Franklin Taggart's Unconventional Life Blog

A Frequently Asked Question for 2023 from people I talk to is - Is it too late to start a creative freelance career? With all the talk about AI, ChatGPT, Midjourney, and whatever the AI flavor of the day is, these friends are rightfully wondering if they've waited too long to get into the game. I don't think it's too late at all. In fact, people getting started now may have an advantage over people who've been at it a while. Enter Sheena McInnes. Sheena is a copywriter who just got into the business in the latter part of 2022. Her first career path was literally in the wilderness as a conservationist and scientist. Ten years into the unpredictable weather patterns, large mosquitos, and non-human trail company (read large wild animals), Sheena found a coach and started looking for the next phase of her work life. She discovered freelance copywriting. Departing from the usual format of teasing valuable goodness from seasoned veteran creators and entrepreneurs, in this epi...

In this video about pricing your freelance services, I challenge some of the things people think they're paying for. When it's all said and done, you're not being paid for your time, talent, knowledge, expertise, or qualifications. In truth, you're not being paid for your product or service. You're only being paid for one thing. Watch the video to find out what that one thing is, and join the conversation about how to price your work fairly so that you and your customer both feel great about the transaction. pricing #value #entrepreneurship 

  We've been watching Stanley Tucci - Searching for Italy on CNN and loving it. My Italian Sweetie is inspired by the show and we're both blown away by the quality and variety of the food he's finding. He's visiting 20 regions and revealing the unique menu in each. I'm amazed to see the difference, even in regions that are connected to each other geographically. Every one of them has a different food repertoire based on several factors - available ingredients, customs, cultural identity, culinary traditions, and even political influence all play a part in the food a locale is known for. If you've ever tried to cook from someone else's recipe, you may have found that you followed every instruction exactly and still found that you weren't pleased with the result. So the next time you cooked it, you made changes according to your own preferences and ideas. And this time it came out much more to your liking. And at some point, you started from scratch and ma...

When people are considering starting a creative career, one of the first questions they ask is "When should I start charging money for my work?" This is a great question. And I think it's worth understanding that there are some people who are so excited about their newfound talent that they rush into trying to make a living from their creative work before they're ready. In this Coffee Break, I share a perception I've had with people I work with and people I've observed over the years to help make sense of that question. The first thing I want you to understand is that getting paid for what you do is only a small fraction of the value of your creativity. And for many people, it doesn't mean anything compared to the intrinsic value of the creative experience. If people are asking you for your work, it's safe to say you can start charging money for it. How much? That's a whole other topic, likely a series of videos, but it's OK to charge something...

  I recently had a wonderful conversation with my friends, Meridith Grundei and Joseph Bennett on their Are You Waiting for Permission podcast. We covered a lot of territory in our short time together, but there were some lovely nuggets to be found. Some of our topics: ** The important distinction between gifts and talents. ** Your gifts define your purpose. ** There are people here who are waiting to find you because they need your gifts. ** The creativity we imagine doesn't usually include the messy parts. ** A part of becoming masterful at something is the willingness to suck. ** Very often our struggle to master something becomes most difficult right before the breakthrough happens. Thanks, Meridith and Joseph for the fun conversation! You two are lights in my world! Listen here now: Be sure to subscribe and review! You can find Meridith: Meridith Grundei Coaching You can find Joseph: Joseph Bennett the artist/coach extraordinaire

A year ago, Lenina Olivas walked out of her teaching job with no clear idea of what she was going to do next. In the year that’s just passed she’s found an opportunity for oil painting to become a cornerstone of an entirely new direction, which includes being hired as an art gallery director and an invitation to participate in a local art studio tour. Enjoy her story! Lenina’s links: Website: https://leninaolivasfineart.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Leninaolivasfineart/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lenina_olivas_fine_art/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtoKT93ahsgfcN2BmuQixaQ Lenina will be the featured artist at the Christmas Shops at Centerra in Loveland on December 6, 2018. Her work can also be seen at the Lincoln Gallery in Loveland, Colorado. http://lincolngallery.com If you’ve enjoyed The Reset Podcast, please subscribe through your favorite podcast listening app. For more information, please visit https://franklintaggart.com . ...

Yesterday, My friend Jeff Finlin and I gave the pilot session of a new workshop called Making Your Own Way. In the last year my focus in coaching has largely become helping creative people to find direction, get things started and finished, and mostly to identify the real impact they are making with their work. Creative professionals frequently wonder to themselves and out loud just what the value of their work is. I know that's been a regular inner dialog for me. Some great discussions in yesterday's workshop helped to bring some clarity to the subject, and a comment in a message at church this morning also brought it home to me. Creative work matters for two huge reasons; it connects us on deeper levels and it feeds our soul. A big part of the workshop is about the distinction that I see between a person's gift and their talents. We talk about that often we lump the two into the same definition. I don't think that quite captures the essence of your gift. I've wr...