Equipping Small and Medium Businesses for Greater Sustainability and Impact

Hey, I'd like to welcome you to another episode of mission matters. My name is Adam Torres. And if you'd like to apply to be a guest in the show, just head on over to mission matters. com and click on, be our guest to apply. All right. So today's guest is Don golden and he's a founder consultant and author over at just capital quotient. Don welcome to the show. Awesome. I'm glad to be with you today. All right, man. So we, we got a lot to talk about today. So we're going to talk about equipping small and medium businesses for greater sustainability and impact. I want to hear how you got on that journey, how you got, how you even founded just capital quotient. But before we do all that, we're going to start this episode, the way that we start them all with what we like to call our mission matters minute. So Don at Mission Matters, our aim and our goal is to amplify stories for entrepreneurs, executives, and experts. That's what we do. Don, what mission matters to you? Awesome, Adam. Well, thank you. I love, I love what you're doing because the mission that matters to me is equipping small and medium enterprises for greater impact and sustainability. That is the mission that I'm passionate about. I spent 30 years in the. Relief and development world, a large international charity space. And I traveled in over 80 countries and respond to help to respond to some of the world's biggest crises. And what I learned during that time is that the only kind of development, human development that is truly sustainable is economic development. That really points to businesses. You know, people are not waiting around the world for you to buy one so you can give one. They like that, you know, they like, they like that. What they're waiting for is an opportunity to build a life for themselves. And the, the economy touches on all the areas that are the most troubling for the human family. And so what you're doing, amplifying voices of businesses and what I get to do to help those businesses be more impactful for humanity and more sustainable for the planet that I think is the greatest mission we can work on together in our lifetime. Amazing. Don, as you're going through that journey, working for these other companies and working and you're out there and you're traveling these, I think he's had over 80 countries, like. Was it a progression? Was there a moment in time? Like, like, how did you know that this next step or this next thing of helping businesses was going to be part of your calling in your path? How did you know? Yeah, well, I don't know if years ago there was a, a pretty, pretty hard nose campaign slogan. This is the, the political campaign season and it was, it's the economy stupid. Yeah. And, and you know, that really is the issue. It is the economy, the word economy, oikos, or household. You know, what kind of household are we going to build? And so what I saw is that when people have access to jobs. It's a job that they can live on and build a family on. They have a horizon of hope. And when they have a horizon of hope, they live flourishing lives. When people are flourishing, they're not going to war with one another. They're not tearing one another down. They're building a world that's better for all of us. And so I, I got to see economic development doing that at the very grassroots all across the world. Some of the poorest countries in the world. And so I realized, you know, I love charities. Charities are needed. Absolutely. There are times when there is nothing humans can do, but receive charity from others, but the best charities are the ones that give people a pathway into a flourishing economy. And so seeing that, understanding that I realized that's what I want to do with my life. Yeah. I want to help businesses. What was it before this before JC quotient or just capital quotient? Like, did you have other businesses or other entrepreneurial pursuits or like, were you always an entrepreneur? How'd that piece of it plan? No, I, I like to be harsh on myself and tell people I've, I've been I've been a, a leech on the economy my whole life. I've, I've. But you make money and I've made you feel guilty about the world. So you give me money so I can go do great things. That's what I did in the charitable world. Yeah. So no, this is my first foray. In fact, I thought I would really, I was going to say, I thought I would have nothing to offer the business world. But as a, You know, my actual background is in theology. I'm a pastor. Mm-Hmm. . And what I do find is that people need and want to be sort of pastored into a new way of thinking about life. Mm. And vocation and work. Mm-Hmm. And so, in some ways, I'm just a different kind of pastor. I'm helping people find their way to greener pastures in business. How do you feel going into that transition was for you as an entrepreneur? Like, what was that like? It was, it was very exciting. I felt like I was entering a more of a faith journey. I left a charity envir

Mission Matters Business Podcast with Adam Torres