Tropical MBA: Entrepreneurship & Founder Lifestyle

Dan and Ian are fresh off of hosting their fourth Dynamite Circle event in Austin, Texas last week. This year, they decided to do something different, by bringing together their entire remote team from all around the world for a two-day team retreat in Austin following the event. For anyone with their own remote team who is considering something similar, this episode is for you. On this week's pod...

A few weeks ago, Dan and Ian introduced a new series on this podcast called "The Re-Readables". In that series, we are taking a look back at some of our favorite books with a fresh perspective. This week's book is all about the "Muse", creativity, productivity, and how to get your best work out into the world. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield was published in 2002. Since then, it has inspired c...

Dan and Ian speak with a lot of entrepreneurs on this show about the difficult decisions that they have to make. Today's guest is currently facing one of the biggest challenges in his business. You may remember Chris Cage from his previous appearances on this podcast. Chris is the founder of Greenbelly Meals, which manufactures high calorie, stoveless backpacking meals for athletes and h...

One of our favorite podcasts to listen to lately is The Re-Watchables, a series presented by The Ringer, where the hosts look back on legendary films. They discuss why these movies had such an impact, what parts have aged the best and worst, and other categories which they use to assess what has made these films stand the test of time. We thought it would be fun to talk about some of our favorite...

Dan and Ian have talked a lot about business strategy on this show, but there are some business techniques that are so powerful, you have to learn them from a true master. Jason Cohen, the founder of WP Engine, recently wrote a piece on his blog ASmartBear.com titled Kung Fu. In that blog, Jason proposes that all entrepreneurs are essentially fighters. We are fighting to make a living, f...

A lot of our listeners have been reaching out to us lately to ask about Dan and Ian's newest business venture, Dynamite Jobs. They have been running the business for the past six months, and it is still very much in the early stages. As the business has grown and changed over that time, they've learned a lot of things that they didn't expect. On today's podcast, we're sharing five things...

Longtime listeners of this show know that Dan and Ian spent the early part of their entrepreneurial career building product businesses online. What you might not know is that Search Engine Optimization, commonly referred to as SEO, was one of the first skillsets that they learned when building those businesses. A lot has changed in the last decade when it comes to SEO, and this week's gu...

Dan and Ian have shared many stories on this podcast of people who have escaped from the cubicle in search of location-independence. This week's episode is a little different, as today's guest left his 9-to-5 job in pursuit of entrepreneurial freedom, only to find that it wasn't what it was cracked up to be. Coran Woodmass left his job in Australia and moved to Chiang Mai, Thailand. He s...

On this week's episode, we are continuing one of Dan and Ian's favorite traditions on the podcast. Today we are talking about books, and in particular our favorite books that we have read in the past year. Last year, we invited our good friend and talented author Kyla Gardner to the show to talk about books with us. We had so much fun with that episode that we asked her to return this we...

A few weeks ago, Dan and Ian had a conversation on this podcast where they shared some of their feelings about venture capital. This is an important topic to a lot of entrepreneurs, and it's one that we plan to cover a lot more throughout 2019. Some of the opinions we shared in that episode were rather controversial. Several of our listeners actually called us out on being a little bit v...

On today's episode, Dan and Ian are delighted to welcome one of their favorite authors back to the show. Cal Newport is a Computer Science professor, who has spent his career writing about the intersection of technology and culture in the contemporary digital age. Cal joins us this week to talk about his new book, Digital Minimalism, which is all about the dangers and distractions of soc...

"Success" isn't always what it's cracked up to be. Dan and Ian know this feeling all too well, as they have dealt with some of their own internal struggles after selling their product business. On today's episode, we are talking about five specific downsides to success. These aren't necessarily strategic elements, as much as they are about the mindset of success. You'll hear about some o...

One of Dan and Ian's goals heading into 2019 was to feature more stories about China on the podcast this year. China is the primary location where many of the products that entrepreneurs sell are traditionally manufactured, and it has become a fulcrum for a lot of the stuff that online product-based businesses do. On today's show, we are excited to bring you some insights from someone wh...

http://www.tropicalmba.com/plansfor2019/ Dan and Ian have decided to be a little bit self-indulgent with this week's podcast. On today's show, they are talking about their goals for 2019. In particular, they wanted to talk about what they have planned for their newest venture, Dynamite Jobs. On this episode, they will be sharing the single goal that they are working towards for Dynamite...

http://www.tropicalmba.com/brentbeshore2/ One of the things that Dan and Ian love about creating this podcast is that they not only get to talk to some pretty interesting people, but they also get to follow their stories as they build and scale their businesses. About two years ago, we spoke with Brent Beshore, the Founder and CEO of Adventur.es. Since we last talked, Brent's team has mo...

http://www.tropicalmba.com/tommyjoiner/ Dan and Ian are back to kick off 2019, and looking forward to another 52 podcasts about how to grow better, more profitable lifestyle businesses. What better way to start the year than by addressing a topic that so many listeners are constantly reaching out to us about? On this week's episode, we are speaking with Tommy Joiner. Tommy is the co-foun...

http://www.tropicalmba.com/reflections2018/ Last week, Dan and Ian shared some of their favorite moments from the interviews that they've conducted on this podcast in 2018. This week, we wanted to get a little more abstract. On today's podcast, we are looking back on some of our favorite conceptual ideas that we've covered in 2018. These are the business and lifestyle themes that have be...

http://www.tropicalmba.com/surprisesanddelights/ As we approach the end of 2018, Dan and Ian have been reflecting on some of their favorite conversations of the year, many of which happened on this podcast. They both feel incredibly fortunate to be able to speak to so many people that they admire and respect on this show. This year has been a landmark one for us here at the Tropical...

http://www.tropicalmba.com/helsinkibustheory/ Dan and Ian have spent a lot of time in Chiang Mai. One of the traditions that Dan has every time he visits is to touch base with Kevin Graham. You may remember Kevin from a previous episode we released in early 2017. In that episode, Kevin joined us to talk about the first major business that he co-founded, which was a suite of Amazon Associ...

http://www.tropicalmba.com/chinaredux/ Today's episode is about a place that has played a very special part in Dan and Ian's entrepreneurial journey. China has become one of the most important countries in the world for entrepreneurs. Chinese supply chains and manufacturing are the lifeblood of many online businesses around the world. Things have changed over the last several years...

http://www.tropicalmba.com/keangraham/ Dan and Ian have said for years on this podcast that the most important thing your business should be doing is solving people's problems. Today's guest has taken that philosophy and ran with it. Kean Graham is the founder of Monetize More, a monetization agency that helps online brands optimize their ad revenue. Monetize More is 100 people strong, a...

http://www.tropicalmba.com/sambrowne/ Dan and Ian have encountered many entrepreneurs in their travels, from all walks of life. They first met today's guest back in April at our annual Dynamite Circle event in Austin, Texas. Sam Browne was the beneficiary of one of the scholarship tickets to that event. These scholarships have been donated by some of the more established entrepreneurs in...

http://www.tropicalmba.com/empireflippers/ Dan and Ian have been wanting to share the story of this week's episode for quite some time. Justin Cooke is one of the co-founders of Empire Flippers. Empire Flippers is an online marketplace where businesses are bought and sold.  Since their inception, they have grown their team to over 60 remote employees, and they have helped people buy...

http://www.tropicalmba.com/hiringapprentices/ It's no secret that Dan and Ian love hearing from the listeners of this show. This week, we received a question from Ben McAdam. Some of you might remember Ben from his earlier appearances on this podcast. Ben reached out to us to ask about our recent decision to hire a new apprentice. For those of you who are not aware, we bro...

http://www.tropicalmba.com/themesfor2019/ Dan and Ian are still resting up after hosting 350 entrepreneurs at their annual DC BKK event in Bangkok last week. While they were at that event, they had the opportunity to speak to so many entrepreneurs about their business struggles and successes throughout 2018. In light of those conversations, we've decided to address some of the common top...