Getting the most out of the books
Over the past few years, I have been reading a lot of books to learn new things. In my experience, books provide a deeper level of understanding compared to courses or other learning methods. While courses are a good starting point, they usually cover only the basics. On the other hand, books offer more specific and detailed information in certain areas. This is especially important for people who are not just starting in their careers and need to continually learn new things.
When reading books, you often come across interesting ideas that you would like to discuss with others. However, it can be difficult to have these discussions because other people may not have the same context as you. It is important to be on the same page before starting any discussion. Additionally, discussing ideas on social media can lead to misunderstandings and not feeling a sense of belonging to a group with similar interests.
The idea
This is why I decided to create an online book club. A space that allows professionals to join together and have meaningful discussions about the books that we read together. I shared the idea with my friend Jose Lobato, who shares my passion for reading, and he was excited to join me on this journey.
Building an online community
I’ve organised communities in the past, and it takes time and effort to organise them, it is not only about creating a website and setting up events; building a community is more than that. You have to create a safe space where everyone feels confortable and belonging to a group. It does not matter how expert or newbie you consider yourself, you have to feel that you can participate.
There is a huge difference between building a community and building an audience. When you build an audience, the communication flows mostly from one node to the rest of the group, people can interact with you, but they won’t normally interact with each other. In the other hand, in a community, the communication flows from all the directions and the people should interact with each other. This is one of the most important thing that you have to understand when you are organising a community, you shouldn’t be the one that communicate with the community all the time. However, you should be the one triggering some conversations, at least, in the beginning.
In addition to the complexity of building a community, doing it online can be even more challenging. I have been working remotely for the last 10 years, so I feel confident that this is a great idea.
