How to Make Better Business Decisions Using a Simple Framework

The Mission Driven Business Podcast

Most entrepreneurs come to Brian with tactical questions. Should I raise my prices? Should I hire someone? Should I be an LLC or an S-Corp? In this episode, Brian Thompson shares that those questions, while important, are the wrong place to start. Drawing from a recent workshop he delivered to LGBTQ clinicians called Money, Energy, and Ethics, Brian walks through the alignment framework he uses with clients across industries to help them make better business decisions, build businesses they love, and stop treating alignment problems as money problems.

The Framework for Making Better Business Decisions

The questions Brian hears most often from entrepreneurs, whether they are therapists, coaches, consultants, attorneys, or creatives, tend to sound like money questions like, “Am I charging enough?” “Should I quit my job?” Brian views these as alignment questions because when the foundation of a business is unclear, every tactical decision becomes harder than it needs to be. The framework he uses with clients approaches business building like walking up a staircase: mission first, then vision, then values, then strategy, then tactics. Skipping the foundation makes everything above it harder to sustain.

 

Start With Your Business Mission

The mission answers one simple question: why does your work deserve to exist? Brian encourages clients to sit with three questions. What change do you want to create? Who are you called to serve? And why does that matter to you? When those answers are clear, decisions become easier because something bigger than money is guiding the choices. The mission is the anchor that holds everything else in place.

 

How to Get Clear on Your Business Vision

Brian describes the vision conversation as one of his favorites, because it opens with a statement that most entrepreneurs do not fully believe at first: you get to build whatever you want. There is no single right way to build a successful business. The vision might be fifteen clients instead of thirty, Fridays off, a group practice, or the largest business possible. All of those are valid. What matters is deciding what you want before the world, or the business itself, decides for you. Your business exists to support your life. Your life does not exist to support your business.

 

How to Use Values as a Filter for Your Business Decisions

Once mission and vision are clear, values become the filter through which decisions get evaluated. Brian shares his own values, which are visible on his website: leading by example, choosing courage, listening deeply and speaking with care, and appreciating all that we have. Those values are not decorative. They show up in how he serves clients, how he communicates, how he prices his work, and how his calendar is structured. The question he leaves clients with is a useful one: if someone looked at your pricing, your calendar, your boundaries, and your marketing, would they recognize your values? If the answer is no, something needs to change.

 

Three Strategies For a Sustainable Business

Once the foundation is in place, you can turn to strategy. Every strategy comes back to sustaining three things: money, energy, and ethics.
On money, the mindset shift most entrepreneurs struggle with is that clients are not paying for your time. They are paying for the transformation you help create, the confidence, the relief, the hope, or the healing. Profit is not just a reward for meaningful work. It is what allows meaningful work to continue.

 

Profit protects the mission.

On energy, there is a parallel to money: your energy account can be overdrawn too. A calendar that looks full can feel completely empty, and that is a boundaries problem. Rest matters, saying no matters, and intentionally creating space to recharge is not separate from the work. It is part of it.
On ethics, there is no single right answer to questions like whether or not to accept insurance, offer a sliding scale, or take on pro bono work. The better question is whether the decision reflects your mission, vision, and values. When it does, difficult decisions become much easier to make with confidence.

 

Your Action Step

Here is a question to reflect on: What one decision could you make this month that would better protect your money, your energy, and your values? Before changing pricing, hiring someone, or launching something new, take a step back and reconnect with mission, clarify vision, and revisit values. Let those guide the strategy, and the tactics will follow. If this episode resonated, share it with another entrepreneur who might need to hear it.

 

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.