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In The Lead Multitasking Mavens

Submitted by: Lydia Dishman on Jan 29, 2008 at 1:22 pm Tagged with: Consulting, Entrepreneurs, Healthcare, Innovation, women entrepreneurs Source: Greenville Magazine

Multitasking Mavens: Eleanor Dunlap and Shannon Owen of SE Consulting
By Lydia Dishman
They’ve known each other for more than ten years. They talk almost hourly. They brainstorm, back each other up, and balance their strengths and weaknesses seamlessly. On this sunny Tuesday, the two are having an early morning coffee at the kitchen table before they dive into the rest of the day.
It may sound like a marriage made in heaven, but these partners are friends and co-owners of a business, rather than joined in connubial bliss. Their life paths cris-crossed so much that Eleanor Dunlap says that when she met Shannon Owen their children even attended the same daycare while they each worked in the healthcare industry.

Back then, Owen was part of the United Way’s Community Health Alliance when an opportunity came up for a promotion. Their work paths had crossed as well with Dunlap working for Healthwise in Anderson, so Shannon asked if she wanted her position.

Dunlap seized the opportunity to work for the woman she’d come to respect personally and professionally, in addition to the bonus of a shorter commute. But life was changing at home. Still out of the house for eight hours a day as her children got older, Dunlap found she wanted to be around more after school. “I knew I couldn’t ask for more time off without compromising the position,” she says.

It turned out that Owen was feeling the same crunch and points a finger into the air at this conundrum that faces so many women. Dunlap says, “There is a tremendous untapped resource out there of professional women who have put their careers on the back burner.” Though she says she applauds their dedication, she and Shannon were just not ready to stay home full time. “We knew there was a way to be utilized, to contribute the skills and assets we’ve built,” she says.

They began discussing the possibilities of starting their own venture where they could set the hours. After a few months of planning, the two pulled up their stakes in the 8-5 world and went out on their own together. Taking their combined expertise in strategic planning and development, they created SE Consulting two years ago. Recounting this part of their history, they take a simultaneous, deep inhale, and chuckle recalling that breathless anticipation of taking a leap into the unknown.
They credit the Clemson Small Business Development Center with giving them invaluable advice on how to get started. “We just started tinkering and it sort of took off, now we are busier than we’d ever thought we’d be,” says Shannon. It may sound self-deprecating, but it’s true. The United Way signed on at the outset to get help with planning future projects. Others soon followed.

The laughter rises as they share a joke about “the letter.” In the beginning, they drafted a letter to market SE Consulting to potential clients. They’ve never had to use it. “Every time we took the letter out of the drawer the phone would ring,” Dunlap says tossing a conspiratorial look at Owen.
SE Consulting has had plenty of word of mouth to recommend it. Besides the partners’ high-level skills and specialization, each remains actively involved in industry and community organizations to keep up with contacts. Dunlap heads of the Health Task Force for Greenville Forward and is on the Board of the Piedmont Healthcare Foundation. Owen is active in the Dynamic Women’s Exchange Network.

The business has grown so much they’ve recently formed an S-Corporation. The client list is impressive including United Way both locally, statewide, and in Greenville, NC, the Greenville Hospital System, SC Manufacturers Extension Partnership and the Greenville Recreation District. “They are all challenges and great opportunities but the Recreation District made us more aware of our community resources,” Dunlap says.

Each works independently in their own home office, but they meet frequently and talk on the phone often. Each puts in a full time commitment of hours, but they work around their children’s schedules and community volunteer work. Owen calls it “35 non-traditional hours,” as she finds herself rising at 5a.m. to email and plan the day, while Dunlap continues working after everyone is tucked in for the night. They both put in time on weekends.

They agree it all requires serious time management, which both have down to a science. Dunlap confesses that she’s often planned her school pick-up route to coincide with meetings. She’s even been known to pull into the parking lot of a coffee shop with Wi-Fi so she could download her emails while on the road.

Unconventional and non-traditional are apt labels indeed then, but the bottom line is the bottom line and each is dedicated to serve their clients to the best of their ability. As such, each praises the other’s work ethic and high standards of output. Dunlap explains, “We have that degree of trust that allows us to work in this way.” Owen says, “I know she won’t let me down.”

With SE Consulting’s continued growth, they’ve added to the client roster as well as retained the services of another consultant, Shannon Cole. Also a professional and a mother, Cole was selected because they knew she was talented and committed to working and to her family. Dunlap sums it up with a satisfied smile, “We provide another service: work/family balance. Our business was founded on flexibility.”