Here is the scene, it starts out funny, but gets very deep (it ends at 5:40; you can continue watching if you like, it’s a pretty funny movie. Warning: There is some strong language, and uh…inappropriate cheer-leading near the end…).

Say you’re just starting out with your new business, or maybe you already have an established business and things are going well; you found your rhythm. Then something happens, not a big thing, but something breaks the rhythm. As you are recovering, something else happens, then something else, and before you know it your stuck in quicksand…

The secret to dealing with fear is to face it head-on, not avoiding it, or thinking that as an entrepreneur you need to feel no fear.

What I have found, is that writing down my fears helps a lot. Once they are down on paper and clearly stated, it makes it easier for me to deal with them.

After that I can focus on what’s really important and take action!

When I started this blog, my intention was to create a business that I can run from anywhere in the world. Although I am not quite there yet, I have made a lot of headway. Recently though, I have been facinated by social media and the Facebook and Twitter phenomina I find that I have been spending more of my time trying to understand this avenue and less to my real estate ventures.

To that end, I have decided to change the focus of this blog away from real estate and more towards internet marketing and social media.  I see more potential here to meet my goals.

I will still post about real estate issues, just not as frequently (as if I post frequently at all). I am also hoping that because of my strong interest in the medium, it will dicipline me to post more content. We’ll see.

So here is the gameplan for 2009:

1) Posting the series I had planned on how I got my first rental property.

2) Posting my progress on what I am doing to get my second property.

3) Posting some cool stuff on Internet Marketing, including stuff I am learning from my membership in The Immediate Edge and 30 Day Challenge Plus.

4) Posting other things I find in my journey, including articles on Freelancing and Entrepreneurship, 4HWW, and Life Hacks.

Although I will probably not post every day, I will try to post more frequently.

My next hurdle is to refinance the house before my $110K baloon is due in December. In today’s tight credit market, I am worried all available cash has dried up. I have a very good relationship with my banker, but it can only go so far.

Once that is done, it’s on to find my next deal.

I will compose and post my first entry in the series on my rental in the next few days.

Originally, they offered this deal only to 30 Day Challenge members, but for a limited time they are offering a 14 day trial for $1 to everyone interested. If you are serious about Internet Marketing, and want to know the cutting edge tools and techniques to improve your search engine ranking and increase your sales, then go to the Immediate Edge site and sign up.

The International Freelancers Association (IFA) as the Voice of the global freelancers defines and provides the infrastructure for the development of the global freelancer market. The structure enables all stakeholders, be they freelancers, service providers, end user clients, agencies, associates or others, to provide services to each other with an ease and clarity that is not available anywhere else.

You can find more information here.

Turns out the answer is a resounding YES! If you have expertise in any subject, chances are very likely that there is a need for that expertise. The Internet allows you to reach a broad audience who would be willing to pay you for your knowledge.

For example, let’s stay on the theme of languages; there is a site called VerbalPlanet who’s sole purpose is to help you learn a foreign language. If you are fluent in a particular language, you can sign up to be a tutor. Payments can be handled via PayPal. You have the freedom to set your own hours, and price.

There are also sites for general subject matter experts. For example, Ether, allows you to set up a phone number that you can publish and market. People then call you based on the hours you set and pay you for your knowledge. Two other sites that operate in a similar fashion are BitWine and SkypePrime. I also found a site called Jyve, but they seem to be down for the time being.

As you can see, your specialized knowledge could be your path to a second income, or perhaps a location independent lifestyle.

But I will let you in on the real secret of my success and it is so simple to implement; yet I talk with other engineers on my team, and in fact other engineers I know, and they don’t do it at all.

After every customer interaction, whether I was on site or on the phone, I send an email to my customer that does the following:

1) Tell them it was a pleasure to work with them and that I was glad I was able to help them out.

2) Solicit feedback on the interaction.

#2 is the key. I tell them flat out that after every customer interaction, I send this email so that I can get valuable feedback – good and bad – on how the interaction went and what I can do to improve the way I support my customers in future interactions, and I thank them for their candid opinion.

It’s really that simple, yet so few people ever do it.

That feedback has been pure gold, and I have learned a lot from it.

Update: here is the link to the article from his site.

Update 2: Sorry the link no longer exists…