ALL ABOUT BOOKSHARK

What this episode covers

It's all about BookShark this episode! How it started, the process behind it and more.  Join Janna Koch, BookShark's Community Manager and her guest Greg Thewes, Executive Vice President of Inquisicorp as they chat all things BookShark. Learn about how the brand began, why the name and all the behind-the-scenes in between.  TIMESTAMPS Janna (01:42): But if that was the case then BookShark may have never been created because we had extra time back in our day. Greg (01:49): Exactly. There was nothing else to do. So in the meantime, we recorded it on our VHS and watched it over and over again from the week before. Greg (10:00):But there's also the vision. Our owners would not have gone for it if it was purely just money. They truly believe in their curriculum, they wanted to reach families that they couldn't reach. So it was a great opportunity for their approach. And so knowing that the way that they teach would be able to go to people they couldn't reach was very important to them. And when they saw that vision, they jumped on board. (12:31) So Shark started catching on and it just turned into BookShark. And the funniest thing is our entire company hated it, the only person who did it was our owner. Everybody else hated it. Greg (18:40): I mean we knew there were schools. I knew of about 10, the 15 in California, I know a few in Washington, I knew in Alaska and elsewhere. And then this one, excuse me, they were in five in Colorado and I physically went to every one of those and pitched it. So I knew those five schools would buy. I knew potentially one in California potentially was in Alaska and potentially ones in Hawaii. My assumption was it would be them, but I also knew that the general public wanted a secular program. So I thought maybe one or two of those would buy it and then the rest would come from schools. But there was a greater demand than I thought in the general homeschool market now even more than it was back in 2014 where people who were just looking for secular curriculum. I'd say all walks of life have benefited from own program. Just truly neutral. Greg (22:56): Absolutely, and that's something we want to stick to. It's an 80/20 rule. You're never going to please everyone and that 10% on both ends of the bell curve and you just can't please everyone and we don't expect to. But we think with our approach, we appease more because there are more in that middle range that are not offended either way, but they would definitely prefer in their homes, they would definitely prefer to have the opportunity to bring it up. Janna (32:34): Well, I know our customers are excited to hear that our high school is coming back and we appreciate their patience as we have worked through the pandemic like everyone else, but have been diligent to not only get it done, but to do it well. So it matches the quality of everything else that we have turned out thus far. Thanks to show sponsor BookShark. Request a homeschool curriculum catalog or download samples at bookshark.com. If you'd like to share an aha moment, an inspirational quote, a homeschool hack, a book you're loving, or a suggested podcast topic/guest, leave a comment at bookshark.com/podcast. We'd love to feature your reflection on a future episode.

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