Franklin Taggart's Unconventional Life Blog

The day I became willing to sell used cars was the day I realized that I could sell my music services. How many creative people will gladly take on jobs in retail and in selling other people's stuff instead of selling what they make? It's more common than you might think. The business plan for a creative is simple but not easy - Make it. Show It. Sell it. For most of us, the making is the best part. It can be difficult but it was the reason we decided to go in this direction. We wanted to spend most of our time making the things we love to make. For some of us, the showing and sharing of our work is not a bad experience. We find ways and places to show people what we've made and we may even generate some sales this way. With technology, there are now more ways than ever to give people an experience of what we do. But selling, for many, is the sticking point. There's a self-consciousness that goes with selling our creations that stops us from acting and is our rationale

Two minutes of silence in solidarity with peaceful people everywhere. (There is nothing wrong with your volume. Sound will return momentarily.) #Ukraine

I looked at the forecast for next week and saw high temps in the 60s starting to show up again. Spring is getting closer! I'm ready to have shoveled my last snow for the year. It also feels like I've come into a Springlike season in my life. The last several years have had a lot of change and grief, along with a lot of reflection and introspection. Some of my limiting beliefs and habits have surfaced and I've been able to put them to rest, for at least a little while. What that leaves me with is a lot of energy, a lot of ideas, and a feeling of fresh optimism despite what else is going on in the world. There are a lot of new seeds being planted in my life - new directions, new clients, and new ideas that capture my curiosity. I don't know where any of them will lead for sure, but I will follow them where they go. I'm ready to tend my own soul more carefully and that's mostly what this Coffee Break is about. Finding ways to honor my own divinity and expressions o

▼▼▼Watch and Listen Below!▼▼▼ For the self-employed entrepreneur, a sabbatical might be the last thing you think about doing, and if you were to take one, it would probably have an agenda attached. We don't usually just decide to take time off for just being. After the launch of her book, Bursts of Brilliance for a Creative Life, author and publisher Teresa Funke was shown by her assistant that she was juggling the management of eighteen projects. Then when the Covid Pandemic started, her three streams of revenue all simultaneously ended. She tried to pivot just like everyone else was, but ultimately found that she was really ready for something else - but what? Finally, in June 2021 she landed on the idea that what was happening could be called a sabbatical, and it wasn't the kind of sabbatical we typically associate with that word. This wasn't going to be a time of focused production, it was going to be something else. Here on Your Own Best Company Teresa tells us the res

I've been called the king of the one-liners and my humor tends toward the sarcastic and dry side. I'm surprised I haven't been beaten up more. I've also been called hard to get to know and Mister Mystery.  For someone who feels like a good communicator, I still end up making a bad first impression a lot more often than I'd like. This habit of trying to get people to laugh at my sarcastic wit is one I probably need to retire.  The most recent story of why is in today's Coffee Break. For anyone who doesn't know me very well, I never intend to mean any harm to anyone. If we both can keep from jumping too quickly to conclusions, we might just have a shot at being good friends. #misunderstanding #communication #miscommunication Today I recorded and produced this Coffee Break and tomorrow's Your Own Best Company Podcast. It's a good one featuring my friend, author and impresario Teresa Funke. And if you have been thinking about starting a podcast and would

A couple of recent conversations have me thinking about the nature of self-discovery. Our individual observations and perceptions are uniquely subjective, even in measurable situations. We each have our own experience of life that can't be easily duplicated or completely understood by anyone else.  This isn't to say that self-discovery doesn't benefit other people. In discovering the 10,000 ways not to invent the light bulb, Edison found the one way that we all have used to interrupt our circadian rhythms. I'm just struck by the fact that my aha moments may only be for me and that yours are only for you, but there is pleasure in sharing them with each other. I'm also curious about how discovering one thing also uncovers the opposite. In finding out something that is a good fit for my personality and preferences, I also find the things that aren't necessarily so. My life will be nearing its end when I no longer want to discover new things that I didn't know b

So you took a great idea and created a way to deliver it, then you built an offer around it and announced it to all the circles you could, tweaking your message as you went...and...crickets? Yeah, sometimes that happens, even to the best sales and marketing gurus.  That doesn't specifically mean that your idea wasn't great. It could be that there was something about the package and offer that people didn't get or resonate with. Could be that you weren't reaching the right people. Could be that the timing of your release was in conflict with too many other options targeting similar audiences. Or maybe you haven't landed on the right way to communicate about it. Sometimes I've faced this and taken a break from it to give myself some space for reflection. I still believe we're given good ideas for a reason. I want to know what needs to shift in order for people to say yes to my offer. Sometimes it helps to get feedback about all these things from someone you tr