Assorted Conversations

Ep.49 - The Puzzled About Everything Conversation with Monica Marlatt

• Helen

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What if a simple puzzle could rewire your routines, deepen your relationships, and introduce you to a global community? That’s the spark behind our conversation with Monica Marlat, known online as “Puzzled About Everything,” who transformed a quiet hobby into creative storytelling, brand partnerships, and puzzle-filled cruises that bring strangers together.

We trace Monica’s arc from empty nester to Instagram standout: learning stop-motion one tutorial at a time, experimenting with location shoots, and building a feed that feels playful, human, and real. She explains how puzzling became marriage glue—big projects for her, snack-size builds for him—and how walking together to scout scenes reignited curiosity in everyday life. We dig into the pitch that unlocked Royal Caribbean, the logistics of traveling with 200 puzzles, and the thoughtful way she matches each person with the right challenge so every build ends with a win.

You’ll hear why puzzles work so well for families, older adults, and neurodiverse kids; how a husband used whimsy pieces to help his wife with dementia savor success; and where puzzles shine at work—from team bonding and negotiation drills to puzzle-of-the-month tables that turn break rooms into friendly hubs. Monica also shares a realistic social media strategy: focus on one platform, adapt trends without losing your voice, and use giveaways to lift small makers while giving back to followers.

If you’re craving a hobby that blends mindfulness, learning, and community, this story doubles as a blueprint. Grab a puzzle, invite a friend, and see what opens when your hands are busy and your mind clicks into flow. Enjoy the episode, then subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review to help more curious listeners find the show.

Guest Links:

Puzzled About Everything Website

Puzzled About Everything - Instagram

Puzzled About Everything - FaceBook

Puzzled Aboput Everything - YouTube

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Credits

Music Credit: True Living by Patrick Moore

Royalty free music license purchased at soundotcom.com

SPEAKER_05:

Everyday people following their passions.

SPEAKER_03:

That's probably like one of the highlights of my life so far. Just being able to be creative like that. Something I've always wanted.

SPEAKER_06:

And then I decided to get another hive, and that turned into a lot of hives.

SPEAKER_00:

As long as I can do that, I want to be a good citizen, help people out.

SPEAKER_05:

Putting themselves out there, taking chances, and navigating challenges along the way.

SPEAKER_04:

I absolutely identified with having stage right because, you know, anytime I went on stage, I just felt like I was having a hot attack.

SPEAKER_00:

Very first lap, very first practice session, I crashed, turned the car upside down, made a spectacle of myself, and I got back on that horse and started riding again.

SPEAKER_05:

As they pursue what makes them happy and brings them joy.

SPEAKER_01:

As long as people are having a good time and I have the opportunity to put smiles on people's faces, I love what I do.

SPEAKER_02:

I have done things that I never thought I could do.

SPEAKER_06:

To have somebody tell me how real it looks and how, you know, from their actual memory. Because that's telling me I captured what I was trying to get.

SPEAKER_05:

Welcome to Assorted Conversations. I'm your host, Helen. Hello and welcome to another Assorted Conversation. This week I had the opportunity to chat with a wonderful woman who has turned a casual interest in puzzles into an opportunity and became a social media influencer as a retiree. She keeps her mind sharp through keeping up with the latest Instagram trends. She's enriched her relationship with her husband as this hobby has grown for both of them. And she's developed relationships with puzzle manufacturers, cruise lines, and other puzzling enthusiasts. All because she took the advice of her girls to go start an Instagram account to share her puzzle pictures. At the time we chatted, I was recovering from a head cold. So apologies in advance for sounding like Peter Brady on occasion. If you know, you know. Take a listen to this week's episode, and I'll see you on the other side. Today's guest proves that retirement can be the start of something wonderfully creative. What began as a simple love of jigsaw puzzles quickly grew into a passion for storytelling, community, and connection. Alongside her husband, she hosts social jigsaw puzzle events on cruise ships, bringing jigsaw puzzle lovers together from all over the world. Through Instagram and other platforms, she shares playful content, clever techniques, and stories that celebrate curiosity and fun at every age. Her journey is a reminder that it is never too late to explore new passions, build community, and turn a hobby into something truly joyful. It is my honor to introduce Monica Marlat, aka Puzzled About Everything, to a Sort of Conversations. Hi Monica.

SPEAKER_02:

Hello and hi everyone. Thanks for having me. I'm excited about talking about puzzles. Yeah, yes, jigsaw puzzles.

SPEAKER_05:

I love it. It's something that when I look back at my childhood, it was something, especially this time of year, right after the holidays, when it's cold and snowy here in New England, we would get together and do a puzzle, a family puzzle. So it is, it's something I'm familiar with. I can't say I'm a puzzle fanatic. So for you, when did this love of puzzling begin?

SPEAKER_02:

It's the same as your story. We did puzzles when we were little. We did them at holidays with our family. I see a lot of people doing that in my feed, reconnecting with their family over the holidays. Mine's the same. It started more when my children left, when I became an empty nester. I had a lot of time and I was like, oh, I thought I'd be so excited about it. And then I had a lot of time. I didn't know what to do. So I was like, what did I like to do before I had kids? And I went, oh, I like swimming, I like jigsaws. So I did some puzzles. I went, yeah, I still really do like that. And I did several puzzles. I take pictures. I'd show my children on, you know, an email or wherever. And they would go, oh mom, that's really great. And after about a week, they were very kind and said, We have full-time jobs. We can't applaud people that came out. I was like, Oh, oh, I'm I'm sorry. Oh, what should I do? And they're like, set up an Instagram account. I was like, what is Instagram? And I learned that and I started posting. And shortly after that, we had the pandemic. And I I puzzled more and more as many people started to pick up puzzling again during the pandemic. And I post more and more. And that is my story. That's how I grew.

SPEAKER_05:

What a so this happened prior to the pandemic, not because of the pandemic.

SPEAKER_02:

It was prior. A lot of people did it because of the pandemic. Mine, I started before. And I know when the pandemic happened, I got bored. Like it was fun to build a puzzle. It was cool. It was neat. But then when you take it apart and put it in the back in the box, I'd be like, that was such a pretty puzzle. There's got to be another way of showing it because all of a sudden everyone was posting the same puzzle, the same picture. So you sort of skip over it on your feet. Oh, I've seen that already. I don't care what that person wrote because I read the previous person's uh comment about that puzzle. So I was just like, this is where the creative side came in. And like I said, I was bored. I was like, what could I do? And on Instagram, as you see in TikTok and in YouTube, there was a lot of stop motion. I go, I really like that. I think I can do something like that. Had to learn it. It's it's not that I have someone beside me here and saying this is what you need to do next. I had to take many tutorials. I'm I'm not that tech savvy. Everything I'm learning and it and I'm slower, but I did it. And it was very satisfying making these stop-motion reels for me. And then people liked it. And I sort of got a lot of people following me because they liked the creativity of the puzzles. The brands liked it because the same thing. People are posting the same pictures. Right. Here I'm featuring a puzzle and it looks different. And people stop and look at it a little bit more. So that is my puzzle growth story.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, that I that's great. The creativity, and I was poking around on your Instagram and watching some of your reels, and I'm like, wow, that is so cool. And and again, we're we're probably very close in age. You know, for me, learning all the podcasting, the recording platforms and the editing software and things like that. Yeah, I'm probably not as fast as somebody else who's a little more tech savvy, but damn it, I can do it too.

SPEAKER_02:

I I I know, like my friend group are go, how'd you do that? And and I I I joke, I said, ask me to do it again, and I probably would have to relearn it again. Right. But if that's the challenge for me, and and that's where I get very stimulated because being older, we should be learning new things to keep the brain stimulated. And the more I learn about that, I'm like, I'm doing the right thing now, learning new technology. It could be a new language, it could be an instrument. Learning technology, it counts. This is good. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_05:

Well, and especially with where your puzzling journey, your jigsaw puzzling journey, has taken you, you know, not just being on social media and you know, being creative on social media, but some of the other partnerships and relationships you've formed, which I want to get into in a little bit. So, how did sharing your passion for puzzles with your husband, how did that transform your daily life?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh my gosh, that is a great question because I had more free time than my husband. He was still running his company, and he's just recently retired, maybe about three years ago. So I would do my puzzling on my own, and now he does join me. And we do have different puzzling styles. I like a big project, like a thousand-piece puzzle. My husband is older than I am, and it's too challenging for him. He likes this, we call them snack puzzles, 300 pieces or 500 pieces. He will help me, but he's not excited about a bigger project. You know, a bigger project, there's smaller pieces, and as we get older, our eyes, it it's hard to see the small details. He doesn't like that. Uh, he likes bigger pieces. So I often will put my project aside so I can spend time with him and puzzle. So we are puzzling together. And when he did retire, all of a sudden it wasn't my space, it's our space. We're we're just like, oh, we had to, as a couple, we have uh it's it's not nice when I say we lived separate lives. Obviously, we didn't, but we we did separate things. Now our time we're in each other's face all the time. Isn't he not going off to work? I'm not going here picking up the kids. So we had to relearn our relationship. How how do we balance each other? So puzzling sitting down beside each other is great because we would never really do that. Maybe we would play cards together once in a while. Watching TV together doesn't count. You're not talking. Okay. So puzzling, I'll do this section, you do that section, I'll do the sorting. Like all of a sudden, we're communicating. We have really bonded through the puzzling. Now we go out walking together. Let's walk around the city and check out this park and see if there's a good quote location shoot for our puzzle. And we're like, oh, that's a good one. I take note, come back, and when I have an appropriate puzzle, we walk back there and we do the location shoot. So we're doing things together now, whereas we did things separately. I feel we've remarried each other because we're two completely different people from when we started our marriage, and we've been married for 42 years. I get a lot of comments when we do things together. I get the hashtag couple goals, senior goals, retirement goals, because they see us together. And the puzzling has brought us together. I didn't know it was gonna happen, but it's been wonderful.

SPEAKER_05:

Oh, that's fantastic. Yeah, I in looking, you know, through your through your Instagram, through your TikToks, you can definitely see, you know, how how he is a part of of everything that's going on too. That that is great. Now I know through you know, doing your puzzles, posting online, getting creative with how you present your finished pieces or the process to getting to a finished piece, you've drawn the attention of some folks, I don't want to say outside the puzzle industry, but outside of avid puzzlers like Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines and some of the puzzle manufacturers. So let's start with the puzzle manufacturers. How did you get approached by them or did you approach them for a partnership?

SPEAKER_02:

I love that because anyone that's listening and and let's say they're Lego addicts, they they like to do the Lego. Yeah. Here's something it's the same. You can do the same thing, you know, just keep posting and maybe your brand will reach out to you. There's no reason if if you have a good content and you have some good followers, real followers, not bots, and not your friends, people that are Lego people or puzzle people. There's no reason why you can't reach out to a brand and and say, hey, listen, would you like to do a collaboration together? So my story is again, the pandemic happened, and you talked about why wow moments. This was one of my wow moments. It was the beginning of the pandemic, and I had a puzzle brand reach out to me and say, Can we send your puzzle and can you post about it? The puzzle brands had problems because stores were closed. People were puzzling more, they couldn't get the puzzles on the shelves to get to people. The only way they could advertise their puzzles were were on these platforms. How do they get their puzzles out? So they approached a few people that had somewhat of a following, said, Can you build this puzzle and post about it? So that is how I got my first puzzle. And I was joking with my girls. I go, oh my god, they're sending me a puzzle. I can't believe this. This is great. Um, and maybe I had another one or two send me a puzzle, and I built it and made some content and I posted and it was great. And someone said, Well, you know, you can ask puzzle brands. I go, I can. And they go, yes, just reach out. So I did reach out to a few places, and they did send me puzzles, which was great. I was like, wow, this is just just fantastic. And from there, it just exploded. Now I always get puzzle brands reaching out to me. They again, now the pandemic's over, but they're looking for new content, they're looking for other people, other places to promote their puzzles, not just on a shore a store shelf. The cruising, you you you mentioned that they didn't seek me out. No, no, no. I sought them out. We we cruise a lot, and when we cruise, I bring a puzzle and I often build a puzzle on a sea day. And people always thought, oh, can we help you? I'm like, of course, you know, we're friendly. And I just had the idea, I said, we should bring more puzzles on our cruises and do this. I know people like to cruise and puzzle. It was a big pitch. It took over two years to finally connect and make it happen, but we are well established with Royal Caribbean and we cruise about anywhere between four or uh two to four times a year. We do a specific puzzling cruise. And those connections where we meet people, it's completely different from something on Instagram in that people that come down to puzzle with us, oh, I haven't puzzled in years. I did like it. Again, that's the beginning of my story. I haven't puzzled in years. And I went back and I went, oh, I still like this. People come down, oh, I forgot how fun this is. I know they go home and they buy a puzzle. I know it, they tell us, I get emails back, and they're they send me and like, I'm still puzzling, Monica. I'm like, you go, girl, keep up with it. And it's just so fun to see people reconnect puzzling. It could be a family. All of a sudden, you know, they're they're having a family vacation, they have dad's 100% attention, no phone. They come down and they do a puzzle, the kids are excited, the mom is excited, the dad is engaged, they're like, we are gonna do a puzzle once a month together. That's great. It's for us to see that. My husband and I, we we know so many connections. I have so many wonderful stories, all different age groups of reconnecting with the puzzles. I feel so grateful that I am that connector, you know.

SPEAKER_05:

So, how many how many of these cruise events have you done?

SPEAKER_02:

How many have we done? Maybe 10? I I have one in my I I have one coming up in March. I I think we're around 10 now, and we're just in negotiations right now for how many we're doing for 2027. So and and the cruise ship is is int is is difficult because not every cruise ship can host us because they don't have the space. Right. Not every cruise ship gets us. Like it's a still a new concept of bringing the puzzles on board. They're like, what you bring puzzles? Like it's I work with it's with Royal Caribbean, but there's a different cruise director on each cruise, each cruise ship is different. So there's a lot of little variables that we have to consider when we cruise. But overall, it's it's been absolutely wonderful. Every guest walks away happy because I'm very committed when you come on the cruise. I talk to you first before I hand a puzzle to you. I want to get an idea of your puzzle skill because there's no way I'm gonna give you a hard puzzle, and then you don't finish it. We've we started where we had all day in the dining room, now we only get two hours. It's it's just something that we're we're working through what the cruise ship or how it works. So now we're down to two hours, which is actually really good. Generally, 300-piece puzzle is the perfect size, but I have people that can't see, they have arthritis, they can't pick up pieces. I want to make sure I have a 50-piece puzzle that they can do.

SPEAKER_05:

So you bring so it's not just one giant puzzle project that everybody pitches in and helps with. You're you're really customizing it or being prepared for the different puzzling levels that are out there.

SPEAKER_02:

You will find on a cruise ship there is a community puzzle on most cruise ships. I've I've always seen that. Problem with that is often pieces go missing. You always have the character that says, Oh, I'm gonna steal this piece, I'll come back at the end and put it away. I'll be the hero. Yeah. Something falls on the floor, night staff comes, it gets lost. It just happens. And then some people don't like who they're puzzling with. They may or may not. So here you're working with your partner, with your family, you're working solo. There's a lot of individual people that come down because their partners are in the casino. You know, they're they they they sit somewhere in a lounge and they read a book, and now they come down and they puzzle, and they're so excited that they have something to do while their partner's in the or wherever, whatever they're doing on the crew.

SPEAKER_05:

And something that's interactive, not solo.

SPEAKER_02:

And for those people that don't want to puzzle alone, there's always people that gravitate. Oh, can I help you with that? And then the next day, would you like to puzzle again? So there's if you want to puzzle with people, we'll get you someone to puzzle with. If you want to puzzle alone or with your group, we can do that too. It's it's something for everybody. And language is never an issue because it's a puzzle. Right. Right.

SPEAKER_05:

Oh, that's fantastic. The collaboration with uh uh puzzle manufacturers, as well as the collaboration with Royal Caribbean and trying to figure out what that relationship actually looks like. Where you fit best in, you know, what ships and and where and for how long. I'm sure you have a ton of stories. So share with me some some of your wow moments or some of your memorable moments from the experiences that you've had.

SPEAKER_02:

On the cruise ship, I'll mention two. So our our cruise ship, again, I said there are limitations. One of the limitations is how long the cruise ship is. It has to have six or more C days. If you're doing a Caribbean cruise, you're at an island every day, people get off the ship, there's no puzzling time there. If it's a transatlantic uh repositioning or very long cruise, that's when I would be invited. It has to have a lot of C days because they're trying to offer other activities to fill that blank space on the cruise ship. So that is one thing. On those long cruise ships, if there are children, children are in school. Often I find they're homeschooled. They they might be on the spectrum, so they're not in the regular school system. Some parents take them out of the school and they do some amazing, fantastic trip. But in general, they're homeschooled. So if I get families coming down, I just love seeing kids puzzle just because it's important to stimulate their brain. I love watching them a puzzle solve. So that's exciting for me when families come down. When I see the children that come down on the spectrum, they don't necessarily go to the teen program or the kids program that's offered on the cruise ship because they don't really fit in there. You know, they're so the parents are so grateful there's an activity that their child can engage in and that they like. So when I see these people come down, and sometimes, man oh man, are they smart. They go through all my puzzles. I'm just like, oh my goodness, it that just thrills me. So I'm I'm glad I can offer those families something. Right, right. Another story, and I've told this story a few times. I had an elderly couple, and they would do a wood puzzle. I bring a lot of wood puzzles as well. I bring a variety of different puzzles. There's shape puzzles, they're challenging puzzles, they're wood puzzles. A lot of people go, What's a shape puzzle? What's a wood puzzle? I've I've never done that. So they they just love the variety. So I had this couple come down and they did these Wentworth puzzles. They were 100-piece. Their pieces are a little bit bigger. They were nice pieces to pick up that you could pick up. And with Wentworth, they have what is called whimsies. They're specialty cut-out pieces. So the design could be harbor with sailboats. The whimsies would be of seagulls, sailboats, of turtles, and there's probably 10 or 12 of these uniquely cut pieces that are incorporated into the puzzle image. They're quite fine to build. A lot of wood puzzles do whimsies. And again, people have never done this and they start building these puzzles. I want another one. I want another one. I'm like, great. Now let's try a bigger project for you, or let's try different brands. So they're they're always interested in. I again I told you when people come down, I have a conversation with them first to make sure I set them up for success. By the end of the cruise, they don't pick the picture they want anymore. They go, Monica, you pick for me. You know what I'm like, you haven't done this one yet. I know you're gonna like that. So that's always exciting when people trust my my opinion and and they go for it. And at the end, when they finish that, you were right again, girl. I can't wait for tomorrow what you're gonna give me. So, how many puzzles do you actually bring on the cruise? Oh, about 200. We bring about between 40 to 50 different puzzle brands, and we bring about uh it's a variety. I might just bring one or two of a puzzle brand, but I want again options. So people really like that. And at the beginning, they they might be pretty, well, I only do this brand. Like, oh well, here you go. And then the next day they'll see other people have done other ones. Well, what's that puzzle that that person did? I go, well, it's a different brand, it's a different style. And I explain a little bit more, and they're like, Well, I I think I would like to try that one. And so people they're they're slow to branch out, but by the end of the cruise, they're just like, I wish we had more C days. Like, I'm gonna miss this. But back back segueing back to that couple, so they did these wood puzzles, and the woman did struggle, and then the husband built most of the puzzle, but he left out all the whimsy pieces, so he would line them up at the top and he would work, it would take two hours. Now, this puzzle does not take two hours to build. You could pot quite possibly build two or maybe three in the two hours, but it did take them one hour, and he would work with her very slowly and goes, You're looking for a turtle. Remember, it has a shell, and the head would stick out, and he would describe the shape to her, and he goes, and it's gonna go over in this area. It would take them to two hours, and they would complete each puzzle. They did 10. That was a 10 C Day cruise, and he did, and luckily I had 10 different puzzles for them to do. And at the end, was I was walking around the cruise ship and I saw them and I went, Oh, I just loved how you two puzzled together. It just made me very happy watching the two of you work together. And he was very kind and sincere, and he goes, I want to thank you because my wife is suffering from dementia, and there aren't a lot of activities that we get to participate together anymore because it's very hard for her. But it really just made me happy that I could do something with my wife again and thank you. And I was like, I'm crying. Yeah, oh my god, I had no idea. And it it will always stay with me as we get older. Puzzling brings people together, all ages.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, absolutely. That's a fantastic story, yeah, so heartwarming. It it is, and and that is the power of a puzzle. Through your puzzling, your own personal puzzling, and you know, working with your husband, plus watching other folks puzzle while you're hosting these jigsaw puzzle events on a cruise ship. What have you learned about teamwork, communication, and accomplishing a goal together?

SPEAKER_02:

Hmm, that's very good. Well, when I watch people puzzle, everybody puzzles differently. And for the like puzzling, there's a big trend in speed puzzling. It it's it's like an event now. Like there's competitions, it's worldwide. We we did well. We're we're not fast, and all of a sudden it became competitive, and we're like, no, that it we like the relaxing, the mindfulness, and the chatter. It it's not a competition for us, so we don't engage in that. But it is it is a huge niche in in the puzzling community. And when people come to our events, I see people who are very fast puzzlers are are very smart with their sorting and and pulling it together and they recognize what goes together. You see the math going on, you see their brain clicking, and then there's other ones who struggle a little bit, but they really like it and they work through it. I like walking around the room and encouraging people, or they go, Oh, can you help me a little bit? And if I can place two pieces, it gets them going again.

SPEAKER_05:

I'm a learning and development professional, and we were putting together a company-wide workshop to talk about how the company, how everybody in the company has a piece of the company's success. And we kicked off, it was a three-hour workshop. We kicked off the workshop with this giant, it was very expensive, this giant five foot by five foot puzzle. And each one of the workshop tables had four or five puzzle pieces. So everybody at the table brought up a piece to try and put together the big picture. And that was how we kicked off the entire, the entire workshop that we're working together. We all own a piece of the big picture. And you know, puzzling, if you do it solo, um, I'm sure it serves the same purpose. You get something out of it. But when you puzzle socially with other folks, I think, you know, it really opens your eyes to other people's strengths, your strengths, maybe your weaknesses, and and kind of helps promote better communication, better teamwork. I I just I I I love I love what you're doing on these cruises.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, I I appreciate what you're saying about teamwork. We visit a couple, they don't live where we live, like we go over and we stay for a weekend, and I bring a couple of puzzles, and the four of us we have we puzzle during the day. And we have said, as the two couples, gosh, isn't this interesting? And we all puzzle differently. Oh okay, we all puzzle differently, and we have a different space on the dining room table where we work. But we said, This is great for our relationship as two couples. We don't have to talk, like we we're happy with that dead space, not talking and just working on, and then when we bring our pieces together, we join it up, and then all of a sudden the chatter starts again. I was like, this is awesome. We used to do take our puzzles to a uh a pub, and like here's an idea. I I don't want to pursue this. A date night. Puzzling date nights are amazing. For a first date, you can see the one person who feels uncomfortable not talking. You don't have to talk while building a puzzle. And the the girl going, Oh my gosh, this guy doesn't keep quiet. He keeps talking and you can't get two pieces together. You know, puzzling together tells a lot about an individual. Like we would laugh at Pub Night, and I go, they were definitely doing a first date. I go, I don't think it's gonna get past the first date. We could that I've seen some puzzle influencers, one in particular. They do corporate team bonding with the puzzles. I I have given puzzles to my to my daughters. I have multiple copies, and I said they do holiday events, like what games can we do? And I go, here's 15 puzzles of the same puzzle. Do a speed puzzling, and they love it. And and it's again what you mentioned, it's team bonding, camaraderie. It's great, so fun. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05:

We did um, I actually, you know, now that we're talking, now that we're talking about it, I've actually used puzzles a lot in my in my uh professional life. I I want to think back maybe I don't know, six, seven years ago, with a group of interns at the company to create negotiation skills or help them work on negotiation skills. They all had a puzzle. However, I had taken two or three pieces from each puzzle and put them in other puzzle boxes, and they had to find their other puzzle pieces and kind of negotiate or talk to the other group to get their puzzle piece back. So it was it was pretty funny to watch them do that.

SPEAKER_02:

For for somebody, let's say they're the event planner for a corporation. Puzzle brands would love to sponsor that. And you know, you reach out to them and saying, we're planning this and it's you know, it's an event, we're gonna have a hundred people and we're gonna divide them into teams of 10 or something like that, or five. Would we be able to get so many puzzles from you? Puzzle brands would love to get their puzzles out into the public in that sense.

SPEAKER_05:

Good to know, good to know going forward. And if there's any learning and development professionals listening, here's a new in for some engaging in-person engagement.

SPEAKER_02:

So awesome even more than that, you can say, could we just get a puzzle of the month from you and have it in our staff room so people can work on it over the lunch hour? It you know, it's so engaging. And even if a puzzle brand declines that, one brand eventually will say that purchase it. It's it's$25, it's it's nothing.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah, yeah. Now, with everything that you've done to kind of promote your puzzling hobby and then you know, display to the public through your social media avenues, how do you stay current with the social media trends and apps and techniques for reels? You know, what has surprised you about learning all of this stuff? And God bless you, learning it in retirement.

SPEAKER_02:

Well, another great question. I I I scroll. That's what you have to do. You have to scroll and you're watching whatever a trend is, and then sometimes if it made me laugh, I'm like, oh, it would make my followers laugh. So that that is if I if it if I stop, there's a reason why. And and I analyze why did I stop? If I stop, someone else will stop. So so if I see a real, a trending reel, can I translate that using a puzzle? And if if it's doable, then I I start thinking about ideas. Often I save it, which is I sort of missed the trending point because if I save it, it's probably it probably don't go back for months and it's not trending anymore. But that that's that's how I find that. As for the other platforms, I I personally made a decision. I do well on Instagram. That's I I have always had a rule raising my family. Stick with what you know. If you know how to go from A to B and someone gives you a different route to do this highway and this detour, I'll probably get lost. Stick with what you know. I'm very good on Instagram. I am on TikTok. I have tried YouTube. They're work for me. It's a lot of work, especially YouTube. Like you, you can make money on YouTube. A lot of people make money. You know, they have the followers on there, they get paid for the reels that they post. Like, kudos to them for making it work. But all of a sudden, I have to film my content differently. I have to rotate my phone. So if I'm doing what I call a deconstruct, a stop motion, I'm doing that twice. That's a lot of work to rebuild that thousand-piece puzzle. I'm not about to do that. I had fun building it. I've done my deconstruct, it gets put back in the box. So for me, the YouTube is is too much work.

SPEAKER_05:

Where Instagram is is kind of your bread and butter. What are some of the techniques that you found really resonates with your viewers?

SPEAKER_02:

The techniques? Well, I I jump around because I do the the the silly reels with my husband. Yeah I do the stop motion. I do the stop motion and then I do location shoots with my puzzles. So I sort of do, and then maybe I'll just do pictures of it. So I sort of do four different things. Oh, and and and now I I start to do, I've started to do giveaways. And the reason I do the giveaways is because I have such a rapport with the puzzle brands, and I really want to support smaller puzzle brands because again, they can't, they do, they work, they work seven days a week, and it's not a seven, eight-hour day. They're working all the time, five days a week, and on weekends, because they can't get their puzzle in a store, they're at a fair. Now they're working at a fair trying to sell their puzzles. So if I can bring some attention to their brand name by doing collaboration with them and doing a giveaway, I get nothing from this. I am the I am that connector between my followers. I have a lot of followers and I work with a lot of brands. If I can be that connector bringing the two of them together, I think that's that's a that's great. I also appreciate all the people that follow me and they know I get my puzzles free. They have to buy their puzzles. I would love to give back to them. So I do a puzzle giveaway once a month, and it it makes me happy that I'm able to do that. If I had a small following, I don't think it would work. So for my platform on Instagram, I sort of do those five different things. And for me, I think it works because whatever I post every day, it's one of those different things. It's not always the same. Like there are people when I look at their wall, you know what? It looks great. You know, you do a nice picture and you might do the puzzle pickup or or or whatever they do. I I I like that my I like my wall, basically. I like that it's a little bit chaotic. We're organic, we just go, we just go with the flow. It doesn't have to be structured and look so neat and clean. And I will continue doing that. And that is what I've learned. I see some people trying to keep it very polished and like, well, I I I don't know if that's working for you, fine. I I did that for a little bit, and I like, no, I like unstructured because I'm a real person, and and I like to believe it tells people I am a real person. I'm I'm not working for anybody, I'm not trying to get anything out of this. This is us.

SPEAKER_05:

What trends are are you looking to incorporate going forward into 2026?

SPEAKER_02:

Trends, well, the big trend stuff is is the is speed puzzling. Again, something that I we're just we're just like, no. But my followers are really into it. So on my feed, I see people posting their time all the time. They're going to a competition, they're excited, they're posting their results. I try to be as kind and you know, like them and go, you go, girl, good luck, or that was a great time and something I have. That is a very big trend. Am I gonna fall into that? No, no, I am I'm not. If it's maybe a competition I might be attending or something, maybe I'd post a little bit about that, but I don't really foresee anything different that I'm going to be doing right now. Okay.

SPEAKER_05:

And you had mentioned like the puzzling community and all the different facets of that community from kind of the hobbyists to the speed puzzlers to the competition. If somebody wanted to learn more about, you know, maybe puzzling is a hobby for them right now, but it's a casual hobby and they have more of an interest to learn about the different facets. Where could folks go to learn more about puzzling?

SPEAKER_02:

you know in general well i i again like start an instagram account or start a or or or look up on youtube and and you do your hashtag jigsaw you will get a lot of people doing different things i would recommend maybe follow a few puzzle brands that you like that they post a lot and uh some puzzle brands are very kind because if i post something they'll repost it and then uh like for the hobbyists like oh my god and I'll just say Rose Art posted my puzzle that I did of theirs on their wall like that's pretty exciting to get that recognition yeah and and honestly if if if you're on Instagram the puzzle group people will find you like uh on your feed the that algorithm they'll they'll start shooting stuff out your way in your explore page and you'll see somebody at a speed puzzling competition or somebody giving a tip for this and that it finds you with that algorithm you just have to like a or follow a few puzzle people and brands and on on your explore page just look at a few jigsaw puzzling things it will find you that algorithm is amazing.

SPEAKER_05:

What advice would you give to retirees looking for a fun social and meaningful hobby to enrich their later years well my my advice is don't stop learning.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay there's there's as we get older there's two things and when we talk about Alzheimer's or dementia which is always in the back of my mind because it is in our family if we stop connecting with people and we become isolated that is probably the worst thing we can do. So get out there and join a club and you can do a book reading club a library club a walking club a pickleball club I I a music club I you have to keep learning all right and when I talk about my puzzling I'm learning new technologies all the time I'm always doing tutorials so I feel fine about that but I'm missing the element of connecting with people all right don't puzzle at home alone the cruise ship meeting all these people that is where I am connecting with people it's not it's two ways like I I I it it's very valuable for me too to connect with people. So as a retiree you have to look at those two things learn something and find some group where you're meeting new people and you have to find something that you like maybe you want to do a travel club maybe you want to do a woodworking club that there are so many things out there but you have to find something that resonates with you that they have to stick with it right it's not I'm just doing a book club for six months oh I didn't like that.

SPEAKER_05:

Find something that you really like perfect one last question for you Monica going forward where do you see your puzzling passion going? Do you see it expanding on the the cruise ships? Do you see collaboration with puzzle manufacturers, you know, in designing puzzles where where do you see yourself going?

SPEAKER_02:

Oh the designing puzzles is a great question because I do get that asked a lot because I'm so involved in the puzzling are you going to do your own puzzle? No I'm not yeah I got that's a whole business I that we're we're not going there. The cruising yes we we're really working hard to see if we can get on other cruise lines but it it is a really small door to to get in hopefully it you know we'll make those connections like we we are always putting our our name out there hopefully another cruise line will say yes we'd like to have you on there I would really like to see that personal goals for Instagram I I would really like to have like 5000 followers and uh it's a very it is achievable it's a it is a big number but it it is it achievable we do make a lot of connections with people it it it's gratifying to me that people approve of my content like my content like my styles so for me that that is my reward a personal reward if it happens great if it doesn't I'm very happy where I am fantastic so where can listeners find you if they want to to see your work follow along with you and see how you grow in the future I am on Instagram and my username is at puzzled about everything and even if you just did a general Google search and wrote puzzled about everything I'm sure I'd pop up in a few different places and you'd be able to navigate your way if you want to follow me on Facebook or TikTok or YouTube. I again I don't work on those platforms a lot I like Instagram but we have a website too and oh that's where people always ask where can we learn about what cruises you are there's a small website and on there I usually post the dates because we do have people that are repeaters and follow us for their cruising they book our their cruises to be on our puzzle cruise with us which is so flattering I'm like oh my gosh oh that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah I did find your website so I will make sure I have all of the links in the episode description so that anybody can reach out and find you and and see your work and maybe plan a cruise.

SPEAKER_02:

Wonderful thank you for having me and it's been a really nice morning chatting with you and just talking puzzles.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah you as well Monica I love talking to people who are passionate about the things that they do. And again you've opened my eyes to the the puzzling world because I just looked at it as it's that thing you do in the winter when it's too cold to be outside and you really have opened my eyes to kind of all the benefits and may maybe I knew them subconsciously but now they're just more more present. So thank you for all your time today. Cheers I'm always amazed at how things fall into place for folks who make a decision and move forward with it. It's so fun to see all the other doors and even a few windows of opportunity that open up for them. What I love about Monica's story is her passion not just for the puzzles but for challenging herself to go beyond the self-satisfaction of completing a puzzle and taking the giant technology leap to share her passion in such creative ways. Her Instagram reels are a lot of fun to watch and she has such a variety of content you really should check her out. I also love how she's taking an activity that's typically a solo or a small group activity and bringing it to the masses to encourage like-minded people to connect and have fun together creating kind of a puzzling community will you be picking up a puzzle anytime soon if you're interested in learning more about Monica and puzzled by everything jump down to the show notes. I've got links to her website and socials and while you're there don't forget to connect with me as well all my social media links and email address are linked there as well thanks for listening and I'll see you in two weeks

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Helen

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