Franklin Taggart's Unconventional Life Blog

  Unless you took classes in advertising or rhetoric or were a high school debate team member, chances are you didn't have any formal education in persuasive communication. But as a business owner, most of the communication you do is persuasive in nature. Marketing, sales, recruiting, motivating, and encouraging are part and parcel of your daily interaction. Some of us think that persuasive communication is coercive or manipulative, and in some cases, it is. Still, we all have learned ways of influencing others that are honest, transparent, and helpful.  In this live, in-person class, we'll learn how to increase our marketing messages' persuasiveness. We'll cover important topics like: Creating sensory experiences with words. Building your power-verb vocabulary. Appealing to reason, emotion, and desire. Suggestion and imagination. Simple message frameworks. The class will be happening Wednesday, April 12, 2023, from 1-4 PM  at Larimer SBDC. The cost is $25, which is a s...

  As I sit to write this on Christmas Eve, it's 49 degrees and raining here in Colorado. Welcome moisture after an extremely warm and dry Autumn. Christmas Day also has some rain in the forecast, but we still haven't had our first proper snow.  I'm grateful for another year in which I had the joy of trying new things, meeting new people, and finding fun ways to spend time, despite the ongoing challenge we all face with a virus running rampant. I'm lucky to have had only a mild case, which with my health history I count a miracle. I feel lucky to have done all the things I did this year and lucky is one of the best feelings I know. I'm particularly grateful for my family and their well-being. Bodhi is a high school soph this year and he continues to be a source of pride and lightheartedness. He received an academic letter for achieving and holding a 3.5 or higher GPA his freshman year, and he just finished his first semester of sophomore year with a 3.65. He is on th...

  If you're a Larimer County business owner who would like to improve your social media game, I'll be presenting on The Care and Feeding of Your Algorithm at the Marketing Mastery Half Day Bootcamp of National Small Business Week the morning of Sept. 14. Learn how to transform your social media algorithm from a monster to a lap dog. The Bootcamp will also feature LBDC Director Kat Hart presenting on Bare Minimum Digital Marketing, and Brenda Rundback of Shadow Play Films teaching Getting Comfortable in Front of and Behind the Camera. This will be a fun and insightful morning! Registration information here: https://clients.coloradosbdc.org/workshop.aspx?ekey=80410130 Hosted by Loveland Business Development Center  &  Larimer SBDC Check out the whole week's agenda here: https://larimersbdc.org/national-small-business-week/

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...

When Curt Bear left a 15 year banking career to start his own food business he created a peer advisory group to help him make the the transition from the corporate world to the entrepreneurial. After 2 years in the food business he realized that his peer advisory think tank for small businesses had become both more of a passionate interest and a more viable business. LoCo Think Tank has grown to include five chapters in Northern Colorado and is continuing to expand into new communities as well as extending its services into larger companies. For more information about LoCo Think Tank: https://www.locothinktank.com On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/locothinktank Larimer SBDC: http://www.larimersbdc.org For more information about Franklin Taggart and The Reset Podcast: https://franklintaggart.com

I recently wrote a guest post on the Loveland Business Development Center blog about podcasting. I'll be offering a free Lunch 'n Learn presentation on podcasting on Friday, June 15 at noon at LBDC. Check out the link to read the post and register for the session. You'll leave the workshop with tools for planning, producing, and promoting your podcast, and you will be able to get yours started right away. https://lovelandbusiness.com/an-easy-way-to-grow-and-reach-your-market-podcasting/