Marketing strategist and creative hustler Jasmine Star dropped out of law school 13 years ago to pick up a camera and follow her dreams. Now known for her award-winning photography and legendary Instagram presence, Jasmine joins Brad Lea to share some of what she learned along the way. Here’s a taste of what they covered...

On owning social media:

• Leverage whatever is popular in the now. Blogging, twitter, facebook. Whatever the next iteration is, get there because it’s free to use, the land is cheap, and you can build a resort on it.
• Swapping like-for-like makes social media a transaction instead of a conversation. Instead, look at it like a great, big cocktail party—and only you get to decide how much fun you have. Curate your feed in a way that feeds you.

On starting your dream business:

• We all suck when you first start doing something! What people see today is 13 years as a hustling entrepreneur who had to teach herself everything. Don’t compare my 13 years of experience with your two years. Two years in, you’re not going to be driving a hot car and invited to the big parties. It takes time to be great.
• When we do the same thing over and over, we run the risk of having it become rote. Stop defining your possibilities by your current role. You won’t grow by staying comfortable.
• What is your value proposition, what makes you different, and how can you use it to help others? At the end of the day, it’s your job to create different iterations of your business that keep you inspired, but also give you the ability to impact lives.
• Working harder doesn’t always guarantee. You need to have a strategy. What got you here won’t get you there. You need to step back and ask yourself “What isn’t working?”

On following your dreams:

 

• There was a time in my career where I had nothing, I was nothing, I owned nothing. I couldn’t come from any other place than sheer authenticity. And, somewhere in the middle of my career when the awards and accolades starting coming in, I thought I had to be somebody that I wasn’t, and people can smell it.

 

• Be authentic, be yourself. Because you’ll repel the people who shouldn’t be around you and attract the ones who should.
• My number-one attribute is resiliency. I Spent most of my life never being cool enough, smart enough, fast enough, or skinny enough. But I was the person who kept working hard.

Want to learn how to curate your own party like Jasmine? Follow her @jasminestar across platforms. If you’re interested in building a marketing and branding blueprint for your own business, check out The Path to Profitability—an eight-week course to help you outline the why, what, and how of your professional aspirations.