How to Review Your Business Finances Mid-Year
Mission Driven Business
The halfway point of the year is one of the best moments to review your business finances, and most entrepreneurs let it pass without taking action. In this episode, Brian Thompson shares the CASH framework, a simple mid-year review you can complete in under an hour, that helps you understand where your business stands and make better decisions for the second half of the year. Brian gets honest about his own relationship with numbers and why most entrepreneurs avoid their finances, not because the news is bad, but because looking feels uncomfortable. This episode is a practical and...
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How to Make Better Business Decisions Using a Simple Framework
Mission Driven Business
Most entrepreneurs treat business problems as money problems. In this episode, Brian Thompson makes the case that they are almost always alignment problems, and that better decision-making starts not with tactics, but with mission, vision, and values. Brian shares the alignment framework he uses with entrepreneurs across industries to help them make decisions with more clarity, confidence, and purpose. If you have ever felt like your business decisions are harder than they should be, this episode will help you understand why, and what to do about it. In this episode you will learn: Why...
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Why Better Systems Won't Fix Entrepreneurial Burnout
Mission Driven Business
Refining workflows and checklists cannot solve every foundational business hurdle. In this episode, Brian Thompson explores why a focus on optimization often leads to the avoidance of deeper personal and operational challenges, and what actually builds true resilience over the long term. Brian opens up about navigating a profound capacity problem during a period of intense personal transition and business growth. If you have ever felt exhausted despite having a perfectly organized schedule, this episode explains why the solution often requires subtraction. In this episode you will...
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Choosing the Right Business Structure for a Mission-Driven Business
Mission Driven Business
Choosing the right business structure is one of the most important decisions a mission-driven business owner will make, and taxes are only part of the story. In this episode, Brian Thompson walks through every major business structure available to entrepreneurs, viewed through the lens of ownership, profit sharing, decision making, and mission protection. Whether you are just starting out, growing your team, or thinking about the best way to share profits, this episode will help you ask better questions and make a more informed decision about the structure that fits the business you are...
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People Before Profit: The Co-op Business Model
Mission Driven Business
Most entrepreneurs have never seriously considered the cooperative business model, even though some of the most recognizable brands in the world are co-ops. In this episode, Brian Thompson sits down with D.G. Safeer Hopton, entrepreneur, healer, and author of Creating a Co-op Village, to explore cooperative economics and what it could mean for mission-driven business owners. Safeer has spent decades building co-ops, studying cooperative economics, and helping communities create prosperity through shared ownership. This conversation is a practical and eye-opening introduction to a business...
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Why Revenue Growth Isn't Making You Feel Safer
Mission Driven Business
More revenue does not automatically create financial security. In this episode, Brian Thompson explores why so many entrepreneurs still feel anxious even when business is going well, and what actually builds business stability over the long term. Brian gets honest about the gap between revenue growth and emotional security, drawing from his own experience and years of working with entrepreneurs at every stage of business. If you have ever hit a goal and still felt like everything could fall apart, this episode will help you understand why, and what to do about it. In this episode you...
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The Cost of Hiding Who You Are in Your Business
Mission Driven Business
Let's explore the real emotional and strategic cost of hiding parts of yourself as an entrepreneur, and why building a business rooted in authenticity creates stronger alignment, better marketing, and a more sustainable path forward. Brian gets personal about his own journey navigating visibility as a Black, gay entrepreneur and financial planner, and what he has learned about the difference between protecting yourself and slowly erasing yourself. If you have ever felt exhausted by performing a version of yourself you thought people expected, this episode is for you. In this episode you...
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How to Achieve Sustainable Leadership Through Delegation
Mission Driven Business
Most entrepreneurs reach a point where doing everything yourself stops working. In this episode, Brian Thompson gets honest about the emotional side of delegation, what he has learned since bringing on his first employee, and why sustainable leadership requires letting go of the need to carry everything alone. Delegation is one of the most talked about business strategies, and one of the most misunderstood. Brian shares why delegation is not just an operational decision, it is an emotional one. Underneath the resistance to delegating are fear of mistakes, fear of losing control, and fear of...
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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...
info_outlineBrian Thompson chats with Yana Tallon-Hicks, a pleasure-positive sex therapist, educator, and writer. On the episode, Yana shares her unexpected journey to becoming a relationship therapist and business owner. She also gives tips for using a sliding scale fee model and offers insight into the process of writing her upcoming book, Hot and Unbothered: How to Think About, Talk About, and Have the Sex You Really Want.
Episode Highlights
Make money in a way that aligns with your values.
Yana defines a mission-driven business as one that pays attention to its values and goals so that it can make money in a way that aligns with those values and goals.
“It’s a business that pays attention to what their values and goals are every step of the way, to the best of their ability,” she said. “Because at the end of the day, a business needs to make money … and I think that it can still be done with their mission and your values.”
Be intentional about structuring your time.
Yana’s career spans her incorporated work as a relationship therapist, sex writing, and education projects. Juggling all of these responsibilities requires a lot of balance, and she blocks out time dedicated to specific projects, like writing her new book and general administrative tasks.
Yana is also a co-parent, which has prompted her to keep her schedule regimented to ensure she can be fully present for her child when she’s with him. While she felt busy before she had her child, she’s found being an entrepreneur and a parent has helped her unlock a new level of efficiency.
“Having a kid really helped me get into much better balance,” Yana said. “I actually think I’m doing more work, more efficiently, and better.”
Set clear expectations from the start.
Being part of the LGBT+ community, Yana knows that she’ll run into her therapy clients more often than some therapists might, so she lays out ground rules and expectations upfront. For instance, Yana asks current clients not to follow her on social media, and her intake form includes a paragraph that clients may see her while out in public.
She is also clear about her use of a sliding scale fee model and has prices listed on her website and intake form. Her clients have been very responsive to the model, and people who can pay the highest amount generally do.
“Business owners assume that if you do a sliding scale, people will always pay the bottom of your scale, and that is just not true,” Yana said. “The trick is you really do need to be truly okay with whatever people choose.”
Resources + Links
- Yana’s Website
- Hot and Unbothered: How to Think About, Talk About, and Have the Sex You Really Want
- Yana’s Social Media: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook
- 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.