38. Lessons from Your World-Class Assistant - Business Book Club

Welcome back to Your Win-Win Teacher Business. This is our Business Book Club series and today’s book is called Your World-Class Assistant.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Janice: Welcome back to Your Win-Win Teacher Business. This is our business book club series, and today's book is called Your World-Class Assistant.

[00:00:35] Why am I sharing this book? I love this author and it was really hard to choose which one book I was going to share to represent this author's work on the podcast. But this book is so unique and I feel like enough people don't know about it. This book shares such a fresh perspective about the idea of hiring help.

[00:00:59] When you're running your business solo and you're thinking about possibly being brave to invite someone behind the curtain and hire some help for the very first time, you have so many questions about what that will be like and if it's the right time for you, and if that's even what you want in your business.

[00:01:20] And this book offers the opportunity to hear from other CEOs about what that experience has been like for them so that you can close your eyes and picture yourself in their shoes and decide, Hmm, maybe that could be helpful for me, or, Ooh, I don't think I would like that day to day at all. This book also really served me when I was beginning my journey as a virtual support provider. If I was going to be behind the scenes in someone's business and supporting them,

[00:01:48] I wanted to do that very, very well. And while I went to college to get my bachelor's and my master's degree in education to learn how to be a teacher very, very well, that wasn't going to be the path that I took in order to become a virtual support provider. So it was gonna be up to me to find PD in other places and get my training up to speed to make sure I was really prepared to do this role Well, at high level. And this book is so special because it has alternating chapters between executives in this business

[00:02:21] and their assistants. And I got to read about the different ways that business owners.

[00:02:28] Reach out for help and how the type of help and support that each person needs is unique to their role and unique to how they think and they operate. And it was so cool to think out of the box about things that people could help me with in my business that I hadn't even realized were types of help I could leverage.

[00:02:49] It was also helpful to hear about problem solving and what worked well and what didn't and what they did about it when an assistant relationship wasn't creating the desired outcome. And so it's a book that I've read multiple times and every person that I've shared it with has been really excited to dive in.

[00:03:10] So as we head out for summer vacation and we have a little bit of a slower time in the TPT search bar, and you're probably doing some visionary work and thinking and dreaming about the next school year in your business, I think this is a great summer read.

[00:03:26] If you're feeling nosy today, I'll share a little bit from the behind the scenes of the stats of this podcast. In the first half of this year, the Business Book Club episodes have been a clear hit in my analytics dashboard. In January, we talked about Zen guitar, which is not traditionally a business book, but I shared why it's helpful to me as a business owner. In February

[00:03:50] we talked about the 12 week year, and many of you have reached out to me saying that you're taking your first 12 week sprint and you can't wait to schedule your next one because it's been such an impactful way to work. In March, I shared the book Obsessed and it helped us dive behind the scenes of the brands that we know and love, real modern brands that you interact with every day, and what lessons we can learn from them as we build our own brands.

[00:04:18] In April, we took a step in a woo woo direction and we dove into the Secret. I think it was a good point in the year to really turn within and encourage ourselves about what's possible in the world.

[00:04:31] In May since we were on the other side of tax season I shared about the book Profit First, and many of you joined me in looking at your expenses in a new way to see what you could cut, what you could condense to make sure your expenses were aligned with your goals, to make sure your business was paying you a fair salary.

[00:04:52] What an exciting journey we went on unpacking the book Profit First. And then this is our sixth episode, and the book I'm offering is called Your World-Class Assistant. And this business book club episode is going to be a little bit different. Last summer I started a summer book club on my email list where we could unpack this book together, and I shared a chapter of it, a little piece of it every single week via email.

[00:05:20] So you could read one chapter, take one baby step forward in your business. I would share in your email inbox some takeaways that I had from reading the book and you had the opportunity to reply and chat with a real person about the book. So many times, book clubs involve live sessions and it's impossible to keep up with the pace of other people reading and match time zones and show up, and so this was a low pressure summer book club that was inclusive for all, and the feedback was really good.

[00:05:49] I also know that sometimes we start those experiences and we still don't finish the book. And maybe you have the emails piled up in a folder and you're hoping to get them in the future. And so as I chatted with people who went through that summer book club experience last year, I wanted to offer it again and bring it back.

[00:06:07] And you might find that you wanna reread this book. You might find that you started this book and you'd like to finish it. And so I'd like to offer that summer book club over email as an accountability boost to help you read one book about your business this summer. So how can you access my summer book club?

[00:06:27] It's completely free by the way, but you would go to cook family resources.com/summer-book-club and you're gonna just join like a regular email opt-in and you will get dripped emails. It'll walk you through the whole process, make sure you have a chance to buy the book, and a link so that it's easy to shop, and it'll tell you exactly what day the next thought about the summer book will land in your inbox.

[00:06:54] I got great feedback on this book club last year, and I wanted to offer it again this year because I still think that summer is the perfect time to read this particular book. It's not gonna be a fun beach read, it's not gonna be like anything else you're reading. But it's a way you can show up for your business and make sure you learn one new thing.

[00:07:13] I think it pairs very well with that visionary dreaming that we often find ourselves doing on a hot girl walk in the summer, and I can't wait to see some new faces in the summer book club this year.

[00:07:26] Maybe you'll read this book and maybe you won't, but

[00:07:29] either way, I encourage you to think about the business you're building. Have you gone as far as you can as a solopreneur, and are you a little bit curious about what it could look like to hire help soon? Have you hired out in the past but had a horror story and want to learn what you can do in the future?

[00:07:51] Maybe there are some insights in this book about onboarding and communication that can help your next hiring out experience go more smoothly. Or maybe you're just feeling nosy and you wanna hear about the behind the scenes in other businesses and how they're getting everything done.

[00:08:09] If you need a sounding board as you unpack your hiring thoughts, I'll be there one reply button away through the summer book club experience. Thank you for letting me share this favorite book from my bookshelf today.

[00:08:23] I love supporting solopreneurs who are committed to running their brands all by themselves for the long haul. And I also love helping people grow small teams and finding systems to help everyone on that team have a win-win experience.

[00:08:38] If you have a book that's collecting dust on your bookshelf that you're hoping I'll cover here on the podcast, I'd love to hear about it. I have a personal goal to balance male and female authors during this series, so reach out and share a book by both a male and female author at the end of this episode.

[00:08:54] And remember, you don't have to run your business alone. Read books and talk about them with your business besties. Share about this book on Instagram and tag me at teacherjaniceva. Slide into my dms on Instagram anytime to talk about the ups and downs of running a business. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts and share a takeaway from the book with others to help them on their journey.