Joined FL in late 2007 w/10K+ in CC Debt. Now biz averages 170K/month. AMAA

[TropicalGuy]

James I really appreciate you taking a listen! It's an honor to be able to do that. I used to rock around in my car listening to radio shows that would inspire me, and it's cool to be able to do it myself now.

Hi, Dan. I've started listening to your podcast during my work commute and it's awesome! Great info and it actually makes me laugh out loud too. I listened to the one this morning that was like a muay thai fight and I was cracking up. Once I actually have some success, I will check out that DC group.

 

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[DennisD]

I replied to your pitch with brutality sir (good thing you are planning on stone fortifications, btw). I like the way you think.

Sent you an email with the news, but I thought I'd let everyone know how much you helped!
Dan gave me a direction and I ran with it, even though it made me uncomfortable it was clearly the best thing to do.

I wanted to do a general marketing podcast, but dan convinced me niching down and finding an angle was better. I was sitting here asking podcast marketing questions and I didn't even have a winning idea.

So I eventually decided "Video Marketing" as my subject. I'd cover shooting videos on the cheap, optimizing youtube channels, etc. etc. etc.
Even though I didn't see this as my future, Dan convinced me it's an important stepping stone.

I'm not submitting to itunes yet (for marketing purposes) but here's a preview of episode 1: http://castleforgemedia.com/files/
thread on the podcast here: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/we...557-vid-marketing-qs-answered-my-podcast.html

Thanks a lot, I look forward to continually improving this and BLOWING IT UP

 

[TropicalGuy]

Hey man-- well done. I'm listening to it right now. You sound fantastic (better than mine!) and it's already funny as hell.

Congrats man keep it rockin'.

Sent you an email with the news, but I thought I'd let everyone know how much you helped!
Dan gave me a direction and I ran with it, even though it made me uncomfortable it was clearly the best thing to do.

I wanted to do a general marketing podcast, but dan convinced me niching down and finding an angle was better. I was sitting here asking podcast marketing questions and I didn't even have a winning idea.

So I eventually decided "Video Marketing" as my subject. I'd cover shooting videos on the cheap, optimizing youtube channels, etc. etc. etc.
Even though I didn't see this as my future, Dan convinced me it's an important stepping stone.

I'm not submitting to itunes yet (for marketing purposes) but here's a preview of episode 1: http://castleforgemedia.com/files/
thread on the podcast here: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/we...557-vid-marketing-qs-answered-my-podcast.html

Thanks a lot, I look forward to continually improving this and BLOWING IT UP

 

[djax06]

Hey Dan,

I may have missed it but when you started out with the Cat Furniture or Portable Bars - did you just find the product, import them and brand them?

Or did you actually create them from the very beginning? And then just found a factory who would make them?

 

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[e_fastlane]

I have a serparate thread I started for this topic, but figured I would get your angle on it:

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/we...a/44630-finding-web-designers.html#post260097

I'm sure many entrepreneurs out there have this same issue...

Who do you get to do your website design?

I currently own a few 'successful' businesses. Just from being a heavy computer user for years, I have learned how to design and create websites myself. The first 2-3 businesses I spent hours upon hours creating the websites. We have many products that we are planning on releasing within the next couple months and I just simply don't have the time to invest my heart and soul into a website, like I used to. My time is better spent elsewhere. Can you recommend a place that does websites for a reasonable price?

The problem I have found is that many services charge you $xxxx and all they do is take a generic website template and stick your images in there. No thanks, I know how to download a template and stick in a couple pictures in a few minutes as well. I'm looking for appealing yet simple designs that are optimized for conversions.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[magnificent]

Hi Dan, first of all I'd like to congratulate you for your success and helping others out in the forum.

To my question,
I see that your moderncat business presence online isn't large.. almost '500' likes on FaceBook and one of your portable bar youtube video has 92 views..

so does this mean most of your sales are phone orders?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Halffull]

I call working for entrepreneurs "training at altitude." Flipping products on eBay for 3 years on your own would teach you what working for somebody like me or MJ would teach you in 3 months. So don't be shy to get a job and work hard for a few years.

I LOVE this quote. Is it alright with you if I use this quote in a salesletter I'm writing (With proper attribution of course)? It's so hard to get entrepreneurial types to see why they should 'waste time' on building something for someone else before they go off to build something on their own.

 

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[TropicalGuy]

Hey Djax,

Most of these products we've designed ourselves-- we use software called Solidworks-- and Ian's background was in Industrial design. Now we've got a full time industrial designer that creates new products for the company.

We've also done some licensing and direct importing and stuff but across the board we've had a lot more success with the stuff we design. I'm not sure that's always going to be the case though, but in our company it has been. We do have a few pure drop shipping sites that do well, however, and importing / drop shipping can be a great way to get market intelligence before you enter a

Hey Dan,

I may have missed it but when you started out with the Cat Furniture or Portable Bars - did you just find the product, import them and brand them?

Or did you actually create them from the very beginning? And then just found a factory who would make them?

 

[TropicalGuy]

Do you know what your budget is? Can you see ROI on full time design work? I'd build a relationship with somebody or Odesk, or better yet, hire somebody full time yourself.

I have a fantastic full time web designer in the Philippines-- she does everything from development work, to some admin, to all my logos, layouts, etc.

Starting salary 400-500 bucks a month, and part time is available too. That's where I'd start.

I have a serparate thread I started for this topic, but figured I would get your angle on it:

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/we...a/44630-finding-web-designers.html#post260097

I'm sure many entrepreneurs out there have this same issue...

Who do you get to do your website design?

I currently own a few 'successful' businesses. Just from being a heavy computer user for years, I have learned how to design and create websites myself. The first 2-3 businesses I spent hours upon hours creating the websites. We have many products that we are planning on releasing within the next couple months and I just simply don't have the time to invest my heart and soul into a website, like I used to. My time is better spent elsewhere. Can you recommend a place that does websites for a reasonable price?

The problem I have found is that many services charge you $xxxx and all they do is take a generic website template and stick your images in there. No thanks, I know how to download a template and stick in a couple pictures in a few minutes as well. I'm looking for appealing yet simple designs that are optimized for conversions.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[TropicalGuy]

Hi Dan, first of all I'd like to congratulate you for your success and helping others out in the forum.

To my question,
I see that your moderncat business presence online isn't large.. almost '500' likes on FaceBook and one of your portable bar youtube video has 92 views..

so does this mean most of your sales are phone orders?

Thanks a lot!

Many are phone orders but it speaks more to marketing channels-- speaking of which, the most important blog post I ever wrote has 1 "like" on FB. Here it is:

Announcing: The Tropical MBA Inner Circle Mastermind Group

That post started what is now a six figure+ business. So getting people to tweet your shiz isn't nearly as important as having real marketing 'power' behind in-- in other words, something that cashes out in meaningful relationships. (Another thing the phone is great for!)

So our marketing channels are all working better than social media are email marketing, paid advertising, phone prospecting, referrals, SEO, conferences, and re-sellers.

That said we've been trying some new social strategies lately that seem like they are gonna deliver the cheddar, but time will tell.

 

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[TropicalGuy]

I LOVE this quote. Is it alright with you if I use this quote in a salesletter I'm writing (With proper attribution of course)? It's so hard to get entrepreneurial types to see why they should 'waste time' on building something for someone else before they go off to build something on their own.

Go ahead! Hope it works out for you, if it hurts your marketing in any way don't worry about the attribution.

I'm here to help you kick a$$. Rock on.

 

[scottstown]

Yeahh buddy! What a great thread / book. Thanks Dan for taking the time! I have been listening to your podcasts for a while now and have learned so much.

I have a question for you: I recently put out my first product (a sports related DVD that I hired an actor and edited myself). I am getting good sales so far selling on Amazon and want to have 9 more DVD's out by the end of this year. I am currently a one man show working 40+ hours at the day job so I don't have much free time other then weekends. Therefore my question is, should I spend more of my time & energy on getting my current product into physical stores first or on getting more DVD's made? What did you focus on more when your company was just getting started?

Thanks again!
Scott

 

[TropicalGuy]

Hey Scott cheers and thanks for listening! If your cash flow isn't yet enough to let you quit your job, one approach to take a look at would be to dump all of your profits back into accelerated your key constraints. So you mentioned time and energy, but I'd find ways to get your money working for you.

At a glace I'd continue to generate new DVDs and experiment with serializing your content on Amazon and running cross promotions. Build a list of your direct customers. B&M will likely be a bunch of pie in the sky distractions-- better to get to know your customers first hand and then BM will be knocking on your doors.

GOOD LUCK! Sounds like a winner.

Yeahh buddy! What a great thread / book. Thanks Dan for taking the time! I have been listening to your podcasts for a while now and have learned so much.

I have a question for you: I recently put out my first product (a sports related DVD that I hired an actor and edited myself). I am getting good sales so far selling on Amazon and want to have 9 more DVD's out by the end of this year. I am currently a one man show working 40+ hours at the day job so I don't have much free time other then weekends. Therefore my question is, should I spend more of my time & energy on getting my current product into physical stores first or on getting more DVD's made? What did you focus on more when your company was just getting started?

Thanks again!
Scott

 

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[gogiver8figs]

Hi,
Nice post. I'm going to start listening to your podcast more. Here's an excellent question (if I do say so myself, lol) - what does your day look like in terms of the daily habits and routines you've established for yourself? (ex. 9am-10am listen to morning inspirational audio, 10am-11am work on revenue generating activity 1, etc etc).

People always talk about tactic, but it's rare when you get an glimpse of the mental mindset and habits someone has deliberately installed.

 

[TropicalGuy]

Hi,
Nice post. I'm going to start listening to your podcast more. Here's an excellent question (if I do say so myself, lol) - what does your day look like in terms of the daily habits and routines you've established for yourself? (ex. 9am-10am listen to morning inspirational audio, 10am-11am work on revenue generating activity 1, etc etc).

People always talk about tactic, but it's rare when you get an glimpse of the mental mindset and habits someone has deliberately installed.

haha gogiver a great question indeed. Here's the my daily framework. I travel every 30 days so I have separate routines for being on the road, but when I'm at home in Bali here's what I aim for:

• 7:45 AM - Wake up. Take shower. Two table-spoons of coconut oil. Drive bike to cafe, always in spare time listening to audio book or podcasts.
• 8:30 AM - Decide most important creative task for the day (often consider it the night before). Generally will lock myself out of my computer using Mac Freedom for the first 60 to 90 minutes of everyday.
• Most important tasks would generally be: writing blogs, podcast notes, lectures, my book, procedures, reports, policy emails, or important posts for my forum.
• 9:45 AM - Freedom turns off I will focus on clearing my inbox using GMAIL shortcuts and years of honed GTD techniques.
• 11AM - 2PM - Generally when all my phone calls are scheduled. Team members, business partner, and interviews.
• 2PM - 6PM - "Screw off and exercise." Eat. Get a massage. Go to a pool club, get in the pool, walk to the beach, take a nap (at least 3 days a week), read books. For exercise (generally around 5PM) I'm into Yoga, running, basketball, and Foundation type stuff to undo all the "sitting posture" damage I'm doing.
• 6PM - 7:30 - get showered up, quick food and back to the cafe for the second round of creative work. From 7:30 to 9:00 I'll try to get some more writing done, same as my initial creative block. I find I'm most creative at the beginning and end of days.
• 9PM onward - Meet up with friends for food and drinks. I love to hang out with people at night and talk. Most evenings I'll meet with somebody to talk about something.
• Bed by 12:30 - 1. Generally read before bed.

 

[EastWind]

Awesome thread Dan!

I've read through most your website and love the articles. Almost finished How To Get Rich and it's a great book so thanks for the recommendation. Next up are the pod casts.

It's been my plan to move to SEA but Bali sounds interesting, actually it sounds F*cking awesome!

I've already set the date to quit my day job (January 1st 2015) - however if things move faster then it will be before then. I now want to make that day the day I leave Canada, Bali bound.

Can you really live on $1,000 /month? I can live pretty frugally, especially with biz goals in mind, and that's a lot less then my current cost of living in downtown Vancouver! As soon as my lease is up!

I know you mentioned Chiang Mai and Koh Samui - awesome.

Anything else you would like/love to mention?

I live for $1,000/month in the US.

 

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[gogiver8figs]

• 7:45 AM - Wake up. Take shower. Two table-spoons of coconut oil. Drive bike to cafe, always in spare time listening to audio book or podcasts.
• 8:30 AM - Decide most important creative task for the day (often consider it the night before). Generally will lock myself out of my computer using Mac Freedom for the first 60 to 90 minutes of everyday.
• Most important tasks would generally be: writing blogs, podcast notes, lectures, my book, procedures, reports, policy emails, or

Great feedback - appreciate your response. One last follow up question:

*Have you created "Operations Manuals" (described as procedural checklists in Gerber's E-Myth, pg. 194) for what you have described as "MOST IMPORTANT TASKS"
*Do you have an accountability system for the goals you set for yourself?


Again this is the stuff virtually NO ONE talks about that have really been giving me results lately. So I'm quite curious to see your experience with them!

To follow up, Charles Duhigg in his landmark book "The Power of Habit" posits that 40+% of our daily actions (thus results) are results of HABITS. So it would stand to reason that our habits = a good junk of our results. HABITS ARE THINGS THAT WE DO WITHOUT THINKING! In other words, each day, we are doing things that lead to certain results that we are so unaware of. That's why in the past 90 days or so I've been so vigilant about diagnosing and assessing my habits - how about you?

You can see a short clip of Duhigg's interview here:
Good Life Project: Charles Duhigg - Power of Habit - YouTube

 

[TropicalGuy]

Yes I have systems like you are describing for the key drivers of my business and personal life, including a writing diary, and many different creative "brainstorm sheets" for stuff like podcasts, lectures, and policy documents.

Power of Habit is a must read book I agree. I've also ready "Work the System" and I have a Standard Operating Document that I update most days for both of my businesses.

Great feedback - appreciate your response. One last follow up question:

*Have you created "Operations Manuals" (described as procedural checklists in Gerber's E-Myth, pg. 194) for what you have described as "MOST IMPORTANT TASKS"
*Do you have an accountability system for the goals you set for yourself?


Again this is the stuff virtually NO ONE talks about that have really been giving me results lately. So I'm quite curious to see your experience with them!

To follow up, Charles Duhigg in his landmark book "The Power of Habit" posits that 40+% of our daily actions (thus results) are results of HABITS. So it would stand to reason that our habits = a good junk of our results. HABITS ARE THINGS THAT WE DO WITHOUT THINKING! In other words, each day, we are doing things that lead to certain results that we are so unaware of. That's why in the past 90 days or so I've been so vigilant about diagnosing and assessing my habits - how about you?

You can see a short clip of Duhigg's interview here:
Good Life Project: Charles Duhigg - Power of Habit - YouTube

 

[djax06]

Hey Dan.

Loving the podcasts man, good shit!

I've also narrowed down my exit destination to Bali, Vietnam, or China (Shenzhen or Guangzhou).

Right now I'm leaning towards China - at least for the first year then plan an escape to the beaches of Bali. But your pod cast led me to elevator life boys and that put China on my map, so cheers.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll make it through all of the podcasts - but in the mean time, what are the top 6 you'd recommend regarding hustling/getting started/seo?

#32 was the bomb

Thanks buddy

 

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[TropicalGuy]

Cheers sir. I also have an audible account-- for information, audio books are (generally) better than podcasts. Podcasts are more for infotainment + inspiration. That said:

Start-Up School with Seth Godin
Startups For the Rest of Us (Great bootstrapping marketing insights).
Adsense Flippers Podcast
Foolish Adventure
Marketing Show Podcast
Freedom Ocean Podcast

Hey Dan.

Loving the podcasts man, good shit!

I've also narrowed down my exit destination to Bali, Vietnam, or China (Shenzhen or Guangzhou).

Right now I'm leaning towards China - at least for the first year then plan an escape to the beaches of Bali. But your pod cast led me to elevator life boys and that put China on my map, so cheers.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll make it through all of the podcasts - but in the mean time, what are the top 6 you'd recommend regarding hustling/getting started/seo?

#32 was the bomb

Thanks buddy

 

[Xericx]

Hey Dan, I've been listening to your podcast since October or so and I really like it. Keep up the good work! just ordered the power of habit on audible, i think a lot of my problem is I need to get into defined routines. Your "how to be a happy sociopath" was probably one of my favorites. Episode #130 – How to Be a Happy Sociopath

any particularly good audible recos, I have like 3 credits built up.

 

[TropicalGuy]

Yo! Cheers.

I loved : Start with the Why and Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

Hey Dan, I've been listening to your podcast since October or so and I really like it. Keep up the good work! just ordered the power of habit on audible, i think a lot of my problem is I need to get into defined routines. Your "how to be a happy sociopath" was probably one of my favorites. Episode #130 – How to Be a Happy Sociopath

any particularly good audible recos, I have like 3 credits built up.

 

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[gogiver8figs]

Since we're talking books, FYI: "The Power of Habit" draws heavily from the original work (written 10 years earlier) of Dr. Robert Maurer, Author of "The Kaizen Way: One Small Step Can Change Your Life" and Dr BJ Fogg (tinyhabits.com and head of the Stanford Persuasive Technology lab).


Reading "The Power of Habit" is almost like getting on Frank Kern's (Charles Duhigg) list then realizing that he learned from Dan Kennedy (Dr. Maurer and Fogg).

 

[andviv]

I loved 'The Power of Habit'

Great book.

Highly recommended.

 

[TropicalGuy]

Cheers +1 for Kaizen Way as well!

Since we're talking books, FYI: "The Power of Habit" draws heavily from the original work (written 10 years earlier) of Dr. Robert Maurer, Author of "The Kaizen Way: One Small Step Can Change Your Life" and Dr BJ Fogg (tinyhabits.com and head of the Stanford Persuasive Technology lab).


Reading "The Power of Habit" is almost like getting on Frank Kern's (Charles Duhigg) list then realizing that he learned from Dan Kennedy (Dr. Maurer and Fogg).

 

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[Ttrain]

Whats up Dan. I've been a fan of TropicalMBA for a while, and you guys have a great podcast! It's amazing to see how far you've come in a short amount of time. I've also been thinking about being location independent for a while, but I'm not really sure what's the best place for an Entrepreneur (I know you guys are big fans of Bali though).

My biggest question would be; Whats the best way to launch a startup and get the word out there? Thanks.

 

[TropicalGuy]

You Train thanks for being a fan!

Your question is the million dollar question!!! I'm writing a book to try and solve it, but I'd go audience-first. Identify a (VERY SMALL AND SPECIFIC!!!) group of people who have a similar problem or desire and start helping them out. Further reading here:

Prevent Your Blog From Dead on Arrival Status – Consider ‘Buy Now’ Blogging

Whats up Dan. I've been a fan of TropicalMBA for a while, and you guys have a great podcast! It's amazing to see how far you've come in a short amount of time. I've also been thinking about being location independent for a while, but I'm not really sure what's the best place for an Entrepreneur (I know you guys are big fans of Bali though).

My biggest question would be; Whats the best way to launch a startup and get the word out there? Thanks.

 

[BeingChewsie]

Dan,

I just wanted to drop in and say..I love your podcast. I listen every week!

Sue

 

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[TropicalGuy]

Thank you Sue !!!

Dan,

I just wanted to drop in and say..I love your podcast. I listen every week!

Sue

 

[djax06]

Dan,

How many cold calls did you make at the beginning of your entrepreneurial journey?

How about in total?

You can give rough estimates!