Did you hear about the husband, wife, and family friend who founded a company because they were tired of all the incivility on TV and the internet? It's not a joke — they launched this company that tells stories to improve people’s lives. They even gave their decidedly mission-driven new business an appropriate name: The Mission.

Started by CEO Chad Grills, COO Stephanie Postles, and Chief Content Officer Ian Faison, The Mission brings stories and sponsors together to create high-quality content about business, marketing, IT trends, health and self-improvement, and the backstories of influential changemakers. Their unique business model gets advertisers involved from the get-go, paired with the stories and storytellers to create high-touch branding opportunities.

Since adopting Salesforce Essentials in early 2018, The Mission launched a new podcast network, grew into one of the most-read publishers on Medium, and had two podcasts, Mission Daily and The Story, selected as "Best of 2018" by Apple. The company currently produces four podcasts sponsored by Salesforce, including their latest, The Journey. A series of conversations with entrepreneurs of all stripes, The Journey helps prime you with the knowledge and mindset needed for your own journey.

Make it work from home, or from anywhere

The Mission is headquartered in a converted garage in the heart of Silicon Valley, just steps from the house where Grills, Postles, and their one-year-old son live. With Salesforce Essentials, they can track their roster of guests and their sales pipeline, whether in the office or working remotely from their phones. The Gmail integration helps surface opportunities from Grills' inbox and share them across the team. “Many of our guests are executives who also shape our pipeline,” Faison said. Essentials help The Mission keep both the creative and sales sides of the business running efficiently.

Early in 2018, The Mission moved to Salesforce Essentials from another Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform they’d been using. Faison was familiar with Salesforce from his previous work with another media company and decided to give Salesforce Essentials a look. He transferred The Mission’s data out of the old platform and got up and running with Essentials in just two days. After 15 minutes of testing it out, Grills turned to Faison and said, “It’s already working.”

The three co-founders shared some great tips on how small businesses can use technology like Salesforce Essentials to help them stay true to their own missions and make more time for what matters.

CRM helps your small business make every customer relationship the best it can be for your customer, said Faison:

Postles offered some sage advice for the growing number of people who work from home:

Grills explained how Salesforce Essentials — combined with authenticity — helps him focus on generating leads and revenue:

Want to know more about using Salesforce Essentials to turn a personal mission into a thriving small business? Watch our short film to learn more about Chad, Stephanie, and Ian’s work building The Mission, and be sure to subscribe to The Journey to hear more real, inspiring entrepreneurial stories.

Salesforce Essentials helps you find more customers, win their business, and keep them happy so you can grow faster than ever. Learn more about our small business CRM solutions by following us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.