A few weeks ago, Dan and Ian introduced a new series on this podcast called "The Re-Readables". In that series, we are taking a look back at some of our favorite books with a fresh perspective. This week's book is all about the "Muse", creativity, productivity, and how to get your best work out into the world. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield was published in 2002. Since then, it has inspired countless entrepreneurs, artists, writers, and creatives around the world. On today's show, we are revisiting The War of Art, talking about why it was so influential, and asking whether or not the ideas in that book have withstood the test of time.

Dan and Ian speak with a lot of entrepreneurs on this show about the difficult decisions that they have to make. Today's guest is currently facing one of the biggest challenges in his business. You may remember Chris Cage from his previous appearances on this podcast. Chris is the founder of Greenbelly Meals, which manufactures high calorie, stoveless backpacking meals for athletes and hikers. Chris reached out to us about the recent troubles he's had hiring people. We thought it might be a good idea to record that conversation and share it with our listeners. This week's episode is all about hiring. You'll hear all about what goes into the decision to hire, the hiring process itself, and how to successfully interview and eventually hire the best people for your jobs.

One of our favorite podcasts to listen to lately is The Re-Watchables, a series presented by The Ringer, where the hosts look back on legendary films. They discuss why these movies had such an impact, what parts have aged the best and worst, and other categories which they use to assess what has made these films stand the test of time. We thought it would be fun to talk about some of our favorite books in a similar light. This week, we are looking back at the single most important book we read in our business. Getting Things Done by David Allen represented a paradigm shift in the early 2000s, and it was the first book that was truly written for information and knowledge workers. On today's podcast, we are revisiting Getting Things Done, talking about why that book was so influential, and whether the ideas in that book are still as relevant as they were at the time it was released.

Dan and Ian have talked a lot about business strategy on this show, but there are some business techniques that are so powerful, you have to learn them from a true master. Jason Cohen, the founder of WP Engine, recently wrote a piece on his blog ASmartBear.com titled Kung Fu. In that blog, Jason proposes that all entrepreneurs are essentially fighters. We are fighting to make a living, fighting to survive, and fighting to change marketplaces. Any good fighter needs to have a plan, and in that blog post, Jason shared his own "secret moves" for running a business. On today's episode, we are talking about some of Jason's secret business moves, and sharing a few of our own as well.

A lot of our listeners have been reaching out to us lately to ask about Dan and Ian's newest business venture, Dynamite Jobs. They have been running the business for the past six months, and it is still very much in the early stages. As the business has grown and changed over that time, they've learned a lot of things that they didn't expect. On today's podcast, we're sharing five things that we have learned in the last six months of running a new productized services business. Later on in the episode, we'll be discussing some specific numbers, goals, and takeaways from the first six months of Dynamite Jobs. You'll also hear three reasons why we think the remote hiring process isn't working for a lot of entrepreneurs.

Longtime listeners of this show know that Dan and Ian spent the early part of their entrepreneurial career building product businesses online. What you might not know is that Search Engine Optimization, commonly referred to as SEO, was one of the first skillsets that they learned when building those businesses. A lot has changed in the last decade when it comes to SEO, and this week's guest seems to be at the forefront of that progress. Tim Soulo is the Chief Marketing Officer and Product Adviser for Ahrefs. Ahrefs is a Software-as-a-Service company that provides a suite of incredibly useful SEO research tools. Their website is also host to one of the best SEO blogs on the internet. On this week's episode, Tim shares some keen insight on the evolution of SEO and how you can make SEO work for your business. We'll also be exploring some of the darker sides of SEO and content marketing.

Dan and Ian have shared many stories on this podcast of people who have escaped from the cubicle in search of location-independence. This week's episode is a little different, as today's guest left his 9-to-5 job in pursuit of entrepreneurial freedom, only to find that it wasn't what it was cracked up to be. Coran Woodmass left his job in Australia and moved to Chiang Mai, Thailand. He started building, buying and selling small web properties, but ultimately realized that it didn't make him happy. These days, Coran has moved into a field he is incredibly passionate about, advising and brokering quality deals for Amazon FBA owners through his new business, TheFBABroker.com. This conversation is about buying and selling Amazon businesses, but it's about a lot more than that too, specifically, what makes you feel satisfied and fulfilled.

On this week's episode, we are continuing one of Dan and Ian's favorite traditions on the podcast. Today we are talking about books, and in particular our favorite books that we have read in the past year. Last year, we invited our good friend and talented author Kyla Gardner to the show to talk about books with us. We had so much fun with that episode that we asked her to return this week. On today's podcast, Dan and Kyla are sharing their five favorite reads of 2019. This conversation also details how some of our reading habits have changed since last year, why Kyla has started writing fiction, and much more.

A few weeks ago, Dan and Ian had a conversation on this podcast where they shared some of their feelings about venture capital. This is an important topic to a lot of entrepreneurs, and it's one that we plan to cover a lot more throughout 2019. Some of the opinions we shared in that episode were rather controversial. Several of our listeners actually called us out on being a little bit vague about our thoughts, and we thought it was a good chance to revisit the topic. One of the people that reached out to us about that episode was Rob Walling. Rob is someone who should be very familiar to the listeners of this show. He hosts one of our favorite podcasts, Startups for the Rest of Us, organizes his own annual conference called MicroConf, and has previously owned and sold several startups, including a Software-as-a-Service company called Drip. Rob has also recently started his own startup accelerator fund called TinySeed, which is specifically designed to help bootstrappers grow their businesses. On today's show, Rob has joined us to share his thoughts about venture capital, bootstrapping, and what he hopes to accomplish with TinySeed.

On today's episode, Dan and Ian are delighted to welcome one of their favorite authors back to the show. Cal Newport is a Computer Science professor, who has spent his career writing about the intersection of technology and culture in the contemporary digital age. Cal joins us this week to talk about his new book, Digital Minimalism, which is all about the dangers and distractions of social media. This interview covers a broad range of topics, including the psychology behind the "Walled Gardens" of social media, why Cal invited 1,600 people to go on a month-long "Digital Declutter", how we can develop a philosophy to improve the way that we interact with technology in our lives, and much, much more.