Terms

"JoClub is the name of"the Journaling Club, but also makes sense because of my name." Jo Franco begins. "When I began writing, I was aware of these big feelings and I realized that my younger siblings wouldn't like to hear about it. So, I began writing."

"I lived in a state of denial and lived under the shadows, running from authorities, while speaking Portuguese as well as learning English by tripping through," she recalled. "I learned a range of other languages since I was always awed by being recognized. However, I felt unpopular because I was considered among the very few children. I was different from everyone else. I was the least tall kid and also the most quiet. Voice and muted personality.

"Of course, I'm able imagine the future and that's the way it went However at the time I was in a state of agony of wondering  why I feel like I'm not understood and unloved?' And many of us experience this."

It was a blessing that Jo had the tool to write: "I had a more self-awareness, just observing, and not making judgements. I wrote about the negative thoughts, yet I knew good things were happening within my own life. I changed my writing, not just the words I wrote, however I began to reverse engineer the way I think about things as I wanted to look for positive things. I had to look for positive events to create positive experiences that I could write about. I became an optimistic individual. The tool helped me to be more positive."

Making sense of the situation

Attending the University of New York within Manhattan, Jo was overwhelmed by the number of voices she competed with. Jo was also able to discover a needed space in her diary. "It didn't matter if I was located in the States or in a foreign country, I could use the device to allow me to come back home to me.

"My  reason" is to give those around me the feeling that 'You got you regardless of how difficult circumstances may be. And not only can you remain a good person to your own degree, but also it's also wonderful to write down your experience by writing it down. This is because you'll be able to show a small gesture of gratitude for the fact that it happened to begin with. Your identity will always be in personal style and within your own mind."

"There's research-based evidence that supports this," she adds. "There have been studies conducted that used the recording of gratitude as a means of treatment. The people who write their gratitude on paper are more content."

"Give your mind a break. Allow the weight to go out of your thoughts and put it down on sheet of paper. If you record unpleasant issues, you grant yourself distance, which lets you process the issue in a way that is not triggering emotions. It is easy to be pulled into the throes of feelings. They are at the root of everything; they are at the heart of confidence, at the heart of charisma this is the main reason behind going into a room and being able draw good fortune."

"Maybe this could be a membership"

Jo definitely had a lot of goodness until the year 2021. With her YouTube channel, which has over a million users, she earned funds to travel. "I lived a very private life. At the simultaneously, I also wrote. This was the core of me: what was really me was journaling."

In January of 2020, she was offered a Netflix job as a host for The Amazing World's Vacation Rentals. "It got me off YouTube and into traditional presentation. If anyone has experienced being working on set, they know these hours are extremely long. It's 16 hours and an endless rush to get ready and then wait'. It's time to get ready for hair, makeup and makeup. It's time to get your lines into your head and then they're like, 'No I'm not talking, we must pause""

When she would pause that could last for an extended duration, Jo would write. "Writing was special to me which is why I wanted to transform it into something I could earn a living from." When covid gained popularity and the show ended, her main source of income ceased.

"I was nervous, just like everyone else. I started sharing photos of my journals. A little over a month later, I began sharing my journals with the world on Instagram Stories. I thought to myself, "Hey, maybe this is a membership' - maybe users would want to join inside a virtual space alongside me and share their thoughts. That's how JoClub came into existence. It was around 4 years back. This is crazy!"

During the course of this Netflix series, Jo realized that journaling served as a lens that she could see the world. "It was more than an interest. If you're on the road for two days, it's hard to not get tired. It's easy to get distracted by something that isn't related to how much you're being paid.

"You realize that I am the only one who can make sense of this world. This is my life. This was clear to me that, if I shook myself from all the other stuff, that the main factor that I can't remove from my life is writing. It was essential for me to make that a part of my next chapter in my professional life."

Making something greater than her own

Jo took the decision to join in her project. "I uploaded three videos per week, in three languages. I was required by law to hire people, then terminate the employees. I was taught how to create a content machine."

But, there was something that needed to be changed. "I was not a person who wanted to be constantly working. If you're burning out or tired out, which is a norm among creators and you're tired, you'll fail in earning money. I realized that, should this be a profession that I plan to continue throughout my life, I'll have to come up with ways to eliminate my name from chances to earn a profit."

Jo was determined to make something bigger than herself. Journaling groups were launched in earnest on Zoom: "The membership started at just $19 a month with the added benefit of one live chat per month and I would send daily journaling prompts to everybody's email inbox."

She wanted to curate an experience similar to a yoga class: two directions, then an open discussion with two further instructions, followed by break-out rooms. "It involved IP (intellectual property)," she recalls. "After approximately six months of being in JoClub I asked me, could I teach facilitators how to run such occasions? Actually, could facilitators be of benefit to JoClub by ways I have did not think I could? Participants was looking to "extract the pleasure" and work alongside the facilitators, some of whom were also members of JoClub and helped to create the art journaling form, a "bring your own music" for musicians in the beginning and other like.

"Now there are six sessions per month, and I can host the number of sessions I'd like," she adds. "Beautiful elements that I'd not have imagined could occur, such as retreats that I run and organize the pilot program in the university, and we're now creating new challenges. The possibility wouldn't have existed for me to achieve this had I had kept it as Jo Franco's community which I was in very high up in."

Cohesion in the social and cultural sphere

"An important aspect about the membership model is that it helps create an environment," she says. "If you purchase an annual membership, you're entering your house, which means you can create your space however you like." Jo as well as her staff have been searching at ways to create more lively threads so "people are able to talk about their lives in shared spaces so that people think they're getting the most for their money."

"It's the difference between the audience from a participant," she adds. "An audience can be able to interact with your work however it's not an exchange of ideas. If I share videos and viewers leave feedback, I'll comment back on a forum, but with a community that I'm creating, I'm part the structure of the community - the minute they enter to the community."

Jo considers several times the process of onboarding and how to deal with newcomers. "How do we handle those new members who walk in the room feeling like they're not a part of the group? That is when you start to dial in on the art of curation and that is the reason people tend to stay for an extended period of time."

She is aware that this is not something that is easy to accomplish. "It's an art form that's an area you need to be passionate about in order to keep improving, because an membership changes constantly. If you don't pay close attention to the changes happening, then you'll end up losing each one of your members."

It's obvious that Jo has incorporated the compassion and self-awareness she's gained by writing her journal into how she handles her membership. In fact, she believes journaling brings a self-awareness we're not taught in a younger stage: "We're not given tools to process emotion. You can help yourself when that you're not in control. I didn't understand these benefits. I just enjoyed a great hobby. As I got older I realized 'Damn, I've been hiding my true identity'!"

People ask her if she's Jo I'm just 30 years old. What were you able to accomplish in the whole thing? I wrote it down, and everything worked out," she smiles.

More information

For more information about Jo Franco and to become JoClub's member JoClub to become a member, head over to joclub.world.

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