This essay, as said, is based on an interview with Dr. Jenny Woo, educator and founder Mind Brain Emotion, the company behind a line of card games and other emotional intelligence tools. The story has been edited and condensed for clarity.
There are studies that show that today’s college students are expensive less emotionally intelligent in comparison with those from a decade ago. And these studies were conducted before the pandemic, so you’ll be able to imagine what it looks like after the pandemic. I have also seen a lot of research on the impact of distance learning and social isolation, where adults and children do not have the same opportunities to interact with people. For children, this meant social anxiety and regression [in] communication and language skills and this reluctance to determine contact with people.
Photo: Courtesy of Mind Brain Emotion. Dr. Jenny Woo.
I did management consulting for Fortune 500 corporations and while working with senior leaders, I discovered that there was not enough emphasis on soft skills in the workplace, which was really affecting the health of the organization’s team. As I explored this area at a child level, I noticed that: Oh my God, these are skills that were principally not taught or discussed in school. So while working at Harvard Innovation Labs, I took a research-backed approach to develop a card game tool that anyone could enjoy – they didn’t have to go to high school or anything. (I desired to do something easy and accessible since I’m the first person in my family to graduate from college.)
The development of my first deck of cards, which began in May 2018 through a Kickstarter campaign, was the results of a combination of educational research and industry experience. I used to be in a master’s in education program that focused on the intersection of cognitive science, neuroscience, education and child development, and I think there was psychology sprinkled in there. I began with 52 Essential Conversations to essentially help people have intentional conversations in an authentic and vulnerable way. These will likely be parents with children, adult parents and grandparents with children at school. It’s almost like pearls of wisdom that you would like to leave to a loved one – to make you’re feeling good that they are focused on life and can make responsible decisions.
I didn’t really even think about making more decks of cards, but overall, as I tested the game with users and collected case studies, understanding how people actually engage and interact with the game, I noticed that To even begin to give you the chance to have such vulnerable, honest conversations, you have to first gain trust, respect and understanding. And that is why I created the second deck, the Relationship Skills deck – to assist people go back to the drafting board, connect with each other, and build the caring trust obligatory to have a conversation. I released this album in January 2019.
Amazon is a platform that is continuously growing in terms of the number of individuals using its service, so selling on its platform is a given. I currently release a recent deck on Amazon every 4 to 6 months, and sales bring in $33,000 a week. I also have other sources of income. I teach at the University of California, Irvine. I give lectures but also provide services through my online course as Mind Brain Emotion, my company. So I teach quarterly and they pay me directly per person taking my online course. We also deal in real estate.
I talk a lot to graduate-level entrepreneurship classes, and I once heard someone ask this query: “Can you start a business if you’re not passionate about what you’re selling if it will make a lot of money?” My answer is, “Why do you want to do that?” My advice is to do something that you just are truly passionate about and that you’ll hopefully be passionate about for a long, very long time, because it is a grind. You will get negative customer reviews, which is like a death sentence for the company. And you have to like what you do enough to get up and keep going. This also includes knowing what your values are; you’ll have so many dilemmas and decisions to make, and to weigh the pros and cons, it is advisable go back to your values and what is essential to you.
Plus, as a sole proprietor, you do not know what you do not know, and that is one of the biggest challenges I see when I discuss with other entrepreneurs. Sometimes you could be very in love with your idea, but it’s really essential to discuss with as many people as possible and hearken to the customer first and then yourself or the product to know if it matches the needs and if there are requirements for the product.
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