I am running a book club!
And today, I'm going to explain why I'm running the book club, how you can register to join, and what's exactly in it for you. Whether you've read my book or not, I have created this book club for you – yes, it's about reading the book, but it's also about implementing what you learn.
I'd like to start by telling you why I have created book club. So, it has been really busy with the Transformation Program rolling out (and just to be crystal clear, you can still join in!). Now, prior to the program opening, it was pretty crazy busy to say the least. And then after the doors have opened, I have been very narrowly focused and dedicated to the tribe.
With that, I decided to book in a little Latin dancing holiday in Sydney for a festival. You probably know I'm a Latin dancer, and I booked that because I knew that I had that to aim for, because, it has been very hard to tear myself away from the tribe, from the members of the Transformation Program – from The Strategic Bookkeeper Project generally. It absolutely is my life's work.
I love it, but, I also know it's healthy to take a break and switch off.
So, I booked this holiday and I arrived and went to my accommodation, and my roommates had already headed into the venue. I was all by myself, and I then decided to jump on and have a look at my private members' feed (i.e. the Transformation Program Facebook group private members). Then, there was this thread and the first part of the thread was from one of our members, Andrew, and he was talking about how much he had noticed the impact of communication, good and bad, on all different types of businesses, and he was really blown away and it led to some other members chiming in and talking about other really impactful parts of what we're doing in the program.
And honestly, the results that I'm seeing and the way that post made me feel –
it motivated me to help more people.
And so to help more bookkeepers globally, I came up with Book Club. So in a nutshell, that is the why behind why I've done book club. I think results in any realm, even if it's personal result, when you're aiming for something... let's say you are doing an exercise routine and you see results – it motivates you to get more results. Whereas when you struggle to get results, it actually demotivates you. And, seeing the results that the tribe members are getting has motivated me to do more, and it always does, which is one of the reasons it's hard to tear myself away. But, like I said, I know it's healthy to switch off and disconnect.
So now, I'd love to just talk to you about more of the what's involved in Book Club, how you can register and what's in it for you.
The book club is about my book, The Strategic Bookkeeper: My Secret Sauce Recipe to Creating a Thriving Practice by Becoming a Strategic Bookkeeper. After basically 13 years in practice, I shared my secrets to success in this tell-all book. And if you haven't read it, I know there's a lot about my backstory that you're not going to know, and so you can grab your free copy of the eBook HERE.
Now, that is the book, and the book club that I am going to run is to help bookkeepers globally with a few things. So number one, to hold them accountable to actually read the book because this is a how-to guide. Number two, if you have already read the book, then I would like you to come into book club and read it chapter by chapter again with me, okay? We're all going to do it together in order to implement.
In the Transformation Program, there are five keys to how I help my participants get results around my seven-ingredient methodology. So that is: Education, Assets, Implementation, Team and Support. And it is the same for you – even if you're not in the program!
With education, you need to learn what you need to learn, and then assets, you need to build key digital assets. That might be build or renovate your website and other brand assets like social media. You do need to make sure that you have developed your brand, that's your organization's personality. Your menu should be a key digital asset. And all of that's explained in the book and so on. Now, once you learn and build, you need to implement. So that's step three. Then step four is team. You will need and you do need team to help you with this kind of thing. In the program, we're kind of like the team behind everything because the program is the done-for-you option. It's quite layered, but the first layer of team as a member of the program is that you've basically got the entire Strategic Bookkeeper HQ, which includes myself as a veteran, bookkeeper, trainer and coach, a world-class business strategist, a marketing copywriter, a branding specialist, a graphic designer, a search engine optimization expert, a systems and team expert, and so on.
So when you come into the program and you pay a fee, part of the value behind that fee is a team that you leverage. And then we have the little black book as well where we direct bookkeepers to remarkable kinds of people and tech, as well as to special deals that we've made. For example, a recent one which is just so incredible – I shook hands with an incredible web developer to create websites for bookkeepers within 48 hours, which leverages our intellectual property to create the best bookkeeping websites I've ever seen, for only $50 a month including hosting. (Honestly, even I struggled to believe that when I did that deal!)
For you in the team part, if you're not in the program, you just need to think about who you're going to need to pay, so to speak, to do all the things that need to be done. And absolutely, if you want to do these things yourself, you can. For me, I think
we can't win the football game without all the right players
in the right positions.
And then there's step five, which is support. In terms of the program, you can imagine that the support is actually all the support you get from HQ, but the support of the tribe as they interact in the Facebook group is always what I knew would be impactful, and it's incredible!
Right now, outside of the tribe is this Book Club, and you are going to get support from me and support from each other.
When I talk to bookkeepers and I ask them, have you read my book? – I get three answers. One answer is, no. The next is, I've started it and the next is, I've finished it. Now, book club is ideal for you if you are in any of those camps because to rinse and repeat, I'm going to hold you accountable to reading it, and hold you accountable to implementation.
Now, I picked up a great book recently called Atomic Habits and I've done one pass of that book. But, I'm going to read it again, and then I'm going to use the hard copy as a how-to guide. It really reminds me of my book – and it's even the same length! (Less than six hours long!)
So, how to register:
head to the Book Club, sign up,
and then you are going to get an email from us welcoming you, together with links to the book formats. And, I really need you to grab the book in whatever formats you like. Grab the free eBook, grab the audio book, grab the hardcover – or better yet, grab them all!
My favourite format to start with is actually the audio book because you can use it multitasking. You can either be the healthy bookkeeper and listen to the audio book while you're going for a walk, or you can just be the busy multitasking mama or dad. You could be at the play centre, multitasking as a parent, and you can really digest that content as a first pass. Now, I am actually listening to my own audio book at the moment, and I bought it on Audible. I've got access to different formats, but I really like to have it on my audible, and I thought, well, I'm just going to jump on and buy it. I'm listening to myself on 1.2 speed to prepare for book club, because I want to refresh myself as much as possible on exactly what's inside the book, so I can share fresh insights for you and fresh insights off the back of lessons from the tribe.
So I do love the audio book, and I also love the hardcover. You can use it, write in it, highlight in it, that kind of thing. I call it Harry Potter style, if you remember the scene with the potions and the book, so you can write all over it. But, I also like the eBook because you can use control find. I've got the eBook open right now, and even I've done it before – you can go ctrl + F for find, and then you can search keywords and you can choose your own adventure.
So next, when you sign up, we will continue to email you gently. We won't spam you – just to kind of remind you around the book, okay? Now, if you happen to read the whole book through before the official start of book club, great. All I need you to do as a bare ass minimum is read chapter one before December 4 in Australia, which is a Monday.
December 4 is going to be the official start of book club where I turn up live in our Facebook group, The Strategic Bookkeeper's Way, to share fresh insights around each chapter week on week, and we're going to do one chapter per week. And so as I go on Facebook and share insights, I would like you to jump in and join the discussion.
For example, week one, we're all going to be narrowly focused on chapter one, and we are going to create a discussion group in Facebook. You are going to be able to ask any questions with an open heart and an open mind.
We're going to find our courage and the confidence to ask questions,
even if we feel kind of icky about it.
I know for me, in years past, if I was in an industry event and I didn't really understand a particular concept, I wasn't always confident to ask. And so I'm going to ask you to come in and have the confidence to name it to tame it, and just ask the questions. As we get into a discussion, I'm going to answer questions and share more insights with content all week about the chapter, so that you can deepen your learning and really understand everything in that chapter and begin to implement, or make a plan to implement.
You will get emails from us week on week, just reminding you which chapter we're up to, asking you to read that chapter in advance. As I said, if you've read the whole book before we start, amazing – but if you haven't, this is me in book club turning up to hold you accountable to get it done.
In terms of the discussion group, week on week, some of you are going to be more about implementation, and I'm sure some of you are going to be more around clarifying concepts, which is more education.
Book club will run for eight weeks over the December-January period, which in Australia, is summer and Christmas period.
I have absolutely got guests coming to stay with me. I've got a beautiful dance teacher who's now living in Germany, one of my besties coming to stay for most of the time, and more friends and family. But, I actually think this is a great time if you're taking time off with the kids, just to spend that time engaged in something creative. This is a creative process so that you start 2024 off armed with what you need to build your thriving practice.
So now, I'd like to come full circle. We started with why, we moved into the what, and I'd like to circle back to the why I've done this, but also what's in it for you.
I have created this book club project in order to help more bookkeepers all around the world, right? I want to help more bookkeepers with what they're feeling, with what they're doing. I want to spark a desire to move in the direction of success, and that is to
learn what you need to learn first.
So absolutely, this is why I've created Book Club for you – to hold you accountable.
Book Club is completely free to join and get involved in and to do with me. I have created this for bookkeepers globally at no cost, in order to help you to thrive in practice. I have no doubt that by joining the book club and interacting in book club for that eight-week period, you will find ways to build and maintain a highly profitable bookkeeping practice.
When I talked to bookkeepers even months and months ago who had read my book and I chatted to them about the different things they were doing, they were absolutely getting runs on the board, and I want to help you get runs on the board.
Ultimately, this is about helping you make the transformation from bookkeeper to strategic bookkeeper, whether you are joining the Transformation Program or not. Now, if you would like to back yourself and go for it, absolutely. The doors to the program are wide open. We are still celebrating foundation members, and you can jump into the Program and join today. If you are not ready to do that yet, then Book Club is ideal for you.
Becoming a strategic bookkeeper solves all the major problems bookkeepers have, which I think can be summarised by
how to find onboard and retain clients without price as a priority,
how to build and maintain your highly profitable practice,
how to have fun while you're doing it,
how to stay relevant in a world of automation, AI, robotics, and actually cheap labour
— becoming a strategic bookkeeper, I promise you, solves all these problems.
How do I know I've done exactly that?
Well, you'll read about that in my book. The thing that I like to say, and definitely what is always in my heart every day for bookkeepers globally, is that I want to help you to build a thriving practice, delight your clients, and live your dream on your terms. And I always say, this is linear. You need to build the thriving practice, or you can't delight anyone. And it's only then that you get the privilege of living your dream on your terms, and that is the income and lifestyle that you want and deserve – just like I achieved five years into my practice. So now, I would encourage you, no matter what you're feeling... I actually do a lot of work with our bookkeepers around mindset and productivity. Mindset being fear and overwhelm, because the barriers to getting things done isn't always a lack of knowledge.
So, if you're in a place of fear, or if you're feeling really motivated, whatever you're feeling right now, I actually encourage you to do something they say in Atomic Habits. It's like a two-minute rule. Just take action for the next two minutes. Jump on to Book Club and just register. This is 100% free to join and participate in. Just take the next action step, my friends. Let me be your coach. Let me hold you accountable. We'll then nurture you through exactly what you need to do next. I will show off and surprise and delight you, more than I've told you in this blog – that's just how I roll.
And to quickly refresh on the dates, Book Club officially starts December 4, so it's about reading as much of the book as you can before that. But, if life got in the way and you've read nothing by December 4, that's okay! I'm going to be in there, holding you accountable.
I really hope to see you during Book Club week x