BY RAEANNE MARSH
ENTREPRENEURS & INNOVATORS
Creating a Creatives’ Space Michelle Biely, owner of The Creative Center of Scottsdale, describes the business she founded in 2014 as a co-working space for messy artists. “This is a place where painters, sculptures, clothing designers, hat makers, stained glass window makers and any other artists who make a mess can come and be part of a community,” she says, noting the center’s open and informal arrangement enables artists to bounce ideas off one another, collaborate together and make friendships. “The company was started by accident during a conversation I was having with a few entrepreneur friends,” she relates. “At the time, I was doing pet photography and needed a place to set my studio up. Another friend of mine was a woodworker and was looking for an open area to create his pieces. Inspiration hit when I realized there were no businesses in the Valley that catered only to creatives. I resolved to open a space with no walls so we could work in harmony and hang out together. Traditional office spaces can seem stifling and suffocating for those in this field — with certain rules and restrictions around how loud they can be, how much room they can take up and how their materials might ‘ruin’ the office.” Her first challenge was acceptance for the concept itself, as those closest to her told her it wouldn’t work because of a stigma or stereotype around artists that, they said, makes
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people think they have secrets, methods and pieces they don’t want to share. “I quickly realized if there were artists who fell into this category, they would not be the ones interested in the center.” Another challenge, of course, was getting the word out to fill the spaces. “Since I was a first-time business owner, my connections were somewhat limited outside the community of friends and artists I had created over the years. Thankfully, being situated on a piece of Scottsdale Road with high traffic allowed me to organically spread the word and garner interest.” Biely considers the best piece of advice she received, which has kept her motivated in growing the center, is to take the time to invest in the artists themselves. “Seeing new tenants come in get excited about having a dedicated space to explore their creative energy is the thing that keeps me going.” That, and the positive feedback they give her. She has also begun to help spread their work to the world through different efforts, like a pop-up fair scheduled for March that will be free and open to the public. Initiatives like this will help get their name and pieces out into the world. “I am excited to be helping the local art community expand its reach,” she says. The Creative Center of Scottsdale creativecenterscottsdale.com
Bringing Drones into Field of Financial Analysis “Starting a business is the most rewarding thing a person can do in their professional life, but it has to be internally rewarding,” shares Scott Roelofs, owner of RCG Valuation & Monetization. “External rewards don’t come right away, and their effects do not last.”
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Scott Roelofs, CFA, ABV, founded RCG Valuation & Monetization in September 2017 to help small to medium-sized businesses grow and monetize through advanced financial analysis and specialty tax planning. “I found that my opportunities as a financial analyst were limited to either publicly traded companies or private equity. I have always been fascinated by business and I wanted to effect real change. If I could show small business owners how powerful financial planning can be, we could change lives, not just rates of return.” Roelofs implemented drones and 3-D cameras to help produce low-cost yet high-quality reports for business owners, as the cutting-edge technology removes the high cost of engineering in the field. The company focuses on cost-segregation studies, tax-credit reports, business valuations
and business development that will help business owners prepare for transition, whether that is starting, growing or, eventually, a business. As owner of RCG Valuation, Roelofs has kept in mind an analogy his godfather gave him for starting a business: “When driving a Ferrari, get comfortable in second gear before moving to sixth. Mistakes made in sixth gear can be painful.” Says Roelofs, “I took this advice and slowed our expansion so that we were comfortable delivering on the promises we were making to our customers. There are two reasons why businesses fail — too little business and too much business.” RCG Valuation & Monetization rcgvaluation.com
Phoenix ranks number 7 on Chamber of Commerce’s recently announced “Best Cities for Business in the USA,” a ranking created for small business owners and entrepreneurs seeking to find the optimal American city to start building a company. chamberofcommerce.org/best-cities-for-business
