Putting the # to use for your business.  If you've ever seen the number symbol (#) in front of a word in a Instagram or Twitter post, you've seen a hashtag.  As a business owner, I'm hooked on them. In fact, I credit their use with helping to boost my website and services.  I don't have a budget for TV or magazine ads so I rely on social media for marketing.  
Think of hashtags as a way to connect social media content to a specific topic, event, theme or conversation.  They also make it easier to discover posts around those specific topics, because hashtags aggregate all social media content with that same hashtag.  They're not just for Twitter anymore, either. Hashtags are effective on other social media platforms too.  Use hashtags to increase your engagement with your followers.  Including hashtags in your posts means taking part in a conversation happening on that social media platform. And most importantly, it makes your posts visible in that conversation.  This can lead to greater engagement, boosting your brand's social media engagement through likes, shares, comments and new followers.  Creating a branded hashtag is an opportunity to build your brand and can be an effectivee way to promote your business and drive conversation.  Using a hashtag that's connected to an issue beyond your brand is a way to show support for social issues.  On Instagram, longer captions aren't always the most effective. Same with Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn or any other platform - sometimes less is more. 

If it's true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the others here for?
If #lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, then doesn't it follow that #electricians can be delighted musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners depressed?

As entrepreneurs we evaluate our past wins and re-evaluate our losses.  We determine what worked and what didn’t work in previous years, who helped us and who didn’t, and we review budgets and schedules to help us make intelligent decisions moving forward. This juggling involves ALL aspects of our lives -both business and personal.  You can’t effectively be happy in one area, if the other is out of balance. Many people try but most do not succeed to have a REAL work/life balance.  It is hard to do. So, what can you do differently right now to help get that balance that most of us want and need?  One simple solution would be to hire a virtual assistant to help you move towards that goal of a work/life balance.
Here are the top 10 reasons to work with a VA.

For many businesses, the days of being tethered to a big, hulking point-of-sale system are over. Being able to use a mobile payment system gives you more freedom and flexibility to interact with your customers and to expand your sales opportunities. Now trending, a payment processing service that lets you take payments anywhere.
This new virtual merchant, is an online hosted payment solution that allows you to accept card payments quickly and securely, via email or telephone order, or an online e-commerce storefront. Which system are you using? Which system would you recommend?