Pathways Perspective: All Paths Lead to Tomorrow
The FORGE Student Venture Pathways program helps build entrepreneurial mindset skills for all students. The eight core entrepreneurial mindset skills are Critical Thinking, Flexibility & Adaptability, Communication & Collaboration, Comfort with Risk, Initiative, and Self Reliance. Future Orientation, Opportunity Recognition, and Creativity & Innovation. Pathways Perspectives is a blog written by UA Student Venture Pathways assistants who connect with founders to learn more about how they utilized these skills and what the journey of entrepreneurship looks like for different founders.
For this Pathways Perspective, Destiny Velez, a junior majoring in Business Management at the Eller College of Management, interviewed MindReady founder Jeremy Wolf.
Questions to ask yourself
Students pursuing a degree in higher education are actively building a path toward the future they envision for themselves. Asking reflective questions is an important part of the process. “What is your dream?” “What are you doing daily to achieve it?” “Is the path you’re on now the path you thought you would travel?” “What obstacles are in your path?” Jeremy Wolf the CEO of MindReady, one of the FORGE Ahead Resident Teams, spoke with me about his story and the various paths he took to get where he is today. The biggest surprise? None of those paths were what Jeremy had in mind while pursuing his degree.
Filmmaker to Entrepreneur: Making a Difference
In fact, Jeremy actually studied filmmaking at Trinity University because he always had this desire to tell other people’s stories. While studying filmmaking he planned to attend graduate school to study sports management, but this quickly changed once he was drafted to the NY Mets. While in the league, Jeremy realized that players lacked fundamental resources to support their mental health and well-being. When Jeremy left the league, he decided that he would tell other people’s stories in a way he wouldn’t have possibly imagined in college. He created a non-profit called, “More than Baseball”, which helped raise over $2.5 million to provide food and housing to minor league players. But that wasn’t all. On top of all the funds raised, Jeremy realized that a huge part of maintaining well-being in the league meant asking for help. But while he was in the league, Jeremy felt like he couldn’t ask for help from the team psychologist because it didn’t always seem like they were genuinely there for his wellbeing. With this in mind, Jeremy created 75 sessions for athletes to take part in both group and one-on-one settings to get the psychological help they may not have been getting through the league. This program was a great success and was what ultimately pushed Jeremy to create his company. MindReady not only incorporates sessions into its curriculum but also provides its curriculum to teams for the same price as hiring a sports psychologist. The programs have created an outlet for athletes ages 14 to 24 to express their needs, and to better their mental health and well-being more than before!
Be resilient!
The path you are taking right now may not have been the path you had envisioned for yourself and that’s okay. Your current path may be completely different from the one you take after college. Learning how to embrace all parts of your journey despite their uncertainty is what makes you resilient! If Jeremy hadn’t been drafted to the NY Mets and seen firsthand the issues players faced, MindReady may not exist today. It was his ability to identify a problem, find solutions, and pivot, that helped Jeremy become the entrepreneur he is today. Telling other people’s stories looks a little different from how Jeremy initially thought he would tell their stories, but every day he helps thousands of athletes share their journeys and improve their mental health. Be resilient and allow yourself to get comfortable with uncertainty, because your path may not always be clear. Want to imagine the paths you might travel? Interested in discovering the entrepreneurial version of you? Join us at FORGE and let’s discover what is possible!