Tropical MBA: Entrepreneurship & Founder Lifestyle

Latest Episodes:

Episode 278: TMBA278: An Episode For Those Who Need a Business Idea Jan 22, 2015

Show notes

http://www.tropicalmba.com/businessideas/ Back when Ian and I were working a 9-to-5, we were dreaming up all kinds of ideas to start a business. Over the years, we've discovered what we like to call the Business Idea Paradox; When you need these ideas the most, they are the hardest to come by. Ian and I have decided to donate some of our business ideas that we don't have the time or resources to pursue. We've also reached out to our listeners who have donated some of their own business ideas for this episode and shared their thoughts about what kinds of businesses they would really like to see.

Episode 277: TMBA277: How Does Location Independence Affect Relationships and Families? Jan 15, 2015

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http://www.tropicalmba.com/family/ I'm in the beautiful South Philippines today and in this very location last year, I met today's guests: Paul and Becky Kortman. The Kortmans are a big family with a unique story. Paul runs his own digital marketing agency called Connex Social. Last year they sold their house and 90% of their belongings and decided to hit the road. They ended up taking 25 flights and visiting over 30 different locations. We're gonna talk about how location independence effects family, how it effects relationships and how it effects business. We'll also discuss how they rebounded from losing 90% of their revenue, and what the experience was like traveling with a six person family around the world.

Episode 276: TMBA276: Building Startups When You’ve Got Little Time and No Money Jan 08, 2015

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http://www.tropicalmba.com/7daystartup/ Do you think it is possible to launch a scale-able start-up in just one week's time with no money invested? That might sound too good to be true, but Dan Norris has not only articulated an approach to this in his book, "The 7 Day Startup", he has also used it to grow his own business, WPcurve to close to $25K in monthly recurring revenue it his first year, and nearly 50K in monthly recurring revenue now. On this week's episode, I've invited him on to the show to share his unique insight about being an author, running a services business and how the story of his seven day startup has managed to become so successful.

Episode 275: TMBA275: How Should an Entrepreneur Invest $50,000? Jan 01, 2015

Show notes

http://www.tropicalmba.com/investing/ Bossman and I have taken the last few weeks off to recharge and prepare for our upcoming Singapore Event. We're back from our short break and ringing in the new year by discussing a question that Marc Cuban asked recently: What should the average investor do with $50,000? We'll dissect some of the ideas he proposed about financial investments, talk about how the location-independent entrepreneur can put them to good use, and explain exactly what makes our upcoming gathering of entrepreneurs such a unique sharing environment.

Episode 274: TMBA274: When You’ve Built Yourself a Job Instead of a Business Dec 11, 2014

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http://www.tropicalmba.com/builtajob/ With the help of our friend Taylor Pearson from TaylorPearson.me, we are continuing our 5 part series. The first episode was about making that first $1,000 of income. This episode is all about the next phase of a business, where you are starting to make a living, but you're trying to figure out how to scale that and turn it into a real asset. We'll talk about how we got out of our jobs and built a business, how long we were living broke for and the fundamental difference between building yourself a job and a business.

Episode 273: TMBA273: Stories From a Remote CEO Dec 04, 2014

Show notes

http://www.tropicalmba.com/remoteceo/ We are talking about what it means to be a remote CEO. This episode is essentially going to be story time with Ian. We discuss what it is like to leave the office for extended periods of time, and some essential mindset stuff that goes into being a successful remote CEO. We also talk about how our portable business has been able to grow five times year over year with Bossman and I living away from the office, and the dissect the steps that it takes to step away from your business and let it work for you.

Episode 272: TMBA272: Is It Getting Harder to Grow a Successful Business Selling Info Products? Nov 27, 2014

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http://www.tropicalmba.com/espressoenglish/ This week I've invited Shayna from EspressoEnglish.net to share how she was able to build a successful info product business that allows her to live anywhere in the world with just a laptop and $1,500 in capital. We're gonna talk about how Shayna drives hundreds of thousands of visitors to her site every month, how she turns those visitors into leads and customers, how she produces her info products and how she values them. We'll also talk quite a bit about lifestyle and her thoughts on the future of the digital nomad movement.

Episode 271: TMBA271: Understanding and Optimizing For Multiple Currencies: A Conversation with Patrick McKenzie Nov 20, 2014

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http://www.tropicalmba.com/patrick/ Patrick McKenzie from Kalzumeus.com has been one of my favorite bloggers for over half of a decade. Patrick has a storied history of writing long-form pieces about the experiences of starting bootstrap software businesses, and is an expert at optimizing for non-cash currencies. In this week's episode we dig deep into Patrick's business philosophy, including how he has been able to build a powerhouse blog that is followed by some of the most influential people in the industry. We also talk about his expertise around conversion optimization and email marketing, how not to suck at giving conference speeches, and Patrick's experience as a long-term expat in Japan.

Episode 270: TMBA270: A Roundtable Discussion on Apprentices, Mentoring, and Team Building Nov 13, 2014

Show notes

http://www.tropicalmba.com/returntoapprentice/ Our old friend and former team member Taylor Pearson from TaylorPearson.me has come by this week to help us have a broad, round-table conversation about team building. We talk about the ways that Ian and I have done it, and Taylor shares some insider insight from having been on our team. We also answer a question from a young listener about whether he should be learning a skill set like SEO or diving headfirst into his own business.

Episode 269: TMBA269: Branding is About Relationships Not Recognition Nov 06, 2014

Show notes

http://www.tropicalmba.com/focus/ TropicalMBA is a podcast dedicated to the growing movement of location independent entrepreneurs. Every week, location independent entrepreneurs all over the world will leave us questions and comments in our voicemail. This week, we are answering a whole bunch of those voicemails, including questions about why you should be starting or joining a mastermind group, some of the best things about being an expatriate and why branding is really about building relationships with your clients.

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