Brian chats with financial planner-turned-business coach Elizabeth Jetton, M.Ed., CFP. Elizabeth has made igniting passion a throughline of her career, evolving from the first female stockbroker in Atlanta to founding a financial planning firm and now working as a business coach and teacher. On the episode, Elizabeth gets to the heart of what makes a mission-driven business successful. She dives deep into how to identify your unique gifts and utilize them to create a business that serves your needs and makes an impact.

Episode Highlights

Mission-driven businesses reflect their owners’ golden threads.

Mission-driven businesses reflect what their owners deeply care about and the difference they want to make in the world. When that sense of purpose is then combined with the owners’ unique gifts and talents, Elizabeth says the result is “golden threads.”

“Golden threads are those sort of innate gifts we bring to our lives that we can bring to our work to make a difference,” Elizabeth said. “A mission-driven business is that beautiful intersection of what we are capable of doing, what we are skilled and competent at doing, and what we have the gifts to do.”

Think about what you don’t delegate.

If you’re stuck on finding your golden threads, Elizabeth recommends thinking about what you’re drawn to. It can also be helpful to reflect on the tasks that you don’t like to delegate.

“That’s the passion piece,” she said. “Sometimes we try to delegate something when in fact that’s the very thing we actually love to do easily, and then we’re frustrated because the people we delegate it to just don’t get it or because nobody’s going to get it like we do.”

Say no -- especially when you’re just starting.

As a business owner, it’s essential to escape the scarcity mentality that can lead you to take on work that doesn’t reflect your golden threads. Elizabeth emphasized the need to be selective in the projects you take on and to say no to things that don’t align with your mission. While many business owners struggle with saying no, she says the problem is especially prominent among novice business owners.

“When we’re novices, we don’t have the experience, so we don’t have the conviction and confidence,” she said. “When we’re in that state, that’s when we have a tendency to say yes too much because we think we have something to prove.”

Perfection is the enemy of good enough.

Elizabeth is a big believer in prototyping. Especially when you’re just starting a business, you can’t get too attached to what you think the business will be because it will change.

“Don’t wait until you think you’ve got it perfect,” she said. “You’re going to learn more from having a client and seeing what worked and what didn’t than anything else. Perfection is the enemy of good enough."

Resources + Links

• The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Reis

• Follow Elizabeth Jetton Online: 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 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.