(E)arn Them: provide excellent service. Gain the trust and respect of your clients/customers

(A)sk for them: After you have earned the right to ask for a referral ASK for them!

(R)eward them: After the give you some referrals give them a small reward a $5 gift card to a coffee shop or pet …s…tore and if the referral becomes a patient give them another slightly large gift like a gift card to a restaurant.

E.A.R. = Earn, Ask, Reward often and you will get more patients, clients or customers!!

Since the release of our book The Wealthy Freelancer earlier this
year, Ed and Steve and I have been having a ball giving media
interviews and teaching concepts from the book. It’s also been
cool to see the impact that this book is having on others by way
of book reviews on various blogs and on Amazon.com.

One of the chapters I’ve seen mentioned a few times in the book
reviews is Secret #8: Bring Focus to Your Freelance Business. It
seems to resonate with people and the reason, obviously, is
because it’s one of the chapters I wrote.

Just kidding.

Actually, I think the real reason some people are digging that
chapter is because freelancers tend to have tremendous anxiety
around the whole “what’s my niche / where should I focus”
thing – anxiety that often comes up before, during and even
after they go through the process of identifying and committing
to a particular niche or specialty.

If you’ve suffered “niche anxiety” today, here are two things
that I hope will bring you some relief…

1) You don’t have to know exactly the niche you wish to serve
right from day one, and
2) If you pick a niche or specialized service to focus on, it
doesn’t have to stay that way forever.

In other words, you’re allowed to change your mind. And
sometimes, that’s the smartest thing you can do, as you learn
more about your market, or you have gut feelings that pull you in
a new direction.

Take our friend Michael Martine (Remarkablogger.com) for
instance.

Michael is the world’s number one ranked blog consultant.
Seriously, Google “blog consultant” and see who pops up in the
top spot. Pretty cool, huh?

Michael provides coaching and guidance to entrepreneurs
(including freelancers) on how to create and successfully launch
a blog. Michael says it’s the most rewarding and well-paying
work he’s ever done. But, he says, it wasn’t always this way.

“My first foray into self-employment was as a freelance web
designer, and that business actually failed,” he told us. In
fact, Michael abandoned his freelance pursuits altogether for a
while until he discovered a market for something he was doing on
his own time, for his own enjoyment, and quietly developing a
great talent for: blogging.

“In 2007 when I was looking for a way to turn my blog expertise
into a business, I started off as a kind of jack-of-all-trades
blog designer. I would do everything, including initial
consultation, design and technical set up, and launching of my
client’s actual blog.”

“But I discovered I didn’t really enjoy the design and the
technical work. For me, the real enjoyment came from coaching and
helping clients build their overarching blogging strategy.”

Michael also realized something important: his clients hungered
for his knowledge about how to make a blog successful, including
everything from clearly identifying the target audience to
identifying keywords.

The market was speaking to him, so he listened.

“It certainly was not my plan from day one to be a blog
consultant, but my business evolved in this direction because I
listened to what the market was telling me, and followed my new
interest in the strategic side of things. Not only is this more
gratifying work, it’s also more lucrative. I’m able to charge
far more for coaching and consulting than I did for the technical
and design work.”

Michael’s story appears in our book, and I’m retelling it here
because his story carries an important message that freelancer
should know. Michael had the guts to make a big change in his
freelance business.

It reminds me of a quote that my sister has stenciled right onto
the wall in her home: “We cannot control the wind, but we can
adjust our sails.” Isn’t that great?

Keep Michael’s story in mind if you feel compelled to make
wholesale changes in your own business.

Ed Gandia is the co-founder of TheWealthyFreelancer.com and
co-author of The Wealthy Freelancer: 12 Secrets to a Great Income
and an Enviable Lifestyle. To download 3 free chapters of his
book, visit www.TheWealthyFreelancer.com.

Have comments, questions or a topic idea for a future article?
We’d love to hear from you. Please drop us a line at
support@TheWealthyFreelancer.com.

Ed Gandia
Pete Savage
Steve Slaunwhite
Co-founders and publishers

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Today I heard a story of a young girl’s perseverance after her prize. She is a girl from our church and this past week she was at a youth camp on Lake Winnipesaukee. On this lake there is a raft that is far out and if I understood correctly it is out over 100yards in the water. So the kids need to pass a swimming test to prove they can swim that distance safely before they can go there.

This young lady decided that she would do it. So she lined up with the other kids to take the test. The whistle blew and off they went. The other kids quickly left her behind and she was barely a quarter off the way through as the other kids passed the halfway mark. But she kept on swimming with a smile on her face and as she reached the halfway point the other kids were starting to finish.

Smiling she kept on all by herself, alone in the water, no one beside her to encourage her, watched only by the lifeguard and her pastor.

Yet never giving up and never loosing her smile she kept swimming even as the adults thought for sure she wouldn’t make it. After all she must be getting tired by now. After all the other kids have been done and gone for minuets now.

Still all alone and smiling she pressed on toward the goal, the prize of a bracelet and the chance to swim out and play on the far raft. And she made it! She finished the test and got her bracelet. She didn’t try to prove that she was the fastest or best swimmer but she did end up proving that she was a strong and persevering person and that she could achieve that which she wanted. That she could do it with a smile and with grace.

Keep your eye on the prize! Persevere, and you will achieve your goals.

1. Make the commitment to reach your goal. “One person with a commitment is worth a hundred who only have an interest.” Mary Crowley.

2. Commit yourself to detailed accountability. Record your progress toward your goals every night, and list the six most important things you need to do the next day. Daily discipline is the key to reaching your goals.

3. Build your life on a sold foundation of honesty, character, integrity, trust, love, and loyalty. This foundation will give you an honest shot at reaching any goal you have set properly.

4. Break your intermediate and long-range goals into increments.

5. Be prepared to change. You can’t control the weather, inflation, interest rates, Wall Street, etc. Change your decision to move toward a goal carefully–but be willing to change your direction to get there as conditions and circumstances demand.

6. Share your “give-up” goals (i.e., give up smoking, being rude, procrastinating, being late, eating too much, etc.) with many people. Chances are excellent they’re going to encourage you.

7. Become a team player. Remember: You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.

8. See the reaching. In your imagination see yourself receiving that diploma, getting that job or promotion, making that speech, moving into the home of your dreams, achieving that weight-loss goal, etc.

9. Each time you reach a goal your confidence will grow so that you can do bigger and better things. After accomplishing any goal, record it in your journal, Weekly Planner or Palm Pilot.

10. Remember, what you get by reaching your destination isn’t nearly as important as what you become by reaching your goals–what you will become is the winner you were born to be!

Used with permission

To receive more information about Zig Ziglar and/or to purchase his special offer on Zig’s Strategies for Success series, go to http://ziglar.yoursuccessstore.com/ or call 877-929-0439

The opposite of decision is procrastination. Procrastination has kept more people from creating wealth and happiness than just about anything else known to mankind.

You can develop your decision making muscles and avoid procrastination. You can become much more successful. How? By making decisions quickly and definitely.

You can start being more decisive with little decision on what you are going to wear tomorrow morning. Don’t go back and forth on what shirt goes with what slacks, make the decision quickly!

The next time you go out to eat, decide quickly and decisively what you will order. Don’t go back and forth , trying to choose between one dish and another. DECIDE!

Start right now by deciding to be decisive right now. Right here, right now! DECIDE!

You are about to discover one that has changed lives and helped create compelling lives and financial fortunes. It is a secret that has just been waiting for you to discover (or rediscover).

Andrew Carnegie was born in 1835 and died in 1919. His protege Napoleon Hill said that Carnegie was rated as the world’s first Billionaire (over a hundred years ago). Carnegie had a secret you can discover, even all these years after his death.

In his all time best selling book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill wrote in the preface that there’s a “secret” to great achievement. He wrote, “The secret to which I refer has been mentioned no fewer than a hundred times, throughout this book. It has not been directly named… THOSE WHO ARE READY, and SEARCHING FOR IT, may pick it up. That is why Mr. Carnegie tossed it to me so quietly, without giving me it’s specific name. If you are READY to put it to use, you will have recognized this secret at least once in every chapter.”

So what is “The Carnegie Secret” that Napoleon Hill referred to in his book?

Here it is, today known by many as “The Carnegie Secret”

HAVE A DEFINITE MAJOR PURPOSE!

That’s it, that’s the secret. It’s contained in just one sentence. So simple, yet profound and potentially life changing for you and anyone willing to work to develop and accomplish it in life!

What is a “Definite Major Purpose?”

It may be more clearly defined by these famous examples of people with a “Definite Major Purpose”.

* Mahatma Gandhi’s definite major purpose was to win independence for India from their British rulers.

*Dr. Martin Luther King’s was equality and the end of oppression for black people here in the U.S.A.

* Dr. Jonas Salk’s was to find the cure for polio.

So what is your Definite Major Purpose? What is the most important thing you want to accomplish in your lifetime?

There are four market cycles, but my favorite is buyer’s market cycle one. This is the stage of the market in which you buy for cash flow. This indicator to look for in determining this market is appreciation. When appreciation isn’t apparent to the everyday investor and you know that something good is about to happen in that marketplace that will create positive change, then it is time to look for properties with a strong cash flow and buy! The positive change usually stems form job growth. However, it is important to understand that the cycle may last 2-5 years. One of the best places to find forecasted job growth is through the United States Census.

Properties in the first buyers market give us multiple exit strategies and a great income in addition to a large increase in equity over time. Our team has recently identified and is working in 3 different emerging marketplaces.

Having a vision for your Real Estate Investing Business is very important. Without it we can be directionless on how to proceed.

Having a vision for your business means you have clear and solid idea of what it is you want to accomplish and a plan for accomplishing it.

* First write out a detailed and precise vision of what you want to accomplish.

* Then determine the intermediary goals necessary to accomplishing your vision.

* Then break those goals down into intermediary steps and if necessary break any of these steps down further to make them manageable

* Next set completion dates for each step along the way and determine if you need help with any of them and get that help when needed.

* Now take action on your plan.

These steps will break down any vision into a manageable and measurable plan of action.

Being busy doesn’t mean you are being effective. It will help you avoid the trap of confusing being busy with being effective.

Remember without vision people perish and so do businesses

Rick

What is adversity? Merriam-Websters online dictionary defines it as ” Adversity: a state, condition, or instance of serious or continued difficulty or adverse fortune.”

Doesn’t sound like anything we would want, right?

But there can be a positive side to adversity. It can be challenging,exciting,opportunity creating,necessary for success and growth.

Exciting? Not exactly the first word that pops into your head when you are faced with adversity. Certainly not all adversity is exciting for example family and financial crises are not. But what would it do to your mental state and the way you tackle adversity, if you looked at it more positively…like something that will move you to greater riches.

“In every adversity lies a seed for an equivalent or greater benefit.” Napoleon Hill

So how do we do find this seed? Here are three quick tips.

1. Look at a past adversity that you have gone through and ask yourself “what benefits did you gain from going through that particular trial?”

2. What talents and abilities did you discover in yourself through going through it?

3. Look at your current adversity write it down so you can get some distance from it and then look at what the benefits will be for going through it and what talents and abilities it will take to make it through and work on those.

Take your time if you can’t think of a benefit right away stop, take a deep breath, and go take the dog for a walk. Let your mind relax then come back to it. Besides that the dog will just reaffirm what a great person you are.

I think you will surprise yourself on just how talented and able you are!

These were just three quick steps to help you get started I have a much more detailed plan to help you take it into overdrive and “Transform Your Adversity To Opportunity” To find out more just post a comment asking and I will get you more info for my upcoming teleconference.

Rick Gioia

PS. Please let me know how this article helped you and any thoughts you have on it,I would love to hear them.

Title Insurance

Title insurance guarantees that the title on a property is marketable when you purchase the home, condo, land, etc. You should always pay for title insurance. It typically costs a few hundred dollars and will save you a bundle if problems arise.

When you buy title insurance, a title insurance company researches the title for the property. The insurance company will look to see if the title is clear. “Clear” simply means that the seller is truly transferring title to you and no other person can claim ownership. While this sounds fairly simple, rest assured that title problems arise all of the time.

Title Problems

You might be wondering how you could possibly have title problems. Here are a few examples:

1. Divorcing Couples – Divorce is unpleasant and sometime very ugly. In particularly nasty situations, one spouse may attempt to sell a home without telling the other. To gain clear title, you need both spouses to sign off on the sale. If you don’t, you are going to become a party of the divorce proceedings. Now, wouldn’t that be fun?

2. Estate Sales – If you are purchasing a house as part of an estate sale, there can be real problems. The heirs may not be getting along and in an effort to “get what’s mine”, may try to sell the residence without including all the heirs in the transaction. If you buy this home, you could end up involved in a lawsuit filed by an heir left out of the transaction.

3. Ingress and Egress Issues – Title to a property can have technical issues related to egress and ingress. Occasionally, one finds title to a property that is so messed up that the owner doesn’t have the right to enter or leave the land because to do so would require crossing another person’s property. In short, the property is landlocked and something must be worked out with the neighbors. Typically, a solution comes in the form of hard, cold cash…lots of it.

These are just a few issues that can arise with title. With real estate, unique issues can arise all the time.

If you buy title insurance, you don’t have to worry about problems with title. If a problem arises, you calmly pick up the phone and call the title insurance company. The insurance company will come up with a solution, even if it means paying you for bad title.