Lauren got a Job! (well, 2 really)

It is with much fanfare, hubbub, and general gaiety that we announce the formation of Lauren Burdette International Consulting. Soon to operate on both sides of the Atlantic, Lauren is taking the inefficient quagmire of British commerce by storm. Armed with her mall-machine-printed 20 for $4 inkjet business cards and 3 years of consulting experience she’s ready to help over-worked Brits fit 8 hours of work into their 7.5 hour days.

Continuing the post with the same level of honest realism it started with, Lauren met with two different marketing/advertising firms in Birmingham last week to sell her skills as an Industrial Engineer (‘Management Engineer’ here). The one firm is about 16 people and is led by a friend of ours that we met through church, and the other is a self-employed friend who is thinking of growing his business.

Lauren met with Ollie and Oliver, the two directors of the larger firm, ie design, on Wednesday and gave a presentation overview of her skills, experience at Maynard, and specific services offered. She gave the same talk to John of morsebrowndesign later that week, and everyone was really excited about the things that Lauren could do for their operations. It looks like she will be working 3 days a week with the larger firm, and 1.5 days with John – fantastic! She’s going to try to keep volunteering 1 day a week, making her 2007 schedule very different than England 2006.

These projects should last 2-3 months, and both companies have already begun to think about ways to recommend Lauren to others. With process improvement like this being so unknown here, the market for Lauren’s skills in the small business community could be huge. We’ll see where this all leads, but for now it is a huge answer to prayer and really, really exciting for us. As our life here fills up more, we’ll try to stay up with the blog as best we can, and there are plenty of adventures on the horizon for 2007. Thanks for reading!

PS: Check out the websites of the two firms, it’s funny how different some things are than American companies. They talk a lot about the importance of a ‘work-life balance’ and using green energy and a bike to get everywhere—not major headings for must companies in the States.