Tropical MBA: Entrepreneurship & Founder Lifestyle

We've seen a lot of great conversations take place in our private community The Dynamite Circle as of late. One of our favorites came in the form of a thread titled "Is Digital Nomadism Possible to Combine With Having a Family?" While there were many insightful responses in that thread, one member, in particular, caught our attention. Steven Ladek is the Principal of E-Learning Advocacy for a company called Open LMS. He's also a longtime entrepreneur and has lived outside of the United States for 16 years. Together with his wife Dana, they have raised three children in Hungary, Costa Rica, Thailand, and Mexico. Steven joins us this week to talk about what it's really like to balance parenting with nomadism, and the unique challenges that expat families face around the globe.

We are once again reaching into the mailbag this week to answer some pressing questions from the Tropical MBA audience. This is a somewhat unorthodox episode, as we are "shooting from the hip" on a variety of items that have come across our desk in the past few months. We'll be discussing how to structure your teams (specifically in an agency), tips for staying focused on what's important in your business, and how to avoid the dreaded "D-word" in your business: drama.

Today's guest has been on an incredible journey that touches on so many of our favorite entrepreneurial milestones. Derek Pankaew is the co-founder of Mythia, a financial startup that has partnered with banks to create a debit card aimed exclusively at gamers. He has experienced just about every entrepreneurial path, from running a "4-Hour Workweek" business built on passive income, to seeking out more ambitious projects in the San Francisco startup community, and eventually raising roughly 2.2 million dollars in venture capital funding. Derek joins us this week to take us through the steps of his incredible journey, and to share some of the fundamental differences between bootstrapping and running a venture capital-backed business.

Today's episode is particularly insightful for entrepreneurs who are looking to improve their social media or content marketing game, and for those of us who are interested in the property investment space. Moses Kagan is the co-founder of Adaptive Realty, a boutique real estate private equity firm based in Los Angeles, which has about $200 Million in assets under management. He is also an extremely savvy Twitter user and has successfully leveraged that platform to build meaningful relationships, many of which have led to massive investment deals. Moses joins us this week to talk about his strategies for social media and content marketing, the principles he has used to drive the success of his real estate business, and so much more.

This week, we are once again diving into the world of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. Gerbz is a regular contributor to this podcast and our go-to guy for all things crypto. He is the founder of BitLift.com, and the host of the brand new BitLift podcast, which aims to guide people down the crypto rabbit hole. Gerbz joins us this week to discuss the world of "Decentralized Finance", or "DeFi", where smart contracts and blockchain technology are being used to replace traditional financial institutions. He'll also be answering 5 pressing questions that we have about the state of crypto in 2021. Disclaimer: These are just our opinions, and are presented for informational purposes only. They are not intended to be considered as financial advice.

The term "Digital Nomad" has been beaten to death over the years, but it still means a lot to those of us who have identified with that label. James Clark is certainly one of those people. He's been a full-time nomad since the early 2000s, and we've shared many great memories with him around the world. James is also the author of a brilliant blog called Nomad Notes, where he recently published an article that captured our attention. The post was titled Digital Nomadism History, and in it he chronicles the start of the digital nomad movement through today, touching on all of the most important milestones. James joins us on today's podcast to talk about the history of digital nomadism, what inspired him to write that blog post, and a whole lot more.

Longtime listeners know that Dan and Ian have been business partners for many years, and sometimes it's hard for us to imagine what it would be like to run a business on our own. So many entrepreneurs do choose this path, though, and the quest of a "Solopreneur" can be a long and arduous one. Darren Joe is the director of TouchMBA, a service that matches prospective students with MBA programs. He is also the author of a new book called "The Fail-Safe Solopreneur", where he offers some insights and practical exercises to help navigate the journey of the solopreneur. Darren joins us on today's podcast to talk about his own journey as a solopreneur, what inspired him to write this book, why he has chosen to make Ho Chi Minh his home, and much more.

We aren't usually the type for navel-gazing, but this summer marks an important milestone for us. 10 years ago, our desire to "find our tribe" led us to form the Dynamite Circle, a private membership community of location-independent entrepreneurs. Since then, there have been dozens of DC events all over the globe, and it has truly become a life-changing adventure for so many of the people involved in the community over the last decade. We've invited our good friend Jeff Pecaro on to the podcast this week to look back on the ups and downs of the last ten years of the Dynamite Circle. We are also going to pull back the curtain a bit and discuss the behind-the-scenes details of what it's really like to run a private community and the unique challenges that these types of businesses present.

This week's episode was inspired by a question from a listener. Katie recently graduated with her master's degree, and while she appreciated the insight that we've shared in the past about how to get a remote job, she wanted to know more about what it takes to succeed at a remote position once you get it. This got our wheels spinning, and we put together a list of five important factors that can help employees become "A Players" in their remote positions. This conversation is of keen interest to remote employees and employers alike. You'll hear about the difference between good employees and great ones, why "B players" have been struggling with remote positions, and a whole lot more. We'll also be sharing some news about our first event in nearly two years.

Nick Huber has been on a wild ride since we last spoke to him in 2019. Nick is the host of a podcast called The Sweaty Startup, and at the time he was running a business called Storage Squad, a storage company that helped students store their belongings at universities all across America. Covid threw that business for a loop, but Nick was able to make some fast decisions that allowed him to sell that company and pivot into a new endeavor, a multi-million dollar real estate private equity company called Bolt Storage. Nick joins us on this week's podcast to share what happened when the coronavirus pandemic shut down most of his business, why he has decided to pivot into the real estate business, how he utilizes Twitter to help find investors, and a whole lot more.