Tropical MBA – Location Independent Entrepreneurship

We're back this week, answering a bunch of listener questions about when it's the right time to expand your business and hire some new employees. We'll talk about why there's no magic bullet for getting through the hiring process. It's different for everyone, but there are ways to know when it's time to step up and start bringing in some help.

This week, we're digging into the archives and replaying one of our most popular, and controversial episodes. We're going to be talking about the perils of personal blogging and entrepreneurial journey blogging. A lot of people have interpreted this episode as a warning, but we consider it a challenge to bloggers to step up their game.

This week, it’s all about making the sale. Bossman and I are exploring twenty random thoughts that we’ve had about sales. We talk about everything from salesmanship, to what that process looks like, what some of the key tactics that we use are, and how you can evolve by using these strategies.

This week, we're talking about money. We've had quite a few listeners asking us about what to do when your business starts generating enough money for you to live comfortably. Bossman and I are not financial experts by any means, but we have experienced a lot as entrepreneurs, and we have our own opinions on what to do after you've started making money. Hope you enjoy and happy Thursday!

Last week, we put out a challenge for listeners to email us there "1000 True Fans" business plan-- what they are going to be doing for their clients, how they are doing it differently than other providers, what they are delivering, and the prices that they are planning to charge. We got a ton of responses! Some were great, and some were problematic in our view. Among those, we tried to determine the most common mistakes being made. Bossman also predicts the collapse of our business somewhere in there! Hope you enjoy and happy Thursday!

We got a lot of great feedback from last week's episode, but a lot of people were confused about how the 1,000 True Fans model works in the real world. On this week's episode, we are answering some listener questions about how to build your business to create "passive income" and what the equivalent of the 1,000 True Fans model is in the context of an information product.

This week we are going to replay one of our favorite episodes of all time, with a little bit extra thrown in for good measure. This episode has had a great impact on a lot of our listeners. Of all of the episodes we have recorded, this one has probably helped people improve their businesses the most.

This week bossman and I discuss being unpopular in the face of pressure from friends, family, team members, and employees. Bossman references his new "entrepreneurmobile" gratuitously and we ponder the distinctions being 'know-how' and 'know-what' knowledge.

We've seen a lot of really smart people making dumb deals. It's okay, every entrepreneur has been there. We're not afraid to admit that we've been guilty of some of these mistakes ourselves. On this week's episode we'll be talking about ten ways that you can avoid making a really terrible deal.

People have been asking us to open up a little bit more about some of our specific business ventures so this week we’re going to be talking about our new software-as-a-service product, ValetUp.com. We’re 9 months into the company, and we’ve already faced some significant challenges. On this week’s episode we’ll be discussing the 5 things that we’d do differently if we were starting up a SaaS business today.

This week one of our listeners challenged us to explain the detailed costs of the location independent lifestyle. We’ll talk about how to set up your business so you can become location independent and some general principles we've learned over the years about the 'live and work' anywhere mindset. Listen to this week's show and learn: The things you get paid for today are the skills you built three or four years ago. 6 general principles to the location independent entrepreneur lifestyle. How location independence has changed in the last generation. How to move from an owner's mentality to a renter's mentality and "leave it behind". People on this episode: Dan Ian Mentioned in the episode: Call us at 888-554-8428  ExportAbroad.com Alibaba.com Agoda.com Booking.com AirBNB.com This Week In Startups - Marc Cuban HipChat ProTeethGuard TMBA 184: 10 Travel Commandments What is the Real Cost of the Permanent Travel Lifestyle? Making It Anywhere: Best Travel Tips for Digital Nomads 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 PS, there is also Tropical MBA content on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. PPS, if you'd like to receive emails from us occasionally, you can put your email address into the form below:

This week, one of our listeners challenged us to go more in-depth about Chinese manufacturing and how to get your first product manufactured. We're gonna dive right in and talk about where and how you can learn about outsourcing your product to China, and everything that it entails.

This week, Bossman is back on the scene, and we are going over a host of specific updates about our businesses. In particular, we really get into what kinds of challenges we've faced manufacturing our own product, how we've been handling our relationships with our Chinese suppliers, some ways that you can save money with manufacturing and a whole lot more. Listen to this week's show and learn: Some of the lessons we've learned working with our Chinese suppliers. How we've managed to handle 100% year-to-year growth and the challenges that have come with that. Some things we've learned trying to get our new Software-as-a-Service product off the ground. How taking greater responsibility, setting higher goals, and building a team can lead to more freedom. People on this episode: Dan Ian Mentioned in the episode: Call us at 888-554-8428 Champs Podcast with Arsenio Hall Mike and Rob from StartupsFortheRestofUs.com Taylor from TaylorPearson.me This Week in StartUps - How Hipchat Reinvented IM The Adam Carolla Podcast Mangria Chris Ducker Peter Keller at FringeSport.com Matt Kowlak from HighCappin.Com Patrick McKenzie at Kalzumeus.com Colby at WorldDental.org Brian Ghidinelli of http://www.motorsportreg.com/ 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 PS, if you'd like to receive emails from us occasionally, you can put your email address into the form below:

This week, Elisa Doucette joins me to talk about women in the location independent entrepreneurship game. Elisa runs the Dynamite Circle business operations. If you're a lady sitting in your cubicle in the United States, listen closely. We have a fantastic network of women with similar stories that we hope will inspire you to explore these options for yourself. We only got to mention a handful of women digital nomads on this program, if you know some others who are publishing content about entrepreneurship and travel I'd love for you to share them in the comments! Listen to this week's show and learn: Why we've seen a pretty massive increase in the percentage of women in the Dynamite Circle recently. The differences in cultural attitudes regarding solo female travel . How Elisa handled the pressure of being our first female employee . The best locations in Southeast Asia for female location-independent entrepreneurs to migrate to. Some of our favorite women in the location-independent entrepreneur movement. People on this episode: Dan Elisa Mentioned in the episode: Call us at 888-554-8428 Shayna from Espresso English Jodi Ettenberg from Legal Nomads Kendra from HabitChef.com Christina Ansbjerg Stacey Parks from FilmSpecific.com Natalie Sisson from The Suitcase Entrepreneur Farnoosh from Prolific Living BrazenCopywriter.com Lau from OnlyBodyWeight.com Carey from GreenbackTaxServices.com Kim Rich on Twitter Jill Stanton from Screw the Nine to Five On Being A Filipina Business Woman And Having It All (Mylene Cooney) The Realities Women Face When Traveling Alone, And How To Stay Safe TMBA 183: What is the Best Place for Location Independent  Families? Women Without Borders 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 PS, if you'd like to receive emails from us occasionally, you can put your email address into the form below:

This week, Ian catches up with us from Mexico to talk about the struggles and successes we've experienced with our portable bar company over the last nine months. We'll talk about our experience displaying our new flash bar at a recent trade show and the pros and cons of drop shipping as a business model, among several other topics. Listen to this week's show and learn: The benefits of living as a digital nomad in Mexico, Asia, and Europe. How to decide if drop shipping is right for you. How you can benefit from stepping up to an inventory-based business as soon as practical. What you can expect when taking your product to a trade show. Why it is so important to have market intelligence when determining how to price your product. People on this episode: Dan Ian Mentioned in the episode: Call us at 888-554-8428 The Portable Bar Company's Flash Bar Our episode on how to make cold approaches at trade shows. One of our products was featured in a Super Bowl commercial, can you spot it? 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 PS, if you'd like to receive emails from us occasionally, you can put your email address into the form below: