Tropical MBA: Entrepreneurship & Founder Lifestyle

http://www.tropicalmba.com/dhh/ Today's episode is the first of a two part series where Dan and Ian are speaking with David Heinemeier Hannson. David is the co-founder of Basecamp and the creator of Ruby on Rails. Truth be told, DHH has been a huge influence on the Tropical MBA podcast. In this episode, we're going to be talking about a subject that some see as a blueprint to getting rich, and others see as a dirty word: Venture Capital. Later on in the show, you'll hear from Zapier co-founder Wade Foster on his thoughts and experiences on seeking venture capital funding for his own company.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/ribbonfarm/ On this week's episode, Dan is speaking with Venkatesh Rao, Venkat is the author of RibbonFarm, a philosophy blog about technology and entrepreneurship. He recently launched an essay series called Breaking Smart, that explores the relationship between humanity and technology. Today's conversation covers a whole plethora of philosophical heuristics, including blind spots in the digital nomad community, the difference between passion and work ethic, what it means to be power-literate and so much more.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/amazongold/ Throughout the history of the internet, there have been many different entrepreneurial opportunities. People who got in on these opportunities early have historically found an incredible amount of success. What we've seen in 2016 is that the people who have gotten into the Amazon ecosystem early on are starting to see the fruits of that decision. This week, Dan and Ian have put together a unique round table discussion with a few of those people; Greg Mercer of Jungle Scout, Brad DeGraw of Amazon Sherpa and Kiri Masters of Bobsled Marketing. They will be sharing their tips, tricks and tools on how to make the Amazon platform work for you.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/nooffice/ There is a movement in the internet business world where some companies have decided to start getting rid of offices altogether. It might seem easy for small businesses to pull this off, but lately businesses have started to do this at scale. This week, Dan and Ian are going to be speaking to a few entrepreneurs who are growing real teams for their businesses without offices; Wade Foster, the co-founder of Zapier, and Michael Erickson of Search Scientists. Some of the issues that they will touch on in this episode include how to create a culture remotely, how to keep on top of what everyone is doing and how to make your employees feel like they are part of a team.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/oneforthewriters/ This week's episode is one for the writers, bloggers and creators. Dan and Ian have invited Jodi Ettenberg on to the show this week. Jodi is the author of a blog called LegalNomads.com, and she makes a full time living as a writer. She recently gave the closing address at the TBEX conference, where she talked about what it takes to make a living writing full time. You're going to hear why Jodi feels that strong narratives are so important, along with her views on the balance between making money, keeping your integrity and making great art. You'll also hear her thoughts on how travel writing might develop over the next few years.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/productized3/ Several weeks ago, we put out a call for someone who would be willing to start a productized service business on the show. Jeff Pecaro was the man that answered that call. This week, Dan and Jeff will be speaking with Brian Casel. Brian is an expert in productized services. He has not only found success with his own productized services businesses, but he has also helped other entrepreneurs launch successful productized services businesses as well. Brian will be sharing his expertise about productized services, freelancing, and how his new business has benefited from his experience running his first one.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/enough/ Being location independent means that you don't have a boss or a corporation telling you what to do, but it also means that you have to make your own decisions on how to spend your time. You have to decide how to make your money, and you have to decide when enough is enough. On today's episode, Dan and Ian are speaking with two entrepreneurs who have put a lot of thought into this idea. Daryl Mander and Nathan Berry have both proactively made the call to scale back their workload in order to improve their quality of life. They will be sharing their experiences, and their thoughts on when and how to say "enough is enough".

http://www.tropicalmba.com/michaele/ On this week's show Dan and Ian were originally going to be talking about the three different stages of entrepreneurship, but once Dan started speaking with Michael Erickson, he knew that this conversation was worth devoting an entire episode to. Michael trained hard and loved the career path that he was on initially, but a sudden change in his life-script drove him to become an entrepreneur. Michael's story is ultimately about how difficult circumstances can prompt you to change your life, and how transforming your mindset is the first hurdle to achieving entrepreneurial success.

http://www.tropicalmba.com/mentor/ On today's episode Dan and Ian are going to explore the most powerful, and potentially toxic relationship in entrepreneurship; the relationship between a mentor and a mentee. We're doing so by speaking with Tim Conley, a Dynamite Circle member who has quite a bit of experience in these types of relationships. We'll be talking about how to seek out a mentor, what makes a successful mentor, and how these relationships evolve over time,

http://www.tropicalmba.com/priorities/ This week we are chatting with Peter Griffin, a member of the Dynamite Circle who relocated to Austin, TX about two years ago. Peter is a prototypical digital nomad. Starting his own business has afforded him the ability to travel the world, but now that he's getting older, he is starting to figure out what is really important to him. We'll be talking with Peter about why he decided to move to Austin, and what happens to digital nomads when their priorities start to change.