Some very good answers, and i'll have to digest them (could be weeks) before i have anything constuctive to say. To learn mandarin you must be very bright.
I too have been worried about the recession, and am a bit paranoid about more and more competition sprouting up.This competition mainly stays away from non cash jobs though and doesn't have the kit for the bigger jobs.
I am not trying to improve my hourly rate.My strategy is to obtain more work and build my brand.There is an element of busy fool to this, but i am not the one i wish to keep busy.
Without googling i expect you are talking about coach, i liked him too, and others such as prism etc have ran with the ball a bit since.Some good text on your site about gutters, a good job done on selling gutters as an experience and i suspect this is the kind of thing you mean by influence.
I don't agree with all that he does though.