Mighty Measure: Introducing the Podcast

Kim Allchurch Flick: Hello, my name is Kim Allchurch Flick, and I’m here to introduce the Mighty Measure podcast series with my dear friend and my wonderful, supportive marketing person, Meg Brunson. I am going to introduce myself as the founder of Mighty Epiphyte Consulting, and I started that company 14 years ago. Because I really believe in entrepreneurs and small business as a force for good in the world, and I see it everywhere.

And I also know that customers, consumers, stakeholders, partners, are looking for companies with good values and sometimes it’s really, really difficult to find. So my work helps. People with their marketing, their expression, and helps create those touch points so that your customers can find you. And I’m also going to introduce Meg to you now.

So meg, would you tell us who you are? 

Meg Brunson: Yeah. Thanks Kim. So I am Meg Brunson. I am the founder of Just Marketing. Just Marketing is a little play on words. It’s the place where justice and marketing intersect. And my Just Marketing framework prioritizes ethics, inclusion and accessibility in everything that we do in business and in marketing.

So that’s what sets me apart in my approach. And gosh, Kim and I have been connected. For three plus years, and it has been a beautiful connection supporting Mighty Epiphyte. And now, we’re transitioning into Mighty Measure. And I’m really excited to be here today to introduce the podcast with Kim and let you know what to expect and also, shine some insights on what impact really means.

So thank you so much, Kim. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: We are very excited about the Mighty Measure podcast because as I mentioned, there’s so many people doing good in the world, and we want those stories to be shared. There’s so much innovation. I’d want those innovations to be shared. And this is one way to do it and get into the personal nature of things and to understand why people’s values resonate and how your values can resonate as well.

So that is the main part of it, and we are going to rebrand the company also to Mighty Measure. so very, very excited about. Future. Future and how we can help each other and move forward as a community. All these conversations will be thoughtful. They’ll be interesting. We’ve already prerecorded some that are so fascinating, so I’m glad you’re aboard and we’d love to have you listen to as many as you can.

Meg Brunson: One of the things that that you just brought up for me is, and something that makes us similar in our journeys, is that we are working in industries that historically have just been unjust, unethical, on accessible, on inclusive, all of those things, right? The way that business.

Typically prioritizes profits over people. And the same thing with marketing, right? ’cause marketing is part of business. And so I think a big piece of this podcast is sharing those stories of how we don’t have to follow the status quo. You don’t have to do the things that other businesses are doing or the things that have always been done in your business.

We can do things differently. We can do things with kindness and impact. Without sacrificing profits like we are still going to be profitable. However, we’re going to do that in a much more ethical way. And I think that’s like at its core, that’s what makes you and I so similar and it makes us work so well together is because we have that goal of making positive impacts in the world and then building profitable businesses to support that work.

Kim Allchurch Flick: Oh, I concur. I also believe it was. Serendipity how we met? Yeah. We met because of early on at the beginnings of it, the Institute for Equity Centered Coaching, where I earned a certificate in leadership and coaching and then re-certified in that. And. You were always there. We went through the courses together, and that seems to be bedrock for Just Marketing.

Equity is one of my number one values for Mighty Epiphyte Consulting and Mighty Measure. And equity is important to think of in all aspects. How do we treat people, who benefits, who’s burdened, who’s left out, all those questions, and those will come up through the podcast as well. So I really appreciate that we met and that we work together now.

Meg Brunson: Oh, me too. Me too. And can you share a little bit about what sparked the transition to Mighty Measure from Mighty Epiphyte? 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Yes, introspection part of it and feedback. I was a biology major. Long ago and was lucky enough to work in business, so I actually got a tremendous business education as well.

When I created Mighty Epiphyte, it was to combine that science as a metaphor. For entrepreneurship. An Epiphyte is a plant that grows like orchids, bromeliads, ferns in the northwest. They grow on other plants, and the metaphor is they bring something beautiful and strong to the world, but they need a really good support system to do that.

So I was really happy with my little metaphor, and yet through time, it’s hard to say. It’s very difficult for people to spell. So I’ve had that issue. And also there’s something about evolving that rebranding can help with. So Mighty Epiphyte is still in my heart as a metaphor. I think it’s still true, but Mighty Measure is future focused. It’s what we can all do. Think about what can we do with Mighty Measure? What is Mighty Measure? And a play on words that’s also fun and bright, and it can be introspective. Also very workable. One of the things about being found as a company for values and making impacts in the world is being able to demonstrate it as well.

And part of that is measuring, and that can be really interesting and it can be fun. It doesn’t have to be droll or dry. So that’s what we wanna bring out about this is how helping companies be found for their mighty measures. 

Meg Brunson: I love mighty Epiphyte. I love the story behind it, and I love the way that it really incorporates, an important piece of who you are and your interests. Once people get to know you, they really get to understand your interests in the environment and in plants. And, we could go on and on about like your backyard and, so I love how you had that symbolism baked right into your branding and.

I love that with the new branding, with Mighty Measure that isn’t lost, it’s still there. People are still, as the branding evolves, they’re still gonna see that environmental impact and even. If people look at like the cover art for this podcast or the branding, they’re gonna see the little Mighty Measure icon.

The little symbol which resembles a plant. So even though, I love the Mighty Epiphyte story, and I love that even in the rebrand, we haven’t lost that unique piece. That really makes it you, and I think that’s so important. I’m not a branding specialist, but I do consider myself a creative, especially in this marketing space.

And so I love that that piece, that creative piece isn’t lost. It’s been carried along with you.

Kim Allchurch Flick: And hopefully we’ll bring it to light throughout the podcast and all the other offerings that Mighty Measure is an advocacy for companies. 

And the podcast is part of sharing that. So I’m really, really proud to launch into 2026 with you and this brand new podcast. 

Meg Brunson: Me too. How else would you say that you’re different? Your advocacy for the environment, like I just mentioned to me, really sets you apart from others.

But how is your approach different in this impact space?

Kim Allchurch Flick: When I first started, I was at Portland State University in the first year of the certificate for the Business of Social Enterprise, and I thought, wow, I’ve been wanting to be like this. I’ve been around business owners that share values in those.

Unfortunately, in some of the corporate work I did that don’t, but there was never a word for it. So taking that certificate to me was even more important than the MBA I was getting as well because it really put a framework around something and during that time. Through Net impact other students and I were on teams and we would work with local companies on their B Lab assessments to become B Corps or to Recertify.

And when I did that with a winery, grocery store, a couple of others, I was just hooked. And after graduation, I decided to create a company to do just that. I loved it so much, and at the time, I was one of the few doing it. Now there are a lot of people who have caught the bug, which I think is a very good thing.

It resonates that people want to be helpful, that in the space of social enterprise, we want people to be recognized and to be helpful. And the way I do it differently is to really give my clients an option to say they want me to carry the load, the time load, and the burden, and be a. Part of the system to relieve them from a lot of it, but also teach and show why it’s important and have them be very involved.

So that’s one. If there are other companies who say I, or we, my team, we wanna handle this ourselves, but we’re gonna have questions along the way, will you be the nine one one call at certain times, I say absolutely. And there’s always a scope of work and things to talk about, but the really big thing is.

To work with you companies, teams to be introspective about why you do what you do, what values do you want to be noticed and remember that consumers, partners are looking for companies with good values. It’s the how part. How does that resonate? How are those values expressed?

How when you feel like working on. Benefits is an extra job on top of doing the work of owning a company, selling a product, and we work together to make that integral. So it feels almost like breathing, that doing the benefits reporting and even thinking about it becomes so much a part of the system of working.

Doing the work and feeling good about it, that it becomes more fun, that people are more engaged, that the employees stay longer because they feel it, and it really becomes a value within and outside of a company to think along these lines. So we work together to really consider that way that’s personalized for your company and your team to think about how to be the best you can be.

The steps along the way and have it be less of a burden than most people anticipate that it is. 

Meg Brunson: I love that you brought up benefit reports, so I wanna talk a little bit more about benefit reports, what they are, why they matter, and also. If you can lead that into or include like a conversation around certifications.

I know you are a certified B Corps, you’re a certified benefit corporation for good company. You’ve got a couple other certifications and verifications and benefit reports are an essential part of that process. And they’re also important for people who aren’t going through that process. So you help with the benefit reports, you also help with the certification processes. Can you break down for us all, kinda make that clear how all of that works together and integrates into your work? 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Absolutely. And I appreciate that you also said that a company doesn’t have to be certified to do a good benefit report. Nonprofits also do them.

It leads back to what I think when I read a good benefit report. There’s a favorite nonprofit that I’ve been volunteering with for years. I really look forward to their annual benefit report because the way they write it, it shares their vision and values. It shares highs and lows. Yes, it shares some financials because they’re a nonprofit.

It’s so inspiring and to think about benefit reports is to think about it, not like drudgery, but as an experiential opportunity to share a recap and a forward looking viewpoint with the audience, which is everybody from customers, stakeholders providers, and to really. Give them something that’s tangible, not just little social media blurbs here and there, but it’s all encapsulated into one thing.

And the beautiful thing about a benefit report is, and I do believe that some people look at it as drudgery that you have to do at the end of the year, kind of like taxes at the beginning of the year. You have to just sit down and do it all at once and get through it. That doesn’t have to be true.

There’s several ways to really think of a benefit report as a group effort that can be fun and you total it at the end of the year. And what I mean by that is, if you have a team in your company to think about delegating, who really loves environmental issues, who really loves the social issues, who might really love taking care of the employees themselves and.

Think of what impacts are being made throughout a year. You can delegate and bring people in and have discussions and think about how did we do month to month? What are some of the values? How are we reflecting our values? It’s also a way of thinking of decision making, which we also learned in the Institute for Equity Centered Coaching.

When you have your values and there’s a decision to be made, if the values are more than a plaque on a on the wall, but they are something that you say, I’m gonna reflect every decision based. Does it fit? Does it mesh? What should the decision be based on our values? That all flows into tabulating and benefit reporting, and it’s a beautiful way to create a document to share, and that sharing is internal and outwardly facing as well.

I think they’re a marvelous thing. They’re also a way to state what your goals are and to share aspirations and to be able to go with that and keep those benefit reports as an active living document, not just a PDF that people scan through and then put away, but to really think about, it’s a way of striving.

It’s a way of patting yourselves on the back. It’s a way of. Consistently looking at values and saying, yes, we live these, and it is expressed as a benefit report, 

Meg Brunson: and we’ll be sure to link to your benefit report not only for 2025, but you have previous years benefit reports as well. So we’ll link to those in the show notes.

So you can go and see an example of Kim’s benefit report and then if you really want to get into it, you can dive into past years and see. A few things, like you can see how your business has changed. Obviously you’ll see like increases in from benefit report three years ago to now. But you’ll also see an evolution in the way that Kim, you have published your benefit reports.

’cause that’s changed over time. And I think the big takeaway there is that. You can start messy, like with most things done is better than perfect. get it done. It’s okay if it’s not focused on everything. Kim and I have talked this year. I’m probably gonna do my first one and now I’m saying it on this podcast, and now I feel like I’m probably gonna have to be held to that standard.

But what I’m really focusing on this in my first one will be time, like my time, my volunteer work. It’s okay. Like you start small, you start with what you have and then you build upon it. And I think that you’ll see that in a way, through looking at all of your past benefit reports.

Kim Allchurch Flick: I look back on my past ones sometimes and, it is inspiring. It is inspiring to make progress. It is fun to look back like an archive project, and it’s interesting to measure some things, particularly things like volunteer hours or donations. The other thing for certifications that they request is equity reports as well , who do you work with?

Where do they come from? How much diversity is there, things of that nature. And. Every time we strive a little further, it opens up more questions, and it’s all about improving, but doing so in a way that is not meant to be stressful, but is meant to be inspiring. 

Meg Brunson: I’ve noticed it in so many aspects of my business that when you track things, it makes it very clear. How you’re spending your time or how you’re spending your money and without tracking them, you have no way to measure improvements or measure anything.

We have to track. We have to track. Anyhow, that might be a little bit of a babble, but I want to also talk a little bit about the certifications and verifications pieces. Can you touch on why somebody may wanna be certified or verified, and maybe even why it might not be the right time for someone to take those steps?

Kim Allchurch Flick: B Corps. B lab, B Corps certification is one of the first and earliest almost 20 years and. It is rigorous. It’s also becoming increasingly recognizable. And when it comes to people finding you, this is one of the ways that can be helpful. B Lab has a directory. The icon is becoming more recognizable.

And it creates a way for you to establish a marketing presence with addition to product and service, but also through values. There are some companies that prefer not to become B Corp for a variety of reasons. Some of it might be cost. B Lab has a set price for small companies, and then it’s basically scale to revenue.

For big companies, that can be several thousand dollars. There is a value to a network that comes through that. B Corps tend to recognize B Corps. I also am really encouraged about the innovations as well, because. Some people might say I’m not gonna become a B Corp, but I still wanna establish a value presence.

And seven years ago, the Benefit Corporations for good certification was created in the state of Oregon with the blessing of the Secretary of State’s office. And that is one that same premise to help a company establish that they’re a benefit corporation with a. A 60 question quiz where B Labs is hundreds of questions and a less cost point, and then about two to three years ago, along comes the Purchasing with Purpose Movement.

That is a nonprofit that encourages partnerships and encourages people to go through the people in Planet First verification, which is five questions. And a much lesser price point. All of these things, and I believe in, find what fits. It’s all about what is best for you, your company, your presence, your time, and

start where you think it’s best. I. Choose to certify in all three because I like to know how things work and if I know I can share and if I know I can guide and when I know I can help. That is one of the reasons, and it’s also to be a part of a community. You’ll find that there are in many cities across the US and where B Corp is in other continents as well, that there’s what’s called B Locals that can be joined and they become a networking community.

Benefit Corporations for Good has one as well. That’s one of the beautiful parts, and you don’t have to be certified to join. You really get to know people and see what’s going on in the community with the businesses, have discussions and that I think is the real reason why the certifications may or may not matter to you, but knowing that they exist and knowing that these communities exist are around us.

That’s like the high tide that raises all boats.

Meg Brunson: And I know you mentioned some of the different price points. It’s also important to keep in mind that we’re not just paying for a badge. I participated in some of the B Lab trainings with you, so the cost of these certifications goes beyond a badge on your website. Each organization offers a variety of supports for the businesses that have those certifications. And, since working with you especially. And learning a lot about B Corps. I was familiar with it before, but I feel like working together now, I’m much more familiar and it does make a difference when I’m going to a website or when I’m at a store.

If I’m looking at something and maybe comparing products and when you see that B Corps logo. It’s like, oh, this is a company that’s doing the work. They’re not just saying they’re doing the work.

It doesn’t just say like, locally sourced on the front and you just believe it or you don’t. When you see that logo, it’s like, oh they’ve done the work. They’ve, they actually value this, you know, a little bit more about that company, and it gives you, it gives me at least a little bit additional confidence in supporting that business. So I definitely think there’s a value there, but like you said, it’s also the size of your company and things like that. And if you can’t afford those certifications or that’s not, in the cards for you this year, that benefit report is a good option. Something that anybody can do.

There’s no requirement on how that looks if you’re not going through those certifications. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: There’s a really good quote for one of the podcasts coming up where Katherine Latham said that small business for good as a strong small business is an act of resistance.

And in a way these things, these verifications, certifications, business reports, benefit reports are also ways of making improvements in our world. Whatever your universe might look like to you, it’s business as a force for good and act of resistance. And the badges are a way of showing that journey because someone else is verifying and saying, yes, this company, this person, this leader is doing what they say they’re doing.

So it’s a proof point. I also wanna recognize that there are some people who don’t wanna verify or certify or maybe looking to put it off for a future. Yet there’s still ways to work together and find that you can be recognized and found. For the values that you hold. 

Meg Brunson: Yes, exactly. Getting found is the big piece of the puzzle, right?

Kim Allchurch Flick: Yes. 

Meg Brunson: Because marketing is hard. SEO is hard, standing out from others in your space is difficult. But if you can be found for doing the right things, for making those positive impacts, it matters to so many people. You can share your Nielsen quote, right? 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Yes, indeed. Nielsen, I believe it was 2014.

They do a lot of studies on social enterprise, and one is they found that globally, two thirds of consumers are willing to pay more for products and services when they know a company has good values. So how do they know? How do they find you? All of us have clients in that two thirds somewhere.

How do we reach them? How do they find us? 

Meg Brunson: And I’m one of those two thirds, I feel like so many people listening Yes. Are likely saying, yes, I’m in those two thirds. I’d rather spend a little more and know that business is using their profits for good. Indeed. Now, I feel like we’ve talked already, we’ve covered like the importance of measuring impacts, improving impacts.

How exactly though do you define impact? It could, it gets one little word that I feel like could mean something else, something different to so many different people. But when it comes to Mighty Measure, what 

does an impact 

mean? 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Oh, thank you for asking. And I do tend now to avoid the word sustainability because it’s so broad.

That definitions do matter. I look at impact as what? What value is acted out to actually express and make something happen? And then how is that looked at? How is it documented? How is it felt? And impacts can be made within a company, within employees, and that can be things from good benefits.

Good pay, but also how people are treated and what to expect and impacts themselves within a company can help blend to greater productivity and also greater retention that’s been shown. External impacts can be environmentally, and these are things that can be incremental. We don’t do it all at once.

It’s we learn as we go. But what environmental impacts can be made. It can be through volunteering with organizations donating to heavy hitters. I always believe, there’s so little I can do by myself, particularly in policy or something, but supporting the heavy hitters who can. And the other thing is, what are the incremental changes we can make in our lives and in our business?

Do you wanna reduce plastic? Do you want to, save energy, money. Do you want to ride public transportation more and not have as much a mission? Think of the things that matter to you most and prioritize. That’s an impact category. Another is socially. How do we look at supporting people in our communities and globally?

And again, that can also come down to. Either volunteering or donating, but also actively, how do you engage with community? How do you purchase? All of these things can be impacts. How do we shift our purchase? An example of an impact that I made in my household, which is where my office is I went through and looked at all the plastic in cleaning and laundry supplies, and I looked for innovations.

Found three different brands that are doing a lot of good plant-based cleaning supplies with zero plastic. And I put ’em through a quality trial for about four months. Pretty much everything sent free, so nobody else noticed. I wanted a really good quality control, and when I announced it to the family and said, this is what I’ve been using, nobody really noticed a difference.

The price point’s just about the same. We brought the plastics down to zero in those categories, laundry and cleaning. What impact does that make? Tiny for one person, and yet I’m talking about it. Who else might be inspired to do the same thing? Tell the neighbors about it. These are things that we can do as part of life that take a little thought process, but also when you incorporate them into daily life, we’re cleaning and doing laundry anyway.

Why not do so with impact? Impact can also mean lessening a bad impact. So, I think another impact is to really think in terms of equity. That statement, who benefits, who’s burdened, who’s left out, is a really good thing to layer over a decision and say, okay, who am I impacting positively or negatively?

’cause impacts can also be negative. I think we really need to think about it, take a breath, examine, compare it against our values, and then do some categorizing. And granted, there are a lot of categories that overlap each other and I think we catch on and I find that now my decision making, even in a store is guided by wanting to make.

Lessened impacts that are negative, greater impacts that are positive. And for instance, one of the things I was looking for the other day was salad dressing. But instead of looking for a dressing that I really liked, I looked for glass. And even if there was a dressing, I really liked it. It was in plastic, I’m not gonna buy it.

So the decision is like the priority shift is to look at. Packaging is a big place. And also I think when we recognize an innovation and give a shout out to them, give a review to them, I’m noticing innovations in packaging. There’s a lot to be hopeful about. And when we adopt that, it helps our companies and our personal lives in improving impacts as well.

So there’s a lot more discussion about that word. I think, but think of it as a way to just go about your day and say, what kind of impact am I making? And it’s not just shopping, it’s other things as well. And if I have a choice to make, will the impact be positive or negative? Can I do something with less bad impact and greater good impact?

And then start thinking about doing that over and over and over again, and then share it. 

Meg Brunson: It reminds me of one of my, I don’t know if I could call it a quote because I can never remember the exact words, but the concept. The concept that if all the injustices in our world are this huge tapestry.

We can, by pulling one little thread, it feels like it wouldn’t make that big of a difference. But if everybody’s pulling one little thread, we’re gonna unravel that whole damn cloth. That concept always sticks with me, and I feel like it’s so relevant when it comes to impacts because it feels like, I’m only one person, how does my buying a glass salad dressing really change the world? And like in, in the grand scheme of things, that one purchase, like you said, it doesn’t, maybe in the grand scheme of things, it’s the little thread, but. If everybody’s doing that, it will ripple.

And it’s okay to start where you are. Plastic might not be something you can do right now, but maybe there’s something else. Maybe there’s something else you can do. And maybe it has to do with social justice or environmental justice. and that’s okay too. There’s no judgment, it’s just. Figuring out where you are, and this is where measurement comes into play too, like measuring to see where you are with things and then how can you. How can you change things going forward? This is obviously a topic we could keep talking about. Like even just this episode, so many things were raised that we could dive deeper into, but for the sake of keeping our episode at a reasonable length we can’t do that.

But that’s what people are gonna get from this podcast. From every episode of this podcast going forward, right? Is diving into those topics like benefit reports and certifications and equity, and we didn’t even talk about the UN’s sustainable development goals, all of those types of topics, right?

That’s what this podcast is here for, and most of the episodes are likely gonna be interviews and discussions. But there might be some solo episodes. But I think that also ties full circle back into what you were saying about Epiphyte, right? And it’s having that strong support that strong network.

And so you, Kim, have an incredible network of folks, some of whom I’ve already gotten to listen to those episodes because of my role. I’ve gotten a preview already of what’s to come and your network is incredible. And so this podcast is gonna be such a great way for everybody to be able to tap into your network and the genius that exists there.

Kim Allchurch Flick: I appreciate that. It is, there are some wonderful people out there, and I’m really excited about this particular podcast because everyone has something brilliant inside them and we can all learn from that and also know our own brilliance and share that as well. That’s what’s gonna help improve things.

We don’t live in isolation. The whole point I really believe of being a benefit corporation is not to do the work solo, it’s about connecting, sharing, helping others along and being helped along at the same time.

Meg Brunson: And episodes are gonna be dropping weekly for now, right? 

Kim Allchurch Flick: That is correct. 

Meg Brunson: I know that we were aiming for shorter episodes, but that’s not really what’s happening. So these are gonna be what range, would you say? Like 30 to 60 minutes? 

Kim Allchurch Flick: That is the range, yes. 

Meg Brunson: It’s hard to keep them shorter because there’s so much juicy information we just wanna dive into.

So I think that folks are gonna really learn to love these longer form interviews and discussions. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Indeed, so far I’ve been absolutely fascinated and encouraged and have optimism because of the people that were coming into the podcast and that we’re interviewing.

Meg Brunson: Kim, this was so great. Thank you so much for inviting me to be on this introductory episode with you. I’m so excited to be a part of this project and to see where everything goes from here. I wanna invite everybody who’s listening to subscribe and follow the show. If you’re listening to this on a podcast platform right now, you can go and hit subscribe right on that platform. You can also go to TheMightyMeasure.com/podcast we’ll have all the links for you there. Hit subscribe. Don’t miss another episode. And also connect with Kim on LinkedIn or Instagram. Those links will also be at TheMightyMeasure.com/podcast.

And share this episode with anybody else who’s looking to align their businesses with their values. 

Kim Allchurch Flick: Thank you so much, Meg. I couldn’t do it without you and everyone. I look forward to connecting with you if possible, and if you’re listening to these episodes that you also leave each one with optimism and a forward-looking spirit that we’re doing some good together.