Franklin Taggart's Unconventional Life Blog

We're down to one car in our family, at least for a little while. My 2000 Ford Windstar van costs more to fix than it's worth and it will be going to a good cause in the next few days. The pandemic revealed a few fallacies about how much we can get done at home and now I find myself evaluating invitations to leave home much more carefully. And I also am looking much more critically at every item on my calendar and asking myself if this is how I really want to spend my time. It's a new way of life for someone who has owned his own car for the past 43 years. With a kid getting a driver's license in the next few months, I don't know how long this resolution will last, but the temporary change has been instructive.  I am a homebody, that's nothing new, but charges of being anti-social may be forthcoming and merited. Will leave home for poetry, some music, and dinner. #onecarfamily #twocargarage #imhome

If you struggle with energy fluctuations as you're working, here is a simple system I use to make decisions about how I spend my time. Many of the people who hire me have challenges with physical stamina, as I do. Dealing with an autoimmune thyroid disorder is a daily crapshoot when it comes to predicting energy levels. I have to do this on a moment-by-moment basis. As far as I'm concerned energy and focus are the same thing. I can't focus without energy. So throughout the day I'm checking in with my body and rating my energy level on a scale of one to ten. The video will tell you more about what I do from there. This all came on because last night I had a burst of ideas at bedtime that I couldn't risk losing, so I worked until 1:30 when my body said it was finished. So it goes with creativity. When the wave comes, you ride it or you watch it come and go. #creativity #inspiration #energymanagement

Your "About Me" page is the second most visited page on your website. For the longest time, I made the mistake of thinking that it needed to be about me. That's only partially true. The About Me page is the place where people are learning whether or not they want to work with you and your business. If it's not moving in that direction, there's a problem. In this Coffee Break, Franklin Taggart talks about the three most common problems people have with their About Me pages. This isn't an exhaustive list, but that would be for a much longer video. Correct the three in this video and you'll see it make a positive difference. Mentioned in this video: Karen Fournier at StarStream Productions https://starstreamproductions.com Laura Belgray at https://talkingshrimp.com (join the email list) And for Memorial Day, Brad Hoopes from Remember and Honor. Check out his interviews with US veterans at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH2mmWSgMHA5wXxHxWOFtmw Be sure to s

What do you want to do? I don't know what do you want to do? I'm hungry. Do you want to go out for breakfast? I don't know, do you? Three phones come out to look for options, but we all get distracted. Then the conversation starts again. We all end up frustrated, hungry, and unable to find a choice that works for all three of us. I'm the last person you'd want as a cruise director. Saturdays are my least favorite day of the week because of this. You'd think it would be the other way around. But working is always the easiest choice to make because there's always something to do, and that something is more interesting than the options we find as a family. And yet, we don't want to disappoint each other. Rock, meet hard place. #featuresofworkoholism #negotiationwearsmeout #notacruisedirector

▼Watch and Listen Below!▼ Most solopreneurs and freelancers don't start businesses with the idea that they might one day sell them. They usually just want to build something they enjoy doing that generates the income they want. But Stephen Krausse suggests there may be value being created that will someday be worth passing on. Stephen Krausse helps entrepreneurs buy and sell businesses. In this visit with Your Own Bst Company, Stephen gives host Franklin Taggart a quick view of what makes a #business sellable, mistakes to avoid when buying and selling, and protecting intellectual property, and shares a simple way to know when a business might be ready for a buyer. Be sure to listen for his advice about writing down your "no-go" situation before starting your negotiations. For more information about Stephen and his business services, visit https://beyond50percent.com He is also on social media: @beyond50percent #buyingabusiness #sellingabusiness #entrepreneurship

Bodhi got out of school today for the Summer. Sophomore year is over! Now, what are we going to do? I'm not good at leisure time. So this Coffee Break is all about trying some new things that aren't work. The good thing about all this is my work feels like leisure. It's rejuvenating, fun, and always interesting. I haven't found any hobbies that I like as much. This Stanley Tucci series, Searching for Italy makes me want to go there for several months. But I don't want to be a tourist. I want to meet the locals. And we've found that planning things as a family isn't something we do often or well. This is a cliffhanger. Stay tuned... #summervacation #timeoff #planningasafamily

  We've been watching Stanley Tucci - Searching for Italy on CNN and loving it. My Italian Sweetie is inspired by the show and we're both blown away by the quality and variety of the food he's finding. He's visiting 20 regions and revealing the unique menu in each. I'm amazed to see the difference, even in regions that are connected to each other geographically. Every one of them has a different food repertoire based on several factors - available ingredients, customs, cultural identity, culinary traditions, and even political influence all play a part in the food a locale is known for. If you've ever tried to cook from someone else's recipe, you may have found that you followed every instruction exactly and still found that you weren't pleased with the result. So the next time you cooked it, you made changes according to your own preferences and ideas. And this time it came out much more to your liking. And at some point, you started from scratch and ma