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...
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Budgeting Series #1: A Guide to Financial Awareness
Mission Driven Business
Budgeting doesn't have to be intimidating, but it does have to be intentional. In this episode, Brian Thompson kicks off a brand new solo series on budgeting for entrepreneurs, approaching the topic through three lenses: awareness, acceptance, and action. The episode is the first and most foundational step: Awareness. Whether you're a new business owner or a seasoned mission-driven entrepreneur, understanding where your money is actually going is the starting point for everything else. Why Financial Awareness Comes First Every January, Brian's inbox fills up with clients asking to...
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How Veterans Are Transforming Into Mission-Driven Entrepreneurs
Mission Driven Business
Julie Austin and Matthew Cain share their journey in leveraging their military backgrounds to assist veterans in transitioning to entrepreneurship through their podcast Dogtags to Ownership. We explore the definition of mission-driven businesses, the importance of community & networking, and the personal experiences that shaped their call to service. The discussion also touches on the significance of identity, the challenges faced during the Don't Ask, Don't Tell era and how their backgrounds influence their current endeavors. The episode concludes with insights on partnership dynamics and...
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Transform Your Business with an Annual Client Audit
Mission Driven Business
Understanding your client relationships is more crucial than ever in today's fast-paced business environment. The that can help you gain clarity on your client base, enhance your business relationships, and ultimately drive growth. In this episode, Brian Thompson focuses on how a thoughtful client audit can transform your business. He emphasizes that this process is not about hastily cutting ties with clients but rather about thoughtfully evaluating client relationships to enhance business growth and personal well-being with a simple three-step process. The Importance of a Client Audit...
info_outlineBrian chats with Seke Ballard, the founder and CEO of Good Tree Capital, a financial services firm that uses a proprietary algorithm to balance available economic opportunities for people invested in cannabis companies. On the episode, Seke shares how removing biased data from the lending equation can make the playing field more equal. He also discusses his motivations for starting his firm, the company’s future plans, and why his ultimate dream is to create a banking model that works so well it puts the big, bad banks out of business.
Episode Highlights
Mission-driven businesses create wealth with purpose.
All businesses are profit-seeking entities, but Seke said mission-driven businesses build on that by creating wealth for a purpose. Seke’s firm, Good Tree Capital, is no exception. The company uses a proprietary algorithm to create economic opportunities for people invested in the cannabis industry.
“We want to build wealth with purpose,” he said. “And that purpose is very much around providing fair access to capital to capital to entrepreneurs who are trying to thrive in this emerging industry.”
When faced with inequities, get creative.
One of Seke’s motivations for starting Good Tree Capital was a conversation he had with his father. When he was younger, his father owned a successful logging company. He wanted to get a loan to expand to other states, but he was denied from every bank he applied to.
“All things being equal -- if our balance sheet looks the exact same, if our credit risk profile is the exact same -- I have a harder time getting loans,” Seke said. “And if I succeed in getting them, they’re going to be more expensive for me.”
His father’s experience helped motivate Seke to rally a team of data scientists and developers to create a lending algorithm that assesses credit risk without using factors that typically bias credit decisioning factors. The resulting algorithm can assess the risk of defaulting on a loan with 98.2% accuracy.
But despite the algorithm’s success, Seke has also run into his own problems raising capital.
“I’ve always thought to myself, I’ve got to be clear eyed about this,” he said. “The truth of the matter is that the overwhelming majority of venture capital -- the kind of capital that we’re seeking -- goes to white men. And so if I want to thrive, given that reality, then I have to figure out creative ways to remove that as a barrier for our ability to deploy the lending model.”
Dream big. Even if it’s taking on Wells Fargo.
One way Seke is getting creative and dreaming big is by building a bank around Good Tree Capital’s lending technology. His vision? To take on Wells Fargo, a company he described as the “archetype for everything that’s wrong with banking.”
“It is a personal mission to create a better model,” Seke said. “And to use that model to drive them out of business.”
Seke also encouraged other entrepreneurs to dream big. He advocated for finding your big idea and narrowing in on what really motivates you.
“Once you find that, if you’re a hard working person with a lot of tenacity, then you’ll forge your way there,” he said. “It starts with having that vision that really motivates you.”
Resources + Links
- “Meet The Man Revolutionizing Marijuana Investing,” Forbes
- Good Tree Capital
- Seke’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.