Franklin Taggart's Blog

100 Ways is a brainstorming exercise that use for myself and with clients to help generate ideas beyond those that are obvious. I find brainstorming for a designated length of time distracting because I get concerned about time running out and I don't focus on generating ideas. 100 ways is simple. Set a specific goal at t eh top of the page, and then write down 100 ways to attain that goal, with no regard for how long it takes to get to 100. Want to find a way to make $5000? Write down 100 ways and you'll probably find more than one way you can attain that goal. Some of your ideas will surprise you. Here's a simple worksheet that you can use.

** Disclaimer: This isn't my normal blog fare. If you're interested at all in email marketing, this article might be of interest, but otherwise it's long and potentially boring. I'm also not offering it as a prescription for how anyone should do email marketing, or email in general. It's just some observations of my own. A couple of weeks ago I was presenting a workshop in which I was talking about my recent experiences with email. The gist of the story is that a few months ago, after getting tired of the vitriol in many online exchanges, I wanted to bring a more uplifting message to people. I started a weekly email message, now called Inbox Encouragement. I was telling the group about how I was seeing open and click through rates that were the highest I'd ever seen. Open rates as high as 80% and click through rates ranging from 25-45%. At one point in the discussion I was asked if I had any idea of any of the clicks were converting. In sales language that

A succession of hardships and loss moved Katie Huey to seek her own grounding through writing. Her blog, 52 Beautiful Things is a growing collection of her insightful reflections that draw attention to the beautiful things we might be missing as the world’s chaos distracts us. Enjoy the interview, and please visit https://52beautifulthings.com to experience Katie’s writing for yourself. More information about The Reset Podcast is available at https://franklintaggart.com

A year ago, Lenina Olivas walked out of her teaching job with no clear idea of what she was going to do next. In the year that’s just passed she’s found an opportunity for oil painting to become a cornerstone of an entirely new direction, which includes being hired as an art gallery director and an invitation to participate in a local art studio tour. Enjoy her story! Lenina’s links: Website: https://leninaolivasfineart.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Leninaolivasfineart/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lenina_olivas_fine_art/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtoKT93ahsgfcN2BmuQixaQ Lenina will be the featured artist at the Christmas Shops at Centerra in Loveland on December 6, 2018. Her work can also be seen at the Lincoln Gallery in Loveland, Colorado. http://lincolngallery.com If you’ve enjoyed The Reset Podcast, please subscribe through your favorite podcast listening app. For more information, please visit https://franklintaggart.com .

From a brush with history at Occidental College in the 70s, to advertising in Austin in the 80s, and on to a life of devotion and service, Dhara Rose shares her path up until now, and where she’ll be going next. The words of her guru Neem Karoli Baba to love, serve, and remember are leading her to another expression of Grace. More information about the Neem Karoli Baba Ashram in Taos, New Mexico may be found at nkbashram.org You may also follow the news of the ashram on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/www.nkbashram.org/

A family accident and deep dissatisfaction with her job propelled Megan Melton into starting her own business, and finding new energy and satisfaction in life. Thorough her coaching she is helping young businesses tighten up their operations, and find new stability and growth. Now she enjoys more time with her family, and a renewed sense of purpose and strength. Enjoy The Reset Podcast interview with Megan now, and please subscribe to hear more great stories of people making fresh starts in every area of their lives. Megan is offering a free 30 minute coaching call. Listen for her email address in the episode. Connect with Megan on LInkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/meganmelton/ Follow Megan on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/acceleratedmegan/

In this episode of The Reset Podcast, Franklin Taggart interviews Susan Atwater and Jeffrey Pomranka of Meals on Wheels of Loveland and Berthoud, an organization that has been active in our community for 50 years. We talk about the challenges faced by non-profit organizations, recent and upcoming special events, and how the non-profit world is changing as more transparency and accountability are put in place. For more information, visit https://www.lovelandmealsonwheels.org/ On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LovelandMealsOnWheels/

Brian Hanning is a Northern Colorado attorney who specializes in helping small businesses with their legal concerns. He is also a volunteer the Colorado Attorneys for the Arts, providing legal services for qualified artists. Brian is an active member in our community, volunteering frequently to help with events like Made in Loveland Week, and Fort Collins ComiCon. In this episode he shares about his own discovery of his passion for law, some stories of how he helps small businesses and artists, and some of the local events and organizations that he generously supports with his time and talent. Recommended Links: Brian’s website - https://thatdamnlawyer.com/ Colorado Attorneys for the Arts - http://cbca.org/colorado-attorneys-for-the-arts/ (note: the link mentioned in the interview is incorrect) Brian on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-hanning-942ab812/ Contact Brian - brian@thatdamnlawyer.com

After graduating from Harvard, Dr. Joanie Connell landed in Silicon Valley as an engineer only to find that she wanted more in her work than what she’d been finding. Taking a leap in an entirely new direction, she received her PhD in Psychology from U.C. Berkeley and entered the business of consulting. She’s the author of Flying Without a Helicopter (Berrett-Koehler Publishers), and most recently she’s the host and producer of a new podcast, Reinventing Nerds.  For more information:  flexibleworksolutions.com  flyingwithout.com  reinventingnerds.com   This show was recorded using Zoom video conferencing bit.ly/2sPDZLf

Update: I've found since this was first posted that there are a couple of other prominent publications called An Encouraging Word. The new name for this weekly message is Inbox Encouragement.  I’ve been moved lately to do whatever I can to put some more light into the world, and I’ve decided that’s what I’d like to do with all my methods of communication including writing, music, podcasts, and teaching. I’ve decided to refocus the primary intent of my email list to share messages of encouragement and gratitude. I’ve become overwhelmed with the amount of negativity and discord among my large circle of friends, and I just don’t want to feed that beast any more than it already eats. I will be writing Inbox Encouragement every Wednesday, and I’d be honored if you’d be willing to receive it. I believe very deeply that there is abundant hope for humanity, in spite of all that we see happening. We humans have the capacity to experience an infinite expansion of our consciousness, and

My guest for this episode is hobby farmer Melissa Davis. 8 years ago Melissa Davis left a management career to begin growing food for her family. After several years of preparing the soil on her family’s micro farm, Melissa now grows about half of the food her family consumes in a year.  She calls it hobby farming, but it sounds like more work than most hobbies. This is her story about her transition from corporate work to working in the soil, and her new interest in acquiring a small manufacturing business. For more information about Kiss the Ground visit   www.kisstheground.com   For the Savory Institute visit   www.savory.global   This interview was recorded on Zoom.  Zoom video conferencing is available for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android. Try Zoom today:   bit.ly/2sPDZLf  

My guest for this episode is financial coach, Penny Kidd. After learning to manage her own money, Penny found a new direction helping people earn more, save more, and rapidly reduce their debt. She shares practical strategies and tools, all while giving her clients persistent nuges toward financial freedom. Sign up for a free discovery session with Penny at   pennywisecoaching.com On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PennywiseFinancialCoaching/ On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaY_xlaBfwkJ1admHf-rpbg On Twitter: https://twitter.com/PennyKiddCoach Try Zoom today: http://bit.ly/2sPDZLf

Stephanie Whall left behind a less than inspirational project management career to pursue a passion project of bringing fun fitness programs to families like hers. Staying fit together and having fun together turned into her business ENJOYit Fitness. Learn more at http://enjoyitfitness.com Try ZOOM video conferencing here: http://bit.ly/2sPDZLf

Hi Friends, The beginning of 2018 has been full of big and small changes. I have been laying low for a lot of it. I'll get to the reasons in a bit. First thing I want to say is I hope that your year is off to a great start! Tonight's Alley Lights concert at the Rialto in Loveland has been a big part of my life this year. Last year I attended a breakfast meeting of the Loveland Downtown Business Alliance where I heard a concern on the part of a downtown business owner who was concerned about sending his employees into the alley at night to empty trash because the lighting there was less than adequate. We also found out that alley lighting had not been included in a long term development plan for downtown, so we needed a more immediate solution. I had the idea to put on a benefit concert to raise money for a seed fund for this effort. I mentioned the idea to Jacque Wedding-Scott at the Loveland Downtown Partnership and the Alley Lights Concert was born. My friends Dave Beegle

In conflict, I take on one of three roles: Victim, Rescuer, or Persecutor. In Victim mode, I fixate on the injustice, the wrongdoing, the trigger; pointing my finger at the persecutor, avoiding responsibility for the emotional state that my own fixation is creating. In Rescuer mode, I step in to  help, overstepping my boundaries, and taking on responsibility for feelings that aren't mine, trying to fix. In Persecutor mode, I shift into anger; blaming, raging, powering up; heaping shame and contempt upon the Victim. As the drama unfolds, I dance from role to role, and as I dance the conflict grows, the pain that I'm attempting to avoid grows, and the elephant in my room shits all over the floor. All of it, every role, all the pain, all the drama are products of my own perceptions. They don't exist in an objective reality. They are purely constructs of my own mind. As long as I'm in the drama, there is no relief. Like the old movie War Games, where the hacker and the comp

I believe that that core concern of our time is not political or religious at its root. I believe we are in the midst of a worldwide crisis of consciousness. If we look back over the relatively short history of humans on Earth, our recorded history is particularly minute. We've only been able to keep track of things for about 5000 years, but paleontologists are finding indications of the presence of humans that spans back into the hundreds of thousands of years, possibly even longer. Every generation learns more about our existence than the one that preceded it. Where 5000 years ago, myths and stories were used to relate histories and worldviews, now we have a much more complex understanding of where we've come from, where we've been, and where we're going. Even so, there are a large number of humans who are clinging to a worldview that doesn't take into account much that we've learned over the past 2000 years. In the course of my own lifetime I've experienc

"C'mon kid...JUMP!" the kids behind me on the diving board shouted. As their pleas became more urgent and demanding, I looked over the edge and trembled, partly because I was cold and wet, and partly because of the terror I was feeling in that moment. At 6 years old I was already a pretty good swimmer. I'd taken two summers worth of lessons, and I could easily get from one end of the pool to the other, but this was the latest in a growing string of false starts in my quest for conquering the diving board. I was the last of my group of friends to accomplish this particular rite of summertime passage. It wasn't for lack of desire; I'd wanted to jump off the diving board since at least the Summer before, and I'd been thinking about it almost to the point of obsession throughout the present Summer, which was nearing its end. I'd come close to jumping twice before this time, and I'd gotten as close as the end of the board before running back to th

We have a rule in our house that whoever doesn't cook the meal does the dishes. While it seems fair on the surface, I'm not so sure. I'm a one pot kind of guy, and I tend to clean as I go most of the time, so that by the time I serve, there won't be a sink full of dishes other than the ones we eat from. My wife is a chef. The table is her canvas, and the kitchen her palette. We own three generations worth of cooking utensils of every variety, and I'm pretty sure that she uses most of them whenever she cooks. Now the bellywaddin' that I cook is comforting and filling. It won't show up on any Food Network shows, but for a hungry family it'll do just fine. Monica's meals are much more of a craft. She never uses recipes, except to bake, and she follows her whims and inspiration until there is a hearty, world class meal on the table. She's Italian, so most of the time it's Mangia! time around our house, which means that when she cooks, I do the di

Self doubt, insecurity and uncertainty have been frequent visitors to my psyche for as long as I can remember. I can remember feeling these things all the way back to my earliest memories. They're not necessarily tied to any particular circumstances. I just felt that way. I still often feel that way. For a long time I thought that these frequent feelings were an indicator of some personal deficiency. Why the hell couldn't I just be more confident, self assured, and secure? If I felt this way there must be something really wrong with me. Therapy ensued. I found little relief. Talking about my past, my upbringing, and social patterns didn't help. Nor did positive thinking, rationalizing, or emoting. Hitting the bed with a pillow only damaged the pillow. I also tried to fix the feelings by seeking solutions through relationships, sex, religion, spirituality, work, money, and anything else that I believed could repair me. Nothing worked. Nothing. Several years ago