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  Violas, Foxholes and Risky Business
As a teenager, I was forced to make a decision: Julliard or The Army. I chose the Army by necessity. My world pivoted from the smells of rosin and aged oak stages to foxholes, TNT, and Army-issued everything. Immediately, I started to question this rash decision. The Army said that I could 'be all that I could be'. One day, after not throwing a live grenade far enough, prompting my drill sergeant to throw both of us over a wall, I thought, 'Maybe not!'. I think I could be all that I can be at McDonald's! Eventually, I landed in Washington, D.C. at the FBI as a fingerprint analyst. WARNING: AHA! MOMENT AHEAD. At 18, I was a GS-4 level government employee. One day, I overheard a 63-year old colleague in the same job for over 25 years, explain how she was looking forward to getting her GS-5 level status so that she could 'get the hell out of here'. That's when I said, 'I'm getting the hell out of here now'. Goodbye Washington, D.C.; hello Ann Arbor, Michigan.
 Cubicles and Commuter Traffic
After graduating from the University of Michigan '94, I worked for corporate america. I fit in but was never fulfilled. I am an extremely ambitious person. I love being around ambitious people but divine restlessness eventually lead me into the world of risky business three years after graduation.
Newbie entrepreneur
So graphic design it was. The work of design and advertising was challenging, creative and exciting. I won awards, solved some amazing visual puzzles and literally worked around the clock. Now, don't get me wrong, the work was fun, but I was exhausted. After 9/11, I was mentally and physically exhausted. I closed the company and worked on me.
Timeout
I took time off, worked with a life coach and avoided making any major decisions for almost a year. I eventually made peace. Chrysalis Interactive, another design company, was created. I LOVED working with leadership and organizational experts. I was in heaven and the results showed. In two quarters, I had more business than the seven years prior. Along the way, the consulting industry was shifting. Companies were shrinking their training budgets, some were cutting training altogether while others wanted to duplicate the expert in the room with a train-the-trainer model (You show 'Bob' how to do it and he'll teach the rest of us...Yay!). It was clear to me that consultants needed to redesign their practices and market themselves to accommodate those shifts. I had no idea at that time that knowledgecrush was being born.
Enter the Opportunity
Starting Knowledgecrush
It's 2006, and I'm walking with a client into the Harvard Alumnae Club in New York. A common scenario like many others occurs; a fabulous presentation comes to an end. I was struck, as you probably have been in similar gatherings, how each person wants to hang on to the moment, the afterglow. Of course the afterglow dissipates quickly and we were left with something missing; our bubbles burst and we're back to the real world. I wanted to take charge of the obvious:
1. extend the experience and continue these critical, crucial conversations and emotion way beyond, in this case, 27 West 44th Street in Manhattan, NY.
2. provide affordable solutions for the everyday consultant by building an e-learning platform that rocks. We would use the platform to crush knowledge into bite-sized, affordable bits that entrepreneurs and organizations want, crave and desire inside of a community that cares.
Knowledgecrush Is Born
Beta-zillion
I and an intrepid board of advisors, which provided unpaid hours of love to help me create the right platform for you, worked for months on this concept. We've talked about Risky Business. Well, let me bring your around to another favorite movie: Groundhog Day. That's right, Groundhog Day was solidly at Knowledgecrush because the days marched on with me creating, shaping, crafting, undoing, erasing, and building the message until i found the 'sweet spot'. Desperate to get the baby out 'there', I was ready to tell the world, 'Ta DAH!' Guess what happened? CRICKETS... Actually, the crickets eventually left and there was nothing but silence. Why? Knowledgecrush launched almost the week after Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy, the largest filing in all of mankind. See, it was the end of 2008, the economy was falling apart and NOW I decide to launch knowledgecrush? Way to stack the odds, baby.
Knowledgecrush Angst, Doubts, Bouts
So, let's look at the landscape. There were 0 investment dollars. The economy was at its knees. Gas was sky high. People were losing their jobs and homes. Two wars were raging and a historic and a gripping election led with the promise of 'CHANGE, CHANGE, CHANGE!!' And here I was (still am) in the state of Michigan, with the WORST unemployment in the entire country, trying to light the kindling under Knowledgecrush. With patience not being one of my virtues, I spent most of my time working around the clock, crying, fretting, doubting, hustling, cussing, praying, and cussing some more! Then, after all of that, I was only, oh..., one step further from where I started. Like many new moms, I just couldn't let go of my new e-learning baby. But, after exhausting all of my tricks and resources, I finally let go, got quiet and listened for the answers.
So, what WAS my original intent? I found myself admitting that I was doing what I had been doing before (being a glorified designer and not being the agent for a movement). I had to shift my actions and approach. I had to reconnect with the original opportunity. The original, 'AHA!' I didn't want to just create an online environment, I wanted to start a movement. The movement is this: each of you are walking vibrantly, passionately through your day, having the resources at hand, with people at your side encouraging you to be fully expressed. Having reconnected, now my focus was crystal clear. Now, Knowledgecrush is attracting people and companies like you who are rock stars. In retrospect, each of those moments in this journey have been powerful and painful but oh so necessary. I am grateful for the journey because knowledgecrush is now stronger, deeper, wiser.
Knowledgecrush Credit Roll
No story is complete without the proverbial shout outs. I'm also grateful for the phenomenal support along the way during this critical, development period. Thank you Suzzette Turnbull (Valentine Consulting of South Florida, LLC), Cheryl Baker (Humax Networks, Inc.) , J. Mike Smith (BackWest Consulting, Inc.), Kyra Gaunt (Kyraocity Works), Linda Galindo (Linda Galindo), Laura Morgan Roberts (RPAQ Solutions, LLC), Gina LaRoche (Seven Stones Leadership, LLC), Sharon Walker (The Long View Group, LLC), Kathleen McQuiggan (Catalina Leadership) and Stacy Blake-Beard (StacyBlakeBeard.net)!! A special thank you to my very good friend and advisor Yodit Mesfin-Johnson. Thank you Yodit for the push that convinced me to share my story.
What’s your input?
Not only are more people watching and using knowledgecrush, but they’re also guiding and helping me make Knowledgecrush better and more useful every day. If you have any suggestions for how I can improve knowledgecrush, let me know. You can submit your comments below.
The Knowledgecrush Mission is too big for me to achieve alone. If what I’m describing here calls to you, jump in and join us.
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Hi, I’m Christa Chambers-Price and I am the Innovation Queen. I created