Every once in a while, we need some inspirational quotes to fill our souls and light a fire in our hearts. Here you go. Happy New Year! “For last year's words belong to last year's language And next year's words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning." -T.S. Eliot “The chief beauty about time is that you cannot waste it in advance. The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you, as perfect, as unspoiled, as if you had never wasted o

New Year’s Resolutions… the thought sends shivers down the spines of many. The statistics are sobering. Only about 8% of people succeed at completing their resolutions. Goal setting, however, can be a good thing- especially for small businesses. In fact, it is crucial to the future success of a business. So what are some important resolutions that your business can make for the upcoming year? Here are a few: Set Realistic Goals- It seems obvious, but goal setting is critical

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the land, not a creature was without a cell phone in hand. The wireless internet was plugged in with care, in hopes that a connection would always be there. The children were holding their phones and tablets while parents were dreaming of breaking bad habits. When all of a sudden, we heard a sound. We knew what it meant, and what we had found. A notification from Facebook or Twitter makes everyone’s eyes sparkle like glitter. "

Social media posts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have posts that discuss regular, mundane activities to life’s little victories, to tragedies and more. Most of us don’t think twice about telling our Facebook friends about the amazing vacation that we are planning- where we are going, who we are going with, and how long we will be gone. But police don’t think that’s a good idea. When you post about your vacation plans, you are letting potential thieves know when the best

Toward the end of every year, we reminisce about everything that happened in the previous twelve months. Some things are forgettable, others aren’t. This week, Google released its list of the Most Popular Search Terms in the World and the Most Popular Search Terms in the United States. Before you read the list, can you guess what they are? Do any of these surprise you? US Trending Searches (from most popular to least) Robin Williams World Cup Ebola Malaysia Airlines Flappy Bi

We, as Americans, take our right to free speech pretty seriously. When the Founding Fathers wrote the Bill of Rights in 1789, it is safe to assume that they didn’t have a concept of social media or the Internet. The idea behind the right to free speech was that in England, during colonial times, it was a crime to criticize the government. There was also a license required to publish anything. Even in Virginia, before the Constitution was written, people were given the death p

Ok- I admit it. I am one of those crazy people who is still shopping for last minute gifts on December 24th at 2pm. Inevitably, it's because I forgot someone's gift, or I was informed about a last minute addition to the guest list. Sometimes it's because I realized that one of my children has more gifts to open than the others (I am absolutely meticulous about ensuring that each child has the exact same amount of things to open- call me crazy). Every year I tell myself that I

2015 will be here before you know it. Many will be watching the ball drop in Times Square- most from their televisions- while singing “Auld Lang Syne” in less than a month. Usually, small business owners have already started developing their plans for the next year by December, but in case you haven’t yet, here are some trends that can help maximize marketing efforts. Social Media and Consumer Spending- This year, both Facebook and Twitter rolled out a new feature that allowe

This year, my daughter asked for an American Girl Doll for Christmas. I have never purchased one before, so I went onto their website to check it out. I decided that I would rather go into the store and look at the dolls in person, so I clicked off of the site, and went onto Facebook for my daily social media fix. I look to the left, and there it is...an ad for American Girl Doll. How do they do that?! Well, now Twitter will be doing something similar. There is an app update

Six weeks ago, on October 17, Google rolled out Penguin 3.0. The reviews were mixed, but a few sites were hit pretty hard. However, on Thanksgiving day, there was a Penguin refresh that happened. According to Google, “the Penguin rollout is ongoing and this is just the effect of that.” It seems unlikely that the rollout would take this long, but the good news is that many companies that had been negatively impacted saw recoveries with the changes that took place on Thanksgivi