Ilove books and I love reading. Indie Business Book Club 2011 was a huge success! For the first three quarters of the year, about a dozen IBN members gathered via conference call and private FaceBook Group to discuss The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy, Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh, and Poke The Box by Seth Godin.
These discussions were extraordinarily useful and insightful, and everyone learned so much by sharing their insights and experiences, and by learning from others. I will announce my choice for Indie Business Book Club January 2012 later today, but first, I am pleased to Indie Business Book Club format for 2012, which makes it easier and fun for more people to learn, grow, and share with us!
New Indie Business Book Club Format
1. The new Indie Business Book Club will be open to everyone.
2. Instead of conference call meetings, we will use this blog, the Indie FaceBook Page and the #indiebookclub hash tag on Twitter to share what we learn and how we put it into action. This way, you can share wherever you feel most comfortable and where most of your friends are.
3. Each month, I will announce a new book here and link to where you can purchase and/or download it. Unlike last year, we will not have conference call meetings. Instead of the FaceBook Group, and we will use the Disqus comments and the FaceBook comments (your choice) at this blog to share our insights and experiences. We will also use FaceBook and Twitter to challenge the authors of the books we read and to ask them questions.
With the announcement, I will share the schedule we will use to read and discuss the book.
4. You read along, and share your insights, questions, and comments at any of these places:
— The Disqus and/or FaceBook comment area at the bottom of blog posts here.
— The Indie FaceBook Page (I will create a link especially for each new discussion to make it easier for people to follow). On FaceBook, you can use the tag feature to tag the author's page, if there is one. On Twitter using the #indiebookclub hash tag, to make it easier for people to follow.
— On Twitter using the reply symbol (@), if the author is on Twitter to ask the author questions and/or share your thoughts, and using the .
— You can also blog your thoughts, ideas and questions at your own blog, Twitter and FaceBook.
— You can even participate via commenting and re-pinning each other's thoughts and ideas on Pinterest.
Take your pick! Use whatever suits you best and allows you to easily include your friends and business colleagues.
I will announce my January 2012 Indie Business Book Club choice later today. Now, I want to share why I think it is important for you to consider joining us.
How Our Book Club Can Enhance Your Life
Good good reading skills, are a fundamental building block of success in all walks of life. Whether you want to learn a new skill or figure out how to operate your new tech gadget, if you can read well, you'll do a better job of everything.
With that in mind, I lead this book club for three main reasons. First, it's a great way for me to make sure I read and learn as much as possible. Second, it helps me empower my IBN members to read and learn as much as possible. Third, it provides all of us as a group to not only read, but to learn and act on what we read.
This is critical. Knowledge is not power all by itself. To become truly powerful, knowledge must be acted on. If you want to watch your life change for the better in 2012, join us as we read 12 books (I may throw in some extras) together and empower each other to more fully mature into the leaders we were meant to be.
The fact that it's virtual makes it easier and more comfortable for everyone to learn and grow together. Rather than going to a physical location, you can read and participate at your own pace based on the schedule. You can download the book from the comfort of your own home too. We have no excuse not to improve ourselves and help other succeed at the same time!
Stay tuned for a post later today announcing my book club choice for January 2012!
Oh! Prizes
Yes, there will be prizes, but I haven't figured out what they will be yet. I'm feeling some juicy IBN member products for the people who share the most insights and questions here at the blog and via Twitter using the #indiebookclub hash tag. I'll be pondering this. Meanwhile, feel free to leave your suggestions for prizes in the comments.
Questions: Won't you join us? What would you like to win, and what should some of the criteria for winning be? I'd love to see your ideas!