Lessons I've learned from running Booksmith Academy for 12 months
One year ago this week Booksmith Academy was conceived. The last year has been a rollercoaster but what have I learned?
On the 11th April 2023 I had a Zoom chat with my sister, Jen, and we discussed an idea that had come up in one of my mentoring sessions with my coach, Lisa Williams. She had asked me why I wasn’t working with Jen. I was confused. She pointed out that I was working as a writing therapist and Jen had been a copywriter, proofreader and editor for decades. When she put it like that it seemed obvious! Why hadn’t I thought of it before?
We were both on holiday with our respective families at the time but couldn’t get the idea out of my head once the seed was planted. Jen was excited and by the next morning we had exchanged a few WhatsApp messages and decided on our name. Our maiden name is Smith, so we both had the idea to include that, and Booksmith Academy just worked perfectly. Within hours the domains were bought and we were starting to form a programme in our minds. The former teacher in me couldn’t stop thinking about what curriculum we could offer and how we could best deliver it to our clients.
Within six months we had created the website, decided on the programme content, created workbooks, meditations, newsletters, social media accounts… everything we needed.
Within 24hrs of opening our doors to the first intake of The Book Forge we had our first sign up! We couldn’t believe it. We have had such a wonderful first 6 months with our Book Forgers. In fact, neither of us really want this first cohort to graduate! We couldn’t have wished for a friendlier, more supportive group for our first year in business. We will miss them when their programme comes to an end in September but we know they will keep in touch.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Write Well with Kate Beddow to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.