starting a location-independent business

On today’s podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dan Andrews of TropicalMBA.com and Lifestyle Business Podcast fame. Since 2007, Dan has started a number of successful online business ventures and has been living a location independent lifestyle all around the world.

Topics covered in this episode:

  • The first step in deciding to start an online business.
  • The most important factor to your success early on.
  • How to come up with a business idea.
  • The idea of “opportunity blindness” and how it affects us.
  • The social and emotional realities of living abroad.
  • How living a nomadic lifestyle affects friendships and relationships.
  • And more…

Length: 22 minutes, 29 seconds

Listen to it above or you can download it directly below. Right click the link below and click “Save As” and then a location on your hard drive.

Download Here

You can subscribe on iTunes here.

Previous podcasts:
Sex, Polyamory and Pick Up Artists
The Dating Episode
Handling Your Emotions

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20 Responses to Podcast: Starting a Location-Independent Business

  1. jon says:

    Interesting !! but how can I find an entrepreneur to work for ?

    • Zac says:

      I’d be really interested to see if someone comes up with like a good “job board” or something that already exists.

    • Mark Manson says:

      Start networking. Join online business forums, start following business blogs and connecting with people. TropicalMBA actually had a job board for a while. Start freelancing and then asking satisfied clients if they can recommend you to someone else.

    • Zac says:

      It would be cool if Dan could link to some good places to start (forums/sites/boards). I was looking at his dynamite circle and it seems really cool but obviously that’s for people who already have successful businesses. Where are the best places someone getting into this stuff can be hanging out online making the right kind of friends? Preferably free.

      • Jean says:

        yeah, specially because the average online buisness forum is preety much just people trying to advertise their own products…

      • dan says:

        Hey Zac,
        There’s a few places you could start online, but my advice is to try to transition to Skype on in-person as soon as possible. The Fastlane Forum seems to have some good guys as well as WickedFire (although that’s a little more advanced). Another approach (and better but also harder) is to find publishers you admire and to start working for them. Check out this video, it’s so spot on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5qUR3tpEdA

  2. Turner says:

    It is too bad he stopped the job board. It was a great concept. I am trying to implement one but it is tough ( without just aggregating some large bs one).

  3. Paul says:

    This is a really great podcast episode. As a “nomad” currently living in Romania, I hardly ever meet anyone who lives in the same way so I found this discussion fascinating.

    My main issue is relationships – I have massive dissonance – I want to build meaningful relationships that last, but I also want to move from place to place every three to six months. I’m finding it difficult to do both simultaneously – but I’m working on it.

    The other problem I had when I first took to the road was motivation. For the longest time my driving force was location independence. Once I had achieved that, I was so happy and enjoying myself so much that I neglected my work. I realised pretty quickly that I needed to redefine my goals in order to keep a healthy work / life balance.

  4. Nicolas says:

    Very interesting podcast I’ve heard about tropicalMBA through a good friend and forgot about it quickly. I especially was very interested in the crowd idea and “change your job” rather than quit- idea.
    Nicolas.

  5. Jm85 says:

    Hey Mark, really enjoying your book and your blog. Any thoughts on making music a full-time location-independent business? It seems like it would naturally lend itself to this type of lifestyle. I’m looking at growing my own audience with youtube, and handling the business end of it myself until I hire some people. Just wondering if you had any thoughts, since I know you’re a musician too. Thanks.

  6. Liviu says:

    I loved the interview, it was very inspiring to hear you guys livig this kind of lifestyle, and the way you’re willing to bring other people in your life and give them the chance to grow toghether with you. It’s just amazing. I hope that in the near future I’ll be able to do the same.

    You guys are just so inspiring! Can’t help but feel now like this is SO possbile! One thing that I really admire about you, and respect myself for doing it, is the fact that: You took action!

    And as long as we started doing something, it’s pretty much impossible to fail. I mean, if you really care about what you started, then you’ll looking for ways to evolve. As they say “the first step sometimes is the hardest one”, while the others just follow from inertia.

    In terms of Relationships. I’d say that this lifestyle involves mostly amazing short term relationships, rather than long term serios relationships.

    I’ve been traveling quite a lot in the last 7 years too, but under different circumstances than you two did, and in my case I’ve been constantly finding myself in Long Distance Relationships.

    And when talking about starting a business….but in which field? The answer came to me by asking myself the following question: “What do I love doing, I know a lot about, and I have the most experience in?

    And the answer was instant: Long Distance Relationship Advice For Men.
    So now, I am on my journey of en-lighting men who are in long distance relationship, following my passion, and looking to having a lifestyle similar to yours(but in my own way).

    Cheers guys! And good luck!

  7. Tristan says:

    This came at a perfect time for me. I’m an American that just moved to Mexico City and I’m having a great time. Sure, there are some things that I’m uncertain about with regards to relationships and the future but man, it’s just good for the soul to finally be out doing what I’ve been planning on doing for so long. It’s always great to hear like-minded people.

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  10. [...] It’s how Tim Ferriss originally made his money. It’s also how TropicalMBA founder Dan Andrews makes [...]

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  13. [...] Surround yourself with other entrepreneurs. A great point Dan Andrews made on a podcast with me: surround yourself with the type of people you want to become. If all of [...]

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