Franklin Taggart's Unconventional Life Blog

I signed up to pitch at One-Million Cups in Fort Collins this morning. I decided to share my pitch with you here on the Coffee Break. 1MC is one of my favorite networking organizations. If you have one where you are you should check it out. If you can't find one, see if you can jump into one of the Zoom meetings that are still happening. My pitch is all about creating a leave-behind that people will value, keep, and use. Some of this will be familiar to some of you, but it's a new spin for me. Stay tuned for a longer presentation that expands the ideas here. And if you want to schedule an IdeaBurst Session, go to https://bit.ly/IdeaBurst #creativity #marketing #businesscards

Interact Quiz Maker is one of my favorite creative marketing and sales tools. There are so many possible ways for quizzes to be used to do research, create engagement, and lead customers further along their journey with your business.  Most people try to start with a personality style quiz, which I find harder, but it may be more interesting for people to take. Interact has amazing templates to work with that will help you along the way, and there is a spectacular community called the Interact Quiz Collective where I've found exceptional help. Interact also has online chat help, office hours, online courses, and special workshops to make sure you don't have any problem learning how to use the great software. I'd like to invite you to try Interact today. It's one of the few products I use that I'm willing to be an affiliate for. It is that good! Please use this link to check it out: https://interact.grsm.io/jboh69i54xwj I wanted to show a simple knowledge-based quiz

I haven't always been good at asking for help, and it's still often the last resort because I like the feeling that goes with figuring things out for myself.  That all started to change back when I was going through the illness that sidelined my music career and opened my eyes to possibilities I otherwise wouldn't consider. Asking for help became more of a necessity during those years than a perceived luxury. You may have heard an adage in self-help and entrepreneurial circles that you are only as good as the five people you spend the most time with. I'm lucky that I live with two exceptional people and an extraordinarily talented dog, but just as lucky to have met a whole bunch of people in the past few years who are playing a higher-level game than I ever imagined I would play. What I've noticed is that the help I receive from these people gets the job done more effectively and quickly than the help I've received from peers in previous incarnations of my caree

  Working on course videos for my wife this weekend was a great reminder of what a star I'm sharing life with. She's an exceptional teacher and deserves a much wider path of influence, even though she's already created a very positive name for herself. Visit https://simplybeingwell.com and see what I'm saying. I've also been working on a Quiz Quick Start mini-course to highlight Interact Quiz Maker software. I became a big fan of quizzes a couple of years ago and I've written a few for clients. Finally getting around to making some of my own. I was asking some people in the Interact Quiz Collective for some feedback and was marveling at the intelligence in that virtual space. And every one of them is finding a way to share what they know in creative and innovative ways. There's never been a better time for sharing knowledge of every kind. The sizes and shapes of all the potential packages are already mind-blowing, but we're still finding new ways to sha

A lost afternoon at a trout pond with a five-year-old is the inspiration for today's Coffee Break. If we're making money by selling anything, one of the questions we have to ask is whether there is a demand for it. I work with some artists who don't believe there is a demand for things like art, but I challenge them to find a building in the world that doesn't have some kind of creative something somewhere. That said, if what we offer isn't selling, we need to look at a couple of options. Are we fishing in the right pond? Have the fish already been fed? Do we just need to come back tomorrow? Is there anything you can do to stimulate the appetite? The conditions have to be right for the sale to go through. If the horse is full, the carrot won't work. Enough metaphors for now. Go make something and then sell it. #creativebusiness #selling #marketing 

Several recent conversations about concerns over inflation and the economy are the inspiration for today's Coffee Break. As purse strings tighten, and people start to curb their spending, what can small businesses, freelancers, and artists do to weather the changes? An interesting observation from past recessions suggests that people who cater to higher-income earners tend to not be as negatively affected by downward economic trends as those who serve middle and low-income consumers. Luxury buyers' lifestyles won't see much of a change. Those whose buying power is affected negatively and those whose jobs may be compromised will be a different story. If you depend on high volume sales of low to mid-priced goods and services, you may want to adopt a different strategy as the economy adjusts itself.  And if you've been exclusively selling higher-priced goods and services, adding options in the middle price ranges may also be of benefit.  In the past couple of recessions, I

▼ Watch and Listen Below! ▼ Finding a way to leave a situation that is unbearable can be terrifying. When Jesse Panama found himself in the middle of a job he dreaded and with no known prospects, he yearned for a blueprint that would help him find the life he wanted. That was the beginning of a search that has paid off in extraordinary ways. Jesse found his way into the world of digital marketing largely by accident.  In 1998 when he was starting his transition to entrepreneurial freedom, there were abundant opportunities but no guidance. Jesse took a class on entrepreneurship and worked his way from there into a lifestyle that has taken him to six continents and success that continues to expand and grow. In this interview with Your Own Best Company host, Franklin Taggart, Jesse talks about his discovery of the Japanese principle of Ikigai, how he helps people leverage their greatest strengths and passions, and finding viable markets where those traits can flourish. He is the author of