Blog Family,

Health is wealth and I want to encourage you to get some and pass it on. I have been on this kick for the past few weeks because I have set out to accomplish one of my major life goals, running the Chicago marathon. But instead of just throwing myself into 26 miles of pain, I plan on running an half marathon this year and next year tackling the big boy marathon.

Believe me Health is Wealth!

Some of you out there might be thinking that health isn’t all that important to your future, but I say that it is very important to your future. Think about it, regardless of what your goals are health is at the center of it. How would accomplish any of your goals if you were not in at least decent health? How could you travel around the world, climb a mountain, or even climb the corporate ladder if your health is out of whack.

Often times, I get someone that says health isn’t wealth, nor their goal. They want to create financial freedom for their descendants. But I say how can you do this if your health is not in order? Seriously, it is going to take massive energy and effort to make this a reality, but if you are not working out where is it going to come from?

Then, let’s say you hit your goal of financial freedom. Don’t you want to be around long enough to watch your family enjoy the fruits of your life long labor? I would think that you would.

Check out the video

Enjoy the video and make sure you let me know what you think, but I hope it is able to inspire you to get off your butt and get into the fitness game.

Big Shout out to Chase Harris as he is taking the iBeachBody.com Fitness Challenge!!

Check out his website site at http://www.iBeachBody.com or keep up with his fitness challenge on his YouTube page at http://www.YouTube.com/iBeachBody

Half Marathon Workout Plan

This is the half marathon workout schedule that I am working out with. It is a great workout plan for beginning runners. Check it out here: http://www.halhigdon.com/halfmarathon/novice.htm

First in the Mind, then in Reality!

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Greetings Blog Family,

You may be aware that I own an offline business and it is my desire to move the online world full time. Well, I really need to fire my offline business.

Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate and enjoy the revenue earned from this profession as a real estate appraiser, but the business is becoming increasingly more complicated by the day. It is really unbelievable what we have to go through now as appraisers. It is getting to the point where I really don’t enjoy the work anymore and I am really ready to move on.

My Appraisal Business

If you don’t know, real estate appraisers provide their opinion of value for real property, ie someones home, condo, townhouse, or income property. This is property is permanately fixed to the ground.  I have a residential appraisal business where I only appraise residential property, 1 to 4 units in size.

Another option would be to appraise commercial real estate, which pays a lot more. There is another educational, testing, and experience requirements that I would have to go through in order to be a commercial appraiser. Also, one could be a personal property appraiser that valuates items such as jewelry, clothing, furniture, or painting. LOL! I was trying to think of the items that are shown on the Antique road show where people have their special belongings valued by a professional.

Anyway, the residential appraisal business has been good to me for more than the past six years. It has fed my family and provided us with the opportunities we needed to get where we are at in our lives. It has provided me with a chance to be in the lives of my children and wife on a daily basis. I am one of the Fathers that they expect to be on the field trips. The school expects us to participate in all the after school and during school activities. This is only possible because my wife and I both work from home. (My wife is an online professor.)

This has been a great time and I don’t want to seem disrespectful to our opportunities, but I feel that I am ready to grow beyond the appraisal business. 

My Entrepreneurial Vision

When I was 7 years old and dreaming of owning my own business, I am not sure what I dreamt of owning, but it was not an appraisal business. I can tell you that with certainty. Factor in the state of the economy and what is happening in the lending business, it becomes obviously why I am considering moving on.

One reason is that there just isn’t a lot of business floating around in this industry at the moment to start and it doesn’t look like much is coming in the near future. Added to that reality is the fact that they sources of appraisals have changed and the majority is paying a third of appraisal fees in the past.

I don’t know about  you, but I felt like $300 an appraisal was not enough money and many of these companies are paying $100 now for the same work, same liability, and risk in a more dangerous environment. I for one don’t thing this is a very good trade off and refuse to take work for those rates. That is crap!

As homeowners and payers of the appraisal fee, I assume that you might feel like that is plenty, but look at like this. In 2009, if I wanted to match what I did in business in 2008, I would have to work three times more. That is straight up crap!

Plus, the lending laws is changing and the requirements put on appraisers is getting crazier and crazier by the day. Couple with less sales, means less comparable properties to determine value and you I for see a real problem in the future. 

Therefore, my online business skills, work ethic, and income all need to rise quickly over the course of the next few months because I cannot see myself doing this much longer. I have already had multiple times when I had to turn down an appraisal job because there is a sever lack of comparable properties to valuate a property from. Not to mention, most of the Realtors working the markets have absolutely no clue how to valuate a property, thus they are blaming us for not coming in at the values they need to sell a property.

The Bottom Line

Let me set the record straight. No, I am not saying that every realtor doesn’t know what they are talking about, JUST MOST OF THEM!!!! Second of all, it is not the appraisers responsibility or job to hit the number a person needs to make a sale, pay the realtor, cover the mortgage they own, and put some money in the sellers property. That is not our wrole. Our role is to interpet the value as demonstrated by the market through steps to determin value. Many times, this value doesn’t come out to what you might hope, especially in this current market, but understand that it is not our fault. It is just the truth of the market interpreted by appraisers.

Believe me, I am good at my business and know my material, but I have lost the fire. It doesn’t excite and challengement any longer. I am looking for a new challenge to conquer and Internet marketing, blogging, and online entrepreneurship seems to be the way for me.

I was talking to the wife the other day about not growing up wanting to be an appraiser and not really being sure of what I wanted to do, but being an online entrepreneur really seems to fit my desired lifestyle, talents, and temperament. Thus, I am going to make the mental shift necessary to begin taking this business to the next level. Thanks for listing and allowing me to remember that I am in control of my future and destiny.

First in the Mind, then in Reality!

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Greetings Blog Family, 

The last couple of weeks I have wanted to launch my next experiment. Now that the first IME #1: Creating an eBook with Help is winding down, IME #2 can come to the forefront.

IME #2: The Power of Crowds

Like many of you. I am infatuated with the power, opportunity, and possibility of the Internet. It is exciting. Everyday I learn something new and grow in my understanding and experiences in the world of Internet Marketing and blogging.

Social networking has become a phenomenon in the online and offline world. The Blogosphere utilizes the concepts of the social networking daily. Then I came across this book. 

“We Are Smarter Than Me” by Don Tapscott explores the power of crowd sourcing. Crowd sourcing is essentially outsourcing to the Internet multitude. Basically, this boils down to creating a community and having them participate in the creation or establishment of your venture.

In the book, Tapscott illustrates how involving the outside world, businesses are able to make giant advancements. Examples come from R&D experiments, customer sells, to banking. Some of the companies discussed in the book were Netflix and Amazon.  The crux of the matter is harnessing the crowd or community’s collective intelligence to move forward.

The Experiment: is Crowd Sourcing Effective at the Development & Monetization of a Blog?

My plan for this experiment involves utilizing my Blog Family for ideas on the design, marketing, and monetization of a blog. I will be opening a niche site to you, Blog Family, in the hopes the crowd plays a part in the success of the site. The request is for specific ideas, tactics, and opportunities to maximize this niche. This experiment will be an open book. I will report on the findings and share the tactics. We all will learn and grow during this process. You are encouraged to take the ideas generated for your blogs. Get it, Take it, & Make it work!

The site: INVEST WITH PASSION! – Real Estate Investing Resource

I have owned this site since late 2005. The blog was added early 2008. yes, it took me that long to realize I needed a blog. Worst is this business began as a physical magazine. Production stopped in June 2008. It has been on and poppin in the blog world since then.

My Challenge is to craft questions for you in a forum to express yourself. I am going to take the weekend to think about it and re-read the book. It has been a while since I read it last and I want to brush up on the details of this book and get this right. It is going to be a great experience for all of us, I think. And I am very excited about kicking it off.

A Question:

After you check the site out a bit, will you consider joining experiment?

It will not require any registration. Just your reading this FreddieTaylor.com, examining InvestWithPassion.com, and placing your ideas and suggestions in the comments below or you can reach me directly through the contact page. I will temporarily summarize the suggestions and ideas that arise during the experiment in future post.

So, who is in and would assist in this undertaking??? Let me know your level of interest in the comments below.

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“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.” - Mark Twain

Greetings Blog Family,

You must read. Reading can build your culture, refinement, and understanding. These things are essential to being a great person, blogger, or business owner. Yes, if you don’t read, then you may as well not be able to. This is a true statement.

We are not talking about reading street signs, applications, or the alphanumerics of ESPN or WE network. We are talking about the reading of a research project, case study, a novel. We are talking about the reading that stretches you. That makes you want to reach for more. The reading that makes you want to reach for more. The reading that makes you a better person. Reading that provides fulfillment and makes you a better person.

Doesn’t that sound exciting?

Everyone has their own reasons, but the  point is if you are not reading in this matter, you may as well not be able to. It is like having a treadmill in your home and not using it. Having a Ballys membership  and not going…just paying the monthly fee for nothing. (I will admit it. I am guilty of this at times.)

Reading Fills, Feeds, and Frees 

1) Fills Your Gaps - Your understanding is based on your experiences and people you have in your life. This ranges from parents, friends, superiors at work to teachers and all the experiences between. Reading plugs those gaps and gives you the opportunity to further mold yourself. You even have a choice in what you read providing input into your growth and development.

If your desire is to be a full time blogger and don’t understand community building or traffic generation, you don’t have to remain ignorant. You can pick up a book or even an ebook and learn some basics. But the bottom line is reading. Read to learn something that will make you better 

2) Feeds Your Urge - Inside of every human is an innate desire to learn, grow, and progress. When you get to your quiet space and are honest with yourself, you will admit that you have this urge. Everyone does. It is great in my opinion. It has lead to all of the worlds great innovations. That urge to do, be, and know more. It is inside of all of us.

Reading feeds this urge because it makes you a better person. I am not a big fiction reader myself, but I can appreciate what it does to your imagination, sense of wonderment, and the feelings that it can evoke. It can be really outstanding. My wife is a fiction reader and she enjoys it very much.

My preference is nonfiction. I love to set a goal and acquire the necessary knowledge I will need to be successful in that endeavor. This can be a course, lesson, biography, a reference manual, magazine, website, case study, anything. I want to read for learning and growth. Reading feeds my urge.

3) Frees Your Potential - We all have an incredible potential to be successful in our chosen fields. But the truth is the one that knows and implements the best, will be the most successful. This is just the truth. Reading within your field will make  you better and more likely to advance and succeed. That is undeniable . Free your potential!

Are you ready to accept a challenge?

I challenge you to change your life and ready 1 book a month for the next six months. Any book you like. It will make you a better person, a better blogger, and more informed. Are you up for it?

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