Episode 215: Quarter 1 Books 2024

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Brandi: [00:00:00] Wouldn't it be nice if someone just read all the books for you and then told you the biggest takeaways? That's exactly what I'm doing in this week's episode of the Serve Scalesword podcast. I'm breaking down the six books I read in quarter one of 2024 and sharing my thoughts, my ahas, and letting you know if it's worth a read or not.

So if you want to go behind the sneak peek into my daily habit of reading, and find out which books I'm reading and take the shortcut for the ahas. This is the episode for you, so let's jump on in.

Welcome back to the Serve Scale Store Podcast, the go to place if you want to start, grow, or scale your ad management business. I'm Brandi Mowles, and today I'm taking you behind the scenes of the books I read in quarter one and sharing my biggest takeaways. So in our weekly wins Wednesday newsletter that I send out, I ask, I was like, y'all, do you [00:01:00] want to hear about the books?

Cause part of that, I tell you What I'm loving, what I'm watching, what I'm reading. And in there, I always include what book I'm reading. And I asked do y'all want to know like all the books I've read, the takeaways and hit reply. So many of you were like, yes, yes, yes. Tell us all about it for the podcast.

So I was like, okay, here we go. Let's do the dang thing. And first, before we jump into the, I think I read six books in quarter one. Before we jump into those, I want to first tell you. How I got to reading these books because last year, I was pregnant the first quarter and then I had Bodie April 3rd and I didn't do a lot of reading, honestly.

And it was really interesting because one, my brain was at capacity, with a newborn and everything, but I just didn't read and I was like, this is so interesting. And then I looked back at the times that I had the best years in my business. And it was yours that I [00:02:00] read and I was like, Oh, this is interesting.

Now, who knows if there's a correlation, but I'm going to pretend like there is. And then I started listening to Dan Martell talk about the five daily non negotiables. And I was like, Oh, so I started implementing them exactly how he teaches them. And then I've pivoted away from some of them and created my five.

I own five daily non negotiables, and you've probably heard me talk about these. And with that, one of them, which I did get from Dan, was to read 10 pages of nonfiction every single day. And I'm not so stuck on the nonfiction because right now I'm currently reading a fiction book, but it reads like a nonfiction.

But I think like just filling your brain with things that help you think bigger than what you may be seeing. So I made it a habit to read 10 pages every single day. Now for me, that usually happens at bed. So instead of watching TV right up [00:03:00] until we go to sleep, now my husband and I usually take 30 minutes, sometimes an hour.

And instead of watching TV, we go to the bedroom and we both read. We both have Kindles. One thing that I love is a book. Hard book, but also because I like how they look I like filling them but the interesting thing is I found that I read quicker on the Kindle and I'm more likely to finish a book if it's on the Kindle and So we already had one and my husband wanted to start reading too He's reading the Harry Potter series because he did not read them when he was younger and so So he is reading that whole series.

And then I was like I want a Kindle too. If you're going to read it on there. So I got a Kindle as well. So now we have two Kindles we read every night. I do love a hard book, but from a space front, like thing, also from our resources, like how many books do I really need on my shelves? And when I travel, it's so much easier to throw a Kindle in there.[00:04:00] 

So I am now transitioned to Kindle reading instead of buying actual books. And so no matter how you read, the big thing is just making it part of your daily habit. So let's jump into the six books I read. So what I'm going to do is give you the Amaz the name of the book. The quick Amazon blurb, and then my takeaways from it.

And now, I will tell you, there are probably so many more takeaways than I'm gonna give you on here. But I also can't have this episode go on for an hour. Cause I know, y'all need quick episodes, you are moms, you got kids. So I always say, I love these episodes to be short enough so the babies don't burn down the house.

And so with that, I'm going to also tell you like, if you're stuck in this place, you should read this book at the end. So I'll run those down. And then if y'all like this, make sure to DM me on Instagram and let me know. Say wow, we want to do quarter two, quarter three, quarter four, and we can make that happen.

Okay, so book one, Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell. So the funny thing is, Dan and [00:05:00] I were in a mastermind together, but it was a large, large mastermind with people doing anywhere from a million to 50 million a year. And Dan was doing way more millions than me. He's also in the SaaS space, so the software space.

And I never like connected with him or we never even though we're in the same mastermind, We didn't get to know each other, but I knew his name and I bought his book, Buy Back Your Time, because I knew going into 2024 that we were going to need to make some hires. And I just want to make sure that strategically we were making the right ones.

And so the Amazon blurb is, How you use your free time will make or break your success. The secret? It's not about working harder or finding more time to do work. It's about designing the freedom to engage in high level value work that brings the energy and fulfillment. So I was like, okay, this sounds like every other book that teaches you how to hire that I've read and then never implement.

But then five people at all [00:06:00] different times told me you should buy this book, Brandy. It's really good. We're reading it right now. So I was like, okay, let's just read it. Whatever. And I will tell you, it is the first book that I've actually read. And I was like, Oh, this is really smart, logical.

It's not just buy or hire before you're ready, cut your profit margins, none of that. It was like so tangible. And I was like, I can do this. I can do this. And it's very actionable. Like it gives you the things to make it happen. It's not one of those books that tells you a bunch of stories, but doesn't actually give you any tangibles.

And y'all know I love action. And it honestly, it was a bunch of stuff I'd already heard before, except for this one thing that I will tell you about, but just how he used it and framed it. I was like, Oh yes, yes, we're going to do this. I really enjoyed it. So if you've read other books before on hiring and you're not doing it, I highly suggest this one.

It's really good. The first thing that we put in place was, we [00:07:00] already do time audits. We try to do them quarterly, if not twice a year. Janessa and I do these. I review them. We find out what we can get rid of and things like that. And we started doing them, we've done this for years, because of another book, and I can never, Oiled Machine, is that it?

No. No, no, no. It's the one with the guy from profit first. Oh clockwork clockwork. It's that book and He talks about doing this time on it and then trim trash treasure And something else transfer and so we've always done that system But one thing that I really like the dan dad when he talks about time on it is putting dollar signs between And then color coordinating them red, yellow, or green.

And I was like, oh, I like this. This is like a different layer. Especially with putting dollar signs by them. So I really enjoyed that new take on a time audit. [00:08:00] So we just implemented that in quarter one. The second thing that I absolutely loved, which I never heard anywhere else, was the replacement ladder.

And this is how he says hire. And a lot of times what we see, and why I've never been able to get behind hiring, is people go out and hire like social media managers. No offense to my social media managers, y'all will always have a job because people go there first. Or they're hiring like, I don't know, random stuff that they don't actually need yet.

And And it doesn't make sense for their business, for their businesses, or their profit margins. Or they want to outsource their sales and marketing, which no, you need to be on top of that before you can outsource it. Anyways, the replacement ladder starts with the first hire you should have is an EA.

So all my EAs holler at you. I'm getting you some clients now or Dan is at least So the first one is an EA And he talks about what their job is and gives some actionable tips on how to train them Janessa has been like the unicorn [00:09:00] for five years now But one thing that we did is this year we're really moving her into the EA role That's what she's technically always been but now we're putting a name to it You She's really taking over my calendar more.

She's already been in the inbox. And so she's becoming more, stepping into that role of EA. So I was like, check. Got that. The second one is delivery. And he really talks about having someone for onboarding and support. And to be part of making your programs better and supporting your students. And so that's why if you've heard us talk about we're in the process and maybe about this episode We've already hired them But we're in the process of hiring a client success assistant to take some things off.

Janessa's plate take some things off my plate or But also to be there to support our students and help us make our programs even better. I am so invested in investing in someone to help us make our [00:10:00] programs top notch. That is my goal is that it is the best ad management training On the planet like on the planet and I already know Four ad managers and I already know that we're like super close because we have students come in And they're like I was in this other program It costs five thousand yours is two thousand and i'm getting 10x the value i've been able to do more.

It's so robust Or our students in our mastermind that already have an ad business and they're getting on our directory and booking 30, 000 contracts. Like we want to be the go to place for ad managers. And in order to do that, we need support and making sure when our students are supported to the content is top, top notch.

And so I am investing this year and investing in people to help make that happen. So EA check, delivery on the works, check. And then he [00:11:00] says, then it's time to bring in someone for marketing and marketing is how you bring in leads. And so with this, I will say that I will probably be our head of marketing for a long, long time.

Maybe. Later this year at the end, maybe we bring someone in to help with marketing, maybe take over Instagram, maybe take over something. But right now I am head of marketing and I'm okay with that. That's my zone of genius. I love being in marketing. And then sales. And once again, sales are my jam. I love sales.

Marketing and sales is my zone of genius. So it doesn't make sense for me to outsource that stuff when at this point when I thoroughly enjoy marketing and sales. And I will say that marketing, I would outsource before I And he's I want to be the face of the webinars. I want to be the ones doing the trainings because that lights me up.

Same thing with delivery. I love doing the coaching calls. That's not something I'm outsourcing. And so [00:12:00] part of this that he talks about is like, what are those things that are in your zone of genius that are high value and me showing up and doing those things. That's high value. And then he says that the last rung And this is once you're like crushing it is leadership.

This is where you bring in people to run departments. So maybe you have someone that runs the client success department, and then you have someone that runs the marketing department and the sales department. And that's when you bring in leaders. to have their own departments. So then you're only, really managing three, four people, and then they're taking care of the rest.

Do I want to get to a business where they're that big? I don't know. I don't know. I like having a small family team, but maybe not. And I was like, if he can do it, who knows? But at this point, I really, really enjoyed the replacement ladder and how he teaches it. And I was like, wow, I can get behind this.

And I am getting behind it. I'm taking action. And then another thing that Dan always says that I [00:13:00] so appreciate is sequencing equals strategy. Success. So many times, and I see this all the time, is we want to shortcut the process. So we skip steps. But the problem is when we skip steps, it doesn't lead to success.

We end up being like, Oh crap, we got to go back and do something. So one of the most common places I see people skip steps is when it comes to their onboarding process. And we'll link up to our wow factor onboarding process podcast episode. Because that one will really, really, really set the game changer for you.

But so many people want to skip that process. Or so many people want to say they're an ad strategist without even knowing what that means. And not going through the proper channels. Now it's not a time thing. It's about a knowing thing. Someone can know something within three months and it may take someone else three years to get there.

And that's okay. So it's not a time thing. It's a sequencing thing. And I really, really [00:14:00] love how he says sequencing equals success. And that's why all of our programs are set up in a way where follow the sequence and you'll have success. Okay. So that's bye bye. Buy back your time by Dan Martell. Our second book is 10x is easier than 2x by Dan Sullivan.

So Dan Sullivan was also in this mastermind, but once again, different level than me, of course. So we didn't really get to know each other, but I knew the name and I was like, okay, and then I think in Dan's book, Dan Martell, he says like 10x is easier and says Dan Sullivan. So I was like, okay, that feels like the next book.

So the YouTube, or the Amazon thing says, Achieving 10x growth is exponentially easier than striving for 2x growth. Most find the idea confusing at first, Simply because imagining 10x growth causes them to think that they need to do 10x more work to achieve it. However, being a 10x entrepreneur is nothing like what most people think.

10x is not the outcome. It's a counterintuitive [00:15:00] process you can apply every time you want exponential growth in your life and business. Okay, so I didn't love this book. I did love it at the beginning. It started out good, and then there were so many stories. I was like, oh my god, I got it. You hit the point.

Let's get to the end. And I almost didn't finish it, y'all. Like It, it was a struggle to get through this one. It's not super actionable. It's very story focused. And for me, I just, I, once I hear the idea and I understand the idea, I'm like, all I need is one story. And then I'm like, great, it's possible.

Let's do it. Tell me how. And he does do a little bit, but I thought it was gonna be way more actionable, especially coming off of Dan Martell's Buy Back Your Time. It was not. If you love stories, you'll love this book. But I did get the main idea, which the main idea for me was 2x is about doing a little bit more of what you're already doing and [00:16:00] 10x ing is about doing something completely different.

Like crazy different. Like your brain can't even go there different. And so it's crazy to think about that because when we have a goal, our next revenue goal, maybe it happens this year, maybe it doesn't, maybe it happens next year, but our next revenue goal is two million dollar a year. We've done the million.

done it a few times. Now it's time to go up to the 2 million. And so that's like 2x ing, but really it's a whole nother ballgame to go from one to two. And so when we think about that, it's it's not just about doing a little bit more than what we're doing. Like I did the numbers and it's not just about doing a little bit more of what we're doing.

And I was like, what can we do? What So I'm going to talk a little bit about how we can serve our audience differently. How can we serve our audience differently? How can we have a bigger impact? And this book really helped me start thinking bigger. And then one of my business coaches sent us a journal that's mine.

They're all personalized. Mine says my 2 million a year. And each day there's [00:17:00] prompts in there and it says, how would a 2 million CEO show up today? And it has these questions that are like the 10 X questions. Like how can we show up? Like we already have that 2 million business. What would that business look like?

What would we be doing? Where would we be spending our time? So in that sense, it was a great read cause I got what I needed out of it. I'm like, okay. It's about thinking different. Do not doing a little bit more of what we're already doing, but doing things completely different in a way that still makes sense.

I got the main point. Now you have the main point. If you like stories, read it. If you like super actionable books, probably not for you. Okay, so that was 10x as easier than 2x Dan Sullivan. And Dan doesn't actually write it. Ben Hardy does. I think that's his last name. And and he's very much into the reporter.

So it's a very technical two. So it's not like the easiest read either. Okay, then book three I read. I read this one on a plane there and then back. I finished it. Chill and Prosper by Denise Thomas. I [00:18:00] think it used to be called Chillpreneur, but it's Chill and Prosper by Denise Thomas. And it says, I want to make twice as much money with half the work.

It's time to shift your mindset, recognize your worth, and become a successful entrepreneur on your own terms. This book, someone had recommended to me and I was like, okay, let's give it a go. This is not a type of book I would normally like go for. I don't know why. It's just I didn't like the cover.

There's, it just didn't sound like. Alright? And then I wrote The beginning of the book, I really liked. However, it felt like a very beginner book, like if you're a beginner in business. Also I did like that we had a lot of the same beliefs on how running business, like a lot of things she talked about in the books are things I talk about.

So I was like, Oh, good. Like it like validates me in some weird way. I don't even know this person. She's not in Australia. I tend to like Australians. But I was like, Oh, perfect. Great. But then the book became very like [00:19:00] beginner esque, like beginner in your business. And I always think that there's nothing that's too beginner that I can't learn from.

And I did learn from it. And one of the things that I learned was that when she goes into the money mindset, she gives examples of here's where people get stuck in their money beliefs. Here's the three most common. And I was like, Oh, I don't have any of those. Those aren't mine. And then she started giving examples.

You know that you have this belief if these things are happening. And I was like, Oh, okay. Oh my God, that's happening, that's happening, that's happening, and it let me identify like I do have these money mindset blocks that I thought I had released and worked on and they are 100 percent back and I think it happened after having Bodie and we had a down year last year because the first three months I was super I was in my third trimester.

My morning sickness came back and I wasn't working. And then I was in newborn stage. And for the first six months I was breastfeeding and that was a full time job y'all. I was not ready for that. And then we got to the end [00:20:00] of the year, so it was definitely a down year for us. Revenue wise financially.

because of how our savings, my family didn't see a dip, but I definitely think that a lot of those mindset, money mindset things. so that's an area where I'm working on this year and this book helped me recognize that. So I'm grateful for that book, but I do think that it's more of a beginner business book, but it doesn't mean that you can't take something out it.

So I'm grateful I read it just for that one part. And she did have like great quotes through it and all that. And it's a great easy book to read. So that's Chill and Prosper by Denise Thomas. Okay, book four, the perfect day formula, how to own the day and control your life by Craig Ballantyne. It says it focuses on strategies for maximizing productivity, improving time management and achieving personal and professional goals by structuring your day for success.

And a lot of this stuff I already knew. However, [00:21:00] it's always good when you're in like a place of I feel like my schedule isn't going the way I want, which is where I was, which is why I picked it up. And I think it was It was either like super cheap on kindle or free with kindle or something. So I was like, let's read it.

I love optimizing my day and it was just a reminder that we decide how our day goes and It's the things that are important we make time for And so he does suggest waking up 15 minutes early, which y'all know i'm not a morning person My kids wake me up in the morning. That's usually at 5 56 I am not getting up any earlier Like i'm just not and I swear bodie knows if I wake up earlier because then he wakes up Like I could be laying in bed with my eyes open and he would know He would know and he wakes up and he's all the way across the house in his room.

So if I woke up 15 minutes earlier, I swear he would just wake up 15 minutes earlier too. So like that advice not gonna work for me. [00:22:00] But one thing he talks about is The first 90 minutes of your day and making like the first part of your day, the most important. So I have shifted my day to the first 90 minutes is focused on marketing and sales.

That's the first thing I take care of because that's what's going to move the company forward the most. And so that's where my first 90 day 90 minutes of each day is spent not in the inbox, not any of that. And he talks about not opening your inbox until after 12. And so we've implemented that. Like I'm not in my inbox anymore until after everything's done that I need to.

He also talks about designing your perfect week. And I've heard this by other people. I think Dan even talks about it. But he talks about it. And so I sat down and I was like, what would my perfect week look like? And we're starting to implement this, this month where Monday, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fri or Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, I only take calls between 12 and 2.

30. Like I have to be done at [00:23:00] 2. 30. Wednesday from 9 to 2. 30. So that's in full open day and Friday from 11 to 1 30. And I'm only doing calls. That's client calls. That's sales calls. That's like one on one client work calls. All of those are only happening during those hours where I have to jump on a zoom, do trainings, anything like that.

That is what it's going to look like because I want the option to be out of my office every day by 2 30. So if I want to go pick up Riley, I can we've been riding our bikes scootering. I like to do that and sometimes i'm not able to because of my schedule And I also found that my most productive time is in the mornings And so I need to protect that and I can't be on a call because what happens with me is if I have three calls In the morning and they're done even by 11 the rest of the day Is done for me Like, my energy is beyond zapped.

Moving those to after 12 protects my energy for the important things. And then those calls, I [00:24:00] still have energy for, or because my energy hasn't been zapped. With that, just making those small changes and creating that perfect week, I'm excited to see how this goes. And then, If it works, we will do a podcast on it.

But I also love that in this book, he says rules and structures equal freedom, which is so true. And so many people are like, Oh, I don't want rules or structure because then I started this business for freedom. But the way you get freedom is through rules and structures. And he has rules for his life and for his business.

And I went through and I started implementing like, here's the rules that are part of my business and here's the rules in my life and that was really, really powerful. And so you live through those rules. So if you love rules, you'll love this book. It's also super actionable and a quick read. So those are like big tick marks for me.

Okay. Book five was human design for business by Jamie L. Palmer. The like little [00:25:00] expert said, Human design for business shows how to understand one's personality, decision making style, energy, and body management, as well as how to best process information, how to best interact with others, and how to cultivate it in line and joyful.

Personalized business ecosystem. I told you. One, I totally nerd out over human design. But the thing is, with human design, you do have to know your birth time, your date of birth, and your place of birth. Without those, you can't figure out your human design. But my family, we love human design. We talk about it all the time.

So I'm a projector and I'm in a house full of generators. Bodhi was born and once I put him on my chest, I was like, Austin, pull up my body graph, do Bodhi's. And he's a generator. So is Riley. So is Austin. So I'm in a house of generators and it's been really fun for us over the last several years.

And so that's how we learn about each other and how we function and how to communicate and how to really preserve our energy and things like that, because a [00:26:00] projector is very different than a generator. So with that being said, you do have to know those things in order to figure out your human design.

And then you can go to mybodygraphithink. com. And, then it will spit out like what you are and it goes really deep. And so the cool thing is with human design, there's four or five designs. So there's a projector, a generator, a manifesting generator. A manifester and a reflector. So there's five, but that's just one part.

Then it goes down into your gates and your channels and all this stuff, and that's what this book does. And so you can get really into it, and it's focused on how to show up in your business. So only downside about this book is it's not a book to read before bed because there's a workbook and you're like really in it.

And so I did read it before bed. I didn't do the workbook. And the cool thing is you can skip the stuff that's not relevant to you But since I already know my kids my husband I was also wanting to do theirs And [00:27:00] so I did a lot and then I realized since I didn't do the workbook. I didn't remember everything that I learned So my goal is to actually go back through this book this summer With the workbook and not do it before bed, but actually block out time to do it because it was so good.

I love this book and my husband did not like me reading this before bed because I was like, Ooh, listen to this about Bodie. Listen to this about Riley. Listen to this about you and me. And it's definitely one where you're using a lot more brain power. And I love the fact that you can skip the parts that aren't relevant to you.

It makes it go even quicker. It gave me a lot of insights about how to show up in my business and recognize the times I've showed up and thought out of alignment. And it's duh, that's not how I'm supposed to show up. So I highly recommend it, especially if you know your birth place of birth, your time of birth and your date of birth, definitely figure out your human design.

If you're into human design, read this and then DM me on Instagram and let me know, what are you? I love this. I love this. I don't usually like personality tests. One thing I love about this [00:28:00] is it's not one that you take because those are skewed by the way we think of ourselves. This is like literally written in the stars what you are.

I love that. Okay, book six. Is exactly what to say. Your personal guide to mastery of magic words, Phil Jones. And the Amazon thing was, focuses on the power of precise language and strategic communication to influence outcomes in various situations. Phil Jones, a renowned sales trainer and communication expert, distills his experience into actual insights on using the right words at the right time.

To achieve your desired results. Once again, this is not a book to read before bed. It's very, very actionable. And what I found myself doing is like taking each, he gives you like a thing to say or a prompt or something, and then gives you examples. So what I really like doing with this one is looking at our emails, our sales pages, or something like that, or even our Instagram posts and looking at one of the things and then trying to apply.

[00:29:00] What he gave us so like actually doing it like a workbook as I was going through it That was really really powerful. It's super short It's more like a workbook than an actual book, but like it's quick read I was reading it in the carpool line when Riley was at our old school and I would take notes while I was doing it So it's definitely one not to read before bed, but to have a pen and paper So that's one that I have on my desk that I pull out Often to like reference, so I really like that one and it's super, super actionable.

So those are the six books I read. So one thing I want to do is just go back. Like if, if you're here, read this one, if you're here, read this one. So if you need to hire, read, buy, buy, buy back your time. If you want a quantum leap and you like stories, 10 X is easier than two X. If you're just getting started with your online business, read chill and prosper.

If you're feeling like you don't have enough time in your day or your days are hectic, read the perfect day formula. [00:30:00] If you need help with sales, marketing, copy, read exactly what to say. And if you want to learn how to run a business more in alignment with who you are, and you know your birthday, time, and location, read Human Design for Business.

Those are the six books I read. I cannot believe I got through six books, y'all. I'm very impressed. That's two books a month. For me, that's like huge. This was fun. I love doing this recap because it also kept me accountable to reading, and it will. y'all. DM me on Instagram if you want me to do another one of these or reply back to our podcast emails and say, yes, we want one for quarter two.

I'll keep reading. I'll keep giving you the insights and then we'll do one of these for quarter two if we have enough interest. So make sure to DM me, let me know which book you're reading now. Give me suggestions. Like I love when people suggest books to me. And tell me your human design. So pick one of those DM me.

I love having conversations with y'all. It's always me and my DMs. My DMs are like my underwear drawer. Only I go into them. So if you [00:31:00] DM me you are getting me and I love to chat and get to know y'all. So let me know if you like this episode and you want me to do one for the next quarter as well. And until next week my friends go out serve your clients scale your business and into the success you deserve.