Mission Driven Business Brian Thompson

Brian chats with diversity, equity, and inclusion trailblazer Ken Janssens. During his 25-year-long career at JPMorgan Chase, Ken co-founded and chaired the company’s LGBTQ+ Executive Council, championing diversity and inclusivity at the highest levels. He’s also the former Board Chair for leading LGBTQ+ Workplace Inclusion non-profit Out & Equal.
On the episode, Ken discusses his new venture, Windō, which aims to make corporate sustainability transparent and to connect young people with employers that share their values. He also shares his journey from activist leader to visionary entrepreneur and touts why establishing a clear mission and vision makes financial sense for companies.
Episode Highlights
Mission-driven businesses place purpose at their core.
Ken defines a mission-driven business as one that puts purpose at its core. He also pointed out that purpose is especially important to Gen Z employees, who are the first generation to place purpose over pay when finding an employer.
“Whilst a lot of companies have adopted purpose statements, there are many that still haven’t,” Ken said. “Purpose can rally an entire organization around something that is usually quite simple but very powerful.”
Keep it simple.
Ken co-founded Windō to connect young talent with value-aligned employers. Having such a simple mission statement has made it easy for him to recall and ensure his daily decisions are grounded in the company’s purpose.
“Our mission just rolls off the tongue, but obviously, you don’t just come up with that willy nilly,” he said. “You really think about it, but then it’s very clear. It grounds us and makes it easy to talk about what we’re about in one simple sentence.”
Use data to drive diversity.
While Windō’s data focuses on large companies, Ken says that small business owners can still take inspiration from some of the top performers. For instance, a company of any size can implement self-ID, which allows employees to disclose their demographic information to break down large data sets by diverse groups. Companies can then use the self-ID data to measure how employee satisfaction varies among different groups of people and, ideally, use the resulting awareness to improve year over year.
“I think every company is aiming for belonging, and that’s difficult to measure,“ Ken said. “This is a great way of doing that. You ask employees different kinds of questions and get the results by a diverse group, and you don’t guard the results as a secret when there’s work to do.”
Transparency builds trust.
The ultimate goal of sustainability reports is to build trust, according to Ken. However, you can’t have trust without transparency, commitment, and accountability. He also emphasized that potential employees know that increasing workplace diversity can be challenging and that progress isn’t always linear.  
“Gen Z is okay with the numbers being low, but they want to see progress,” Ken said. “Moving the dial is hard, and sometimes you have a dip. It’s okay if they’re still in the grand scheme making progress.”
Resources + Links
The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level by Gay Hendricks
The Activist Leader: A New Mindset for Doing Business by Lucy Parker and Jon Miller
Ken Janssens: LinkedIn
Windō: Website, LinkedIn
Brian Thompson Financial: Website, Newsletter, Podcast
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 s

Brian chats with Amanda Wilson, the co-founder of #open, a dating app for ethically non-monogamous relationships. On the episode, Amanda opens up about the fear she faced pivoting from running political campaigns to launching a sex-positive tech business with her business and life partner. She also shares essential strategies and tactics for navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship and how she utilizes AI to fuel growth and innovation at #open.
Episode Highlights
Mission-driven businesses balance making money with benefiting society.
Amanda defines a mission-driven business as one that doesn’t just focus on finances as the number one goal. As part of making #open a mission-driven business, Amanda is setting up the company to become a​​ Certified B Corporation, which requires balancing making money with the responsibility to benefit society.
“Our mission is to create safer spaces for marginalized and at-risk communities to form authentic connections,” Amanda said. “That’s exceptionally important to us because we are a dating app for people that are in ethically non-monogamous relationships, which is still a hard road for people who are doing that.”
Keep your customers safe.
One of the goals of #open is to build a safe space for the sex-positive community. To do that, the company makes it a point to listen to its user base, including by talking to customers through the #open support team and by reading app store reviews. Amanda also says the company prioritizes safety through data privacy.
“Your data is just an extension of you, so your data needs to be treated as respectfully as we would treat another person standing right here in front of us,” Amanda said. “#Open can always strive to be a safer place.”
Use AI to improve your human touch.
Amanda sees the use of artificial intelligence (AI) as a way to improve the personal touch of businesses and marketing strategies. For instance, #open reviews every picture that goes inside its app, and AI can help flag images that may break the company's content policies. Also, Amanda uses an AI transcription tool to review her podcast interviews and find points she can improve upon for next time.
“AI definitely helps us to be able to have that personal touch,” she said. “Building our community is one of the strategies and tactics we use.”
Hire your potential customers.
#Open emphasizes hiring people within the community they’re serving, so that the people creating the tools can better understand the dynamics around the software’s real-world use.
“We try and hire as many women and other marginalized people as we can,” Amanda said. “My one request is if we can get more women in tech, life would be so much better for so many people.”
Resources + Links
B Corp Certification
Otter.AI
Amanda Wilson: LinkedIn
#open: Website, Instagram, Facebook, X, Tumblr, YouTube
Brian Thompson Financial: Website, Newsletter, Podcast
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.

Brian chats with serial entrepreneur and visionary leader Amanda Bauer-Frisch. As the CEO of Small Legacies, Amanda creates a way to give thoughtful, high-quality learning tools that enhance a child’s development. She also oversees several other small, legacy-driven businesses under the Enduring Legacy brand.
On the episode, Amanda opens up about how becoming a young widow and being open to the right, new opportunities shaped her entrepreneurial journey. She also provides a behind-the-scenes look at how she’s purchased several existing brands and shares tips for finding and acquiring businesses.
Episode Highlights
Mission-driven businesses exist for a reason deeper than profit.
Amanda defines a mission-driven business as one that exists for a reason deeper than profit. When she started Small Legacies, she created a hand-made wooden bank to teach her oldest son the basic financial literacy skills of saving, spending, and giving. But she also had a deeper meaning in mind.
“My first husband passed away in 2017 from a genetic heart condition at 30 years old,” she said. “So making this bank for my oldest was like helping to carry on my husband’s legacy and memory.”
Elevate and delegate.
When Amanda started Small Legacies, she built the company’s signature wooden bank boxes in her garage. Eventually, Small Legacies received so many orders that she needed to find a wood toy manufacturer to meet the demand, which in turn made it possible to acquire and take over the operations of another family-owned woodworking business. She wouldn’t have been able to grow if she hadn’t practiced the principle of “delegate and elevate.”
“That’s still a daily part of my journey -- trying to figure out where I can shine and what things bring me the most joy but also yield the most results for the business,” Amanda said. “And then how can I find the right people to support me in the business on the things that, frankly, bring me no joy or I’m not good at them.”
Hire and fire based on your values.
For Amanda, one of the hardest parts of running a mission-driven small business is knowing that she is responsible for the well-being of the employees on her payroll. Finding the right teammates that fit her company’s mission, vision, and values is already challenging, but gets even more complex when acquiring employees of another company.
Amanda experienced this challenge firsthand last year when an existing employee of a company she had acquired refused to comply with Enduring Legacy’s policy of being open and accepting to any employee. Although the employee had a lot of knowledge about the newly acquired brand and processes, Amanda decided to end the company’s relationship with him because he wouldn’t be a good fit for the company’s values. Even though the decision required Amanda to cash in her 401(k) to buy new equipment, she knew it was the right thing to do.
“It was an incredibly easy decision,” she said. “It was a difficult day, but at the same time, I went to bed and slept great that night because it was the right thing to do.”
Resources + Links
What the Heck is EOS? A Complete Guide for Employees in Companies Running on EOS by Gino Wickman and Tom Bouwer
Amanda Bauer-Frisch: LinkedIn
Small Legacies: Website, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok
Navy Paddles: Website, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn
Brian Thompson Financial: Website, Newsletter, Podcast
Follow Brian Thompson Online: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X (formerly known as Twitter), 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

Brian chats with Brian Moak, an entrepreneur, consultant, coach, and motivational speaker focused on service-based businesses and team engagement. As the owner and CEO of HEART Certified Auto Care, Brian used empathy to transform his family’s business into an industry-leading auto shop. He also owns one of the largest Shack Shine franchises in North America and is a partner in a digital marketing firm.
On the episode, Brian Moak details his rollercoaster entrepreneurial journey, riding the lows of losing $1.5 million in one year to growing his business to earn nearly $15 million in revenue. He also lists his Four Point Plan to help any business thrive and shares the most critical question to ask to change your business’s trajectory. 
Episode Highlights
Mission-driven businesses are aligned.
When defining a mission-driven business, Brian takes a term from the auto shop world: alignment. At a mission-driven business, all parts of the operation are aligned toward the end goal or outcome to be achieved.
“Every person in the company should be facing the same way,” he said. “That has to come from the top. The top has to give that vision and sell that vision to the team, so they can feel engaged and make it happen.”
Create a 4-point plan.
Through the years, Brian has learned that for a plan to work it needs to be based on strategy, not just an idea. He’s since created and implemented a 4-point plan to help his company reach its goals. 
Step 1: Build rapport
Rapport means understanding the connection between the owner and the employees as well as understanding the needs that your employees have. To build rapport, Brian makes it a point to talk with every one of his 75 employees every week.
“It’s not like I do a review,” Brian said. “It’s a casual stroll through the business to say hello and find out how their family is doing." 
Step 2: Define “it”
To know where you want to go, you first have to define “it.” Rather than speaking in generalities, get clear on your vision, mission, and short- and long-term goals. Also, be specific when you tell employees what you need from them to achieve those goals. 
Step 3: Share why
Not only is it important to clearly detail the plan, but it’s also critical to share why the broader goal matters.
“Sometimes it’s as simple as we have to do this so we can ensure job security,” Brian said. “Sometimes it’s as big as we have to do this, so you can get a huge raise.” 
Step 4: Ask for commitment
A plan can’t succeed without the commitment of everyone to follow the process and achieve the outcome. At HEART Certified Auto Care, Brian makes sure everyone is aligned on the plan and then asks for a verbal commitment.
“If we don’t have their commitment, typically there’s a breakdown in communication somewhere,” Brian said. “Either their values don’t align, the ‘what’ wasn’t clear enough, or the ‘why’ wasn’t compelling enough.”
Live up to your standards.
As a gay man in a blue-collar industry, Brian felt he had to prove himself. Early in his career, he tended to overcompensate, which created a toxic work culture. The result was that he almost lost his business.
“I asked everyone else to succeed in an area that I was failing, and that’s the worst kind of leader,” he said. “I have really high standards, and if I was going to have those high standards, I better live up to them myself.”
After personal therapy and a forced business rebrand, Brian committed to putting heart at the center of his business and leading with empathy instead of tyranny. It didn’t take long for the business to start to grow.
“All of a sudden, people wanted my help,” he said. “We went from losing a million and a half dollars in one year to we’re going to do just shy of 15 million bucks this year.”
Resources + Links
Brian Moak: Website, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X
HEART Certified Auto Care: Website
Shack Sh

On this special episode, Brian dives deep into the art of crafting your business’s mission, vision, and value statements. These principles are the roadmap to success, and Brian gives a blueprint for creating powerful mission, vision, and values statements that shape the foundation of a successful company. This process is a fundamental topic for any budding entrepreneur or business owner. 
Episode Highlights
How to write an effective mission statement
The mission statement is the heart of any business, encapsulating the “why” behind your company’s existence. To be effective, a mission statement must be clear, concise, and informative. It should also encapsulate your business’s identity.
Below are three helpful questions to ask yourself when creating a mission statement:
What is our purpose?
Who do we serve?
What impact do we want to make?
How to write an inspirational vision statement
A good vision statement is aspirational. At its best, the vision statement inspires not just the company’s founder and employees but everyone associated with a business.
Below are two helpful questions to ask yourself when creating a vision statement:
What problem are you solving?
What would your company look like 10 years from now if all your goals were met?
How to write an authentic value statement
Value statements are memorable, actionable, and timeliness principles that guide a company’s decision-making and culture. As the backbone of an organization, value statements are not just words on a page but the core beliefs that the company would be willing to go out of business to defend.
Resources + Links
The Mission Driven Business Podcast Episode 69: Building A Business For Financial Independence with LaSean Smith
Brian Thompson Financial: Website, Newsletter, Podcast
Follow Brian Online: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X (formerly known as Twitter), 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.

Brian chats with LaSean Smith, a software developer and business creator on a mission to help businesses and business owners succeed. LaSean spent more than a decade as a software executive at Amazon and Microsoft, where he uncovered patterns to use process as a tool to win in business more often. He now uses those insights to help entrepreneurs launch and sustain bootstrapped businesses. 
On the episode, LaSean digs deep into what it means to have a values-based business and why owning a business is the most predictable way to achieve financial independence. He also outlines the three-step process that can help any business serving a healthy market to reach $2 million in revenue in five years.
Episode Highlights
Mission-driven businesses are values-based businesses.
LaSean believes that values are the foundation of a successful business. Mission-driven businesses don’t just identify their values, but they also live and breathe them even when times get tough.
 “Increasingly, customers are seeking out companies that stand for something,” LaSean said. “If you really want to be a values-driven business, you have to be willing to go out of business to protect those values.”
Move fast or rescope.
How fast you iterate is requisite for building a business, according to LaSean. While big businesses move in months and medium-sized businesses move in weeks, a budding entrepreneur needs to move in a matter of hours. If you can’t break the process down and move that quickly, rescope and reconsider how you’re tackling your problems.
“You have to move that fast because you’re trying to compound faster than anyone else,” LaSean said. “Your doubling rate is critical when you’re starting a business.”
Find your audience first.
Rather than starting a business by building a product, LaSean first recommends focusing on your audience. By talking to 100 potential customers upfront, you can gain valuable insights from the people who will ultimately buy your product or service.
“A market requires that you have an audience of people who have a shared problem that is urgent, that is painful and reoccurring, and they have the willingness to find the means to financially pay to solve that problem,” he said.
Audit your life’s minutes.
For more than two years, LaSean has journaled his life through a calendar. Three times per day, he inputs what he’s done so far that day into his digital calendar as an exercise to be more intentional with his time. He challenges others to do the same exercise for 30 days.
“Challenge yourself for 30 days to journal and see how you are spending your time,” he said. “Audit the books of your life minutes and see if there’s a disconnect between where you say you want to go and how you’re actually spending those minutes.”
Resources + Links
Values-Based Business Design: Modern Product Development for High-Growth Companies
The Four Burners Theory: The Downside of Work-Life Balance by James Clear
“Fortunes require leverage. Business leverage comes from capital, people, and products with no marginal cost of replication (code and media).” -- Naval Ravikant (@naval)
Louder Than Words by Todd Henry
The Life Map: The Predictable Path To Financial Independence
Follow LaSean Smith: Website, Instagram, LinkedIn, X (formerly known as Twitter) 
Brian Thompson Financial: Website, Newsletter, Podcast
Follow Brian Online: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X (formerly known as Twitter), 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 sup