TMBA World Summit - I'm Throwing a Party and You Are Invited
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SUMMARY: If you want to come hang out with the TMBA crew, plus a sprinkling of other intelligent, highly irreverent, nomadic internet entrepreneurs, you are in luck. We are throwing a party at the most fun resort in Puerto Galera in June. BOOM! Inner circle stuff is starting to take off.
Video update! Wednesday May 11th, 24hrs after publishing… We are still accepting requests for reservations… we will help you find a room, just follow the instructions below.
In mid-April we made the 5th call for TMBA interns. The standard of applications is continuing to improve. We were faced again with an inbox brimming with awesome candidates. The team and myself had a great time reading so many fantastic applications and talking with many of you.
The whole team is STOKED to welcome Damian Thompson to the TMBA team. Throughout the application process, Damian mastered the three part process for scoring any gig, job, date, investor, you name it:
He demonstrated he understood what we wanted (which had some overlap to what we needed).
He demonstrated he is somebody who could deliver it.
He showed us that he had the resources and motivation to do so.
Try that next time you are out on a hot date: “I’ve got the resources to deliver…”
Summits and Addressing Entrepreneurial Loneliness
Part of my plan for the TMBA is to offer summits where entrepreneurs can get together, become friends, develop trusting relationships, and share important information regarding sensitive business issues. Alternative motivations include jump starting our businesses, getting my staff in one place, and having stupid amounts of fun. One of the key problems I want to help solve in the coming years is “entrepreneurial loneliness.” For all the talk about location independent businesses, passive income, international corps, et all, there are surprisingly few people actually doing this stuff. I want to help bring them together.
We’ve Decided to Throw a Party on a Tropical Island
Now that we’ve got a new member of the crew, the next step is to throw a month long party/get together. Sounds good right? The Tropical MBA has become a platform for Ian and I to test assumptions and play with inversions of standard business maxims.
Is it responsible to grow a business while you buzz around developing countries on a motrobike? Let’s try it! Does it seem ridiculous that a huge blowout in the Philippines could make any business sense? There is only one way to find out!
We’ve decided to throw a party at one of our favorite outposts in the Philippines, Badladz resort in Mindoro.
Here are the details:
WHERE: Badladz Adventure Resort, the most fun resort in Puerto Galera Philippines, on the lovely and quiet island of Mindoro.
WHEN: Friday June 17th to Saturday June 18th – Saturday is the ONLY day we’ll plan an itinerary. Most of the team will be at Badladz from June 15th to July 15th. If I were you, I’d get there early!
WHY: To have a damn good time (as we say, FUN FUN FUN) and to learn from each other. Future summits will be more business focused, this is more of a casual party and get together.
WHO: This isn’t some vague networking conference, this is a bunch of (primarily) dudes based in Asia who have been reading each other’s blogs and want to get together and hang out. If you think you fit in, we’d love you to join us. Here’s the team members who’s attendance has been confirmed (a few guys in our inner circle have confirmed their attendance as well): I’ll update this list as I confirm with more team members…
Ian, my captain, my CEO
David, TMBA II
Dave, TMBA III
Lewis, TMBA IV
Damian, TMBA V
Sean Cooney sponsor and owner of Badladz
COST: FREE! You gotta pay list prices for rooms, food, and we’ll all split the costs of our collective BBQs and boating trips. No charge for the get together. All who participate will split the costs of the outings and the BBQ. This will be cheap and I assure you the value will be world class. For example, we are planning on taking the boats out and doing a SCUBA/snorkeling/swimming/BBQ afternoon outing. Your share of the expenses here might be 30-50 bucks maximum depending on if you rent SCUBA gear. Meals you order independently of our planned BBQ will be at menu list price (which is a great value). Your meals will be delicious. I guarantee you Badladz is a fantastic value.
WHAT: Puerto Galera is pretty chill. We’ll be lounging around on laptops and chatting with each other. There is plenty of fun to be had swimming on beautiful beaches, going on walks, riding motorcycles, diving, snorkeling, and watersports. We also like to party, if you haven’t yet caught the vibe. :)
ARE THERE ANY CATCHES, HIDDEN COSTS, OR SOMETHING I’M NOT GETTING HERE? No. This is just for fun.
There is no question the rooms will be 100% BOOKED by the middle of next week. As of writing this there are only 5 rooms left. EMAIL ME FAST. (Instructions on requests below…)
General Itinerary
I recommend that you show up a few days early to hang. At least 2-3 of our guys will be there a week in advance of the festivities. In general, most of us will be in PG from June 15th to July 15th. My Filipino staff will even be coming for a visit. Friday night I’m sure we’ll have a party. Starting at 9:30 on Saturday morning the 18th we’ll have (3) hour-long presentations. Each presentation will be 15 minutes of presentation and 45 minutes of open discussion.
Topics will revolve around stuff like: off-shore corps, taxes, and growing global organizations. The 3 speakers will be chosen shortly. It will be highly informal, but can set the tone for further discussion on your own. We’ll eat lunch at the resort and take the boats out all afternoon for SCUBA, snorkeling, and a private beach BBQ. That night the bravest of us will no doubt venture into the nightlife of PG, which is internationally recognized as the seediest damn place on the planet.
We’ll set up a place in our private forum in the coming weeks for everyone who’s coming to chat with each other. Perhaps you’ll want to make travel plans with each other etc etc.
Badladz is not a big resort. If you want a room at the resort, you’ll need to email me by TUESDAY MAY 18th, 2011! (Dan at Tropical MBA dot com) Include in your email the following information:
Who are you! Send me some links baby!
How many rooms you want?
How many nights, and what specific dates you want to reserve. We’ll give preference to people who book in advance longer term stays. Why not hang out for a week or two!?
All guests pay published rates, you can check it out on the website.
If you are coming with a friend and want to share a room, let us know.
I will review requests for rooms next week with Sean from Badladz and we’ll work with the resort staff to assign spots at the resort. I’ll let you know if we have space available at the resort within a 2 week window.
If we do not have space for you, we will help you find alterative accommodation close to Badladz.
Oh… and in typical TMBA fashion, this will likely be a little bit of a romp. Hide your kids, hide your wife, and keep your damn video cameras cool.
Loose lips sink ships.
See you there!
Cheers from the beautiful and charming Bali,
Dan
PS, more information below for those of you thinking of taking the trip…..
Thought you guys were in Bali, what gives?
We are! Bali is freaking awesome and I’m really looking forward to making it more or less my base of operations for the next year. We currently have a month to month lease on a decent place, but we are really looking for a super sweet pad to host high level entrepreneurs from all around the world. Bali will be a big part of what we do in the future, and we hope you’ll come visit us here.
Our future meet ups will likely be based in Bali and will be more business focused. We’ll be bringing in high level multi-millionaires to share tips about offshoring, virtual organizations, investments, and stuff like that. Thinking more Q4 timeframe for that kind of summit. This shindig at Badladz is really more about everyone in our immediate network meeting each other and having a good time. Of course, we are also heading to the Philippines regularly to meet up with our staff, check on our corporations there, and do banking. If you are interested in doing those three things, we can definitely help you out!
How to Get There
If you are coming for the main party on Saturday the 18th, try to plan to arrive at Badladz on the 17th at minimum. Coming earlier is highly recommended.
KNOW THIS: You MUST leave Manila at 2PM AT THE VERY LATEST if you want to get to Badladz before the ferry service stops.
One bad day of weather and you might miss the action (there is a 1hr boat ride from Botangas to Muelle pier in Puerto Galera. There are some rare-ish cases where service is suspended due to weather).
Fly in to Clark or Manila international airports. If you are flying in from other destinations in SE Asia, check out discount fairs from carriers like Tiger Air and Air Asia in to Clark airport (1.5HR north of Manila).
Regarding visas and outbound tickets, please check out: Can You Pull a Shady Move to Sneak in to the Philippines?, and Do I Need an Outbound Airline Ticket in Order to Visit the Philippines?
From Clark: Hop on the airport bus direct to Manila. I forget where these guys drop you, but it’s relatively central. Once in Manila hop in a cab and tell them you want to go to the “Buendia bus station.” Make sure they turn on the meter. Buses depart Buendia for Botangas pier every 10-15 minutes. Get on the bus that says “Botangas Pier.” There are a few different transport companies, I like the blue busses on the north side of the road (can’t remember the brand). Ensure with the conductor that you are on the “express” bus. The non-express bus stops in Lipa City, which adds 45minutes on the trip. Now that the southern highway is finished– your trip from Buendia to Botangas will generally take 1.5-2.5 hours.
Many tourists will just take a cab from Manila to Botangas. If you do this be sure to get in a good cab. The faire will be about 2000-3000 pesos and you’ll have to pay for highway tolls. This is an awful option. Buendia bus station is totally central to Makati and Malate. The buses are faster, newer, more comfortable, and cost 167 pesos!!! I strongly recommend you take the bus.
Try to get to the bus station by 2PM at the lastest. You need to make it to Bontagas pier by 4:00PM (actually 5 but give yourself some padding) in order to make the final ferry to “Muelle” Pier in Puerto Galera. At Botangas pier get on the MSL (red boat) ferry to Muelle. If for some reason you can’t get direct to Muelle, you can take ferries to White Beach or Sabang and take a trike or motorbike to Muelle.
Once you get off the Bonka boat at Puerto Galera habor (stunningly beautiful) turn left and walk the whole way to the end of the pier. Then order yourself an SML and settle in for the sunset. (6PM). :)
Any questions feel free to email me, I’m looking forward to meeting you…
Dan at Tropical MBA dot com. I’ll respond to any inquiries you might have.
