THE ED MYLETT SHOW - Jasmine Star - Social Media Mastery

Episode Date: April 19, 2018

Today's podcast brings an incredibly inspiring and knowledgeable woman named Jasmine Star. Jasmine has an incredible story. She had the courage to drop out of law school to chase her dream of becoming a professional photographer. After building a wildly successful wedding photography business, Jasmine has become an expert among social media strategists. In this interview, we go through very detailed strategies on how to improve your social media engagement, your platforms, your posts, and your pages. This is an entire strategy session on how to upgrade your social media game. This conversation is loaded with specific details, that if implemented, will have a dramatic positive impact on your business. The content here is amazing! I found myself writing notes and implementing this information as soon as the interview was concluded. This is a must-watch for all levels of skill and experience in the world social media.

Welcome to the Ed Milett show, the place for leaders, dreams and champions. Welcome back to Max out with Ed Milett. I am so fired up about today's program because what we're going to do is going to directly affect your business and in your life because to my left this wonderful woman here is a social media strategy. She's an expert when it comes to social media and helping you grow your following and your platform. So, Jasmine, this is Jasmine's star, everybody.

Hi guys, how are you? I'm so excited. Thank you. Thank you. So fired up. And I was telling Jasmine that if our on-camera stuff is even half as good of what we've been talking about off-camera, this is going to change your life.

We're going to bring it in. We're going to bring it in. I mean, let's go. Let's go. Let's get to the meat. Okay, I love it. I love it. Let's do that then. Let's talk a little bit about you first,

because I think they have to have a context for this amazing following that you've already built, and I want them to know why you can help them so much. So, I want to go all the way to kind of your adult life almost, right? Because like a lot of people watching this, Jasmine was kind of living a script and was chasing a dream, and that dream sort of ended,

and she had the courage to make a transition to really chase her real passion, her real gift. And so you were in law school, right? I was. You were. And so you're chasing that. It was that like your goal? It was like a family goal, I'm curious.

Ed, I come first generation, Latina. My father is Mexican, my mother is Puerto Rican, and my father is an immigrant. And so he was basically trying to pursue the American dream and education. And they never once asked us to pursue education because they themselves never pursued education. My father barely, my dad didn't learn how to read

until he was 23 years old. So I mean, this, just the valued education because they looked at it as like a key, like a passport out of where we were in the hood, in the valued education because they looked at it as like a key, like a passport out of where we were in the hood, in the body, like it was who we were. I'm still in love with how I was raised and the history that comes with it. But in my mind, the way that I made my family proud or the way that I was able to pursue my dreams would be through higher education.

And I think looking back, it was me trying to take the safe path. Typical immigrant child is like hard worker, top of the class, be there on time above the rest. And I finally had this moment of reckoning of like, is this the thing I want to do? Really? Well, you were in law school? Yes, when I was in law school. In 2005, unfortunately during my first year of law school,

my mom got the news that she had a relapse of brain cancer. It was an eight year battle and it was so long, it was so hard and the doctors had decided that her time had come. They were going to stop chemotherapy, they were going to stop the brain surgeries. And I received this phone call there in law school and it was such a difficult hard time in my life. I wasn't happy in school, I wasn't happy with where I was and the decisions that I was making. And I walked in and I was on full scholarship at UCLA.

Oh my God. And I walked in and I said, you know, I think I need to be at home with my mom. I'm gonna come back to school. Like I'm gonna come back, I just need to be with my family. So in 2005, I dropped out of law school. In 2005, I moved home. In 2005, I watched my mom lay listlessly on the couch

for a month at a time. And it was at that time that my boyfriend, my high school sweetheart said, we need your mom to see us get married. That's the thing that she wants. So we climbed up wedding in three months. And in 2005, I remember sitting on a table, very similar to this circular table across

from my newly minted husband. And he says, what do you want to do with your life? Like, where will you find happiness? JD, yes, yes. And I looked across from him and they said, I want to be a photographer. That's pretty artsy from going to this very committed law path, right?

Especially because his response was, don't you need a camera? I don't have a camera. I didn't even have a camera. I didn't have a camera. I didn't swear, didn't have a camera. I said, if I had a camera, if I had a camera, I really think I could do this thing.

If I had a camera, I think I'd be a good photographer. So 2000 Christmas, 2005, I enrapped a camera. But I didn't open the camera because I felt like 2005 was such a hard year in my life. On January 1, 2006, I enboxed my camera. And at that same year against all odds, the doctor said, your mom's not gonna walk, she's not gonna talk, she's gonna slowly go back, she's gonna retreat.

And against those odds, my mother walked me down the aisle, she began to walk, she began to talk, she began to drive, she began to cook, even though she's a terrible cook. My mom's mom, if you're watching, I'm sorry. She's just, it was like burnt offerings. You know, it was like, oh, well, mom made it, we'll let's eat it. And I think that she had a second chance at life. Wow, I'm sorry. She's just, it was like birth offerings. You know, it's like, oh, well, mom made it. Well, let's eat it.

And I think that she had a second chance at life. Wow, that's wonderful. And I think that I had a second chance at life. Like, I made a decision. I'm not going back to law school. I'm going to do this wild crazy thing that I'm wildly unqualified to do. Who got you the camera?

I'm just curious. JD. JD, yes. JD's here, by the way, everybody. And so I kind of figured it was him, and I just wanted to make sure that it was. So he was instrumental in getting you to even think about your dream. Absolutely. By the way, everybody. And so I kind of figured it was him, but I just wanted to make sure that it was. So he was instrumental in getting you to even think about your dream.

Absolutely. By the way, that takes that huge courage because that's a very traditional path. And it is true that most of my friends who's our first generation here, education is emphasized so heavily, where you concerned at all you were letting your family down. Did ever enter your mind?

Or did it? I will distinctly remember sitting at an Italian restaurant in West Los Angeles. I called my father. My father is one of my dearest, sweetest, most powerful friends. He shows me how to be strong. He shows me how to be humble. And I called him and asked to meet.

And we're sitting at this small table for two. And I said across from him, and I said, I think I want to make a really hard decision. I'm so wildly unhappy. They don't want to let you down. And he said, how could you possibly let me down? You far superseded anything we could have imagined. So to have your father's blessing, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

And it was such great advice because I'm happy, I'm successful, I'm living life on my own terms. And as a dad, I think he would want that for any. You do. And that's, by the way, a great lesson for parents who are watching this, by the way, is that it's their path, it's their script, it's their life, it's not the script you give them. And I want to acknowledge one thing because you become this unbelievably successful person in

that space kind of because you've used that background and then increased it even to the social media space. But I got to tell you that it takes, I want those you that are listening, as many of you that are watching this, you right now know you're living someone else's script. You're not chasing your dream, right? And you're the leading character of your life. You're the author, you right now know you're living someone else's script. Amen. You're not chasing your dream, right? And you're the leading character of your life. You're the author. You and God are the author of the story of your life. And anytime you can step into your dream, you can have the courage to step out and start

pursuing that. So I want to acknowledge that because you're not sitting here with me. You haven't changed all the lives you've already changed and the millions more you're about the change. If you didn't make that decision and if JD didn't have the vision to ask you that. So I want to challenge you all to have the courage to chase the real you, the authentic you, your real dream. And so in doing that, you started really out in the photography business really getting

into the space of it. It ended up being where you became one of the most sought after photographers in the wedding space. Isn't that true kind of everywhere? So that started talking about that for a second. And how did that end up? Take a bee through that. And then how did you end up in the social media space

in the first place? How'd that happen? So I unwrapped the camera in 2006. And by 2009, I was voted one of the top 10 photographers in the world. It's amazing. And 2010 voted top most influential photographer. And in 2012 voted top most socially influential photographer.

So we kind of just started off in a niche of a market and then expanded into this creative space. And I started teaching people how to run better businesses and leveraging just what you have. I didn't have money. I didn't have resources. I had nothing. I barely got a camera.

You know, it's just like so living on the dream like we had no money. My husband or this is a startup at the time. Our big date nights was Taco Bell. Nice. In front of the fireplace. Like we were living the highlight and it was great and it was beautiful because you understand the grind and you understand the hustle but you're so thankful for it. Yeah, and it's what makes today so special right?

Absolutely. Absolutely. I don't pass by a Taco Bell without doing a sign of the cross. I'm like, yes, God are those days. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I had to talk about too because my first office was on the roof of the Taco Bell.

Oh, did you smell like refried beans? Oh, your days. No, I did. And I lived on this horrible. I lived on those burritos, but I literally had the same refill mountain do cup for like two years Because I was so broke so Taco Bell What I'm out of it is like instrumental in both of our lives Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, so you become this that's crazy you unwrap a camera and within three or four years

You're one of the most recognized photographers on earth. That's Amazing right so how did you I want to now segue into like this lady is unbelievable about we're about to talk about. So if you're in the space where you think I want to learn to really grow my social media following, where do I begin? Because she said to me, I was the queen of having no resources, no money, no background, no anything, and she's turned this into if you go to her Instagram page, which she should, we'll talk about that

as we go, you're going gonna see this following she's built. But the first thing I noticed on your social media stuff, can we get into this stuff? Yes, because she wants to teach, and we're gonna slay this for you today. So this is now, if you're driving, you're starting to take notes somehow by pulling over, because here we go.

Your page, the first thing I noticed about your page and your website, but we'll stay on the social media website stuff first, is it looks like you? In other words, it's a reflection of you. You know, it's a beautiful page. And like when I see it, I see you. Just the colors, the layout of it, et cetera.

Did you do that on purpose? And what advice would you give to somebody about just starting out on social media with the look of their page or what they should post, anything like that? Is that done on purpose for you? Absolutely. There was a point in time like if anybody's interested and wants to verify. Yeah. Maybe I need somebody to testify. Okay.

Somebody can go back to my Instagram feed in 2014. By 2014 I was always already an internationally recognized photographer. I had built a brand. I was sought after. I was working with magazines. So basically at the top of this photography game. But my Instagram looked like a five year old was running it. Really? It was a hot mess. It had no vision.

And in 2015, I saw other people using it for their business. I saw other people making money. And I thought to myself, I'm in the position too, and I have no idea how to get started. So I just took a step back and I understood. I started looking at other accounts that I found admirable and I noticed that Number one, they showed up consistently. Okay. What do you mean by that? They post consistently? Yes They're on the any time you want a girl platform any social platform

You must make the commitment to say this is how often I'm gonna show up I recommend at minimum once a day. Okay. Is that different? Let's get granular here Yeah, is that different on based on the platform in other words if you're on Facebook or Instagram Is it the same apply to you? At minimum, once a day. At minimum on either one, once a day. I would say on both of them. I'm on, every day, I'm on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

I am most active on Facebook, even though my audience is most engaging on Instagram. Trying to figure out, like, with every algorithm change, you have to treat the platform as if you're going on a new date with somebody. Like, how are you doing? Let me see, how is this changing for us? And so I think it's really important for me to create content on a consistent basis. And with Instagram, engagement matters the most.

Okay. So it's like by you showing up every day, you're basically creating a little template for yourself. When your audience responds, you say, oh, let me double down on these types of posts. Okay. When they don't respond, this is very clear indication that they don't want to see less of that from you. So instead of us being so tethered to this idea as like, I'm a real estate agent, I'm a showhouse-ist.

I'm a real estate agent, I show keys opening a door. It's like, but when you post photos of you walking through the house, or you delivering champagne to new homeowners, and that gets a ton of interaction, show the champagne to the homeless. Wow, how powerful is that? You just taught me something because I seem to even I'm not thank you. I hope everybody caught that because I make that mistake myself.

It's like I kind of have these posts that I know everybody should like. Yes. And they don't. Great. And I keep creating the same one thinking and every single time it's the same genre, the same look, the same thing. The market has spoken, homie. But it's so true though, like I'm glad you're saying it.

Like the market will speak to you. This is huge, right? So you're watching what the market indicates. That's powerful. Is your content the same on each platform? That's a great question. Now the answer used to be no. I was trying to create content independent of each platform trying to show up.

And I realized that I just didn't have enough time in the day. So what I decided to do was to create content on each platform but I wasn't sharing it on the same day or the same time. Because oftentimes studies have shown that when somebody there's a high likelihood that if somebody's on Instagram they likely have a Facebook account. And if they're scrolling through Instagram they might pop over to Facebook. They're on their social at the same time. And so if they like both my Facebook page and my Instagram account there's a good chance

that they're going to see the same content. And I don't want to make it feel like I'm not paying attention and fostering unique conversations in each of those platforms. So hypothetically, okay, good. If I post like a post on Tuesday morning on Instagram, I might post that same post on Thursday night on Facebook. I might post it on Wednesday afternoon on Twitter. I'm just it on Wednesday afternoon on Twitter. I'm just trying to regurgitate the content, but making sure that it's specific. Now, I'm just gonna go off and like,

jive a little. Riff, jive, riff. Like, look, I'm not even cool. I don't even have a talk call. On Instagram, what I see a lot of business owners doing is taking the same photo and automatically pushing it to Facebook. Which is a big no-no.

You can use the same photo, but what I want people to do is to independently upload to Facebook because the thing that happens is that you're not going to get a lot of money. You're not going to get a lot of money. You're not going to get a lot of money. You're not going to get a lot of money. You're not going to get a lot of money. You're not going to get a lot of

money. You're not going to get a lot of money. You're not going to get a lot of money. You're not going to get a lot of money. You're not going to get a lot of

money. You're not going to get a lot of money. You're not going to get a lot of money. You're not going to get a lot of money. You're not going to get a lot of money. And so what happens is subconsciously, as viewers are watching this, they're saying, oh, Bonnie, the real estate agent is having a conversation on Instagram, but she's just really depositing over here on Facebook. And then people wonder, why aren't people engaging with my content here on Facebook? It's because you're not having the conversation on Facebook. Same photo, bring it over here, no more at mentions, you're going to be tagging other pages that are like relevant to the conversation you're having.

The conversations exist in both platforms, but in a way that people are engaging on those platforms. This is huge, what you're saying, because that's another mistake I've made. Another mistake I've made is I've sent it over there and you're exactly right, the hashtags are there, and I can tell, they kinda know I'm just dumping over to Facebook sometimes. But I did notice on Twitter, you're banging on Twitter,

you're not pushing over your Instagram photos to Twitter, you're doing independent uploads, I watched. Well, here's why I don't, by the way. So I was doing that, what she's referring to is I used to just send my Instagram post over to Twitter you're doing independent uploads I watch well here's why I don't by the way so I was doing that what she's referring to is I used to just send my Instagram post over to Twitter and I read your blog maybe no I did if you know if you look I'm pretending like I'm I'm here this for the first time but the truth is I did I've made the mistake on Facebook but on Twitter I learned from your blog I'm like wow like she's exactly right I'm just dumping my

my Twitter followers started to figure out, like, what's the point of following him on here? And so, you're so good. This is so good. So good. OK, talk about the hashtag thing for a second. How do I know, if I'm on Instagram, let's say, what hashtags, did you do a blog on this?

I thought it was just, by the way, let me step back. She has a blog that will absolutely change your planet. How do they get your blog? Just tell them that real quick. Jasmine Starblog. Jasmine Starblog, just so you know guys, let me tell you something. I read this blog and it helps me and I have a pretty dad-gun big social media following.

And I implement what she recommends on there very regularly. One of the things you wrote about on there, it's so good, by the way, it's so good. One of the things you recommended on there was about finding out what hashtags your consumers or your clients are inclined to look for. Talk about that for a second. Okay, so first let's back up a tiny bit.

We need to identify each of us as independent business owners who we are marketing to. And we don't mean this loosely. I mean I'm a firm believer of sticking a claim in the ground and saying my content is for this single person. And that rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Because people say, well, I'm gonna create content for whoever wants to buy what I'm selling. And that's true in theory,

but if we're trying to build a brand and have long term sustainable growth, it's very good to niche a market. Now, just because you niche doesn't mean that you won't appeal to other people, I believe based on your content, you have a very large male following. But it doesn't feel like I don't feel like I can't follow

what you're doing. I just know that you're creating content that appeals to a specific gender. And I think that that's great. I think it's powerful because you're saying, this is my tribe, this is what I'm going for. Other people are welcomed. So it's important that you do that.

So you're already one great step in there. Once you understand who you're marketing to, when you have that person in their mind, like that person's a real person. You know how old they are, you know if they're married, do they have kids, where do they live, how much money to make, and what car to the drive, where do they go,

and vacation was the most recent YouTube video that they watched, what pages on Facebook do they like? Get in their mind. Then you create content for them. Not like this is a promotional piece for my business, this is how can my business. This is how can my business help you? How can my business empower you? Or how can my business diminish fear? We want to make sure that our social media endeavors really hone in on that because there's too

many people in the fitness space. There's too many photographers, too many graphic designers, there's too many bakers. There's too many people doing the same damn thing. How do we stick out? Our messaging comes, it's not about our business, it's what our business does for you. Oh God, that's huge. And so when we do this, so now, now that we're here, we brought it up, we built it up, let's get into hashtags. Okay, that is huge what you just said though, let's stay there, I'm giving it to you. What your business does, right?

Not so, oh my gosh, that's big time, big, big time. All of you no matter what your platform is, because I want to just share something with you. I struggle with that, just because I watch guys in my space, the men in my space, right? And I can tell, like certain people, I won't name who they are, but I can tell, they're really get, their guy is only a 25-year-old below in mail, right?

Or there's just a fitness person. And for me, I really do want to appeal to everybody that is appealable with my content. Whether it be a woman or a man or a guy my age 47 or a 24-year-old. And so I do try to think about that because the market is so big. And so I want to acknowledge, I do what Jasmine said. When I'm creating content, I do think about, because my market is vast. How do I appeal to all these different people with the content that I'm creating?

Knowing I can't reach everybody with every post and so so huge about what your business does or for me right so talk about the hashtag thing now so now that we know who we're talking to now that we know that we're talking to the 25 year old who lives in Chicago who's has a side hustle but during the daytime he's driving Uber like I want you to get really granular who is this person because when this person becomes real to you, you

create content that appeals to them and then you are really smart with your hashtags. So for instance, if you're creating entrepreneur content, the knee-jerk reaction would be to hashtag entrepreneur. Business startup. Business-minded. And then what happens is the other people in your industry and sphere are using entrepreneur. Business mind it. Hustler. So then we wonder why are people only in my industry following me? Because you're only using hashtags that industry peers are using. So now if we go back and we say how does Seth living in Chicago driving Uber who has a side hustle he wants to become a videographer. How do I as in my shoes if Seth was my ideal client?

How do I create social media content for Seth? I'm using masculine driven images. I'm making references that a 25 year old guy would like and no one understand. I'm making music references to who I think he's listening to hip hop references. What kind of car does he drive for Uber? Like I'm creating content that gets into his psyche because any time a consumer of social media is looking at a piece of content that feels like it's tailor made for them, they will follow, they will spend more, they will wait more, they will support more, they will

evangelize more. Taylor made content of Now is You to Build a Tribe. Now, I'm not about metrics. I mean, it's great that we have all these numbers and that's fantastic. But really, I firmly believe, I firmly believe, it's got to my witness, a business will go farther with a thousand avid followers. Then 10,000 followers who are just passive, I'm going to scroll on by. 100% agree with that. So we build a tribe,

but you build a tribe by creating content that people wanna see, and then insert yourself in social situations. Because then if I was creating content for Seth, I'm not hashtagging entrepreneur, because Seth doesn't identify yet with being an entrepreneur. What is he identify with?

Well, the music that he's listening to, the side hustle, if he listens to podcasts like Ed Mylett, I might be hashtagging your podcast, so that when he's like, oh, this podcast, how does Jasmine's information come here? Who is this person? Oh, she's creating content for me. Was that what you mean by inserting yourself in social situations? Okay, social conversation, social conversations. Okay. And so this is huge. How do you feel about this is this is the best stuff we've covered

on here about this topic by far, and it's learning for me like educating for me. How do you feel about thank you, by the way, because this people are getting huge value out of this. How do you feel about, no, once you're building that engagement, because I agree, I'd rather have a thousand engaged followers than 10,000 new pastoral and scroll through my stuff. That's the other point I want to make, too, is I see certain people in my space, they post too much stuff, and it becomes this blur of nothingness that I don't want to see.

How do you feel about engaging with your followers? So, are do you recommend people engage, reply to comments? Do you recommend they like comments? Do you recommend they engage on other people's pages who are in a similar genre? How do you feel about that? Ed, let's talk.

We're gonna get into tactical stuff. And what I'm gonna say is, as the audience is watching and listening, I want going to say is I as the audience is watching and listening. I want them to understand that I know and I feel and I trust that I'm going to ruffle some feathers. I know that I'm going to make people uncomfortable. I know I'm going to kiss some people off. Avoid the shutdown right now. I want people to be open. Instead of poking holes at the things that I'm saying, I want you to be avoid the ways to make reasons why you can't do it. Okay. And find reasons that you will.

Okay, so people say I don't have enough time, but you have to understand what is the role in your business. If you do not want to be the head of your company, if you do not want to be the visionary, if you don't want to be lead of, if you don't want to be the driver of lead acquisition, then bring somebody on the outside who is and let them drive those conversations. But if you want to be a personal brand, if you want to be the driving force,

then you must be the one navigating those conversations online. You can go through, and I'm really proud of this. And I respond to the best of my darn ability to every DM, to every comment. I know you do, because we come from this that we understand the value of saying I see you. The fact that you took 10 seconds to write this for me, I'm going to respond back to you.

It's not scalable, but the unscatable builds a team of evangelists who become right or die and what you're doing. A thousand percent agree with you. I love what you said about I see you because that's really what I feel like I'm doing. It isn't scalable to a point. I'm at a point now where we've been discussing how many more can I do and I get a couple thousand a day, right? But I'm blown away by people who only get 25 a day or 40 a day who don't engage with their groups. It's incredible. One way to engage is that.

And by the way, I want to also say this to you. This is why you want to get involved with them. This is just a, we're just scratching the surface here. One thing about content too, a lot of you struggle with having enough of the photos to post. You can't post every picture just of you. There's gotta be stuff that makes a statement. And Jasmine and I say this because I so believe it'll serve many of you.

You have a business where they could get access to content that you help create, true? Can you tell them just, this isn't a commercial guy. She didn't wanna talk about this. I told Adam, no pitches, Ed, let's keep it clean. And he's like, no. I want you to know. Part of you growing your following may be for some of you

accessing some of what she can offer you this way. So tell them a little bit about that. So the inception, it's called Social Curator. Social Curator. The inception of this idea was that I had my drive and I would teach people, this is how you show up. This is what you say. This is how you engage.

And I even brought a videography team into my house and say this is how I created this how you do it now go and do and the three main things I heard again and again from thousands of people Jasmine I don't have enough time I don't know what to say and I don't have photos yes and so I thought to myself is there a way that I can create a service so for twenty $25 a month, I have business owners, and on the first of every month, they get 30 stock photos. They get 15 caption templates so that when those times that you're like, I don't know what to say,

I don't know how to talk about my business, I can't find the right words, I have swipe copy, fill in the blanks, talk about your business, I guide you through that. And every single month, we tackle one small piece of social media. How to use Instagram stories through your business. How to revive your Facebook page. How to run your first Instagram ad. Every single month, you're just getting one small piece of social media. How to use Instagram stories through your business? How to revive your Facebook page? How to run your first

Instagram ad? Every single month you're just getting a small piece of content so you know this is how I'm showing up. This is what I'm doing. I love this like just so you know that's such a nominal cost when you have someone who does that full time for you. You know the difference that you have someone who doing that for 25 bucks a month is pretty unbelievable right? So I think it's a value ad for all of you that are listening to this too. So I wanted to make sure they got in the middle of the podcast, not towards the end where you might miss it, okay?

So stay with us. So a couple of other things I want to say that I noticed that you're an expert at. And that is, so not only do people struggle with having the photo, they struggle with a caption. So Andy Fercilla, who's one of my best friends and has built a monster following and is actually my partner in some group stuff we're doing together that you know some mentoring

and master mining we're doing but Andy's been teaching me over time the reason one of my following is how important the caption is right like he believes the caption is actually more important than the actual photo in many cases and so can you talk to them about how do they know what the caption how do you how do you caption when you make a post look at, we go back, this is the inception of like marketing sales. Like we go back, this is like, uh, harkening like madmen days, right? This is like, this is Madison Avenue in its rarest form. Is that we are all now copy raiders.

True. Okay. I mean, this is, your caption is your sales in print. And I don't disagree with Andy. I firmly believe. now, photos are important to stop somebody scrolling. Sure, that's the first thing that they see. And then they debate, do I want to find this interesting?

And that's why it's so important to have an attention grabber at the beginning of every caption. I don't think most people know that. So on Instagram, you're now, they truncated it. You used to be able to see three lines of copy to get people interested. And I believe, in this speculation, but I believe that they made it only two lines

because they want people to read the click more. They don't want an amuse-bush, they don't want an appetizer, they want you to say, go to the meal. Go to the rib eye, we want you serving it up. Which I think is actually a good thing. But those first two lines are now so important. It's an intention grabber. It's, can I ask you a question?

I'm curious. I made a mistake. Can I, you have an opinion? Can I get a recommendation? Engaging, hooking them in the beginning, and then guiding them through the conversation is imperative. Massive, massive, massive, massive, as she has told you to grow your following

are those first two lines. I promise you, people ask me. I think I'm the fastest growing person in the history of social media in the business space for in nine months and one of the keys has been mastering that what you just said the first two lines was three lines first you guys getting your attention can I ask you a question I'm curious I love what you

just said right there couple more things that we'll talk about winning in life and just not through social media right but I love this so I want to because I'm learning so I'm going to keep asking, so what about your photo? What about your bio-photo? Is there anything about that that someone should know? Because that's the first thing so much easier.

Oh, you're asking, you're just asking the right questions. I think that you're coming at this, you're serving an audience that is hungry and you're meeting them where they are. We and I had this conversation a lot of times that I see this like esoteric cloud lights. Let's talk about the philosophy of social media. No, let's get down to the down and dirty.

What do you actually do, right? Absolutely, your bio-photo. Three main tips. Number one, a photo of a person looking at a camera is really engaging. As human beings, we're hardwired to judge people if you're looking at their eyes. So admit it to stop somebody.

It's going to be really, but no, no, no. We know each other, we go back. No, we're good. So looking at somebody in their eyes is very powerful. So having a headshot that's from the colorbone, chestbone area up is great. When you have a full body photo, what happens is you see less of the person's eyes.

So you want a well lit, naturally lit photo. You want to be looking directly at the camera. And if at all possible, smile. OK. There are times for very cool photos. Cool photos really do well, but as a standalone piece of building a brand, you wanna be approachable, you wanna be friendly,

and you wanna start conversations. And we have to think about social media as a cocktail party on the internet. When somebody walks into a cocktail party and indoors, it's a Friday night, they walk into the montage at the bar, and they're wearing their sunglasses, they still have their hat on. They're just looking around.

Like, who's going to look at me take a drink? It's the people who we want to talk with are the guys, the women who have their sunglasses off. Everything's packed up. They look at you smile. You're right. Casually order a drink. Wow. This is a stuff when you've had it. Wow, this is massive stuff.

Should you change it? Is there a shelf life to a photo where you should change that photo because your followers have seen it so long? Well, there's a beauty. It's a beauty in the beast. You like when people become familiar with your photo because people look at the photos and another thing to say is, I highly recommend against using a logo. Okay.

Because a logo takes away the personality of a business or a brand. So there's that. So there's a beauty of somebody seeing the same regular photo because then they, if they've engaged you in the past and they know that you deliver great content, which you do, you kind of like that association. So I kind of, familiarity, I will kind of like rest a photo for at least like four or five months before you decide to switch it out. Switching it out too much, it confuses people as simple as it is.

Okay, this is tons of stuff here. Tons of stuff. Anything else you would tell somebody who's getting into the social media space or is in it now, and you'd say, listen, if you're gonna make this work, you need to do X or Y. Would it be, you know, create content that I always tell people, the content better reflect you. Better not be, you're not doing somebody else.

Like it's gotta be authentic. They have to think it's the real you, but is there something else you would tell them is we turn the page off of social, we're going to life here in a minute, but anything else you would add to them about social media, the way they post post anything of that nature, any advice. I would.

I would talk about creating value-driven content, because let's say I sell shoes, and you sell shoes, and you sell shoes, and you sell shoes, and you sell shoes, and you sell shoes, we're all selling shoes. What the marketing that I see on Instagram, conversations I see on Instagram by nine out of ten of us I sell shoes these are the sizes the shoes come in When if I wanted to stick out from the crowd a value driven piece of content would be I sell shoes Here are the five reasons why you should be packing these shoes to go on vacation because of one two three four five If I sell sunglasses and we also sunglasses it shouldn't be these are the colors that the sunglasses come in. It should be these five tips will help you pick the best

shape of sunglasses for your face. So we have value-driven content that helps us position ourselves in the place of authority, but it builds trust. God, Lee, this is huge. This is huge. Okay, I totally agree with that by the way. Like, when I'm listening, I'm thinking, what are the things I've done wrong? You're right. And when you say things I've done correctly, I have to acknowledge it too. I've done that, I've done that value out on the content. So you have obviously become this success, not only because of the detailed knowledge

you clearly have about how social media works, but also you have the courage to step into this space. You're super driven to improve you and chase the highest version of you. You're, you've spent money on yourself. You're in various to improve you and chase the highest version of you. You're you've spent money on yourself You're in various different mastermind groups that you participate in and so what is it that you think for entrepreneurs Or just people in general that are out there that you know, they want to be somebody they want a dream to happen They want to live ocean front. They want to have a dream relationship. Whatever it is

What do you think holds most people back? What do you think it is and what do they need to do and think differently? That's a broad question, but what would your answer be to that? It's gonna be two things. Okay. It's gonna be so, a lot of people are so concerned of what other people will think about their decisions. It could be a parent, it could be a spouse, it could be people on the internet, and the only person who's responsible for making those decisions and protecting your soul. You have been, we've all been commissioned. We have, we serve a higher purpose and a calling.

And when we stand in the light of our rightness and our voice, I would have been a successful lawyer, mark my words. I would have not have served the amount of people I can serve because now I'm standing in my purpose. Had I listened, if my father sat across me and said, you know what, me, huh? No. I don't want you to do that. I would have said, maybe.

Who knows? I don't know what I would have said. But the fact of the matter that I stood at the end of the day made a very hard decision to walk away from a safe path and say, I believe. And I don't care. For all intents and purposes, people say that's the most ridiculous thing you could have done.

I don't care. When I decided to take a sabbatical from running one of the most profitable photography studios in the world, people said you're crazy. And I said I see something else on the horizon. I'm intended to be serving more people. I'm intended not just to be serving creatives, but entrepreneurs, people who want to live their best version by way of pursuing their dream business. That's my life calling. I don't care what all of you have to say. I'm doing my thing. Secondly, is belief in self. That they have this pinwheel above their head of failure.

They list of all the things that didn't work in the past, and I say refrain that. It wasn't a failure. It's only a failure if you decide to stop right there and then. Wow. Stand in purpose and reframe. Those are, I think, by the way, I totally agree with you. And I think those two things are connected.

I think a lot of times because there's a lack of maybe self-belief, then we'll become more concerned with what other people think about this. So true. So true. When you have a great reputation with yourself, you've kept promises you make to yourself, you've trust yourself, right?

You're far less concerned with your reputation with everybody else, but when you don't feel great about yourself or you haven't kept promises you've made to yourself, you don't have high self-confidence, now your reputation with everybody else is of huge value to you, importance, right? So they're interconnected. One thing I notice about you immediately on camera when I watch you speaking and then now in person, it's like really apparent.

I believe in energy, right? I think energy almost overrides everything in life, right? Even even a poor decision made with the right energy, the right intention. Yes, I've made some a lot of poor decisions. I'm just a good easy one, but I've almost just willed my energy, because I always give myself credit for my intent. I know my intent is good,

I know I want to do the right thing, I don't always do the right thing, but I know my intentions, I know I'm a good man, I know I want to help people, I know I want to serve, I love that term of standing in your purpose, by the way, I may steal that from you.

But so this energy you have, it's magnetic, right? It's like, I root for you, I want to help you, I believe you, right? Like you're certainty levels off the charts, too, right? Where's that come from? Have you always had this or have you worked on that? What's it come from? With this energy you have? Because it's obvious, like I'll guarantee you, the people that are sitting around here

watching this, they could feel your energy I can feel it when I'm talking to you that means so much true and it means so much to me because I know what it's like to have an energy This completely polar opposite of the energy I possess now really as the daughter of an immigrant I grew obese I weighed 180 pounds. I wasn't even five-foot tall. I was 11 years old. I weighed more than my dad I was constantly ridiculed. I didn't learn how to read until I was 11 years old. I weighed more than my dad. I was constantly ridiculed. I didn't learn how to read until I was 11 years old. I was poor. We had government-issued food. People from our church would take donations for us.

And yet, through all of that, I felt like if I can pour myself into academics. So I studied, I remain quiet. I always like to be behind the scenes. I'm a watcher. I'm a looker. I would see other people doing the things I wanted to do. And I never gave myself the permission to do that.

It wasn't until I was 25 years old, in 2005, when we started this conversation, where I thought, my God, I robbed the world of this thing that I have because I was so concerned of being me. When I saw my mom, she was 50 years old, and they said she was going to die, I was 25 years old, and I had them in life crisis. I said, what if I look back and they said she was going to die. It was 25 years old and I had him to life crisis I said what if I look back and they say what if what if I could have done more served more been more spoken up my voice quiver

What could I what could I have been and at that moment? I said no more I'm gonna stand in this. I'm gonna I'm gonna speak up on my voice shakes I'm gonna walk even though there's hills and I'm gonna continue to own up to the mistakes because I've made plenty And if people walk if people know she's trying her best, her intention was to serve. We're still going to support her even when the chips are down. That's a hundred percent right. I am that's a clip by the way that I'm going to watch over because I just love what you just said because I think there's wow you got me right there because I also went through

a midlife crisis of that agent. I'm in I say it's all time I'm in a midlife crisis constantly to get to the next version. I saw an interview with you talking about your daughter said you're having a little crisis. I said the midlife crisis to be a better man. I was like pre-preach. It's really what's more powerful is what you just said because here's why because a lot of people watch that they go well I haven't always been in a

crisis to get better right I've had a tracker that I've not getting there which is what you just said I want you to hear this beautiful soul just told you right I spent 25 years not being this person. So I think sometimes people is like well he's just got this track record of getting better so it was like this momentum you're like no I didn't have that 25 years I sort of lived in the shadows and then you stepped out of it right and you gave him the formula of how to do it and there's so so many of you. I think men for sure, but even more with women, I think even more in the space with women, the world tries to tell you, you're not enough all the time. You're not enough this. Be quiet. Be a good girl. You don't look like this. You don't act like this. So there's all these things.

These messages we get as we're being raised. And then the world does it to us too. So often, I feel this women walking into room and no one acknowledges them and that happens over and over and over again. It's like reserved for these, just these few people in the world get that acknowledgement and you have to take it ladies, you have to step into it, you have to decide what Jasmine just told you that you're going to take your power, right? You're going to step into that space and I love what you said, step into your purpose. That is massive. So I love that.

Now, doing that, and I want all the women to hear this. To a men, I know you're getting value on this, but the women need to hear this. That you can step in. You are enough now. You can step into your purpose. And your intentions are good. This is what can happen to you.

This is what can happen. Millions of people are hearing this. And so we don't have a whole lot more time, but I'm curious. So I know where you've gone. I know what you've become. What do you want to do? Like, what's your purpose?

Now you said, I'm stepping into my purpose, right? So, and I think, by the way, I want to tell you something, having met you, it's even bigger than you think. So I've watched your ability to communicate. I've watched you on camera. I've watched your energy level today. Your intensity level, but man, your ability to communicate. Wow, right?

Like, you have a huge purpose, Jasmine. It's huge. But what do you want? Like, what is your calling? Where are you going? Like, what are we going to see it from Jasmine's star in five more years? What do you want? I would love.

Like, my main goal is, yes, I want to provide for my family. I want my parents to be proud of me. I want my friends and family to sit behind me. That's my number one goal. Me too. But I think that my purpose is to empower other people to live the life that they don't allow them to. To watch somebody and say, you are underqualified, you want to underprepared, you were underfunded, you were underconnected. And yet, as an underdog, you still continue to show up and show up and show up.

And when people made fun of you and when they said the meanest things about you, they said, ask why anybody would hire you and you showed up. And you showed up. It's just living proof that people can get and earn and pursue and push all the things that they want. And if I can look back five years from now and look at all the people who said, this is me, I might not be making a million dollars a year,

but I'm taking my family in a Disney cruise. I might be making a million dollars, but guess what, I bought myself a Toyota Prius. I might, like all of those things are success parameters to them if I am allowing you to live your version of success. Not the yachts in the houses, those are beautiful and that's fine, that's wonderful.

But if your version of success is to leave work every day at 3 p.m. so that you can serve dinner and eat dinner with your family and pick up your son from soccer and you're living the life good for you. If I can look back, I will say, I have lived in my purpose and I will find a way to monetize on the back end.

I have food on my table and my dad, we were raised in a very spiritual house, my dad's a pastor and he said, beans and rice and Jesus Christ. If you have those things, you're okay. Now say daddy, I love it more than beans and rice, but thank you. No, that is so awesome.

It's because that's a real perspective, right? Like that's actually true. And I think so often when you watch these shows, I love what you just said because it seems like we think everyone's dream is these huge material things. But oftentimes it's just like I'd like to have my Saturdays free. Or I'd like to coach my son's little league team

or all these different things. And that's your calling now. Let's go get it. Let's have the courage to have my Saturdays free. Or I'd like to coach my son's little league team or all these different things. That's your calling now. Let's go get it. Let's have the courage to go get it. I want to help you help people because I think you're amazing. I think you're amazing. Today's conversation, you can tell.

I'm fired up. This was beautiful for me. And so you can tell from listening to her, there's no question in my mind that you know this is a soul who wants to help you. But not only does she want to, does she have the energy, does she have the story? She's got the strategies, man.

She's got the track record. So how do they find you just before we go? Where do they go find you, at least on the internet somewhere? What's the best place to find you? On the internet jazmanstar.com in an all social jazman star. Okay, jazman star.

You all got that, right? I want to tell you something. I really am grateful for today, because unlike a lot of programs out there, I try to do it where people get real tangible things they can go use. There are several pages of notes someone who was listening to this took today, thanks to you. And then on top of that you inspired them, right?

Like as you're inspiring, not just the words you said, but you're inspiring, your stories inspiring, your being is. And so really grateful. And I have to say like, I met you today. I walked into your house. And the thing that I felt was that you were like a magnet. You were a magnet, and not only does that make you special when you share your magnetism with other people.

When you share your platforms and you invite people for the greater purpose, thank you. Like this is, it's not lost on me, homie. Like I'm so happy to be here. Thank you. Thank you so much. It was wonderful. So everybody, I want to challenge you. If you do me it's not lost on me, homie. Like I'm so happy to be here. Thank you. Thank you so much. It was wonderful.

So everybody, I want to challenge you. If you do me just one favor, I bring you these unbelievable people and this unbelievable knowledge for nothing. It's for free. I just ask you that whatever platform you're watching this on, if you'd review it so it moves up the rankings, I want more people around the globe to see this. And if you're on those other platforms, make a comment or something as well. So God bless you, everybody, Jasmine.

Thank you. Max out everyone. This podcast is for leaders with passion and guts. Nothing less than a championship is acceptable. you