I mentioned previously that I asked some Sacramento business friends to read through the book Trust Agents by Brogan & Smith. Well, our book club began today and we have nine participants from fields such as real estate appraisal, real estate sales, comedy, and publishing.
I’m very excited at how well our first meeting went. It’s so good to sift through ideas and make each other better. I have high hopes for our next three gatherings. The main theme that came out in today’s conversation is how important it is to be authentic in how we do business, and especially in any marketing strategy (whether that involves being online or not). Being yourself is irreplaceable.
On another note, it’s great to have two out-of-town real estate appraisers from Georgia & Alabama able to join us on Skype for our 90-minute conversation.
Earlier in the day today too I became Twitter friends with the authors of Trust Agents. Two hours before our book club I messaged both authors to ask for any advice or tips for our group. Here is what they had to say:
I’m in awe how technology has paved the way for us to so casually exchange information and ideas, or even connect with authors. A while back I was listening to NPR or reading something on Copyblogger about the definition of a book. I don’t recall the exact source, so I’ve mentioned both. The classic definition of a book goes something like this, “A set of written, printed, or blank pages fastened along one side and encased between protective covers”. This sounds standard and agreeable, but as the author of the piece I read was talking about, there is an experiential element that one can add to the standard book definition (or at least to the process of reading it). He said that the entire book experience can be more than just what is inside from cover to cover, because it can sometimes include interaction with the author too. I’m not saying I buy into this concept fully, but today I experienced directly how part of reading Trust Agents included a couple of tweets with the guys who wrote the book, and those tweets added some flavor to our conversation.
Ryan, That is really cool that Julien and Chris Brogan tweeted you about book club!
I know. I feel like such a groupie saying it, but I was really excited. I’m really glad you are on board in the group as one of our out-of-towners. I thought Skype worked out great too. We could hear you guys just fine (hopefully it was the same on your end).