Episode 254

Nobody loves talking about insurance. Today's guest does. Evie Blair is the President and Founder of Synergy Benefit Advisors, and she is also this podcast's sponsor, so I wanted you to meet the person behind the name and hear why her clients get what she calls the white glove treatment.

Evie set a goal at 20 to run her own agency and opened her doors at 30, and she built it on fast answers (be the Chick-fil-A of whatever you do) and turning over every stone to find the best deal without giving up coverage, because a lot of employers are overpaying for benefits. We talk about the benefits you may not know exist, like pet insurance and the emergency savings account, who she works with (one employee with an LLC up to about 500, from Tulsa and Jackson Hole, Wyoming), why a no-cost second opinion matters in a year of 28 to 60 percent rate increases, and when a new business owner should call. Then Evie shares Insure Oklahoma, the state program that can pay 60 percent of a qualifying employee's health premium. Rapid fire ends on what following your passion means to her.

Find Synergy Benefit Advisors at tulsasynergy.com and on Instagram at @synergybenefitadvisors.

Today's sponsor: Synergy Benefit Advisors (tulsasynergy.com).
Join our free online community: skool.com/sharingpassionandpurpose

Chapters:
0:00 Coming up
0:36 Sharing Passion and Purpose
0:54 Welcome: meet Evie Blair
1:45 A ten-year goal: opening the agency at 30
3:48 What Synergy Benefit Advisors does: the white glove treatment
5:00 Most employers are overpaying for benefits
8:55 The benefits you did not know existed: pet insurance
10:19 The emergency savings account
13:05 Who Synergy works with: one employee to 500
14:04 A word from our sponsor
15:14 The no-cost consultation: get a second opinion
16:17 Rate increases of 28 to 60 percent: start shopping early
17:41 When should a new business owner call?
19:16 Insure Oklahoma: the program every Oklahoma employer should know
23:23 Rapid fire
24:39 What does following your passion mean to you?
26:01 A question from the last guest: solve one world problem
27:45 Sharing Passion and Purpose outro

ABOUT NANCY
Nancy Moore is the host of Sharing Passion and Purpose, a weekly podcast offering career and creative inspiration to help you build a purpose-filled life. Pursuing a career with passion, tapping into your creative potential, and building on your best resource: yourself.

ABOUT EVIE BLAIR
Evie Blair is the President and Founder of Synergy Benefit Advisors, an employee benefits agency with offices in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She has worked in the benefits industry since 1998, on both the carrier and the advisory side. At 20 she set a ten-year goal to open her own agency, and at 30 she did, building it around fast, hands-on service for employers of every size, from a one-person LLC to companies of about 500. Synergy handles health, dental, vision, life and disability coverage, voluntary benefits like pet insurance and emergency savings accounts, benefits technology for onboarding and off-boarding, and the Insure Oklahoma subsidy program, and offers employers a no-cost consultation. Evie is married with two children.
Website: https://tulsasynergy.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/synergybenefitadvisors/

CONNECT & GO DEEPER
Join Nancy's free community: https://www.skool.com/sharingpassionandpurpose
Podcast website: https://sharingpassionandpurpose.com
Work with Nancy: https://nancymoore.co

Episode 253

What happens when you take a love for wine and pair it with a much bigger purpose? Tyler and Kelly Mullman were my neighbors in Tulsa, and today they own Cana Ranch Wines, a nonprofit winery built around meaningful work for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

A friend asked Tyler what he knew about running a nonprofit or making wine. Not much. So he enrolled in the UC Davis online winemaking program, and they volunteered at Belong Kitchen in Houston to learn how a nonprofit runs. We talk about the name, the first vintage (a 2024 Napa Valley Cabernet, 165 cases), how every $200 donation returns a bottle and funds their two partner programs, the Houston release party on November 13, and the vision of a Napa vineyard with a job for adults with disabilities at every level. Tyler's advice: you are smarter than you think you are. Keep trying, keep figuring it out.

Find Cana Ranch Wines at canaranch.org (Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn: canaranchwines).

Today's sponsor: Synergy Benefit Advisors (tulsasynergy.com).
Join our free online community: skool.com/sharingpassionandpurpose

Chapters:
0:00 Coming up
0:36 Sharing Passion and Purpose
0:54 Welcome: meet Tyler and Kelly Mullman
3:08 The question they asked during COVID
4:40 Why open a winery?
6:06 What do you know about running a nonprofit or making wine?
7:04 Volunteering at Belong Kitchen to learn how a nonprofit runs
9:12 Parents, adult children, and a massive unmet need
12:48 What is in the name Cana Ranch
15:34 A word from our sponsor
16:44 Where the business is today: the first vintage
19:15 How community has carried them
21:37 The easy part is making the wine. The hard part is selling it
22:05 How to get involved: a bottle for every $200 donation
24:45 The pie in the sky: a Napa vineyard that employs adults with IDD
27:27 Rapid fire
32:16 A question from the last guest: solve one problem forever
34:54 It can be scary. Start small. You are smarter than you think
36:16 Sharing Passion and Purpose outro

ABOUT NANCY
Nancy Moore is the host of Sharing Passion and Purpose, a weekly podcast offering career and creative inspiration to help you build a purpose-filled life. Pursuing a career with passion, tapping into your creative potential, and building on your best resource: yourself.

ABOUT TYLER & KELLY MULLMAN
Tyler and Kelly Mullman are the founders of Cana Ranch Wines, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit winery built to make great wine and do good: their 2024 Napa Valley Cabernet funds jobs and job training for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, on the way to a Napa vineyard and winery of their own. Tyler learned winemaking through the UC Davis online program; Kelly is a physician assistant. They live in Houston with their three children.
Website: https://www.canaranch.org
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/canaranchwines/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CanaRanchWines/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cana-ranch-wines/

CONNECT & GO DEEPER
Join Nancy's free community: https://www.skool.com/sharingpassionandpurpose
Podcast website: https://sharingpassionandpurpose.com
Work with Nancy: https://nancymoore.co

Episode 252

Destiny Green is the executive director of the Williams Route 66 Marathon and the historic Tulsa Run, and her path there started in IT. Today she shares how she grew from the race founder's right hand into leading it all, and why this job lets her have a small part in helping people do things they never thought they could do. She has seen engagements at the finish line and has even married couples at the start line.

We talk about how truly anyone can take part: walk a mile, walk a 5K, volunteer (it takes about 1,200 volunteers to make race weekend happen), or just get up off the couch and call a girlfriend for a walk after dinner. And I loved hearing about Kicks for Kids, the program that coaches and mentors elementary kids in Title I schools, teaching nutrition, confidence, and life lessons, where every kid who shows up earns a race entry, a medal, and a brand-new pair of running shoes. Some of them have never had a new pair of shoes before. It started with 4 schools and is in 18 now.

Connect with Destiny and the races at route66marathon.com and tulsarun.com, and follow her new adventure with her best friend Megan on Instagram at Girls Behind the Bib. The TTCU Tulsa Run is Saturday, October 31, and the Williams Route 66 Marathon is November 21 and 22.

Today's sponsor: Synergy Benefit Advisors (tulsasynergy.com).

Join our free online community: skool.com/sharingpassionandpurpose

Chapters:

0:00 Coming up

0:45 Sharing Passion and Purpose

1:02 Meet Destiny Green

1:32 From IT to running the show

3:01 49 years of the Tulsa Run

3:35 The Route 66 centennial

5:33 Something for everyone: walk, run, volunteer

7:28 Couch to one mile: just get up

9:56 A word from Synergy Benefit Advisors

11:08 Kicks for Kids

13:23 "Some of these kids have never had new shoes"

14:26 Coaching: "you just have to show up"

16:13 Her own running + the directors' run

17:23 Married couples at the start line

18:13 The running community that carries you

20:12 Rapid fire

21:01 "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart"

21:46 Know your resources

25:21 Girls Behind the Bib + finding the races

26:31 Until next time

ABOUT NANCY

Nancy Moore is the host of Sharing Passion and Purpose, a weekly podcast offering career and creative inspiration to help you build a purpose-filled life. Pursuing a career with passion, tapping into your creative potential, and building on your best resource: yourself.

ABOUT DESTINY GREEN

Destiny Green is the executive director of the Williams Route 66 Marathon and the Tulsa Run, Tulsa's most iconic road races. She grew into the role from a career in IT, working alongside the race's founder, and has led the organization for the better part of a decade. In 2019 she launched Kicks for Kids, a running, mentorship, and nutrition program in Tulsa-area Title I elementary schools where every participating child earns a race entry and a brand-new pair of running shoes, now in 18 schools.

Website: https://www.route66marathon.com

Tulsa Run: https://www.tulsarun.com

CONNECT & GO DEEPER

Join Nancy's free community: https://www.skool.com/sharingpassionandpurpose

Podcast website: https://sharingpassionandpurpose.com

Work with Nancy: https://nancymoore.co