Building a Supportive Team and Making a Positive Impact in the Toy Industry

Risa Schwartzman, president and founder of Gridley Games and Cape Construction, discusses her background and involvement in the toy industry, focusing on educational STEM games. She emphasizes the importance of experiential learning and creating products that appeal to both boys and girls. Risa shares her superpowers of having a positive mindset, passion, and fearlessness in trying and failing. She also discusses how she navigates running two businesses and offers tips for parents to engage their children in learning experiences. Additionally, the transcript features an unknown speaker who discusses the challenges of being a small entrepreneur in the toy business and strategies for reaching the target market. They define working from their happy place as finding joy and meaning in everything they do and offer advice to aspiring entrepreneurs. Gridley Games is highlighted, mentioning their new products and where they can be found.

Get to Know Reisa-
Reisa Schwartzman is the president and founder of Griddly Games, Inc. and the president of one of Vancouver’s leading developers, Cape Construction.

In 2007, Reisa started Griddly Games, Inc., producing a string of multi-award-winning new products under the new Griddly Games, Inc. The company now manufactures and markets more than a dozen original games.


Reisa has taken her passions and her mom-preneurial mindset (mother of 3 boys and 3 grandchildren) and developed a winning combination of products that appeal to all families – across the Grid! Under Reisa’s leadership, Griddly is thriving with global product sales.


To discover more about Griddly Games, visit www.griddlygames.com and get all of the most up-to-date, immediate information by interacting with the company on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.


Interact with Reisa-
https://www.facebook.com/griddlygames
https://www.facebook.com/reisa.schwartzman
https://twitter.com/GriddlyGames
https://www.instagram.com/griddlygames
https://www.instagram.com/reisasch
https://www.linkedin.com/in/reisa-schwartzman-883059a/

Chapters-
[00:01] Risa Schwartzman, the president and founder of Gridley Games, shares her background and talks about how Gridley Games started after taking over from a dishonest company.
[02:22] Risa discusses her passion for STEM games and how her background in science and math influenced her game design. She also talks about the satisfaction of seeing the impact of teaching and receiving positive feedback from users.
[07:38] Risa provides three tips for parents to make learning a different experience, including understanding each child's learning style, spending quality time with children, and engaging in their interests.
[16:46] Risa and Belinda discuss the challenges of finding a marketplace and reaching a wider audience in the toy industry. They mention utilizing social media platforms, attending trade shows, conducting interviews, and organizing contests.
[23:35] Risa introduces Gridley Games' new line of water toys, including STEM water toys designed to teach children about concepts like displacement, buoyancy, and density. She mentions that the toys are safe and productive for children as young as eighteen months old.

How to Connect with Belinda:
Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/workfromyourhappyplace
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/belindaellsworth
Instagram -https://www.instagram.com/workfromyourhappyplace/
Website - www.workfromyourhappyplace.com

Join my membership program and discover the art of creating and sharing amazing experiences with like-minded people, all from the comfort of your own home. You get to connect with others online, learn new skills and techniques, and grow your network without ever having to leave you

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Work from your Happy Place, the podcast that equips you with the
knowledge and inspiration to live your dreamsand find your own happy plays. You
will be encouraged by and learn fromentrepreneurs and artists who are already working from
their happy plays, all while pursuingtheir passion with a purpose. Be sure

(00:20):
to sign up for our free weeklynewsletter for our recap of the week's guests
and a preview of what's in store. We also have two special gifts for
you, a video, the fivecore principles to living a half Yer Life,
and a printable download title Top tensales strategies. Go to work for
your Happy Place dot com, forwardslash free. Fill out the attached form

(00:43):
to receive your gifts and be addedto our newsletter. And now here's your
host, Belinda Ellsworth. Hello everyone, I'm so excited about our guest today.
I have Resa Schwartzman with me andshe is the president and founder of
Grid Games and is also the presidentof one of Vancouver's leading developers, Cape

(01:04):
Construction. So it is my pleasureto welcome Resa to our show today.
Thanks for having me, Belinda.It's always a pleasure to come and talk
to you and to share ideas.Yes, absolutely, So why don't you
tell us a little bit more aboutyourself, tell us a little bit about

(01:25):
Gridley Games and how you're serving otherstoday. Thank you. So Gridley Games
started surprisingly over fifteen years ago.I took it over from a company that
had asked me to invest in it, and frankly, the guy was a
crook. So I took over thecompany and I threw myself into the toy

(01:48):
world, which I didn't know thatmuch about, which is not ever the
best way to go into a business, but it was the way I got
into this one, and I hadto start learning how to understand the industry.
And along the way, I startedoff calling our company Gridley Games because
we took over a company or calledHeads Games, but their main game was

(02:12):
called Gridley Heads. So I keptthe gridly, thinking that that was the
best idea and the ideas that alsoour games were for people across the grid.
So that's where we've kept the namegrid Lee and started designing our own
games. And what I found withmy background, I have a background in
exercise, physiology and psychology, andI taught dancing for nineteen years. In

(02:37):
my beginning of my career and havea family business as you mentioned, of
construction and actually development and asset management. So the idea of building something and
creating something and having three children andnow three grandchildren, it all kind of
came together and I started designing boardgames, and so we continued to sell

(03:00):
games, and we found out thatthey were mostly educational. It kind of
evolved, My business evolved. Theposted was very focused. I was trying
to get back my original investment andI found that I was designing stem games
science, technology, engineering and math, which really spoke to me. So
being as a young student, forme, my favorite things were always science

(03:23):
and math, So I guess that'swhat was coming out of me the way
I was designing my games, andthat was really what was really great to
see, you know, something thatyou could create as it Like before I
was teaching dance and being a choreographerand coaching a high level of gymnastics.
You see the one on one rightaway, and you see the instant gratification.

(03:46):
As a teacher, you can seethe efforts and the rewards, and
as a parent you can see theefforts and the reward that you get.
But designing a product, your endproduct goes to someone you don't know.
But every once in a while,someone will send in a review or someone
will will write you back into tellingyou about that wonderful experience that they had,
and that is really quite meaningful tome. So for me, what

(04:10):
drives me in this business as wellis bringing these quality products to the kids.
And along the way, I hadthis one experience that I saw and
I thought, oh, I lovethis idea of dancing milk, and it's
a really AHA moment. And Ireally believe in experiential learning. And again
because I was involved in the wholescience thing and that really science excites me.

(04:34):
We created these products these kids thatcould help kids learn science and art
about one topic. And again itwould be expansive and experiential and give kids
a ha moment, And that gaveme a lot of meaning. So I
pursued that. So I guess that'sa little bit about me. I'm not
sure if I answered it exactly correctly, but having the ability to bring all

(04:59):
of my experiences together is kind ofwhat them didn't me here today, Well,
that's awesome. So I'm sure somepeople are curious, because I'm curious.
So, so you were an investorbecause she said, I didn't really
have a background in children's toys orin the toy market. So what led
you to investing in the business inthe first place, because that's a curiosity.

(05:26):
Well, it was, again amixture of a few things. One
was we had a warehouse and somebodycame to ask us if they could lease
our space, and he needed helpto kind of fulfill his first order,
and he rented space from us,and I helped fill orders. And when

(05:46):
I realized my investment was more substantialthan I should have, I took shares
in the partnership. And then Irealized the guy was a crook, so
I took over the business. Everybodykind of figures they know a little bit
about the toy industry because we've allplayed with toys, we've all bought toys.
You know. It's very in yourface the toy world, in that
there's commercials and we all buy toysfor our children, for ourselves, for

(06:11):
our friends, and so people feelthat they understand it. But also because
I was in the building world,I understood sometimes some of the things that
you had to do to do aproduction of things. Sure, and there's
always learning crib and every business yougo in. So yeah, So I
learned a little bit by the previouslyjust thinking, you know, and then

(06:34):
a lot by doing a lot ofwrong things and learning all the right ways
to do it. So I learnedthe hard way to be in this business.
So by introducing toys, this isanother thought that I had, because
I think you're unique in that thatspace of science and engineering and math and

(06:56):
all of that is oftentimes not womanAnd I'm sure by introducing this in a
game format, you're probably introducing alot of young girls into the wonderful world
of science and math and engineering.I hope, so, I hope,
I am. I. In ourgames, we really try to make sure

(07:21):
they're appealing to both boys and girls. Very unisec We try to make the
play not obvious, like the learningcurve. The play is supposed to be
enjoyable, and through that play,through that experience, you're getting that exposure
we have in our kids that justaadline where there's science and arts. You

(07:44):
can usually attract the girls through thearts. You know, they all want
to do like an arts and craftactivity. But oh wow, I'm learning
that when you put baking soda withvinegar, you can get an explosion,
right, and what is the reactionof that? Or how does I'm trying
to make crystals and I'm making sugarcandy, but oh I'm learning about crystallization.
So through the experiential learning of someof the art, they're also learning

(08:07):
science. And then the reverse forthe kids who are science based. Oh
I'm I'm making crystals, I'm makingcandy, but oh I'm I'm also making
an art, so you can youcan balance it. It's a nice introduction
to realize that art not stand ona z own and either just science.
The world really comes together in manyways. Oh that's wonderful, Absolutely so

(08:28):
in the field of expertise. Now, so maybe that field of expertise is
designing, maybe it's construction, maybeit's you know, getting engagement, like
with kids, Like what would yousay are three tips that you could give
other people? Maybe like for parentseven maybe that's the question in your field

(08:52):
of expertise, what are three waysthat parents can engage more with their kids
to make learning a different experience.So I think that there's no one answer,
because every child has their own learningstyle, So I think you have
to be respectful of that. Assumingthough on an average level. How do

(09:15):
I do that? I mean,I think it's important to see what their
kids are excited about. If you'reand then sit down with your kids kids
take time. I mean, youcan't just throw something at them and assume
that they're going to read the instructionsand learn how to play a game or
how to do a kid. Theycan maybe do it later on, but

(09:35):
the initial time. So Number oneis you've got to spend time with them.
That's I mean, more and moreresearch shows the kids that are successful
are the kids that get the timewith their parents. And I know everybody's
working, and so it doesn't alwayshave to be huge volume. It should
be as much volume as you can. But it's also so you're spending quality

(09:58):
time with you kids, which isnumber one, So you're showing them that
you care. Number two is ifyou engage in this and get excited about
it as well. So if you'repassionate about this, like oh wow,
we're doing you don't have to saywe're doing math. But if like I
have a game that has grafting involvedand go wow, look when I go
under two and over too, Iget. You know, there's ways that

(10:20):
you can engage with pleasure and joyand that positive reinforcement, so positive reinforcement
obviously, and just giving them differentexperiences, so having them have an opportunity
to do something in math, somethingin art, something that's silly, something,
and to just encourage that positive reinforcementof different choices. Perfect. So

(10:46):
everybody, Yeah, absolutely, Soeverybody's got their own set of superpowers,
like their own skill sets that havesort of helped them along their journey of
success and of life. And whatif you identified as yours, what makes
you unique and stands out that ishelped you really navigate this world of entrepreneurship

(11:11):
or like you run to successful businesses. So I mean superpowers come in different
different places that you don't always expectit. And sometimes I think your superpower
is also your super weakness. It'salways a double edge, right Superman had
all you know, his kryptonite crushedhis superpower. I think one is I

(11:35):
look at things always in a positiveway. I try to find what everything
I do, I try to findthe positive side of it. I think
that that's something that even if it'ssomething hard to find, how do I
bring the joy out of it?And try and bring joy out of everything
I do? Even when it's hard. The other superpowers, I'm not afraid

(11:56):
to try and try hard. SoI think I I I try hard and
everything I do and I do itwith passion, And I think those are
powers that you can control yourself.And so I think those are my two

(12:16):
superpowers. I mean, there's lotsof things that you can be good at
that will take you in different directions. But I think in everything you do,
you have to be passionate about withwhat you do and try and really
enjoy it because we're at it fora long time, and not to fail,
you know, just to get upand go and do and because we're
going to fail, there's no questionwe're gonna you know, it's gonna something's

(12:39):
going to happen that's going to gowrong, and then you have to stick
to it. So I think thoseare my superpowers, being able to stick
to something and do it with passion. So you do have two successful businesses,
So how do you navigate the runningof two completely different entities. They're

(13:01):
full days, that's for sure.I have wonderful people around me that support
me and these things. I don'tdo it alone, So that would be
very important to make sure you've gotgood people around you, and I guess
you know, I've always been amultitasker, so I keep both businesses in
the same office, and I priorizethat. You know, certain times there

(13:26):
are things that take priority of onebusiness and certain jobs that take priority on
others. And I make a lotof lists and go through the lists and
meet with my staff and priorize whatthey can take and what I can do,
and I like the big picture andcome conceptualize and then not to be
afraid to delegate, which isn't alwayseasy. It's not always easy to delegate,

(13:50):
but you have to learn how todelegate. Absolutely, absolutely, yeah,
And I think it's being okay withdelegating. It's like learning to let
go of am I really the onlyperson I can do this? And I
think some people just really feel thatway, like I have to do this.
And I've had coached people and they'relike, but I could do it

(14:11):
better, but just but somebody elsecan do it, and then they will
learn to do it better if yougive them the opportunity. I think that's
the difference. I agree, Andsometimes you can learn yourself. Actually,
I feel like I'm always learning,you know. I think that when you
bring you know, the old teamtogether. Everyone achieves more team and there's

(14:33):
no I in team, right,So I've always kind of lived by those
principles that the people you bring toyour table make a stronger team. And
you know, in in the constructionand the development, I work in a
family business. I worked with mydad up until he passed, and the
day before he passed it just beforehe was ninety two. And I work

(14:54):
with my thirty four year old son, and we all have similar strengths,
but we also have our own nenied strengths and we all bring those to
the table. And then we haveaccountants and we have you know, we
bring people together to make our fullhelp. Yeah that's great. So greatest
accomplishment like a pinch me moment?What is something in business that has been

(15:16):
just like, oh my gosh,I can't believe that just happened. Well,
you know, as a mom,you always put your family first,
at least idea. So my biggestaccomplishment is always my family. So I
have three three great, amazing boysthat I'm very proud of, and three
beautiful grandchildren so far, which I'malso adore. But my business, so

(15:41):
in the construction and development. Ithink I have different answers that in the
construction and development, we've built communitiesand know that we've changed communities because of
projects we've done, and that seemsto be the consistent thing that someone once
asked me that, and a bankeronce asked me that, and I started
listing things and I realized, Oh, it's how we changed our community and

(16:03):
how we brought things to our communityand made our communities better, and that
brings a lot of meaning to me. Sure. And then from the toy
world, it's kind of the same. It's like, it's not that I
just invented the most amazing toy.It wasn't that I just had the best
sale ever, because that's all that'sone way of grading as how much money
you make. But for me,what great things for me is did I

(16:23):
bring meaning to the world? DidI make it a better place? Is
what I've done more helping making thisplace better, helping kids have more experiences.
So for me, I probably wouldsay the greatest accomplishment is bringing really
quality products to children and families andthat they are able to have better lives.

(16:48):
So for me, that's my greatestaccomplishment is I'm hoping to em better
other people's lives. Oh, that'swonderful. So greatest challenge. What's one
of the challenges, especially in thetoy business that you encountered and then how
did you work through that? MWell, there's a lot of really wonderful,
wonderful toy companies in the world,and some of them are really big.

(17:11):
So the hard part about being asmall entrepreneur, which I am in
this industry is finding your marketplace andgetting out there to the world. Yes,
and you know, there's lots ofopportunities like even having an interview with
you and or you know today youcan be on TikTok and different things like

(17:32):
that. But our biggest challenge isjust getting in front of enough of the
end buyers, being small, becausewe can't afford to go on television with
one hundred thousand dollars commercials that youneed to repeat twenty times before anybody even
buys you. So I think that'sthe greatest challenge is how do you how
do you get in front of youryour buyer in a meaningful way that makes

(17:52):
them buy you in an affordable wayto do it? I think that that
is probably anybody who is an entrepreneur, a smaller business owner. I think
that's probably one of their greatest challenges, is everybody's greatest challenge. So what
are some of the ways that youdo that? So we try on many

(18:15):
fork fronts. We of course,our social media, I think is our
biggest, our biggest option, andwe and we use Facebook, Instagram,
Twitter, we use TikTok, We'restarting to look at but we also go
to trade shows, we do interviews, we do contests. What are some

(18:45):
of the things that we do.I think those are the majority of things
that we're doing. And just havingin store shows where you know, if
you have a presence around the holidays, we'll try and get some of our
local toy stores to have us comein and we can showcase our and our
sales are epidential because people might notknow to look for you, but if
you're more open and showing yourselves,it's amazing what your sales can do.

(19:08):
So that's always a good options beingin front of people. Yeah. Absolutely,
So this is kind of our signaturequestion of the show, and that
is what does a working from yourhappy place mean to you? You know,
it's a great question. I've neverreally been asked that question, But
I think working from my happy place, I think means like where am I

(19:33):
happy? And I think I kindof mentioned a little bit before. I
mean, I'm lucky because I getto work with family, So that's a
joy. I get to work withmy family, and so it's very I've
never isolated, so that's always ajoyful thing to do. But I also
thinks like, because I try tofind meaning and everything I'm doing and joy,
and everything I'm doing every day isfilled with happy Not to say it's

(19:56):
always easy, because there's lots ofthings that aren't easy, but how you
approach your challenges, how you accomplishyour goals. I set our goals and
then we forge forward and I tryto do it always with joy. So
I'm not sure if that's exactly theanswer to that, but I think it's

(20:17):
the attitude that and what you're tryingto accomplish that brings you that meaning and
happy place. Sure. And thereally cool thing is that it's your answer,
like it's what it is to you, so there's no right, wrong
or in between an answer. Itwould be nice to see like a full

(20:38):
list, a whole data sheet ofeverybody's happy answers. I'm working on that
actually, because it's been like thisis now we're well over six hundred episodes,
and yeah, what's interesting is thereare six common answers and I've learned

(20:59):
to like hear those and then there'sa whole bunch of outliers. So,
but there are six common answers thatare repeated again and again. And what
I've learned is it depends on wherepeople are in their journey of entrepreneurship or
their business, their age, likehow long they've been doing it, and

(21:19):
it's really it's almost pretty predictable.And I didn't figure that out until probably
year four of doing this podcast,Like Okay, now I'm putting putting that
together. Why that's important to thisperson because they're in their twenties and that's

(21:40):
the most important thing, right,And in here this person in their fifties,
and it's a much different thing.They've gone through the freedom, they've
gone through this and now really it'sabout impact, right, and as you're
kind of been doing the business fora while, it is more about the
impact that you're leaving with other peopleand the contribution. And so it's just

(22:03):
interesting, it's very it is it'sbeen very interesting. That makes a lot
of sense. So what advice wouldyou give to someone just wanting to start
their own business like yours was kindof thrown in your lap, but then
you've also had this family business.But what advice would you give to someone
that is like, gosh, Ireally would love to start something. Well,

(22:27):
I think you used the word thatwas important with love, So I
think everybody has to tell their ownstory in their journey through work. Sometimes
we don't have choices and you haveto take a job. But if you're
taking the risk to live outside ofthe box and be an entrepreneur, number

(22:48):
one is you can't be afraid totry, and you can't be afraid to
fail, because there's a good chanceyou will fail and you have to get
up and start again. I thinkyou have to be ready to work hard,
because nothing is easy. If anybodytells you it's easy, either they're
not telling you the whole story ordon't believe them, right, So don't

(23:11):
be afraid to try. Know thatyou're going to have to work hard.
I think it has to be somethingthat you're passionate about because you're going to
be doing it for a long time. Because hard work takes time, So
love what you're doing and make sureit's something that you believe in, not
just something that you love, butsomething you believe in because on those hard

(23:33):
days, it's easy to get throughstuff that's it's easier to get through things
that are hard because you believe init and that you're passionate about it.
Absolutely, And then yeah, Ithink those are probably the things that you
want to have for a successful lifeand a successful business. Absolutely. So

(23:56):
any new and exciting things that you'reworking on, love our listeners to know
about. And also where can peoplefind, yeah, in your great products.
Okay, so right now our companyis called Gridley Games and we are
going to be launching at Toy Fair, going to be in September in New

(24:18):
York. Our company as Gridley Kids, because we are originally you know,
we started off as our wonderful stemgames, which we have these fantastic stem
games, and then we moved intosteam kits, which one could say is
like a game, but steam kitsare science and art activities and those are

(24:38):
fantastic group of steam kits. Andnow we're moving into water toys and water
friends and I can't totally show everything, but we're going to be moving into
our stem water toys. We're goingto be one hundred percent silicon based toys

(25:00):
that are stem that will teach yourkid how to play in the water and
explore ways of even at the middleage of eighteen months and two years old.
We'll start understanding things like displacement andbuoyancy and density and how do you
do it safely and productively and atthe start of that. So we have

(25:23):
little things kind of floating around,but I can't show you too much yet
because I would be not in followingthe rules of my own business model.
So we're launching in September as GridleyKids and we'll bring out a whole new
another line and we're really excited aboutthat. Oh that sounds so much fun.

(25:45):
So where can people find you findyour products? Sure, we're on
Amazon hopefully at your local favorite children'stoy store if you're in Canada, we're
in all the Indigo our chapters,I should say, are they're all Indigo
now, uh And if you don't, If you don't have it in your

(26:08):
local stores, you can always reachout to us. We're grid Leak Games
dot Com g r I d dL Y Games with an s dot com
so you can always reach out tous and we can help you. And
I love to hear from any ofyour of your listeners and and share with
them some more of our products.Perfect. I'm sure you're on all the

(26:32):
social channels as well. Yeah,for sure, reach out for Well.
This has been absolutely wonderful. Thankyou so much for sharing your story with
us and and just sharing. Ithink the the common denominator of this was
you know, love what you do, be willing to work hard, and

(26:52):
and be willing to show up everyday with a purpose. And so I
love that those are three extramely importantthing. So thank you for sharing that
with us today. Well, thankyou for taking the time and letting me
tell my story. Yeah. Absolutely, And to all of our listeners out
there, thank you. We knowyou have a choice of where to spend
your time and we are so gratefulthat you chose to spend it with us

(27:17):
today. Make sure that you sharethis. That's the greatest form of compliment
that you can give Resa or myselfis to share this with a friend,
follow us on Instagram or subscribe sothat you don't miss a single great episode.
And with that, we'll see younext time. On work from your
happy place,