wish I had done. And I think that by the time my mom walked me down the aisle to marry my best friend, the doctors had said her time had come. There's no more chemo. There's nothing more that they could do.

And so I planned a wedding in three months. My high school sweetener and I planned a very small wedding and she walked me down the aisle against all odds. And I have to tell you that just yesterday, my parents celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary. And so that's like the silver lining of the story. But what happens when you don't know the silver lining? What happens in 2005 and 2008 when all you feel is fear? And I thought to myself, life is so short that none of us are guaranteed. So when it comes time to the question about Jasmine, what made you pivot? I'm like, how could I not? How could I not look at how fast life goes and say, is this enough for you? Or do you want to be able to look back and say, I tried the thing I wanted to do without emotional

attachment of looking at as a failure. So now let's get into this. That's the emotional side. I don't feel like I could address like the practical side without really addressing emotional because it's like that as we as humans, we fear. We dwell in fear and we dwell in doubt and we let fear and doubt dictate future decisions based on the unknown. But the unknown is the unknown. You can associate fear and doubt or you can associate faith and hope. And so it was around 2015, 2016, that I had to take a step back and strategically say, I have a very successful business. I am an internationally award-winning photographer. I am the top one person in my field. And people hear this and like, oh, that's a humble brag. Zero. I have zero attachment. I don't

care about the awards. I'm just actually outlining them to say, this was a big thing in somebody's business. And for me, it then became, okay, how can I take my current audience and how can I slowly introduce them to see me in a new way. And I knew that one of two things were going to happen. People were going to look at that and say, that's totally not for me. And then other people were going to look at that and be like, wow, I really want to go on this journey with her. And so the pivot itself took around two years. So I would slowly start introducing other business-related projects and creation by taking less projects in the photography world. And then in 2017, late 2016, I started introducing more opportunities for me to go

deeper teaching business owners peeling back away from photography. And then in 2017, we just kind of came out and said, okay, you know, my best friend, Taylor Swift says, she's not really my best friend. I don't want people making. I'm trying to front. No, but Taylor says, you chase two rabbits and you lose them both. And I felt like my business got to that point to where I was just like, okay, enough straddling. You're going to go all in. And so I just said I was taking a sabbatical from photography. Like, why not just give yourself the permission to take a sabbatical for one thing and try it 100% and lucky for us we went all in and it worked for us. That's amazing. I know. I remember the very first time I saw you, you were on stage of traffic and conversion a couple

years ago and your energy. I mean, there's just something because you know, you're just sitting there. You don't know what to expect and I'm like, okay, I need I need some help on Instagram because Instagram's like this mythical beast that everyone has like, they always want to know how to do it. but it's like, I don't know, very few has accomplished, very few people have accomplished it. And you just, your energy, I was like, oh, this girl's real. Because it's kind of, you just never know what you're going to get when you're sitting and, you know, it's kind of like watching live music. You just don't know what's going to happen.

Right, right, right. So I got to give you kudos because you're so authentic and real, which leads me to this next question I have for you. So you have this major engagement, engaged following on Instagram. How do you stay so real on a platform? that can be so fake. I really temper the good and the bad. Like, I can't just go to Instagram and then read nice comments.

I'd be like, oh, my God, this is so great. I love it. Like, hey, Jasmine, thanks for the content. Hey, Jasmine, learning a lot. And if I were to only listen to that and care about that, then I would be super highly focused and offended when somebody comes by and says, that filter makes your teeth look blue. Like, that was an exact DM that I got this morning.

I hand to heaven. And I'm like, it's a filter. Maybe my teeth look blue. Okay, I didn't notice it, but fine. There are other people who say, I talk too much. Other people who say, I talk too fast. Other people who say, can you just cut the crap in the beginning and get to the main point? Like, so here's the thing.

How do I show as my authentic self? I don't care about the positive or the negative. I care about serving people well. And I want you to like me. I just don't care if you. do. And good content is the stuff that rises to the top on Instagram. And I focus on 100. Can I put out the best possible content that can come from my soul without the emotional attachment of people having an opinion about it? That's what I try to do every day. I love it. I feel like a lot of that might kind of

stem from, you know, I was listening to your podcast and you're talking with Ed Milet, which amazing episode you guys need to adapt and I go and check out. I just love Ed. You know, my husband and I, he's just He's amazing. He spoke to us so clearly. He's amazing. He is. But on that podcast, you had kind of dropped a nugget that I think kind of like connected all the dots with you. Like I've been following you, like I said, since I saw you on traffic conversion. And you had talked about like how you were, you know, growing up in government assistance, you were bullied in school and that you kind of suppressed, like, you kind of put yourself as like, oh, I'm the behind the scenes type person so that you wouldn't draw attention to yourself. So I want to kind of talk about like how you made that

mindset shift because I feel like that's a lot of it. A lot of people have that story going for me. Personally, I grew up on government assistance. I was bullied. I like to play as like the behind the scenes girl. But in actuality, it's like I don't want to draw attention because I don't want that negative, you know, feeling come back. It's almost like reliving middle school again. So how do you kind of do that mindset shift towards like, okay, I'm Jasmine Star. I need to show up. I need to sort of these people because if not, I'm doing it the service. There came a point in my life and my career where I 100% had to make the decision to

weigh, to choose which one I wanted to weigh more in my life. And the two things that I was deciding between, like on the scale. So imagine me holding a scale, very much like the justice, you know, Lady of Justice, right? On one side, I have my dreams and aspirations, and on the other side, I have people's opinions. And for years, I was so concerned about getting the balance off, right? I didn't want the scale to tip in one direction or the other because I thought that if the scale tipped more towards my dreams and aspirations, that the negativity and people's opinions of, oh, look at what she's doing, it affected me in a deep and profound way.

But I didn't want at the other side, like, oh, I'm so concerned about what. what people are saying that I won't pursue it. And then one day I decided, like it was literally like a flip of a switch. People, people's opinions don't pay my bills. People liking my photos don't pay my bills. I am here to stand in my purpose. And my purpose is to empower people to believe that what they once thought was impossible for them is actually a possibility in disguise. whatever it is that you want to do in your business, whatever, however weird it is, underwater basket weaving, one-armed farmer in Indiana, the Etsy shop owner who's out here and doesn't know the internet, like, I believe it can happen because we live in an age

where there's not an excuse for it not to happen. So then I just had to say, I am okay tipping the scale so far in pursuit of my dreams and my passions that for me to not say my truth, for me to not help people, for me to not encourage. other people would be such a disservice to the reason why I'm here on the face of earth. So I refuse to be behind the scenes if it means not pursuing my dream. And I, and in like ways, same manner. I am totally okay being behind the scenes if it's to empower a bigger vision to pursue my dreams and my passion. It's the same thing. I don't have to be the front and I don't have to be in the back. It's just what do I need to do to pursue my dreams and to stand in my

purpose. And that is what I tell people again and again and again. It's either you're behind or you're in front. Either way, don't let somebody's opinion not empower, rob you of the thing that you're supposed to do. Absolutely. And I feel like also lately, I just kind of like putting myself as, as everyone listening to your content, I feel like you've been really kind of speaking to my soul, because you've been talking a lot about imposter syndrome. And it's crazy because it's like, you're such an amazing, like, I don't know, outgoing, full of energy, amazing person. It's like, whoa, she suffers from that too. So let's talk about that.

What advice would you give to somebody who is having that self-doubt? Like, how do you, Jasmine Star overcome that? I'll be very honest with you. I don't think that it's something that you overcome. I think it's something that you acknowledge. And I feel like, because what happens is for years, I was looking at imposter syndrome as something that I had to overcome like an opponent, right?

Like somebody at the opposite side. of the boxing ring. But what I didn't realize that the person on the opposite side of the boxing ring was a different version of myself. So I was fighting against myself. I was beating myself up. Me saying, who are you to do this? Me saying, get up, try harder. Me saying you're so stupid. Me saying you're not spending enough time. Me saying, look at it what if all these other people are doing. And I'm pummeling the other side of myself. Good God. What a shame. And it wasn't until I didn't come at it from, I have to overcome, I have to beat you. It's just I have to acknowledge that other person.

So instead of an opponent sitting on the opposite side of a boxing ring, I look at that person sitting on the opposite side of the room and deploy empathy. Like, hey, Jasmine sitting on the other side of the room who's scared and who's nervous and like I don't know the outcome. Like, hey Jasmine, like the Jasmine that's filled with fear and doubt, I see you, and we're going to have a conversation. Like we're going to say that could go wrong. or it could not.

We don't know until we try. So how about you just sit there and you be quiet? Because I'm going to try and I'm going to continue learning. Because if we look at things as solely success and failure, imposter syndrome skyrockets. Because you're only looking at it as like it is success or failure. But what if we were to put all of that out and say, whatever happens, good, bad,

ugly. I learned something so powerful. And I feel like we undervalue the lesson. Like the lesson is that you will only ever continue to iterate. The lesson is you will only ever continue learning. Because let's just say, right, let's just say you decide, I'm going to do X. And then you achieve X. And you're like, great. You're never standing on the Everest of X because you're always like, oh, well, here's another peak. And here's another peak. And here's another peak. So you can choose to pummel yourself every single time something good goes in your life to say, oh, well, look at net, you didn't even do this. Now you got to do this again. Or you could say, oh, here's another mountain. We have to climb. Let's do it. And I feel like imposter syndrome. It robs us, right? Like,

oh, my God. Oh, my God. And here's the thing. One thing you had said, you're like, oh, you've been really sitting that a lot. And I'm like, Holly, honest, to God, there is some undercurrent that is happening on the internet that is magnified our deepest weaknesses and worries. I do not girl head out week. You know what I want to talk about today on this podcast? Imposter syndrome. It is literally, this is what everybody's talking about. So let's bring it to the surface. Let's like burn it up and say we all feel this way. We all feel this day. The decision for us is to choose will we dwell in fear and doubt or in faith and hope? Absolutely. I feel like, you know, recognizing that and being aware of it. It can kind of almost be like a humbling experience where it's

like, okay, that's good. I'm glad that I'm still kind of having that doubt. But like you said, these all right let's do this let's go and climb this next mountain just just watch it's just sit there and watch i'll do it i got it this i love that so before i let you go i would love for you to kind of give some instagram tips because i feel like that's just like i said it's this mythical creature so let's talk instagram if you were to say someone who is stagnant say that they have less than 500 people following them. And they really want to maximize their audience. They really want to grow. What would be the number one tip that you would give them to really kind of double their exposure and reach out to the audience that they're wanting to reach?

I don't want to give one. Can we give three? Absolutely. I like the number of me, girl. I like the number three. And here's the best part is like these three tips can be deployed immediately. Like finish this podcast, leave a review. Okay. And then once you do that, after you do that, Then I want you to hop right in Instagram and I want you to take these actions. Number one, depending how long you have, however much extra time you have in a day, I don't care if it's 10 minutes, I don't care of it's 75 minutes, like whatever excess time you have. Now let's talk about excess time. This is the time that you spend scrolling randomly on Instagram.

This is the time that you spend waiting to buy your groceries at the store. This is the time that you spend waiting to upload something. Okay, whatever those little pockets of time are. I want you to number one, go to your follower list. Like here, Holly said you have 500 followers. Great. Go to your followers. And then what I want you to do is go and leave a comment on three photos from that account.

You're just going to randomly pick. That's what you're going to do. And you are going to pour into your followers because what happens is my dad always said, you got to dance with a boy who took you to prom. Because what happens is what we want is we want other people to be interested in us. But you have five. Do you understand? Like, let's just actually, let's break this down. You're walking on the street and there's 500 people behind you holding the Holly sign. What the heck? That is a full on freaking rally. You would probably have to call Los Angeles the police department for 500 people

walk down the street. And yet people are like, oh, no, that's not a lot on Instagram. And I'm like, what? So what you're going to do is number one, you're going to thank the people that are currently there. How do you think them? You don't want to go like, thank you so much for following me. That's creepy. What you want to do is like their photos and leave comments. Why? Because the easy conversion comes from a warm audience. Like if you're wanting engagement on your account, why not go to somebody who already follows you because they know you? You're not a stranger. So you give the type of engagement that you want to get to your followers. Number two, I want you to find two to three hashtags that are specific to where your dream customer exists. Now, if you're a

digital marketer, I don't want you going to digital marketing hashtags. Why? That's only filled with other digital marketers. Come on, guys. We got to find where our dream customer is existing. time on. Let's just say she's totally into the bachelor. Go to Bachelor Nation hashtag. You're going to be scrolling through that hashtag and then you could possibly find a small business owner within Bachelor Nation hashtag. How do you do that? You do the work. You just click through accounts. And then what do you do? Like three photos, leave three comments. Go back to the hashtag. Search, search, search. Find another somebody who could be possibly into your lifestyle group coaching. Great. Like three photos. Leave three comments. Then what you're going to do is anybody who watches

your stories because people, if you have a public profile, people can, oh, so now we're into step number three. I'm blending them all together, right? So step number three is that people can watch your stories if you have a public profile without following you. So how then, you know, like there's tons of creepers. How do you convert a creeper to a follower, a follower to somebody who engages? Well, people who watch your stories are going to be inclined to vote, right? A poll or a quiz. And if you're like, Jasmine, nobody's responding. Nobody's really like my photos. Well, if you have three to four people who actually take the time to vote on a quiz, go to your quiz results, whatever those results are, and then send them a DM. So let's just say, like, you ask, are you a morning person or are you a night owl, right?

And then three people say that they're a night owl. Send them back like an emoji of an owl and be like, I'm a morning person, but props to you for being a night owl. Like, legitimately, you're just starting a conversation. You're not selling. You're not promoting. And if they saw that, I mean, if, yeah, if they saw that you responded and they're not even following you, they're going to follow you. Yeah. And if they know you're a real person, they're going to engage with you.

Three tips that honest you God take nothing more than time. It's so good. And it's, it goes back to it's not like what's in it from me, but like how can I help them? How can I make them feel felt? And, you know, a question, kind of a sport in my head regarding that. So if you, would you recommend doing that from, is it different? from a business page versus like a public figure or self like person page. No. In fact, I'll give you a real life example. I had tagged Seth Godin. I shared one of his quotes. I mean, Seth Godin,

like a walking human unicorn, right? So I shared one of his quotes on Instagram and then I tagged him. And then you would think because Seth Godin has a personal brand that we believe it's either Seth or nobody who responds to us. And then one of his assistants, I don't know, Kaylee, Kaylee, highly, whatever her name was. She's like, hi, thanks so much for tagging Seth. We really appreciate it. And I was like, oh, I was kind of taking it back. And I was so impressed that, like,

Seth is not going to put himself in a boxing. I have to be the person to respond to it. But it's also not fake being like, hi, it's Seth. And I'm like, oh, my God, I'm really speaking to Seth. It was super forthcoming. And I think that the same thing applies if I was a photographer responding or I had a photography business. I totally think as long as a name is attributed to it.

It's like, it's just human to human. We all know that there's a human on the other side. And we appreciate that on to some level. Absolutely. That's so good. Well, thank you so much, Jasmine, for taking the time and chatting with us, telling your story, being vulnerable, and also giving some massive value. Before I let you go, how can people find you online and consume your content?

We make it really easy. It's jasminestar.com and jasmine star on all social media. Thank you so much, Jasmine. You have a great day. Thank you. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Unleash Your Inner Legend. For more inspiration, make sure to subscribe by going to Unleash Your Inner Legend.com. We'll see you guys next week.