TMBA 225: Thoughts on Living and Working in Asia
Date: 2014-01-02
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Everything in life is a tradeoff.
The script for Hong Kong is already written.
If you’re living in China you’re all in.
Nobody really has a job but everybody is working on a business.
Don’t do local business (in Asia).
Location independent doesn’t mean location arbitrary.
If your time is worth money this (Asia) is a great place to optimize it.
Have an attitude of gratitude.
Be the engineer of your own serendipity.
TMBA 226: How to Know When to Cut Bait? 5 Signs Your Niche Needs Changed
Date: 2014-01-09
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Practical application beats out reading general information on the Internet.
The person that is mentoring you is getting something from the relationship as well.
It is a very entrepreneurial thing to step away from bad investments whether that be in time or money.
DIY is a bad word for business guys.
Revenue is proof you’re valuable to people. Profit is proof you’re doing it wisely.
Learn how to fail faster.
TMBA 227: The Rise Of Productized Services
Date: 2014-01-16
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
You need to get a skillset you can charge money for.
Year 1: Figure out the skillset
Year 2: Sell that skillset to other people
Year 3: Figure out how to scale it
There needs to be a big enough of a pain point.
Externalize the skillset into a Buy Now button.
Stop trying to be all things to all people.
Online you’re either driving traffic or driving conversions.
The trick to outbound marketing is that you go where your customers are.
TMBA 228: Getting to the Table With High Achievers – (and an Opportunity to Join Our Advanced Level Mastermind)
Date: 2014-01-23
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Find a niche you’re really into.
Bring sexy to unsexy.
Develop an interest list.
Call the hotline. Promote your business. It might show up on the show.
Amex Platinum is not the best option. It is a privilege card. Airline lounge access and stuff like that.
Amex Green and Gold are the ones that get you the most points.
IntegraGlobal for health insurance for digital nomads.
You need a skillset or a unique piece of knowledge.
Learn how to sell.
Nobody wants to talk to anybody who doesn’t have a skill.
You don’t have to work where you grow up.
Do what you say. Focus on results. Create a body of work.
TMBA 229: Explaining the Entrepreneurial Worldview to Friends and Family
Date: 2014-01-30
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
You’re going to take care of yourself better than anyone else (will take care of you).
We’re trying to build high growth assets (small businesses).
Cash is a tool to build future real wealth.
Wealth is when the income from assets you own is more than your expenses.
Don’t be a slave to your institution.
TMBA 230: Entrepreneurial Mindset Fundamentals
Date: 2014-02-06
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Get yourself into a community of people that are moving their lives forward with high velocity.
You’ll be poor for 1,000 days.
Have a mindset that you’ve got nothing to use.
In order to be successful you need to be obsessed.
The first dip is the hardest dip.
Book: Dip by Seth Godin
Have a focused, clear vision of what you’re trying to accomplish.
To get through the dip design something discreet and shippable.
Nobody really cares if you win or lose. They’ve got their own things going on.
Boomerang
Dropbox
TMBA 231: Narrative Fallacy and the New Faces of the Digital Nomad Movement
Date: 2014-02-13
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
A lot of people are looking for a silver bullet.
Keep putting yourself in situations where good things can happen to you.
People are naturally drawn to hubs.
You have to be both a consumer and a producer (of content).
You have to have a routine.
Insert yourself into communities that are aligned with what you’re doing.
Ideas are easy.
The hard part is shutting up and working really hard.
If you want to be successful you need to have confidence in your skillset.
Learn to embrace failure. See it as a lesson.
Think about how you manage relationships and how it affects your future.
Everybody thinks they have social intelligence.
Anticipate the needs of others.
TMBA 232: Is A College Degree Useful For Entrepreneurs?
Date: 2014-02-20
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
It is a lot easier to keep someone than attract them in the first place.
Take professors not courses.
Start yesterday.
TMBA233: Stop, Drop(shipping), and Roll in the Profit
Date: 2014-02-27
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Prague is the only place in Europe where you can spend Asia prices.
When you’re less concerned with the cost you spend more time looking at everything else.
If you’re drop shipping you’re not controlling the branding and product.
It costs zero money to get into drop shopping.
The big dogs use money to make money.
With drop shipping the low barrier to entry is low for everybody. It is going to get very competitive.
You have to be in the conversation to see the opportunities.
At trade shows you can buy lists beforehand of people that are going to be there. Reach out to them beforehand letting you know where you are going to be.
It is important to get market intelligence early on (for pricing).
TMBA 234: Where Are All the Women in the Digital Nomad Community?
Date: 2014-03-06
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
There are dangers everywhere.
Bali is ground zero for women in SE Asia.
Saigon, Chiang Mai and Kuala Lumpur have a good populations of women in the digital nomad community.
Prague and Berlin have a high percentage of women settling down there.
TMBA 235: 2 China Factory Sourcing Strategies (and Business Updates)
Date: 2014-03-13
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Step up and take responsibility.
Putting up with crap for a living is what a lot of us do and doing that gets extraordinary rewards.
You never know in China who is getting a piece of what pie.
If you can reduce the upfront burden the barrier to entry is much lower.
Record your sales phone calls and see what you can learn from them.
From the outside looking in you just have no idea.
You just never know until you talk to someone.
When you’re on the phone it is important to find out what the closing deal is.
Power of persistence.
Think about the end goal and how you can get there.
A team legitimizes your business.
TMBA 236: Thoughts on Getting Your First Product Manufactured in China
Date: 2014-03-20
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Look at factory alignment.
Do your homework so you are the real deal.
Find a factory that is aligned with your goals.
On Alibaba try to find a factory that makes similar product (to the one you want to make).
On Alibaba everybody is lying.
If you’re going to manufacture in China talk to somebody who has done it before.
On Alibaba it can be hard to tell who is an agent and who is the factory.
With an agent you probably won’t get the best price but there are other advantages.
With plastic products you can always do a 3D printed sample before you do your tooling sample.
The tooling costs vary widely.
Always ask how long the tool is going to last.
TMBA 237: Thoughts On the Costs and Logistics of Location Independent Living
Date: 2014-03-27
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
If you want to be like X person you can’t be like X person. They had the right timing, they were innovative, and the right product-market fit.
The things you get paid for today are the skills you built three or four years ago.
For $2,500 a month you can live comfortably in most cities in the world.
The business has to be independent of you.
Setup your business a little bit ahead of your lifestyle.
Reaching out to influencers online is not something you should have your virtual assistant do.
TMBA 238: 9 Months Into A SaaS Project – 5 Things We’d Do Differently
Date: 2014-04-03
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
You cannot buy yourself into SaaS.
Focus on the feature your customers are most interested in.
Understand where the established money in the market is.
Be the industry leader.
Make sure when you approach people that you’ve got your stuff together.
TMBA 239: 10 Ways to Cut a Crappy Deal
Date: 2014-04-10
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Equity in a small-business owner’s hands can be a very dangerous thing.
Don’t give up cash in the near term for equity (as an employee).
Having a minority stake in a small business is almost always a bad idea.
When you cut a deal in the beginning you have to have the foresight on how that is going to play out in the end.
Equity is only activated by power.
Your ownership stake is only worth what you can get for it.
You control the asset you control the destiny.
Partnering most times is inherently a sign of weakness.
Don’t pay for something in equity that you can pay for in cash.
Handshake deals are no good.
Don’t spread yourself too thin.
Focus on the main event.
TMBA 240: Knowing How Versus Knowing What
Date: 2014-04-17
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
When you are a procrastinator you have to perform.
People will invent problems that are outside the scope of what you’re trying to do with your life.
Don’t surround yourself with a prism of payments.
What is unpopular here might be popular somewhere else.
Live wherever it takes to be by your tribe.
There is a huge advantage to talking about things that were traditionally taboo.
Ballers generally don’t respond well to bullshit.
TMBA 241: “10 True Clients” Business Models
Date: 2014-04-24
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
There is a difference between being popular and being effective.
Simplify.
Business models are frameworks to inspire consistent action into the chaos.
The web favors businesses that are specialized.
100 true customers are customers who are willing to go on subscription and will pay you a dollar a day.
There is not a lot of friction with fans.
Start with the ten true clients.
If you’re one of my clients you’re going to be one of my customers. If you’re one of my customers you’re going to be one of my fans.
If you want to get to passive flip the triangle. The higher friction you start with the more like you are to achieve that passive status.
TMBA 242: How 1,000 True Fans Can Work in Practice
Date: 2014-05-01
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Passive income is income generated from assets and assets are hard to grow.
A thousand fans are hard to find.
Turn the funnel upside down.
Your time is not free.
You can skip a couple of phases if you have money.
Look for the sweetest section of the market at the beginning.
When you’re digging deep (to get the first ten clients) a lot of good information can come out.
It takes a while to get to a thousand true fans.
TMBA243: The “Knowledge Gap” Fallacy
Date: 2014-05-08
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Out of the gate you need to have the confidence to focus on the premium end of the marketplace.
The number one problem is personal confidence.
Good clients make the decisions for the long term.
Don’t go into a business and assume you know what they need.
The way to win is to have the best product.
Recognize that the real value you’re providing to higher end clients is saving them time.
The Internet gives special priority to mini-monopolies.
As an entrepreneur you can be more successful as the matador than as the bull.
Have a plan that pushes you to the edge of the value chain.
Products are becoming cheaper to manufacture across the board.
Industrial goods are more and more getting sold on the Internet and less through middlemen.
Make sure you have a real brand.
TMBA244: “I Got My First Monies, What Should I Do Now?”
Date: 2014-05-15
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Making money from your business is easier than making money from your money.
Dissociate your personal income from your business income.
Profitability is a green flag for reinvestment.
Have a portfolio of small businesses.
Book: The Intelligent Investor
If you’re going to be an investor treat it as a business.
TMBA245: The Tao of the Sale
Date: 2014-05-22
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
The deal with the devil is doing one thing so you can do another.
Artists do art and entrepreneurs build enterprises.
Time is the most critical investment.
Discounts are not going to get you a high-end audience.
If you can sale you’re in business.
Record your phone calls.
The action is in the details.
You learn by doing stuff and make what you do count.
Let silence happen.
Sell everything (you do).
Indifference sucks.
Start on the phone and then translate that relationship to the page.
The best thing you can do is have your customers sell your product for you.
Discounts tend to cheapen the deal. It devalues your product.
Sales fills the holes that marketing and distribution have left.
Ask the most basic questions.
Good brands have legacy marketing value.
Stories lead to sales.
The best place to make sales is with your current customers.
Do things that don’t scale.
Start with one customer.
Cold email works. Cold email works better than calls because it isn’t a disrupter.
You have to give to get.
TMBA246: [From the Archives] Should You Be Blogging?
Date: 2014-05-29
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
A blog gives you all the wrong feedback for amateur pursuits.
It is going to hinder your ability to spend your time on your business.
The best strategy for networking is to do great work.
It is very cheap to come up with a good premise.
TMBA 247: How Do You Know When It’s Time to Hire
Date: 2014-06-05
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Have patience. It takes time.
You need to get yourself in a position where you’re creating and connecting.
Have a strategic operating document. Have SOPs.
Start building product ASAP.
TMBA 248: The “Steak Dinner Problem” and Polyphasic Productivity
Date: 2014-06-12
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
A lot of what we call work is noise.
Define a rock-solid and simple team communication S.O.P.
Work on your business rather than in your business.
The rule of six is that you can only have a productive working relationship with six people in your life. Have an S.O.P. on how you interact with all six of those.
Book: The One Thing
You have to be staring down one path to be effective at anything.
Know what you want to accomplish with your life and the lifestyle you want to have.
Find your muse and go after it.
TMBA 249: Getting Started With Customer Churn Analysis
Date: 2014-06-19
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Churn will sneak up on you.
Your churn rate will be much less useful if you aren’t creating cohorts (groups of subscribers).
If your group is too big you can’t get good information from it.
Collect the basics (data).
Premium product tiers can change everything.
Retention is more important than virality because if your users don’t stick around then they’re not going to tell others about it.
Have a deliberate referral strategy.
TMBA250: Designing and Prototyping Your Own Consumer Product
Date: 2014-06-26
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
It requires a lot of patience (to launch a product).
However long you think it takes to get something manufactured–quadruple that time.
Good pictures are absolutely necessary. If you don’t have good pictures on your website you’re shooting yourself in the foot.
Find a systematized marketing strategy early on.
It is important to follow your passion up to a point. At the end of the day you have to pay your bills.
At the end of the day nobody cares about your business as much as you do.
PPC can be a massive time suck.
If you can’t create a minimum viable product yourself then you should skip onto the next idea.
Keep making quick-and-dirty prototypes until you get something that works.
TMBA 251: The Entrepreneurial Quest
Date: 2014-07-03
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Build something as fast as possible and get validation.
Building a business means having something that you can sell.
Choose something you can execute quickly.
It is often the case that the times in our lives that challenge us the most are the ones we look back on most fondly.
Most of our regrets are based on the things we didn’t do rather than the things we did do.
You have to uproot yourself.
You have to make environmental changes consciously to create a turning point.
Sometimes you have to forget about the real world to build yourself a new one.
TMBA 252: Do We Need to Re-Train Ourselves to Enjoy Free Time?
Date: 2014-07-10
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Business is the only game on the planet that is 24-7.
Define something better to do.
Be the change you want to see in the world.
Neglecting your body for business isn’t going to work in the long term.
TMBA253: A Bootstrapper’s Thoughts on Intellectual Property
Date: 2014-07-17
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Patents aren’t a form of protection. They are a form of power.
A lot of times it comes down to a game of, “Who’s got more money?”
Focus on the innovation front.
Trademarks are cheaper to get and easier to defend (than patents).
Key terms are at an all time premium online.
The biggest problem you will be facing is not piracy–it is obscurity.
TMBA254: A Framework for Creating Mastermind Events or Parties
Date: 2014-07-24
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Share your story with strangers because they have no emotional attachment to it.
When you’re meeting every week it can be difficult to implement all of the advice you’re getting.
Weekly masterminds work better if you have a company that is just starting out.
You’re generally bringing one of your biggest business problems to the table (when you’re in the hotseat).
Some people get a lot more out of these events than others.
You’re not going to get any upside if you don’t share the details.
State your goal.
Be able to clearly articulate your problem and where you’ve been.
When you can describe your business in three minutes or less that is valuable because then other people can describe your business in three minutes or less.
People enjoy having a framework, a structure, a set of rules.
Innovation comes from outside (the industry) a lot of times.
Translate your mastermind group online immediately.
TMBA255: How People Fail at Sustaining the Digital Nomad Lifestyle
Date: 2014-07-31
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Very few people are catering to the digital nomads.
Get out of the hamster wheel of time, money, time, money.
You need to have systems and people in place.
Offices are a thing of the past.
If you are a distributed team have meetups.
If you’re not interested in the journey you’re going to be disappointed.
If success is defined by the journey then you’re going to be okay.
There is a danger in trying to constantly transfer your new life back to your old friends.
You have to build a high power network around the practices that you’re doing.
If you want high value relationships you’ve got to invest a lot into that.
TMBA256: Making Sense of Awards Points and Business Class Upgrades
Date: 2014-08-07
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Airlines can change their rewards without notice.
The complexity is the opportunity.
Do two to four rounds of credit card applications a year to build up a stack of miles.
The offers the banks are giving change a lot.
Maximize the points you get for every signup.
Website: Boarding Area
For most business class tickets you’re looking for 50,000 to 70,000 one-way and 100,000 to 120,000 round trip.
Go direct to the airline for info on their rewards program.
Just because you can buy a ticket for a particular flight it doesn’t mean you can use your miles for that flight.
There is no simple answer to fuel charges.
Award Wallet aggregates your balances.
Try to accumulate different types of points. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.
You don’t have to have a ton of spending to acquire a lot of miles.
TMBA257: The Current State of Affiliate Marketing
Date: 2014-08-14
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
With affiliate distribution you got to go big to make it work.
Big affiliates want something to identify with and buy into.
The four things you want a VA to do:
- podcast editing
- first wave of customer support
- content posting
- social media marketing
You don’t start with a brand and a logo. You start with a product.
Don’t hire somebody until you can write out 85% of their week.
When you do hire them make sure you’re paying them less than half of what you’re making off of said processes.
TMBA258: Living, Working, and Adventuring in South East Asia
Date: 2014-08-21
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
If you haven’t been to a place yourself you’re not qualified or in the position to tell somebody else to go there.
In Bali you have to make the effort to get away from some of the tourist traps.
A lot of time it is the journey and not about where you are going.
Most travel websites are transactional.
TMBA259: What Does Google Know About Us?
Date: 2014-08-28
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
HTTPS Everywhere
The search market is the biggest market on the Internet.
On a new advertising platform the click-through rates are amazing.
As you get more successful you are increasingly asking yourself to get out of your comfort zone.
It is important to have a board that meets regularly to talk about strategic issues.
TMBA260: The Long Road to Mid 5-Figure Months
Date: 2014-09-04
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
When businesses are young it is better to get people on the phone and get feedback than it is to get another sale.
With B2B people actually want to talk about the products.
Have high-quality product photos.
You get successful by saying yes to things. You say successful by saying no to things.
TMBA261: Systematize Your Selling
Date: 2014-09-11
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Book: Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers
Find a product you believe in.
Systematize the approach to finding customers.
Don’t be afraid to break it.
For the most part good ideas come from the market.
Start with channels that aren’t opaque.
Make sure your business doesn’t rely on opaque channels.
The people that get the most benefit out of an event are the ones speaking at it.
It is possible to feel like a foreigner in your own country.
TMBA262: How to Make Your First $1,000 Online
Date: 2014-09-18
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Podcast: Seth Godin’s Startup School
It is getting easier to create an online business.
Commerce can be mutually beneficial.
There is nothing guaranteed in a job anymore.
Create a business that provides you leverage and opportunity.
This world is not just about money.
Own your own time. It is your most valuable resource.
Unplug from the “real world” and invest in your own.
Have a clear idea about what you’re doing with your life.
Start with a service if you’re starting from scratch.
Sometimes you need to put your back against a wall.
All income is not created equally.
Don’t conflate being an entrepreneur with being an inventor.
Take an idea in an existing marketplace and innovate on it.
Have mentors.
Find your ten true clients.
Niche down as far as possible.
Be marketing from day one.
TMBA263: Building Low-Risk Software Startups
Date: 2014-09-25
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
With a WordPress plugin you’re available in the marketplace that is inside the customer’s admin area.
If you’re getting into the software game deciding where the buttons go is your job.
Usability is more important than the code.
TMBA264: The Artisan’s Approach to Podcasting
Date: 2014-10-02
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Choose topics based on past experience.
Don’t go into podcasting just thinking about the audio element.
If you have a strength you can double down on you can position yourself in that corner and nobody can touch you.
It is a long game.
Highly motivated people don’t need so much guidance.
It is always important to be genuine.
Inverse yourself in as much information as possible about the topic you want to do.
The starting point is to figure out where the gaps are.
TMBA265: Visiting China – Why Entrepreneurs Travel to the Canton Fair
Date: 2014-10-09
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
The Canton Fair is one of the oldest trade shows in the world.
It is where you go to get the “factory direct price”.
Make sure you are taking your time and evaluating a range of suppliers.
You can make any product you can dream of.
TMBA266: Growing Productized Services Businesses
Date: 2014-10-16
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Build something where you are not the asset.
Map the workflow: map out the tasks and then break the tasks up by position.
If tasks change a lot between products you don’t have a productized service.
Create email addresses for positions on your organization chart rather than individuals. That allows you to use contractors who may change.
Look at your business as pods of revenue.
Each position has metrics. Use a scorecard to monitor those metrics and that position.
The human stuff is why people quit.
The human is just as important as the analytical.
It takes investment to learn what the repeatable process is.
Work on your business rather than in your business.
TMBA267: The Tao of the Hustle
Date: 2014-10-23
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Hustlers learn by doing.
Hipsters are the opposite of hustlers.
Hustlers take 100% responsibility for everyone and everything in their network.
There is no margin in identifying the third party that caused the problem. Step up and provide a direction forward.
Hustlers correlate their actions with result. They are not hip to taking credit.
Hustlers never ask for anything more complicated than a yes.
“What time you are available this week?” is the worst question ever.
TMBA268: Getting More Out of Conferences – “Breakfast is a Big Deal”
Date: 2014-10-30
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
(For presentations) focus on lesson learned not on the tactics.
There are four levels for every talk:
- The narrative foundation
- The tactic or specific action
- This is what I think I learned from that
- The theoretical framework that I think is exposed
The point is getting in the room with the right people.
Generally speaking keynotes do not contain actionable items.
It is tough to be both a practitioner and a preacher at the same time.
Build the products you want.
Often the most valuable thing is having breakfast with somebody.
With breakout sessions you get to identify other people who are interested in what you are interested in.
If you go to a conference that is at a hotel stay at the hotel. That is where you run into everybody and have breakfast with people.
Do everything you can to get on stage.
TMBA269: Branding is About Relationships Not Recognition
Date: 2014-11-06
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
A mastermind is a group of people who get together to hold each other accountable.
The power of lifestyle businesses is that we have the opportunity to be good to ourselves.
You don’t have to change the world to make a big difference in your life and the lives of those around you.
Have a phone number on your website particularly if you are an ecommerce store.
If you want to think about brand you need to look at your emails and phone conversations with your clients.
TMBA270: A Roundtable Discussion on Apprentices, Mentoring, and Team Building
Date: 2014-11-13
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Get your fingers in the pie, (Do an apprenticeship.)
With an MBA you’re paying for the network. You had better be getting a top twenty MBA.
Optimizing for your salary isn’t going to be a win.
Optimize for trajectory.
Have an open door management policy.
Hire people who won’t leave at your own risk.
Any discrete step forward is a win.
TMBA271: Understanding and Optimizing For Multiple Currencies: A Conversation with Patrick McKenzie
Date: 2014-11-20
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Different people have different priorities.
If startups are something you absolutely won’t be complete without then found one rather than be an employee at one.
Pick something you’re passionate about (for your business).
People underestimate the impact their stories can have.
Always follow the data.
Using best practices without knowing why they are best practices is dangerous to your health.
Gradual engagement doesn’t work.
saastr.com
Your call to action button should promise value preferably something that provides value immediately. (“Start blah today”)
In email lists say, “If you have questions just reply to this email.”
Get in the head of the people you’re speaking to.
TMBA272: Is It Getting Harder to Grow a Successful Business Selling Info Products?
Date: 2014-11-27
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
Infoproducts are strong today and will continue to be into the future.
There is no better motivation that customers who have already paid for the product.
Have sales always be present but never pushy.
Be assertive about promoting your content.
Make your site very easy to follow so people don’t get overwhelmed.
The bigger the pool of available information the more important it is to have a teacher or someone to guide you through it.
It is a slow, steady process.
Book: The One Thing by Gary Keller
TMBA273: Stories From a Remote CEO
Date: 2014-12-04
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
When you’re traveling set expectations with the people that are at your office.
In your office you want to feel needed.
After you figure out you’re not needed anymore you want to be wanted.
In the future people will understand a lot better than in the past what it means to be physically present.
The CEO has got to be the leader.
Own as much of your time as possible.
There are all kinds of opportunities out the door.
Try to own the creative hours.
If you feel like it is time to get out the door then get out the door.
TMBA274: When You’ve Built Yourself a Job Instead of a Business
Date: 2014-12-11
Link: Tropical Talk Radio
With physical goods your margins aren’t going to get any better so set them great at the beginning.
Make sure your cost of goods is 25% of what you’re selling for.
You’ve got to know when you’ve got a flawed business model.
Don’t turn off the pipeline.
Hire somebody on the capacity side and focus on the pipeline side yourself.
Always focus on the pipeline. It is going to be the lifeblood of your business.
Optimize for interesting.
You have to have several entrepreneurial moments. You can’t just have one at the beginning.
Living broke is a great life skill.
The difference between a job and a business is a set of processes that repeat and scale.
Take less salary so that you can reinvest and grow the value of your asset.
The personal income trap doesn’t get any easier as you go along.
