Franklin Taggart's Unconventional Life Blog

As a solopreneur consultant, Reuben Swartz found that the learning curve and the frustration he experienced trying to adapt off-the-shelf enterprise customer relationship management software made his marketing and selling experience much less than enjoyable. As he started to put together tools of his own to track and manage his customer relationships, he started to look forward to his sales calls, and the friction he'd experienced with the larger software packages dissolved. As he showed people his new systems, he discovered there was a product opportunity there, and Mimiran was born. Mimiran is the "Anti-CRM" designed specifically for solopreneurs that will help you track your sales process and make your customer contacts easier to manage and much more enjoyable. It also allows relationship-based solopreneurs to prioritize conversations that lead to long-term connections and opportunities. In this episode, we talk about: ** The foundation of any relationship-based busine

I had an email exchange with a good friend today on the topic of "enough." She wondered if the concept of enough could be applied to things like to-do lists, marketing activities, networking, and other aspects of career and business.  While we may feel overwhelmed by these things, I have started to view these as evidence of abundance instead of as a nuisance or obstacle. Honestly, if they weren't tending this garden, there wouldn't be this much growth.  I grew up with a grandmother who canned vegetables and fruit every year. I remember some years seeing hundreds of jars of beets, tomatoes, green beans, apricots, peaches, cherries, and more in the canning kitchen in the basement of my Great Aunt's hotel. We would go around to all of our farming relative's places and pick up bushel after bushel of produce and take back to Granny in the canning kitchen. Over the course of the next several weeks, she would methodically prepare and can hundreds of jars. After all t

Sometimes I review copy and messaging for people's social media, email campaigns, and sales pages to see where they make strong connections and where they don't. One place I see them struggle sometimes is when they're offering a program to people who have already surpassed the place where the offering was necessary, and they have a new set of needs and challenges. As a result of this, the messaging isn't appropriate or appealing to the audience in their new circumstances. Another place I see this phenomenon is when a creative artist like a musician starts to reach a new level of expression that no longer appeals to the venues where they've experienced their initial opportunities and success. Those of us who've been around the block a few times may recognize the cycles of learning and growing as we've been through it enough to notice. But for some people it the early stages of their work and business, it may be a pretty scary circumstance. The things that the

Interact Quizzes has an incredible staff. It's small but mighty, and they're making a big dent in the burgeoning demand for great quiz software. I interviewed Jessmyn Solana a few months back and totally enjoyed the conversation and her energy and insights. This morning Jessmyn and the other interact folks released a podcast interview with yours truly. It was fun to share part of my story and be in the guest chair. I'd love for you to listen here. It's one of the best versions of my backstory that I've shared. Thanks, Jessmyn, for the excellent interview!

I've interviewed over 150 podcast guests and been a guest on a few dozen. Most of the people I've interviewed have been stellar, but occasionally I have people on the show who don't turn out so great. This episode answers the FAQ - How can I be a great podcast guest? I keep forgetting that common sense isn't common, so some of these things will seem like 'duh' moments for some of you. If that's the case, you are probably already a good guest. Here are some nugs: ** Do your research and make it thorough. ** Present yourself in the best, most positive way. No slackers. ** Don't waste the host's time. ** Follow the submission guidelines to the letter. More in the video. Thanks to Interact Quizzes, Jessmyn Solana and the Creator Stories Podcast for the opportunity to be your guest! Want to watch? Go here: https://youtu.be/NFGb7WuD1IE Want to join Cat Stancik's Lead Boss Mixer? Podcast host and guest speed networking coming up the second Friday in Dec

Several years ago, I offered a workshop called Why People Don't Buy. I may resurrect it because I'm hearing that question quite a bit from some people I know. Some reasons are obvious - not the right time, not enough money, someone else sells it for less - but the reasons I really wanted to explore were the ones from people who had engaged with the message long enough to get to the point of sale but then bailed. Ten minutes isn't enough to give a comprehensive answer to the question, but I was able to pull a few of the top reasons people don't buy once they reach the sales page and share them here.  The biggest reason for a low number of purchases is that the page isn't reaching the right people. For many people, the front-end marketing was non-existent or thrown together as the last-minute detail they should have put more time and thought into. They skipped the SEO, didn't post on social, or didn't give people enough of a reason to go any further. Other rea

If you want to save a ton of money as an entrepreneur, I have one suggestion. Learn how to sell. Don't just read the book. Practice selling. Practice until you feel as natural in a sales role as when you're having a casual conversation with a friend. Why? Because many of the people I've coached have spent tens of thousands of dollars on things they think will do the selling for them, but those things don't do the job. In essence, they've paid to avoid the thing they're intimidated by or afraid of. These wastes of money could have been avoided by confronting their fear and learning how to feel confident in selling. If you're struggling with telling people about the things you are offering and why they need to buy them, let's have a session. It's easy to set up. Click https://bit.ly/BestNextStepCall and schedule your free one-hour coaching session now. It will make and save you a ton of cash. #marketing #sales #confidence