Today we’d like to introduce you to Janssen Bradshaw.
Janssen, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
In 2005, I started reading blogs for the first time. I’d been pretty heavily into the world of LiveJournal in high school and so the idea of writing online and commenting on other people’s writing wasn’t new to me, but this was my first foray into reading blogs written by people I didn’t know at all!
I’d tell my husband all about the blog posts I was reading and after months of this, he suggested I might enjoy starting my own blog. I said, “I don’t have anything to say!” (famous last words), but he continued to bring it up and I started entertaining the idea. Right from the beginning, I knew if I was going to start a blog, I wanted it to have a specific topic and since I’d just started getting back into pleasure reading after college, I thought a blog might be a fun place to talk about the books I was reading.
In October 2006, I wrote my first blog post and I’ve been writing ever since (in all these years, I’ve never taken an extended blog break – I love writing and sharing online!). Over the years, things have changed – I now also share on Instagram and have an email list. I share more than just books – I love talking about travel and friendship and parenting and favorite products alongside my book recommendations. I’ve freelanced for big companies like Disney and Conde Nast and Penguin Random House.
In 2020, my husband and I launched an online live tutoring program for kids called Savvy Reading and it’s grown into a program used by thousands of learners worldwide and expanded into math as well. It’s been a wild ride with lots of changes along the way, but at the end of the day, I never get tired of talking about books I love and ways to make reading a delightful part of my life.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Absolutely not!
One of the things I always remind myself of is that the constant change and pivots are what keeps it interesting! If I wanted everything to always stay the same, I’m in the wrong field. I’m never bored because things are constantly shifting and that’s part of the fun (some days, it feels a little less fun than others, of course).
My audience has grown very slowly over the years and it’s been discouraging at times to see other people grow massive audiences seemingly overnight. I try to remind myself that I’m doing something that I love and that consistency pays off over the long term.
I also started my blog before I had any children so I’ve been adjusting and managing my business over the years each time I added a new child to the family (I have four kids!) and my life needed to adjust.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
The hub of my business is my blog, Everyday Reading. I post seven days a week and I love writing there. I do a lot of book lists and book reviews and tips for using tools like Goodreads or Audible or Kindle, but there is also a lot of room for me to talk about things that are on my mind like making friends as an adult or making dinnertime more streamlined.
About five years ago, I started releasing seasonal reading charts which have been fun – they’re collaborations with designers that we offer for free and it’s so thrilling to see tens of thousands of families using them to make summer reading fun, making reading part of their holiday celebrations or track their reading throughout the year!
I think a few of the things that set me apart is that I’m very practical and I recognize that all my readers are individuals with their own circumstances and priorities. I try never to say that there is only ONE way to do things and it doesn’t hurt my feelings if someone disagrees with me or hates a book I love. The variety is what makes life fun!
One of the things that have been rewarding for me is discovering that I AM creative! Growing up, my two sisters were both very into sewing and art and I’m not good at those kinds of things at ALL – I was convinced I wasn’t creative! It’s been so delightful and eye-opening as an adult to realize that there are so many ways to be creative and even if I can barely draw a stick figure, it doesn’t mean I’m not creative in other ways.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I LOVE living in Provo, which is a bit of a surprise to me. I grew up in Wisconsin and then Las Vegas and I came to BYU for school but never imagined that I’d live here long term. My husband and I moved around a lot for about a dozen years – Texas, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Arizona, and England – but we came back to Provo (my husband grew up here) in 2018 and we’ll likely be here for good!
I love the access to college sports and arts, the mountains (I learned to ski a few years ago which has been thrilling for me!), the four beautiful seasons, and all the great restaurants! I’m also wildly grateful to be near such a phenomenal library and a terrific rec center. Provo does it right.
I could do without all the traffic around BYU but it’s a small price to pay.
Contact Info:
- Website: everyday-reading.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/everydayreading
Image Credits
Heather Mildenstein Studio
