Franchise Spotlight – Peggy Barron

Peggy Barron has an eclectic working background. And, early on she realized she wasn’t afraid to take on new challenges, despite minimal experience in the new area.

pbarron 2Beginning her professional life as a metallurgical engineer, Peggy has worked in varied types of organizations, including a start-up company, an “old school, rust belt” company, a non-profit that managed government contracts, and two Fortune 500 companies. These positions served diverse industries including armor, automotive, high-temp and wear-resistant materials, steel refractories, advanced materials for military applications, tires, and cleaning & sanitizing chemicals. During her 30-year career, she worked at multiple levels in product/process development, R&D, project/program management at local, regional, and global level, in manufacturing – production, quality, engineering & maintenance, hourly workforce training, and high-performance work teams.

Outside of work, Peggy is active in Rotary and enjoys equestrian sports, especially foxhunting and polo. If she’s not in the office, she can be found hanging out with her horse, Ceili! She also enjoys spending quality time with family, playing games and fishing. Peggy will be a grandma for the first time this coming winter! 

After an unexpected job loss in 2016, and several months of unsuccessful job searching, Peggy considered investing in a franchise. And, after meeting the Office Evolution team, learning about the corporate values, especially the concept of “Ohana”, she knew she was taking the right step.

About the Location: pbarron 3

The Piedmont Triad (Greensboro, High Point, and Winston-Salem) is a great place for entrepreneurs. Peggy has met so many people starting their businesses, going out on their own from a large firm, or growing a business on the side while they continue their “day job”. There is a lot of opportunities to meet and give/get support from other business owners. Regarding her specific location, the networking that she was doing during her job search naturally morphed into networking for her business. She was talking about Office Evolution months before they were open. Without exception, when mentioning to people where her franchise would be, they said, “Wow, that’s a great location!” 

pbarron 4Finding a Business Center manager was easy. Knowing the importance of the role and the skills that a BCM should have, one person immediately came to mind. She has sales and marketing experience, is great at customer service, and has owned her own business. Best of all, she’s Peggy’s sister! 

Most of the members are entrepreneurs but the business model works for just about anyone. There are doctors, lawyers, accountants, contractors, life and business coaches of multiple types, logistics companies, financial planners, IT and GIS businesses and staffing companies just to name a few. Unless the companies’ situations dictate the need for temporary space, their members have signed up for the maximum length memberships. The ones who have left to head off to their permanent space always hate to go! Their community of members is very supportive of each other, so the culture has a great vibe.

Each time Peggy adds a new member, or hears one of the members telling someone how much they like being in her space, she feels successful. In her last few positions in the corporate world, she enjoyed supporting people in their professional development and then helping them move up into a new job and get ahead. Now, she gets that sense of achievement when she helps members connect with the people and resources that can help them get ahead in their businesses.

Learn more about Peggy’s location in Greensboro, North Carolina, or other Office Evolution locations in your area.