I also used Surf Chinese and would recommend them. The lessons are on Skype with a live teacher, feels the same as a face-to-face meeting.
www.surfchinese.com
First, you need to give yourself an advantage or "leg up" in benefiting from China by learning Chinese. You can do this with teachers online at places like Surf Chinese, using online dictionaries like nciku or jukuu, or try some other software for personal use.
Second, you need to research areas that the government taps as a focus for growth. This can be risky, as you need to pick the right companies, but if you invest well, you can make enormous gains. If you want to do business here, you may want to start with e-commerce as a cheap entry point. You could consider selling goods online at places like taobao and hire a cheap translator for a one time job of translating your item descriptions into Chinese. If you want to immerse yourself in the culture, you need to preferably live in an area outside of a major city. "2nd tier cities" are a great place to start as few people speak English there and you will see one of the fastest growing sides of China.
I hope my advice helps! Good luck!
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