Affordable luxury shared office and coworking space Co-Optim is now accepting members at its flagship location established in Deer Park, Illinois.
Co-Optim is now accepting memberships for its flagship location at 21660 Field Parkway. The innovative coworking space provides affordable luxury private offices and a range of workspace memberships to fit the needs of any business, professional or organization. Prospective members can visit Co-Optim.com or call (847) 957-1447 to become a member today.
Co-Optim is the sophisticated shared office and coworking space providing affordable luxury offices coupled with high-end amenities and networking events. Co-Optim promotes wellness and growth in the workplace through aesthetics and convenience, where brilliance and creativity flow freely.
Unique amenities like a Kids Zone, on-site fitness center and yoga studio, meditation room, complimentary coffee bar, private phone booths, and exclusive member events set Co-Optim far above the shared office spaces currently available.
Annual Coworking Memberships and Private Offices. Both memberships include usage of Board Rooms, access to all Co-Optim amenities including printing and mailing services, concierge and reception assistance, and 24/7 access to the space.
Co-Optim Annual Coworking Memberships are structured for daily usage and include a combination of allocated work days at Co-Optim and Board Room hours. Annual coworking membership packages range from 10 to 200 work days per year.
Co-Optim also offers Private Office Memberships with the option for custom connectable configurations allowing professionals the ability to add more square footage to their workspace as their business grows. Professionals who require a permanent office space can receive all of the benefits of a corporate office but at a more cost-effective rate. Private offices are available in a variety of sizes ranging from 1-100 people. Each private workspace receives 10 hours of board room usage per month, office signage and logo display, and ample storage. As an added bonus, Co-Optim will print custom business cards for all members who sign up for a Private Office Membership.
For more information regarding available office leasing and membership options, please contact Alicia Hutzler at (847) 957-1447 or via email at AliciaHutzler@Co-Optim.com. Additional information regarding the company, available offices, and how to become a member can be found at Co-Optim.com/pricing.


"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord…"
Learning how to receive God's Guidance and determine God's will is one of the great and necessary lessons of the Christian life. The following Scriptures and thoughts should be helpful in seeking to understand this all important subject.
Psalm 32: 8: "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go."
Proverbs 3:6: "In all you ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths."
Psalms 18:32: "It is God that girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect."
and then to be assured, that, if he seeks God's help in His own appointed way, He will not fail him. We have ever found it thus, and expect to find it thus, on the ground of the promises of God, to the end of our course.
1. Be slow to take new steps in the Lord's service, or in your business, or in your families. Weigh everything well; weigh all in the light of the Holy Scriptures, and in the fear of God. 2. Seek to have no will of your own, in order to ascertain the mind of God, regarding any steps you propose to take, so that you can honestly say, you are willing to do the will of God, if He will only please to instruct you. 3. But when you have found out what the will of God is, seek for His help, and seek it earnestly, perseveringly, patiently, believingly, and expectingly: and you will surely, in His own time and way, obtain it. We have not to rush forward in self-will and say, I will do the work, and I will trust the Lord for means, this cannot be real trust, it is the counterfeit of faith, it is presumption; and though God, in great pity and mercy, may even help us finally out of debt; yet does this, on no account, prove that we were right in going forward before His time was come. We ought, rather, under such circumstances to say to ourselves: "Am I indeed doing the work of God?" And if so, I may not be the person to do it; or if I am the person, His time may not yet be come for me to go forward; it may be His good pleasure to exercise my faith and patience. I ought, therefore, quietly to wait His time; for when it is come, God will help. Acting on this principle brings blessing. To ascertain the Lord's will we ought to use scriptural means. Prayer, the word of God, and His Spirit should be united together. We should go to the Lord repeatedly in prayer, and ask Him to teach us by His Spirit through His word. I say by His Spirit through His word. For if we should think that His Spirit led us to do so and so, because certain facts are so and so, and yet His word is opposed to the step which we are going to take, we should be deceiving ourselves. No situation, no business will be given to me by God, in which I have not time enough to care about my soul. Therefore, however outward circumstances may appear, it can only be considered as permitted of God, to prove the genuineness of my love, faith, and obedience, but by no means as the leading of His providence to induce me to act contrary to His revealed will."—George Müller, quoted in, A.T. Pierson, George Mueller of Bristol, p. 231,232.
Another fact that grows more conspicuous with the perusal of every new page in his journal is that in things common and small, as well as uncommon and great, he took no step without first asking counsel of the oracles of God and seeking guidance from Him in believing prayer. It was his life-motto to learn the will of God before undertaking anything, and to wait till it is clear, because only so can one either be blessed in his own soul or prospered in the work of his hands. [Vol. I.74]. Many disciples who are comparatively bold to seek God's help in great crises, fail to come to Him with like boldness in matters that seem too trivial to occupy the thought of God or invite the interposition of Him who numbers the very hairs of our heads and suffers not one hair to perish. The writer of this journal escaped this great snare and carried even the smallest matter to the Lord."—George Müller, quoted in, A.T. Pierson, George Mueller of Bristol, p. 40.
"I seek at the beginning to get my heart in such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter. Nine tenths of the trouble with people generally is just here. Nine tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord's will, whatever it may be. When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is.
"Many children of God are so deeply exercised on the matter of guidance that it may be helpful to give a few suggestions as to knowing the way in which our Father would have us walk, and the work He would have us do. The importance of the subject cannot be exaggerated; so much of our power and peace consists in knowing where God would have us be, and in being just there.
"When thine eye is single, thy whole body is also full of light." (Luke 11: 34) So long as there is some thought of personal advantage, some idea of acquiring the praise and commendation of men, some aim at self-aggrandizement, it will be simply impossible to find out God's purpose concerning us.
"My judgment is just; because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." (John 5: 30) This was the secret which Jesus not only practiced, but taught. In one form or another He was constantly insisting on a surrendered will, as the key to perfect knowledge. "If any man will do His will, he shall know."
The Psalms are full of earnest pleadings for clear direction: "Show me Thy way, Oh Lord, lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies." It is the law of our Father's house that His children shall ask for what they want. "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not."
"Never trust your own judgment. When your common sense is most sure of the rightness of a certain course of action, it will be best to make assurance doubly sure by lifting up your soul to God, that it may dim with his No, or glisten with his Yes. When voices within or without would hasten you to decide on the strength of your own conclusions, then be careful to refer the whole matter form the lower court of your own judgment to the supreme tribunal of God's. If there is any doubt or hesitation left after such reference, be sure that as yet the time has not come for you to understand all God's will. Under such circumstances-wait. There the responsibility of the pause, and all it may involve, is on God; and dare still to wait…. If you trust God absolutely, it is for him to give you clear directions as to what you should do. And when the time for action arrives, he will have given you such unmistakable indications of his will that you will not be able to mistake them or err therein. 'None of them that wait on him shall be ashamed.' Before entering into any alliance-taking a partner in life, going into a business with another, yielding assent to any proposition which involves confederation with others-be sure to ask counsel at the mouth of the Lord. He will assuredly answer by an irresistible impulse-by the voice of a friend; by a circumstance strange and unexpected; by a passage of Scripture. He will choose his own messenger; but he will send a message."—From F. B. Meyer, Joshua, p. 118,119.
"Always give God time to work for you. Joshua was in too much of a hurry. Even Joshua who had been guided, and taught of the Lord, was deceived by the enemy. Therefore you cannot say that you are absolutely safe from his wiles. In times of uncertainty—wait. Always, if you have any doubt, wait. Do not force yourself to any action. If you have a restraint in your spirit, wait until all is clear, and do not go against it.
This work of translation she partially accomplished, though somewhat imperfectly; and the whole occurrence impressed Mr. Mueller as an indication that God was once more leading him in the direction of Germany, for another season of labour in his native land. Much prayer deepened his persuasion that he had not misread God's signal, and that His time had now fully come.
5. A distinct burden was laid on his heart, as from the Lord, which prayer, instead of relieving, increased — a burden which he felt without being able to explain — so that the determination to visit his native land gave him a certain peace which he did not have when he thought of remaining at home.
In this careful weighing of matters many sincere disciples fail, prone to be impatient of delay in making decisions. Impulse too often sways, and self-willed plans betray into false and even disastrous mistakes. Life is too precious to risk one such failure. There is given us a promise of deep meaning: "The meek will He guide in judgment; And the meek will He teach His way."(Psalm 25:9.) Here is a double emphasis upon meekness as a condition of such guidance and teaching. Meekness is a real preference for God's will. Where this holy habit of mind exists, the whole being becomes so open to impression that, without any outward sign or token, there is an inward recognition and choice of the will of God. God guides, not by a visible sign, but by swaying the judgment. To wait before Him, weighing candidly in the scales every consideration for or against a proposed course, and in readiness to see which way the preponderance lies, is a frame of mind and heart in which one is fitted to be guided; and God touches the scales and makes the balance to sway as He will. But our hands must be off the scales, otherwise we need expect no interposition of His in our favour.
"There is a way out of all these difficulties to the fully surrendered soul. I would repeat fully surrendered, because, if there is any reserve of will upon any point, it becomes almost impossible to find out the mind of God in reference to that point; and therefore the first thing is to be sure that you really do purpose to obey the Lord in every respect.
There are four ways in which He reveals His will to us,—through the Scriptures, through providential circumstances, through the convictions of our own higher judgment, and through the inward impressions of the Holy Spirit on our minds. Where these four harmonize, it is safe to say that God speaks. For I lay it down as a foundation principle, which no one can gainsay, that of course the "voice" of His will shall always be in harmony with itself, no matter in how many different ways He may speak. The voices may be many, the message can be but one.
The third test to which our impressions must be brought is that of providential circumstances. If a "leading" is of God, the way will always open for it. It is never a sign of a Divine leading when the Christian insists on opening his own way, and riding roughshod over all opposing things.
The fourth point I would make is this, that just as our impressions must be tested, as I have shown, by the other three voices, so these other voices must be tested by our inward impressions; and if we feel a "stop" in our minds about anything, we must wait until that is removed before acting.
It sometimes happens, however, that in spite of all our efforts to discover the truth, the divine sense of "oughtness" does not seem to come, and our doubts and perplexities continue unenlightened. Our friends differ from us, and would, we know, oppose our course. In such a case there is nothing to do but to wait until the light comes. But we must wait in faith and in an attitude of entire surrender, saying a continual "yes" to the will of our Lord, let it be what it may. If the suggestion is from Him, it will continue and strengthen; if it is not from Him, it will disappear, and we shall almost forget we ever had it. If it continues, if every time we are brought into communion with the Lord it seems to return, if it troubles us in our moments of prayer and disturbs all our peace, and if finally it conforms to the test of the divine harmony of which I have spoken, we may then feel sure it is from God, and we must yield to it, or suffer an unspeakable loss."—Adapted from Hannah Whital Smith's The Secret of a Happy Christian's Life. (Fleming H. Revell: Old Tappan, NJ), pp 66-73.
"One great law for all who would be truly led by God's Pillar of cloud and fire, is to take no step at the bidding of self-will or without the clear moving of the heavenly Guide. Though the direction be new and the way seem beset with difficulty, there is never any risk, provided we are only led of God. Each new advance needs separate and special authority from Him, and yesterday's guidance is not sufficient for today.
"To our people I will say, Let none be led from the sound, sensible principles that God has laid down for the guidance of His people, to depend for direction on any such device as the tossing up of a coin. Such a course is well pleasing to the enemy of souls; for he works to control the coin, and through its agency works out his plans. Let none be so easily deceived as to place confidence in any such tests. Let none belittle their experience by resorting to cheap devices for direction in important matters connected with the work of God."—Ellen White, Selected Messages, Vol. 2, p. 326.
These lessons should not be lightly passed over, for they are too valuable. The flesh is impatient of all delay, both in decision and action; hence all carnal choices are immature and premature, and all carnal courses are mistaken and unspiritual. God is often moved to delay that we may be led to pray, and even the answers to prayer are deferred that the natural and carnal spirit may be kept in check and self-will may bow before the will of God."
Chills and oppresses heart and mind.
I nearly slipped, Lord, on the sleet.
So weary, Lord! And where a seat?
Which all my murmuring did remove.
Thou has beset—these rocks are Thee!
And since Thy love encloses me, I stand and sing.


Neither Waters nor Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones wanted to go into detail about the contract impasse that kept the sides from getting a deal done earlier. They only focused on the result — Waters signing a one-year deal worth up to $3 million to upgrade the offensive line.
Waters declined to go into detail about why he sat out last season after making the Pro Bowl in 2011 with the New England Patriots. He played the first 11 years of his career with the Kansas City Chiefs.
He did acknowledge that Dallas was the best place for him to resume his career because of proximity. The question is whether he can pick up where he left off as one of the league's dominant guards.
Most of that depends on how quickly he can lose some weight and learn the playbook.
Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said Waters looked good in his workout Monday and now just has to get up to speed physically. But they have no questions about about his professionalism and commitment to working hard and getting back to his Pro Bowl level.
"We just wanted to know what the story was and why he didn't play last year, and there was some family concerns that he had," said Garrett of his initial questions to Waters about sitting out last season.
Garrett's excitement is based on the transition of the Cowboys' offensive line from a question mark to a strength in terms of starters and depth.
The Cowboys envision Waters starting opposite Ron Leary at guard with Doug Free and Jermey Parnell competing at right tackle. That would allow former starters Mackenzy Bernadeau and Phil Costa to be the primary backups at guard and center, respectively.
Quarterback Tony Romo is the primary beneficiary of an improved line.


Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom has lamented over the "reckless borrowing" of the Mahama-led administration, saying the development has taken Ghana back to the days leading to the Highly Indebted and Poor Country (HIPC) debt forgiveness.
According to the business mogul, the "insatiable appetite" of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government to borrow has landed the country into high debt levels that could affect future generations.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the launch of GN Assurance, Dr Nduom asserted the ruling government has enough experience from their times in office in the past to avoid such reckless borrowings.
"Interestingly enough, the same people PNDC then NDC1 and NDC2 they borrowed a lot and then at some point we [had] to go declare HIPC, our debtors forgave us tonnes of money and then some people said the debt levels are too low so let us go borrow some more," the 2012 presidential candidate of the Progressive People's Party said.
Dr Nduom wants government to be bold and face the economic difficulties while finding a home grown solution rather than running to the Britton Woods for financial assistance that would harm the economy in the long run.
"At some point you got to accept that yes we will suffer, but it's better we suffer now and learn to live within our means than to go borrow to showcase projects of several types so we can feel good about many things and postpone the inevitable," he added.
The politician/businessman wants government to work strenuously hard to create wealth for the country since some of the handouts given by the foreign countries are demeaning to the nation.


Rather than a traditional water fountain as the name would suggest, Marston & Langinger shade Fountain, is named after the cascade of colour it adds when applied to any wall.
Fountain is a pale-tone off-white with an underlying grey hue and the tiniest hint of pink. It creates a modern contemporary feel to any room.
Complement with Linseed or contrast with Graphite Grey or Greyfriars.
Why not try these colours to complement Fountain 8? Click on an adjoining colour to see more.


I think one of the greatest tragedies of our time is that Oscar Wilde never had Twitter. I realise that makes me sound like the most millennial millennial that ever millennial-ed, but seriously! Take a look over his body of work (I reviewed The Picture of Dorian Gray this week, by the way), and you'll quickly realise that his Twitter feed would have been absolute fire. The good news is that today's writers do have Twitter, and I can tell you right now that they would have made him proud! Whether you've been Tweeting for years or you're just now setting up your account, here's my list of 10 brilliant writers to follow on Twitter.
If you haven't seen copies of Little Fires Everywhere… well, everywhere, then you haven't been paying attention. Celeste Ng's success is well-deserved, of course, but her Twitter feed is criminally underrated. To start with, her handle is hilarious – she's not afraid to make fun of herself and the world around her.
I don't care if you like Harry Potter or not, J.K. Rowling's Twitter is a must-read. She comments on everything – from Harry Potter fan theories to politics to Eurovision – and uses the platform to make direct contact with her fans. She is a Twitter master!
Apparently the Australian commentator called @surieofficial's stage invader 'some absolute cockhead' and I don't want to hear another word about Australia being in #Eurovision ever again.
I have been following Amna Saleem for quite a while, and I love finding her Tweets in my timeline, like hilarious hidden treasures. She is a comedy writer from Scotland, and her insights on race, culture, and family life will make you weep (appreciatively).
Kaz Cooke wrote basically the only pregnancy book worth reading (Up The Duff), and her feed is full of cartoons, hot takes, and the best of Aussie baby-boomer real talk.
Roxane Gay just goes from strength to strength – Bad Feminist, then Hunger, then Difficult Women… and her Twitter feed is full of the same brilliance. But, if I'm being really honest, the main reason I follow Roxane Gay is right there in her bio: "If you clap, I clap back". She promises, and she delivers. Her clap-backs are epic! I have no idea where she finds the emotional wherewithal, but damn, I'm here for it!
I know what will break me if I am ever tortured: Microsoft Word requests for software updates.
Maxine Beneba Clarke's Twitter feed covers just about everything of interest (to me): politics, race, haters, poetry, prose, literacy, journalism, real-talk, and – most of all – hella relateable comedy. Come for the mind that brought you The Hate Race, and stay for excerpts from conversations with children that will have you howling.
Don't hate me cause I'm tweetable.
I first discovered Quinn when he wrote what I considered to be the definitive series of essays on the Australian marriage equality vote of 2017, and I've been following his work ever since. His poetry is unflinching and beautiful, his book is incredible, and his Twitter feed is everything queer, sarcastic, and fantastic.
Underused word of the day: strumpet.
Do you have any other favourite writers on Twitter? Make sure to drop their handles below for me (or share the love over at KUWTP on Facebook!).
It is really neat to follow writers one likes on Twitter. I do not read too many new books but I have my list of those I like. I have also found that some of the less famous ones will chat a bit. I am now thinking about my own list of favorites.
I love how helpful and informative your posts are!
I also love that you are on this list, although I think you should have made a bigger writeup for yourself, truly.
You know how much I adore following J.K. Rowling and her trolling already. Maxine Baneba Clarke sounds interesting. Right now, my list is mostly comprised of Indie Authors.
Maxine Beneba Clarke is AMAZING and definitely worth a follow! She's very honest and frank (which, clearly, I adore), and she always gives me something to think about.