Jenny Woo learned social skills at the age of 10 that she ultimately parlayed into a side hustle that brought in more than $1 million last year.
What To Know: Woo emigrated from China to Texas when she was just 10 years of age. She didn’t speak English, so she was forced to get good at reading nonverbal social cues.
Woo went on to launch a side hustle selling emotional intelligence-focused card games on Amazon.com Inc AMZN. Her business, Mind Brain Emotion, generated $1.71 million in sales on the platform last year, according to CNBC.
“The mission has always been to make knowledge, skills, competence, mindsets and attitudes accessible … for really everybody to enjoy,” Woo said.
After using the emotional intelligence skills she developed as a child to land career opportunities at large corporations like Cisco and Deloitte, Woo used $1,000 in savings to launch Mind Brain Emotion. The company is generating more than $140,000 in sales each month and Woo estimates that 40% is profit.
She told CNBC that she’s working anywhere from three hours to 30 hours per week, but the side hustle isn’t her only income stream. Woo also lectures at the University of California Irvine, runs an online emotional intelligence course and offers freelance business consulting services.
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Why It Matters: For those looking to start a side hustle like Woo, she offered a few tips for getting started.
Anyone can start an Amazon Seller account for about $40 per month and list products there. There are also other online marketplaces available that work well, she said.
“But you have to pay to play, in the sense that you have to be really savvy with advertising campaigns, SEO and staying on top of the new features on each platform,” Woo said.
Woo also recommended that anyone looking to replicate her success use keywords for ad campaigns and look for opportunities to advertise on competitors’ websites. You need to be willing to learn and act as your own cheerleader when times get tough, she added.
“There will be haters and copycats. You just have to keep going,” Woo said.
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This story is part of a new series of features on the subject of success, Benzinga Inspire.
Photo: Preis_King from Pixabay.
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