Beginning Balance

Feb 20 2025 119 ep. 32 mins 143

Beginning Balance Podcast artwork

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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Jesse Hires Mark, and the Inevitability of Change

Feb 20 2025 29 mins

Jesse shares his experience working on the YNAB books for the first time in many years, while YNAB's head accountant is out of maternity leave. Working through monthly and quarterly close got him thinking about how software automation could free up the accounting departments time wrangling spreadsheets to do more impactful work for the business. To that end, he engaged Mark to cons

Jesse Introduces Spendfulness

Feb 06 2025 34 mins

Recently YNAB announced a major shake up in the way it talks about money. Jesse explains how the realization that each of YNAB's Four Rules was really just a variation of Rule One ("give every dollar a job") led to a deeper conversation about YNAB's core identity. Every year when the executive team met to reasses the company's purpose and direction, the team would change the stated

Distractions, Anxious Activity, and Finding Focus

Jan 26 2025 36 mins

Mark and Jesse discuss the pervasive distractions that cell phones and computers cause, and how to fight back against them. Jesse champions the Freedom app blocker, which locks your phone or other device from distracting websites like social media, YouTube, blogs, etc. Since implementing Freedom, he boasts a phone usage time of only 20min per day (!), working toward his stated goal

Bitcoin, Depreciation, and the Most Important Price in the World

Jan 09 2025 31 mins

Mark and Jesse kick off the New Year with a deep discussion on inflation and how it creates confusion about the most important price of all -- the price of money. Mark Butler The Money School: https://moneyschool.works https://markbutler.com https://letsdothebooks.com Jesse Mecham YNAB https://www.youneedabudget.com

Why You Should be Collaborating

Dec 19 2024 43 mins

Following up on Mark's admission that he dreads collaboration, whether it's with peers or employees, Jesse discusses one way the leadership team at YNAB has fostered collaboration. They call it the strategic council, and it's a two(ish) day meeting with all the functions at YNAB presenting the challenges and opportunities for growth in each function. The meeting is tightly structur

Diet Coke, Listeners Chime In, and UBI

Dec 05 2024 52 mins

In today's episode Mark explains what makes the perfect diet coke, and Jesse opens his inbox and reads some comments and questions from Beginning Balance listeners, including tips for improving business leadership skills, how to keep track of all your ideas, and why studies can be highly misleading. Mark and Jesse also address a question about UBI, or universal basic income, and br

Doing Scary Stuff for Personal Growth

Nov 21 2024 50 mins

Jesse kicks off the episode talking about one of his new endeavours, Ultraspeaking, an effort to double down on one of his biggest strengths: public speaking. This leads to a conversation about embracing your strengths, the things that feed your working genius (see episode #102), rather than trying to build up your weaknesses. Mark shares his comfort speaking in front of audiences,

Slippery Slopes: Economics, College Degrees, and Questionable Credentials

Nov 07 2024 49 mins

Mark and Jesse are back after a short break with a discussion about slippery slopes... real and imagined. Jesse delivers an epic rant on the uselessness of economists, while Mark talks about his hesistance applying for graduate school in order to obtain the Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist credential. Mark presents his dillema: he wants the credential to "reduce friction" f

From Barista to Billionaire (Mo' Money, Same Problems)

Sep 26 2024 38 mins

Mark and Jesse discuss their most recent read, Never Enough: From Barista to Billionaire by Andrew Wilkinson, a one-time barista and co-founder of Tiny, a holding company that buys and holds businesses for the long-term (like Berkshire Hathaway). At the age of 36, Wilkinson found himself owner of a company worth over a billion dollars, and in a new stratosphere of wealth he had ne

Gardening, Compost, and Business Complexity

Sep 12 2024 32 mins

Good gardens require good soil, and good soil takes compost and plenty of time. Jesse shares his experiences composting soil for his garden, and how it applies to business. Like compost, good business ideas take time to execute. They can be executed more quickly, but that often involves more complexity. Mark and Jesse then pivot to discuss complexity in business plans, and when it'