Tropical MBA: Entrepreneurship & Founder Lifestyle

http://www.tropicalmba.com/boutiquejapan/ Last week Dan and Ian talked about how they hosted a couple hundred entrepreneurs in Barcelona for the DCBCN conference. A lot of those entrepreneurs shared their stories on stage, which is an intimidating task. Andres Zuleta of Boutique Japan was one of those people. Andres started a business that sells boutique travel packages to people who want to visit Japan. He called in to this podcast and left a voicemail not too long ago and today Boutique Japan is on target to make $1.3 million in revenue. We invited him on to the show this week to talk about how telling his story has helped him make sense of the ride that he has been on.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/bcnconference/ Dan and Ian are hot off the heels of the DCBCN conference they hosted this week, where over 200 entrepreneurs gathered in Barcelona to participate in a series of dinners, workshops, parties and even bike rides. On this week's episode, they'll be talking about some of the trends that they are seeing in the lifestyle business space, as well as five things that they took away from the overall DCBCN experience.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/gimlet2/ Last week we teased a very special guest for this week's episode. Today, Dan and Ian are very pleased to reveal that guest to be Alex Blumberg, the CEO of Gimlet Media and the host of one of our very favorite podcasts, Startup. As entrepreneurs, many of us have grown up listening to Alex's work on shows like This American Life and Planet Money. His recent foray into the realm of podcasting has had a huge impact on how podcasts are being produced today, and you'll hear him talk all about that journey on this week's episode.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/meh/ Being an entrepreneur isn't all wine and roses. Frankly, a lot of it can be described in one word: 'meh'. On this week's episode, Dan and Ian are going to be sharing five of the most tedious and monotonous things to expect when running a business. These are five things that most entrepreneurs dread dealing with, and the day-to-day experiences that aspiring entrepreneurs can look forward to when starting their own business.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/property/ On today's episode, Dan and Ian are going to speaking with Paula Pant. Back when Dan was experimenting with renting a place on AirBNB, he stumbled upon Paula's blog at AffordAnything.com. She is incredibly transparent in her business model, demonstrating how she created a real estate portfolio that provides her with cash flow every month. You'll hear Paula share her story about how she started from scratch to build a successful collection of rental properties.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/diet/ This show has always been about finding success in your business and your lifestyle. We've talked about lifestyle in a lot of different ways, but one portion of our lifestyle that is so important, that we have rarely touched upon on this show is our health. On this week's episode, Dan and Ian are diving into a topic of health discussion that is as contentious as it is important: what we should be eating. Dan is fascinated by diets, and he has experimented with a plethora of them. He recently decided to go on a search for the greatest diet in the world. On that search, he discovered the work of Dr. Michael Greger M.D., the founder of NutritionFacts.org. Dr. Greger's unique and inspired approach to nutrition is something that we believe every lifestyle designer needs to hear.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/pickle/ One of the fastest ways to gain freedom from a location or a 9-to-5 job is to sell your skill set and your time as a freelancer. When you do that, you can create problems that might not rear their head for years. On this week's episode, Dan and Ian are speaking to Russ Perry from Design Pickle. He began his entrepreneurial career doing just that, and when we first heard from him in 2014, he was in the process of dissolving his first business and starting from square one. In less than two years, Design Pickle now has 20 full-time employees and just last month, they billed 90k in recurring revenue. On this show, you'll hear all about that journey, as well as a pretty in-depth discussion about our collective affinity for delicious pickles.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/mattfarah/ On today's podcast, Dan and Ian have decided to dig into a topic that isn't usually covered on this show. We are going to be talking about one of Ian's favorite things in the world: cars. If you don't consider yourself a vehicular aficionado, have no fear. This episode is about the journey of Matt Farah, a successful automotive journalist who rose to fame through his YouTube channel, The Smoking Tire. You're going to be hearing a pretty compelling story about how Matt bootstrapped himself into the position that he's in today. And yes, there is a little bit of car talk in there too. Stay tuned until the very end of the episode to hear a bonus lightning round of automotive questions.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/longview/ Dan and Ian have been speaking about the lifestyle of the Location-Independent entrepreneur on this podcast for over six years. During that time, they've found that people all over the internet tend to glorify this movement, and why wouldn't they? It's exciting to be a part of. On the other hand, there are very few people online who are talking about the challenges of being a digital nomad. Mark Manson and Stacey Herbert have both traveled the world as location independent entrepreneurs and have recently decided to put down roots for the first time in years. On this episode, you'll hear them share their thoughts and experiences on what some of the biggest downsides to the nomadic lifestyle are.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/investmentsfollowup/ On one of our recent episodes, Dan and Ian spoke with Joe Wirbick about some of their options for managing their money since they have sold their business. That episode elicited a very passionate response from our listeners. We got a ton of feedback from some really smart people about that episode, so we decided to do a follow up show. On this week's episode, you'll hear some specific feedback from our friend Laura Roeder, as well as Dan and Ian's feelings on managing their own money now that they have heard so many opinions on the subject.