Dan and Ian reflect on their personal and business highlights from 2024, discussing parenting, travel, finance, making hard decisions in business and gaining clarity. They also dive into the systems and frameworks that have driven meaningful progress for them and their coaching clients over the past year.

A personal brand is all about perception—everyone has one, whether you like it or not. So why not take control and shape it to your advantage?

In this episode, Yota Trom shares actionable strategies for founders to overcome imposter syndrome, craft an authentic personal brand, and confidently integrate more of their true selves into their business.

Shane Hummus reveals his proven strategy for turning YouTube into a reliable source of new clients and millions in revenue, showing how entrepreneurs can succeed even with modest view counts.

Dan and lan break down 10 essential questions to help you reflect on the year, align your priorities, and set your business up for success-no new books or business coaches required (yet).

Dan welcomes back Jay Clouse, founder of Creator Science, for his third appearance on the podcast. Jay has grown Creator Science into a thriving media company, including a YouTube channel with over 100,000 subscribers. In this episode, they discuss recurring vs. one-time products, effective marketing funnels, channel viability, and the difference between discovery and nurture content. Jay’s transparent approach to building his business is truly inspiring. Catch the second part of this conversation on the Creator Science podcast.

Dan talks to Matthew Newton, CEO of Leatherback Travel, about his radically unconventional approach to scaling an 8-figure business. They dive into why it’s crucial to ruthlessly select your opportunities, along with key lessons learned—including when to pivot, balancing flexibility with structure, and ensuring that running a business is always engaging and fun. Lean into some of these insights as you work on your goals for 2025.

If you’re sleeping on LinkedIn, let this episode be your wake up call. Dan sits down with Dr. Alex Barker, a pharmacist-turned-entrepreneur who 10X’d his business using LinkedIn. A real LinkedIn success story, proving how this often-overlooked platform can be a game-changer for B2B businesses.  If you’ve ever doubted LinkedIn’s potential, this conversation might just change your mind.

Dan and Ian traveled to Barcelona with 12 other CEOs and founders to spend the week with Scaling Up author Verne Harnish. They spent $20K+ to stay in a haunted villa and workshop their business 12 hours a day for 4 straight days.

These are the 8 takeaways that you can apply to your own business… for free.

Does your business feel stuck in 'idea mode,' constantly jumping from project to project? If you’re ready to get on track and build a more focused, scalable strategy for 2025, this episode is for you.

Dan breaks down his proven 4-step framework for driving your next $1 million in revenue. These actionable steps can be implemented in just a few days, with results you’ll notice almost immediately.

Dan revives his Re-Readables series with a discussion inspired by Frank Slootman's business book Amp It Up. He delves into the book's core arguments, such as the idea that execution trumps strategy, faster execution can drive better decision-making and growth, and the importance of building for investability.

Dan & Ian talk to Lucas Peters, founder of Journey Beyond Travel, about his plans to get to $10M in 5 years.

They break down the business and shift thinking from a project-oriented mindset to an approach rooted in financial analysis: What are your gross margins? What does it take to aquire a customer? What is your rebuy rate and LTV?

Dan and Ian discuss the importance of three key executive roles—CEO, COO, and CFO—within bootstrapped businesses, emphasizing the need for founders to embrace responsibilities beyond visionary tasks.

They share insights from this year’s DCBKK and a sneak peek into the upcoming DC Black event in New York.

We’re joined this week in a business breakdown session with Alexej Pikovsky of Alphawellbrands.com. Alexej raised 4MIL to build a CBD marketplace. They were forced to pivot and have currently acquired an Amazon FBA brand and started up a success agency in the process, the combined revenue of both is on track to be over 4MIL this year.

Selling your product or service requires using words to convey what you offer. But words alone don’t convert on-the-fence prospects into paying customers. Great conversion copy is a mix of persuasion, UX, and decision-making psychology. Sound hard? We promise it isn’t.

Chris, the founder of Conversion Alchemy, takes us for a deep dive into all things copywriting and how the power of your messaging can impact your business growth, for better or worse.

Dan and Ian talk to 100s of listeners a year via 1:1 coaching. In this episode they distill those calls into 4 breakthrough ideas that can change your quarter for the better.

Newsletter subscribers will get our GPS (Goals/Plans/Systems) worksheet. Sign up for the newsletter.

Dan considers why many of us are resistant to a certain type of business idea even when it’s been proved time and time again.

He’ll also explore that often what stands between your business and positive change is some structured thinking.

Dan paid big money for a business coach who only gave him one piece of advice. Listen to the episode to find out what it was and if it worked.

Dan & Ian get real about what it takes to create and maintain a successful business. They’ll walk you through their Goals/Plans/Systems (GPS) worksheet that’s specifically designed to help you plan for business growth. They use it with their coaching clients on a weekly basis.

Newsletter subscribers can download and complete their very own GPS worksheet.

“Manager mode is so tempting…” Dan & Ian discuss Paul Graham’s most recent essay titled “Founder Mode”, and how lifestyle bootsrappers can harness the power of founder mode to grow their businesses.

They’ll also address a question they get asked all the time: “But when is my LTV good enough?” How to figure out your LTV to CAC ratio and more in this week’s episode.

Subscribe to the newsletter to access Dan & Ian’s business resources used with their coaching clients. Subscribe to the TMBA newsletter.

This week’s episode brought to you by Remote First Recruiting. Hire your next team member in 30 days or less.

Many founders think they have an operations problem - delivery, trust, staffing, leadership. But Dan thinks you might actually have a sales & marketing problem.

Dan & Ian also talk about becoming better leaders and how to fight against the erge to control your team.

Last but not least, Dan shares the invaluable relationship advice he learned from President Barack Obama and reflects on the benefits of owning a lifestyle business when it comes to parenting.

Want to work through your current challenges with Dan & Ian? TMBA listeners can apply to get business coaching from Dan & Ian live on the pod (it’s free). Apply here.