Tropical MBA – Location Independent Entrepreneurship

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Bossman and I are in Tokyo this week following our annual DC BKK Conference in Thailand. We are gonna be recapping how the event went, and reminiscing about some of our favorite speakers. We're also going to be talking about what we've learned about throwing events, what we are planning to do in the future and sharing our advice for people that are looking to get the most out of all these upcoming conferences.

In the aftermath of DC BKK, The Bossman hopped a plane this week on his way to Tokyo, so we've decided to re-visit one of our favorite episodes of all time. I was a little hesitant about this episode when we first published it three years ago, but since that time, we have received a lot of feedback about how important this episode has been to our listeners. This episode came at a time when we had our first $100,000 month, and we still stand behind these 6 key principles that make up our Tao of the Hustle.

Bossman and I are in Bangkok, gearing up for DC BKK, and we are chatting with our friend Jacob Puhl this week. Jacob is one of our speakers here for the event, and he has built a really unique and successful productized service business, geared primarily toward the dental industry. He really has a lot of valuable knowledge on how to scale a business. We're gonna be talking about how to overcome the complications of investing in and expanding a service business and the five ways to turn your services business into a salable asset.

The Canton Fair is taking place this October, so I was really happy to run into my old friend Matt Kowolak from HighCappin.com. Matt has been living as an entrepreneur in China for ten years, and he is the person I go to whenever I have a question about the country. We chat it up about the history of the fair, what it feels like to attend such a historic trade show and what kind of opportunities exist there. He also shares a broad overview of what living in China as an expatriate is like and how to take advantage of their entrepreneurial culture.

Podcast 35:04 | Download | Stitcher | iTunes | Comment This week, we're going to talk all about how to find your unique voice in the marketplace, and how to build an entertaining and informative show that can help you generate a location-independent income. Damien Ruse from SemiProCycling.com is doing just that. He is a coach, a cyclist and a podcast host that has been producing his show for two years, and is currently making a full-time income off of it. If you are interested at all in podcasting, blogging or making a living from your own art, this episode is for you. Listen to this week's show and learn: Why Damian decided to become a podcaster. What his show sounds like, and how he structures each episode. The trial and error that went into selecting his niche. What kind of a skill set is required to create a podcast. How Damian transitioned to monetizing the content of his show. Why people should be thinking harder about whether they should start a podcast. People on this episode: Dan Damian Mentioned in the episode: Call us at 888-554-8428 TropicalMBA Listeners SemiProCycling.com Cody McKibben Seth Godin's Startup School Listening options: Subscribe via iTunes. Listen on Stitcher Radio. Android users can grab our RSS feed here. Right-click and "save file as" for direct download. Or click here to get sent to the top of the page where the on-site player is.   Thanks for listening to our show! We'll be back next Thursday morning 8AM EST. Cheers, Dan & Ian

I'm in Bangkok this week, getting set up for DC BKK and I was very excited to run into our good friend David Hehenberger from WPCast.fm and FatCatApps.com. His products help marketers drive conversions from their Wordpress sites. This is really a full-circle moment for us, as David used to edit the show in the early days of our Podcast. David has since downshifted to focus on building a software company that he felt would be sustainable and generate income on his own terms. We're gonna be talking with David about how he got his company off the ground, how difficult it really is to develop a software product, and the challenges of working within the Wordpress ecosystem.