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I remember walking into my kitchen and seeing it lying on the counter. It was beautiful. It was wrapped in paper painted with my daughter’s tiny hand prints, and tied with red yarn and a yellow rose from my own garden. Inside was a picture of my two-year-old and me, in a wooden frame that she had painted herself. My eyes began to tear with the realization of the time, attention and love that went into this creative birthday gift.

Creative birthday presents that are handmade by small children make perfect gifts. There are many wonderful ideas that are easy, inexpensive and fun. For babies, toddlers and small children the most personal thing they can create is a hand or foot print. With one of these print projects, you can create special gifts that are memorable and cherished.

First, you need to make some prints.
You will need;

o Old baking pan for your paint
o Washable, non-toxic paint
o Sponge or brush
o Art paper or roll of paper
o A basin of warm, soapy water

For feet, brush or sponge paint on the foot, or dip the foot in the paint. Stand the baby on the paper, lifting the child up and down. A toddler or small child can actually walk on the paper.
For hand prints, you can paint the hands or let the child “grab” the paint themselves. Help them press, and then lift their hands on and off of the paper.

After you’re finished, use the warm, soapy water in the basin to wash off the paint.
Once you have a few “good” prints, let them dry completely and then cut them out. Save your originals and color copy the best prints at your local print shop or on your home printer. These copies are easier to work with and allow you to make multiple creative birthday presents.

Once you have your copies, use the prints and a little creative writing to;

o Glue a print and a birthday wish on the inside cover of a homemade picture or music CD.
o Decoupage the print(s) on a finished piece of wood or ceramic tile to make a plaque.
o Using card stock or construction paper, use prints to make homemade birthday cards.
o Scan the prints and use iron-on transfer paper to create personalized t-shirts, aprons, sweatshirts, pillowcases, etc.
o Frame the print(s), and add the special date in calligraphy

You can also make homemade wrapping paper. Wrap presents in large finger-paint pictures or large pieces of rolled paper that the child has freely painted with their hands or feet. For more fun, play music and ask the children to “dance” on the paper with their painted feet.

Use twine, yarn or ribbon to tie the gift wrap. Cut out a print, punch a hole near the top and thread it through the ribbon for a matching gift tag.

Crafting these creative birthday presents is a great way to spend quality time with your child. The result is a unique keepsake that really shows how much you care.

There is a lot of debate these days about the effectiveness of social media. Indeed what prompted me to write this article, was a question posed along the lines of – which was most effective social media or face to face presentation.

If you want to sell – you need to be in front of qualified prospects. This is where so many businesses fail.

Do not confuse activity and results. We all know Pareto’s Law 80 / 20, that is only 20 per cent of effort produces 80 per cent of the results. Dabbling away at social media may feel like an effective promotion of business, but when you read the rest of the banal comments about “don’t know whether to have pizza or Chinese tonight” you can’t help but wonder is that the best place to try and promote your business.

Would you wade through all the tweets to find a plumber if you had a burst pipe in the house. You may be well advised to go to a business networking site to satisfy the need, but a social networking site – I don’t think so!

Prospect – qualify – close. Yes you can use social networking to prospect, but you can also waste a lot of time. No matter how much people like you, if they don’t have a need for your service or product, then they aren’t going to give you their hard earned cash.

A lot of social networking is a bit like the business equivalent of, flirting – but never asking for a date.

There are factors that determine the degree of success you’ll have in a #negotiation. Those factors are what will also make you a good #negotiator or one that’s significantly better. The following are a few of those #killer #insights and how to use them to your advantage in a negotiation. Using them will ensure that you have a #better negotiation outcome.

Negotiation Environment:

Where you negotiate can have hidden advantages for the person controlling that environment. But there are also ways to control an environment that you’re not in control of.

1. Your environment – When you control the environment, you can control the temperature, lighting, and other creature features that would make one more comfortable while negotiating. If the negotiation becomes tense, you can increase or lower the temperature in the environment to coincide with the adjustments you want the other negotiator to make (e.g. he gets heated, you turn the room temperature up or down to make him hotter or colder).
2. Not your environment – When you don’t have control of the environment, if things become intense, you can offer to change venues. If it’s accepted, you will gain the advantage of not being in the environment that the other negotiator controlled. Plus, he will have allowed you to take the lead simply by his acquiesces.

Negotiation Positioning:

The way you position yourself before a negotiation determines how someone perceives you – it will also play an important role in the way you’re treated. If you position yourself as a tough guy, a tough guy negotiator type may treat you harshly – that’s his form of protecting against you perceiving him as being weak. If you position yourself as being weak, the tough guy may attempt to take advantage of you, while the weak type of negotiator may become emboldened to become more aggressive.

For the best positioning, consider the negotiation style (e.g. hard, soft, meek, bully) that your opponent may use – and assess which negotiation style you should adopt to offset any advantages he might gain from negotiating in that manner.

Negotiation Strategies:

Control – You command a negotiation by the degree of control you exercise. When appropriate, you can give the impression that you’re led by the other negotiator – you might wish to do that to gain insights into where he’ll take you with his control. You might also do it to put him at ease – less powerful negotiators become fearful when they sense they’re up against a more knowledgeable negotiator – letting him lead will allay his fears of being dominated by you.

Offers – Some negotiators will insist on getting a concession for everyone they make. You don’t have to do that. Depending on the negotiator type you’re negotiating with, consider saving the chits you gain from making concessions and using them in a combined force (e.g. I’ve given you this and that and I’ve not asked for anything. Will you please give me this?) – Accumulating concessions in this manner and calling in the chits earned from them can become a very strong persuader for the other negotiator to make concessions. Just be sure not to grant too many of them before making your request. The more concessions you make without getting a return, the more likely it becomes that they will lose their full value.

No matter the type of negotiation you’re going to be in or find yourself in, using the above insights will improve your negotiation abilities. And, it will improve your negotiation outcomes. So, always be mindful of how and when you use them… and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://anchor.fm/themasternegotiator