Franklin Taggart's Unconventional Life Blog

I was asked today how I make these videos and podcasts so quickly. The short answer is that I cut corners. I don't make unique thumbnail images, my editing is light at best, I don't care if I say um or stammer, and I use the same templates daily for videos, images, and descriptions. The tools I use are Camtasia video recording and editing software from Camtasia, Canva Pro templates for graphics, a simple framework for descriptions, and automated distribution through Anchor. My content ideas most often come from conversations I've had within a day or two before and are not scripted or structured. I record the video with Camtasia using a template I made just for the coffee break. The template has front and end graphics, a pre-formatted title and text overlay, and a placeholder where my video will go. Once the video is recorded, I place it in the template, change the title overlay, trim the beginning and end of the recording, and add fades between the video elements. Then I re

Some of us believe that we can turn our successes into formulas and that if we can just figure out what people want to see and hear, they'll want to consume the content we create. We study analytics to see any patterns of predictable behavior to replicate what has already been successful, only to find that we could release the exact same video on two different days and get two entirely different reactions.  Yet we keep looking for the magic formula - that one piece of virality that will push our visibility from obscurity to influencer overnight. We study trends and attempt to read the minds of potential content consumers, trying to know in advance what they will be in the mood for and then bending our creativity in that direction.  It seems that of those who have been successful, extremely few were overnight. The majority of people who have grown large audiences have been consistently releasing the best content they could muster, and the audience decided if it was interesting or no

I heard Seth Godin talk about how he was able to maintain his one blog post a day routing. He described a very simple system. He keeps a folder on his computer of very short articles on every idea that occurs to him and he never runs out of things to publish. I have another friend who writes one blog post a week and while his posts tend to be longer than Seth Godin's, the system he's developed is pretty similar. He keeps a list of topic ideas and a simple folder system to keep track of his writing and any corresponding items so that when it's time to publish, he's ready to go. I'm working on this week's interview podcast episode and am going through the editing. I remember my early days in podcasting when I would dread the editing process because it was so tedious and took so long, but over time I've come to enjoy it. It also doesn't take nearly as long because I've done it enough to evolve a good system for the task. In this Coffee Break, I've g

▼▼▼Watch and Listen Below!▼▼▼ Is it challenging to stay focused, on task, and productive? From your desk chair do you sometimes wish you had someone to bounce an idea off of, or someone to review something you’ve just created and give you feedback? Or maybe it would be nice just to have another human to check in with throughout the day. In recognizing her own desire for these kinds of connections, Heather Chavin made her first leap into entrepreneurship and created GoGoDone, a virtual connecting and co-working space for a growing variety of remote workers, creatives, and even some who work for corporations and organizations. Since 2019, GoGoDone has grown into a worldwide community of people who offer each other support, accountability, ideas, feedback, and connection around the clock. In this episode, we’ll hear about how different kinds of people seek connection, how each of us has our own set of needs and preferences when it comes to balancing solitude and connection, and the im

  ▼▼▼Watch and Listen Below!▼▼▼ The need for business owners to consistently create marketing and sales content that stands out in an increasingly noisy marketplace reaching the right people with the right message at the right time. Cynthia Trevino teaches life coaches, creatives, and consultants how to get their amazing knowledge out of their heads and onto paper, so they can show up online and share...consistently!  She is a writer who’s been blogging since she had to explain what a blog was,  she’s published a book, and is a master * content re-purposer * She’s 100% a late bloomer, waiting to become an entrepreneur till she was over 50 and after a massive corporate downsizing. She says, “ I'm a master at brainstorming...it's one of few valuable lessons I learned "in corporate.“  Cynthia serves solopreneurs who want to show up online, having their messages and content ready to share so they can start relationships with their audiences of future clients, customers, and st