ECONOMY & WORK
MONEY 101
NEWS
PERSONAL FINANCE
NET WORTH
About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use DMCA Opt-out of personalized ads
© Copyright 2023 Market Realist. Market Realist is a registered trademark. All Rights Reserved. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.
MARKETREALIST.COM / ECONOMY & WORK

With 5 Income Streams, $142K/Month from Amazon, This Woman Warns Against 3 Side Hustle Mistakes

The founder of Mind Brain Emotion, Dr Jenny Woo shared some crucial insights for hustlers.
PUBLISHED APR 21, 2024
Cover Image Source: Unsplash | Photo by Garrhet Sampson
Cover Image Source: Unsplash | Photo by Garrhet Sampson

Side hustles have become widely popular since the pandemic with about 39% of the Gen Z working on a side hustle, as per EY. With soaring costs and high inflation, more Americans are looking to make extra money. However, side hustles can be difficult to navigate, especially for those who are just starting out. Thus, to help out hustlers, Harvard-trained educator, and founder of Mind Brain Emotion, Dr Jenny Woo shared some crucial insights with CNBC Make It.



 

Woo was inspired by a class project and her personal struggles, to launch a side hustle selling card games on Amazon. Her games aimed to help people build “human skills” like emotional intelligence and critical thinking.



 

After completing her Ph.D., Woo branched out into other hustles and today she has five income streams. She speaks at schools and businesses, teaches an online course about EQ, lectures at the University of California Irvine, does freelance business consulting, and she still sells the card games, Mind Brain Emotion through her site and on Amazon which is $142,000 a month alone, as per the report.



 

Here are the 3 Mistakes that She Wants Hustlers to Avoid

1. Settling for Subpar Service to Save Money

Dr Woo says that side hustlers should ideally work with fellow side hustlers to collaborate and save money while growing their business. However, working with another collaborator who is striving to grow, may result in unpredictable service.

Representative Image | Pexels | Photo by Andrea Piacquadio
Representative Image | Pexels | Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

Sharing an example, Dr Woo said that she parted ways with her social media manager and SEO vendor last year who were both solo entrepreneurs aspiring to turn their side gigs into agencies. She says the collaborators handed her business to new recruits who knew very little about her industry, thus, she had to let them go.

She said that staying with underperforming collaborators cost her money as she did subpar business even during the peak season. “As much as collaboration can be beneficial, it’s crucial to be diligent about who you hire,” Dr Woo said in the report.

2. Over Relying on Networking to Grow The Idea

As a solo entrepreneur, Dr Woo applied and was accepted to incubators at Harvard, UC Irvine, and USC, where she got access to top executives and advisers. While she took advantage of the knowledge pool, she was often left confused and overwhelmed. Dr Woo says while the opinions and advice were well-intentioned, she found the advisers to be projecting their own ambitions and mistakes onto her.

Representative Image | Unsplash | Photo by Siora Photography
Representative Image | Unsplash | Photo by Siora Photography

Thus, she advises hustlers to bring skepticism and feedback in such to avoid being swayed by the ideas of others. “I’ve found that relying too much on external validation diluted my vision and slowed my progress,” she told CNBC Make It.

3. Making the Product Too Complicated

Dr Woo says she had major issues as she spent a lot of time researching and developing flashy product features. She thought of including augmented reality components and more just to add the wow factor. However, this ended up confusing her users and added more pressure on her to develop better products.

Representative Image | Unsplash | Photo by Elimende Inagella
Representative Image | Unsplash | Photo by Elimende Inagella

“This will not only slow you down, but it will also inflate your costs”, she says in the report. Thus, now that Dr Woo has already launched a dozen products and has heard plenty of pitches from aspiring entrepreneurs, she advises people to not complicate things.

MORE ON MARKET REALIST
Guests on the show would run with it if they ever got that kind of money on Pawn Stars.
10 hours ago
The guest even said to keep the kids in the dark about how valuable these items were.
12 hours ago
The company had fantastic sales but a crushing debt with a high interest rate that the sharks hated.
15 hours ago
It was only Carey's second season in the show and he could have been part of a massive scandal.
1 day ago
“I won’t say anything, and you know why,” he said, with a gesture to zip his lips.
1 day ago
The ring was rescued by the guest's mother thanks to a stranger early in the morning.
1 day ago
"She blanked out. It happens to the best of us," a fan sympathized with the player.
1 day ago
The instrument originally belonged to the guest's grandfather who suffered a horrific injury.
2 days ago
The contestant's wife seemed embarassed at that point of time, and worried as well.
2 days ago
The co-founders of Dino Don got the shark that they always wanted on board.
2 days ago
One can understand why the measure is in place but the shopper was having none of it.
2 days ago
"My husband and I definitely noticed it! We had to rewind it a few times," a fan reacted.
2 days ago
All of the sharks agreed that she had a great product and the drive to be successful a businesswoman.
3 days ago
It's possible that the dog played a little part in making it easier for them to get a deal.
3 days ago
Without the help of his wife, the contestant would have gone home empty-handed.
3 days ago
The pawn store owner had a valid point since the item the guest had brought had numerous issues.
3 days ago
The contestant got the first part of the puzzle right but wasn't able to solve it in time.
3 days ago
"It's a lady's robe. A robe from 1750 is a very rare robe. The only other ones I know of this type, you'd have to go to Beijing," the appraiser said.
4 days ago
Harvey also got other hilarious answers, but nothing could match the woman's sass.
4 days ago
The Gronkowski family is famous for their contributions to America's sporting culture.
4 days ago