loader from loading.io

Building Businesses with Purpose and Profit with Rachel Bernier-Green

Mission Driven Business

Release Date: 11/11/2025

What It Really Takes to Hire Your First Employee show art 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...

info_outline Why High Achievers Struggle to Feel Successful in Business show art 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_outline Why You're Feeling Stuck: The Hidden Cost of Clutter in Your Business show art 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...

info_outline Why You'll Never Find Balance in Your Business show art 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...

info_outline How to Bet on Yourself and Build a Business Around Freedom show art 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...

info_outline How to Prepare for Next Year's Taxes Without the Stress show art 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_outline How to Optimize Your Tax Return for More Business Tax Savings show art 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...

info_outline S-Corps Explained: Tax Savings, Trade-Offs, and What No One Tells You show art 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,...

info_outline Budgeting Series #3: A Guide to Building Your Financial Strategy show art 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...

info_outline Building a Profitable Practice with Authenticity and Heart show art 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_outline
 
More Episodes

Brian Thompson chats with Rachel Bernier-Green, founder and CEO of the Economic Justice Consortium, a Chicago-based firm that helps mission-driven businesses sustain and amplify their impact through financial and operational excellence. A recovering public accountant turned social entrepreneur, Rachel has dedicated her career to closing the racial wealth gap and redefining what it means to lead with purpose and profit.

In this episode, Rachel shares her journey from climbing the corporate ladder in public accounting, to running a social enterprise bakery that partnered with Whole Foods and Starbucks, and now guiding other entrepreneurs in building sustainable, values-driven businesses. She opens up about burnout, courage, and the lessons learned from failure, as well as how she helps clients reject hustle culture and build wealth for their communities.

Episode Highlights

Mission-driven businesses focus on impact and income.

Rachel defines a mission-driven business as one that “has a focus other than profit maximization.” Whether seeking to improve the environment, society, or treatment of employees, mission-driven businesses aim to make a positive net impact.

“People think if they have a greater purpose, they also don’t need to focus on profit,” Rachel said. “If you lose that focus on profit, your mission ceases to exist.”

Turn loss into leadership.

Rachel’s first entrepreneurial endeavor came when she left a toxic corporate environment and turned to baking as a stress outlet. Her bakery partnered with regenerative farms and hired previously incarcerated individuals, creating jobs that reduced recidivism in her Chicago community.

Nine years after starting her first company, a combination of a tragic ceiling collapse and the COVID-19 pandemic ultimately led to the business's closure. While it felt like a failure at the time, the experience led her to a bigger purpose — founding the Economic Justice Consortium to help other mission-driven businesses build sustainable success.

“There are some things you can only learn by going through a business that ends,” she said. “I do think that business needed to come to an end for me to do the work that I’m doing now, which will have a much more significant impact on the world.”

Track your Objectives and Key Results (OKRs).

Economic Justice Consortium offers fractional CFO services and consulting services for operational systems and big-picture strategy. The firm also relies heavily on the Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) strategic framework, which breaks down specific objectives based on the larger company mission and vision.

“We actually utilize our task management tool to track those objectives,” she said. “It incorporates a level of accountability. There’s an internal dashboard that the entire team has access to in real time, and they can see whether we’re on track or not on track with any of our OKRs.”

Rebuke hustle culture.

Rachel recommended the book “Laziness Does Not Exist” by Chicago professor Devin Price, which challenges the culture of overwork and redefines productivity. The book explores how the American work culture is misaligned with data science on productivity and has transformed how Rachel approaches her work and her expectations for her team.

“Hustle culture is very damaging on so many levels,” she said. “The book challenged me so much I had to sit down and come back to it because I had always prided myself on my work ethic and putting in the hours.”

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.