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,

Another week has come and gone. This time it has found me ready for it and aiming for the stars. I am fired up. As you will see over the next few weeks I have some very special material planned for this blog and am very excited about it.

It dawned on my not long ago that I wanted to own a media empire and have the influence and reach that many of the power stations had. This realization made me began to look at this blog and my other ones a little bit differently. Blogs and the Internet has given ordinary people like myself without hundreds of billions of dollars the power and access to reach millions if we have the ability or chops to make it happen. Well, I am going to find out because I love to get in front of the camera and share what I know. The wild thing is that I know many other people that feel the same, so as little organization and effort can make all of this a reality.

Last Week Goals

1. Video Blog at FreddieTaylor.com – I was successful in getting back on the video wagon here at FreddieTaylor.com with the launch of my weekly series, Balance. That was a lot of fun and it is replacing my Monday Motivational Moments that was a feature on this site.

The reason I changed the name is because I wanted to motivate, but there are some other subjects I want to get into as well and Balance will allow me to do so. As entrepreneurs, we cannot be so one sided and focused on money and the bottom line, there is just way too much more to life than that. Balance is my effort to discuss many of these issues as well.

2. Study New Business - I was able to study my new business model and am very excited about it. There is a little bit more understanding to go, but I will have to learn that on the fly. Now is the time to get out and get it going, so I will.

3. Prepare for my Picking Comps presentation - This past weekend, my partners and I held a 3 day event called the Ultimate Foreclosure Workshop. You can view it at UltimateForeclosureWorkshop.com. It was a stunning success. We had 17 paid participants, so there was some margin made and most importantly, the participants were excited about the information they received and pleased with their purchase. In short, we delivered, which is what you want when you are taking people’s money. Our thought is to under promise and over deliver….that we did.

As for my presentation, I thought it could have went better, but not a bad job. Like most entrepreneurs, I am pretty critical of myself and always expect better. Next presentation, I will do better.

This Week

Now is the time to roar into the next week and get it crackin! Here are my major goals for the week.

1. Plan – It is official in my mind that this is my last year in the appraisal business. I have to cut the cord and get out now. The question is what exactly will I do in the future, so I want to lay out a detailed plan to ensure that I am making solid progress everyday. This may take a week or so as I have several projects in the works, but need to tie them together in a cohesive way to capitalize on their synergies.

2. Complete Landing Page – One of my new ventures requires that I complete a video for this landing page I am creating. This has to get done and the sooner the better. So, I will be all over that early in the week and hopefully able to make it happen.

3. Full Week @ FT.com – I want to follow up my last week with another solid week here on this site. You will see a few more post as I back away from appraisal business and get more into my online work. I am very excited, but like any transition there is always some anxiety…However, I am ready to strike!

Let’s go get’em!

Now is our time to shine. I have defined my week and plan on being all over it. Will you do the same? If you don’t make the goals public, that is cool. Write them on your board, look at them, intimidate them, and get them done!

First in the Mind, then in Reality!

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Greetings Blog Family,

That’s right! I am back into video blogging and planning on doing it big. It is my honor to introduce to you the first of my recent brain child’s, Balance. Balance, get some in your life, is a show I will be doing that focuses on motivation, inspiration, quotes, and personal development for entrepreneurs and bloggers. We all need and must have balance.

Ready to Strike!

These economic times are raining down around us and many people are scared because they cannot predict the future. I feel and understand where they are coming from, but entrepreneurs must stay in the pocket, poised and ready to strike. It is these times that the world needs entrepreneurs to step up, so I want to share three keys with you to help you in this journey.

Watch the Video!

Balance Question:

What are some of the things you do to prepare yourself for opportunity?

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Greetings Blog Family,

Yes! It has been a while since I have actually done a blog post and it feels good to be back. The other week, I went on vacation to Tampa Bay, Florida for days of rest, relaxation, and great times.

The picture feature here is the view I woke up to every morning as I ventured out on the terrace to clear my head from the night before and get ready for the day ahead.

The reason this post took so long in the making is that I was waiting on the pictures from my friends that went on the trip with me. I had my camera, but managed to take no pictures during the trip, buy my friends did and they haven’t made the pictures available yet.

The House

I will try to give you a visual of the house, rather mansion, we rented for the trip. It was larger than most anything that I have seen. And as an appraiser, I have seen some wonderful homes, but this one was incredible. It rocks my world to think that people live like this everyday, but they do. Anyway, my favorite feature of this home was the double deck terrace that wrapped the sides and back of the home which led to the views in the picture. It was simply amazing. And every morning I began my day there on that terrace enjoying the sunshine, breeze, and happy feelings.

That break was much deserved and I had a wonderful time, but I am really excited to be back in the Command Center ready to build my Internet empire. Are you ready?

My Plans

While I was on vacation and during the past week, I have been pouring over my plans for the immediate future and they are exciting. I am so fired up to get into this week it doesn’t make sense. I have decided that I am going to build FreddieTaylor.com into the media outlet I have desired for so long. While on vacation, I realized that they Internet and the skills that I have been developing for the past few months have really given me all that I need to make my dreams a reality and now is the time to start creating them.

Therefore, you will see a few new features coming to FreddieTaylor.com starting this week. I don’t want to bore you with the details, but rather just jump in a get them started. This post was actually suppose to happen on Sunday, but we had a dinner party that ran a little longer than antipated and I had to too much wine. (Just keeping it real and telling you the truth, Blog Family.)

Anyway, it is on! Also, I have decided to be accountable for a few more goals on a weekly basis. I find that you keep me honest and if I share them with you, I will get them done more-so on a regular basis.

This Weeks Goals:

1. Video blogs at FreddieTaylor.com 

I mentioned above my aspirations for FreddieTaylor.com, so this is the plan….to get started. Getting started consist of two more post this week. And I will leave it there. ((((clap clap)))) Let’s go get’em!

2. Study new business

I started a new business that helps small businesses reconnect with their communities. It is phenomenal and I will be talking about it soon, but I need to study the business to be able to present it concisely. The fact is right now I don’t fully understanding the business. This week it needs to change. Then I will review it for you.

3. Prepare Training on Picking Comps

I am part of af team of people that are producing The Ultimate Foreclosure Workshop and of my contributions is a presentation on How appraisers Pick Comps, which should be about an hour. I need to prepare and practice that presentation.

Let’s get it!

First in the Mind, then in Reality!

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1) Askismet - This one is a no brainer because everyone hates spam on your blog. The wild thing is that you don’t really realize how much spam you get until you install this plugin and actually see what it catches. Amazing! Simply a must have for all blogs and bloggers, period. No link because Askismet comes on your blog automatically.

2) Comment Luv - If you have a desire of building a community on you blog, then Comment Luv is a must. This plugin encourages readers to participate by listing their most recent article post (most of the time) beneath their comment. It gives them a better chance of receiving traffic from their comments because their latest article may intrigue another reader enough for them to visit. Thus the increase in potential readers means an increase in comments for you. Besides, I think the Blogosphere basically expects you to have this plugin by now.

3) Keyword luv - This is basically an extension of the comment luv feature and allows your users to include keywords that relate to their site and hyperlink them back to their site. This is again great for community building blogs. But to be honest, I rarely use this feature when I am commenting because I am usually just trying to engage the blogger or get a link back to my site, so sometimes it appears to be a bit of over kill for me.

4) Related Post – If you ask me this is a must for all blogs. The related post plugin provides a list of post that might be similar to the one that the reader is reading. This is great because if the post was eye catching and enjoyable, the reader may want something similar to that one. This plugin gives that to them. You can put this plugin into your side bar or footer, but my favorite place for it is at the bottom of individual post, or on the Single.php page, usually. That is the optimal place for it because if a reader gets all the way through the post, then it may mean that they liked or was intrigued by it….maybe even enough to stay on your site to read something similar or related.

5) WP Print – This is a standard plugin that allows all of your readers to download and print your articles in a printable format. If you are taking the time to produce quality content, many of your readers are going to want to print them out to read later. Everyone doesn’t like to read on a computer screen believe it or not.

6) Sociable – I love the sociable plugin because it allows your readers to spread the word about your great post anytime they want. Usually, you will find this plugin at the bottom of an article so when the reader makes their way through it they will be able to click a button and Digg, Propeller, Stumble, Redd it, Mixx and more your article to all of the best social book marking websites out there. And believe me, all of them are included in this plugin. You can mark a check box next to the ones that you want to utilize or not.

7) Tube Press – This is a great plugin for grabbing relevant YouTube videos and putting them into your blog. I use this plugin a lot when flipping websites as it ads great content, looks very professional, and does the job very well. Did I mention how simple it is to install? No, well, it is and you should be sure to check it out.

8 ) WordBay – Here is another simple plugin that I use on flip sites as well. It could be great for niche sites if you are into them as well. All that is require is you download the plugin, get a free ebay developers account, plugin your account number, and use the WordBay plugin to display relevant ebay auctions right inside your website. When a browser clicks on a listing, they are taking to the ebay website and if they make the purchase, you get the credit. Simple, easy way to cash in on the power of ebay.

9) AW Stats – Yes, everyone and their mother are using Google Analytics, but sometimes you might want some stats that are a little different and right there on your server. AW Stats give you that option. And you can use it as a check to see how accurate GA is from time to time. It is free, so check it out.

10) Contact (cforms) - How are you going to have a blog without a contact form? What if you readers want to contact you? After all, blogging is a contact sport. Download this plugin and you will be amazed how easy it is to implement a customized contact form into your website. There are so many websites out there that do not have a contact for that it is sickening, especially when it is so easy to get. It will take two minutes to put a form into your site and that is if you are being picky!

11) Google XML Site Map – Download this now! Don’t ask questions about what it is, just do it! If you have any desire at all to gain search engine rank positions, SERPs, then this is a must for search engine optimization. Google XML site map keeps the Big G, Google, updated on the site map of your website site. Very important plugin, even if you are not really into plugins.

12) My Page Order – This is a nifty little plugin that allows you to change the order of your web pages. Sometimes you might want more important pages to the left of your page navigation and this plugin will allow you to do that as well. Moving around the pages is so easy with this plugin that I highly recommend it if that is what you are looking for. This is great for personal blogs and interest blogs as well.

13) All in One SEO - Here is another plugin that you should just download right now. Don’t worry about it, just get it. Again, if search engine optimization is anywhere in your future, then you need this plugin. It is the best for updating your title and description tags automatically based on the nature of the content. You got to love that. You can customize further if you need, but this plugin really takes the work out of SEO work in my opinion. It goes into every blog I produce. Must have!

14) Head Space – Head space is another one of these SEO plugins that you can use. I have been using it less and less since really understanding the functions of All in One SEO, but it is another option as well for you to use when customizing the head section of your blogs.

15) Random Post – Random post is great for creating addition internal links within your website and even keeping the reading interesting for your readers as it will suggest random post that they may not have  ordinarily clicked in the first place. Typically, you will find the random post plug at the end of an article, enticing the reader to take another round through your material.

16) Subscribe to Comments - If your blog is about community building and your trying to encourage participation amongst your readers, then you have to take a moment to install this plugin as it will allow your readers to subscribe to comments and receive an email when someone else has said something on a post them might have interest. Again, great for building the community and keeping the participation going.

17) Ozh-Admin Drop Down Menus – This is a must have. You might be thinking drop down menus on a blog is no big deal, but this is drop down menus in the WP-Admin area for your internal use!!! I got hip to this plugin by Joe from ImWithJoe.com and have been addicted to it every since. There is no blogs that I own that don’t have this plugin into it because of how it will increase your work flow and time spent on a site. You might not understand now, but download this one and you will quickly  wonder how you ever got along with out it. Trust me on this one, I will never blog again without it.

18) WP Back Up – Got to back up your material. All it takes is one time to lose everything you have been working on to understand the importance of this plugin. The idea is to never experience that pain in the first place, so download this one now.

19) OIO Publisher - Ok, this plugin cost a little money to use, but if you are after advertisers on your website, then you got to have it. OIO manages the advertising for you and ensures that you are paid before ads are posted on your website, freeing you to move on to bigger and more important issues concerning your blog. Get the OIO publisher today.

20) Easy Pay Pal - If you wan to sell items on your blog, you might have found it impossible to link to PayPal with WordPress. Well this plugin does the trick for you.

However, since I have started this list, I discovered a way to make this happen without the use of a plugin. If you are interested in that, then check out this article I wrote entitled, How to Link to PayPal Payment from WordPress without a Plugin.

21) Feedburner Feedsmith - Feed burner Feedsmith is another way to integrate your feedburner and Rss material into your site and syndicated around the world. There is no need doing all of this typing if you are not going to make it as easy as possible for people to use it and enjoy it. Give this one a shot today.

22) Technorati Incoming Links – Technorati has become an important part of the blogging world. If it has taken over your life as well, then consider using the incoming link monitor to help determine how many links you are generating that is coming into your blog that Technorati will give you credit for.

23) Top Commentator Plugin – Community style blogs must have this plugin. It rewards people that communicate in your blog by commenting with a listing on the your site and a backlink to their blog. This back link is counted by Technorati and is a way to generate traffic to the commentors blog as well as encourages participation in your blog. It is a win-win for all parties involved.

24) Gd-Star Rating – Often times, your readers like to rate various comments and your blogging as well. GD star rating allows them to do this. If you are producing practical and useful articles, then you might want to allow your readership to rate your work, but if you are producing crap, then I would suggest that you spare your feelings cause your readers are going to be honest with you.

25) What’s your suggestion? - I like to hear from you. What plugins not on this list would you recommend for bloggers to use? Let’s continue the conversation and I will post some of them here.

Closing Comments

At the end of day, there are hundreds even thousands of useful plugins available for your to utilize. My suggestion would be to find the ones that are doing the most for you and the growth of your blog and try not to use them all. That is the think about the plugin market, there are so many, but too many on your blog will begin to slow it down. Keep this in mind when you are adding every plugin you find to your blog that you need to focus on the ones that will bring you the most benefit and get you closer to your goals. There is no prizes for using plugins, only prizes for using them effectively.

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Blog Family,

The facts are clear. The Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers are in the Superbowl.  I know, that is crazy right. It even feels funny to type Cardinals and Superbowl in the same sentence, let alone say it. The Steelers are not a surprise to me because they have displayed all year that defense is for real and the BRING THE HAT!

I will give it up to the Cardinals, they are playing great football. They will only get better with the return of Andquan Bolden, the other monster receiver on the team. Larry Fitzgerald is really elevating his game. They say while the world is watching the NFL playoffs, starts are born. This is true and we are witnessing Larry’s ascension into the football elite. Not sure what he is going to do against that Pittsburg defense, but no one gave them a chance to get here and they did it. So you cannot rule them out of anything.

I cannot say enough about Kurt Warner. He is one of those guys that just makes everyone better. The difference is accuracy. The NFL is a game of inches believe it or not. And a ball place 2 to 3 inches in a particular direction can win or lose the game for a team. QB passing accuracy is critical. I believe McNabb lost that game because of bad ball placement. There were times when people could have caught and ran for daylight, but a low thrown ball causes the receiver to slide and catch instead of catching it in stride to keep run. This is a game of inches.

So, who is sick that they are not in the Superbowl? The PACKERS!!!

THE GREEN BAY PACKERS!!! That is right. Think about it football fans. That same team last year with Brett Farve was a 13-3 football team on the doorstep of the superbowl. They release Farve, don’t make the playoffs in favor of Aaron Rodgers and the future. 

Don’t get it twisted, Brett Farve is still the truth. With the weapons, trust, and chemistry he has with that team, the problems the NFL had, Giants losing Plaxico Burris, Farve would have the Packers in the Superbowl with a legitimate shot at winning another superbowl. There is no doubt in my mind that would be the case. Farve has it and is just a winner. 

You may be thinking that defense isn’t good enough. But consider that a good offense, makes a defense better. This is done because they are rarely put in tough positions with useless turnovers deep in their own territory. By keeping the ball longer with no three and outs, scoring touchdowns and kicking off to win the game of field position. A good offense can really make a defense by allowing them to rest on the sidelines and be fresher on the field. Farve brings all of this to a team.

Don’t get me wrong, Rogers seems like he is going to be a good QB in the future. The thing about the NFL is if you have a chance to win now, YOU BETTER WIN NOW! Tomorrow is never promised.

Tomorrow is never promised.

If you have a chance to win now, you have to do it. The Cardinals would not be in this position if they would have stuck it out with their young QB. Warner has the savvy, leadership, skill, and sagger to get it done.

So I am laughing at the Green Bay Packers! I was totally against them doing that. It was some crap. Brett Farve is the legend in Wisconsin and made that Franchises what it is, you don’t do that to someone off his calibert. Especially when he had a strong year in the tank.

That is a violation and the penalty is my laughter.

(((( Imagine me pointing my finger at them and laughing hysterically )))))))))

First in the Mind, then in Reality!

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Greetings Blog Family,

I wanted to take a quick moment to share something with you that I discovered and had been trying to figure out for some time now. How to link from your WordPress blog to a PayPal payment option?

Why would you want to do this?

If you are actually asking this question, then making money with your blogging efforts might not be your main focus. And that is fine, but there are people out there that are interested in doing such a thing. These individuals might want to sell goods, products, ebooks, ideas, consulting, or even accept donations through their blog, but Paypal doesn’t work the regular way with WordPress.

Why not just use a plugin or a landing page?

Cause I am tired of loading 500 plugins to my sites and using one less will help with my sanity. Ok, maybe it isn’t that bad, but using less plugins than necessary couldn’t hurt. Besides, this method is actually easier than using the plugins that are available.

As for landing pages, well that is another possibility, but it also creates extra work as well. You have create, design, layout, and tweak the landing page to make sure that the branding is consistent with your blog and then upload the PayPal html to make the link work. What a hassle when you can just link directly from your WordPress blog and have all the branding and everything in tact already.

How to link to WordPress to a PayPal Payment.

First of all, go to PayPal and follow these instructions.

1 – Log in to your PayPal account

2 – Click Merchant Services

3 – Click Buy Now Button, or whatever is necessary

4 – Customize your purchase experience

5 – Click on Create Button

6 – THIS IS THE CRUX OF THE MATTER - You will have two options, one with HTML code for Websites & the second for links in email. Even though you are linking from your website, you want to use the Email option, believe it or not.

This is where my problem was in the past because I wanted to use the code for Websites. However, the code for websites is a form and  you are not allowed to use these functions on WordPress. So, use the email link.

7 – Search for a PayPal button that you would like to use & upload to your WordPress blog

8 – Insert the PayPal button in the location you desire, switch to HTML view and create a link from that PayPal button to the email link that you generated from your PayPal account.

9 – Save and Publish!

10 - Smile because you just created a link to your PayPal payment from your WordPress blog and didn’t have to use a plugin or landing page.

Hope this tip is useful for you in the future. I know it is going to help me take my blogging, site flipping, and niche site building efforts to the next level by allowing me to link directly to my PayPal payment pages and not having to use plugins or landing pages.

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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“Success on any major scale requires you to accept responsibility, in the final analysis, the one quality that all successful people have is the ability to take on responsibility.” – Michael Korda

Greetings Blog Family,

Responsibility is the key to your future. Often we don’t notice this underlying trait of the most successful people you admire or know.

Be careful here. You must realize success is a relative term. We automatically attribute wealth and riches to success, but that is an incomplete assessment. Yes, riches and fortune have their place in success, but it is a lot deeper than that.

Let’s examine three examples of success. But notice how the underlying trait, better a foundation of responsibility.

1) The Successful Entrepreneur - The self made business owner that created automated business systems that creates a residual stream of income, a substantial income of $30,000/month. I purposely left this vague for your mind to wonder. This person could be a blogger, a consultant, a delivery service that has outsourced the work for each week.

The point is at the end of the day, it was the decision of the entrepreneur to say, I am going to get this done. I will make sure of it. It is my responsibility.

2) The Organic Life – The person that has severed their dependence on others to feed, cloth, and take care of themselves. There is a You Tube video of a guy who said that once he learned what is being put into the foods we eat, he began to grow his own food because he couldn’t stand the thought of poisoning his children with that food.

Now maybe this doesn’t seem necessary or even feasible to you or I, but concede the fact that it was his goal and he achieved it. Watch the video and you will see he lives in California, he and his family grow food on every square inch of their property, all organic foods. It is really amazing!

My point is that it is his definition of success. He took on great measures to realize this success. Again the foundation is responsibility. Think of what is required day to day to survive in that lifestyle. Responsibility is at work once again.

3) The Family – To maintain a successful family means different things to different people. But I don’t believe I will get too many objections to responsibility being at the root of all successful families. You have a responsibility to and of your spouse and children.

Responsibility Runs
Responsibility runs through all levels of success. The sooner you accept it, the sooner you can move forward. you have all that you need to succeed. The question is will you take responsibility?

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