Empathy-Driven Entrepreneurship: Johnny Crowder’s Journey with Cope Notes

This week’s inspiring episode on the En Factor features Johnny Crowder, who is the founder and CEO of Cope Notes. Johnny joins Dr. Rebecca White at The University of Tampa in front of a live audience of students for the recording of this special episode. Johnny’s venture, Cope Notes, is an online mental health platform that sends one text message at a random time every day that is scientifically proven to reduce anxiety, stress, and depression, as well as increase emotional intelligence, resilience, and coping skills. These messages come in the form of psychology facts, journaling prompts, and exercises that are created and developed by real people that have experienced overcoming mental health challenges in the past. Johnny and Cope Notes have expanded their outreach tremendously since launching in 2018 as Cope Notes now provides mental and emotional health support for organizations, families, youth, and adults in nearly 100 countries around the world. Beyond his venture, Johnny is an expert and advocate for mental health in other forms including having more than a decade of clinical treatment experience and more than a decade of peer support and public advocacy experience through the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). Johnny has also spoken about the subject of mental health at TEDx events, corporate retreats, and conference keynotes and is a touring metal musician on top of all of the advocacy and support that he has provided to millions of people. In this episode, Dr. White and Johnny discuss his journey of starting Cope Notes and how it evolved into the platform it is today, the value of thinking optimistically while still balancing a sense of realism, and the importance of resilience and adaptability in your entrepreneurial journey. Dr. White and Johnny also turn to the audience to accept questions from the students towards the end of the episode. Key Words: Entrepreneurial Mindset, Success Mindset