Business Spotlight: Connecting With Jen Thoemke
By Amity Moore Joyce
Jen Thoemke is many things to many people: she’s a wife, a mother, a sister, a friend, a chief instigator, an entrepreneur. She wears all those hats (plus many others), but in her heart, she’s a connector. Her drive to connect—herself with others and others with others to create community—led her to launch the aptly named Connects Workspace, a coworking space in downtown Golden. Once the first Connects opened, additional enterprises followed. What’s interesting is that although interrelated, few of the businesses are in the same industry. Their common denominator? Bringing people together.
When Middlemist owner Erin Jackman asked Jen during a recent interview how she got started, Jen shared that she had always dreamed of owning her own business and knew Golden was the place to do it. “I moved here in sixth grade, and I love Golden,” she says. Her next step was to figure out what kind of business she wanted to develop. Her curiosity allowed her to entertain different opportunities; coworking is where she landed. “[It] was just starting to take off, this idea of remote work and a place for people to gather. I love community. I love small town,” she explains.
A coworking space was a natural fit, so she and her husband, Dan, who owns DT Construct, searched for the right space and found the Armory Building in 2015 at the corner of 13th and Arapahoe streets in downtown Golden. Eventually, she purchased Café 13, an eatery also housed in the Armory Building. The restaurant was a natural complement, yet another place for people to gather. Ownership of Gold Mine Cupcakes followed (more connection to celebrations and community!) as did expansion of Connects Workspace to other buildings in downtown and to a new development situated roughly halfway between Golden and Morrison near the intersection of I-70 and Colfax Ave. Somewhere in the midst of all of that, she also assumed leadership of Golden Women in Business, an organization dedicated to supporting, empowering and inspiring women professionals.
Jen admits her current venture, Morris & Mae, is stretching her. When she talks about this food hall, which will be adjacent to the newest Connects space, she is excited, but nervous. “I’m taking this giant leap!” she says. “And hoping there’s ground where I land!” Morris & Mae is expected to open in November 2022.
“You never really feel ready,” says Jen of her decision to start a business and then add more to her entrepreneurial portfolio. She offers three pieces of advice to others wanting to start or grow their business. The first is one based on a coaching model: look at your situation like a circle—inside the circle is your comfort zone, and outside the circle is growth. Stepping outside your comfort zone is what creates growth. Second, surround yourself with people who are like-minded who will encourage you and that you can ask questions of. And, third, she encourages, “just go and do it.”
This entry was posted on 6 October, 2022 by Mrs. Erin Jackman.