My review of the Tropical MBA podcast and the members-only Dynamite Circle
In a sea of business entrepreneurship podcasts, Tropical MBA, co-hosted by Dan Andrews and Ian Schoen, is one of the original online business DNA-themed heavily inspired by Tim Ferris’ The 4-Hour Work Week.
The story goes: Dan met Ian shortly after college graduation in 2004 at their manufacturing jobs in San Diego, California, where they grew an affinity for one another and, together at late night bars, wondered what life would be like if they were rich.
2019 DCBKK Conference attendees in full swing.
After learning each other’s strengths and skill sets---Dan in operations and Ian in design---they came up with the concept of opening a cat furniture China manufacturing ecommerce business.
With the initial investment and warehouse space from their boss, they established their base in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and traveled widely to Bali, Indonesia and the Philippines.
While in Asia, they discovered and leveraged the relatively low-cost, remote labor for which they utilized for marketing, sales, and customer service, while manufacturing their products in China for sale in the US.
Fellow DC-member, Matt Bowles, of the Maverick Show podcast and me enjoying Bangkok nightlife.
As they were growing their company living in low-cost countries, they wondered if anyone else out there was building online businesses and living as digital nomads like themselves.
Soon after while traveling in the Philippines, they put out a call to see if other like-minded entrepreneurs wanted to get together over a weekend to share their stories and experiences--thus the Dynamite Circle was formed!
One of the many member-led conference presentations.
By 2009 they established their very first in-person conference called DCBKK or Dynamite Circle Bangkok, which quickly attracted 100 attendees and continues today to be their flagship business conference.
Today, Dynamite Circle has well over 1,000 paying entreprenuer members and holds dozens of member-led meetups around the world in such cities as London, Tokyo, Taipei, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, New York, Mexico City, Sydney, Manila and several others.
Enjoying Mexico City’s famous Zocalo square.
Since attending DCBKK in 2019 and DCMEX (Mexico City) in 2023, I have met and learned from so many successful six and seven-figure online business owners.
Of the many attributes DC members share, among them---the love for travel---one thing I noticed that separates these entrepreneurs from any other community is their openness and willingness to share with fellow members.
Everyone I have encountered is humble, approachable and very willing to share their success tips and advice. In fact, member presentations are some of the biggest reasons for attending DCBKK and DCMEX conferences.
2023 DCMEX Conference
I continue to listen to the Tropical MBA podcast weekly for entrepreneur-inspired stories and for sound business advice such as how to grow one’s business to a million dollars, how to operate teams efficiently, and to learn trending online businesses.
If you ever have an interest in online business while working remotely, check out the Tropical MBA podcast!
Oh, and whatever happed to their cat furniture business?
Rumor has it, they sold it for multi-millions as outlined in their book, Before the Exit.
