Mission Driven Business
Brian Thompson Financial just celebrated its seventh birthday. In this inspirational special episode, Brian reflects on the lessons he’s learned as a mission-driven business owner over the past seven years. He also shares the moments that led him to starting his own company, critical turning points, and factors he attributes to his success. Episode Highlights: 7 Lessons 1. Celebrate your success. Starting a business is scary and involves a lot of risk. To stay grateful and humble, it’s important to celebrate what you’ve built. “I’ve found taking moments to appreciate and celebrate...
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Brian chats with professional basketball player-turned-entrepreneur Jori Davis. Jori started her professional career in the WNBA with the Indiana Fever. Her decade-long global basketball career spanned six countries and sparked her desire to help other elite athletes own their legacy. Jori’s new venture, Wevolv, builds on her passion for empowering global athletes by creating a decentralized platform for global athletes to manage their careers and lifestyles. On the episode, Jori chats about what keeps her motivated as an athlete and business owner. She also opens up about some of the...
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Brian chats with three-time tech founder and CEO Neha Sampat. Her latest venture, Contentstack, is a category-leading Composable Digital Experience Platform used by Mitsubishi Electric, Burberry, Icelandair, Leesa, and more. Neha has raised $169 million in capital for Contentstack over the past three years, including a recent $80 million Series C round. On the episode, Neha provides a wealth of strategies and tactics for building multiple successful businesses, including the importance of aligning a mission with company values. She also shares why she is a relentless advocate for achieving...
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Brian chats with RHEA Services founder and “accidental business owner” Sarah Kendrick. Sarah started her career as a music therapist for children and adults with developmental disabilities but later realized the need for care and support in the bereavement process while helping her family after the death of her grandma. Bringing together the skills she developed during her years as a therapist, she founded RHEA Services to simplify the life transitions pre-planning and estate closure processes. On the episode, Sarah walks listeners through her journey of becoming an entrepreneur, including...
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Brian chats with long-time friend and fellow lawyer-turned-entrepreneur Jesmond Riggins. Jesmond founded Legislative Logistics, a legislative consulting company for small and medium-sized businesses. On the episode, Jesmond tells his inspiring story from graduating high school near the bottom of his class to graduating from law school and now starting his own business. He also provides insight into the motivational mindset that helps him to continue to achieve success. Episode Highlights Who you were does not determine who you will be. By the time Jesmond reached high school, he was entirely...
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Brian chats with Krish Himmatramka, the founder of Do Amore, which sells ethically sourced engagement rings to further its mission of providing clean water to people in developing countries. On the episode, Krish shares his journey from mechanical engineer to mission-driven entrepreneur, including his experience on the hit TV show Shark Tank. He also provides insights into building a for-profit brand that makes an impact and details how he scaled his business from an $18,000 investment to netting $40 million in sales. Episode Highlights Mission-driven businesses change lives. Krish defines a...
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Brian chats with Paul Pastor, a media and tech entrepreneur who currently serves as Chief Business Officer and Co-Founder of Quickplay. In the episode, Paul shares his experience transitioning from media to the tech industry -- and how he immediately noticed and began to address a lack of diversity in the latter. He also discusses the business case for diversity and opens up about the lessons he learned from a previous failed business venture. Episode Highlights Mission-driven businesses follow personal motivations. Mission-driven businesses take a step back and follow the personal motivations...
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Now that we’re past the tax deadline of April 18, you may be tempted to throw your tax return into a drawer or folder and not think about your taxable income or deductions until next year. But now is the best time to look over what you filed and think ahead. Brian walks listeners through the 1040 tax form, so you can catch mistakes before it’s too late and start planning for next tax year. Episode Highlights Part 1: Personal information This is the place to make an excellent first impression. Missing your name, address, and social security number will get you rejected...
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Brian chats with Yong-Soo Chung, a serial entrepreneur who founded three e-commerce companies in the span of seven years. With his latest venture, the podcast First Class Founders, Yong-Soo is on a mission to impact entrepreneurs by sharing his lessons on building sustainable businesses from bootstrap to earning more than $1 million in annual revenue. On the episode, Yong-Soo shares his three pillars for a successful business and fulfilling life. He also discusses the importance of listening to your intuition and taking advantage of the opportunities that come your way. Episode Highlights...
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Brian chats with Tuesday P. Brooks, a business owner, educator, trusted tax and accounting advisor, and U.S. veteran. Her company, AJOY, champions profitability for women-led micro and small businesses. On the episode, Tuesday shares the power of being open to suggestions and how following where you’re led can lead to some incredible outcomes. She also breaks down how prioritizing profitability can help entrepreneurs better support their mission and create impact. Episode Highlights Revenue is a primary focus for mission-driven businesses. Tuesday describes a mission-driven business as one...
info_outlineBrian chats with Mike Michalowicz, the mastermind behind Profit First Professionals and author of books for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Mike shares his experience growing several multi-million dollar companies only to lose almost everything. He then details how hitting rock bottom became the foundation upon which he built the Profit First method, which has yielded him 14 years of profitable quarters and is now used by more than 500,000 small businesses.
Episode Highlights
Make profit a priority.
The Profit First method developed by Mike rewrites the classic accounting formula from Sales - Expenses = Profit to Sales - Profit = Expenses. Why? Because when something is a priority, it doesn’t come last, Mike noted.
“It’s human nature that when something comes first, it’s the priority. When something comes last, it’s the mañana syndrome,” he said. “That’s when I said, ‘I think the formula is flipped.’”
Profitability brings stability.
One of the problems with the original profitability formula is that increasing sales isn’t always the driver of sustainable growth, Mike said. More sales can translate to more stress, more dysfunction, and less organization.
“It starts actually causing a business to crumble because it doesn’t have runway,” Mike said.
Profit, on the other hand, can bring stability to an organization by buying a small business owner time. When small businesses have one to two months in cash reserves, they don’t have to take on stressful panic sales.
“When a business takes its profit first, they actually grow faster, profit-wise, than their contemporaries,” Mike said. “They are much more calculated in their growth.”
Don’t change yourself. Channel yourself.
Since flipping the formula, Mike has achieved 48 profitable quarters in a row. That’s because the revised formula is designed to manage human behavior. Or as Mike said in the episode, “We can’t change ourselves. We channel ourselves.”
Mike learned this lesson first for exercise. He put his gym shoes on top of the toilet seat as an intervention, so he would have to pick them up first thing in the morning. For business owners, the Profit First method sets up a similar intervention in the owner’s bank account.
“By pre-allocating business to these different accounts, or envelopes, now you know what money is intended for what purpose, and you behave within the confines of what’s available,” Mike said.
Resources + Links
- Mike’s books: Profit First, Clockwork, The Pumpkin Plan, Fix This Next, The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, Surge, Get Different: Marketing That Can’t Be Ignored!
- Profit First Professionals
- https://mikemichalowicz.com
- Mike’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/MikeMichalowicz
- Brian’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/BrianFinancial
About Brian and the Mission Driven Business Podcast
Brian Thompson, JD/CFP, is a tax attorney and certified financial planner who specializes in providing comprehensive financial planning to LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs who run mission-driven businesses. The Mission Driven Business podcast was born out of his passion for helping social entrepreneurs create businesses with purpose and profit.
On the podcast, Brian talks with diverse entrepreneurs and the people who support them. Listeners hear stories of experiences, strength, and hope and get practical advice to help them build businesses that might just change the world, too.