Making Work at Home Work - December 2009

Making Work At Home Work: Holiday Strategies
by Mary Byers


As you may remember, I recently partnered up with Making Work at Home Work as a blogger.

As I look ahead to the approaching holiday season, I thought I’d share a few suggestions for you to consider for your business.

• Give yourself a break. Most employees get time off for Christmas. Sometimes I give myself time off, too. But I'm not always intentional about it. This year, I'm going to actually mark off a couple of days that I'm gifting to myself. I'll turn on my auto reply and get myself out of the office. I know it will feel good and will be rejuvenating for me.

• Make a list of office supply and equipment needs. I know it is difficult to spend money on work when you need to spend money on holiday gifts. But there are two great reasons to make work related purchases this month and next. One, there are great sales. Two, if you've had a successful year in 2009, you can reduce your taxable income by purchasing things you need (and want) for your business.

• Consider developing a one-page plan for next year. I spend one morning each December writing a one-page business plan for myself. I simply identify four or five initiatives that would help my business. I capture them on paper, jot down my action plans, and post it on my wall. This helps keep me focused throughout the year.

• Set a financial goal (unless it will make you a slave to your business). I set financial goals for myself early in my business. But I abandoned them when they became the be-all and end-all for me even though I had two preschool aged children. Instead, I focused on taking the work that came my way. No more, no less. Now, however, I've started setting goals again. And I'm pleased to report that I had my best year ever in 2009! Don't be a slave to a goal. But consider setting one if it will motivate and encourage you or if you have something special you're saving for.

• Take time to be thankful. I am grateful I get to work from home. Sometimes I forget my gratitude when I'm overwhelmed or behind in my work. But I don't want to lose sight of what a privilege it is to run my own business. I plan to keep this in the forefront of my mind as I approach this holiday season.


Mary Byers is the author of Making Work at Home Work: Successfully Growing a Business and a Family Under One Roof. Sign up for her work at home blog at www.makingworkathomework.com

Posted by:
Cara Retz, Educational Leader
Discovery Toys
www.playsmartstore.com

DT News - Jump on January Sale

    It's the most wonderful time of the year!  Christmas has been here and I'm sure you had a great time getting together with family and friends.
    It's also a wonderful time to be a Discovery Toys customer, hostess or consultant with exciting promotions starting oover the next few days.  Read below for all the details.  i If you have any questions about any of it, please let me know and I'd be happy to help.  Feel free to call or send me an email.

Merry Christmas!
Cara

Jump On January Sale

- Limited Time Only -

December 26th through February 6th

26 past, current and new products at 10% to 50% off

Pre-order now to get everything you want to stock up for the new year.

Call or email me to place your order now.

Discovery Fun Play House #2158 Sale $90.00 Reg. $100.00	Wipe Clean Primeras Palabras (Bilingual) #2527 Sale $5.00 Reg. $6.50
My Busy Day #1987 Sale $15.00Reg. $20.00	Busy Bugs #2109 Sale $16.50 Reg. $20.00
Playful Letters #1096 Sale $12.50 Reg. $18.50	Playful Numbers & Shapes #1098 Sale $12.50 Reg. $18.50
Flip Flop Faces Emotions in Motion #2240 Sale $18.50 Reg. $22.50	Play to be Safe! #3153 Sale $15.00 Reg. $20.00
Motor Works Train #2175 Sale $10.50 Reg. $12.50	Motor Works Truck #2176 Sale $10.50 Reg. $12.50
A to Z Jr. #3019 Sale $25.00 Reg. $20.00	Playful Patterns #2930 Sale $18.00 Reg. $22.50
Wiz Kidz #4246 Sale $9.50 Reg. $12.50	Zip Track #3026 Sale $32.50 Reg. $40.00
Lullabies Around the World #1097 Sale $7.50 Reg. $15.00	Twisty Bug #1078 Sale $5.00 Reg. $8.50
Sunny Sounds #1059 Sale $15.00 Reg. $17.50	Baby Bear’s Bedtime #1886 Sale $6.50 Reg. $10.00
Ladybug’s Lesson #1887 Sale $6.50 Reg. $10.00	Traffic Jams CD #2254 Sale $8.50 Reg. $15.00
My First Fairy Tales #2069 Sale $8.50 Reg. $15.00	Shapes & Laces #2061 Sale $10.00 Reg. $18.50
Dear Tooth Fairy #2154 Sale $8.50 Reg. $16.50	Number Hunt #2996 Sale $10.00 Reg. $20.00
Juggle Toss #3039 Sale $10.00 Reg. $18.50	Snappy Ducks #1103 Sale $10.00 Reg. $20.00

January Hostess Special
- Limited Time Only -

December 26th through January 31st

Book and hold a party of $200 or more, select 1 FREE Sale item up to $20.00!

Hold a party of $500 or more, select a bonus of $50.00 in FREE products!

This is all in addition to regular hostess benefits!  So, with a party of $500, you earn more than $160 in free and half priced products! Call or email me today to book your party.

$99 Kit Sale
- Limited Time Only -

Now through January 31st

Join Discovery Toys for only $99! The kit is packed with over $390 worth of toys and business supplies to get you started and you can earn over $1400 in cash and toys in your first 3 months as a consultant. Call or email me today for more information about joining this heart base company and our heart based team.

Cara Retz Educational Leader, Discovery Toys http://www.playsmartstore.com/ playsmartstore@gmail.com (765) 461-7989 You can also find me at: http://www.facebook.com/playsmartstore

Welcome To Holland

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability--to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this...

When you are going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip--to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum, the Michelangelo David, the gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands, the stewardess comes in and says "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!" you say. "What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would have never met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around, and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy, and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest fo your life, you will say, "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

The pain of that will never, ever, ever go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss.

But if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.

written by Emily Perl Kingsley

Posted by:
Cara Retz
Educational Leader, Discovery Toys
http://www.playsmartstore.com/
playsmartstore@gmail.com

What Shall We Give the Children?

What shall we give the children?
Christmas is almost here.
Toys, and games, and playthings,
As we do every year?

Yes, for the magic of toyland
Is part of the Yuletide lore
To gladden the heart of childhood.
But I shall give something more.

I shall give them more patience,
A more sympathetic ear,
A little more time for laughter,
Or tenderly dry a tear.

I shall take time to teach them
The joy of doing some task.
I’ll try to find time to answer
More of the questions they ask.

Time to read books together,
And take longs walks in the sun,
Time for a bedtime story
After the day is done.

I shall give these to my children,
Weaving a closer tie,
Knitting our lives together
With gifts money can’t buy.
 - Author Unknown

Each Discovery Toys toy comes with a conversation about the importance of play. It’s not buying a toy that makes a difference. It’s understanding how playing WITH your child is such a powerful tool for their success not only academically but socially and emotionally as well! Discovery Toys does that! No other catalog or retail store offers that heartfelt interest to help families connect.

Cara Retz
http://www.playsmartstore.com/
playsmartstore@gmail.com
www.twitter.com/playsmartstore

DT News - December 2009

Merry Christmas!
The Christmas season is here! The decorations are up and gifts are being purchased and wrapped. I am so excited and hope you are too.

As you finish preparing for Christmas Day and all the parties and celebrations you will be going to, take some time to think about why we celebrate Christmas. Look around you for was to spread some holiday cheer, whether is buying the person in line behind you their coffee, shoveling the show of the single mother next door, or maybe baking some cookies for the elderly neighbor. Whatever you do, do it from the heart. And especially take some time out to spend some quality time with those whom you love the most. Let them know just how much they mean to you.

I would like to take this time to each of you. Thank you for allowing me to make a difference in your life as well as the life of your children. I am so excited that I can do that. As a special gift, call or email me with an order and you will get a 15% discount.

Don't forget, December 13th is the last day to place an order and have it by Christmas with regular ground shipping. If you would like other deadline order dates, please email me.

Have a very Merry Christmas,
-Cara

Stay In The Know!
There are several ways you can keep up to date on things happening in Discovery Toys. Check these out:

Follow: Play Smart Blog

Become a Fan: Facebook Fan Page

Follow: Twitter

Product Spotlight

Jangles
Meet a loveable giraffe with happy colors, fun-to-touch textures, and attention-getting sounds. Jangles hangs, rattles and swings with colorful, countable rings for teeing and a squeaky belly for squeezing. Jangles can be attached to a diaper bag or stroller to keep baby stimulated with mulit-sensory learning. Colors may vary. 12 1/2" tall.  from birth - toddler  #1286 $18.50


Measure Up Cups
Hand your toddler a set of Measure Up! Cups and watch natural learning in action. Your little one will automatically use the cups to scoop, dump, fill, nest, stack, and tumble. After all the fine motor exploration, you can use these volumetrically correct, sequentially numbered cups to introduce important preschool concepts related to volume, size, color, and measurement. Expanded Parent Guide included. Colors may vary. From 1 7/8" x 2 1/16" to 3 5/8" to 2 7/6".  from 12m - primary  #1971 $12.50


Bright Builders
These 24 textured, star-shaped connectables are sized for little hands, and interlock easily in three ways for endless design possibilities and fine motor development. Handy 8"x8"x6" storage bucket doubles as a play station.  from 3y & up  #2290 $25.00


A to Z Jr.
This fast-paced game strengthens vocabularies and sharpens quick thinking skills. To win, players must focus, follow directions, recall alphabetized vocabulary words that satisfy each category, then respond with lightening speed. Includes 4 letter boards, 56 category cards, 100 discs, timer and die.  from 5y - adult  #3019 $25.00




Santa's New Idea
by: Anonymous

Said Santa Claus
One winter's night,
"I really think it's only right
That gifts should have a little say
'Bout where they'll be on Christmas Day."

So then and there
He called the toys
Intended for good girls and boys,
And when they'd settled down to hear,
He made his plan for them quite clear.

These were his words:
"Soon now," he said,
"You'll all be speeding off with me
To being the Christmas joy and cheer
To little ones both far and near.

Here's my idea,
It seems but fair
That you should each one have a share
In choosing homes where you will stay
On and after Christmas Day.

Now the next weeks
Before we go
Over the miles of glistening snow
Find out the tots that you like best
And think much nicer than the rest.

The toys called out
"Hurrah! Hurrah!
What fun to live always and play
With folks we choose - they'll surely be
Selected very carefully.

So, children dear,
When you do see
Your toys in socks or on a tree,
You'll know in all the world 'twas you
They wanted to be given to.

Sales & Specials
Bundles of Learning Joy
Choose from one of four discounted bundles with a $55 purchase through December 13th! (One bundle per family):
Playful Letters, Numbers & Shapes Bundle Regular: $37 Now: $27
Game Play Bundle Regular: $40 Now: $30
Craft Play Bundle Regular: $45 Now: $35
Farm Play Bundle Regular: $32 Now: $25

Discover & Play Gift Sets
Don't miss out on the $99 gift sets, a savings of 10-15%. Sale ends December 31st. A great deal on gifts for Christmas, birthdays or just to stock your gift closet. Email me for details.

Winter Sales
Be on the lookout for information about our Winter Sales. Find great after Christmas deals on great Discovery Toys products.

Join My Team and Get a Head Start on 2010!
Make today the day you take charge of your life - become an educational consultant for Discovery Toys!

You want to go back to work, but you love being at home. Why not become your own boss and enjoy a home-based business that's fun and easy to run? You'll meet new friends, earn extra household income, and get discounts on toys you're already planning to get!

New Team Member Promotion: Join Discovery Toys by December 31st and earn $20 in FREE products with a qualifying first party of $350 by January 15th, 2010.

Let Discovery Toys show you your path to a successful future!

Your Success Start Kit is a minimal investment, and you can earn it for free with our Success Start Rewards Program. The kit includes a great selection of our exclusive, quality learning toys, plus training and business tools to let you hit the ground running!

Call or email me now to join my team!

Cara Retz
Educational Leader
(765) 461-7989
http://www.playsmartstore.com/
playsmartstore@gmail.com

Getting Ready to Shop

Getting ready to shop for the holidays or giving your "wish list" to someone else to do the shopping?

Here are some helpful hints to assist you as you think about gift ideas for your children, as well as ideas you might want to pass along to others who puchase gifts for your children.

1. Many toys today are labeled either on the box or on the store shelf to give you an idea of the appropriate age of the child that would enjoy and be able to correctly use the toy.

2. Books are always a good buy. If you are buying for a child that can already read, be sure to know the reading level of the book as well as your child to make sure it isn't too difficult and frustrating to understand.

3. Avoid toys with small parts, sharp edges, detachable parts, cords longer than 12 inches, electrical toys, stuffed toys that could loose glass or button eyes, balloons, and some riding toys - for children under 4 years of age.

4. Look for items that children can "do something with", be creative with, use in different ways.

Check out my website: www.playsmarstore.com for age appropriate, safe, and educational toys for kids of all ages.  If you would like help picking out the just perfect toy for your child, please contact me.  I'd love to help!

Cara Retz
Educational Leader, Discovery Toys
www.playsmartstore.com
playsmartstore@gmail.com