Freddy's Friday Find--Albert and the Amazing Pillow Monsters

I love when I can find a great story to accompany a Fairytale Wishes product!

Albert and the Amazing Pillow Monsters is a multiple award winning story about a young boy who dreams about Monsters. Not scary monsters--but monsters that allow him to tap into his imagination and his own "magical powers".

I think this story will really resonate with young readers who might be afraid of the dark and monsters lurking nearby. It is a bright, fun, whimsical book that is told in rhyme--"But these monsters weren't monsters. They did not bite. The monsters puffed and fluffed in flight".

It continues: "Welcome Albert to the Pillow Cave. We just sit at the edge of the blanket and wave.

Justin Drazin

It goes on to tell the story of what Albert can do with the power of his imagination, What a great message to convey to children!

I would recommend giving this book with a bottle of Fairytale Wishes Monster Repellent for the perfect antidote to fending off the creatures of the night and to help empower kids to conquer their fears with simply their imagination.

This book is written by Justin Drazin who conquered his own childhood fears through the embracing his own imagination.

To purchase this book visit Amazon.com

Wishing you all Happily Ever Afters!

Freddy's Friday Find--Just in time for Valentine's Day--CHARMIES!!!

With Valentine's Day around the corner, Freddy has been on the hunt for something special to give his Valentine!

Look no further! Charmies will make the perfect gift for anyone in your life! The story of this company is truly a Happily Ever After!

After Hurricane Katrina, the founder of Charmies found herself displaced from her home and out of a job since her place of work was under water. She needed to find a way to make ends meet and long story short, the need for a baby shower gift propelled her to where her company is today!

All of the products at Charmies are one of a kind....metals are cut out from sheets into various shapes, and characters are stamped one at a time by hand.  They have meaningful sayings on them and can be custom ordered! 

Can you think of a better gift to give your sweetheart??? Freddy can't!!! Check it out and they will ship anywhere in the world FREE!!! www.charmiesonline.com

Please support this wonderful business!!!!

GETTING ORGANIZED AND STAYING FOCUSED - HELPING CHILDREN WITH EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING SKILLS

Organization and focus are key qualities for many successful adults, but these skills do not come naturally to all. I know so many kids and teens that have some sort of Executive Functioning challenges and I found this information to be very interesting and extremely helpful!

Many times, kids start off the school year strong and very organized and as they shift to the second part of the school year a lot of kids go on cruise control and get themselves into messy waters. Here are some great tips from The Glenholme School to keep your kids on track!

Maryann Campbell, Executive Director of The Glenholme School, offers a few tips to assist all parents and children:

1.       Stash and trash – Prevent mountains of papers from accumulating by learning what to keep and what to toss. This is a very important skill, even for the most organized adults! Teach children at a young age what types of documents to keep and throw away as well as how to best organize the materials they are keeping. Your future storage bins will thank you! 

2.       Balancing work and fun – It is important to teach children that there is a time for work and a time for play, and that they are both important for a well-balanced life! Make time for studying, afterschool activities and dinner with the family.

3.       Manage the day – Parents have planners, and so should children! Teach your child to use a day planner or calendar, where they can record their school work, after-school activities, social events and family time.  Whether it is paper or digital, it doesn’t matter. The point is that the child learns to manage their time and sets realistic expectations for each day.

4.       Organize assignments – Parents can help their children stay organized with color-coded folders and a desk-top storage system for their school work.  Children also really enjoy label makers. Divide the folders and storage containers by subject, and teach children how to label accordingly.

5.       Lightening the backpack without losing the work – We’ve all witnessed the tiny child with the gigantic backpack that weighs nearly as much as they do, as well as the extreme opposite of the student who shows up to class without a pen or paper. Teaching children to carry what is important for the day will help them be better prepared for class. Go over the day’s activities the night before, make a list of what classes and activities the child has and pack accordingly.

No Time for Social Media ???? I have a solution for you!

Today’s topic is….drumroll please…… Social Media! Why is it so important to businesses ..especially small business? I am very fortunate to have a fabulous company No Time For Social (www.notimeforsocial.com) running our social media. The founder and head of the company, Bill Combes is smart, engaging and works his tail off for all of his clients.

I never realized how important social media was until No Time For Social started helping us. What they have done is they have helped Fairytale Wishes form a relationship an ongoing relationship with our customers that is relevant and engaging and fun. It has helped keep Fairytale Wishes at “top of mind” status for parents/grandparents/caregivers and when they need our products—we are right there!

I can highly recommend Bill and his No Time For Social team for all of your business’s Social Marketing needs—because I have seen a difference in my business since using them and I know all of their clients can say the same.

They are offering a special discount for new clients. Read my interview with Bill and sign up!

•    What is “No Time for Social”? 

We are a social media management company for small to medium sized businesses.  Small to medium sized businesses are in a tough position when it comes to social.  They can hire someone to keep up with their social presence (expensive), try to do it themselves or have someone in the office take care of it (risky if you are not dedicated and don’t have the time to keep up with all the changes), or hire a company to take care of it for you at a very reasonable price.  It’s like getting a new team member at 1/3 of the price!  We do one thing and one thing well – social media. 

•   Why is social media so important for a business? 

The way that we communicate with customers has fundamentally changed.  Businesses must be on social platforms because that is where their customers are.  To me, social is the new web. 

In 1998 if you did not have a webpage, you were beginning to fall behind your competitors.  In 2014 if you are not on social platforms, you are most definitely falling behind your competition.  There are literally hundreds of studies that have been done that point toward social being a very important part of almost every business today and growing. 

•      Are different social media outlets more effective for certain types of businesses? 

Right now, Facebook seems to be dominating for most businesses selling anything.  Some B2B (business to business) entities are finding more success using LinkedIn.  Google+ and Twitter are also valuable brands that need to be looked at.  For restaurants - Yelp and Foursquare.  We’re also watching Instagram and Pinterest as potential platforms for our clients. 

•    Do you think social media has the power to scale up a business to the next revenue level? Why? 

Absolutely.  You have many more opportunities for your company name, product or service to be talked about on social media than we have ever seen.  Companies that produce the right content and mix of content on their networks will keep people coming back for more.  And the advertising platforms are cost effective with a much better way to target your audience.  I’ve heard of some companies moving their entire advertising budget to social media.  Based on what I have read in various published studies, 10-40% of marketing dollars spent are now being spent on social and that number is sure to become higher over the next 2-3 years.  If you run a business and have a $0 Facebook advertising budget, you are missing out.  

• How is NTFS different from other social media companies? What sets you apart? 

Social media management as a standalone business is a rather new business model.  We have seen a few standalone companies doing what we do which is specifically managing social media.  Where you begin to see differentiation is with advertising agencies that sell traditional media and Google AdWords moving into social media management as a segment of their business. 

The challenge for those companies is twofold:

1.                    Can they execute with so many other distractions and business segments to run. 

2.                    They are used to charging a premium.  What we have seen is a premium price ($2,000 to $5,000 a month) being charged for fewer services than a company like NTFS can provide.  We feel like as a stand along social media management company, we can provide the best value for the price.

•        Do you have any great stories to tell about the success of any of your clients?

We’ve been successful at driving business to all of our clients but a few of the big successes have been:  Acculynx (software) – likes increased from 1,600 to almost 4,000 and increased sales, Copperstone Inn (B&B) – increased sales of open room dates and increase likes, Lingo Interactive (video language learning) – recent launch increased likes from 100 to 750, and last but not least, Fairytale Wishes – increased likes and fan engagement .  A combination of us posting with an enhanced social media advertising budget has been the best mix so far.  We manage thousands in Facebook ads every month for our clients.

• Are there any new social media outlets that you think are going to have “breakthrough” power? 

As mentioned earlier, we are watching several.  I think more segmented social platforms that integrate with other platforms like Facebook are happening and will be relevant.  Sites like Nextdoor, Circle, Quora, Vowch…there are probably 50 that are just waiting for funding or some type of press to get things moving. 

•     Do you have any great offers for new clients?

We have three tiers of services that you can find on our site www.notimeforsocial.com .  We’re offering the first 10 companies that contact us from your blog post an upgrade to the 2^nd tier level service for the 1^st tier price or 3^rd tier level service for the 2^nd tier price.  We will also charge a flat $500 set up fee.  It’s about a $2500 - $4000 savings for a year depending on the package.

If you have any questions for Bill and would like to contact him: email him at bill@notimeforsocial.com or call him at 512-721-0333​.

Freddy's Friday Find: VEMAYCA Cosmetic Bags

Today's "find" is for all of the women out there!

How many of you have makeup bags that you keep in your purse that when you open them you say to yourself--"Why can't someone make a pretty cosmetic bag that has a liner that can be switched out for a clean one"? Powder, Lipsticks --all kinds of stuff make the inside of your bag look pretty yucko!

I have found your answer my friends--Vemayca Cosmetic bags come in a couple of different styles but the greatest think about this cosmetic bag and what makes it so unique is that it is the only cosmetic bag that has a snap in liner that can be switched out for a fraction of what it would cost to buy a whole new bag.

You have to check it out! The bags range from $24.99-34.99 and come a couple of different styles/colors. The liner comes with it but if you want to purchase addtional--which you will they are $4.99 or $15/3 liners.

So if you are looking for a gift for your girlfriends, babysitters, teachers, or any woman in your life--this is a great one. 

To purchase, please visit www.vemayca.com

TGIF!!!!

Freddy's Friday Find! Sparkup Magical Book Reader

Have you ever seen the Hallmark commercial with the little story that Grandma can record her voice and read you a story from miles away?

Well now there is a product that can magically read to your child out loud either with your voice, Grandma's voice or the voice that you can download on the Spark Up Reader website (www.sparkupreader.com)

The proprietary visual technology is amazing!  As your child turns the page the Sparkup Reader knows exactly where your child is in the book and will read that page to your child. 

What an amazing teaching tool for the first time reader or even a visually impaired child. In a world filled with "screens"--it is so wonderful to give children the love of reading a fabulous book and the Sparkup Reader is something that can make it even more fun.

Another great gift for the holidays. Here is the link to buy it: http://www.amazon.com/Sparkup-The-Magical-Book-Reader/dp/B00ESFTZ8G

Freddy's Friday Find--The Pillow Fairy!

Now that Halloween is past--we are going to try to post a Freddy's Friday Find every week until the holidays! 
Hannukah comes very early this year--in fact, in my house we are calling it Gobblekah or Thanksgivingkuh because for the first time EVER and we won't see it again in our lifetimes--the first night of Hannukah comes on Thanksgiving!

Better get shopping! Freddy is here to help! We found the SWEETEST book. I love to give books to kids for the holidays--whichever holiday you celebrate. If you know me--you know I never met a holiday I didn't love. Hannukah, Christmas, Kwanza, Chinese New Year! All occasions to by a little something for the ones we love.

So.... about every 25 years or so, there comes a book that is destined to be a classic--think Good Night Moon, When you Give a Moose a Muffin, Giving Tree--you get the idea. We have found one of those such books:
The Pillow Fairy!!!

The Pillow Fairy, written by Marcia Gale Riley tells the story of a little boy, named Matt (her own son, I believe) who likes to do lots of things which don't include sleeping in his own bed at night! How many of us have been there right? I created Sweet Dreams spray just for that very issue! 

Did you all know that there is a Pillow Fairy that comes to visit little girls and boys who sleep in their own beds all night long? Well, indeed there is! She leaves a little surprise under your pillow if you do! Sometimes it's a sticker, sometimes it's a quarter, sometimes it's even just as simple as a love note.

It is the sweetest book and a wonderful tool to help parents keep their little ones snug as a bug in a rug--in their beds all night long. 

So what are you waiting for! The first night of Hannukah is 28 days away! What a wonderful gift to give to any little one in your life--and it is "Freddy" approved!  Find The Pillow Fairy at www.thepillowfairy.net or on Amazon.