Franklin Taggart's Unconventional Life Blog

4 in 10 adults say that public speaking is their greatest terror. And the Association of American Colleges and Universities listed public speaking as the most in-demand job skill that employers need but can’t find in job candidates. Those of us who are self-employed aren’t exactly off the hook either. Strong speaking skills are a necessity for many of us as we work to represent our businesses and attract new clients to our services. Communication skills are fundamental to our success and those who invest in building theirs are ahead of the game. Meridith Grundei helps good speakers become great speakers. As a speaking coach and trainer she’s worked with every kind of individual and organization; from the woman executive who needs to deliver a high-impact report to her board of directors, to small nonprofit agencies, to teams within the most well-known Fortune 500 companies. Meridith brings her decades of storytelling, stage performance, professional directing, and education to help vis

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the importance of including more intentional and personalized ways to recognize and appreciate clients’ business. This was triggered by the surprise of winning an award from the local SBDC offices where I offer consulting. My thinking has also been influenced by the book, Giftology, by John Ruhlin who goes to great lengths to learn about the passionate interests of his clients and then sending gifts that are significantly more personalized that the SWAG that is so often given as a way to promote businesses.   I share a couple of examples of people I know who show their customer appreciation in meaningful ways. Renee Shaw’s realty group offers frequent family friendly and cultural events, and they include everyone on their client list. Jose Guerrero and his wife deliver freshly made tamales during the holiday season to customers he serves in his cleaning business.   Thanks for watching! I invite you to subscribe, follow, or send a message to

  Hello and welcome to FranklinTaggart.com! In 2020 I've been going through a significant career transition in addition to my first pandemic. For those who don't know, I've mostly retired from the music profession including stepping down from my music leadership role at Unity of Fort Collins and not actively booking solo performances. I've had a growing desire over the past few years to have only one job, and many of you know that coaching and consulting have been a big part of my expression of gifts and talents for a long time. I'm ready to make that my full-time career. With that there will be several visible changes including a new, upgraded website, new programs for one-person creative businesses, along with a vibrant membership community. I'm so excited by all that will be coming soon and I can't wait to share these exciting developments with you. For the time being I won't be posting much here or on my other community channels except one. I would

Episode 2 in my series on easy online business opportunities: Start an Online Print On Demand Merchandise Shop. I started my shop on CafePress over ten years ago when my music career was interrupted by illness and severe tendinitis. It was an easy way to generate income by licensing my merchandise designs to be printed on a large variety of day to day items - from t-shirts to baby clothes to underwear to shot glasses and hundreds more. This video will introduce you to how POD works, six of the many hosting platforms available now, step-by-step directions on getting started, and some helpful advice from my experience. This is an opportunity that anyone can take advantage of! Here is a great book on getting started quickly in POD online shops. (Amazon Associates link)

  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