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...
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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...
info_outlineBrian Thompson chats with Damian Pelliccione, CEO and co-founder of Revry, a global, LGBTQ-first streaming network with free live TV, movies, series, news, and more. Through Revry, Damian champions diversity and inclusion in the media and entertainment industry.
On the episode, Damian shares their journey to becoming a first-time CEO and the corresponding struggles with imposter syndrome. They also highlight the importance of working on yourself and setting good boundaries, and how being your authentic, unapologetic self gives your business the best chance of thriving.
Episode Highlights
Mission-driven businesses leave a legacy.
For Damian, Revry’s mission is to be the driving, positive force in media for queer culture. To meet that mission, Revry creates content reflective of the entire LGBTQ community, which is not homogenous by race, gender, sexual orientation, or language.
Revry also lives out its mission by having an incredibly diverse workforce that is reflective of the audience it wants to serve.
“We’ve attracted the most diverse, talented team on the planet, and I’m very proud of everyone who works for us,” Damian said.
But the mission of Revry goes beyond the workforce and content that it produces today. While Damian is proud of how far the company has come, they envision that Revry will ultimately be part of their legacy.
“You realize this is going to be bigger than me; this will live beyond me,” Damian said. “This legacy that hopefully we are building with this business will resonate well beyond my years, and that is the coolest thing I could ever do with my life.”
Fail big. Fail fast.
When Damian talks to young entrepreneurs, they emphasize the need to fail big and fail fast -- but also to learn from failures. While starting over or starting something new is part of the entrepreneurial process, it’s also important to build resilience.
“You may have to scrap the whole thing and start over and try something new, but that’s okay,” Damian said. “The difference is the resilience to never give up, to keep going.”
Learning from failure and adapting is part of Damian’s own entrepreneurial journey. Damian believes that their “false starts” before Revry were crucial to getting them to where they are today in both work and life.
“Had those not existed for me, had I not had those experiences, had I not taken the time to listen to them and evaluate what went wrong … there’s no way I’d be sitting here talking to you,” they said.
Be unafraid and unapologetic in business and life.
Damian was clear about their biggest takeaway for entrepreneurs: “Live out loud. Be unapologetic. Be vulnerable. And be unafraid.”
One way Damian lives their life in this manner is by dressing to impress themself. One way that they do that is by wearing heels on public stages, panels, and conferences.
“There’s something about putting on that shoe that gives me the vote of confidence,” they said. “I feel powerful, and I feel fabulous. That’s the energy that I want to exude when I’m doing something in a public forum.”
By not holding back from their true, authentic self, Damian believes they’re permitting others to also live as their authentic selves. But even more, that living authentically has made them even more respected professionally.
“Business is evolving to the point where that level of authenticity is going to be such a tenant to company cultures and will hopefully soon be equated in a datapoint to show this is how you really build a brand,” Damian said. “You are the brand.”
Resources + Links
- Revry: Website, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn
- QueerXFest: Website, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn
- Damian’s Social Media: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, 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.