TMBA Podcast Episodes
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TMBA 343: A Look Inside Boutique Japan
Last week Dan and Ian talked about how they hosted a couple hundred entrepreneurs in Barcelona for the DCBCN conference. A lot of those entrepreneurs shared their stories on stage, which is an intimidating task. Andres Zuleta of Boutique Japan was one of those people. Andres started a business that sells boutique travel packages to people who want to visit Japan. He called in to this podcast and left a voicemail not too long ago and today Boutique Japan is on target to make $1.3 million in revenue. We invited him on to the show this week to talk about how telling his story has helped him make sense of the ride that he has been on.
TMBA 342: Come Down From DCBCN - 5 Things We Learned
Dan and Ian are hot off the heels of the DCBCN conference they hosted this week, where over 200 entrepreneurs gathered in Barcelona to participate in a series of dinners, workshops, parties and even bike rides. On this week's episode, they'll be talking about some of the trends that they are seeing in the lifestyle business space, as well as five things that they took away from the overall DCBCN experience.
TMBA 341: Alex Blumberg on the Power of Podcasting
Last week we teased a very special guest for this week's episode. Today, Dan and Ian are very pleased to reveal that guest to be Alex Blumberg, the CEO of Gimlet Media and the host of one of our very favorite podcasts, Startup. As entrepreneurs, many of us have grown up listening to Alex's work on shows like This American Life and Planet Money. His recent foray into the realm of podcasting has had a huge impact on how podcasts are being produced today, and you'll hear him talk all about that journey on this week's episode.
TMBA 340: When Being an Entrepreneur is 'Meh'
Being an entrepreneur isn't all wine and roses. Frankly, a lot of it can be described in one word: 'meh'. On this week's episode, Dan and Ian are going to be sharing five of the most tedious and monotonous things to expect when running a business. These are five things that most entrepreneurs dread dealing with, and the day-to-day experiences that aspiring entrepreneurs can look forward to when starting their own business.
TMBA 339: Can You Invest in Property if You Don't Have Much Money?
On today's episode, Dan and Ian are going to speaking with Paula Pant. Back when Dan was experimenting with renting a place on AirBNB, he stumbled upon Paula's blog at AffordAnything.com. She is incredibly transparent in her business model, demonstrating how she created a real estate portfolio that provides her with cash flow every month. You'll hear Paula share her story about how she started from scratch to build a successful collection of rental properties.
TMBA 338: What is the World's Best Diet?
This show has always been about finding success in your business and your lifestyle. We've talked about lifestyle in a lot of different ways, but one portion of our lifestyle that is so important, that we have rarely touched upon on this show is our health. On this week's episode, Dan and Ian are diving into a topic of health discussion that is as contentious as it is important: what we should be eating. Dan is fascinated by diets, and he has experimented with a plethora of them. He recently decided to go on a search for the greatest diet in the world. On that search, he discovered the work of Dr. Michael Greger M.D., the founder of NutritionFacts.org. Dr. Greger's unique and inspired approach to nutrition is something that we believe every lifestyle designer needs to hear.
TMBA 337: The Power of the Pickle
One of the fastest ways to gain freedom from a location or a 9-to-5 job is to sell your skill set and your time as a freelancer. When you do that, you can create problems that might not rear their head for years. On this week's episode, Dan and Ian are speaking to Russ Perry from Design Pickle. He began his entrepreneurial career doing just that, and when we first heard from him in 2014, he was in the process of dissolving his first business and starting from square one. In less than two years, Design Pickle now has 20 full-time employees and just last month, they billed 90k in recurring revenue. On this show, you'll hear all about that journey, as well as a pretty in-depth discussion about our collective affinity for delicious pickles.
TMBA 336: Matt Farah on Breaking Through
On today's podcast, Dan and Ian have decided to dig into a topic that isn't usually covered on this show. We are going to be talking about one of Ian's favorite things in the world: cars. If you don't consider yourself a vehicular aficionado, have no fear. This episode is about the journey of Matt Farah, a successful automotive journalist who rose to fame through his YouTube channel, The Smoking Tire. You're going to be hearing a pretty compelling story about how Matt bootstrapped himself into the position that he's in today. And yes, there is a little bit of car talk in there too. Stay tuned until the very end of the episode to hear a bonus lightning round of automotive questions.
TMBA 335: The Long View on Location Independence
Dan and Ian have been speaking about the lifestyle of the Location-Independent entrepreneur on this podcast for over six years. During that time, they've found that people all over the internet tend to glorify this movement, and why wouldn't they? It's exciting to be a part of. On the other hand, there are very few people online who are talking about the challenges of being a digital nomad. Mark Manson and Stacey Herbert have both traveled the world as location independent entrepreneurs and have recently decided to put down roots for the first time in years. On this episode, you'll hear them share their thoughts and experiences on what some of the biggest downsides to the nomadic lifestyle are.
TMBA 334: Here's How We Plan to 'Manage' Our Money
On one of our recent episodes, Dan and Ian spoke with Joe Wirbick about some of their options for managing their money since they have sold their business. That episode elicited a very passionate response from our listeners. We got a ton of feedback from some really smart people about that episode, so we decided to do a follow up show. On this week's episode, you'll hear some specific feedback from our friend Laura Roeder, as well as Dan and Ian's feelings on managing their own money now that they have heard so many opinions on the subject.
TMBA 333: Info Product Talk
If you have been listening to our show for a while, you will recognize this week's guest from an episode we did about a year and a half ago called "Is It Getting Harder to Grow a Successful Business Selling Info Products?". That episode ended up being one of the most popular episodes of this show, so Dan and Ian decided to invite Shayna of Espresso English back onto the program to follow up with her story. Shayna will be talking about a range of new topics, including pricing, positioning and marketing info products in today's entrepreneurial landscape.
TMBA 332: A Conversation with Mr. Money Mustache
On this week's show, Dan and Ian had the opportunity to interview one of their all-time favorite bloggers, "Mr. Money Mustache" Peter Adeney. Peter was recently the subject of a profile in The New Yorker, and you'll hear him share his opinions about that piece. You'll also hear how he was able to retire at the age of thirty, why he believes we should be optimizing for our own happiness, as well as his thoughts on achieving freedom through frugality. Stick around after the credits for a little bit of a bonus conversation with Mr. Money Mustache about how the Mustachian community holds events.
TMBA 331: Productized #4 - The Evolution of a Business Idea
Longtime listeners know that one of our favorite things to do on the show is to ask our guests to donate business ideas to our audience. For the fourth part of our Productized series, Dan and Ian put out a call for anyone that has used one of those ideas to come on the show. On this week's episode, you'll be hearing from Ben McAdam and Meryl Johnston, otherwise known as the Bean Ninjas. They will be sharing how they took an idea that was donated on this very podcast and turned it into their own Productized Service business.
TMBA 330: Getting the Most Out of YouTube
On this week's episode, Dan and Ian are speaking with Gabby Wallace. Gabby is extremely qualified at teaching English as a second language, and has spent many years doing so in Japan. She got fed up with the traditional ways of teaching language abroad, and she decided to start her own business called Go Natural English. Gabby's business has been built almost entirely through her YouTube channel, where she has over 150,000 subscribers. YouTube can be an incredibly powerful platform for location independent entrepreneurs and on this episode, Gabby is sharing all of her best tips and strategies for using YouTube to your advantage.
TMBA 329: The Exit
Jeff Giesea recently penned an article for the Harvard Business Review titled "Dealing With the Emotional Fallout of Selling Your Business". Needless to say, this article caught the eye of Dan and Ian, who have recently sold the largest business they have ever created. There are a lot of weird and conflicting thoughts that go through your mind when you go through this process. Dan and Ian invited Jeff on to the show this week to speak about his experience selling his businesses, and the trials and tribulations that entrepreneurs face when they make the exit.
TMBA 328: How Do You Manage Your Money?
As many longtime listeners know, Dan and Ian have recently sold their business. This has put them in a rather unique and advantageuous situation, and forces them to ask the question: what do you do with your money once you have made it? Managing your money requires a completely different skill set from building a business, and even savvy entrepreneurs often have to seek the advice of a professional. On this week's episode, you'll hear from Joe Wirbick, the president and co-founder of Sequinox. Joe is sharing some of his best tips on how to evaluate financial professionals and how to identify whether or not they can help you.
TMBA 327: For Better or For Worse
Today's episode is the second of a two part series in which Dan and Ian are speaking with the co-founder of Basecamp and creator of Ruby on Rails: David Heinemeier Hannson. This episode is all about business relationships. You'll hear about the origins of David's relationship with his business partner Jason Fried, as well as David's many interesting thoughts on business partnerships and how they can evolve over time.
TMBA 326: To VC or Not to VC, That is the Question
Today's episode is the first of a two part series where Dan and Ian are speaking with David Heinemeier Hannson. David is the co-founder of Basecamp and the creator of Ruby on Rails. Truth be told, DHH has been a huge influence on the Tropical MBA podcast. In this episode, we're going to be talking about a subject that some see as a blueprint to getting rich, and others see as a dirty word: Venture Capital. Later on in the show, you'll hear from Zapier co-founder Wade Foster on his thoughts and experiences on seeking venture capital funding for his own company.
TMBA 325: A Conversation With Ribbonfarm's Venkat Rao
On this week's episode, Dan is speaking with Venkatesh Rao, Venkat is the author of RibbonFarm, a philosophy blog about technology and entrepreneurship. He recently launched an essay series called Breaking Smart, that explores the relationship between humanity and technology. Today's conversation covers a whole plethora of philosophical heuristics, including blind spots in the digital nomad community, the difference between passion and work ethic, what it means to be power-literate and so much more.
TMBA 324: The Amazon Gold Rush
Throughout the history of the internet, there have been many different entrepreneurial opportunities. People who got in on these opportunities early have historically found an incredible amount of success. What we've seen in 2016 is that the people who have gotten into the Amazon ecosystem early on are starting to see the fruits of that decision. This week, Dan and Ian have put together a unique round table discussion with a few of those people; Greg Mercer of Jungle Scout, Brad DeGraw of Amazon Sherpa and Kiri Masters of Bobsled Marketing. They will be sharing their tips, tricks and tools on how to make the Amazon platform work for you.