Franklin Taggart's Unconventional Life Blog

  When I retired from performing in 2022, I wasn't sure how music was going to show up in my life. For a couple of months, I didn't pick up the guitar - the longest stretch without playing since I got my first guitar. Even during the years I struggled with tendinitis, I would still pick it up and play until the pain stopped me. In the months since I stopped performing, I've regained my love and appreciation just for the time I get to pick up my guitar and play. That is the essence of this interview. My long-time friend Margo set up this interview with Jake Douglass. His mission is exciting. It's driven by the desire to turn people on to the joy of playing music for music's sake. We cover every aspect of the role of music in my life, from my first piano lessons to my last gig and beyond. It was fun and at moments, touching, to remember specific moments when a random encounter started a new trajectory of my journey. Please listen, and if you enjoy what you hear, give

  Have you noticed a slowdown in your business in the last year?  You're not alone. A client I was talking with yesterday asked an increasingly common question, "Is it always this hard to find new business?" She opened her consulting business early in 2023 after being laid off from her job in the post-COVID months. She landed a major contract within a month of opening that kept her in the black for most of the year, but that contract isn't being renewed, and now she needs to find new clients ASAP.  She's not the first one to come to me with questions like this in recent months. Costs are increasing, interest rates are rising, wages are not keeping pace, and belts are tightening. When spending slows down, most businesses are impacted at some level.  These downturns can be scary times, especially for new business owners who haven't experienced them before. Consistent, steady growth isn't a pattern we see in the normal nature of things. Sustainable businesses

 ▼ Watch and Listen Below! ▼ For coaches, consultants, and other experts, reaching new audiences with your messages, experience, and offers is one of the biggest business challenges. You'll be given a litany of options that will include blogging, YouTube, social media strategy, public speaking, podcasting, and whatever marketing soup of the day everyone is raving about. Erica Holthausen has a better idea. Share your expertise with the masses by publishing articles in major publications like Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur, and professional journals. The digital realm has opened many doors for experts to share their writing that weren't available even a few years ago. Erica's coaching programs help professionals plan, write, pitch, and place their articles in publications that will expose thousands of new people to their work. From here, you'll want to join her for her free Q and A session, Pitched to Published here: https://www.catchlinecommunications.com/p2p.html While you

Noticing how the state of mind I'm in when I'm creating is a consciousness that allows me to see possibilities and opportunities that weren't able to be on my screen even a few weeks ago. It's more than just a flow state. It's a level of inspiration that keeps revealing more and more potential. Seeing so many ways I can use the quiz and course software and design tools I've been learning, and how many opportunities to help others with those skills and that knowledge there are. If you're feeling stuck in any area, find a creative activity to immerse yourself in for a little while and see if that activity allows your mind to shift into a greater expansion of awareness, allowing you to see the possibilities you're waiting and looking for. #onlinecourse #quizzes #teachable 

▼Watch and Listen Below!▼ As an Executive Assistant and a Virtual Assistant, Linda Eskridge realized that much of her responsibility was finding unique and meaningful gifts for the people she worked for to give to prospects, customers, and clients. They wanted more of a personal touch than sending the common branded notepads, pens, and t-shirts. Through these experiences, she had the idea that offering her services as a gifting consultant might actually have a place and Couture Business Gifting was born. Linda is hired by busy entrepreneurs, executives, and yes, their assistants in the process of research, acquisition, packaging, and delivery of gifts that build strong relationships between her clients and their customers. In this episode, she lets us know: ** The importance of building good relationships with customers. ** Research to find the interests and passions of the gift recipients. ** Creating a progressive gifting strategy. ** Remembering to include the gatekeepers. And more.

  ▼Watch and Listen Below!▼ Entrepreneurs often compartmentalize the different parts of their lives in ways that become unmanageable and that lead to higher stress, burnout, and in the extreme, health crises. Kc Rossi found herself in the midst of such an experience after building a highly successful company but with the high cost of "being on all the time." This unsustainable lifestyle led to an acute health condition that required an immediate and thorough change. As Kc found her way into healthier ways of living and doing business, she also found that there were opportunities being presented to her to work with other successful women facing similar challenges to those she had faced. She is now a highly successful business and leadership coach with a mission to unite and amplify empowered women. In addition to coaching, Kc is also the host of Women Developing Brilliance® - The Spirit of Business With Kc Rossi podcast, and she's a monthly executive contributor to Brainz

▼▼▼ Watch and Listen Below!▼▼▼ Some of the best creativity-themed moments from season one of Your Own Best Company with Franklin Taggart. Cheryl Benedict https://thewisdomoftransition.com Full Episode: https://youtu.be/7typuPJFogI Jillian Lee Antinora https://jillianleeantinoramusic.com Full Episode: https://youtu.be/k7o7-xLvfU4 Cynthia Trevino https://shemarketsmentor.com Full Episode: https://youtu.be/g3Yg2JcKh9M Breanna Gunn https://breannagunn.com Full Episode: https://youtu.be/1piz0i-zHHE Johanna Walker https://johannawalker.com Full Episode: https://youtu.be/DUEOoIH8tLg Diana Needham https://businessbookpartners.com Full Episode: https://youtu.be/Tn-e1vOZYkQ Sheryl Plouffe https://sherylplouffe.com Full Episode: https://youtu.be/EL0GdX9OCRA Cindy Skalicky https://onpoint-communications.com Full Episode: https://youtu.be/KANyMLgZt7U Meridith Grundei https://grundeicoaching.com Full Episode: https://youtu.be/o1rfkZhYRIA Dre Beltrami https://thesolopreneursociety.com Full Episode: h

Your Own Best Company has featured over 40 interviews since May 2021, and it's time for some reflections and some highlights. Add to that the 90 Virtual Coffee Break shows and you've got a lot to sort through. Join Franklin for some memories, some encouragement, and some gratitude as he looks back on the first year of Your Own Best Company.

▼▼▼Watch and Listen Below▼▼▼ Communication Coach, Cindy Skalicky says, “Introverted public speakers are needed and hard to come by. I want to reach people who have an interest in presenting more but who are unsure how to go about this because it makes them nervous. It does not have to be about getting onto a stage, but often early-stage folks don't even want to share a lot about why they are great at what they do because they feel pushy. I want to help them see the value in preparing messaging for those 'elevator pitch' or 'sales pitch' moments so they can stand in their shoes with confidence and attract more clients.” Cindy is an expert in rhetorical theory - or the science of persuasion. Her passion lies in taking a message in and teasing it apart to determine its overall effectiveness and persuasiveness. She helps clients understand the power of persuasion by teaching Aristotle's hidden gem of genius, the rhetorical triangle. Cindy is originally from Chicago;

  I've hosted the Artist 2 Artist concert series for over seven years now. The idea for this series happened when I participated in the former Arts Incubator of the Rockies Evolve program. It wasn't the project I ended up doing for the program, but after the program ended it was the project that actually survived. For the first several years the series was held in various galleries, cafes and creative spaces around Northern Colorado. Despite my best efforts the series never quite achieved the goal I had set for it of expanding the audience for both art and music by presenting both in a setting and manner where each enhanced the other. The few people who did attend really got it. We had some great experiences but I was starting to think that it had run its course. In 2018 that all changed when Elizabeth Morisette from Museum of Art Fort Collins reached out and asked me if I would consider hosting the series at the museum. While I was skeptical that it would be successful I still

I'm working on a series of short videos on making money online. I've been asked by a lot of people during the stay at home period about how they can find alternate ways to generate income. Making and Selling Digital Info Products is the first of these videos. Digital product sales is one of the easiest online businesses to start. You may already have digital files on your computer that would be valuable to others. Each of us has expertise in some area of life that we can learn how to package and share with people who are willing to pay for it. If you can demonstrate, tell, describe, teach, present, or translate your knowledge into a digital format, you can make money. In this video you'll learn how to choose a topic, create a product, set up a delivery channel, and market and sell your first digital product. Watch and see how easy it can be.

One of the most asked questions from clients the past two weeks has been "How do I start teaching courses online?" Since we're all trying to figure out how we can move our businesses to online venues, Nick Armstrong of WTF Marketing and Fort Collins Startup Week is producing a series of webinars to help people get started in the online realm. Yesterday I sat down and had an hour long conversation with Nick about getting started with online teaching. There is a PDF download that goes with this webinar that you can download here . This webinar covers questions like: Equipment Choosing Course Topics Production Planning Choosing a Course Platform Pricing Your Course Simple Marketing Strategy You can watch the Online Teaching webinar below. To see the other webinars in the series please check out the Fort Collins Startup Week video page . Finally, if you are interested in getting started with online teaching but you are confused about getting started, ple

In this final episode of The Reset for 2019 we’re treated to a conversation with Jeannie Zandi. Jeannie is a teacher, author, and speaker who leads people to fully embrace their humanness with all of its twists, turns, triumphs and tragedies. She teaches internationally in both live and online settings, and she offers courses through her online school. In this conversation we talk about spirituality, gender, the subtle art of living as a techy-feelie, and a large menu of upcoming events that Jeannie will be hosting. Thanks for listening this year, and I’ll look forward to bringing more your way in 2020! Jeannie Zandi Online Website: http://jeanniezandi.com Online School https://school.jeanniezandi.com Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/WorkofJeannieZandi/ Friends of Jeannie Zandi Private Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/426777171176917/

Long time entrepreneurs Nanci Garnand and Sony Jackson have both built successful small businesses. After meeting through a coaching program, the two became friends and over time began to think about ways in which they could help other small business owners. Strategic Success Tools was born. In this interview we’ll hear their stories of their beginnings in business, their challenges along the way, and the brilliant new tool they’ve created to make exceptional Customer Relationship Management simple and affordable. To take advantage of the free 30 day trial of Strategic Success Tools please visit http://bit.ly/ftfreetrial (Affiliate)

Watch or listen to the episode below. After realizing that climbing the corporate ladder held little appeal for him, Carl Dierschow discovered through a compelling journey that coaching was his calling. He’s an experienced business and career coach as well as a guide to organizations in strategic planning, organizational alignment, and product and service development. He’s an Associate Certified Coach through the International Coach Federation and has received further certification from both Comprehensive Coaching University and The Forton Group. He is the sole US representative of Small Fish Business Coaching, a coaching practice uniquely suited to provide business coaching to small businesses worldwide. He also writes the weekly blog, The Values-Based Business. More information is available at https://www.smallfish.us/ Attract Customers to your Powerful Mission webinar http://www.webinar.smallfish.us/ Subscribe to The Values-Based Business blog at https://valuesbased.biz/ Conn

(Video and audio below article) In the years following her son Matt’s death, Jane Nicolet eventually found healing and solace through writing. Her letters, later collected into a book called Letters for Grace: One Mother’s Journey, helped her through the arduous stages of loss and grief then culminated in a reconnection with her son’s spirit and memory. In her second book, Finding Grace: Journeys of Grief, Courage, and Healing, she moves beyond her own story to help other bereaved parents tell theirs, providing experienced reflections along the way. There will be an author talk and book signing for her second book at the Fort Collins Barnes and Noble, 4045 S. College in Fort Collins on Saturday, April 6th at 11AM. Learn more: https://www.janenicoletauthor.com On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/JaneNicoletAuthor/ For more information about The Reset Podcast visit https://franklintaggart.com

Fort Collins Startup & Artup Week is February 25th-March 1st, 2019. I'm honored and thrilled to be a presenter this year. In all, I'll be offering three presentations: Tuesday, February 26th from 2-2:45PM at the Innosphere I'll be talking about using podcasts for marketing, sales and customer service. Wednesday, February 27th from 4-5PM at the Carnegie Creative Center I'll be presenting on the topic of 5 online income streams for creative businesses . Friday, March 1st from Noon-1PM I'll be speaking on booking yourself as a podcast guest . There are so many great presenters this year. I'd encourage you to register soon because these events fill up fast. You can register and sign up for specific classes at startupfoco.com . Also check out the podcast and blog on the website! I had a great conversation with Nick Armstrong who is one of the planners of the event and one of my local heroes. You can hear my episode here .

After relocating from Brazil to Northern Colorado, Betina Meyer-Pflug decided to change her career direction. Taking her 20 years of business and marketing experience and training to be a coach, she is bringing together an exceptional set of business tools to help non-profit organizations work more efficiently, accomplishing a greater mission and getting the most out of their resources. Trained as a teacher of the popular management software SalesForce, Betina leads and advises non-profit professionals to build and lead stable, sustainable businesses. In the near future she will be offering a new podcast, Wisdom for Nonprofits that will feature proven leaders in the non-profit sector who will share their experiences, insights, and best practices. More information about Betina and the Wisdom for Nonprofits podcast is available at http://wity.tech Join the Wisdom for Nonprofits LinkedIn Group here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12198849/

Sometimes a fresh start begins with a cease and desist order. Sari Kimbell is a business consultant who helps people brings their food product ideas to market. In this follow-up interview we learn about some of the scary things that can happen if we use another company’s trademark. We also hear about a brand new program that Sari is offering to help food product creators get the best possible start in business. The Food Business Success Startup Accelerator will be launching in a couple of weeks. If you want to start a food business, listen to the end for an amazing offer. If you don’t want to start a food business, you may want to after you hear what Sari is up to. For more information about the program, visit https://foodbizsuccess.com To watch the video series on ten mistakes that food businesses make, visit https://www.facebook.com/foodbizsuccess/ Follow Food Business Success on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/foodbizsuccess/ For more information about Franklin Taggart and The

In 2012, decathlete Chris Helwick retired from professional track and field after a successful career. In both the 2008 and 2012 Olympic trials he had placed in the top 10 finalists, needing to be in the top three to compete in the Olympics. After retiring he tried his hand at business, and took some time to travel, eventually returning to his Colorado hometown. A random comment from an acquaintance led to a strange sequence of events. Beginning with a deep analysis of his own movements, he began to understand new levels of performance potential, and began to wonder if this could make the competitive difference in a run for the 2020 games in Tokyo. To follow Chris’ journey to the Olympics, join his email list at http://chrishelwick.com