The Business of Giving

Kevin Krall 0:00
You're listening to special programming sponsored by the cars marketing Chamber of Commerce. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and more, the University of Nevada Las Vegas or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Unknown Speaker 0:25
What's wrong with the world? Maamar people live in like the whole world addicted to the drama only attract good things and bring the Trump overseas.

Unknown Speaker 0:37
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the business of giving radio show. My name is Carl deutlich, one of the hosts and we are joined today with a special guest host. His name is Jim Norton. Welcome to the show, Jim.

Unknown Speaker 0:49
Thank you very much, Carl. And yes, good morning to everyone. Very happy to be here. Sitting in and taking some space for guy guy Dawson. Big few shoes to fill.

Unknown Speaker 1:01
Yes. Could you tell us? I know you're a guest of ours a couple of months ago. But could you remind our listeners a little bit about you? Absolutely.

Unknown Speaker 1:08
Absolutely. I am a business owner as well. I bring business owners to the table on a monthly basis, a peer group. And we talk about the different challenges business owners have sometimes opportunities, I facilitate that meeting and also do some business coaching. bring everybody to a place where we solve business owners problems and what keeps him awake at night.

Unknown Speaker 1:32
Excellent. And as usual, I just wanted to mention guy Dawson's name. He is the owner of classic communications a PR company. And I am a Managing Member of crypto tax ologists. I'm an enrolled agent that helps investors become exempt from tax. And we are joined today by two very special guests. But before we get into that, Jim, could you share with our listeners? You know what the cost marketing Chamber of Commerce? Absolutely

Unknown Speaker 1:59
thank you, Carl, and start sorry for stepping on your little bit there. Cause marketing is an opportunity for business owners to come together and partner up with nonprofit organizations much like some of the conversations that we're going to have here, in bringing that that partnership to the street level and getting businesses providing not only the funds that are well, most needed for nonprofits, but also just getting the word out and making sure that that nonprofit is doing good work. And it talks about the needs. And sometimes it's not always the money as much as it really is. But sometimes it's about other ways of improving the quality of the community. So cause marketing and business owners, business companies come together to do good work.

Unknown Speaker 2:53
And it's a great combination, because businesses that have a marketing budget, can share their marketing budget with local charities that don't have a marketing budget. So now that these businesses with a lot of customers, they can share that this business collaborates with the nonprofit. So now, more people are aware of that organization than previously would have been since they don't have that marketing budget. True,

Unknown Speaker 3:16
true. And it benefits everyone. So one of our guests today on the show is Sylvia Aguilar. And now Sylvia, you're with honest insurance. Could you tell us a little bit about you? Maybe your history and what exactly is honest insurance? Okay,

Unknown Speaker 3:31
well, thank you, Jim. We are a benefits broker agencies. So we help small businesses, a little bit of about myself. I've been in the insurance industry for about 16 years. We started in Riverside, California, we currently hold an office there as well. But then we through the pandemic decided to move on over to Las Vegas and see that there was more opportunity out here. So I've been working with small businesses, trying to educate them about what benefits are available for themselves as well as their employees. We love to work with startups, because that's the beginning. When you start a small business, and you start to grow, you start to think about employees and wow, you're going to be able to attract those new employees. So I have a small team of about 15 counselors that are here in Las Vegas. I have another team in California as well. And that's what we do. We basically work with brokers as well. So we're just not out there for ourselves. But we also facilitate enrollment solutions for larger brokers here in Las Vegas and in California. And we do all the education so we educate the employee as well as the employer on what is available to them anywhere from health insurance to 401k. Excellent,

Unknown Speaker 4:57
excellent. Sounds impressed especially with such a large team, let me ask you a couple of questions if you don't mind. What made you pick Las Vegas? If you're coming from California, Irvine? What? What was the shiny penny over here for you?

Unknown Speaker 5:13
Well, for many years, I've already been working with large brokers out here in Las Vegas, they would send myself and a team of agents to do the win. Maybe the Southpoint is one of our clients. So Boyd gaming was another large client. So we would come out here for two, three weeks, and sit with all the major casinos. We literally represent all the major carriers from Sunlife to colonial till Aflac. So they would just give us a call and say, Hey, we need a team of agents, bilingual, we have several half of our team is bilingual. So we would be here all the time. And so it was rather fly here or drive here. And driving was always I love to drive. And so coming out here, I noticed that it was only three hours from door to door. So I thought it takes me three hours to get from Riverside to the valley, the San Fernando Valley. So it was like, it was a no brainer. Yes,

Unknown Speaker 6:16
being a native of Southern California growing up there in the late 70s. I do remember those travel times. So but the I 15 Corridor can be challenging as well. So I'm glad you came. I'm glad you showed up. Makes total sense. Yes. Yes. Well, Trevor, what's your favorite part? Now? Let me divert from the script. What's your favorite part about Vegas, no traffic,

Unknown Speaker 6:39
no traffic, and I can get from one side of town to the other side of town in less than 45 minutes.

Unknown Speaker 6:45
So that being said, in let me transition back into the purpose while you're here, what is that piece of your business that rewards you the most?

Unknown Speaker 6:56
I think the most is getting a new business. Having them start, they're worried about, you know, cost. Everything is always about cost. What is it going to cost me to open up? What is it going to cost me to expand? And the moment you decide and you start getting that business, you're going to need help? And then that starts with the I need to hire? And the question is, what is it going to cost me to pay that person? And how am I going to hold on to that person, because they can easily go to a casino or get paid more maybe same industry get paid more? And benefits becomes a very key factor of why someone's going to come work for you.

Unknown Speaker 7:40
I agree completely. That is so so important to have good benefits, have made decisions in those areas as well in the past. And I'll tell you, retention, employee retention is number one right now. Absolutely. And

Unknown Speaker 7:52
that's the first question an employee says, besides a salary, what kind of benefit package are you going to offer me so I love getting that, that employer that just started and then building with them. And there's so many options of which way to go to get that coverage.

Unknown Speaker 8:09
So obviously, you have lots and lots of experience. And I don't mean that in any other but a good way. If you were to give a business owner advice, and so I know that you work with large corporations, and they have a large army to deal with the different things. But when you're dealing with businesses, and it's usually the small business owner that's got one to two to three employees, maybe five, if they're blessed, maybe 25. But the fact being said, what advice would you give that small business owner in your in your mind, what would be the best piece of advice as they're starting out?

Unknown Speaker 8:48
It's always I would say, the healthier the group, the less the insurance costs. So I always sit with them and talk to them about how we can not just look at a plan, but also work on other types of benefits that keeps your employees safe and healthy. So if we need to bring in some wellness benefits if we need to bring in a lot of times the carriers if you implement, kind of like a rule of like making sure that every employee who signs up for their health benefits gets an annual physical every year will lower your costs and will also keep your costs down with that carrier. So we discussed about healthy ways to keep your employees healthy. During the work hours at home, you know, mental health became a very big issue during the pandemic. So right now a lot of employers are asking for mental health benefits. So we discuss everything we discuss how not just to offer your employees benefits, but how do We keep them healthy, so that you could keep your costs down. Again, utilization becomes a big key, another big key word. So the more your employees utilize their health insurance, the higher the cost goes up. So again, utilization, keeping it low, because people are healthier, they don't have to run and see a doctor as much. And that that's my biggest, my biggest concern is, okay, let's look at your group. Let's see what the health condition is, and how we can implement those benefits in there to get them. You know, a lot of unfortunately, a lot of men don't go to see doctors. Better, right. So sometimes we have to encourage those industries, especially the contractors, we need you to go in and see you're gonna get a physical every year. So

Unknown Speaker 10:54
great advice and advice that I have taken over the years. That's a great answer. That's awesome. I love that. Let me ask you as again, let's talk about our sponsor, let's talk about guy Dawson's good work and cause marketing. What? What is it that how did you get in touch with dye? How did I get in touch with the guy? How did that happen? So

Unknown Speaker 11:13
when I first got here, I, I started networking. I didn't know it very, I mean, I knew the industry. I knew the the big brokers and I knew I knew the strip. I enrolled almost a lot of 1000s of employees on the Strip. I did not know the outskirts of the screen, there's more to life than strip. Oh, now I learned that so well. So many other things. Yeah. There's a life on the Strip. That's what I tell all my family now that come and visit me as like there's life on the strip. And then there's the real life, right. And so we needed to get involved. And if we were going to move here and open an office here, we needed to get involved. So cause marketing was the first thing I saw. And I said, I want to be involved with other businesses, and how can I help? Nice. So we joined them. We joined the chamber, and we held our first our first event. And it was for Millie's dog rescue. We had it at our new office at WeWorks. So our offices is at Town Square at the we worked building. And we threw a big fundraiser, we raised money for them, we had a little auction. And that's how we got to know more about their services and what guy did and so we've supported all his events. Every time he has an event we we try to make it and we love it. You know, I try to make a lot of events. We

Unknown Speaker 12:47
went Oh, good. I like it. Nice work. You've already kind of answered the importance of cause marketing. And that's the question. But let me close here real quickly. In Kazaa, we've got another guest that is in the wings waiting to get on. If I was to ask you this last question, could you give me an answer about how did it make you feel to give back to be part of that cause marketing compute community?

Unknown Speaker 13:16
The way it made us feel is because again, we wanted to be involved with the community. We wanted to know what the needs of the community were, so that we could see ways that we could be involved and support. So it's great for us. It's I got my entire team involved. And we love it, we really thought that we made a difference with Millie's dog rescue. And if we could do it for them, we could do it again and again. And again.

Unknown Speaker 13:47
Well, thank you very much, Sylvia, really appreciate your time and just talking with us in regards to you and the community and certainly cause marketing. And again, let's remind everyone that's listening that on September 8, from four to 8pm. We're going to have another event that brings cars marketing and businesses together at Emerald at Queen's red. So thank you very much for your time. And you have an excellent, excellent rest of your day. And

Unknown Speaker 14:13
you as well. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker 14:15
Our next guest probably doesn't need an introduction. She's very well known in Las Vegas, but I'm gonna give her one anyway. She is a successful financial and retirement advisor. heavily involved in the community. Her name is Cindy berkland got her own radio show, YouTube channel. Welcome to the show. Thank

Unknown Speaker 14:35
you. I am really excited to be here. This was I felt really honored when you invited me Carl, thank you so much.

Unknown Speaker 14:41
I'm glad you made it. I know how busy you are you again, you're involved with a lot of things in the community so much so that you actually created your own charitable organization.

Unknown Speaker 14:49
I did. I did.

Unknown Speaker 14:51
Could you tell us about that, please? So

Unknown Speaker 14:52
I decided, well, I had been doing a lot of networking events. I have my own networking event. called speakeasy networking. And I met hundreds of business owners and we started during COVID. Well, it just kind of felt like the next step, because speakeasy networking kind of came about when COVID When they shut our city down. And, you know, I wasn't willing to shut down my business, I'm like, I'm irrelevant. And I know all my friends that are in business are irrelevant. And it was really about giving back to all those other business owners that I knew were going to go under, if we all shut down. So when I decided to start the foundation for Nevada's giving it was, it was really along the same lines, but I was really looking to fine tune it down to what I want to do to help and really, my heart is to help children. And you know, living in Las Vegas, 27 years, what people don't know about the side of our city is that it's the number one trafficking city in in the country. And definitely, it could be part in the world as well. For whatever reason, you know, all the glitter glitz, lights, it also attracts all the the opposite side of that, which is the shady, ugly, illegal part of human trafficking. And a lot of children are trafficked in our city. And so Nevada's giving was really about boldly taking a stand for children. And these are, you know, young people that might get pregnant too soon, and don't see an avenue outside of abortion. Well, what if we could give them a home to live in and help them have their baby? Or what if we can get these kids off the streets? You know, there's organizations, and I really didn't want to start a 501 C three, where I was actually an organization. I am a busy girl, I have multiple businesses, I have the networking event, I have the podcast, I'm like, I don't have time to do one more thing. But what I can do is raise money and help organizations that are already doing a beautiful job, what they're doing already. So I thought, What could we do along the lines of children and man, when I started praying about it, and I was like, God, please bring me these organizations that need me that I can bless. And oh my god, within a couple of days, I was just overwhelmed with so many organizations that could really use our help. So the organization is new. And, you know, I was so gung ho and right away, my board was like put on the brakes a little bit and said, Hey, we got to get a little more things organized before we start fundraising. So we're just now getting kicked off. And I'm excited about it. We are going you know, I really intend to make a huge dent in the big hole of where people need money to help these kids.

Unknown Speaker 17:43
And you're already involved in several other charitable organizations, which which ones are your, I guess, funnest ones to do? And which right

Unknown Speaker 17:51
now, thank you for asking. I am on the committee for St. Jude Research Hospital. We're having our huge event on September 10. St. Jude heart of fashion. So it's a big fashion show with Anne Fontaine and my girlfriend Anna billings, who's the general manager of they're invited me onto the committee. She's one of the committee chairs, along with Lisa SIG, and Erica Thompson. So we are, you know, over our goal right now, our it's our intention to well, we we beat last year for sure. We raised I think $350,000 For research hospital last year for St. Jude, this year, it looks the will be well over half a million dollars right now. So our goal as far as the year, I think we set our goal at 400. But we know we're gonna far exceed that. So, you know, again, another organization for children.

Unknown Speaker 18:44
That's a phenomenal organization that it's, you know, when you see commercials for it, it tugs at your heartstrings, because you see these children that are not well, they're very sick. And, and, but then they have a charity ball, which is a lot of fun, you get to get dressed up, and, you know, sort of reap the benefits of, you know, just charity and doing good work. And it's it's probably like the warm and fuzzy of the sad side. Yeah, but it's great that they have that especially since you can raise more money to fund other parts of the hospital.

Unknown Speaker 19:16
Well, what I've learned is that, you know, in fundraising, when you decide you want to raise money, you can do whatever you want to raise money. And you know, I have a lot of girlfriends that like to shop, I like to shop so we've had a lot of events where you go shopping, and it's on behalf of the children and I'm like so I get to go shopping and so much of this money is gonna go towards you know, the the charity, double whammy. I love it. Let's do it. So,

Unknown Speaker 19:44
so if someone wanted to contribute to Nevada's giving, how would they do that? Right

Unknown Speaker 19:49
now we're in the infancy we just got the website up. But right now if you want to get a hold of me at Cindy berkland.com and you're no problem, we're happy to take your checks. We're officially our founding Question. We're bank accounts are up and running. And we're going to be starting to do some pretty big fundraisers this year. But Cindy berkland.com Has your answer.

Unknown Speaker 20:08
Excellent. And I did want to congratulate you on the brilliance of speakeasy. I mean, they were trying to put a mandate, which says, Don't meet people. And you said, I disagree

Unknown Speaker 20:19
over my dead body. Right. So we, we started with 18. We're up to about 120 business owners running through both venues every month. And I'm proud to say we've had three businesses that would have filed bankruptcy that didn't. And startup during our time, we've been open just about two years now. Very proud of that. And I stand for Nevada locals have been in this town. 27 years, I've been self employed almost the whole entire time since I've been here. I know how hard it is to be a business owner. It was really great hearing, Jen, like, the issues that business owners have that does keep us up at night. I mean, when COVID happened, I was laying in bed going, I don't know how many of my friends are going to be going under over this one. And over my dead body, we're not going to have that happen. So we just got our heads together and said, What are we going to do and we started speakeasy because we weren't supposed to be doing that. And, you know, created a venue for business owners to trade business with one another. And it's, it's something I'm really proud of.

Unknown Speaker 21:22
I wish I could attend those there on the first and third Tuesday evenings. Yeah, I wish I could, but I can't because the cause marketing chamber has its own events on Tuesdays. Right. And I did want to mention that every third Tuesday of the month at 6pm Online. So we record these is the cousin business member training. Our next one is featuring I believe these master these are Grandmaster Stan shields. He will be talking about automation for your business so that way you can focus on your business instead of the flight. What is it called? Logistics. Yeah, logistics, the busyness of business. And then also every fourth Tuesday, we have our nonprofit mixer every month, every fourth Tuesday of the month, we try and go to a local restaurant. So we can bring their business and highlight a nonprofit every every month. We are doing that. So we will be having instead of a Tuesday mixer, we will be having a pre event mixer on Thursday, August 25th. from four to 8pm. It will be at we work in town square, where we will be having a get together meeting a lot of business owners and we will also be highlighting our featured nonprofit which is Spread the Word Nevada, they are a nonprofit that is focused on making sure kids are literate. So they are looking for book donations if you wanted to bring books to help further their cause, and learn more about their mission. So we hope to see you there Thursday at the we work in town square. Of course, normally we have the fourth Tuesday of the month as a regular mixer. So we will update you as our next one happens in September.

Unknown Speaker 23:05
That being said, Carl, also, as you spoke earlier, on August 16, from six to seven, this featured speaker, like you said was Stan shields, with digital marketing guru. And as I talked about earlier, I just came from a board meeting. Digital Marketing, the way that businesses work in the digital realm. If you have old stuff, and you're not caught up in the digital world, your business will be affected negatively by that. So looking forward to hearing what Stan has to say about that. Yes,

Unknown Speaker 23:43
can't wait to learn because I know I'm not even all that familiar with the the tech talks and all this other I can't wait to learn from this guy. Because I just have not caught up on the new digital marketing tick tock Insta cart. Wait

Unknown Speaker 23:59
till we start talking about omni channel where you bring all the different digital marketing's and reach out to your clients and customers and try to get that situation nice and smooth transition. So nobody knows that they're actually dealing with dealing with different digital platforms. And so it's a new age, especially coming out of COVID where so many people have re adjusted their life so that's going to be a good piece. That being said, Carl, being the guest I want to thank you for allowing me to be with you. I appreciate your tutelage and guidance. But please take it away and take us home already.

Unknown Speaker 24:36
Thank you Jim. I do want to thank you for being here. It was great to work with you see you again this time not as a guest but as a guest host and also to our two guests, Silvia Aguilar from honest Insurance Services. And Cindy berkland from Cindy berkland.com Actually, what is the name of your show that way people can

Unknown Speaker 24:54
currently I have a naked money series so I'm your naked money coach.com But then I also Cindy berglund.com Hey, we'll do whatever it takes to get business in the door right?

Unknown Speaker 25:09
All right, speaking of shows, be sure to catch us every second Sunday at 7:30am. You can catch us at KU nv 91.5 If you are local, or you can catch us on the radio on the internet, on K, u and v, make sure you go to HD one. That way you can catch us every month show your support and if you could please go to our events member every third and fourth Tuesdays especially our businesses with heart Expo, which will be on September 8 in support of Spread the Word Nevada thank you all for listening and we will catch you next month.

Unknown Speaker 25:55
World Maamar people live in lightning God. I think the whole world's addicted to the drama only attracted to things and to bring the Trump overseas. Yeah, we just want to stop here with what we still got terrorists here living in the US

Transcribed by https://otter.ai