Tropical MBA: Entrepreneurship & Founder Lifestyle

http://www.tropicalmba.com/convertkit/ On today's show, Dan and Ian are going to talk to an entrepreneur whose business is absolutely on fire right now. Nathan Barry is the founder and CEO of ConvertKit, an email marketing program for bloggers. ConvertKit currently has 28 employees, and is turning over 9 million dollars in annual recurring income. Nathan has built a long and storied reputation of being unafraid to confront and analyze the challenges of entrepreneurship through his blog at NathanBarry.com. On this week's episode, Nathan talks about a challenge that he is facing right now that many entrepreneurs would love to have. How do you create a company culture when your team is growing at a remarkable pace? It turns out the answer is brutal honesty. 

http://www.tropicalmba.com/jasoncohen/ Today's guest is one of the smartest business minds that Dan and Ian have encountered in their travels. Jason Cohen is the founder of WP Engine, a very successful company that provides managed Wordpress hosting. He is also the author of Dan and Ian's all-time favorite blogs, A Smart Bear. A few years ago, Jason made the difficult decision to step down from his CEO role at WP Engine, at a time when the company was more successful than ever. Jason recently spoke about this decision at our recent Dynamite Circle event in Austin, and we invited him on the show this week to expand on that talk.  On today's episode, you'll hear Jason share his insights about the struggles of growing at the pace of your company, the angst you can feel after you sell a business, and how he has been able to harness his "superpowers".

http://www.tropicalmba.com/nameyourbusiness/ This week's episode is about a question that Dan and Ian are struggling to answer right now: What is the best way to go about naming a new business or product? A lot of times you only get one chance to get people's attention. Choosing the right name could unlock the door to great success, and branding your business incorrectly could prove disastrous. Today's guest knows this challenge better than anyone. Alexandra Watkins is the founder of a company called Eat My Words, which specializes in naming brands and products. She is also the author of a book on the subject called "Hello, My Name is Awesome". This interview originally started out as a discussion about Alexandra's book, but it ended up taking a serious turn about halfway through, when Alexandra went to great lengths to help Dan and Ian find a new name for this podcast.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/400thshow/ Dan and Ian have spent a substantial amount of their life making this show, nearly 8 years to be exact. What better way to celebrate the 400th episode of this podcast than to return to one of their favorite episode formats: the good, old-fashioned Q&A. This week, Dan and Ian are answering more listener questions, and riffing on topics like "Comfy Bed Syndrome" and "The Golden Handcuffs". You'll also hear some retrospective thoughts on 8 years of talking about entrepreneurship.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/curiosity/ Today's show is the product of a dream that Dan and Ian both had, which inspired them to follow up with an old friend. The topic is a rather simple one. What if you could take your curiosity and energy about a topic and turn it into a serious business? In pursuing the answer, they both decided it was a good time to check in with their former business partner Jesse Lawler, who hosts a fantastic podcast called Smart Drug Smarts. Jesse didn't start the podcast with a PhD in medicine, or anything relevant to the medicinal field except a genuine desire to explore these issues, and he has had a tremendous amount of success in doing it. On this show, Jesse shares how was able to turn something that he was passionate about into a full-time business that generates real revenue. We hope this episode will inspire those of you who are passionate and curious to find a way to tell your own story.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/adbadger/ Dan and Ian often speak on this podcast about how businesses and entrepreneurs evolve. Today's guest, Michael Erikson, has certainly done that since the last time he spoke on this show. Michael's journey started, as many of ours do, staring at a blank Google search screen and typing in the words "How do I make money online?" Several years later, Michael has spoken at several of the Dynamite Circle events. He was on this podcast last December, sharing his journey of building a 6 figure services business called Search Scientists. Michael has recently started a new company called AdBadger, which is in essence a software version of his previous services company. On this week's show, you'll hear Michael share insight on how to do something that most services entrepreneurs dream of doing: selling a product.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/questions1/ On today's show, Dan and Ian are once again reaching into the mailbag to answer some questions from the listeners of this show. You'll hear practical answers about a whole slew of topics, including purchasing an"entrepreneurmobile", The 1,000 Day Principle, and what it means to be useful. You'll also hear advice on how you can go to conferences for free, tips for traveling to Southeast Asia with your family and much, much more.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/tmba2017/ As many of our listeners know, Dan and Ian hosted an event in Austin, TX last week that brought together entrepreneurs from all over the world to talk about their businesses. Today's episode features five of the most important takeaways from that event, focusing primarily on the cold, hard realities of what it means to be an entrepreneur in 2017. These subjects range from hiring A players to harnessing your "superpowers" and much, much more. You'll also hear a lot of news about the podcast, including an opportunity for one talented listener to win a $1500 cash prize.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/quittingentrepreneurship/ One of the dichotomies that Dan and Ian often address on this show is the difference between being an entrepreneur and having a job. Today's podcast is going to cover a rather taboo subject in some entrepreneurial circles, which is the decision to stop being an entrepreneur and go back to the daily grind of a 9-to-5. Anna Wickham is a former TropicalMBA intern, who traveled the world for nearly ten years and eventually started her own marketing agency called Charm House. Anna had been feeling pressure to remain an entrepreneur, even though she wasn't sure that it was the best fit for her. In this episode, Anna opens up to share her fears and hesitations about the entrepreneurial life, and why she ultimately decided that it wasn't healthy for her to keep pursuing it.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/richardjalichandra/ One of the things that Dan and Ian are most passionate about is finding great blogs and podcasts. These days, the internet seems to be getting smaller and smaller. You really need to dig deep to find unique content, and a lot of it is being made in the most remote corners of the internet. Once upon a time, though, there was a search engine that highlighted blogs themselves. Richard Jalichandra is the former CEO of Technorati.com, which at one time was considered by many to be the gateway into the blogosphere. During their quest for great blogs, Dan and Ian became curious as to why this company disappeared. On this week's episode, Richard shares the story of Technorati, as well as the details of his long and storied career in the early days of the world wide web.