What It Really Takes to Hire Your First Employee
Mission Driven Business
Hiring your first employee is one of the biggest leaps you'll take as a business owner, and most people don't talk openly about what it actually involves. In this episode, Brian Thompson sits down with his operations manager Jesica Berger to share the hiring strategies that shaped their journey, from both sides of the table. Brian and Jesica worked together for nearly seven years before Brian launched his own financial planning firm. When the time came to bring on his first hire, the foundation of trust they had built over almost two decades made all the difference. In this honest...
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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...
info_outlineBrian Thompson chats with Hannah Olson, an advocate for people with disabilities and co-founder and CEO of Chronically Capable and Disclo. Through her companies, Hannah helps people with disabilities navigate their careers and companies manage employee health disclosures and accommodation requests.
On the episode, Hannah discusses why she chose entrepreneurship after her aggressive treatment schedule for Lyme disease resulted in her having to leave her dream job. She also shares advice she received while fundraising and why disabilities are something to be celebrated.
Episode Highlights
The mission is at the center of mission-driven businesses.
Hannah describes a mission-driven business as one that puts its mission at the center of everything it does. At her companies, she goes one step further by hiring people who are also centered around the mission of empowering and employing people with disabilities and chronic conditions.
“It’s less about the excitement of the business, but more so, at the end of the day, who are we helping? Who are we serving?” Hannah said.
One business idea can lead to another.
In May 2019, Hannah and her co-founder launched their first venture, Chronically Capable, to help people with disabilities and chronic conditions connect with inclusive employers. The company grew quickly, but as it did, Hannah learned about an unmet and unique need for HR professionals to manage employees’ health conditions and accommodation requests in safely and privately.
Hannah and her co-founder quickly realized they could turn that need into a business opportunity. They raised funding and launched their second venture, Disclo, in May 2022. Disclo takes the mission of Chronically Capable one step further by bringing compliance tools to HR managers.
“We initially thought the problem was just being able to find a job and an employer who cared, but we realized there was a much, much bigger problem because if you get the job, how are you going to keep the job?” Hannah said. “But when it comes to compliance, it’s not a nice-to-have anymore; it’s a must have.”
Sleep is a key business strategy.
The entrepreneur culture espouses the value of hustle, but Hannah pointed out that you can’t hustle hard without adequate sleep. That’s why she said sleep is the foremost business strategy she has to share with listeners.
“Sleep is so important for anyone, but especially for me as someone who has been recovering from a very, very bad illness and also as someone running a business,” Hannah said. “This hustle culture has this mentality that we have to be working, and the times you’re not working, you’re not doing anything. But if you don’t sleep, you’re not going to work well the next day.”
Learn from no.
When Hannah was raising funding for Disclo, she received about 120 rejections. After the first few, she took the advice of a friend to ask people who said no either to provide feedback she could use to adapt and change or to introduce her to three other people.
“I started adopting that practice and I learned so much in a very short time,” Hannah said. “I was able to fundraise very, very quickly. In a month we went from not having any luck to people knocking at the door.”
Resources + Links
- Chronically Capable: Website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
- Disclo: Website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
- Hannah’s Social Media: Twitter, LinkedIn
- 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.