Episode 7 - Holly’s Book Recommendations
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EPISODE SUMMARY
Topic: Book Recommendations for Personal and Professional Growth
Book 1: Traction by Gino Wickman
Recommended by: Mentor Kim Wethmar through TIME programme
Key takeaway: One Page Business Plan with 3-year, 1-year, and 90-day goals
Implementation: Daily morning routine, weekly mentor reviews
Team impact: Quarterly review sessions, shared vision and goals
Outcome: Mental freedom and clear business organisation
Book 2: Passion, Purpose and Profit by Fiona Killackey
Author: Host of "My Daily Business" podcast
Content: Step-by-step business building guide covering financial planning, marketing, operations
Usage: Ongoing reference book with extensive personal notes
Additional: Second book "Business to Brand" on reading list
Book 3: Let Them by Mel Robbins
Core concept: “Let Them” principle – control your response, not others’ behaviour
Personal impact: Stopped taking things personally, freed up mental space
Applications: Family management (5 kids), business relationships, industry interactions
Family implementation: Shared concepts with children aged 9–21
Book 4: One Life by Tina Tower
Author: Built and sold 4 businesses, hosts "Her Empire Builder" podcast
Impact: Taught to dream bigger and believe in herself more
Focus: Addressed self-doubt and “why me?” questions
Mission: Helping create millionaire female entrepreneurs
Key Takeaways
All four books made a huge difference in business and personal growth
Suitable for both experienced entrepreneurs and beginners
Essential to Holly’s current success level
Combination of business strategy and personal development
READ THE FULL PODCAST TRANSCRIPT HERE
Introduction
Hello and welcome to episode seven of Travel Business Unlocked. I'm Holly Velardo, the owner of HollyDay Travel, which is a boutique travel agency based in the beautiful Port Noarlunga in South Australia. Today's episode, I thought I'd just jump on and do a quick one with you because this week has reminded me the importance of reading books.
This is something that I do a lot and I absolutely love it. But I must admit we've been a little bit chaotic here at HollyDay Travel. We've had a lot of clients travelling, a lot of things happening with airlines cancelling flights and train strikes and all sorts of things going on. So I actually haven't picked up a book in the last couple of weeks. But I have done that again this week.
I am off on a river cruise to France in a few weeks’ time and I have started thinking about what I might like to read while I'm actually taking a little bit of downtime on that cruise. So I'm a really huge believer of personal and professional growth and I know that the books that have helped shaped me and helped me along with my business journey. Without these books, I know that I wouldn't be where I am today. So I thought that I would just share them with you. I've just got four for you today. These are ones that have really made a huge impact in either my personal life or within the business.
So whether you’re out for a walk, in the car, having a coffee, wherever you are, have a listen to this, and take some notes if you need. But of course all the details and links to the books will be in the show notes.
Book 1: Traction by Gino Wickman
So the first one that I wanted to talk to you about is Traction by Gino Wickman. This book was first introduced to me by my amazing mentor, Kim Wethmar. She was my mentor through the TIME programme and we worked together for six months earlier this year. This book was one of the first things she said to me when we had our first meetings and we caught up and she wanted to really know what it is that I wanted in my business. And she said to me, “First of all, you need to read this book no matter what, make time.”
And for me with the kids, I have five kids, we're really busy with work and everything else and home life. I can't always find time to just sit down and read. So I actually bought an audio version of Traction. First of all, and you know, driving my kids to their sports and everywhere else, I was able to listen to this in the car. But after the first chapter, I also went out and bought a hard copy. It's one of those books that you need to keep on your desk. You can open it up and refer to it all the time, go back and look at it again.
Book Impact
So what this book did for me, it is all about having systems in place. And if you've listened to my previous episodes, you know how much I love systems. So this was just taking it to the next level and having a really clear idea on what I wanted in the business, what the plan was, what I was going to execute, how I was going to do it, and also how I could measure the progress in my business.
This book, the absolute must take out that I took from this, was my one-page business plan. Kim would make me work on this every single week. When we would catch up, she would ask me straight away, “What's on your one-page plan? Pull it up on your screen, go through it.” And now this is one of the first things I open up every single morning when I start my computer.
One-Page Business Plan Details
What the one-page plan is and just really quickly obviously grab the book. There's a lot more detail about it there. But what for me it has my clear three-year goals and I know where the business is going. It has my one-year goals, has my 90-day goals and then even to break it down further, it also has my rocks, has my pebbles, it has things like that that I need to work on. And if you don't know the rocks, pebbles, sand analogy, then it does talk about this in the book as well. But it really changed everything for me. It absolutely did.
Within our team, it also opened my eyes that although in my head I knew what I wanted and I'd written it down on paper for the business as well. And it was clear to me, but I needed to share that with my team. And that was something this book taught me is they don't know what my vision and goals are if I'm not sharing them.
So we now hold quarterly review sessions. This is really, really important. These are some of my favourite meetings. Everyone gets to share openly and honestly with what is working in the business and what's not working, what's working for them, you know, in the areas that they're working in, plus areas that they see other people could either improve on or the business could be improved as well. And then we also have where they can talk about what is the best business and personal news from that quarter.
This also helps us get to know each other as a team. Obviously my team are remote. I have two of my consultants, Usha and Uresha, are in Sri Lanka. And then I have Bonn, who is one of my consultants as well, Mary, and also Tracy. They're all in the Philippines. So, you know, we have daily meetings and we're catching up, but those meetings are all about clients. Whereas this gives us time to actually get to know each other a bit more, but also just focus really on the business.
These quarterly review sessions, we talk about the numbers, we talk about finances, I'm very open and honest. They know all about commissions, where the business is sitting, expenses, etc. within the business. They have their own goals that they need to work towards. And then we have our team goals of what we want to achieve every month. But during this session as well, we set our rocks, which is the big ticket items of most important things we need to work on over the next 90 days.
And this has been unbelievable putting this in place. I mean, they have this as well. We're always referring to it and you know, we can bring it up at any point. It's within our project management. We all know what each other's rocks are, we know what we need to work on and we know what the main goal that we're all trying to achieve is.
Traction Summary
So this book is a huge, huge recommendation for me. Even if you're working on your own and don't have a team, just having this plan, an absolutely clear plan, is so important. I just feel so free. I can quickly pull this up. It's sitting there on my computer at any time and anything that I think of that you know, I want to add into that or any ideas that I have, I can quickly jot down in there. And I'm not trying to think about where to put them or you know, what am I going to do with those ideas at that time. I can just quickly put them there and come back to them later. So that is book number one, Traction by Gino Wickman.
Book 2: Passion, Purpose and Profit by Fiona Killackey
Book number two is by one of my favourite podcast hosts. Her name is Fiona Killackey and yes, you would have heard me talk about her previously in the podcast episodes. She has a podcast called My Daily Business and her book is called Passion, Purpose and Profit. This one is something that I absolutely love. I read this a couple of years ago now and I refer to it all the time.
So Fiona has been instrumental in helping me with hints and tips and things that I can do for small business. So if you're looking for other ideas or if you've got a bit of a different backyard to travel, then go and listen to her podcast, My Daily Business. It is unbelievable with everything that she'll teach you. She's just so real, down to earth and so giving in everything that she shares.
Book Impact
But this book, it really helped my business journey because it is a step-by-step guide to building a business from completely the ground up. So whether you're a small business owner who has already started a business or you're brand new, wherever you fall within that category of a business owner, it covers everything. It covers everything from financial planning to marketing operations, different mindsets, talks about your values.
And I keep referring back to her. It's all in, you know her, the beautiful colours that she has within her business, the yellow and orange colours. And this book, I've written down so many things in there, so many notes. It is really interactive. And again, another book that sits on my bookshelf right behind my desk that I often pull out and refer to when I just need a bit of inspiration or I need to look at what she recommends in a certain area. So, highly recommend this one.
Fiona's Second Book
The other thing is she has also written a second book called Business to Brand. I haven't had time to read this yet. It is definitely on my list and this might be one that I'll be reading in France when I am on my river cruise in a few weeks.
Book 3: Let Them by Mel Robbins
So then the next one, number three is Let Them by Mel Robbins. So look, for those of you who know Mel Robbins, you know how incredible this book is. For those of you who don't jump on, again, she has an incredible podcast. But this book isn't necessarily a traditional business book, but it just made such a huge impact on me personally and professionally.
It really is a very simple but powerful concept, the “Let Them” principle. And basically what it is about is that when people are acting in a certain way or maybe they don't support you or maybe they're making choices that you don't agree with. It's a very simple principle of just let them. And I'm, you know, probably not explaining this the best way or, you know, getting this across as clear and easy as it is, but it's really about letting go of control and freeing yourself from the stress of trying to manage and deal with other people's behaviour.
Book Impact
For me, this was huge. This has really made a massive impact in my life. You know, there's always going to be friends, family, business, clients, whether it's, you know, other people within the industry or anyone that you surround yourself, they're always going to have an opinion or you're going to feel differently about how they're doing things or how they react to things. And you can't always control this. And, but what you can do and what I really learned about from this book and from Mel Robbins is that you can control how you respond. And this was huge for me.
I felt this huge weight lift off my shoulders of me trying, even with the children. You know, this is a big thing for me is that when you've got five kids and you're coordinating a household, you're running a business, you know, you're taking care of so many different things. There was so much control that I needed to have. But what I've also realised in personal life and business life is I can't control everything and it's okay to let them do things without me being in charge of it. So that was really, really big for me.
And when I stopped taking everything personally, then I've been able to create so much more space for calm, for confidence in myself, for creativity in my own brain. Because I'm not worried about how their behaviour might be or what they're thinking or what other people are thinking about me. I've freed that now from my brain.
So we actually got this book and I also, this was absolutely something I listened to in the car and again I got the hard copy, I have that and I started reading out chapters at dinner time and explaining to the children as well because you know, we have kids ranging from 21 down to 9-year-old twins, so you know, teaching them as well to let other people think what they want and be who they want. And it's been an incredible book.
So I highly recommend this. From the professional side of things as well, it's really just freed up my brain space to think about what I really need to and not worry about the things that don't matter.
Book 4: One Life by Tina Tower
And number four is called One Life. So this is One Life: How to Have the Life of Your Dreams by Tina Tower. Now Tina Tower is such an inspiring person. I have been listening to Tina's podcasts, attending some of her online sessions that she does for many years now. Tina is just such a huge personality. She has so much energy, she has so much love to give and her passion for helping others is just unbelievable. She inspires me so much. She's real, relatable, and full of practical business advice.
Book Impact
So this book really just taught me to open my eyes, dream bigger and believe in myself more. You know, that's one thing that I have always struggled with is “Why me? Why do I deserve to have this?” you know, “How can I get there?” You know, there's always that self doubt. So Tina's book is unbelievable. It tells a story of her own journey and the lessons she learned.
Tina's Background
I mean she's, I think it's four businesses that she's built and sold now, everything from, you know, starting out. I think she started out maybe in child care or toys or something like that. And then she now has an online platform where she sells online courses. So her systems are unbelievable. She's so incredibly clever and she just, this book is a must-read. Anyone who wants to dream bigger and get some belief in yourself, absolutely.
Her Empire Builder Podcast
She also hosts a brilliant podcast called Her Empire Builder. Whether you're a course creator or it doesn't matter or not, she really just has so many amazing hints and tips for any female entrepreneurs out there looking to grow your business and probably not just females as well. I know her goal is to create many millionaire females, but what she knows in business is unbelievable. And I highly recommend you get this book: One Life: How to Have the Life of Your Dreams by Tina Tower and also jump on and listen to her podcast.
Book Summary
So there's my top four books for you. They have made a huge difference in my business and in my personal growth. So just quickly to go through them:
So if you're looking for a little inspiration or some more structure in your business journey, I can't recommend these enough to you. So whether you're already an experienced entrepreneur or just starting out, each of these books has something so powerful for you.
And before you go, I would love to hear from you. As I said, I'm heading off on this river cruise and I'm gonna have some down time. I'm taking some time just for myself and I'd love to hear about some books that have either changed your business journey or your personal life or anything that you recommend. I'd love you to comment or send me a DM with your top recommendations and I'd love to add these to my reading list.
And finally, a quick reminder. If you're enjoying Travel Business Unlocked, please please subscribe or leave a review. Just hit the five stars in Apple Podcasts or Spotify and share it with other small business owners who might benefit. You doing this helps the reach get out there, it helps other people learn from this and your support also helps me keep creating content like this to reach more and more people in our amazing industry.
Thank you so much for listening! And until next episode, keep unlocking the potential of your travel business. Thank you!
