Question: Social entrepreneurship involves doing business to solve an ill or problem in the community. How does your company demonstrate social entrepreneurship, and what is the change you hope to foster?
Bill Backus
Principal
Backus Agency
Sector: Public Relations
Einstein said it best, “We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.”
I’m going to come out and just say it — for me, it has never been about the money. Never. It’s about people and the passionate ideas that drive them to achieve their dream. Some dreamers are luckily handed an advantageous head start to life, while others, like myself, have to grind it out and hustle to make it happen.
Regardless of how we line up at the start of the race in life, we all have one thing in common: dreams. Which is why every quarter, I personally take on a dreamer’s passion to start his or her business and bring the idea to life. No talk of budget. No talk of money … just conversations of passion. I invest myself, full heartily, helping them design, craft and transform their vision into a successful business platform in hopes that one day they, too, pass it forward. So, you can keep your cash. I prefer change.
Backus Agency helps transform brands and businesses with the clarity of rigorous thinking and the courage of bold ideas. We opened our studio doors October of 2012 in Phoenix with a simple but compelling vision: to build a transparent consultancy as strong in its strategic thinking and management as it was in its creativity.
Rosaria Cain
CEO, Director of Media
knoodle
Sector: Marketing
Knoodle is crazy about cause marketing, which is the essence of social entrepreneurship. We put together programs that partner a cause — like water safety or education — with a client, and pair the client with a media partner. We recommend this to our clients because they get the positive benefit of being recognized as a business that cares about the community with the great exposure of a radio campaign. We hope to make a difference by creating these programs.
For instance, Fulton Homes does numerous programs for water safety, such as “2 Seconds is 2 Long” with KTAR or “Fence Patrol” on KMLE FM. They have been doing these programs since 1999. “This has really helped our brand in the community,” said CEO Doug Fulton, of Fulton Homes. “We do this to save the lives of children we care so much about.”
Rosaria Cain founded knoodle in 1999 with Fulton Homes and Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce, and still has these clients today. Knoodle incorporates core values that are paramount to the way it does business, which include collaboration, harmony, integrity, preparation and strategy. Research is an integral part of everything we recommend for our clients.
Cindy Gordon
Owner
Business Rescue Coaching, LLC
Sector: Consulting
Women love to help others and, yet, they are slow to ask for help themselves. This is one of the reasons many struggle to build a thriving business. We bring female business owners together with their peers to discuss their pressing challenges. Knowing that others are coming to seek help breaks down the walls. Group members become powerful referral partners. These pieces lead to faster growth to their businesses.
Entrepreneurs need to step out of the weeds of the day-to-day work and look at the bigger picture of what their economic impact can be. It is our dream that women make a stronger economic impact than men, because we know they can. Entrepreneurs don’t have to figure out how to grow their business on their own; being a part of a facilitated community of support can turn a business job into an economic powerhouse.
By combining her training and experience as a Canadian CPA and a Certified Co-Active Professional Coach, Cindy Gordon puts a fun and interesting spin on helping business owners be more successful. She sees each client as unique and therefore looks to customize her service offerings to provide the best results possible.
Ro Rusnock
Owner
Elements and Energy
Sector: Consultant
At the fundamental level of Elements and Energy is a core purpose — to contribute to spiritual awareness and raise global consciousness so that we may live in a more peaceful world. In order to achieve peace in our world, each one of us must take 100 percent responsibility in creating peace and wellness inside of us, before we can ever have peace on the planet.
Elements and Energy promotes social entrepreneurship by advocating and teaching wellness through reshaping residential and commercial environments, recognizing the environments you live in is a direct reflection or a mirror, of your consciousness. We consult with both residential and commercial property owners to make positive energetic changes, which help them create spaces they love, in turn contributing to individuals thriving instead of living in mediocrity.
Ro Rusnock uses the art and science of placement — feng shui — to help conscious, heart-centered people create extraordinary lives from their external living spaces to their internal ways of being. Feng shui doesn’t just transform external spaces. By using feng shui tools, scientific principles, Ro support individuals to expand their leadership ability.
