{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Former Inmate to Business Magnate with Coss Marte","description":"Brian Thompson chats with Coss Marte, a former inmate turned business magnate. Coss is the founder of CONBODY, the first fitness method developed in prison. Through CONBODY and his two other ventures, Coss is fulfilling his mission to aid and uplift the formerly incarcerated community. On the episode, Coss shares how he found his passion for fitness after losing 70 pounds during his incarceration as well as his struggle to start a company as someone in and out of the prison system. He also discusses how his \u201cfigure it out and survive\u201d motto has spurred him to create three ventures, including one in the legal cannabis industry. Episode Highlights Mission-driven businesses do good from front to back. Coss defines a mission-driven business as one that doesn\u2019t just say it's doing good upfront -- but also does something good on the back end. \u201cYou want to make money and do good as well,\u201d he said. For Coss, the tripartite mission of CONBODY is to destigmatize the formerly incarcerated community, ease their transition back to society, and change the criminal justice system -- all barriers he\u2019s faced as a formerly incarcerated person himself. \u201cI saw the pain I had to go through, and I really didn\u2019t want people who were my friend or my people that were coming out of the system to go through that,\u201d he said. You don\u2019t need a formal business plan. Coss created his business plan for CONBODY while in solitary confinement. He didn\u2019t have a formal mission, list of values, or vision statement. But he did write down the extensive workout he used to get fit while incarcerated and how he could turn that into an opportunity. \u201cI did what I wrote,\u201d Coss said. \u201cI came home and I started doing it in the local park where I grew up, and eventually, one person turned to two, to three, to five, to six, and my mission started evolving.\u201d If you don\u2019t ask, you don\u2019t eat. Coss\u2019s mother always told him: If you don\u2019t ask, you don\u2019t eat. It\u2019s a strategy he took to heart when developing CONBODY. \u201cWhen I came home, I validated by getting one customer in the street, and just stopping them and talking to them and telling them what I\u2019m doing,\u201d Coss said. \u201cI got a gazillion nos, but fortunately enough, I\u2019ve had a few yeses.\u201d Coss eagerly shares his mother\u2019s advice with fellow entrepreneurs who have smart but unvalidated business plans. That includes Ivy League MBA students who have incredible, technical business ideas but have yet to ask whether anybody wants their products. \u201cYou gotta ask,\u201d Coss said. \u201cIf you go to the market and nobody wants this shit you just lost a lot of time.\u201d Resources + Links CONBODY: Website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube Second Chance Studios: Website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn  CONBUD: Instagram, Facebook, Forbes write up Conbody the book Coss\u2019s Social Media: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn Brian\u2019s 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. ","author_name":"Mission Driven Business","author_url":"https:\/\/btfinancial.com\/podcast","html":"