Tropical MBA: Entrepreneurship & Founder Lifestyle

http://www.tropicalmba.com/ricardosemler/ On today's show, Dan and Ian are going to be speaking with someone who has inspired them both for a very long time. In fact, he is the author of one of the most cited books on this podcast. Maverick is Ricardo Semler's account of how he was able to transform his family's traditional manufacturing business into an experiment that introduced the world to his innovative business practices. Even though the book is over 20 years old, today's entrepreneurs are still looking to it for inspiration. Ricardo opens up about what his life has looked like since the book was published, and how he has began to spread those innovations to other aspects of society. Transcript

http://www.tropicalmba.com/estonia/ On today's show, Dan and Ian are taking a look at one specific country. Estonia is a nation that, until this point, our hosts had very little knowledge of. They are a country that has started behaving like a startup, and has even started offering services specifically designed for location-independent entrepreneurs. In particular, they have developed a solution for our travel woes in the form of something called an "E-Residency". On this episode, you will hear from Estonian E-Resident, Joel Runyon. Joel is the man behind the fitness and mindset blog, The Blog of Impossible Things. You'll also hear from Estonia's Chief Information Officer, Taavi Kotka. The two of them will share their insights on how E-Residency could pave the path to the future of how nations, citizens, and digital nomads interact.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/sarahk/ Back in 2012, Dan and Ian hosted a two week seminar that was attended by 44 listeners of this show, and Sarah Kornblet was one of those people. Since attending that seminar, Sarah has become a very successful attorney for online entrepreneurs. This week's episode is really the story of what has happened in Sarah's life since that seminar. It is also the story of an idea, because every business starts with an idea. Sometimes we aren't ready for those ideas, or those ideas aren't ready for us.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/apprentice2/ On this show, Dan and Ian talk a lot about apprenticeships. In doing research about apprenticeships, Ian recently discovered that in many developed countries all over the world, there is a very robust apprenticeship culture that does not exist in the United States. On this week's episode, we are going to bring you the story of one such apprenticeship told from both sides. Jacob Puhl brought Corey Ames on as an apprentice at a company he founded called Firegang Dental Marketing. You'll hear how their relationship started and how it evolved to where it is today, as Corey is preparing to take over the reigns as CEO.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/businessideas2/ On last week's show, Dan and Ian spoke about how many entrepreneurs are finding success with productized service business. One of the reasons for that success is that these businesses can be started quickly and with little to no capital. On today's episode, they have asked their friend and expert idea generator Tristan King of Blackbelt Commerce to return to the show. The last time Tristan was on this program, listeners of this show took the ideas that were donated and turned them into successful businesses. Listen in to hear even more of Dan and Tristan's ideas for productized service businesses that could be started up this weekend.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/eventfive/ Dan and Ian are both recovering from their DC BKK event that they host every year in Bangkok. This year marked the fifth anniversary of that event, which has been a topic of conversation on this show every year since its inception. In this weeks show, they are going to talk about some of the themes of this year's DC BKK, what that they learned from this year's event, and the intimate connection that TropicalMBA listeners have formed with DC BKK over the years.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/claycollins/ Several weeks ago, Dan and Ian spoke with Simon Payne about his experiences as the technical co-founder of LeadPages, the number one landing page software on the web, and his decision to leave that company to pursue a new venture called ConvertPlayer. A few days after that episode aired, we were contacted by one of the other founders of that company, Clay Collins, who wanted to come onto the show and talk about one of his favorite things in life: marketing technology. We jumped at the chance to talk to Clay about his company's growth, why they decided to seek venture capital, and a whole lot more.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/greatbooks/ http://www.tropicalmba.com/greatbooks/ Podcast 37:39 | Download | Stitcher | iTunes | Comment A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, when Dan and Ian decided to start a business together, their first serious spending was on books. They knew that, in order to run a successful business, they would first have to read up on...

http://www.tropicalmba.com/propertypodcast/ Recently, Dan and Ian have been exploring the subject of investing in properties, and the many reasons and motivations that different investors have. It has been a few months since Ian purchased his home in Austin, Texas, and he is still trying to wrap his head around what it means to be a homeowner. This week, he decided to reach out to Rob Dix and Rob Bence, who have both been investing in properties in the UK for almost a decade. They also run a business finding and managing properties for others, as well as hosting a podcast about property investments called The Property Podcast. On this episode, the "Robs" share with Ian why people might want to invest in property, some of the archetypes of people who do invest in property, and their general feelings on the future of housing market.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/buffett/ Recently, Dan and Ian have decided to research someone who is a legend in the world of business. For a very long time, Warren Buffett was the richest person in the world. Dan and Ian both recently read Alice Schroeder's fantastic biography of Warren Buffett titled "The Snowball". They decided they wanted to dedicate an episode to that story of Mr. Buffett's life, and the unique business choices that he has made throughout his career.