I actually created these pig masks many months ago, and never realized I hadn’t posted them until today. The next thing on my to do list? Go through my archives to see what else I’ve created and never posted on my sites! >.<

Related Pages: Printable Monkey Masks, Farm Animal Pinatas, Farm Animal Bingo

Printable Pig Mask - Full Color

Printable Pig Mask - Coloring Page

Check out all of the Woo! Jr. printable masks while you are here!

Related Pages: Farm Animal Coloring Pages, Farm Friends Party Supplies, Horse Coloring Pages, Farm Animal Bingo

Cow Coloring Pages	Baby Cow Coloring Page	Farm Cow Coloring Page
Rodeo Bull Coloring Page	Cows on the Farm Coloring Page	Roping Cattle Coloring Page
Cute Cow and Bumblebee Coloring Page	Cow and Girl Coloring Page	Cartoon Cow Coloring Page

Check out all of our coloring pages of animals while you are here!

Grab our free pirate party printables for your little swashbuckler – there’s pirate cupcake toppers, coordinating cupcake wrappers, and a happy birthday banner. Simply print the cupcake toppers, cut them out (a 3 inch scrapbooking hole punch would work as well), and glue them back to back with a popsicle stick in the middle of them. For the banner, use a normal hole punch to put holes in the top corners of each letter flag, then string the banner together with a ribbon to hang it up.

Printer Settings Instructions

I suggest printing test pages first – all browsers have different print settings, and you want to make sure the sizes are right before you print 20+ of them. I recommend printing these pages at a true 100% setting, even if the printer driver says part of the image will be off the page. Don’t worry, it’s not the important part! It really doesn’t matter too much for the banner and cupcake toppers, but you do want to make sure your cupcake wrappers fit around your cupcakes! Just sayin’.

Related Pages: Pirate Crafts, Pirate Coloring Pages, Mermaid Coloring Pages

Pirate Party Printable Cupcake Toppers		Pirate Party Printable Cupcake Wrappers
Printable Birthday Banner Page 1	Printable Birthday Banner Page 2	Printable Birthday Banner Page 3
Printable Birthday Banner Page 4		Printable Birthday Banner Page 5

Check out more of our birthday party printables, games and supplies right here!

Legoland Discovery in Chicago

Last week, I took my kids to the Legoland Discovery Center here in the Chicago area. I didn’t realize how lucky we were to go there until recently, though. There are only 4 of them in the entire world – wow! This Spongebob made of Legos was only a tiny fraction of the amazing Lego sculptures they had there – including a full size Star Wars Darth Vader and R2D2!

It inspired me to draw up some Lego coloring pages of their most popular characters. I’m a little partial to Harry Potter, myself, but my son is a Lego Star Wars freak!

Related Pages: Star Wars Coloring Pages, Spongebob Coloring Pages, Avatar Coloring Pages

Lego Star Wars Coloring Page	Lego Space Police Coloring Page	Lego Atlantis Coloring Page
Lego Clutch Powers Coloring Page	Lego Harry Potter Coloring Page	Lego Indiana Jones Coloring Page

Be sure to check out all of our Cartoon Coloring Pages on Cartoon Jr.!

Paper Chain People Craft

While putting together these Christmas paper chains, I decided to create several more paper chain templates of people, animals and fun shapes. My kids love making accordion fold paper chains – I guess sometimes the simplest kids crafts can also be the most satisfying!

Related Pages: Printable Paper Dolls, Printable Pinwheels, Printable Dragon Paper Craft

Paper Chain People

Paper Chain Shapes Template

Paper Chain Animals

Check out all of the printable crafts on Craft Jr.!

Reindeer Paper Chains

I really love printable crafts! I’m a little late on my Christmas in July series, but here’s the next one up – printable Christmas paper chain templates! There’s a snowman, reindeer, angel and Christmas tree, along with easy directions on how to cut and fold the paper to make these paper chains. Tape several of them together to make cute paper garlands and decorate with glitter or paint!

Related Pages: Printable Santa Dolls, Printable Christmas Tags, Printable Christmas Bingo Game

Christmas Paper Chain Template

Be sure to check out all of the Woo! Jr. Network Christmas kids activities!

As always, here’s our newest set of hand-drawn cartoon coloring pages – Cinderella coloring pages!

Related Pages: Sleeping Beauty Coloring Pages, Tinkerbell Coloring Pages, Snow White Coloring Pages

Cinderella Coloring Pages	Cinderella's Wedding Coloring Page	Singing Cinderella Coloring Page
Cinderella and Prince Charming Coloring Page	Cinderella's Stepsisters and Stepmother Coloring Page	Cinderella and Her Fairy Godmother Coloring Page

Check out all of our Disney Princess printables and party ideas while you are here!

OK, maybe it’s me who usually thinks that in late July. But in case you need some kids activities ideas, I’ve taken a whole heck of a lot of time to put together the ultimate list of kids outside activities. Summer is just flat out too wonderful to spend indoors!

But be sure to bookmark this page for later, because kids should have something to do outdoors all year round! So I’ve come up with not only a ton of summer kids activities but even more for spring, fall and winter outdoor kids activities. Some are free, some are not. Some require minor travel, some just require a kid and a back yard! Whatever you want to do on any day of the year, have fun with your kids outside with any of these 101 ideas.

Although some of these activities for kids are put under the ‘summer’ heading, many of them can be done in the spring and fall, too. As long as you can enjoy the weather, enjoy the time outdoors with your children!

Summer Outdoor Kids Activities

Free Kids Outside Activities

Light a Campfire and Make S’mores

If you don’t have a tent, you can still bring the camp feeling home by having your own campfire and making s’mores. If your town doesn’t allow open fires, you may be still able to use a store-bought fire pit, or even your grill.

Go Camping in Your Backyard

No need to travel and pay to go to a campground. Pitch the tent right in your own backyard and bring out the ghost stories!

Outdoor Races and Games

If you need to tire the kids out, just go to the old standby games like Kick the Can, Hide and Go Seek, or Freeze Tag. Here are 30 more outdoor kids games put together by the GeekDad blog.

Go on a Bug Hunt

I’m not a huge fan of bugs, but I’m happy to find ladybugs, dragonflies, butterflies or caterpillars! No Time for Flash Cards has a great idea to easily turn your bug hunt into an educational or party activity.

Solar Cooking

What better way to actually love a super-hot day in the sun? Here are several ideas on how to build a solar cooker, from the super-simple to very complex.

A Trip to the Park

Never underestimate the simple pleasure of swinging on swings! Even my oldest kids still love going to the park.

Scavenger Hunts

Scavenger hunts are awesome for groups and parties – plus they can eat up a whole afternoon! Check out our printable outdoor scavenger hunt list or more ideas from FreeStuff4Kids.

Superball Competition

Grab your bouncy balls and head outside to see who can bounce their balls the highest. If your kids are anything like mine, though, it might be a good idea to prevent, um, “disagreements” by having an independent third party (AKA mom or dad) to judge the competition.

Bike Rides

We are fortunate in our area to have an extensive bike path system, but you don’t need that to get out the bikes and ride!

Rock Climbing

While climbing big rocks is for the adults, when we were in college we use to go ‘bouldering’ when we didn’t have access to real climbing tools. It’s a much safer alternative and perfect fun for younger children – just make sure that adult supervision is there and the kids are wearing sturdy, comfortable shoes. Also, there may be rock climbing walls in your area that you can use for a fee.

Fishing

My kids love to go fishing! If you already have fishing poles, all you need is a little dirt-digging to find some worms and head to the water. Go in the early or late day for the best possible chances of getting the fish to bite!

Bird Watching

A deceptively simple activity that kids really do enjoy. Whenever we find cardinals, hawks, blue jays, or hummingbirds, my kids never tire of finding cool birds in our yard. Also, Amazon has a cheap bird watching guide just for kids.

Go on a Nature Walk

Hiking is great exercise and great fun. You can combine this activity with the bug hunt, scavenger hunt, or bird watching ideas, too!

4 Leaf Clover Hunting

You don’t have to be Irish to love a little bit of luck! We used to spend hours trying to find 4 leaf clovers when we were kids, though sometimes a three leaf clover and a little bit of glue sufficed.

Cook Dessert on the Grill?

Grills aren’t just for burgers and hot dogs! Kids love to cook – especially when they are cooking dessert! BHG has a great list of dessert recipes for the grill that the kids can do with parents’ help.

See a Parade – or MAKE a Parade

Parades only come around on holidays, so when we were kids, we brought the parade to our neighborhood! We dressed in old costumes, decorated our bikes and wagons, and found old pots and pans to bang around. We rounded up all the parents and put on a parade for them – it was a blast!

Frog Races

Our yard is full of frogs. Why not catch a few and line them up for a race?

Catch Lighting Bugs

Even as an adult I love watching and catching fireflies. We used to grab an old jar and poke holes in the lid to keep them for an hour or so before we let them free. But you can also grab Melissa and Doug’s adorable firefly bug house for less than $10.

Picnics

Collect several game ideas together, pack up some food and go on a picnic! Projects for Preschoolers has tips for picnic planning with little children, too.

Tree Climbing

My friends and I climbed trees until we were well into high school. We even called our favorite tree on the block our “clubhouse tree”. Check out these super-amazing tree houses on WebUrbanist!

bat hunting

Make Bubbles!

Make your own bubbles and let the kids go crazy with this homemade bubble recipe from Make and Takes!

Make Sidewalk Chalk!!

Who knew making chalk was so easy? Skip to My Lou has an awesome easy recipe for egg shaped sidewalk chalk.

Not-So Free Outside Activities for Kids

Go to the Farmer’s Market

If the farms are too far away, you can still grab fresh local fruit at a farmer’s market. I would think my kids would find it boring there, instead they beg to go every week!

Go to Garage Sales

After my kids have done their chores in the summer, they love to take the money they have earned and spend it at our neighborhood garage sales. It really helps to have a set amount of money to help teach them decision making and money management skills, too.

Build a Go-Cart

This project isn’t for the faint of heart – but it is certainly doable. My brother used to build go carts when he was quite young – here’s a site with free go cart building plans to get you started.

Start a Lemonade Stand

Unfortunately, our neighborhood stinks for lemonade stands – houses too far apart and not enough foot traffic. But if your neighborhood has more people, teach kids a little business skills by helping them to build a lemonade stand.

Go to the Zoo

If you are fortunate enough to live near a zoo, then try to take your kids at least once a year. Even my sophomore age daughter asks every summer, “So when are we going to the zoo this year?”

Botanical Gardens

Large, scenic gardens are more than just fun to look at. They are educational, too!

Farm Tours

We have a local working farm that is open to the public for tours. Check your area to see if there is one near you, kids love seeing the animals and learning about what it would be like to live on a farm.

Fruit Picking

Blueberries, peaches, raspberries and strawberries are all in season! Take a day trip to a local farm and go fruit picking with the kids – the only problem you will have is making the fruit last until you get home!

Mini Golf

Good clean summer family fun! Google it and I bet you won’t have to travel more than a few miles to find one near you.

Summer Sports

Volleyball, badminton, croquet and horseshoes all require special equipment, but it’s a great investment to have an excuse to get outside and play more often.

Walk to the Ice Cream Shop

If you live close enough at all to an ice cream shop, trust me, your kids will be willing to walk there. Even my younger children have been willing to walk over a mile if it meant ice cream. But for really young children, you may want to arrange for a ride home, as they can tire out and lose steam quickly on a hot summer day.

Throw an Ice Cream Party

If it’s too far to walk to get ice cream, bring it home with an ice cream party! If you are adventurous, invite a few friends, but you only need one kid and ice cream to have fun and make it a party! Check out our ice cream party printables, too.

Horse Back Riding

I haven’t been horse back riding since I was very young – and wish I could go again. Of course tourist areas tend to have horse rentals, but wherever you can find horse back riding lessons, you can probably find a horse to ride.

Make Solar Paper Prints

Remember how cool that blue solar paper was when we were kids? Well, it’s cheap and easy to find, and kids still love it.

Visit a State Park

State parks are there for a reason – they are wonderful, beautiful places set aside just for us to enjoy. Check your state DNR (Department of Natural Resources) to find ones in your area.

Dollar Store Games

The dollar store has plenty of outdoor toys and games for cheap. We’ve found sand toys, balls, glow in the dark sticks, and even plastic golf clubs.

Fly Radio Controlled Airplanes

We have a park by our house where people constantly go to fly their remote control planes. My kids watch in awe every time we see them! They aren’t cheap, but I can guarantee you that the kids won’t be the only one playing with them!

Parachute Games

Kids can’t seem to get enough of bouncing things around in a parachute. If you don’t have your own, here’s tips on how to make a parachute yourself.

Kids Races

Towns and charities will often have races for adults, but check to see if they have modified shorter races for kids. Check to see if you have a local runner’s organization that will have a list of races in your area like the Chicago Area Runners Association.

Kids Outdoor Crafts

Make God’s Eyes

15 Beach Craft Ideas

12 Stick Craft Ideas

20 Flower Craft Ideas

Rock Painting

Pop Bottle Bowling

Sand Casting

DIY Moon Sand

DIY Cardboard Flower Press

Mosaic Stepstones – No need for a concrete mold!

Birdhouse Kit

Tie Dyeing

Nature Sketching

Glitter Sand Pictures

Make Marshmallow Guns

Decorate a Music Wall or Tree

Kids Water Activities

Kids “Car Wash”

Bring out the toy cars and trucks and wash them just like mom and dad.

Water Gun Fight

You can find water guns at the dollar store – or go large and use water cannons to get soaked!

Paddle Boating

Hunt down local rivers and lakes to find paddle boats to rent. Fair warning – they tire you out faster than you think they do!

Sprinklers

So simple and easy, we may forget just how much kids love running through the sprinkler.

Backyard Water Games

Sports Girls Play has a whole list of water games with instructions, too.

Rent Canoes

For a longer day trip, rent canoes and head down your favorite calm river for fantastic scenery and fun.

Fall Outdoor Kids Activities

Go to the Pumpkin Patch

This is an annual tradition in our house, and we try to find a new pumpkin patch every year in our area to visit.

Make Gourd Baskets

Here’s instructions on how to dry, cut and seal gourds to make beautiful baskets – perfect for tween kids and older.

Leaf Pile Jumping

It may be messy, but my kids really can’t resist a big ol’ pile of leaves!

Hayrides

Many places offer hayrides in the fall. But you may not know that you can also rent a tractor, driver and hay and give hayrides in your own neighborhood, too.

Apple Picking

My kids love picking apples just as much as they do berries in the summertime. Again, if orchards are hard to find in your area, head to a farmer’s market for almost as much fun.

Pumpkin Carving

We have tons of free pumpkin patterns, plus if you want your pumpkins to last, here’s a guide on how to carve artificial pumpkins, too.

12 Leaf Crafts for Kids

Gather up the prettiest leaves and make them last with these leaf craft ideas.

Make Applesauce

Here are two awesome and healthy applesauce recipes – and how we turned a fall trip to the farmer’s market into an applesauce party. SO fun!

Acorn Hunting

When it’s still warm in the early fall, my kids and I love to find acorns on the way home from school every day. We turned them into cute acorn people, too.

Winter Outdoor Kids Activities

Sledding

Almost every neighborhood has a hill tall enough for sledding! This activity is best paired with tons of hot chocolate when complete.

Caroling

It may seem old fashioned, but there’s a group that goes around every year in our neighborhood. Start a group yourself if there isn’t one already established!

Ice Skating

Oh, I really do love ice skating. We had a local lake as a kid that we used to go to all the time – such really fond memories!

Ice Hockey

On that very same lake while I practiced my twirls, my brother gathered up his friends for impromptu hockey games. He still does it sometimes now as an adult!

Pinecone Hunting And Crafts

We hunt pinecones year round just to make pinecone crafts in December!

Make a Snowman and Snow Angels

This activity is one of the few (OK, only) things we have done as a whole family outside. PartyElf shares ideas on throwing a snowman making party, too!

Snowball Fights

I take that last comment back. My husband will start a snowball fight with my kids as often as he can!

Build a Snow Fort

Put those summer sand toys to use again and build a snow fort!

Spring Outdoor Kids Activities

Gardening

My thumb is as “brown” as they come. So I’ll send you over to Projects for Preschoolers for 5 tips for gardening with young children.

Mud Puddle Hunt

Throw on old clothes and give cabin-fever prone kids an excuse to get really dirty! Hopefully it will get it ‘out of their system’ so that they will avoid the mud puddles when the nice clothes go back on!

Crocus Hunt

When the spring flowers are just barely coming out, kids will love to hunt down newly sprouted crocus flowers. See who can find the most!

Anytime Outdoor Kids Activities

Photo Day

A couple of weeks ago I bought my kids cheap cameras and we went to a photogenic park simply to take pictures. I was astonished to see how much fun they had – and how many pictures they took!!

Local History Lessons

Anywhere you go, you can sneak in a little lesson about the history of your area. My kids love hearing stories about places and things that have changed, even since I was a kid. And I’m not that old.

No. Really, I’m not.

Find Constellations

Use our printable constellation maps to find the zodiac constellations at night!

Find Movie Filming Sets

Transformers 3 is being filmed in Chicago this summer, which inspired this post on what you have to do to find movies being made in your area.

Local Attractions that You Never Saw

Sometimes we forget what’s right under our noses. Though I’ve lived in the Chicago area my whole life, I didn’t get to the top of the Sears Willis Tower until I was in my 30′s. There’s a reason these attractions are so popular – visit them!

Stay Up Late for a Meteor Shower

This is SO WORTH IT if you can get a clear night to see meteors! Here’s a calendar of meteor showers throughout the year.

Telescope Viewing

Have you ever seen the moon through a telescope? If not, you should – and so should your kids! It’s incredible!

Cloud Pictures

On any day with lots of picturesque clouds, kids can have tons of free fun simply trying to find pictures in the clouds. Summer is better for this, but you can do it year round.

Peanut Butter Bird Feeders

Birds need to eat year round – so why not make simple pine cone peanut butter bird feeders year round, too? You can tie them up with pretty red bows to decorate a tree for the holidays, too.

Kids Charity Activities

These ideas may seem like ‘work’ and not ‘fun’, but give them a go, anyway. When kids get a taste of doing something for others, it’s a contagious feeling that lasts a lifetime.

Snow Shoveling for a Neighbor

I’ll never forget the day I came home from work as a young mother to a clean driveway. I never found out who did it, yet the act still warms my heart when I think about it.

Yardwork for a Neighbor

Raking leaves, weeding, mowing the lawn – all these things can be done for someone else – especially someone older who could really use the help.

Food Drive

Contact a local food bank to see what their policies are on taking food collections. One year our kids went door to door asking for spare cans of food while they went trick or treating, and had a nice collection to donate at the end of the day.

Trash Pickup

As much as my kids hate picking up after themselves in the house, they seem to have no problem at all with a little trash pickup when it’s for someone else. Go figure.

Related Pages: Recycled Kids Crafts, Flower Crafts, Leaf Crafts, Acorn Crafts

Be sure to check out all of our nature crafts on Craft Jr.!

Ebates:
Ebates is one of the best kept secrets on the web! It is 100% FREE and entitles you to discounts from thousands of merchants. Not only will it aid in boutique bargain hunting, but you can get added discounts on practically anything you could be shopping for. You’ll be amazed at how quickly the discounts add up! The very best part? You can still use coupon codes & online discounts in conjunction with most Ebates merchants. Also, if you refer a friend as soon as they make one purchase through Ebates, you get $5 in your account and your friend will too! You can also earn cash back through purchases on eBay!

BigCrumbs:
BigCrumbs is new but growing fast in the internet world! Also 100% FREE and entitles you to discounts much like Ebates. This site has an eBay compatable application, and lets you add your eBay store for more exposure. You will love shopping through BigCrumbs because you receive cash back on any winning bids and Buy It Now purchases through eBay!!

Gift Cards:
Gift Cards are every where on eBay. You can find Gap, Gymboree, Nordstroms, Macy’s, Marshalls, T.J. Maxx and MORE! Many of these cards are eligible for online use too. You can purchase a gift card for anywhere from 5-25% off face value or MORE. The larger the amount of the gift card, the better discount you can normally obtain. Just be sure to pay careful attention to eBay seller feedback ratings. Unfortunately there are some dishonest people out there. *When searching use these keywords for the most success; Gift Card, Gift Certificate, Coupon & Merchandise Credit.*

MyPoints:
Speaking of Gift Cards! MyPoints is a points reward system. Shop through merchants similar to Ebates or BigCrumbs. Instead of earning Cash, you will earn points. You then redeem your points for gift cards! This is an awesome way to obtain some gift cards for inventory or resell the gift cards! Use the gift cards however you wish, they’re F*R*E*E!! When I joined, I quickly earned 300 points in a little over a week! Some quick tips to earn free points: 1) Fill out your profile for 60 points! They just recently added more categories to the profile area so there could be even more points waiting to be claimed! 2) You’ll get occasional emails from MyPoints and will receive 5 points just for clicking through! Those are just a few ways, and they have a special menu for “Easy Points” one of which is my favorite, shopping through Ebay! Or, complete a questionnaire, take a survey…there are many ways to earn free points. Earn Free Gift Cards, Airline Miles, Vacations & more at MyPoints.

Have fun!

Being a successful life coach or business coach is within your grasp. Read on!

So what is it exactly that separates you from the life coaches or business coaches you see being more successful than you?

While you may think that successful coaches are such because they have some advantage over you – think again. Sure, it happens sometimes that a business coach has the right connections and almost falls into success. Or that a life coach just finds the perfect niche market that’s been waiting to be lead.

But most of the time their success came because of a few simple principles that they practice in their business every day. None of these are difficult to learn. None of them are difficult to do. Yet each of the five steps I list below are essential to having success as a coach. Follow them and you’ll find that you’ll accomplish more than you probably thought was possible!

Step One: Successful coaches keep their eye on the goal

You know how it goes. Let’s say you develop and market a new coaching program for your clients. When you start, you’re filled with enthusiasm. But time passes and while you’re still happy about the project, but you start noticing the difficult things. More time passes and you’re no longer enthusiastic at all. However, you keep going because you know it has potential. Finally, you start to question why the heck you are doing this in the first place. Then it happens. A new coaching project pops up. You feel excitement start to build again, but for this new project instead of your current one. You decide this one will be MUCH better, and jump ship to pursue this new, exciting opportunity. Sound familiar?

Fortunately, there is an easy remedy for this. Commitment!

I know, that seems too simple, but it’s true. Setting clear, realistic goals is essential to your coaching success. As is being committed to completing the journey whatever it takes. If you continually bail out on your goals, you are training yourself to believe that your goals are not important. And as your goals seem less important, you will be tempted to quit before you even start. Instead, set daily reminders about your goals so they stay fresh in your mind and you will stay encouraged to achieve them. Make the resolve to finish what you start – no matter what – and you will be shocked at how much you can accomplish!

Step Two: Successful coaches manage their work efficiently and rarely procrastinate

If I could only tell you one thing about how to manage your coaching workload, it would be to make a plan and stick to it as much as possible! Proper planning is the key to saving time and getting things done. Without a plan you’ll find that days and weeks go by without you accomplishing much of your goals. Usually your work will suffer. And I guarantee you without good planning your coaching practice will suffer. So prepare ahead of time, ideally the night before. Make a prioritized list of things that need to be done on a day to day basis and resolve to finish those tasks no matter what!

For some people, completing all the tasks on their prioritized list will be easy. However, others may run into procrastination issues. Why do people procrastinate? Often times, they are trying to avoid a difficult task. It’s no secret that tasks that take longer are less desirable than those that can be completed quickly.

Many people decide to do desirable tasks first, regardless of how important these tasks are. The problem with this is that people sometimes fall into the trap of unconsciously allowing themselves to be consumed by enjoyable “busywork” instead of more important tasks.

Making a resolve to finish the biggest, most important tasks first (enjoyable or not!) will give you a sense of accomplishment that will make the other tasks on your list seem like a breeze. Do this, and you will keep procrastination at bay!

However, others procrastinate for deeper reasons. Sometimes procrastination is due to fear of failure. No one wants to be embarrassed by a lack of knowledge or skills, so it’s easy to try to avoid doing those tasks that make you afraid or uncomfortable. However, it’s important to realize that motivation comes from within. Coming to grips with personal issues is the first step in realizing why you procrastinate. Once you do so, you can start taking steps to chance.

Step Three: Successful coaches learn from criticism

Let’s face it, it can be hard to hear someone tells us our faults as a coach. But criticism can be much more useful than you may think. If you take the time to listen and evaluate various criticisms, you’ll often find the keys to reaching your full potential as a life coach.

It really is in your best interest to accept the criticism, apply the suggestions, and grow throughout the process instead of allowing yourself to become defensive or upset. I’m not suggesting it’s always easy to do. I struggle with certain types of criticism myself. And none of us like to hear what’s ‘wrong’ with us or our coaching practices. But if you can wade through the difficulty and adapt to the feedback, you will find jewels hidden in the mix.

By learning to accept criticism, you will see yourself grow in ways you never thought possible.

Step Four: Successful Coaches keep a positive outlook

In order to achieve success as a coach, a holistic practitioner or any other sort of service provider, you need to think positively about yourself and your chances for success. Many coaches mistakenly believe that being positive and thinking optimistically is just part of someone’s personality – either you’re born an optimist or you’re not! But this isn’t true at all. Optimism is an acquired habit. It’s a skill that can be learned and developed – and then used to motivate your and your coaching practice forward.

In order to become optimistic and motivated, you need to become conscious of ’that little voice inside.’ I’m not being smug here. You know the voice. You even could tell me what it says to you sometimes. And I know you’ve pushed it away whenever it made you feel weak or small.

But now it’s time to listen to what it says in situations. Catch yourself saying something about what’s going on. If it’s negative, immediately stop and put a positive spin on it. So a negative thought like “I don’t know how to market my coaching practice” could be changed into “I can learn how to market my coaching practice.” Try doing this for a month, and I think you will be absolutely amazed at how energized you are about not only your work, but your life in general!

Step Five: Successful Coaches leave time each day for reflection

This is way more important than it sounds. Self evaluation and self reflection is something every coach, every healer and every business owner should be doing on a daily basis. How else can you know whether your day was efficient and successful?

And since it’s so easy to get caught up in the motions of ‘go to work, see clients, come home,’ you want to do something to breakdown the monotony on it. You need to break the patterns of ineffectiveness to create more effectiveness – lack of success to create more success. Truly successful life coaches and business coaches know that reflection is one of the best ways to keep yourself on the fast track to success.

Try this exercise:

At the end of the day, try to reflect back on the hardest part of the day, then ask yourself the following questions:

• What did I learn from that experience that will help me in the future?
• How can I that experience to help improve myself or my future?
• How can I do better next time around?

And really be honest with yourself. If you’ve been screwing off, then admit it to yourself. Then go back through each step and take something you can do from each. Just remember that there is always room to learn and to grow into greater and greater levels of success. Your self reflection time will pay huge dividends in your coaching and your personal life. Not bad when one thing can reach many aspects of your life. Just remember to do it daily – even if only 5 minutes.

To sum up, being a success coach is really not a mystery – not at all. These 5 steps are a beginning. And, they’re a powerful beginning. There’s enough in these 5 steps to double your business in the next 12 months. I’m not kidding about that. You just have to do the steps, use them – apply them to the best of your ability. If you miss a day, then miss the day and start again the next. But don’t leave them behind.

Here’s to all the success you could ever want.

I’d love to hear what you’re doing now as a coach to create the success you want. Something? Nothing? You have no idea?

If you liked this article, you might also enjoy:

1. Five Steps for Success From a Life Coach
2. Welcome Ask the Coach & WAHM 2.0!

Well, the Hot Seminar Series is now underway. It’s something you won’t want to miss!

You see, I can’t say it enough how Internet Marketing plays a role in everything eBay! Wordpress blogging is such a BIG part of launching your eBay platform. An awesome EASY way to drive MORE traffic to your eBay listings.

This summer’s session started Wednesday June 16th and ends August 11th.

If you’ve been wanting to take your eBay listings to the next level and learn how to make better use of the Wordpress blogging platform be sure to sign up for the Hot Seminar Series now. There’s a great line-up of expert speakers eager to share their knowledge with you.

They kicked off the season with a discussion all about Wordpress themes. If you’ve worked with themes you’ve probably found that some are easier to work with than others. You’re going to learn what makes some easier to work with than others as well as find out whether premium themes are worth their price or not.

(**Just as a side note – my eBay blog http://clothingdecorandmore.com/ is a simple set up and even the non-techie like myself is able to maintain and blog almost daily!)

You’ll hear from guest experts like Susan and Janice from 5MinutesforMom.com. Traci Knoppe will talk Wordpress security while Lynette Chandler will share cool things you can do with Wordpress. Suzanne Franco will share how she attracted 500+ RSS subscribers in a matter of 30 days! You’ll hear from Alexis Rodrigo and how to use your blog to attract new clients while Lynn Terry shares how to supercharge your blog for maximum profitability. And finally Nicole Dean will bring down the house and close out this summer’s session.

As you can see that’s an awesome lineup of great speakers. It’s sure to be one hot summer and you won’t want to miss out. Be sure to sign up now to secure your spot at this summers Hot Seminar Series!

Research, research and more research is the KEY to success! Before you invest in anything know your brands, know the selling potential on eBay, know what type of a sale “is a sale”.

eBay is a gamble each and every time. Even the best power-sellers sometimes lose money on auctions. The goal is to come out in the green more often than not and still profit. Research and Resources are the KEYS to success. Without them you are taking a shot in the dark and the long road to success.

When it comes to snagging great deals on the Internet there are some rules to follow.

Just to make sure we are all on the same page and understand how this works. The majority of the businesses we find these “bargains” at are small and can’t afford fancy programs to monitor their inventory. The VAST MAJORITY of online stores follow through with excellent customer service and will contact you with any problems with your order before shipping. However from time-to-time, thankfully not often, people do have bad experiences. Please let us know if you have one and what the outcome is. We certainly don’t want to recommend a business that repeatedly does bad service. At the same time make sure you follow some simple guidelines.

1) Read store policies thoroughly.

2) When in doubt, place your order via phone OR make sure you add something like, “Please contact me before billing and shipping if you can’t fulfill my entire order as expected”, somewhere in the order form when you place your online order or email it separately.

3) If you have a bad experience contact the business and address the issue kindly and out of concern for their reputation. Kindness normally works very well.

Hope this helps with making more profitable decisions in the future!

The Deals are only $5 and they only last 10 Days! It started May 10th with a ton of goodies. There’s even something special from Boutique Bargains & Beyond that you won’t want to pass up!

This is awesome because a lot of the Internet Marketing you see can be applied to eBay. There are also great things for us moms to use in everyday life. I know I’ve been waiting for this to come around again all year. I’m PUMPED!

Before you know it Summer will be in full force!! Uh Oh…that means kids are home from school!! So what do you do when you have a TON to list on eBay and still need to entertain the kids? Get them involved!!

We all deserve a much needed break from time to time. But that doesn’t mean the money has to stop coming in.

My daughter is old enough now to where I will be taking her with me as I seek out some great treasures from yard sales to sell on eBay. Especially the neighborhoods who start their yard sales on Fridays! It’s the best time to get started and beat the Saturday shoppers! Check out your local paper and you’ll be suprised at how many people have started selling on Friday and continue through the weekend.

Toys are a great items to look out for and they sell all year. You’ll want to be on the look out for back to school items. The summer selling season on eBay is short, and back to school shoppers will be seeking out deals on eBay as soon as July! I also have this great book on finding items to sell How To Find The High Profit Items to sell on eBay that is written by a former eBay seller. I refer to it year after year! I’m glad it’s still around to share with you!

Click Here! - Let me know how you like it!

Pricing

Everything in digital scrapbooking, before printing, is comprised of digital files. A typical digital scrapbooking page kit will contain digital paper that looks as realistic as the paper you can hold in your hand. It will also contain digital elements that vary in realism depending on what theme you’re looking for. Each one of these digital files can be used over and over and over again. You can print out your layouts either at home or through a professional printer, and the costs associated to that are still minimal.

Here are some other great benefits of digital scrapbooking:

• No need for a scrapbook area, everything is done on your computer.
• Takes less time to create layouts and projects.
• Photos are digital so no matter how you alter them, you still have the original and don’t have to print out extras.
• You can easily manipulate pictures and incorporate them directly into your layout.
• Digital scrapbook projects are great for gifts because you can print out multiples. I created a layout of my daughter signing “I love you” and had it printed off for all the grandparents.
• If you make a mistake, it’s not a big deal, you can change it.

There are so many wonderful benefits to digital scrapbooking! What are some benefits that you’ve discovered?

LO – Layout, a plan or design of something that is laid out.

QP – Quick Page, a pre-assembled layout where you can add your image to without any other modifications.

ISO – In Search Of… Often in forums, this will be posted when someone is looking for help in finding a specific themed kit or element that they wish to purchase.

CT – Creative Team. Creative team members receive products from a designer, for free, and in return they create a layout with the product and post it online. Designers use this as an advertisement tool.

Page Kits – Digital products that include paper and elements which you use to create a layout.

Mini Kits – Digital product that includes a smaller version of a page kit which you can use to create a layout.

Elements/Embellishments – Used to decorate a layout. These are things like ribbons, buttons, flowers, frames, glitter, etc.

Hybrid – A combination of paper scrapbooking and digital scrapbooking.

Scraplift – This is the taking ideas or designs from another scrapbooker and using them in your own digital scrapbook layout. In the digital scrapbooking industry, this is considered to be okay to do, but it’s a good idea to give the original scrapbooker a credit when you post online.

RAK – Random Act of Kindness. Many designers like to give out gifts, just because. They like to refer to them as random acts of kindness.

Actions – Macros that run in a graphics program to do a specific effect.

Templates – Guides that are used to create a shape or a layout.

Alphas – Alphabet elements.

Word art – Words, Quotes without or without graphics that are used as elements on a layout.

Overlays – Patterned or textures that you can use to lay over other papers or elements with the end result being a new texture or pattern.

Blog Train – A group of designers who get together to host freebies on their blog, which you have to follow, like cars on a train. You visit one blog, grab the freebie, follow the link to the next blog and so forth.

Extraction – This is the method of taking something out of a photo. Many individuals will extract a person out of the photo or an object out of a photo so that the old background is no longer visible.

S4H – Scrap For Hire, meaning that you can use the digital scrapbooking product to create layouts, blog templates, candy wrappers, etc. to sell to others.

I get coupons all the time from family and friends who are not using them. They are more than happy to give me their extras. I also get coupons in the mail from our local free town newspaper.

Just do an eBay completed search on COUPONS to find out what you can make the most out of what you have available. 

Valid, unexpired coupons are allowed on eBay. Be sure you read all of the guidelines or your listing could be at risk for being removed.

From eBay – Restricted coupons include:

Bulk coupon sales:

In a single listing, sellers cannot list more than 100 total coupons, 20 identical coupons, or 5 coupon inserts (like those that come with a newspaper). Make sure you clearly state in your description how many coupons you’re selling. If we can’t tell how many coupons are offered, the listing violates our policy.

Coupons for “free” products:

You can only list 2 coupons for free products, with no purchase required, per listing.

Coupons printed off the Internet:

You can’t list more than 2 printed Internet coupons per listing.

Expired coupons:

You can’t list recently expired coupons on eBay because they could be used to commit fraud. Collectible coupons that clearly can’t be redeemed may be allowed.

There are also coupons that are not allowed on eBay. Be sure you are up to date with the latest policy. You can see it all here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/manufacturers-coupons.html

Happy Selling!

Many digital scrapbookers started out working with traditional paper scrapbooking and through friends or accidental web searches, stumbled upon digital scrapbooking, tried it out, and realized that it could provide them with more freedom than traditional paper scrapbooking.

Digital scrapbooking uses digital papers and digital elements to create the overall look. You can either download free products or purchase the product through a digital scrapbooking website, like Gotta Pixel. The products, page kits, typically contain a variety of papers, both plain and patterned, and embellishments to adorn the layout. Recently I created this layout using this digital scrapbooking page kit created by BellaGypsy.

After you create your layout, you can save it to your computer hard drive and either print it out or just share it with family and friends, through Facebook, digital scrapbook online galleries, and email. Many print out their layouts either to place into a 12×12 album, create a book with a collection of different layouts, or they print them out to frame and place on their wall. I have printed out several of mine to frame on the wall, and have created several books.

Over the next few weeks I will be providing you with tutorials on how to get started on your first digital scrapbook layout and all the wonderful lingo, techniques and inspiration that you could possibly need to get you hooked on this incredible hobby!