For over 10 years I had a dynamic career working with some of the biggest brands internationally as a marketing research consultant. My clients were working from corporate skyscrapers in cities from New York to San Francisco. My agency coworkers were in bustling commerce hubs like London and Chicago---all while I was working from my spare bedroom in my suburban home---by myself. Just a barking dog to keep me company. This was a far distance, physically and professionally, from where I started my career, high above Fifth Avenue in a New York corporate suite with coworkers whom I interacted with all-day long.

In August 2010 a wonderful and disruptive thing happened when I turned my workspace into a nursery for a tiny baby who my husband and I chose to foster. Things were about to change quickly. I needed a new career that would limit my travel outside of Austin and a new place to work outside of my home.

Walking through the Village Shopping Center one day I spotted a new, modern space---one with high ceilings, bright furniture, artwork and expansive views of a courtyard filled with birds and squirrels. It was love at first sight! I had to find out about Link Coworking.

Within days I joined Link as one of the first members and found myself in the company of other like-minded, ambitious professionals who need a new place to work and network.  At first, I was using my time at Link to conduct a full-scale job search for a corporate marketing role. Inspired by the entrepreneurs around me I reconsidered tweaking my resume and instead wrote a business plan. Little Green Beans was born within these walls. It was nurtured by me and also by my smart coworkers at Link, who selflessly offered their ideas, contacts and referrals to help me launch in record time, just six weeks after signing a lease the doors opened in February 2011.

I got help from various Link Members with my store layout, setting-up my social media outreach and bookkeeping, and locating web design and public relations specialists— all now long-term partners in my successful retail store and more recently with my new job in my former field of market research. Since opening the store I made the decision to continue working from Link when scheduling allows.

Not only is Link my workspace but it is also my community. Shortly after telling my coworkers I was happily pregnant, I told one of the other moms at Link that I was looking for a new doula, a birth coach. Hearing this conversation another coworker and mom piped in and recommended hers. After meeting her, we realized that she was the perfect fit for our family and played an important role in the birth of my son last year.  It could have taken weeks to find a doula without a recommendation.

In a little over a year of being a Link Member I have launched two businesses from this coworking environment. In April 2011 I met with a group of seasoned market research leaders and entrepreneurs in a Link meeting room. Over the course of a few months and meetings, we founded a custom market research firm focused on the largest enterprises of Texas. ReconMR currently calls Link home as all of our strategic planning meetings happen here and was even named by a Link Member!

On any given weekday you can find me at Link with my two computers, two phones and a cup of strong coffee. Despite having more on my plate, I get a lot more accomplished with the benefit of being surrounded by interesting and supportive coworkers and friends.

The diverse group of coworkers at Link and the open workspace allows for impromptu discussions and unique perspectives you wouldn’t get in a typical corporate office (or from your dog)! Each day at Link brings something new and one can expect to meet great contacts, both professional and personal and share ideas. I no longer yearn for the days of working in a corporation not even with an office overlooking the midtown Manhattan skyline.

---by Sharon V. Munroe---