Episode #96 – A Proposition : Start-Up August

Post image for Episode #96 – A Proposition : Start-Up August  

Things are exciting in the TMBA / LBP world as Ian and Dan work to put together a unique experience for 10 aspiring entrepreneurs.

Start-Up August isn’t just some make money quick conference – if they wanted to do that there’d be a lot more hugging and Dan would bring his guitar to strum out some Kum-Ba-Yah ditties.

Though Dan IS an awfully good serenader…

Instead, this will be an intense three month mastermind process culminating in a two-week all expense paid experience at a resort in the Philippines. You know, that place that Dan and Ian have been gallivanting around for the past month playing in mud-carts and sipping wine on the deck overlooking the ocean. (They’re so classy…)

Start-Up August will hit on 4 Key Points To Getting Your Biz Off The Ground:

  • Don’t Unnecessarily Spend Money (Philippines is one of the top baselining spots in the world)
  • Have an Amazing Support Network. (DC, in-person, 10 start-ups take on the world)
  • Clear Action Plan (Something you can excel at– we can help you, hold your feet to the fire)
  • Work Your Ass Off (The 2-week experience offers a controlled environment, teamwork, healthy food, exercise, etc)

Still in the planning stages, the guys are looking for input and feedback on the program.

Mentioned:

Quick Tips, Tricks and Funny Jokes

Have fun. Leave a comment. Give us a ring. 888-554-8428. Go make it happen! :)

Episode length: 37:43

Download options:

If you’ve found the podcast at all helpful or entertaining, we’d love if you could click over to our iTunes page and give us a positive review. This will help us to get more listeners and invest more in the podcast! If you know some ways we can make it better, please send us an email: Dan at lifestyle business podcast . com.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Tagged as: Powered by Protein Smoothie Deliciousness

Published on 03.29.12
  • http://twitter.com/DoDAFArchitect The DoDAF Architect

    This sounds like an amazing and unique experience, I would like to hear more details about the three month lead up to the two weeks in the Philippines.  Im in the kickoff stage of a web based community business and am very interested in this.   

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      Cool! I’ll try to get it out in a few weeks. Got some really good feedback so far and I think we can get this thing articulated and launched. 

  • http://twitter.com/petekeller Peter Keller

    Another great podcast. Thanks for the shout-out!

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      Cheers Peter thanks for the call, you totally made us sound cool. :)

  • http://www.JiansNet.com Jian

    Agree with Dan. I am not a big fan of facebook either. Over the years, what I found working best for SEO, is to just have high quality content that the targeted users want. As simple as that ;-)

    I used to allow comments on my site, but these days, due to the spam, I turned off commenting on most posts. Initially it was scary, I thought I would lose a lot of visitors, but to my surprise, it didn’t. Even better, the site gets more and more visitors per day.

    I think facebook is just a fashion type of thing that will become the past. It seems that utility based sites like Google will be better long lasting.

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      Well I sure hope that’s true! I failed to mention it in the show, but I truly am a passionate fan of Twitter. I think it makes my life sooo  much better. Facebook, I don’t think so. I know it does for many, but not for me. 

  • Anonymous

    Damn, fellas…EPIC SHIT.  Will definitely be following this closely.  We’d love to be involved if you think we could provide value in any way…just let us know if you think we could help out!  Pro-bono of course! :-)  (We’d be there to scope out the talent, hehe)

    Regarding your pricepoint:

    I think 2-3K is around the right price…maybe a bit low.  If you’d like to keep the cost low for these people building start-ups, you might consider a 2K setup fee and 5-10% of their gross for the first 12 months?  That way you’re covering your costs and a bit of profit up-front, but you’re banking on their success just as they are.

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      Justin,
      I didn’t want to be presumptuous, but I’m obviously hoping that you guys would come down for a few days to hang with the crew and share some knowledge bombs. I’m very skeptical of taking gross since it can be so low and such a huge percentage of their income, say they have a great first year and make 30K in income, then I’m there asking them for a 4K check. I kinda hate to be that guy. Like the tax man, especially since I’m the kinda guy that’s in or out. I don’t want to own 5% of a company I’m supplying the direction for. My brain is stubborn about it, and I’m not sure that means I should try it out or if I should stick to my guns.D

  • http://tigermuse.com/ Johan Woods

    Yeah, this is incredible. Wow. I doubt you’ll have a problem filling 10 spots. I don’t know what else you can add to the program other than what you’ve already mentioned. All of it sounds like a bomb of potential.

    I’ll think about feedback and email if I have any, but my head just exploded.

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      Johan,
      Please send your head my regards, sorry about that! I think based on my inbox this morning we’ll be able to fill 10 spots if we keep the price right and the program tight. I’ll work the next few weeks to clarify what we can do. 
      Dan

  • http://twitter.com/DynamicLife Joe Hughes

    Fantastic idea, guys!  I would love to participate in an opportunity like this, but probably won’t be able to do 2 weeks in Phil in August (will have a newborn baby by then).  If there’s any way to be involved without making the trip over there, I’m all ears.  I was expecting the price to be higher, to be honest.  I know you don’t want to scare anyone away, but you’d be providing incredible value and time-saving tips.  I’ve been in biz 6 months and I know I’ve wasted weeks and many hundreds of $$$ trying things as a trial-and-error instead of having the right info. The time-saving techniques alone are a huge value prop.

    On another note, I checked out portablebarcompany.com and you guys told us that you switched it from Shopify to WP, but didn’t say why.  Curious – why are you no longer selling the bar on the site, but just accepting phone calls?  A way to learn more about what people want and further tweak the product based on that info?

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      Cheers Joe. Dylan H. in the DC brought up an interesting idea of how to do this there. I’ll think about that option for sure. Regarding the PBC, I think we can share that story briefly on the next podcast. !!! Thanks…

  • Asia Gregg

    Once again, you guys have rocked my Thursday. Can’t wait to hear more about Start-Up August!

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      Cheers!

  • http://www.CloudVenturesGroup.com Steve Wyman CloudVenturesGroup

    HI

    Justin’s idea below is good.

    How about $3K no revenue or if you believe in the potential $1K + 20% of 1st year revenue!

    REGARDS

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      haha, i’ve looked at so many cases of bootstrapped businesses of this nature, the payoffs end of year are just too big of a percentage of the entrepreneur’s income to not piss people off. it works in start-ups, doesn’t work in bootstrapping IMO. 

      • http://www.estrategistas.com/ Paulo Roberto

        I had the same question and your point makes sense.

  • Anonymous

    With the recent social media value changes with Google makes me wonder if likes/shares/retweets/etc will be a great way to support businesses you are appreciative of but don’t need/want to buy anything from…

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      true. we need to find more ways to bribe our customers! :)

  • http://FoolishAdventure.com Tim Conley

    Ian and Dan,
    Are infopreneurs such as myself welcome or at least can I help out?  I can come out to Philippines for a month.  I’ll have to do my Vermont trip earlier in the summer instead of August again.

    Also, what’s the URL for the transcription service you used?  I tried a search, but got all kinds of crazy results.

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      http://speechtotextservice.com
      Um, YES. I’d like to make offers to notables with established businesses (ahem, that’s you) to come and offer your guidance to the group. 

      • http://FoolishAdventure.com Tim Conley

        Sweet! I’m in. I guess it’s June in Vermont for me this year.

        • http://www.lifestylebusinesspodcast.com/ Ian

          :)

  • http://awebsitedesigner.com.au Dan Norris

    Sounds really awesome except for the lack of love for web apps!

    Too cheap too, you guys would be making barely anything on that surely.

    • Anonymous

      Agreed, Dan…how would they make money on this?  Assuming:
      7K cost for Badladz resort + food
      3K airfare for them and interns
      4K cost for their own team
      80 hours – from their Interns
      80 hours – of their own time? more?

      I’d say total up their costs and add a modest margin for a bit of profit and unexpected expenses and then tie their interests to the businesses succeeding so that interests are aligned.

      • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

        Right so in terms of real costs 15K isn’t unreasonable. We were sorta thinking for this first launch we could prove the model and have a bunch of fun. I’m trying to think of myself as a buyer, I’m not sure I could have come up with 5K to do something like this before I had a business. Maybe we should grow some teeth!? 

        • http://webstartups.ca/ Mel Richards

          Well it sounds to me like you are targeting the newbies, I don’t think they’ll shell out more than 5k. They also have to buy their ticket to fly there, and that alone can be $2000 depending where you live and when you fly. You’re lucky if it’s $1000 where I live.

        • http://www.estrategistas.com/ Paulo Roberto

          Yeah, man.
          Put up something like 3~4k, it’s not so much more expensive, but it’s fair.

        • http://tigermuse.com/ Johan Woods

          I’d LOVE to shell out 5k for something like this, but a bootstrapper like myself don’t have that kind of cash laying around + airfare. Unless, of course, I start offloading some adsense sites… ;)

          • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

            how does 4997 sound? :P

  • http://damianthompson.com Damian Thompson

    Great stuff!

    When I first listened I thought $3k was a bit low, but then again they have related travel to the Phils which might be another $2k, so all up a $5k investment for this sounds more than reasonable. I have spent more than that on unused domain names and hosting over the years. 

    The access to other entrepreneurs and the fast launch setting should more than triple their ROI in my opinion.

    Just on a setting expectations note…

    You know I love me some Badladz, but I would give more specifics on whether it will be at Beach or Resort, and also share with people the skinny on Filipino rooms. Some people hear the word resort and might be thinking Marco Vincent type accommodations.

    Very exciting stuff lads, I might have to make an excuse to visit PG during that time and drop by to steal some ideas, umm I mean assist in any way I can. :)

    DT 

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      Cheers Damian. Yeah the plan is to rent out the whole beach resort. I’ll send detailed specs for everyone on that front, including the WIFI issues that we’ll account for. That’s  basically the reason we can keep costs low + it fits with our bootstrappy approach. Hope to have you there! 

  • http://webstartups.ca/ Mel Richards

    Nice, I needed a new book. I got the sample and so far it’s amazing, right down my alley! Thanks Dan (and Johan!). 

    Your Startup August sounds amazing! You’re right on with this idea. I’d love to ship off my bf to do this, as he has no entrepreneurial bone in his body! Hey, that could be a great case study in itself: convert non-believers!

    • http://webstartups.ca/ Mel Richards

      FYI, I might of been interested if it were in September. Wonder how the timeframe fits with other people… given it’s summer.

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      agreed with that, I think with businesses the key is to provide a crap ton of value. expecting the first launch to be hugely profitable is stuff of internet marketing lore, not how a sustainable effort gets launching generally speaking. I love the big picture thinking there, we’ll do our best to prove the model and see where it goes from there. regarding timeframe, that’s one of the biggest pieces of feedback but it’s to be expected. everytime is a bad time! 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Elisa-Eshelman-Rodriguez/1127226667 Elisa Eshelman Rodriguez

    LUV this idea! Under 5K is about all I could swing as a start-up. Moving west in August and green with envy due to another missed opportunity. Looking forward to seeing how it goes for all involved! 

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      haha, where you moving?! I’m so excited about this one, we’ll be posting stuff in the DC for everyone to follow along. 

  • Joe Bauer

    This sounds like an awesome idea!  I’d have a hard time not signing up for this program!  Excited to hear the details! 

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      Thanks Joe… working on the details now! 

  • Anonymous

    I was at the gym when I heard about this program, and almost fell off the elliptical from hanging on to every last word. I would definitely sign up, and start saving up my vacation days now :)

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      Michelle– terribly sorry about putting you in a precarious physical position there, come to Puerto Galera, across the Botangas channel during rainy season in a Bonka ferry, and we’ll do it again!!! :D Thanks for the support, we’ll have more details shortly. 

  • Anonymous

    Great idea guys! This is Allan, a Filipino software engineer here in L.A. (baller!!) and a follower of you guys. I think this is an awesome idea and thrilled your planning to have it in PH! Hoping all will have an awesome-sweet experience in building the bizneses & will have a great time in my beloved country! Hoping to be a part of it!

    Have you thought about talking and getting a deal with the telcos there like Smart or Globe to sponsor your net connection? They came out with 4G usb’s and wifi routers with speeds of I think at least 10mbps and up. Like what one of the guys mentioned below, it would be great to film/document this for your other audience and also benefit from it by letting telcos use parts of the event for their advertising. I’ve grown up there and believe me when I say people there go crazy for any products we see foreigners use (no disrespect to my fellow Pinoys but c’mon our culture is very westernized). For them it will be great advertising for Philippine market and it will be great for your event! It’s a win-win! Besides I would think internet connection is one and if not the crucial logistics of the program to establish. Take advantage of it and thinking about it now, why stop at internet sponsorship? It’s also applicable to other components/products/services you need for the event, right? redbulls, beers, food, transpo needs, the list can go on. It will keep your costs really low and give all the best services to the participants! I would think companies there would be running all over each other to sponsor an event like this where really cool, true and very smart group of people are in one location cranking out cool businesses.

    Anyway, I might have gone a little over excited on this but I just really want to make this event a very successful one and help in any way I can. My own little way of thanking you guys for continously inspiring me in building up my own SaaS startup and for believing in the Philippines! 

    By the way, have you, Ian and any of the DCr’s visited Boracay already? I haven’t heard you guys mention that in previous podcasts but it’s another awesome island resort there that everybody should have the pleasure of experiencing =)

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      Hey Allan that’s boss indeed! We were thinking there are some added benefits to having this event in the PI, since we’ve got a good network there and there are so many business opportunities for internet types there. We could help people organize hiring trips to Manila/Cebu etc. 

      I have thought about partnerships, although I was thinking the greater opportunity for exposure would be internet services like Market Samurai, but that’s an interesting idea. I worry about the beaurocarcy involved with the telcos. Actually the whole even twill be on Globe and Smart 4G routers since there is no hard wire coming in to the beach resort. We’ll have at least 10 devices on hand for the event! I’ll kick the idea around.

      Yeah Boracay is great, a few DCers live there and I’ve been there. Enjoy it a lot! We could keep the cost structure this low if we had the event there, however. 

  • Justin Miramontes

    Me thinks you are going to have a lot more than 10 people signing up for this! I’m elated that you guys chose Puerto Galera. I definitely hope to be involved one way or another. Will chat about that in DC.

    I cracked up when you guys started talking about logos again. I think it hits home for me because I fell for the “I want a perfect logo first!” mindset a few years back and that was a serious drain. Never again! haha

    If there’s anyone that wants more proof that a $500 professionally designed logo is the least of your concerns, just check out these sweet logos from the winners of the Shopify Contest. http://www.neuyear.net/ http://www.flockstocks.com/ http://www.myfootyboots.com.au/ http://www.simplyhops.co.uk/
    :)

  • http://www.kaitlynaliano.com Kaitlyn Aliano

    Been waiting for an opportunity like this from you guys. Can’t wait to hear more.

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      awesome!!! :)

  • http://www.estrategistas.com/ Paulo Roberto

    Dan:”So give the audience a price range so that they can give us a better feedback. What would you feel like the range for this kinda of thing is?” 

    Ian: “Well, I would a… I would ask, you know.. but first I… YOU DEFINITIVELY PUT ME ON SPOT, geez!”

    haha LOL

    I’d totally do it, guys. Not this year, but in the next one.

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      haha cheers, yeah def. not staged…. 

    • http://www.lifestylebusinesspodcast.com/ Ian

      Awkward.

  • Pingback: Institutional Thinking vs. Self Thinking

  • http://twitter.com/independentian Ian Robinson

    Hey Dan and Ian,
    I’d be super keen to participate in the proposed boot camp start up in the Philippines. You guys display all the confidence and real business attitude that I’d love to absorb. This seems like one of those life changing opportunities. 

    Come to think of it, you guys are churning out the life changing opportunities. I’m applying for Chris Duckers internship now. Obviously, if he accepts me I’ll be 100% focused on building his business.

    Either way, I’m really interested in the opportunity and I look forward to more info.

    BooYay – Ian R

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      BOSSS!!! Best of luck with your application Ian. I’m sure we’ll catch up one way or another this year or next. 

    • http://www.lifestylebusinesspodcast.com/ Ian

      Good luck!

  • http://twitter.com/TristanKing65 Tristan King

    Hey guys!  You asked for feedback on the cost structure… to me it seems VERY achieveable and worthwhile.  When you (Dan) asked Ian on the spot, I was expecting him to drop a bomb at least 2-3 times that amount (of $2-3K).  That’s what it’d cost a lot of people to live in their own home anyway.  Can’t wait to see how it goes!
    Tristan.

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      Cheers Tristan thanks for that!! I think we’ll keep it in that range for the first go around. 

  • http://www.loganthompson.me/ Logan Thompson

    Just listened to this podcast on my run this morning. I was expecting you to drop this at like $10k or something. I’d definitely jump on this if was a different time. My wife is expecting our 2nd daughter in in August and I know without asking that I’m not aloud to leave the country around then.

    Maybe a business idea for guys like me is a one on one training course and meetup/training at like 2-5 times the cost. Anyways, I’d be all over it if it wasn’t this August. 

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      Logan I really appreciate the feedback! Best of luck with the family, and we’ll do our best to do it again sometime soon! 

  • http://twitter.com/rob_mod Rob Modzelewski

    Hey guys! I’m super excited about this idea. I was so jazzed that my first though was, “I’ll send a downpayment right now to secure a spot!” Then after the initial LBP high wore off, I thought, “You know…maybe I should wait to hear the final details.” Ha. :P

    That said, I know you guys are going to set-up a killer program, and I’m looking forward to seeing it come to fruition.

    As someone very active in the startup/tech scene here in Chicago (some of the startup peeps are my clients), I feel far too many people are focused on VC and angel funding, and not enough on bootstrapping. Now, there’s nothing wrong with that per-se, but it means there are tons of cool resources like incubators and programs to help them, but not that many for those of us who prefer the bootstrap mentality. That’s one of the reasons I’m really excited to see this happening.

    On a personal note, I’ve been a one-man design shop for a little while now, but I’m itching to move beyond that, find ways to productize some offerings, and start thinking BIGGER and MORE IMPACT. I feel like this program would help me get light-years closer to that goal. 

    Keep up the awesomeness!

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      Appreciate the vote of confidence Rob. I have no place with these venture backed type businesses, we are 100% bootstrapping mindset, probably to our own detriment. I’m sure it the coming years we’ll start to get a little more experience with that stuff, but for now we are 100% hustle and cash flow :)  

  • Anonymous

    Hey guys,

    This project sounds amazing. Iam in and available in August so look fwd to keeping in touch and knowing the details.

    Look fwd to meeting Tim too, been following him and Izzy for years, cant wait.

    Ciao y hasta pronto! Cesar

    • http://www.tropicalmba.com Dan

      Cheers! 

  • http://twitter.com/lysglimt Hans Jørgen Lysglimt

    Love the idea. Used to work in PH, even had an office in Mindanao/Mindoro and have been to beautiful Puerto Galera many times. August, however is not the best time. Living in Norway I need to soak up the summer sun, I’m ready when this thing is done in the November-March timeframe. Keep it up! Hans

  • Pingback: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Audio Content – How (and Why) To Create a Great Podcast

Facebook Google+ Twitter