Braving Discomfort to Live Your Purpose with Channyn Lynne Parker
Release Date: 08/26/2024
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...
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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...
info_outlineBrian Thompson chats with human rights advocate and Brave Space Alliance CEO Channyn Lynne Parker. Channyn is a public speaker whose accolades include the inaugural Trans100 award, Henrietta Lacks award, and Equality Illinois Freedom Award. As CEO of Brave Space Alliance, Channyn shepherds the first Black-led, trans-led TLGBQ+ center on the south side of Chicago.
On the episode, Channyn shares her journey to becoming the CEO of Brave Space Alliance and the significance of finding alignment in life. She also reveals why the nursery rhyme “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” is deeper than you might think.
Episode Highlights
Mission-driven businesses are laser-focused.
According to Channyn, a mission-driven business is focused on what it does best. For Brave Space Alliance, that means meeting the needs of Black TLGBQ+ individuals through the four pillars of dignity: health, housing, food, and identity.
“A mission-driven business is one that is laser-focused on what we do well: to provide our constituents the greatest impact in the area of their interests and needs,” Channyn said. “Above all, we give people a safe space to be in -- or a brave space to be in, if you will.”
Brave discomfort to live your purpose.
When Channyn was tasked with the role of CEO of Brave Space Alliance, she initially felt like the lead of the 1980s film Gloria in which a cantankerous woman gets stuck with a young kid and has to unexpectedly take on the role of the mother. While she described the transition to CEO as “jolting” and “averse,” she has grown to love the job and the responsibility.
“I love comfort, and I believe that humans are comfort-seeking machines,” Channyn said. “None of us want to be jarred out of our comfort zones, but the reality is that unless we seek or welcome challenges, we will stagnate, we will atrophy, and we will not live out the thing that we are meant to contribute to the world.”
Profit can include time, talent, and treasure.
Running a business, even a nonprofit like Brave Space Alliance, requires money. But Channyn reminded listeners that profit can come in non-monetary forms, too.
“When I think about the intangibles of profit, it is your stakeholder satisfaction and community impact,” Channyn said. “But also I think about the gifts of time, talent, and treasure, so all of your stakeholders who believe in your mission feel they’re able to contribute to the sustainability of the mission.”
Live life gently and authentically.
Channyn believes there is a gap in the world that every one of us has been brought here to fill if we can become acutely and unapologetically aware of who we are and what it is we want to be. And if you don’t believe her, just listen to the song “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.”
“The deepest song ever is ‘Row, Row, Row Your Boat,’” Channyn said. “Rowing is living, right? The stream is life, and gently means you’re not fighting against who you are. We’re meant to live this vessel gently as we flow down the stream of life.”
Resources + Links
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Brave Space Alliance: Website, Instagram, Facebook, X, TikTok
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Channyn Lynne Parker: LinkedIn
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Brian Thompson Financial: Website, Newsletter, Podcast
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Follow Brian Thompson Online: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, Forbes
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.