A few weeks ago on this podcast, Dan and Ian were talking about some of their biggest pet peeves. In that episode, Ian lamented that the quality of flip flops available for purchase had drastically declined. What happened next should come as no surprise. A few listeners of this show reached out to us to let us know that they had started their own product business manufacturing flip flops. Jeremy Stewart is the co-founder of Hari Mari, which he started with his wife Leila. Hari Mari manufactures and sells premium flip flops across the globe. On today's episode, Jeremy joins us to talk about how their company was founded, how his experience as a political consultant helped Hari Mari grow, and how they were able to go from ground zero to having their products sold in big box retail stores.

Dan and Ian love hearing from listeners of this show. So many times, people reach out to us with thoughtful questions, and one of our favorite things to do is to answer them on this podcast. On today's episode, we are reaching into the mailbag to answer a variety of questions that you submitted to us via email or voicemail. We'll be discussing a broad range of topics including how long it really takes to get your business off the ground, locations to live at the various stages of your entrepreneurial journey, the dilemmas of sustainability, and a whole lot more.

Dan and Ian have seen it time and time again where entrepreneurs can sort of hit a brick wall with their business. But what if the problem doesn't lie with you, but with the type of business you're running? Sometimes people can possess all of the right skills to be successful, but they haven't put themselves in the right situation to succeed. Today's episode is all about "Founder Fit", or the idea that the business you are working on should be the right kind of project that suits your skillset. We'll be discussing four different founder archetypes that we've seen, what their secret weapons are, and which sorts of businesses we believe are best suited for each of these entrepreneurs. We'll also be sharing some of our favorite resources for each type of entrepreneur.

A few months ago, Dan and Ian asked the listeners of this show to respond to a survey about The Tropical MBA Podcast. We wanted to gain a richer understanding of the types of people who are listening to this podcast, so we can continue to create content that is relevant to their interests. We were surprised and delighted not only by the number of people that filled it out but by the types of responses that we received as well. We read every single response that we received from the survey and on today's podcast, we are going to be sharing our thoughts about those survey responses. We'll be discussing your insights, your criticisms, your positive feedback and the data that we learned about the listeners of this show. Stick around to the end to hear a little bit more about how we plan to implement what we learned from that survey in the future of this podcast.

Today's episode is unlike anything else Dan and Ian have ever recorded on this podcast. It all started with a cease and desist letter that we received via email at the beginning of the year. That letter was from an in-house counsel at a very large company and it alleged that The Tropical MBA Podcast was potentially infringing on their trademark. We decided to reach out to our friend Eric Misterovich from Revision Legal. Revision Legal is a law firm that specializes in working with businesses that make money online. Eric joins us on today's podcast to talk a little bit about intellectual property law, as well as the specific cease and desist letter that we received. Make sure to stay tuned until the end of this episode to hear more about the ongoing nature of this situation.

Dan and Ian are excited because they get to spend today's podcast doing one of their favorite things: complaining. This isn't just their everyday grinding of axes, though. On this week's episode, we are taking our own stab at a fun and unique concept popularized by the BBC in a classic television series called "Room 101". The term "Room 101" comes from George Orwell's 1984. In Orwell's fictional world, it was a sort of torture chamber that thought criminals are banished to. In this episode, Dan and Ian will each present three things that they want to complain about, and at the end of the episode, they are going to vote on which terrible thing deserves to be banished to Room 101.

Hosting this podcast has allowed Dan and Ian to meet thousands of entrepreneurs over the last several years. Many of those entrepreneurs have gone on to become very wealthy people, and throughout our conversations with those people, we have found some common threads to the ways that wealthy people behave. One constant we've discovered is that you have to have a strategy for becoming wealthy and that there are several common strategies that people use to varying degrees of success. On today's show, we are going to be talking about five of the most common strategies to get rich that we have seen, which of those strategies resonate with us, and a whole lot more.

Dan and Ian love stories where creative people find success through entrepreneurship. Truthfully, it's not something we have had a chance to talk about much on this podcast, but art and entrepreneurship don't have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, the skillsets can actually be complementary. Today's guest has figured that out herself, as she went from working a 9-to-5 while living with her parents to traveling the world on her own terms. Cat Coquilette is an artist and illustrator who has made a career licensing her artwork and designs through companies like Target, Urban Outfitters, and Bed Bath & Beyond. On today's podcast, Cat joins us to share how she navigated the journey from her childhood bedroom to successful solopreneurship, without sacrificing her creative fulfillment along the way.

On this week's show, Dan and Ian are talking about getting real with yourself about what you need to do to succeed. Very few people are more qualified to talk about that than John Ainsworth. John is the CEO and founder of Data Driven Marketing, which builds, fixes, and optimizes automated sales funnels. Those sales funnels are the mechanisms that many online businesses use to communicate with customers and entice them to buy their products.

Dan and Ian have been spending much of their time thinking about remote work these days. Ever since they started their new business Dynamite Jobs, they have been seeking more information about the remote work ecosystem. One of the things that they've realized is that remote work isn't necessarily for everybody. Just like the traditional office setting, it comes with its own set of challenges.

On today's podcast, Dan and Ian are following up with the subject of one of the most popular episodes in recent years. Tommy Griffith is the founder of ClickMinded, an online SEO training course that he started while he was working at Paypal. Tommy joined us two and a half years ago to talk about how he started that business as a Saturday Morning Side Hustle. When we last spoke with Tommy in 2017, he was about to quit one of the best jobs in the world as the head of SEO at AirBNB to travel the world and focus on Clickminded full-time. It didn't go quite as planned, as you'll find out on this week's episode. Tommy returns to the podcast today to talk about what went wrong, and why he decided almost eight years into growing his business that it was time to take on a co-founder.

Dan and Ian have heard many variations of the same question over the years: "I want to be an entrepreneur, but how do I get started?" Today's guest has some really practical insight into what it means to take the leap into starting your own business. Dom Wells started out, as many do, building affiliate marketing sites. He's gone on to establish several successful spin-off businesses from what was effectively a side hustle, all while he was still working a full-time job teaching English in Taipei. This week, Dom joins us to share tips for getting started on the long journey of entrepreneurship, how to build a skillset and a network, and the mistakes that he made along the way.

Whether it's the fact that often entrepreneurs undersell or fail to acknowledge the huge amount of planning and work that goes into running a business or just flat out ignore some of the cold realities of the entrepreneurial struggle. There are a lot of truths floating below the surface that would-be entrepreneurs aren't always aware of.

Recently, Dan and Ian have been revisiting some of their favorite books on this podcast in a recurring series that we like to call "The Re-Readables." This week, we are digging into a classic entrepreneurial book that was suggested to us by our friend, author, and frequent guest on this podcast, Kyla Gardner of KylaGardner.com. That book is Robert Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad. In that book, Kiyosaki basically suggests that if you want to be rich and successful, you've got to ditch the middle-class mindset. Kyla joins us this week to discuss some of the controversial opinions in this book, which ideas in that book have aged the best and which have aged the worst, and much, much more.

Dan and Ian have shared a lot of business success stories on this podcast over the years. We love sharing those stories on this show, but sometimes the tough experiences that entrepreneurs have endured are the ones that we learn from the most. Freddy Lansky is the co-founder of iChess, which sells chess videos, courses and DVDs online. Recently, Freddy decided to leave that business, choosing to dissolve an eight-year business partnership with one of his closest friends. On today's episode, Freddy joins us to speak about the origins of iChess, what it felt like to be trapped in a business that was no longer fulfilling to him, and how he and his partner navigated their breakup.

A few weeks ago, Dan and Ian hosted their annual Dynamite Circle event in Austin, Texas. They met many listeners of this show who traveled from all around the world to attend. Those entrepreneurs shared some incredible stories, insights, advice, and feedback with us, and we can't wait to talk about them.

On this week's podcast, they are sharing their reflections from that experience. You'll hear what they learned from the retreat, the pros and cons of hosting one for your remote team, and much more.

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield was published in 2002. Since then, it has inspired countless entrepreneurs, artists, writers, and creatives around the world. On today's show, we are revisiting The War of Art, talking about why it was so influential, and asking whether or not the ideas in that book have withstood the test of time.

Chris reached out to us about the recent troubles he's had hiring people. We thought it might be a good idea to record that conversation and share it with our listeners. This week's episode is all about hiring. You'll hear about what goes into the decision to hire, the hiring process itself, and how to successfully interview and eventually hire the best people for your jobs.