Terms

"JoClub refers to the Journaling Club, but also fits in with my name," Jo Franco begins. "When I first started writing I was aware of these big feelings and I had older siblings who didn't want to hear that. Therefore, I began writing."

"I was born without a passport and in a state of hiding, talking Portuguese as well as learning English, stumbling my way across," she relates. "I learnt a lot of other languages because I was obsessed with being recognized. Meanwhile, I was very unpopular because I was considered to be the odd kid out. I was unique to everyone around me. I was the smallest child therefore I had this quiet voice and muted personality.

"Of course I'm not able to see in the future that's what it was, but in the meantime there was a constant ache of 'Why am I misunderstood?' and so many of us go through this."

Luckily, Jo had the tool of journaling: "I had a more compassionate relationship with myself, simply observing and not making judgements. I wrote all of this negative stuff, but I'm aware that good things have happened in my life. I began to alter my writing, not just what I had written, but weirdly reverse engineering my perception of things since I was looking for positive things. It was necessary to see positive aspects to find positive thoughts that I could write about. I became a more positive person. This tool saved me."

Understanding the context

When she attended college located in Manhattan, Jo was overwhelmed by the number of voices she was competing with. But she found much-needed space in her journal. "It didn't matter if I resided located in the States or in Europe, I always used this journal to allow me to come back home to my own self.

"My "why" is to give people that same confidence of "You're got this regardless of how ugly things happen. In addition, you can support yourself emotionally, but it's beautiful to record your experience as, in writing about it you can show a tiny gesture of gratitude for the fact that it happened to begin with. It's always easy to fit into your self and your own thoughts."

"There's scientific evidence to back this up," she adds. "There have been studies conducted on writing as a form of medicine. The people who write their gratitude down and gratitude will be more satisfied."

"Give your mind the alleviation. Take the weight off your shoulders and place it down on paper. When you write about unpleasant things, you give your self a buffer, allowing you to think about it with the least emotional response. The emotions can make us insane. They are at the root of everything. They are they are at the core of confidence, at the root of charisma, at the root of being in a space and being able to attract goodness."

"Maybe this could be a membership"

Jo was certainly many positive things by 2020. With her YouTube channel, which has millions of subscribers, she earned money to travel. "I had this exciting public life, but at the same time, I wrote. This was the essence of me I was a writer. What really made me was journaling."

In January 2020, she booked a Netflix job as the presenter on The World's Most Amazing Vacation Rentals. "It took me away from YouTube and into traditional broadcasting. If anybody's had the pleasure of working on a production stage, they'll know that these hours are very long. It's 16 hours and an endless cycle of 'Hurry up and wait'. It's time to get ready for makeup, hair all done. There are lines written on your mind and you're thinking, "No, just kidding, we have to pause'!"

Between those pauses, sometimes for hours, Jo would write. "Writing was something I loved and I wanted to turn it into a career." When covid hit and the show ceased the main source of income stopped.

"I was anxious, like everyone else. I began sharing pictures of my journal entries. Cut to 100 days later, I began sharing my journal to the world via Instagram Stories. I decided, 'Hey it could be something that could be a membership - perhaps members would be willing to pay within a room online with me and be journaling in a group. This was how JoClub got started. This was about four years ago, which is insane!"

In this Netflix show, Jo realized that journaling was the lens by her eyes that she was able to see the world. "It was more than the act of a pastime. If you're on the road for two days, it's hard to not be exhausted. It's easy to get caught up in something which has nothing to do with the things you're being to be paid.

"You realise, this is how I make sense of my world. This is my life. It became clear for me to let go of all other things, the only thing they cannot take away from me is my writing. I wanted to bake that into the next phase of my career."

Making something greater than her own

Jo threw herself into her project. "I was posting three videos per week, in three languages. I was required to employ individuals, and then fire them. I learned what it was to create a content machine."

But something needed to change. "I wanted to not being working. If you're tired or burnt out, which is common among creators, you're not going to earn a living. I've realized that if this is an occupation I'm planning to continue for a long time, I need to find an avenue to take my eyes from the possibilities to earn money."

Jo decided to make something bigger than herself. The journaling group was launched in earnest on Zoom: "The membership started at $29 per month with the added benefit of one monthly live chat and I'd send out daily journal prompts to everyone's email inbox."

She was looking to create an experience similar to a yoga class. There were two instructions, followed by the discussion. Then two additional prompts, then breakout rooms. "It turned into IP (intellectual property)," she recalls. "After six months, I began asking me, could I teach facilitators on how to conduct these events? Actually, could these facilitators enrich JoClub in ways I have never would have thought of? She was looking to "extract the joy" as well as work with facilitators who were former members, to create an art journaling style and a "bring your own music' format for musicians who are just starting out as well as other similar activities.

"Now we have six plus sessions a month and I host as many as I want," she continues. "Beautiful aspects that I would never have imagined started happening in my retreats. I did a pilot at a university and we're working on different problems. The way I would have handled this if I had kept it in Jo Franco's circle that I was at the top."

Cultural and social cohesion

"An interesting thing about joining a club is that you build the culture" Jo says. "If somebody's paying for a membership and they're entering your home, which means you're able to design your home according to your preferences." Jo and her team have been looking for methods to make more interactive discussions so "people have conversations in communal spaces so that they're feeling like they're getting their money's worth."

"It's what differentiates the term "audience" and "membership," she adds. "An audience will respond to whatever content you're posting, but it's not an exchange of ideas. If I share videos and people leave comments on it, I'll respond in a forum, however with a community which I'm curating, I'm a part of the architecture of what happens from the moment they sign up to the membership."

Jo is thinking several times about the onboarding sequence and the way to handle new members. "How do we mitigate that person walking into a room feeling like they've never met anyone? This is the time to dial in on the art of curation and that's why members stay for years to come."

She is aware that this isn't easy. "It's something is something you must be enthusiastic about in order to keep improving, because a membership is something that is constantly evolving. If you aren't attentive to the news then you'll be losing the members you have."

It is clear that Jo is bringing the compassion and self-awareness she gained from her journal into how she manages her membership. She believes that journaling can help you become aware of yourself. not taught as kids: "We're not given tools to deal with emotions. There are tools that can help you save yourself when you feel you're falling. I was astonished by these advantages. This was a fun pastime. As I grew older I came to realize, "Damn, it's been my secret""

When people ask 'Jo, you're only 30years old, What did you accomplish through all this? I've just written about it and everything worked out," she smiles.

More information

For more information details about Jo Franco and to become the part of JoClub, visit, go on joclub.world.