My Story
Hi, I am Karen Bentley-Brown, founder of Bentley-Brown Associates and passionate about helping people to grow good business.
For the past twenty years I’ve been helping businesses and charities to develop and thrive. I enjoy nothing more than reading about or, even better, visiting businesses that have found a way to improve the world we live in and at the same time as making a profit… Actually there is one thing I enjoy more that is sharing those ideas (See Positive News). Over this time it has become clear to me that the organisations who look after their people (staff and customers), and their environment, are the most successful; to put it bluntly they are more sustainable AND they make more money.
You could say that I’m a bit biased as I have always believed that we should leave the planet in a better way than we found it, both for people and wildlife. One of my early memories is joining WWF’s ‘Panda Club’ as a child in the 1960s after hearing about the plight of giant pandas (I’m pleased to say that they have recently been taken off the ‘endangered species’ list). In my later life I was privileged to work for WWF as one of their Regional Managers before moving on to fundraising and development roles with other environmental organisations including the National Trust.
As my work began to merge with the ‘for profit’ world I always carried my environmental hat with me. At first it was under the guise of ‘saving the planet can save you money’… This is true but it isn’t a very authentic business model and I knew there was a better way to do business. Since becoming a freelance business consultant and coach I’ve had the opportunity to work with a wide variety of businesses both large and small and have developed a template that works for all organisations based on John Elkington’s Triple Bottom Line or People, Planet, Profit model.
Put simply, if you look after your people and your planet you will make more profit. But there are an infinite number of ways to do this and I’d be delighted to help you find the best way for you and your organisation to develop and tell your positive impact story. ☺
My Community
- Freelance Business Advisor for Cumbria Chamber of Commerce
- Trainer and Business Mentor at The Growing Club* CIC
- Founder of Simply Repair South Lakes*
- Trustee at Cumbria Action for Sustainability
- Member of Institute of Fundraisers
- Member of the Lake District National Park’s Business Task Force
- Member and Founder of Kendal Brewery Arts Centre Business Club
Simply Repair
Find out more about the repair revolution in South Lakeland.
Positive News
Head over to my blog for positive case studies and good advice.