Beginning Balance

By Jesse Mecham

What's Beginning Balance about?

Jesse Mecham and Mark Butler teach you how to manage your business cash flow, hone your business model, and not freak out about money.

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Beginning Balance episodes:

04.26.2024
You Are Money, Money Is You
In today's episode, Mark and Jesse discuss money as a concept, why it exists, and how trade (using money) has created tremendous value for humans throughout history. On the YNAB Podcast, Jesse has spoken about money being far more than...
04.12.2024
You Need Core Values, Not Strategy
Mark kicks off today's episode with a handful of words, hoping to weave them into a broader discussion: vision, goal, strategy, plan, and tactics. Mark and Jesse discuss how many small business owners look for tactics first, various tasks focused...
03.29.2024
Systems: Not as Boring as They Sound!
In today's episdoe, Mark and Jesse discuss the importance of developing good systems, not just in business but in life! Mark shares a recent experience in which his wife left for a few days on a retreat, leaving Mark to...
03.15.2024
Signs of Success: When Business Growth Plateaus
Mark and Jesse ponder the question -- what do you do when growth slows and the business plateaus? Mark recalls a story about a successful businessperson who failed at several ventures before striking gold, and notes that the "gold" business...
03.01.2024
Is College Worth It Anymore? Looking for the Value in Education
People have been hemming and hawing over the value proposition of college for years now, and in 2024, the value that a bachelor's degree offers is more questionable than ever. Mark and Jesse, both with teenagers staring down the barrel...
02.16.2024
Strategic Stress: Discussing Morgan Housel's "Same As Ever"
We usually talk about stress as something you need to reduce, or recover from. But there are different types of stress -- good stressors and bad stressors -- and sometimes stress drives us to accomplish things and innovate when we...
02.02.2024
New Years Resolutions and Why They're Awesome
Jesse defends the New Years resolution, and offers up of his own resolutions for the year, namely being kind. Mark resolves to try really hard, and be a better friend. Harvard study on men's happiness (started in 1938!): ...
12.15.2023
Firing Clients: It's Not You, Well...
Mark shares a trend he has become aware of in his business: his highest revenue clients are also his least time-consuming clients, and thus his most profitable clients. On balance, the clients who pay the least under his sliding scale...
12.01.2023
Diversification... or Distraction?
Mark shares a recent conversation with a client fixated on "diversifying" her business, which to her meant expanding her coaching services from 1-on-1 to group coaching. Diversification is one of those concepts that sounds wise (of course you should diversify!)...
11.17.2023
Joy, Guilt, and Second Guessing: Money Doesn't Have to Stress You Out
Jesse shares a conversation he had with the YNAB executive team about spending (and giving) with joy, and Mark relates how many business owners struggle with this problem. Mark also shares a recent talk with a client agonizing over an...
11.03.2023
Harness Your Unique Ability: Mark and Jesse Read the Book This Time
Mark and Jesse actually read the book (almost)! After completing most of the book recommended by a listener, 10x Is Easier Than 2x: How World-Class Entrepreneurs Achieve More by Doing Less by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy, Mark and Jesse share...
10.20.2023
10x Is Easier Than 2x: Mark and Jesse Discuss a Book They Haven't Read (Yet)
A listener requested Mark and Jesse comment on the book 10x Is Easier Than 2x: How World-Class Entrepreneurs Achieve More by Doing Less by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy -- and they happily oblige! Except... they haven't read the...
10.06.2023
Money Dogma and Hard Work
Mark and Jesse share a snippet of a long conversation about the nature of opportunity cost in budgeting. They broadly divide people into two different personality types: the accumulators who diligently follow the rules of budgeting and amass cash, and...
09.22.2023
How Mark Gets Things Done: A Tale of Two Time Management Styles
Mark explains his unique system for managing his day to day tasks after years of struggling with ADHD. For Mark, it's all about managing his energy and honoring his mindset in the current moment. If the "dirt pile" calls (his...
09.08.2023
Meetings for Introverts, New Business Books, and Mark Running a 60k?!
Mark and Jesse answer a listener question about how to run more effective meetings, particularly for introvert-heavy groups. Jesse talks about the importance of ice breakers (although you don't have to call them that) and standardized meeting structures across the...
08.25.2023
How Much Money Knowledge Do You Need? And the Folly of Future Proofing
Mark poses a question -- how much knowledge about money does someone need? As in, how much time and energy should one devote toward investing, planning for future needs and problems, and other future considerations? Jesse offers some examples of...
08.11.2023
Charlie Fixes Brakes
Mark provides an update on his son Charlie and his budding mechanic career, and voices some concerns about his continuing to work at the auto shop. Charlie made some good money replacing brakes on a family friend's vehicle, and is...
07.28.2023
Team Compensation: How to Set Expectations and Avoid Landmines
Mark and Jesse discuss the process of setting compensation, salaries, bonuses, and communicating those effectively to the team. Compensation is a touchy subject. Businesses want to incentivize employees to perform at a high level and reduce turnover by compensating them...
07.14.2023
Your Next Easiest Dollar
...probably comes from doing more of what you're already doing, not a new venture or even a new product. But Mark and Jesse have talked about digging trenches already. Today they ask the question, is it enough for a business...
06.30.2023
Striving for What? When Enough Is Enough
Mark and Jesse dissect the culture of striving that pervades American society, in businesses and consumers alike. There seems to be a tacit assumption that all business should be about more -- growing more, making more money, etc -- and...
06.16.2023
Finding Clarity in Difficult Situations with YNAB
Mark shares a difficult personal situation he and his family have been dealing with, that has signficant financial ramifications. Recently Mark's wife was diagnosed with cancer, and she has undergone chemo treatments and a litany of medical tests. As the...
06.02.2023
Charlie Changes Oil
It's happening! Mark's son is taking the step toward business ownership. His plan is to leave his job at the auto shop behind, and start a mobile oil change business. Mark and Jesse discuss some of the challenges of pricing...
05.19.2023
A YNAB Success Story (and Taxes)
Jesse shares a recent situation that would have sent shivers through most owners. Following a revision in the tax code regarding software R&D; costs, YNAB discovered it would be facing down a huge tax bill, over triple what they anticipated...
05.05.2023
It's All Borrowing: Taking Care of Future You
What if all your spending... was actually borrowing? Ok, well not ALL your spending, but those situations in which you pull money from one category of your budget and apply it to another. Jesse gives the example of going to...
04.21.2023
What Do You Do When You Get Paid? Profit First
Mark and Jesse answer a question from Beginning Balance listener Allison (thanks for listening Allison!). Allison asks: what do you do when you get paid? How much should you set aside for taxes and retirement savings? It's a great...
04.07.2023
The Curse of Skilled Labor on a Small Team
On the previous, Mark shared a recent experience about letting an employee go. Not long after, another team member left for a great opportunity at another company. On a small team like Mark's, the loss of two employees back to...
03.24.2023
Letting Someone Go
It's not a fun part of the job, but sometimes you have to let employees go. Mark discusses a recent experience, and why, in retrospect, he should have acted much sooner. Jesse shares his thoughts on when, and why, you...
03.10.2023
Welcome AI Overlords | How Will It Affect Your Business?
Mark and Jesse consider the wave of AI technology that is rapidly being deployed in a number of industries. Whether it's the dreamlike collage-art of Midjourney or ChatGPT's pedantic essays based on conversational prompts, AI seems to be on everyone's...
02.24.2023
How's It Going Without the Credit Card?
Jesse and Mark return to their credit card debate from episode #69 (recorded last year in 2022) and discuss how business is going with using a credit card. Jesse went cold turkey and stopped all use of credit cards, while...
02.10.2023
New Years Resolutions: Simplifying the Plan
Mark and Jesse share their New Year's resolutions for 2023, and why their goals and plans are getting simpler as time goes by. One common goal for 2023? Mark and Jesse are recommitting to YNAB, and ditching the credit card....
01.27.2023
Jesse Drags Mark Into a Credit Card Discussion
Mark and Jesse have discussed the advantages of being cash focused since the beginning of the show -- such as episode #3: Your Cash Is Your Strategy -- and part of being cash focused is not being focused on...
01.13.2023
Taxes and Fear
The beginning of the year brings for every business owner a familiar feeling... worry and fear about taxes. Even for those putting in an honest, good faith effort, it's not always clear that you've done things 100% correct. There's also...
12.30.2022
Doom and Gloom... Now What?
There's a lot of doom and gloom in the media these days, more than usual, that is! Inflation, recession, war... there seem to be many reasons to be negative about business outlooks in the coming year. But what are you...
12.09.2022
Your Code Is Not Your Moat
Mark and Jesse discuss the idea of "moats" in business, that is, the things which both give your business a competitive edge and also make it difficult to replicate. Too many budding entrepreneurs become enamored with building apps and software...
11.25.2022
Reminiscing about YNAB's Early Days, New Projects, and More
Mark and Jesse answer a listener's questions about whether Jesse knew that he was onto an idea that would positively impact so many people when he started YNAB. They also discuss what new projects -- in business and in life...
11.11.2022
How Do You Improve Employee Morale? Try AMP
Mark and Jesse ponder the question: what makes (and keeps) employees happy? While Jesse doesn't like the term "happy," there are definitely some strategies to keeping employee morale high and making jobs more fulfilling. Jesse references Dan Pink's book "Drive"...
10.28.2022
Standards, Protocols, and Transacting in Information
Mark and Jesse discuss the idea that all businesses really transact in information. Whether the business sells goods or services, no matter the field or industry, ultimately there is information behind all products -- how to make the product, how to...
10.14.2022
There's No Such Thing as "One and Done"
Mark and Jesse discuss the importance of preserving institutional knowledge when employees inevitably leave and new ones join, and how that can (and should!) be baked into the normal functions of the business. As Jesse puts it, nothing in business...
09.30.2022
Quiet Quitting, Quiet Firing, and the Victim Mentality
Mark and Jesse discuss a new term that is making the rounds on social media, and recently got the Wall Street Journal treatment as well. "Quiet quitting" is the so-called trend of dissatisfied and disillusioned workers exerting bare minimum effort...
09.16.2022
Rule Four: First Principles | The Age of Desire
Mark and Jesse set their sights on Rule Four as they contemplate the first principles, or the foundational ideas, behind YNAB's Four Rules. Rule Four has evolved over the years from pay today's bills with last month's money to, simply,...
09.09.2022
Rule Three: First Principles | Bend But Don't Break
Mark and Jesse ponder the philosophy behind Rule Three -- roll with the punches. At the end of the day, it's just flexibility! Jesse also takes issue with the concept of "overspending." Mark Butler, Virtual CFO https://markbutler.com https://letsdothebooks.com ...
09.02.2022
Rule Two: First Principles, Forward-Oriented Thinking, and Tending the Tomato Patch
Mark and Jesse continue their philosophical musings over the Four Rules by considering the essence or first principle of Rule Two -- Embrace Your True Expenses. Some people have taken YNAB's position to be "we don't forecast," but Rule Two...
08.27.2022
Rule One: First Principles & Making Better Decisions Through Tradeoffs
Mark and Jesse revisit YNAB's Four Rules to explore whether there's a deeper, more universal concept underlying them. It's often been said that Rule One -- give every dollar a job -- is about aligning your money with your priorities....
07.29.2022
Running Your Business on YNAB: Mark's Complete Onboarding Process
Thinking about taking the plunge and running your business on YNAB? Mark and Jesse covered the many benefits of doing so on the podcast in first episodes of Beginning Balance. Today, Mark goes deep into his onboarding process for new...
07.22.2022
Employers, Employees, and Their Financial Stress
Data from annual PWC-led surveys, as well as YNAB's own surveys, make it clear that employees carry their financial stress into the workplace with them. In some cases, it simply results in less-happy employees; in other cases, more requests for...
07.15.2022
When Is It Time to Retire? Deciding to Be Comfortable
Mark and Jesse ponder the question, "when should you retire?" While many sources float out the 4% Rule, or some variation of it, that states you can pull out four percent of the value of your retirement portfolio each year...
07.08.2022
Clear Thinking, Team Dynamics, and Clear Organization Direction
Mark and Jesse field a question from listener Jose, who asked what he could do to improve the communication between his team during meetings. Revising Prose by Robert Lanham https://www.amazon.com/Revising-Prose-5th-Richard-Lanham/dp/0321441699/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1656859182&refinements;=p_27%3ARichard+Lanham&s;=books&sr;=1-1&text;=Richard+Lanham The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: ...
07.01.2022
Mark and Jesse Start a Business: What Do They Pick?
Let's say you needed some money, and you wanted to start a business with minimal lead time and startup cost. What would you pick? Mark and Jesse discuss the scenario, and lay out a strong case for starting a service...
06.24.2022
Accounting Is Cooler Than You Think: Contribution Margin and Breakeven Analysis
Businesses are concerned with profitability, and rightly so. If the business can't turn a profit, it can't stay in business very long! Calculating bottom line profitability is a fairly straightforward operation, but what about calculating the relative profitability of individual...
06.17.2022
Exceptional Process, Not People
Mark and Jesse discuss the "curse of the superstar employee," that one person in your business that you can't imagine living without. The employee that does every task better than everyone else (probably faster too), with enthusiasm. While these are...

What's Beginning Balance about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Beginning Balance episodes:

You Are Money, Money Is You

You Need Core Values, Not Strategy

Systems: Not as Boring as They Sound!

Signs of Success: When Business Growth Plateaus

Is College Worth It Anymore? Looking for the Value in Education

Strategic Stress: Discussing Morgan Housel's "Same As Ever"

New Years Resolutions and Why They're Awesome

Firing Clients: It's Not You, Well...

Diversification... or Distraction?

Joy, Guilt, and Second Guessing: Money Doesn't Have to Stress You Out

Harness Your Unique Ability: Mark and Jesse Read the Book This Time

10x Is Easier Than 2x: Mark and Jesse Discuss a Book They Haven't Read (Yet)

Money Dogma and Hard Work

How Mark Gets Things Done: A Tale of Two Time Management Styles

Meetings for Introverts, New Business Books, and Mark Running a 60k?!

How Much Money Knowledge Do You Need? And the Folly of Future Proofing

Charlie Fixes Brakes

Team Compensation: How to Set Expectations and Avoid Landmines

Your Next Easiest Dollar

Striving for What? When Enough Is Enough

Finding Clarity in Difficult Situations with YNAB

Charlie Changes Oil

A YNAB Success Story (and Taxes)

It's All Borrowing: Taking Care of Future You

What Do You Do When You Get Paid? Profit First

The Curse of Skilled Labor on a Small Team

Letting Someone Go

Welcome AI Overlords | How Will It Affect Your Business?

How's It Going Without the Credit Card?

New Years Resolutions: Simplifying the Plan

Jesse Drags Mark Into a Credit Card Discussion

Taxes and Fear

Doom and Gloom... Now What?

Your Code Is Not Your Moat

Reminiscing about YNAB's Early Days, New Projects, and More

How Do You Improve Employee Morale? Try AMP

Standards, Protocols, and Transacting in Information

There's No Such Thing as "One and Done"

Quiet Quitting, Quiet Firing, and the Victim Mentality

Rule Four: First Principles | The Age of Desire

Rule Three: First Principles | Bend But Don't Break

Rule Two: First Principles, Forward-Oriented Thinking, and Tending the Tomato Patch

Rule One: First Principles & Making Better Decisions Through Tradeoffs

Running Your Business on YNAB: Mark's Complete Onboarding Process

Employers, Employees, and Their Financial Stress

When Is It Time to Retire? Deciding to Be Comfortable

Clear Thinking, Team Dynamics, and Clear Organization Direction

Mark and Jesse Start a Business: What Do They Pick?

Accounting Is Cooler Than You Think: Contribution Margin and Breakeven Analysis

Exceptional Process, Not People