I’ve had a few very interesting conversations in the last two weeks. One is with Christine Blumer, CEO of CRB Consulting and the other is with Lisa Hufford, President of Simplicity Consulting. Both of these women are extremely successful people and have had great work experience at Microsoft. Both Christine and Lisa left their jobs at Microsoft in search of more flexibility. When I talked with Christine and Lisa, I could hear in their voice that they are happy to be to able to spend more time with their families. The other thing that I could see from their expressions was that they are both very excited to be doing consulting work for very company that they left.
As a parent and former big company employee, I can relate and recognize that working for a big company can be very rewarding, however, I think spending more time with family and being a big part of my children’s life is also extremely important. Christine and Lisa are inspired to spend time on what’s important in life. By starting their own consulting companies, they have complete flexibility of their time and schedule. They both continue to be involved with important high-level, relevant, and exciting projects and still be great parents at the same time.
Christine is a member of thinkspace and operates her business inside our space. CRB Consulting provides consulting services which provides Partner Marketing and Sales consulting. Christine has a contract with Microsoft and is handling their event marketing with their partner who happens to be Dell.
In the past, she has tried to work at home. However, when working at home, you can get away with not showering and staying in your pajamas all day. The other thing that can make working at home a challenge is the fact that when her young children see her inside the house they love being with her.  Christine takes off every Friday to spend time focusing on her children.
There is also a emotional and social need that is met by being inside thinkspace. While her home office is set up very nicely, both Christine and husband would rather come in and use the office here instead. Sometimes she has to remind him that this is her office, not his.
Christine says “This space is clean and has a comfortable feeling”. There are other shared office places out there, but, it’s important for her to feel comfortable inside the space. This is a place where she feels comfortable and likes to come to. Other places that she looked may have cost less but she couldn’t see herself wanting to be inside that kind of space.
When asked if there is anything that has surprised you about your experience inside thinkspace. Christine says “one word comes to mind, easy”. It was easy to get setup inside here and it’s easy to ask for assistance, for example, I needed help faxing something out the other day and Melissa quickly helped me out. It was easy.