((PKG)) PUZZLE HUDDLE
((TRT: 06:25))
((Topic Banner: Puzzle Huddle))
((Reporter/Camera/Editor: June Soh))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub character: 1 female))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
I love doing puzzles with my children. We do it very often
together. It’s a wonderful family time because it’s really
resistant to technology and requires you to put your phone
away and actually put your hands on a physical product. So,
it’s a great way to spend time together.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
My name is Matthew Goins. I am the owner of Puzzle
Huddle, which is a home-based business where we create
products for children from diverse backgrounds. We are
based in Washington, D.C.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
Down in the basement is where we do our packing and
shipping. So, this is one of our primary workstations. This
isn’t really like a location to email but if you’re doing boxing
and shipping, we do all that work down in the basement.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
As I was shopping for puzzles for my children, it was very
frustrating that I couldn’t find the amount of diversity, in
terms of the skin tones and hair texture, to represent the way
my children look in the products. I was also frustrated at the
themes that I couldn’t find puzzles that represented all the
different ideas that I want to share with my children.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
So, I thought I could just cut a puzzle for myself at home with
a pair of scissors and cardboard. But soon I wanted to scale
that and share that puzzle concept with other
families. And my homemade puzzles just weren’t a good
solution. So, I needed to produce a commercial grade
puzzle, one that will be appropriate to share with other
families.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
I launched the business at some point in order to have a
peace of mind to get the idea out of my head. I was
spending a lot of time thinking about the creativity, the
design and the impact that the idea could have on the
community. And it was keeping me up at night. So, just in
order to get some rest, I needed to give this idea a chance.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
Before I launched Puzzle Huddle, I was employed full time in
corporate America. I was a HR [Human Resources]
professional. I was a human resource business partner.
It was very scary in transition. You don’t know that your
business is going to take off. You don’t know if you are going
to be a failure. So far has been an awesome decision.
((NATS))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
Well, we started with, in terms of concepts and ideas, things
that were intuitive to us. My wife and I have both, both have
multiple college degrees. So, things related to higher
education were natural thinking places for me. So, we went
to doctor, engineer, pilot, things that require additional levels
of education in order to pursue that career path. But
education is just one thing. We also thought about spirituality
and religion and Bible stories. There’s also some cultural
concepts. For the most part, we work through freelance
artists.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
This is our chef puzzle. It features a boy and a girl character,
and we thought it was really important to put a lot of healthy
foods in the puzzle for food identification. So, it becomes a
learning activity as well as a puzzle activity.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
Another product we are really excited about is our pillow. If
you think about all the different intimate places that you can
put inspirational images around a kid, a pillow makes perfect
sense. So, we are really excited about transferring from the
puzzle images onto pillows and just give it another
perspective on inspiration and motivation for a kid because
we want to see something right on your bed, which is going
to be a big part of your life.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
My wife is very helpful for us, but my wife also has a career.
So, her responsibilities toward Puzzle Huddle aren’t a
priority.
((NATS))
((Marnel Goins, Dean & Professor, Marymount
University))
So, I do have a full-time job. I am a dean of a
university. Matthew and I are really different and I am the
one that’s more organized in a sense.
I think the biggest stressor for me is all the boxes in the living
room and the dining room area. But he loves it. And I can
see the difference in how he and what he feels towards his
work than where he was working before. I guess, it’s a real
joy for him and you can see it like in his footsteps and in just
amount of time that he spends with his work and the ultimate
outcome. So, that right there is great.
((NATS: Matthew Goins and daughter, Mitt Goins))
((Matthew Goins)) What would be your favorite part of
today?
((Mitt Goins)) Hmm, playing at the playground.
((Matthew Goins)) Playing at the playground?
((Mitt Goins)) Yes.
((Matthew Goins)) You played outside today?
((Mitt Goins)) Yes.
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
I love working from home because it frees up my schedule to
some degree that I am always available and I can pivot at
any point in time to pick up my kids from school or interact
with their teachers or make myself available to their needs.
So, that’s one of the awesome benefits of being from home.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
So, feeding my children is a part of every day. It requires
someone to help them get something to eat. So, usually
something quick and easy. That’s my favorite thing, is
something that does not require a lot of pots and pans and
does not make a big mess.
((NATS: Book Reading))
((Matthew Goins)) I promise to use my voice and stand up
for what’s right, and when things get tough, to keep up the…
((Matthew Goins and kids)) …fight.
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
We started recording ourselves reading for a lot of reasons.
One of them was to really slow time down, and to capture
some of these intimate moments, and encapsulate the
experience, and to make a habit out of reading.
((NATS: YouTube shot of Reading))
((Courtesy: YouTube logo))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
And we love sharing it on YouTube to, maybe, motivate or
inspire some other families to read and share together and
recommend some books.
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
A lot of this is built on the fact that my mom is a teacher and
my wife is a teacher. So, this is based on my life experience.
I love education and I love educators. So, that is something
that kind of comes out of me as a natural phenomenon.
((NATS))
((TRT: 06:25))
((Topic Banner: Puzzle Huddle))
((Reporter/Camera/Editor: June Soh))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((Main character: 1 male))
((Sub character: 1 female))
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
I love doing puzzles with my children. We do it very often
together. It’s a wonderful family time because it’s really
resistant to technology and requires you to put your phone
away and actually put your hands on a physical product. So,
it’s a great way to spend time together.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
My name is Matthew Goins. I am the owner of Puzzle
Huddle, which is a home-based business where we create
products for children from diverse backgrounds. We are
based in Washington, D.C.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
Down in the basement is where we do our packing and
shipping. So, this is one of our primary workstations. This
isn’t really like a location to email but if you’re doing boxing
and shipping, we do all that work down in the basement.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
As I was shopping for puzzles for my children, it was very
frustrating that I couldn’t find the amount of diversity, in
terms of the skin tones and hair texture, to represent the way
my children look in the products. I was also frustrated at the
themes that I couldn’t find puzzles that represented all the
different ideas that I want to share with my children.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
So, I thought I could just cut a puzzle for myself at home with
a pair of scissors and cardboard. But soon I wanted to scale
that and share that puzzle concept with other
families. And my homemade puzzles just weren’t a good
solution. So, I needed to produce a commercial grade
puzzle, one that will be appropriate to share with other
families.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
I launched the business at some point in order to have a
peace of mind to get the idea out of my head. I was
spending a lot of time thinking about the creativity, the
design and the impact that the idea could have on the
community. And it was keeping me up at night. So, just in
order to get some rest, I needed to give this idea a chance.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
Before I launched Puzzle Huddle, I was employed full time in
corporate America. I was a HR [Human Resources]
professional. I was a human resource business partner.
It was very scary in transition. You don’t know that your
business is going to take off. You don’t know if you are going
to be a failure. So far has been an awesome decision.
((NATS))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
Well, we started with, in terms of concepts and ideas, things
that were intuitive to us. My wife and I have both, both have
multiple college degrees. So, things related to higher
education were natural thinking places for me. So, we went
to doctor, engineer, pilot, things that require additional levels
of education in order to pursue that career path. But
education is just one thing. We also thought about spirituality
and religion and Bible stories. There’s also some cultural
concepts. For the most part, we work through freelance
artists.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
This is our chef puzzle. It features a boy and a girl character,
and we thought it was really important to put a lot of healthy
foods in the puzzle for food identification. So, it becomes a
learning activity as well as a puzzle activity.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
Another product we are really excited about is our pillow. If
you think about all the different intimate places that you can
put inspirational images around a kid, a pillow makes perfect
sense. So, we are really excited about transferring from the
puzzle images onto pillows and just give it another
perspective on inspiration and motivation for a kid because
we want to see something right on your bed, which is going
to be a big part of your life.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
My wife is very helpful for us, but my wife also has a career.
So, her responsibilities toward Puzzle Huddle aren’t a
priority.
((NATS))
((Marnel Goins, Dean & Professor, Marymount
University))
So, I do have a full-time job. I am a dean of a
university. Matthew and I are really different and I am the
one that’s more organized in a sense.
I think the biggest stressor for me is all the boxes in the living
room and the dining room area. But he loves it. And I can
see the difference in how he and what he feels towards his
work than where he was working before. I guess, it’s a real
joy for him and you can see it like in his footsteps and in just
amount of time that he spends with his work and the ultimate
outcome. So, that right there is great.
((NATS: Matthew Goins and daughter, Mitt Goins))
((Matthew Goins)) What would be your favorite part of
today?
((Mitt Goins)) Hmm, playing at the playground.
((Matthew Goins)) Playing at the playground?
((Mitt Goins)) Yes.
((Matthew Goins)) You played outside today?
((Mitt Goins)) Yes.
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
I love working from home because it frees up my schedule to
some degree that I am always available and I can pivot at
any point in time to pick up my kids from school or interact
with their teachers or make myself available to their needs.
So, that’s one of the awesome benefits of being from home.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
So, feeding my children is a part of every day. It requires
someone to help them get something to eat. So, usually
something quick and easy. That’s my favorite thing, is
something that does not require a lot of pots and pans and
does not make a big mess.
((NATS: Book Reading))
((Matthew Goins)) I promise to use my voice and stand up
for what’s right, and when things get tough, to keep up the…
((Matthew Goins and kids)) …fight.
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
We started recording ourselves reading for a lot of reasons.
One of them was to really slow time down, and to capture
some of these intimate moments, and encapsulate the
experience, and to make a habit out of reading.
((NATS: YouTube shot of Reading))
((Courtesy: YouTube logo))
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
And we love sharing it on YouTube to, maybe, motivate or
inspire some other families to read and share together and
recommend some books.
((Matthew Goins, Owner, Puzzle Huddle))
A lot of this is built on the fact that my mom is a teacher and
my wife is a teacher. So, this is based on my life experience.
I love education and I love educators. So, that is something
that kind of comes out of me as a natural phenomenon.
((NATS))
