In this episode, Roy sits down with Mike Swigunski, entrepreneur, investor, and #1 bestselling author on a mission to help millions of people Earn From Anywhere. Mike traces his path from a small Missouri suburb where he didn't take his first flight until 18, through running a university study-abroad program at 20, to a devastating turning point at 22 — losing his mother to breast cancer just a month before graduation — that pushed him to book a one-way flight to Europe rather than take a safe corporate job. He shares how he became employee #4 at Empire Flippers, helping scale it into a 100-person remote team and the world's largest curated marketplace for online businesses, and the "POWER" framework he built from watching thousands of acquisitions to identify what actually makes a business valuable. They dig into the platform risks of Amazon FBA and affiliate businesses, the coming shift toward advertising inside AI chat tools, the real craft behind his TEDx talk and the hero's journey structure behind it, his NOMAD framework for choosing where to live abroad, and his new venture, Dividends — a platform letting everyday investors put as little as $100 into fractional ownership of cash-flowing online businesses.
Timestamps
0:02 – Introducing Mike Swigunski
1:12 – Getting the pronunciation of "Swigunski" right
1:40 – From small-town Missouri to catching the travel bug at 19
2:01 – Running the University of Missouri's Prague study-abroad program at 20
6:49 – Losing his mother at 22, and the one-way flight to Europe that followed
7:00 – Becoming employee #4 at Empire Flippers
9:42 – The POWER framework: what actually separates successful businesses from the rest
13:24 – The platform risk of Amazon FBA, fake reviews, and hijacked seller accounts
15:14 – Ads coming to AI chat tools, and why the subscription model can't sustain the infrastructure cost
18:20 – His book, Global Career: How to Work Anywhere and Travel Forever
20:08 – Preparing for his TEDx talk, and the public speaking course that built his foundation
24:55 – Roy's own travel experiences, and where to go for energy and safety
25:27 – The NOMAD framework for choosing where to live abroad
29:14 – Comparing Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, and Bangkok
30:40 – Introducing Dividends: fractional ownership of cash-flowing online businesses
32:45 – Average returns investors can expect, and the 1.75x return structure
33:44 – The $100 minimum investment and why he chose that entry point
34:56 – Why Dividends isn't built on blockchain or crypto
36:06 – SEC filing, KYC, and the onboarding process through WeFunder
37:44 – Why Reg CF crowdfunding was chosen over Reg D
41:49 – The long-term vision for Dividends
42:03 – What else Mike is working on, including business acquisition consulting
43:21 – The middle path: buying a business and running it part-time with a small team
45:10 – Where to find Mike and his work
About Mike Swigunski
Mike Swigunski is an entrepreneur, investor, and #1 bestselling author on a mission to help millions of people Earn From Anywhere by building location-independent careers, online businesses, and scalable income streams. As employee #4 at Empire Flippers, he helped scale the company into a 100-person remote team and the world's largest curated marketplace for buying and selling online businesses, playing a key role in facilitating more than $120 million in acquisitions. He is the founder of Global Career and Dividends and has built multiple six-, seven-, and eight-figure remote companies while traveling to more than 100 countries. Mike is also a TEDx speaker and a recognized voice in remote work, online business, entrepreneurship, and modern investing.
Connect with Mike:
🌐 Website: https://globalcareerbook.com
💰 Dividends: https://dividendscapital.com
🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeswigunski
📺 YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/MikeSwigunski
📸 Instagram: https://instagram.com/mikeswigunski
👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MikeSwigunski
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#RemoteWork #DigitalNomad #OnlineBusiness #Investing #Entrepreneurship #TEDx #SpeakingPodcast #PassiveIncome #BusinessAcquisitions #LocationIndependence #GlobalCareer #Dividends
