loader from loading.io

Building A Business From Bootstrap To $1 Million with Yong-Soo Chung

Mission Driven Business

Release Date: 05/09/2023

Building A Business From Bootstrap To $1 Million with Yong-Soo Chung show art Building A Business From Bootstrap To $1 Million with Yong-Soo Chung

Mission Driven Business

Brian chats with Yong-Soo Chung, a serial entrepreneur who founded three e-commerce companies in the span of seven years. With his latest venture, the podcast First Class Founders, Yong-Soo is on a mission to impact entrepreneurs by sharing his lessons on building sustainable businesses from bootstrap to earning more than $1 million in annual revenue. On the episode, Yong-Soo shares his three pillars for a successful business and fulfilling life. He also discusses the importance of listening to your intuition and taking advantage of the opportunities that come your way. Episode Highlights...

info_outline
Finding Your Focus with Tuesday Brooks show art Finding Your Focus with Tuesday Brooks

Mission Driven Business

Brian chats with Tuesday P. Brooks, a business owner, educator, trusted tax and accounting advisor, and U.S. veteran. Her company, AJOY, champions profitability for women-led micro and small businesses. On the episode, Tuesday shares the power of being open to suggestions and how following where you’re led can lead to some incredible outcomes. She also breaks down how prioritizing profitability can help entrepreneurs better support their mission and create impact. Episode Highlights Revenue is a primary focus for mission-driven businesses. Tuesday describes a mission-driven business as one...

info_outline
An Expert Guide To Understanding The 1120-S Tax Form show art An Expert Guide To Understanding The 1120-S Tax Form

Mission Driven Business

It’s tax season crunch time. In this episode, Brian will walk you through the S-Corporation income tax return to help you better understand what you’re filing and hopefully catch mistakes before it’s too late. He provides a section-by-section analysis of Form 1120-S and highlights key areas that business owners and tax professionals make mistakes. Episode Highlights Part 1: Heading, Income, Deductions, Tax and Payments Most of this information is drawn from your business’s Profit and Loss Statement. Here’s a breakdown of what’s on the first page: Calendar year: The very top of...

info_outline
Staying Focused And Authentic with Tristan Schukraft show art Staying Focused And Authentic with Tristan Schukraft

Mission Driven Business

Brian chats with Tristan Schukraft, president and CEO of MISTR, a telehealth platform that offers discrete access to medication that can help prevent HIV. On the episode, Tristan shares how he started MISTR to help his friends, which led to a business fueled by passion. He also discusses the importance of knowing your market, staying true to your mission, and questioning how to make the status quo better. Episode Highlights Mission-driven businesses make a positive impact on communities. Like other guests on the podcast, Tristan defines a mission-driven business as one that has a higher...

info_outline
Building A Bold Business with Ciara Stockeland show art Building A Bold Business with Ciara Stockeland

Mission Driven Business

Brian chats with Ciara Stockeland, a serial entrepreneur who has owned and operated businesses since she was a teenager. On the episode, Ciara shares her best tips as an inventory and cash flow expert that can help all types of entrepreneurs build better businesses. She also opens up about the lessons she learned the hard way after she built a seven-figure retail business that she felt trapped in. Episode Highlights Mission-driven businesses are bold. Ciara defines a mission-driven business as one that takes initiative in the world. It also allows the people behind it to live intentionally, be...

info_outline
Inspiring A Movement of Kindness with Matthew Hoffman show art Inspiring A Movement of Kindness with Matthew Hoffman

Mission Driven Business

Brian chats with Matthew Hoffman, the founder of You Are Beautiful, a Chicago-based company that uses art to provide kindness, compassion, and community when it’s needed most. On the episode, Matthew shared how he became an accidental entrepreneur and some of the hard lessons he’s learned as a business owner and artist. He also digs deep into using feedback to grow and refine your business. Episode Highlights Mission-driven businesses have a message. When Matthew started making his signature You Are Beautiful stickers that would eventually become a business, he had a clear message that he...

info_outline
Finding Your Calling In Business with Adam Markowitz show art Finding Your Calling In Business with Adam Markowitz

Mission Driven Business

Brian chats with Adam Markowitz, the owner and operator of people-centric tax firm Luminary Tax Advisors. On the episode, Adam opens up about how he decided to lean into his calling to take over his father’s tax advisory firm and the hurdles he faced to buy the business. He also shares a treasure trove of tips to prepare for the upcoming tax season. Episode Highlights Mission-driven businesses have pillars to support the mission. When Adam took over his father’s company, he rebooted the business, which included coming up with a new name, Luminary Tax Advisors, and a new mission statement,...

info_outline
Diversifying The Financial Services Industry with Choir show art Diversifying The Financial Services Industry with Choir

Mission Driven Business

Brian chats with Sonya Dreizler and Liv Gagnon, the co-founders of Choir, a business dedicated to lifting the voices of people of color, women, and non-binary professionals in industries historically represented by white men. Sonya and Liv share why they started with a focus on the financial services industry. They also discuss how they’ve adapted to meet the needs of their customers while staying true to their company’s mission. Episode Highlights Mission-driven businesses look inward and outward. Like other guests on the podcast, Liv defines a mission-driven business as one that balances...

info_outline
Numbers For The New Year show art Numbers For The New Year

Mission Driven Business

Brian kicks off 2023 with tactical tips to start the new year. Now that you’re hopefully relaxed and ready for a new year, Brian digs into the numbers to give you some targets to aim for over the next few months. He covers revenue, retirement, health savings accounts, and more. Episode Highlights Look for new revenue figures. Because of inflation, many revenue and tax figures have increased quite a bit in 2023, meaning you can make more money and still pay less in total tax. For example, in 2023 single filers with a taxable income of $95,376 - $182,100 will have their last dollar taxed at...

info_outline
Your Year-End Checklist show art Your Year-End Checklist

Mission Driven Business

Can you believe it’s already the end of the year? Now is the time to celebrate with friends and family, reflect on the past 12 months, and plan for the new year. To help you out, Brian created a checklist you can use to review 2022 and start 2023 with a clean state. The checklist includes business and personal to-do items as well as links to resources sure to help you out. Business Checklist 1. Review your goals. The end of the year is the perfect time to review the goals you made at the beginning of 2022 and set new ones for 2023. Ask yourself: How did I do this year? What did I accomplish...

info_outline
 
More Episodes

Brian chats with Yong-Soo Chung, a serial entrepreneur who founded three e-commerce companies in the span of seven years. With his latest venture, the podcast First Class Founders, Yong-Soo is on a mission to impact entrepreneurs by sharing his lessons on building sustainable businesses from bootstrap to earning more than $1 million in annual revenue.

On the episode, Yong-Soo shares his three pillars for a successful business and fulfilling life. He also discusses the importance of listening to your intuition and taking advantage of the opportunities that come your way.

Episode Highlights

Mission-driven businesses do more than make money.

Yong-Soo defines a mission-driven business as one that has an intention or purpose beyond making money. Whether it’s helping a community or donating a percentage of profits to a cause, mission-driven businesses do activities for a bigger purpose.

"The way I like to put it is when you're living, money is like oxygen, so you need money to survive,” Yong-Soo explained. “But it's not like you're living your life to breathe, right? That's the kind of way that I like to look at it."

Root yourself in a city that supports your growth.

Before becoming a serial entrepreneur, Yong-Soo worked in finance in New York City. Following his intuition, Yong-Soo decided to take his life in a new direction by moving to San Francisco and pursuing his own business.

“What I was doing didn’t feel like something that would fulfill me 5 or 10 years down the line,” Yong-Soo said. “I knew that it was like a bandage that just needed to be ripped off, and I just needed to essentially start over in a new area.”

The move was difficult but allowed him to meet people with similar goals and discover opportunities he would have never known existed. His personal values and vision for the future were key in deciding which city to live in and which opportunities to pursue.

“New York City is obviously a fantastic city for opportunities, but it didn’t serve what I wanted to do 5 to 10 years down the line,” Yong-Soo said “Being rooted in an area that you want to compound yourself in all areas of your life is really the key.” 

Three steps to live your best life.

Yong-Soo lists three simple but impactful actions to live your best life:

  1. Focus on what you can control.

  2. Focus on what you do have.

  3. Do not dwell on the past.

“The chances of an app succeeding in a big way was very small, but it’s more about the learning process and the lessons you’re going to learn along the way,” Song-Yoon said. “That’s where the gems and the valuable lessons come from.”

Resources + Links

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.