Tropical MBA: Entrepreneurship & Founder Lifestyle – Détails, épisodes et analyse

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.

Takeaways
● Be sure you pack enough underwear for your next trip abroad.
● Getting aligned on goals is easy, but aligning on plans is hard.
● Hiring should be based on unique business needs, not generic roles.
● Confidence is essential for entrepreneurs, especially in challenging times.
● Discipline in financial management is crucial for sustainable growth.
● Regularly reviewing financials helps maintain business health.
● Accountability in coaching can drive significant progress.
● Sacrifices are often necessary to achieve business goals.
● Effective hiring requires a clear understanding of ROI.
● Facing reality and challenges can build confidence.
● Entrepreneurship allows for a lifestyle designed by personal choice.

In honor of traveling to DCBKK this week, here’s Dan’s original packing list from 2010. And an updated list in 2015. Is it time for a new list?

Chapters

• (00:00:59) Dan’s Packing List Ahead of DCBKK
• (00:02:28) 4 Breakthroughs From Our Coaching Calls
• (00:05:20) The Importance of Goal Alignment
• (00:09:54) Hiring for Unique Situations
• (00:16:36) Good Confidence vs Bad Confidence
• (00:21:03) Discipline in Entrepreneurship

Useful links:
Access our free business resources
Connect with other entrepreneurs
Coaching for $250K+ founders
Community for 1M+ founders
Hire remote talent
Find a remote job

Past guests on TMBA include Cal Newport, David Heinemeier Hannson, Seth Godin, Ricardo Semler, Noah Kagan, Rob Walling, Jay Clouse, Einar Vollset, Sam Dogan, Gino Wickam, James Clear, Jodie Cook, Mark Webster, Steph Smith, Taylor Pearson, Tommy Griffith, Justin Tan, Matt Gartland, Travis Jamison, Ayman Al-Abdullah, Tynan, Lucy Bella Simkins, Brian Balfour, Nick Huber, Mike Michalowicz, Greg Crabtree, Jordan Gal

Additional episodes you might enjoy:

$30K a Month on Upwork in Less Than 2 Years

“You’re Gonna Mess It Up The Way Everybody Messes It Up”

“When is my LTV good enough?” + Founder Mode for Bootstrappers

$100K MRR in 12 Months… Can They Do It?

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.

Lastly, we’ll hear from a listener who’s working to take his lifestyle brand to $1M and what his plans are to get there.

Featured in this episode:
Founder Robby McClung of the McClumsy lifestyle brand.

This week’s episode brought to you by Smash Digital. They’ll build you a scalable SEO growth strategy to earn the juiciest high-authority backlinks on earth. No, really.

Useful links:
Connect with other entrepreneurs
Coaching for $250K+ founders
Community for 1M+ founders
Hire remote talent
Find a remote job
Listen on YouTube
Follow us on Instagram

Past guests on TMBA include Cal Newport, David Heinemeier Hannson, Seth Godin, Ricardo Semler, Noah Kagan, Rob Walling, Jay Clouse, Einar Vollset, Sam Dogan, Gino Wickam, James Clear, Jodie Cook, Mark Webster, Steph Smith, Taylor Pearson, Tommy Griffith, Justin Tan, Matt Gartland, Travis Jamison, Ayman Al-Abdullah, Tynan, Lucy Bella Simkins, Brian Balfour, Nick Huber, Mike Michalowicz, Greg Crabtree, Jordan Gal

Additional episodes you might enjoy:

$30K a Month on Upwork in Less Than 2 Years

“You’re Gonna Mess It Up The Way Everybody Messes It Up”

“When is my LTV good enough?” + Founder Mode for Bootstrappers

$100K MRR in 12 Months… Can They Do It?

Dan & Ian talk to a listener who’s running a $1M D2C e-commerce business about the challenges and opportunities he faces as he plans for future growth and a potential exit down the road.

They discuss topics like decreasing customer acquisition costs, increasing profit margins, the absolutely essential role of a CFO, and not letting your passion for the product get in the way of your growth.

At the end of the call, Dan & Ian will recommend key next steps this founder should take in order to scale their business effectively and aggressively.

TMBA email subscribers can submit their business to be reviewed with Dan & Ian on the pod.

Subscribe to the TMBA newsletter.

Check out the fluora plant we discuss on today’s show.

Connect with us:
Dan: @TropicalMBA or dan@tropicalmba.com
Ian: @AnythingIan or ian@tropicalmba.com

Chapters:

• (00:00:27) Introduction and Business Overview
• (00:02:18) Transitioning to D2C E-commerce
• (00:05:59) Scaling and Future Plans
• (00:13:11) Becoming a Software Company
• (00:14:17) Challenges and Future Growth
• (00:18:06) The Role of a CFO in Financial Management
• (00:28:28) Developing an Expensive Product for Customers
• (00:32:48) Improving Profit Margins and Considering Tax Implications

Useful links:
Connect with other entrepreneurs
Coaching for $250K+ founders
Community for 1M+ founders
Hire remote talent
Find a remote job
Listen on YouTube
Follow us on Instagram

Past guests on TMBA include Cal Newport, David Heinemeier Hannson, Seth Godin, Ricardo Semler, Noah Kagan, Rob Walling, Jay Clouse, Einar Vollset, Sam Dogan, Gino Wickam, James Clear, Jodie Cook, Mark Webster, Steph Smith, Taylor Pearson, Tommy Griffith, Justin Tan, Matt Gartland, Travis Jamison, Ayman Al-Abdullah, Tynan, Lucy Bella Simkins, Brian Balfour, Nick Huber, Mike Michalowicz, Greg Crabtree, Jordan Gal

Additional episodes you might enjoy:

“3 Million in Revenue is a Death Zone" - Financial Strategy with Greg Crabtree

The Anti-Agency Agency + High ROI Customer Acquisition

The Secret Weapon to Pricing Power

It’s been three long years since DC members were able to gather in Bangkok to share great food, experiences and talk business. And DCBKK2022, our ten year anniversary event, with almost 400 attendees, was not only our biggest event but also such a blast.

So this week Dan, Ian and Jeff Pecaro get together to talk about not only the highlights of DCBKK20220 - one of which was definitely a 100 strong Tuk Tuk parade which ferried people through the streets of Bangkok to the closing party - but also takeaways, trends spotting from the conference floor, and things that are up for improvement next year:

“We're always gonna have speakers, we're always gonna have meetups, we're always gonna have presenters, we're always gonna have structured conversations. But one of the pieces of feedback that we've been getting for years is: how can we bring people together to just do things?”

There are big changes in the wind at Twitter, with Elon Musk suggesting he might further open the platform to longer form pieces, and also paid content. Might this open up greater opportunities for those with established blogs, or looking to start one?

On today’s show we revisit a favorite episode from our back catalogue focused on personal blogging and what it means to write on the internet. And to help tell this story, which is close to his heart, Dan invited two writers who both have a long and rich experience in the blogging space.

Taylor Pearson has been a frequent guest and contributor on this podcast. He is the author of The End of Jobs, and he runs an excellent blog on his website.

Amanda Cook is an author, a podcaster, herbalist, and the founder of a business called Wellpreneur. Over the years, she has published online about a wide variety of projects, but the one consistent thing is that she’s always had an excellent blog, which you can find at AmandaCook.me.

Join us for this round table discussion about the past and future of blogging on the internet, tips for those starting out with a personal blog, some of our favorite blogs to read today, and so much more.

When Jesse Schoberg, Co-founder of DropIn Blog, shared his thoughts about the huge benefits of living in Bangkok with CNBC, as part of their ‘Make It’ series, he had no idea it would go viral - both inside Thailand and abroad.

The piece, titled ‘I live better in Thailand than I did in the U.S. — here’s how much it costs’ received lots of appreciation but also a stream of more negative comments from some members of the backpacking and expat retiree communities. They criticised how much Jesse chooses to spend on accommodation, food and travel in a place often seen as a mecca for cheap living.

“A lot of people were like, ‘Oh, for $8,000 a month, you can live anywhere … no, you cannot live like we live here in New York, which is an equivalent city, for $8,000 a month. When we were in New York recently, the apartment we were staying in was a small studio, and it was $4,200 or $4,400 a month. It was nothing near the type of service or quality that we would get in Bangkok for much less.”

On today’s show Dan and Ian talk to Jesse about why he decided to participate in the series in the first place, the very different reaction he received from the Thai audience and some possible reasons why ‘spend shaming’ exists.

Side-Hustles, which - with a lot of hard work - evolve into full-time businesses are a theme of many entrepreneurial journeys. We’ve covered a fair few on this show.

But Brenden Marquardt’s story is particularly interesting for a few reasons: even though he was in a well-paid finance job, and knew he wasn’t great at ‘ideas’, he did the groundwork to be ready for when the opportunity he was looking for presented itself.

On today’s show Brenden, Co-Founder of Homestead Brands talks to Dan about how a chance click on a website led him to buy Lori Beds, his methodology for working ‘on’ not ‘in’ the business

“When I hired my first executive team member Dodes, who manages our product - the manufacturing, relationships, logistics and things like that. Even before I hired him, just talking with him, I realised we had set our goals way too small, because I didn't know how to do any of those things that he spent every day doing in the furniture industry”.

And why Brenden takes inspiration for working with other family members in his business from ‘The Sopranos’.

It started as a hobby at college, and was also the way he met his wife but now ‘Dumpster Diving’ has become a major business opportunity for Dave Sheffield, Founder of Buffalo Bottle Craft.

In today’s show Dave talks to Dan about how a Vice documentary, currently watched by nearly 1.5M people, and subsequent media interest has made him consider the many different ways a ‘Dumpster Diving’ enterprise could grown: from selling physical products from dumpster finds, to creating online content showing how others can do the same:

“If I find some new material in the dumpster that I know that I can source at scale … I just make a video and I say, ‘Hey, guys, look at this cool thing. What do you think I could make from it? What would you make from it?’ And that's my product research right there.”

This week Dan is speaking to Andy Morgan, creator of RippedBody, a blog and coaching program targeted at committed but frustrated fitness trainees who have hit a stall in their progress. What’s interesting about Andy’s story is the way he’s found a niche not only in the fitness space but also in the market in Japan.

Andy discusses why he only does bi-weekly email check-in with his clients, how a DC mastermind has prompted him to start hiring coaches, and the methodology behind his successful Instagram strategy:

“The problem was I had too many content possibilities and I couldn't decide what to create each day. The solution that I came up with was to list the topics that I could talk about, the types of content that I could create and the formats that I could create in and then rotate through them. And so what that did is - it constrained my choices and allowed for tight creativity”.

In this week’s show Dan and Ian share their Q4 business updates, including the reasons why they have decided to launch an agency - Remote First Recruiting, which is targeted at startup founders, under the Dynamite Jobs umbrella.

“The best customers of a job board typically have super strong hiring practices that are built over the years … (they’ve) hired for the same position multiple times. Whereas with an agency customer, which are typically startup founders, they're seeking to buy those systems into their business. They know they need to hire, they might be hiring 10 times a year. But every time it's a little bit different, and they want to purchase the systems. That's what the agency does.”

Plus, responses to some great listener questions, including: how much money is ‘enough money’, the mindset challenges of living off capital, and some further reflections on ‘The Europe Question’.