Why High Achievers Struggle to Feel Successful in Business
Mission Driven Business
Many entrepreneurs hit their goals, grow their revenue, and create real impact, and still somehow feel behind. In this episode, Brian Thompson unpacks why high achievers so often struggle to feel successful, how comparison and constant striving distort our sense of progress, and why mission-driven entrepreneurs are especially vulnerable to this pattern. It is a candid and reflective conversation that ends with a challenge to redefine what success actually means for you. The Pattern Entrepreneurs Get Stuck In A pattern Brian sees in himself and many of his clients: Hit a goal, feel proud...
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Why You're Feeling Stuck: The Hidden Cost of Clutter in Your Business
Mission Driven Business
Clutter has a way of building quietly, and before long it starts affecting more than just how your desk looks. In this episode, Brian Thompson takes an honest look at how small pockets of disorganization pile up during busy seasons and what they actually cost you, not just in time, but in decision-making, financial clarity, and the ability to move your business forward. Coming off tax season, Brian gets personal about his own clutter habits and offers a simple, practical approach to clearing the backlog without overhauling everything at once. Clutter Is About Avoidance, Not Organization...
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Why You'll Never Find Balance in Your Business
Mission Driven Business
Balance is one of the most talked about goals in entrepreneurship, and one of the most elusive. In this episode, Brian Thompson gets honest about why balance isn't something you achieve once and move on from, and why chasing that perfect equilibrium might be the wrong goal entirely. Coming off a particularly intense tax season, Brian shares what his own body was telling him, and what it made him realize about the way entrepreneurs expect themselves to show up all year long. What Does Business Balance Actually Look Like? This year's tax season hit differently for Brian. For the first...
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How to Bet on Yourself and Build a Business Around Freedom
Mission Driven Business
Building a business around freedom is more than a financial decision, it's a deeply personal one. In this episode, Brian Thompson sits down with Kyra Mitchell Lewis, a brand strategist, marketer, podcast host, and founder of and , to talk about what it truly means to bet on yourself. Kyra shares how more than 20 years in corporate marketing led her to a pivotal moment of liberation, how she built a thriving consulting business in under a year, and why keeping an open mind has been one of her greatest entrepreneurial assets. A Business Built Around Purpose Kyra defines a mission-driven...
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How to Prepare for Next Year's Taxes Without the Stress
Mission Driven Business
Tax season doesn't have to be a scramble, but for most business owners, it is. In this episode, Brian Thompson offers a simple, practical system for taking the stress and surprise out of taxes by shifting from a once-a-year reaction to a year-round strategy. If last episode left you wondering whether you missed something, this one is your action plan. Start With a Mindset Shift Before getting into tactics, Brian makes an important reframe: taxes are not a once-a-year event. They are a year-round strategy. This matters especially for mission-driven business owners who are growing...
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How to Optimize Your Tax Return for More Business Tax Savings
Mission Driven Business
In this episode, Brian Thompson discusses key insights from the recent tax season, highlighting trends, surprises, and strategic opportunities for business owners to optimize their tax planning and financial health. Your tax return is not something to file and forget. If you pay attention, your tax return gives you a roadmap for what to do better this coming year. Brian also gives real-life examples of two clients that stood out this tax season. Understanding Unexpected Tax Outcomes One of the most significant stress points during tax season is the unexpected tax outcome. Many business...
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S-Corps Explained: Tax Savings, Trade-Offs, and What No One Tells You
Mission Driven Business
The S-Corp question is one of the most common Brian hears from entrepreneurs, but the answer is almost never as simple as the internet makes it sound. In this episode, Brian Thompson breaks down what an S-Corp actually is, how the potential tax savings work, and the real-world trade-offs that often get left out of the conversation. Whether you're considering the election for the first time or revisiting the decision, this episode gives you the context you need to make an informed choice. What is an S-Corp? First, an important clarification: an S-Corporation is not a business structure,...
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Budgeting Series #3: A Guide to Building Your Financial Strategy
Mission Driven Business
Awareness and acceptance lay the groundwork, but nothing changes until you take action. In this final episode of the budgeting series, Brian Thompson brings the framework full circle by focusing on what to actually do with your numbers. Because understanding your finances and accepting where you are is only powerful if it leads somewhere. This episode is about making intentional, strategic decisions that move your mission-driven business forward. Start With Vision, Not Spreadsheets Before diving into tactics, Brian starts with something that might surprise you in a budgeting...
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Building a Profitable Practice with Authenticity and Heart
Mission Driven Business
Rooted in identity, community, and purpose is what it truly means to build a business with heart. Brian Thompson sits down with Kala Lacy, an EMDR-trained yoga psychotherapist and founder of , a holistic wellness practice centered on Black and queer people of color. Kala shares how she turned her own healing journey into a thriving private practice, why niching down with radical specificity was the key to her success, and what inspired her newest venture: , a mentorship community for Black, queer, and trans clinicians building aligned private practices. A Business With Heart Kala...
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Budgeting Series #2: A Guide to Money Mindset Shifts
Mission Driven Business
Money isn't just math and for most entrepreneurs, it never has been. In this episode, Brian Thompson continues the budgeting series with part two: acceptance. Building on , Brian explores the emotional side of budgeting and why looking at your numbers without shame or judgment is just as important as looking at them at all. Why Financial Acceptance Is the Missing Piece Once you have your numbers, you're naturally going to have feelings about them. Money is tied to your upbringing, your fears, your identity, and your sense of security. Brian sees it constantly in his client work: people...
info_outlineBrian chats with Lauren Klafke, a small business owner all about supporting other business owners. Lauren’s firm, Willow Creek Financial Services, provides a space for business owners to ask questions and learn more about their financials.
On the episode, Lauren shares how Instagram Reels helps her build her business and conduct market research. She also opens up about how she implemented boundaries to grow her business on her own terms all while raising a newborn and overseeing a house renovation.
Episode Highlights
Your mission and your business’s mission don’t have to match.
Lauren defines a mission-driven business as a business that exists for a specific purpose. But the purpose of your business doesn’t have to be the same as your personal reason for running a company.
“What is your mission as the business owner? Is it to retire early? Is it to have more time with your family? Is it to serve everyone? Or is it all three?” Lauren said. “I just think about that.”
That definition is especially true for Lauren, who started her business as a way to spend more time with her husband and son. Before she took the entrepreneurial leap, she worked in the corporate world and realized her career path was incompatible with her ideal lifestyle.
“What powers me to continue to build my business is all the time I am going to have with my family,” Lauren said.
Adjust until your business works for you.
2020 was a rollercoaster year for Lauren. The pandemic kickstarted a year of full-speed business growth -- at the same time she had a newborn and a house remodel. Suddenly, Lauren had to find ways to schedule calls around construction and newborn sleep times
“Something was always happening at the same time,” Lauren said. “First world problems, but it was really a struggle.”
In some ways, running a business would have been easier if she hadn’t been building her business from home. So Lauren made an adjustment -- hiring a nanny -- to give her the time and space to focus on her business. She then set work hours, so that she stops working with clients after the nanny leaves.
“It came to this point where I had to realize you have to set boundaries with your clients,” Lauren said. “You can't always be available, or you're gonna drive yourself crazy.”
Customer service is important.
Lauren describes herself as a straightforward, type-A person. But her straight-to-the-point answers don’t always go over smoothly with clients and prospective clients. Over time, she realized she had to work on her customer service skills.
“Customer service is such a huge, huge deal,” she said. “You could have the exact same services as somebody else and customer service would change anybody's mind.”
Good customer service doesn’t mean saying yes to everything, Lauren said. Instead, it means optimizing how she talks to people on calls and consultations, how she sends emails, and how she engages with clients who text her at inopportune times.
“People want the coddling, and they want the hand holding,” Lauren said. “So I’ve had to develop that in a way that doesn’t seem condescending.”
Resources + Links
- Willow Creek Financial Services: website, LinkedIn
- Lauren’s Social Media: Instagram
- Brian’s Social Media: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
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.