Franklin Taggart's Blog

Do you ever wake up in a funk? I did this morning. I don't know if it was interrupted sleep, lower back pain, a case of the Mondays, or what, but I was in a low state. I've gotten away from the practice of labeling emotions positive or negative. Especially in the case of emotions that are uncomfortable or uneasy, I don't think it's helpful to add another layer of judgment on top of them. A few years ago I had an insight about the relationship between emotion and the human will. Distinct from willpower, the propensity to override our habitual tendencies and take "massive action", the human will is more like an energy management system. It monitors our energy levels and gives us data to make decisions about what we can commit to doing. Emotions are the language of will. When we have emotional states we consider low, it's because they reflect a lower level of energy. Anger is like the light that goes off when you're about to run out of gas. "Urgent m

I believe we each have our own unique way of influencing other people. One of the benefits of discovering this way, what I call your unique marketing modality, is that it helps lower natural resistance to be more publicly visible and assertive.  Resistance is a natural protective mechanism we all have, and highly sensitive people tend to have it even more acutely than others. While it's not a problem in itself, it becomes problematic if we let our resistance make our important decisions for us. The ego is doing its job to alert us to unfamiliar and possibly threatening circumstances. In the same way we all have patterns of resistance, we also all have an inner source of wisdom that we can learn to tune into. For me, the voice of wisdom comes more quietly than resistance tends to, and I usually need to be in an open and receptive state of mind in order to hear it. One of the things I like most about the marketing modality concept is that it lowers our natural resistance and allows u

This Coffee Break is for all of us who get to the edge of the diving board and hesitate. We think we can make the jump but there's still a voice inside that tries to convince us we're not ready, this is dangerous, and we may not make it out alive.  I bought my first home recording gear a long time ago. The thing I remember most is looking at it and then finding out that I "needed" something else to make my recordings sound more professional and polished, then I "needed" another thing to make my guitar tone sparkle, then I "needed" something else. Then when I made my first recording, it sucked - a lot and I didn't think I'd ever be able to make it sound good. But with practice, it got better and better. I spoke with someone recently who wanted to write but had been taking several courses and wanted to wait until the courses were finished before they'd start to write. My encouragement was to go ahead and start. Our minds create impossible

▼▼▼Watch and Listen Below!▼▼▼ If you’ve been thinking about starting a podcast, you’ll get a lot from my guest today, Jürgen Strauss. Dr. Strauss is a podcaster, speaker, podcast strategist, marketing strategist and connector of Amazing Humans. His business, Innovabiz, partners with thought leaders to enable them to build sustainable visibility, professional credibility and a deep connection with their dream clients. Their philosophy is to make marketing human again!  As host of the InnovaBuzz Podcast, Jurgen has held meaningful conversations with over 500 outstanding entrepreneurs from all around the world, gaining insight into what makes them ‘tick’, what ‘lights them up’, why they do what they do and what inspiration and value they can add to the rest of the world. He also publishes the InnovaBuzz Newsletter and offers education and training resources for both podcast hosting and guesting. For more information and to receive your free copy of the InnovaBuzz Podcasting Flywheel audio

If you're a solopreneur or freelancer and you don't like marketing or promoting your product, service, or business, could that be having a negative impact on people's perceptions of you? I think so. My family and a few close friends call me a curmudgeon and it's not being used affectionately, but even I can share excitement and enthusiasm about what I do. If I couldn't, I shouldn't be doing this work. The idea of the unique marketing modality came out of my experience of not enjoying marketing my businesses. I couldn't stand networking, I dreaded the weekly email, and I didn't look much forward to blogging or posting on social media. No wonder I had a hard time getting clients. When I stepped back and allowed myself a moment of honesty, I saw that there were really only a few ways that I completely enjoyed marketing and they had several things in common - centered on talking, usually in a one-to-one setting, in a reflective role, and sharing wisdom. When

I heard Seth Godin talk about how he was able to maintain his one blog post a day routing. He described a very simple system. He keeps a folder on his computer of very short articles on every idea that occurs to him and he never runs out of things to publish. I have another friend who writes one blog post a week and while his posts tend to be longer than Seth Godin's, the system he's developed is pretty similar. He keeps a list of topic ideas and a simple folder system to keep track of his writing and any corresponding items so that when it's time to publish, he's ready to go. I'm working on this week's interview podcast episode and am going through the editing. I remember my early days in podcasting when I would dread the editing process because it was so tedious and took so long, but over time I've come to enjoy it. It also doesn't take nearly as long because I've done it enough to evolve a good system for the task. In this Coffee Break, I've g

I'm wondering about the invisible barriers we put between ourselves and others. Trying to have a conversation with a computer in-between us. Trying to stay focused in a Zoom call with a room full of distractions and notifications surrounding us. Are we really there? Are we really listening? Are we really present? In a training many years ago I was shown very plainly that I wasn't a good listener, though I would have rated listening as a core strength. That training was the beginning for me of learning how to become and stay present with other people, a practice that is central to my life. I've found that in business conversations that my ability to listen far surpasses in importance the ability to have a better argument. It pays off in a hundred ways in the depth of rapport I enjoy with my clients, the feeling of goodwill that presence generates, and the sense of regard that deep listening conveys.  These are a few of my thoughts for the end-of-the-day Coffee Break on a ver