TMBA Podcast Episodes
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TMBA 240: Knowing How Versus Knowing What
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.
TMBA 239: 10 Ways to Cut a Crappy Deal
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.
TMBA 238: 9 Months Into A SaaS Project - 5 Things We’d Do Differently
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.
TMBA 237: Thoughts On the Costs and Logistics of Location Independent Living
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.
TMBA 236: Thoughts on Getting Your First Product Manufactured in China
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.
TMBA 235: 2 China Factory Sourcing Strategies (and Business Updates)
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.
TMBA 234: Where Are All the Women in the Digital Nomad Community?
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.
TMBA 233: Stop, Drop(ship), and Roll in the Profit
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 Playa post photo 233business model, among several other topics.
TMBA 232: Is a College Degree Useful For Entrepreneurs?
In this week’s episode, I’m answering some listener submitted questions. I’ve invited Jimmy Hayes and Josh Weinstein back on the show to add their two cents as well, as we discuss whether or not a college degree is necessary for someone who wants to become a location-independent entrepreneur, among other topics.
TMBA 231: Narrative Fallacy and the New Faces of the Digital Nomad Movement
In this week’s episode, we’re decided to do things a little bit differently. I’ve invited several of my friends from the Dynamite Circle on to the show to have a very candid, round table discussion about narrative fallacy and the future of location independent entrepreneurship.
TMBA 230: Entrepreneurial Mindset Fundamentals
In this week’s episode, I’ve been reflecting about how far things have come since I began dreaming about working remotely. Staying true to that, we are revisiting a previous episode in which Ian and I discussed the less glamorous parts of entrepreneurship, and how to handle the necessary challenges to become a successful entrepreneur.
TMBA 229: Explaining the Entrepreneurial Worldview to Friends and Family
Damian Thompson is back after the last episode with him absolutely blew up! Erik Emsley challenged us to help him explain to his family what this lifestyle choice is all about.
TMBA 228: Getting to the Table With High Achievers
Ian is back on the Tropical MBA Podcast this week to talk about our next big idea, as well as answering some listener questions (thank you to all who’ve called our voicemail: 888-554-8428).
TMBA 227: The Rise Of Productized Services
Damian Thompson from Linchpin is back on the show this week (his first appearance here) talking with me about one of the biggest movements we see in the location independent scene. We talk about what Damian has learned during his first 1,000 days of being a business owner, and how listeners can utilize the lessons he’s learned (and the sales strategies he’s developed) to grow similar service oriented location independent businesses.
TMBA 226: How to Know When to Cut Bait? 5 Signs Your Niche Needs Changed
The boss man is back this week after a far too long hiatus and his timing is perfect for a topic we absolutely love. Kiri called in with some concerns about whether it’s time to cut her losses with her current business, or if there’s anything she can do to turn it around. Her major problems include a low price point, high shipping, an ungrateful audience, and low margins. It’s a difficult issue, and we’ve got strong opinions on it, Shark Tank style.
TMBA 225: Thoughts on Living and Working in Asia
Happy New Year! Ian is off celebrating the holidays with his family this week, and Kaiser Soze was here hanging out when a discussion came up that we thought would be good for the show. This show is mostly about lifestyle, but in case you’re looking for the good old fashioned business talk, below are some of my favorite podcast episodes on just that topic.
TMBA 224: Listener Questions, Like : "I Make $1,000 a Month, Now What?"
Since an angry fish seemed to have cut the internet wire in the ocean, Ian and I are cut off from one another. In his stead, Jesse “The Dominator” Lawler has stepped up to bring value to the masses. The listener questions continue to get better and better, so The Dominator and I are cruising through some of the quality questions from the past week, including one that I get asked a lot, “So I’ve made $1,000… now what?”.
TMBA 223: Things We'd Change if We Started Our Product Business Today
We’ve been looking back a lot to the beginning of The Valet Spot now that we’ve released the info to the public and realized that although we did a lot right, we screwed up a lot too. We figured with some of the big changes and our growth trajectory coming up, it would be a good idea to sit down and discuss what we did wrong, and what we did right so it can help some people in the e-commerce world avoid our biggest mistakes.
TMBA 222: The Full Story Behind Our First Niche
For a variety of reasons, Ian and I have never spoken openly about the first successful B2B business we ever started– TheValetSpot.com. This week we are going to change all that and go into the details of how that business got started, how we won market share, and what we are doing to grow the business in the future. Terry Lin from Build My Online Store was kind enough to interview Ian for his great podcast and I think he did a great job of extracting the real scoop. We asked him if we could share his interview with our listeners, and he was very gracious for letting us share it here. Enjoy!
TMBA 221: 5 Trends In Remote Working and Team Building
I’ve got Joe “Hot Money” Magnotti on as my co-host this week in the wake of Ian’s much needed romp in Europe. Today, we’re passing the ball back and forth about the direction things are going regarding remote working and team building. We’ve been noticing that the old norms are shifting (some have been for a while) to a new era that we’re super stoked for. We dig into a ton of meaty stuff and add a little philosophical fun at the end.