Doing Good in Arizona E22

Culture, business as a force for good, giving back, higher purpose, and small business were all topics of discussion on this episode of Collaborative Connections Radio Show and Podcast.

Host, Kelly Lorenzen, was joined on-air by Arizona business leaders, Bob Blum, founder of Alcyon Consulting, Kindra Maples with Conscious Capitalism Arizona, and Sara Kelley with Bell Insurance.

Are you a business owner or leader in Arizona? Need more resources to grow your business? Want to know more about how to use business as a force for good? Then check out this great conversation between Kelly and her featured guests.

Thank you, KLM Consulting, Marketing and Management for sponsoring this show.

Alcyon Consulting can help you in two ways…Financial & Business Operations Management and Business Consulting & Advisory Services. With Alcyon’s financial and business operations support, you can shift the burden of managing and overseeing those necessary, but non revenue generating activities, to a professional who has the passion, experience, and training to assess, manage and improve your company’s business infrastructure thus freeing you to focus on generating revenue and building the business.

If you are looking for a fresh set of eyes to review and analyze any or all aspects of your business…from financial statements to fraud prevention, then Alcyon’s Business Consulting & Advisory Services could be the answer.

As an Accredited Small Business Consultant (ASBC), Bob and Alcyon utilize a proprietary approach to review and analyze your business, and along with its broad business partner network, Alcyon will not be able to not only make solid recommendations for improvements, but will be able to identify, vet and implement the right solution.

Bob Blum leverages over 35 years of extensive and varied experience, in both staff and leadership roles, helping companies build and maintain stable business operations by focusing on maximizing both financial and human assets.

These roles include Principal and Chief Financial Officer for Peerless Candy & Tobacco Company, Senior Human Resource Consultant for Peoples Energy Corporation, Controller for Ben Brooks & Associates, Controller for Incentive Logic, and most recently CFO for MAC6.

Bob is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), an Accredited Small Business Consultant (ASBC), a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and has a Bachelor’s in Business Administration from Ohio University. In addition, Bob earned a Master’s in Human Resources, with a specialization in Organization Development, from Loyola University in Chicago.

Connect with Bob on LinkedIn.

Free enterprise capitalism has served to lift more people out of poverty than any other socio-economic system ever conceived – empowering social cooperation, human progress, and elevating humanity.

Good business is the answer to many of the global issues that humankind is facing.

For too long, capitalism in the media has been associated with lying, cheating, manipulating, gaming the system, and taking advantage of society.

But for every horror story being told about the selfishness of corporate America and Wall Street, there are thousands of stories of businesses supporting their communities, investing in their employees, and making the world a better place.

We are working to change the capitalism narrative by shining a bright light on good business – telling the stories of conscious Arizona companies (and encouraging others to follow in their footsteps).

There is a lot in her background that has led Kindra Maples to where she is today.

Her past experiences, interactions, careers, and partnerships have led her to growing the roles she holds in the community; the VP of Volunteers with Conscious Capitalism Arizona, Sales Development with YellowBird, and the host of the Culture Crush Business Podcast.

She is spartan racer, past animal trainer, previous magician’s assistant, and has a weakness for Oreo cookie shakes. Her journey working with people actually started working with animals as a teenager (don’t worry we won’t go that far back for her bio).

She worked for over 15 years in the zoo industry working with animals and the public. Her passion of working with animals shifted into working with people in education, operations and leadership roles. From there her passion of leadership and helping people develop has continued to grow.

Her experience in non-profit operations, communications, and program engagement has brought her to the place she is today. Her experiences have built her passion and her “why” in areas of culture building, engagement, and growing strong teams.

Connect with Kindra on LinkedIn and follow Conscious Capitalism Arizona on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Bell Insurance is one of the largest independently owned, full-service agencies. They’ve worked in insurance for more than 100 years, giving them unparalleled experience and expertise on policies designed to serve you, your family and your business in the best way possible.

in 1911 as Warner and Company Insurance in Fargo, N.D., they became Bell Insurance in 2019 when they joined forces with Bell Bank, one of the largest independently owned banks in the nation.

Bell is known for exceptional service and high integrity, where people matter, which shows in how their team members treat each other, their customers and those around them.

They understand one of your biggest challenges is managing around the things you can’t control. They can help you by building an insurance plan based on what you need to address the unique risks your operation faces.

By getting to know you and your business and working with you to figure out an insurance policy that gives you the right coverage at the best rate, they’ll help you protect what you’ve worked so hard to build.

Whether you need small business insurance or coverage for a large, niche operation, they’ll help you protect what matters with commercial insurance coverage options in your best interest, competitive pricing, stress-free claims, and the high-quality service you can expect from Bell.

Sara Kelley has over 20 years of experience serving clients in a risk management capacity. She started her insurance career in Chicago, IL with the world’s largest insurance brokerage firm and moved with them to the Phoenix market. Since being in Arizona, Mrs. Kelley has developed her expertise to serve the businesses that thrive in the Valley of the Sun.

Sara specializes in property and casualty insurance and risk management for a variety of industries including Healthcare, Social Services, and Non Profits, as well as Indian Nations, contractors, manufacturers, and many other businesses. Sara provides clients with insurance solutions for various insurable risks.

For Insureds, Sara Kelley delivers risk and policy coverage reviews that focus on your firm’s expense reduction, cash-flow improvement, balance sheet protection, and decision-making insight.

Connect with Sara on LinkedIn.

About Collaborative Connections

Kelly Lorenzen started the “Collaborative Connections” show to bring her clients and favorite charities together to meet each other, connect and collaborate in life and business. She hopes to build a stronger community one show at a time.

About Our Sponsor

KLM Consulting is a business concierge and project management firm. They help small business owners and non-profits build, brand and brag about their businesses.

About Your Host

Kelly Lorenzen, CEO of KLM Consulting, is an award-winning entrepreneur with over 15 years of business-ownership experience. She is also a certified project management professional.