Franklin Taggart's Unconventional Life Blog

Many years ago, a good friend of mine spent over five thousand dollars on a digital recording system featuring ProTools's latest and greatest technology. My friend had never had any experience with digital recording, although he'd had decades of experience with analog. His sole reason for purchasing the system he did was that the salesman told him it was the industry standard, which was a true statement. He set out to learn how to use his new system and ran into obstacle after obstacle. Months after purchasing it, he had yet to have recorded even a few seconds of audio. He was beyond frustrated. Yes, this system was industry standard, but it was intended to be used by professional level technicians, not novices. He never was able to make the system work. We need to treat claims of industry standard with an eye of caution and suspicion as DIY entrepreneurs. Just because professionals within an industry can make something work doesn't mean it's your best option as a new u...

How many times have you been hungry, but you couldn't decide where to eat? So you jump in your car, or open the phone book, or Google, and you start just looking. If you get hungry enough you might just stop at the first restaurant you see. Then sometimes you might just spot something that appeals to your hunger. Other times you may get an idea for dinner that seems to drop into your mind from out of left field. What you realize is that there's no right way to figure out what you're going to have for dinner. You just look until you find something. Your career is much the same. In all the years I've worked with people on career direction, I've only met one who knew from a very young age what he wanted to be. The rest of the people I've worked with have had to look for their path, sometimes finding that one path isn't exactly what they were looking for then moving toward another. Starting a business is much the same. You can write it all down ahead of ti...