Tropical MBA: Entrepreneurship & Founder Lifestyle

Dan and Ian are together again at the infamous Badladz Resort in Puerto Galera, Philippines. This week they are joined by special guest Tim Conley from Foolish Adventure who will be working with the first group of folks here for the TMBA Start-up Summer project. Stay tuned in the next couple weeks for updates about these guys, their projects, and our Start-up Summer. This week they got a question from Shayna at EspressoEnglish.net: I run a website that teaches English as a Second Language, and I feel like I’m competing with the zillions of pages all over the internet. I’m having trouble pricing my products for a global audience and trying to compete with all the free sites out there. The most important thing about competing with free products when you’ve got something quality to offer is that you will always be fighting downhill when you do that. No one wants to fight downhill…you usually fall. Instead fight uphill and you’ll find it much easier

It is a sad day in the LBP world. After a year of pool parties, long nights of discussion and brainstorming on the deck, and countless DCers and LBP listeners visiting and crashing on our couches, the time has come to say good-bye to our Bali House (aka TMBA HQ). It’s been good times on the good old Jl Drupadi in Seminyak. We’re not giving up the compound dream, though. In fact, it’s getting bigger. And Dan & Ian are on the lookout for a resort or 10+ private room compound to turn into TMBA HQ 2.0 for the upcoming year. If you have any leads let us know! This week, after yet another 5-Star iTunes review showers the LBP with love, Dan & Ian decided it was high time to start sharing some of the secrets that has enabled them to become six-figure full-time income bloggers (much to Ian’s mixed elation and dismay). None of this is new stuff – but it will help you to be more effective with content. What’s the most important private label secret? It’s about Social Media and SEO.

This week Dan and Ian are dreaming of Ferraris. A slight departure from their regular dreams of Porsches and BMW’s. Ian might even by considering taking up a bartending job to bootstrap his new ride. Maybe he can get a gig working a portable bar somewhere? Mostly they are planning the shenanigans set to transpire when they are both on the same continent (in the same place even!) later this month at Badladz Resort in the Philippines. In this episode Dan & Ian once again get such a humdinger of a question that it’s a full serving of meat & potatoes to chat about! Dave (who is dreaming big in Japan asks: I’ve toyed with “make money online” stuff for a while, but now I realise that I haven’t been serious. I want to get serious. So: given resources of basically zero dollars, and 25 hours a week to spare, what ideas would you suggest to start earning $500-1000 a month asap and go from there. I’m not looking for a blueprint or a sure thing, but some lateral thinking or just your perspective. Well Dave, better than a blueprint we’ll give you and our listeners a full checklist for lateral thinking.

This week Dan and Ian are acting like expatriot snitches, unleashing an Offshoring 101 course onto the listeners of the LBP community. Blasting through conversation ranging from why you should and shouldn’t incorporate your business in the US to Earned Income Exclusions & FBAR’s and all the juicy details in between, including some important things they’ve learned along the way, the guys are getting into some serious business discussion. This episode is definitely one to pull out the pen & paper/Evernote for!

Dan goes back to his roots tearing up Vietnam while Ian gets multi-cultural by voice-overing one of the funniest Italian accents in iTunes podcasting history. This week the guys got an email from an eager and ambitious listener, Skyler: I’m extremely passionate about entrepreneurship, however, I’ve found that it can be hard to find the right opportunities. So while I have the passion, I don’t think I have the necessary skills or experience at this point. One of my goals is to work for you guys at some point, so I just wanted to find out if there’s any one skill that I should try to develop over the next year or two? The guys chewed on the question for a couple days. What are they looking for in employees and contractors? What skill is any entrepreneur looking for in employees and contractors? At the end of all that thinking (and a bit of a Vietnamese food coma) they found 5 skillsets that will be vital to anyone looking to hustle their way to a life of freedom and opportunity.

Yeah Buddy! Another week and another chance to talk biznass is always a good combo. Once again Ian and Dan are talking marriage in business, discussing partnerships and what matters and what doesn’t in the listener questions. Thankfully Dan doesn’t nag Ian on his greasy oil change habits. Much. With all the questions coming in and advice going out here at LBP, Ian and Dan realized that may of the questions fall into 4 general categories.

Coming off the euphoric high of 100th Episode bliss, Dan and Ian settled in this week to get back to business making money…for others. That’s right, they’re kicking around some angel investment ideas that would end with a qualified start-up getting some runway to make their lifestyle business dream a reality. Is an angel investment accelerator worth the time, resource, and money effort or should they just stop pansying around and make some real investments? In the Meat & Potatoes, Dan takes to the interview seat to chat with Matt Paulson, who has saved the LBP from a fate worse than death – Site Server Error. When Matt isn’t swooping in like a boss to save Dan and Ian, he’s running a web content company that focuses on various consumer and financial websites and newsletters. Matt has managed to build a devoted following that constantly increases with new readers and customers by NOT focusing on his SERP and SEO strategies. Instead, he thinks Outside the Index and uses unorthodox content oriented strategies to continue to build and grow. Some of his best Outside the Index strategies include:  YouTube and Google image content  Content Writers vs. Scraping Content  Content Generating Sites like Bing and Yahoo Finance  News Search Engines (Not Your Average SERP)

Seems like only yesterday Dan was calling Ian from a noisy cafe in the Philippines to do up another episode of the Lifestyle Business Podcast. Oh wait. That was yesterday! If sports teams have throwback uniforms, consider this special 100th Episode of the Lifestyle Business Podcast a throwback episode, complete with some of our favorite music, quotes, and outtakes from the past 1000 Days of broadcasting this podcast. In this episode, Dan and Ian get a little nostalgic. Remembering the times they’ve had here at LBP, remembering the times that they were away. Most importantly they are digging deep to share the things that worked for them, the things they’ve screwed up, and their hopes for the future of the biznass and LBP. So what are the Bunches of Stuff Dan & Ian Have Screwed Up In The Past 1000 Days? In no particular order…  Perspective on What It Really Takes To Get Momentum  One Thing: Shit Takes Forever  Location is EVERYTHING and Location is Nothing (Same Goes For Money)  You Don’t Need A VA (Gasp?! From the Original Outsourcing To The Philippines Guy?!)  They Would Have Paid Themselves More  Invest In A Good Tax and Money Guy Not to get too sentimental…but the LBP wouldn’t be hitting 100 Episodes without the balla support of our listeners. You guys make it fun to show up every week and talk freedom and opportunity for 20-30 minutes. Thanks for being so awesome! What are the plans for the upcoming 1000 Days/100 Episodes?  Found a Disruptive Business  Help 1000 Entrepreneurs Make A Switch To Running Their Own Business  Help our Dynamite Circle Members Create an Extra $10K in Annual Income  LEARN. IMPROVE. PLATFORM.

This week I decided to get back to my roots, fire up my dorky headset, and do another Tropical Talk Radio (iTunes link). Today we ask the question: do you think it’s likely that you’ll have $1,000,000 in your personal bank account in 5 years? You might be surprised by the way some young entrepreneurs answer the question. I was first introduced to my guests Tim and Nick by my friend Sean Ogle, and since that time I’ve enjoyed following what they are up to in China (I’m also proud to call them DCers!). These guys talk about doing business in China, and accelerating your entrepreneurial career by making the jump to Asia. I like the metaphor Tim and Nick use: “lose the [corporate] ladder, take the elevator.” One of the most useful pieces of small business advice I’ve ever heard is: “9 out of 10 small businesses track with market.” I believe the same principle can apply to your life and career. A rising tide lifts all boats

Less than 72 hours after we launched The Tropical MBA program exclusively to members of Dynamite Circle and then our pre-sale listeners, we have already SOLD OUT these first two sessions. Thanks so much – blown away, humbled, and excited as hell barely begin to scrape the surface of how we feel about that! This week Dan & Ian get a little Starsky & Hutch, bringing 70’s yacht rock back in style with Bad Company’s “Shooting Star” as they look at what makes a person or business so successful you watch them burst across the sky like a shooting star, lighting up the night.