The American Dream

The summer is full of possibilities. Don’t let the mystery of owning your own farm and raising your own livestock deter you from living your dream. Besides, what is fresher than raising your own cattle?

Learn how to tap into your inner farmer with The Complete Guide to Small-Scale Farming: Everything You Need to Know About Raising Beef and Dairy Cattle, Rabbits, Ducks, and Other Small Animals.

This book was written with the intent of providing the necessary resources and information needed to start raising small animals and cattle. You will learn everything you need to know to raise a wide variety of small animals. You will learn how to care for chickens, geese, and ducks, choose the correct breeds, feed, house, breed, and select for egg production. You will also learn about egg incubation, maintaining poultry health, and how raise for meat. The book will also touch on how to care for rabbits, goats, sheep, dairy cows, and beef cattle. 
Small farmers and animal experts have been interviewed in detail to provide additional insight into every aspect of raising farm animals.

For more information about this book, please visit our website or Amazon.

Summer Hobby

Mosquitoes, gnats, and bees are inevitable during the sticky months of summer. Rather than avoid your daily activities and grind your teeth in annoyance, turn your hatred towards these pesky insects into a honey-lovin’ profit.

In any given year, an effectively built beekeeping business can bring profits up to 500 percent of your investment, according to numerous private beekeepers. The benefit of growing your own honey and selling it to local customers for $3 to $6 a pound can produce lasting revenue.

Make some money and check an item off of your “bucket list” with The Complete Guide to Beekeeping for Fun & Profit: Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply.

This book will guide you through everything you need to effectively start beekeeping, including what materials are needed as well as safety equipment, and what kinds of bees are best for honey or wax production. The book will also instruct you where to place your hives to take advantage of natural circumstances and background on the activity and interaction of bees, including details about the queen bee, the worker bees, drones, and foragers. You will learn how seasonal changes affect your colonies and how to use smoke to access and gather honey from bees.
The best in-home beekeeping professionals have been interviewed and their expertise and insights have been gathered, providing additional details about the methods of honey gathering that will produce profit.

Click here for a sneak peak of the book (a tip from a beekeeping expert).

For more information, please visit our website or Amazon.

Build An Outdoor Oasis For Children & Adults

Instead of taking that ordinary outing to the park as a weekly treat, why not create a life-long, sky-high getaway that can be enjoyed by all in the comfort of your own backyard? 

Recommended Book:

The Complete Guide to Building Your Own Tree House: For Parents, Kids, and Adults Who are Kids at Heart

This book guides the reader with detailed tricks and tips through the planning, building, and design process to create a treasure that lasts a lifetime. An additional section is included in the book to provide information and photographs of the various accessories available to beautify and further complete your tree house, from crows’ nests to zip lines.

Sneak peak look at a page of the book.

To learn more about this book or to view similar books, please visit our website or Amazon.

Great Outdoors Month

Today kicks off our three-day celebration of Great Outdoors Month. The month of June is ideal for a variety of fun, family activities.

USA TODAY is acting on the scary truth that only a third of Americans now meet the government’s minimum guidelines for physical activity, which are at least 2½ hours a week of moderate-intensity activity for adults and one hour a day for children and teens. To help families meet and exceed the requirement and have fun doing so, USA TODAY has launched its first Family Fitness Challenge.

Top national health and fitness experts developed fun and active ideas for the challenge. USA TODAY invites their readers to use the ideas, create their own adventures, and then share their experience with others at dietchallenge.usatoday.com. Every week for the next two months, they will feature stories about how USA TODAY readers and their families put their challenge ideas into action.

Family Fitness Challenge ideas:

Week 1: Take an active staycation day.

Work with your family to plan a one-day active staycation — a low-cost vacation day near home. Make it a day of physical activities: Go on a hike at a nearby park or through a city you’ve wanted to explore. Visit the local rec center to play miniature golf, take a yoga class, swim, play tennis, run, lift weights.

Week 2: Stage a sports competition.

Split the family into two teams and host a day of friendly competition in several games and sports — table tennis, relay races, basketball, swimming.

Week 3: Go retro active.

Spend an hour every night for one week doing an old-fashioned physical activity together that someone in the family has never done before.

Week 4: Give dance a chance.

Figure out a dance the entire family can learn and practice it all week. It might be the waltz, line dancing, foxtrot or salsa.

Week 5: Set the stage for fun and games.

Put together an activity area and then spend an hour or longer each day for a week there with your kids.

Week 6: Go on an active scavenger hunt.

Plan a one- to two-hour scavenger hunt. Be as creative as possible. You can explore a nearby park, your home, the woods, the mall — even the grocery store.

Week 7: Indulge your inner child with a play date.

Go to a nearby park or playground and let loose.

Week 8: Go Camping.

This can be an overnight trip or a day trip in your backyard or on your deck or even inside the house.

*From June 28 to June 30, we will be updating our Twitter and blog with interesting facts and fulfilling summer activities to provide you with resources to fuel your adventurous side.

Help yourself

There are many things you can do to be a better professional; getting to know yourself and listing the pros and cons of business decisions are a few.

How to Write and Design a Professional Résumé to Get the Job – Insider Secrets You Need to Know describes the importance of knowing who you are when creating a résumé or applying for a job:

Know Thyself

The benefits to this type of learning are many and include:

• Identifying strengths and weaknesses so you can emphasize or minimize certain factors
• Understanding your goals, both personal and career
• Seeing achievements and accomplishments you may not have realized
• Building your confidence by pointing out the strengths and achievements you do have
• Bringing a sense of peace as you learn what you have and what you can do to learn more

As a professional, it is important to know who are as an employee and know what you want in your career — before you apply for a position.

Additionally, it is crucial to weigh your options when making a decision about your career or business. For example, when resolving whether or not to work for yourself, consider these pros and cons:

How to Get the Promotion You Want in 90 Days or Less

Professional Wellness Month is a great time to start advancing as an employee. Not only will you help your company, you will see personal benefits as well. From our book How to Get the Promotion You Want in 90 Days or Less: A Step by Step Plan for Making It Happen, getting organized is one of the first steps on the way to getting a promotion.

Professional Wellness Month

Professional wellness is about promoting a healthy work environment, building relationships among employees, and improving personal work performance. Employers should show they care about each employee’s well-being, encourage less stressful professional practices, and help employees become more efficient.

Words of Wellness promotes Professional Wellness Month and provides this to-do list for professionals at all levels:

• Update your résumé
• Learn how your products and services help others
• Improve your work skills and knowledge
• Become an industry resource
• Power network with industry leaders
• Be punctual to meetings and conferences
• Read trade journals and publications

By following these hints, every professional can strive to be a top performer and a healthy addition to any work environment.

Visit our Twitter each day this week for helpful tips and inspirational quotes, and check out the blog for excerpts from books on how to improve as a professional.

June is Professional Wellness Month

Next week we will be celebrating Professional Wellness Month by providing tips on creating a productive, healthy work environment. Follow our Twitter and blog for daily hints and helpful information on improving yourself or your employees.

Recommended books:

1. 365 Low Or No Cost Workplace Teambuilding Activities: Games and Exercises Designed to Build Trust and Encourage Teamwork among Employees
2. Successful Meetings: How to Plan, Prepare, and Execute Top-Notch Business Meetings
3. How to Write and Design a Professional Résumé to Get the Job: Insider Secrets You Need to Know – With Companion CD-ROM
4. How To Hire, Train and KEEP The Best Employees For your Small Business – WITH Companion CD-ROM
5. 365 Ways to Motivate and Reward Your Employees Every Day – With Little or No Money
6. How to Get the Promotion You Want in 90 Days or Less A Step by Step Plan for Making It Happen
7. The Complete Guide to Understanding, Controlling, and Stopping Bullies & Bullying at Work: A Complete Guide for Managers, Supervisors, and Co-Workers
8. 365 Foolish Mistakes Smart Managers Make Every Day: How and Why to Avoid Them

Father’s Day: Week-Long Celebration

With Father’s Day right around the corner, we are tributing this week to parents. Visit our twitter for 25% off our books and exciting ways to celebrate with your family. We will also showcase our most helpful parenting books throughout the week.

Question of the Day: Where can I find new, exciting activities that are fun for the whole family?

1. Local public libraries

Lewes Library in Delaware has a summer reading program, and several other events, including a story hour at the Historic Lewes Farmers Market, picnics in Stango Park, a magic water show, and theater and dance classes.

2. Book stores

The Barnes & Noble of Allen Park, Michigan is hosting a 39 Clues summer reading program. Kids in grades 1-6 will have the chance to earn a free book by reading eight books of their choice and completing a short reading “passport.” There are also other events available, such as an American Girl workshop, summer luau, and Father’s Day story and craft session.

3. Hotels in your area

The Renaissance Vinoy in St. Petersburg, Florida offers movies on their pool deck, craft sessions, limbo and Hula – Hoop contests, and face painting on many weekend days and nights.

4. Community centers

The Destin Community Center holds the following summer classes: fencing, woodcarving, table tennis, volleyball, swing dancing, chair yoga, Zumba, and more for a maximum cost of $10/session.

5. Art museums

The Philadelphia Museum of Art invites families and children to participate in a variety of summer activities, including age-appropriate performances, art projects, and gallery tours.

6. Restaurants

Monthly cooking lessons are offered at the Palace Kitchen restaurant in downtown Seattle. The Made from Scratch cooking lesson series teaches parents and children how to cook healthy meals at home.

Fatherhood/Parenting Week

Next week we will introduce Fatherhood/Parenting Week to celebrate our beloved fathers before Father’s Day. Follow our Twitter and blog as we celebrate with gift ideas, fun activities for the whole families, discounts, and interesting facts.

Recommended Books:

1. A Complete Guide for the Parents and Teachers of Preteens: How to Survive & Thrive During the Tween Years

2. A Parent’s Guide to Effective Communication

3. I’m Going to Be a Dad: Now What? Everything You Need to Know About First-Time Fatherhood

4. The Complete Guide to Discussing Difficult Subjects with Children and Teens

5. A Complete Guide for Single Dads: Everything You Need to Know About Raising Healthy, Happy Children on Your Own

6. The Complete Guide to Helping Your Baby Sleep Through the Night So You Can Too: 101 Tips and Tricks Every Parent Needs to Know

7. Your New Baby: Insider Secrets to Save Thousands on All Your Baby’s Needs