Experts say not to make major changes after the loss of a loved one. If you know me, you would not be surprised to learn that I chose not to take that advice. Instead I left my job, started a blog and a business.

3 years ago I took my first 9 to 5 job. I was starting a family and unsure how that would impact my career life, so I took a job – one I was overqualified for but would provide me the flexibility I would need. I worked out a 4 day work week which allowed me to also work from home on Tuesdays. Over my 3 year tenure the reasons spent working from home varied and changed with my changing life. It started as a way to continue to nurse my child and to cut 1 hour of commute time out of my day so I could eat breakfast and dinner with my family. Most recently I used my time at home to occasionally be with my father during his chemotherapy treatments and take some of that burden off my mother’s shoulders. I also liked the fact that heading to the office 3 days a week allowed me to cut back on my carbon footprint.

It was great, so why quit? There was a corporate culture shift at my workplace to more face time and less self management which resulted in the loss of my ability to work from home. Also their timing was pretty bad. They took my flexibility away …and I’m not making this up… the day before my father died. I felt I had done everything right, I took a reduced salary, had full-time child care on Tuesdays, I came in for meetings as needed both on Tuesdays and my day off, I checked in often with my supervisor, I got my work done well and on time. But in the end none of that mattered.

With my father’s passing, I realized I did not want to spend my time with a company that didn’t understand how important flexibility is to feeling healthy and fulfilled and how important it is to be treated like an adult.

It was then that I realized how lucky I had been in my career having more flexibility than most: In the 1990’s I worked as a TV producer on Red Sox games. We worked long hours and lots of weekends/holidays, but I usually had at least one week day free for life (schedule the cable guy, go to the doctor, hit the grocery store, etc.)…shame on me for not realizing what a luxury this was. In 2002 I took a contract position to produce the television coverage of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the Salt Lake Winter Olympics. The last month of that 10-month gig was pretty grueling. But after it was over, I was unencumbered and able to take a year off to ski in Utah, travel the world with my husband (www.larrysax.com/trip), and work on the Sundance Film Festival.

Fortunately, one of the many things I learned from my last job experience was an understanding of the recruiting industry. So, when I went looking for a 32-hour a week flexible job and couldn’t find one through traditional job boards, I saw an opportunity. The more I talked to people about my idea, the more excited I got and the more I believed there was a real need in the marketplace for a new website – Career Life Connection.

I hope we are able to all learn from each other how to live healthy and fulfilled lives and establish that much needed career /life connection.

Get more information on my blog, www.careerlifeconnection.com/blog