http://www.tropicalmba.com/retirementcult/ Dan and Ian share stories of financial freedom every week on this podcast. On this week's episode, they wanted to explore what that freedom actually means. To some, living a life of frugality can allow yourself to retire early, but does it really bring you freedom? One year ago, Dan wrote an article called The Cult of Early Retirement Meets (Or Strangely, Doesn't Meet) The Cult of Entrepreneurship. This article turned out to be fairly controversial, with many readers of our blog sharing their thoughts on early retirement, financial freedom, and more. Today, we are going to present an audio version of that article, followed by some opinions and reflections on the discussions that arose from it. You'll also hear our thoughts on why the writings of early retirement bloggers don't entirely click with entrepreneurs, why we believe our time is more valuable than money, and a whole lot more.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/spyguy/ Dan and Ian return this week with another unique entrepreneurial origin story. In fact, today's guest has built a business in the last four years that has revenues in the low seven figures and he now employs five employees. Part of the reason we like to share these origin stories on the show is that there's a moment for every one of us when we really truly did not believe that we could achieve this sort of thing. Allen Walton knows that feeling all too well. Allen is the founder of SpyGuy.com, an eCommerce business which sells covert surveillance technology. Allen grew up in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas, and he still lives there today. On today's podcast, you'll hear Allen share the story of how he grew SpyGuy.com to a seven-figure business, what happened when he cold-emailed Mark Cuban, and a whole lot more.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/tomhannon/ As many of you know, Dan and Ian love hearing from the listeners of this show. A listener named Tom Hannon recently wrote in with a question that we really hadn't addressed on this show before. We've talked a lot about selling businesses on this podcast lately, but what happens when you don't have a choice? What happens when you are forced to sell? As we started talking with Tom, we discovered that he has actually sold twelve businesses of his own, and the circumstances of each of those sales were entirely unique. We invited Tom onto today's podcast to share the stories of those exits, as well as the lessons that he has learned along the way.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/maitie/ Today's show is all about seizing opportunities. Last year, Dan and Ian invited Greg Gerber, who is a member of our community The Dynamite Circle, on to the show to talk about how he gifted an up-and-coming entrepreneur an all-expenses-paid trip to our annual event in Barcelona. This idea of "paying it forward" has really taken off in the community since then. At our recent event in Austin, TX, Meryl Johnston offered two free tickets on behalf of her company, Bean Ninjas. Dan and Ian contributed a few free tickets of their own, with others offering free airfare, coaching, and more. On today's podcast, you'll hear from one of the recipients of that gift. Jen Anderson is the founder of Mai-Tie, a company that makes unique, fashionable bowties out of vintage Hawaiian shirts. While her business is still in its infancy, she has a huge amount of experience in the startup world, and some interesting insights into that as well. This is the story of what it takes to find your people.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/hiringhelp/ Dan and Ian are back this week to respond to another listener-submitted question. Chris Cage from GreenbellyBar.com recently reached out to us with a problem that many listeners of this show have been struggling with: when is it the right time to hire somebody? This is a moment in the entrepreneurial journey that every entrepreneur will eventually reach, and it isn't always easy to make the right decision. Hiring can be expensive, from both a financial perspective and an emotional one. Fortunately, Dan and Ian have a rich history of hiring experiences, both good and bad. On today's show, they will be opening up about the mistakes that they have made, as well as the successes they have had when bringing people on to their team.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/knowedgeversusefficiencyrevisited/ A few weeks ago , Dan and Ian published an episode called The Knowledge Gap vs. The Efficiency Gap. In that episode, they tried to make a distinction between businesses that solve "Knowledge Gaps" for their customers and businesses that solve "Efficiency Gaps". "Knowledge Gap" businesses focus on educating their customers on how their business can solve new problems, whereas the businesses that solve "Efficiency gaps" for their customers are intent on providing more efficient solutions to their preexisting needs. A few of our listeners wrote in with some comments about that show. Nate Smith is the founder of AdmitScout, which specialized in paid traffic lead generation for addiction treatment facilities. Eagan Heath is the founder of a digital marketing agency called Get Found Madison, which is mostly aimed at businesses in Madison, Wisconsin. In this week's podcast, we've invited both Nate and Eagan on to the show to share their responses to that episode and to talk about how Knowledge Gaps and Efficiency Gaps have played a role in their own businesses.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/businessrelationships/ Dan and Ian love receiving messages and questions from listeners of this show. A few weeks back, one listener reached out to them about what the ownership structure of a business partnership should look like. This is a critically important issue for many entrepreneurs, and it's an incredibly complicated one to boot. Dan and Ian are business partners themselves, but they have seen many other partnerships evolve and dissolve over the years. On today's show, we are talking about five partnership styles that we've personally witnessed over the years, how those types of partnerships can affect your business, and how you can find the right business partner.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/entrepreneurialscript/ http://www.tropicalmba.com/entrepreneurialscript/ Podcast 34:19| Download | Stitcher | iTunes | Comment One of Dan and Ian‘s favorite parts about creating this podcast is being able to find real entrepreneurial stories that can inspire and inform others. It’s easy to forget sometimes that these real entrepreneurial stories, or “scripts” as we sometimes call them, are rare to come by. These...

http://www.tropicalmba.com/lifestyleladder/ Dan and Ian know that today's episode is about a rather sensitive subject. Not many people in American society feel comfortable talking about money. It's quite taboo in some social circles to share how much money you are making or to open up about your financial position. It's part of the reason so many entrepreneurs don't open up about selling their businesses. They think that nobody wants to hear them complain about how they made a lot of money. We've found that the types of people that are able to speak freely about these topics are often the ones who are the most successful with their money. In this week's podcast, we aren't holding back. Dan and Ian are sharing how they feel about money, how much money they want, and what actual financial freedom looks like.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/austintakeaways/ On today's show, Dan and Ian are going to be sharing some of their thoughts about the event that they recently hosted in Austin, Texas. Approximately 100 internet entrepreneurs got together in Austin last week to attend DC Austin. There, they took part in workshops and mastermind groups with other entrepreneurs and ultimately made the effort to take the next steps forward in their entrepreneurial journey. On this week's episode, Dan and Ian are going to talk about what they learned from that event, what the current entrepreneurial climate looks like, what is changing about it, and what kinds of opportunities exist for listeners of this show.