The Gold Mine Podcast

Stop running your business from your bank balance. In this Gold Mine Podcast episode, we sit down with our own bookkeeper, Francesca Thornley—founder of Thornley & Knight—for a practical, no-jargon playbook on money management that actually supports growth, sanity, and smart marketing.

Francesca shares how she built an all-remote team (many homeschooling moms) over 11 years, why clean books beat “bank-balance accounting,” and how simple systems—owner pay, profit buckets, and autopay—turn chaos into clarity.

What you’ll learn:
• Profit First (in plain English): paying yourself first, setting percentages, and using multiple accounts so decisions get easier at a glance
• Owner pay that sticks: how to pick a reliable number now and step it up over time—without missing payroll or taxes
• Clean separation: why mixing personal and business spends can pierce the corporate veil (and how to avoid it)
• Autopay + AR: why automatic billing is a non-negotiable, and how ACH/credit cards impact cash flow more than the fees scare you think
• Margins and pricing: how to spot products/services that quietly lose money—and fix them
• Marketing budgets that work: setting a sustainable % (vs. vibes), building a 90-day runway, and respecting the “flywheel”
• Reports that matter: P&L vs. balance sheet, simple rhythms, and the “reverse budgeting” mindset
• Red flags to dodge: late-tax fantasies (hello, IRS), “throwing good money after bad,” and running ads without a sales/process backbone

Guest
Francesca Thornley is the founder of Thornley & Knight, a boutique bookkeeping firm built for real life. Her team helps owners get accurate numbers, readable reports, and systems they can trust—so decisions get faster and stress gets lighter. 

Resources mentioned (no affiliates) 
• Profit First (framework)
• P&L and Balance Sheet basics
• Autopay/recurring billing (ACH + cards)
• Margin analysis for pricing If this was helpful, subscribe, drop a comment with your biggest takeaway, and share it with a business owner who’s ready to get out of money fog and into momentum.

In this episode of The Gold Mine Podcast, coach and Vistage Chair Machen Macdonald (Pro Brilliance Leadership Institute) joins us to unpack how real human connection and true peer advisory can create clarity, accountability, and momentum.

We dig into what actually happens inside a Vistage group: morning workshops with national experts (marketing, HR, AI, cybersecurity, finance), lunch and community, and an afternoon of issue processing where members surface the real problem before solving it. We talk mindset, clean operations vs. noisy “growth,” and simple tools like askformations that shift you from reaction to creation.

What you’ll learn:
• Why peer advisory is not a leads group—and why that matters
• The five buckets most owner challenges fall into: decisions, accountability, isolation, growth/exit, and the unknown unknowns
• How “issue processing” prevents you from solving the wrong problem
• The power of clean operations (reducing waste and busywork) to free profit and energy
• Askformations vs. affirmations, and a simple question that unlocks tough personnel decisions
• The “three buckets” of control and how to stop letting emotion run your calendar

Guest:
Machen Macdonald is a leadership coach and Vistage Chair serving business owners and CEOs in the Gold Country. Through Pro Brilliance Leadership Institute, he helps leaders make better decisions, build capable accountability, and scale with sanity.

Resources mentioned: 
• Pro Brilliance Leadership Institute 
• Vistage
• The E-Myth (Michael Gerber) 
• 2 Second Lean (Paul Akers) 
• Motion task-scheduling app If this episode was helpful, hit subscribe, drop a comment with your biggest takeaway, and share it with a business owner who needs a spotter.

In this episode of The Goldmine Podcast, we sit down with our friend and entrepreneur Paul Galushkin for a wide-ranging and inspiring conversation. Paul shares his journey from immigrating to the U.S. from Ukraine as a child to building multiple successful businesses with his wife and partner, Tatyana. We explore the pivotal moments that shaped his mindset—from working with his hands as a teen to launching a real estate brokerage, flipping homes, and most recently, opening a wellness center.

The conversation digs into themes of faith, family, fatherhood, personal responsibility, and how entrepreneurship often requires resilience, stress tolerance, and choosing the right mindset even in uncertainty. Paul also opens up about his Christian upbringing and how it fuels his sense of purpose in business and in life.

Whether you're a business owner, aspiring entrepreneur, or just someone seeking to live more intentionally, this episode offers wisdom and perspective on building a meaningful life—one decision at a time.

https://www.eastokrealty.com/
https://edh.arcticelevation.com/widget/service-menus/service-menu-edh
https://www.arcticelevation.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-galushkin-014a084a/
https://www.instagram.com/paul.galushkin/?hl=en
https://www.facebook.com/galushkinpaul
https://www.youtube.com/@sacramentorealestateguide

The Gold Mine Podcast is an Auburn Business Ventures production.
Website: https://www.auburnbusinessventures.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/auburnbusinessventures
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auburnbusinessventures/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/auburn-business-ventures/

In this episode of The Gold Mine Podcast we interviewed Ruby Beauchamp, the founder of No Hands Coworking. Ruby shares her journey of starting the co-working space in downtown Auburn, California, and discusses her passion for collaborative spaces. She emphasizes the value of marketing, networking, and getting involved in the community, while also highlighting the benefits of working in a co-working environment. The conversation concludes with a focus on the importance of starting small and organic growth, as well as the resources and support available for entrepreneurs.

https://www.nohandscoworking.com/
https://www.facebook.com/nohandscoworking/
https://www.instagram.com/nohandscoworking/?hl=en
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rubybeauchamp

The Gold Mine Podcast is an Auburn Business Ventures production.
Website: https://www.auburnbusinessventures.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/auburnbusinessventuresInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/auburnbusinessventures/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/auburn-business-ventures/”

This episode of the Gold Mine Podcast is with Chris Anderson, the owner of Home Detail Services - a home service business focused on helping the 55+ community with dangerous home tasks requiring a ladder. Chris shares the story of how he started his business to pay his way through college and how it evolved into providing specialized services for the 55+ community, focusing on tasks involving ladders. He discusses the challenges of scaling his operation and emphasizes the importance of building trust and relationships with customers. Chris also highlights the value of accountability and the mindset of embracing rejection as a stepping stone towards success.

https://homedetailservices.com
https://www.facebook.com/ChristopherNolanAnderson/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-anderson/
https://twitter.com/aChrisAnderson
https://www.instagram.com/achrisanderson/?hl=en

The Gold Mine Podcast is an Auburn Business Ventures production.
Website: https://www.auburnbusinessventures.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/auburnbusinessventuresInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/auburnbusinessventures/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/auburn-business-ventures/”

This Episode of the Podcast is with Cole Flournoy, founder of HelpHero. HelpHero is a social media platform built to promote Charity and doing good in the world.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/helphero?trk=public_profile_experience-item_profile-section-card_subtitle-click


The Gold Mine Podcast is an Auburn Business Ventures production

Website: https://www.auburnbusinessventures.com/
Information about our meetup:
https://www.auburnbusinessventures.com/meetup

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/auburnbusinessventures
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auburnbusinessventures/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/auburn-business-ventures/”

In this episode of the podcast we interviewed Micah Whitehead and Sheldon Steele, the founders of Buildry. A platform where Real Estate Agents can earn commissions by refeering ADU builds and other home services. Our discussion covered and explanation of how their system works and how it helps Real Estate Agents, Homeowners, and Contractors.

https://www.gobuildry.com/
https://apps.apple.com/in/app/buildry/id6446124229
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.AppInstitute.buildry&pli=1

The Gold Mine Podcast is an Auburn Business Ventures production

Website: https://www.auburnbusinessventures.com/
Information about our meetup:
https://www.auburnbusinessventures.com/meetup

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/auburnbusinessventures
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auburnbusinessventures/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/auburn-business-ventures/”

In this episode of the podcast we interviewed Joe Uhan, a physical therapist and stride coach. Our conversation covered topics including how he found his way to private practice, why someone might need physical therapy, and the pros and cons to how physical therapy fits into our current healthcare system.

https://uhanperformance.com/
https://www.facebook.com/uhanperformance/
https://www.instagram.com/uhan_performance/?hl=en
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1Jgaq6HcFNsMAPr_bb4XHQ
https://uhanperformance.janeapp.com/locations/uhan-performance-auburn/book

The Gold Mine Podcast is an Auburn Business Ventures production

Website: https://www.auburnbusinessventures.com/
Information about our meetup:
https://www.auburnbusinessventures.com/meetup

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/auburnbusinessventures
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auburnbusinessventures/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/auburn-business-ventures/”

In this episode we interview Mike Mendelson, one of the co-founders of Upduo. Topics of discussion in this episode include how we typically think about education, how peer-to-peer learning allows education to scale accross groups and organizations, what learning pathways are and how to opitimize learning trajectories for anyone.

Learn more about Upduo:
https://www.upduo.com/

The Gold Mine Podcast is an Auburn Business Ventures production.

Website: https://www.auburnbusinessventures.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/auburnbusinessventures
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auburnbusinessventures/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/auburn-business-ventures/”

In this episode we talked with Machen MacDonald who is a #1 best-selling author and creator of the highly successful Power of Coaching book series. He is a certified business coach and life coach, certified Master Coach and Certified MindScan Consultant.

Find out more about Machen and his business coaching practice:
https://probrilliance.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/machenmacdonald/

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The Gold Mine Podcast is an Auburn Business Ventures production

Website: https://www.auburnbusinessventures.com/
Information about our meetup: https://www.auburnbusinessventures.com/meetup

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/auburnbusinessventures
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/auburnbusinessventures/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/auburn-business-ventures/