Building Emotionally Healthy Kids and Families

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Roni Nocon and Amy Sage, Founders of ParentingEQ, located in San Diego, CA, USA.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

The mission of ParentingEQ is to build emotionally healthy kids and families through social-emotional learning activities. These activities focus on emotional intelligence skills critical to leading successful lives: self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, motivation, and social skills. With easy-to-use tools and activities, our wellness series can be used by parents, educators, counselors, therapists... anyone that works with children and cares about mental health.

Tell us about yourself

Co-founders Roni Nocon, MA, LPCC, and Amy Sage, MA, MS, NCC. We have been school counselors for the past 15 years. Over the course of our careers, we have seen a decrease in children's overall well-being and an increase in depression, anxiety, self-harm, and negative self-worth. We found that a child's emotional health is greatly impacted by something we have no influence over in the schools - the family environment. This discovery sparked our research into how we can teach children the social-emotional skills that research has shown are necessary to improve the family's overall emotional well-being. As parents first and counselors second, we developed a passion for creating positive parenting activities and tools to teach our own families emotional intelligence skills.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Our biggest accomplishment has been learning how to market effectively and refining who our target audience is. We've had to pivot a number of times in our strategy to capture the right audience. Still a work in progress, we feel that after two years, we have a much better idea of who can benefit most from our products.

What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

One of the hardest things about being a business owner is prioritizing your time and money. With a small business, you have to be very selective about the choices you make to grow your business. Sometimes it's trial and error, and there's a risk with almost every decision. We've realized that we don't have expertise in every aspect of the business, and therefore asking for help and using consultants has been essential.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Get a mentor. Find someone who has launched a similar business and is willing to share their accomplishments and challenges.
Network. We have discovered how important it is to have connections and learn from others.
Be flexible. Just when you think you have figured out the direction you should be headed, you might have to change it completely. If you believe in what you are doing, it will work out over time.

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.parentingeq.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ParentingEQ/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parentingeq/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/parentingeq/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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