Franklin Taggart's Blog

On Your Own Best Company this week I am my own guest. There was a break in the guest schedule so I thought I'd bring up a chair and tell some of my story so that you can understand the history behind this podcast. From a Wyoming childhood to first jobs, discovering passions, learning at every step, and making opportunities from hardships, this story covers a lot of ground. #whatdrivesme #mywhy #workingalone

First thing, Happy St. Patrick's Day! Thanks to my friend, Deanna for treating me to corned beef and cabbage at Henry's this afternoon.  I've talked before about the importance of celebrating as a business and marketing practice. Celebrate accomplishments, landmarks, birthdays, holidays, and anything else you can throw a party for, but I'd encourage you to start putting celebrations of every size on your computer. The reason? Because those are the kinds of things that get forgotten in the shuffle and they can mean the difference between a business succeeding and failing. Celebrate your clients, customers, partners, employees, family, friends, acquaintances, and people you don't even know. It creates goodwill and fosters deeper feelings of empathy and trust. Find at least one thing a week to applaud, raise a glass to, or recognize. People will remember and it's easy to do. I'll be my own guest on Your Own Best Company this week, telling my own story of arrivi

Area schools are on Spring Break this week and I, for once, have scheduled three days off in a row. In this Coffee Break, I have a lot to share about how I negotiate with my extrovert family when it comes to how we spend time off. It's not always an easy conversation to have. I also talk about how personality and preferences come into play in our career and business paths. At some point, I started to get cranky with people who could live with the idea that I'm perfectly happy having a one-person business and that I never want to manage a team or an organization.  This podcast was started as a way to support and encourage people like me who want to honor their need for solitude in the work they do. I found that there were a number of people who didn't link being made to feel they were "wrong" just because they didn't do things in the same ways everybody else was. In my family, we've found ways to work with each other in honoring our personalities, strengths

In yesterday's Coffee Break, I was spouting off about the idea of becoming an influencer being a goal. I have no problem with someone pursuing that dream, but if that's their only focus, that alone won't be enough to sustain a business. If they hit the jackpot and make big cash for a little while, I'm not going to say anything negative about it. I believe in luck, as much as I do work. The part I left out yesterday was the crucial role of community in the process of becoming an influencer. For clarification's sake, I want to say that I'm using the word influencer to identify a person who gets paid to influence their community to buy things or join things. I seriously believe that every human being has their own natural way of influencing, but I'm not talking about that here. Some of the online influencers I admire a lot are John and Hank Green. They didn't set out to become influential. They just found an interesting way to communicate with each other th

This thing called Influencer Marketing isn't a new idea. Advertisers have been using influential spokespeople for at least a few centuries. And marketing itself is pretty much just influencing people, so this phenomenon of the influencer marketer is an interesting one. I have a client who aspires to this but has a misunderstanding about what it takes to build a following and become influential. Her question to me seemed like she was asking for a shortcut. She wanted to be able to attract a following quickly and start charging businesses to advertise their stuff. I know this happens sometimes and especially with the popularity of social media, it's becoming more and more of a thing. But I think it's important not to lose sight of how sustainable influence is created and that is what this Coffee Break is about. My answer - focus on making a positive difference and people will start to follow you. When people start to follow you you're an influencer. The rest is just a num

Do we really need Daylight Savings Time anymore? After a night of spotty sleep, I woke up disoriented and thinking I was late for a guitar lesson I was teaching this morning. It all worked out, but I got to thinking while I walked the dog. I've let go of some old habits in recent years that used to serve me pretty well but don't now. It just became apparent that I didn't need to do things that way anymore. So I stopped doing those things and started doing some things differently. Part of the need for change has been physical. I just can't do the same things at the same pace that I did for all those years. Staying up late now pays off in being less productive during daylight hours and contributes to mood swings and irritability. But some of the changes have been made because they just make sense. I know many people personally who have been going through a re-evaluation of their lives and habits and are letting things go that they no longer need. Is that you, too? Tomorro

When people are considering starting a creative career, one of the first questions they ask is "When should I start charging money for my work?" This is a great question. And I think it's worth understanding that there are some people who are so excited about their newfound talent that they rush into trying to make a living from their creative work before they're ready. In this Coffee Break, I share a perception I've had with people I work with and people I've observed over the years to help make sense of that question. The first thing I want you to understand is that getting paid for what you do is only a small fraction of the value of your creativity. And for many people, it doesn't mean anything compared to the intrinsic value of the creative experience. If people are asking you for your work, it's safe to say you can start charging money for it. How much? That's a whole other topic, likely a series of videos, but it's OK to charge something

▼▼▼ Watch or Listen Below!▼▼▼ If you or your business were faced with an unexpected calamity like an accident, fire, or lawsuit, would you have the protection you need to get through it with the least amount of difficulty? Many business owners don't realize they need a few different kinds of insurance protection so they may be underinsured, and in some cases, they have no coverage at all. Danielle Lammon is a licensed insurance agent and agency owner in Aurora, Colorado. She's here on Your Own Best Company to share some direct advice for small business owners with insurance questions. She also has her own story to tell of starting her agency and growing the business, soon to add her third office!  One of the things I appreciate most about Danielle is her commitment to her community. She's serving a term as the President of the Aurora Rotary and she's an active volunteer in many other areas of her community. She sees her business as an important resource that allows her

If you're still hung up on identifying your ideal client, why don't you put that idea aside for a minute and try something different - talking to strangers. Your parents may have told you to avoid this activity when you were young, but by now you should be able to find at least one person you don't know who is willing to talk with you for a few minutes. The point is that you could be spending all this time identifying your customer avatar while real customers are crawling under your nose waiting to be found. They are literally everywhere. Even if what you're selling is a rare solution to those who have a pinky toenail fungus problem. You won't know until they tell you. They won't tell you unless you offer a space for them to tell you, whether that's by clicking a button on your website or overhearing you telling someone else about toenail fungus while they drink coffee. I think it's important to learn how to tell people the story of what we do in ways th

Would it be easier to find Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster than to find your ideal client, customer, or audience? The trouble with ideals is that they are difficult, if not impossible to reach. In this Coffee Break, I'd like you to think differently about the people you want to make a difference for. If you're struggling to identify an ideal client, you may just not have the experience yet to recognize them. There are some other ways to start. You could always start by identifying situations where you are the best person to call. Your unique qualifications to do what you do can tell you a lot about who needs you. What about serving people who are going through the same things you went through within the past year? Is it possible they could use what you do? Maybe you could look for communities first instead of trying to imagine a perfect person. The communities you belong to are often a great place to start. When in doubt, go for the obvious. Do you know anyone personally who n

Today I helped a couple of people build content marketing channels to support their businesses. One started a blog, the other started a combination of YouTube and podcast channels. The person who was starting the blog mentioned that she had done some Google searches about starting a blog and had been getting spammy email and social media ads that were trying to sell her a $2000 online course for starting her blog, and another $2000 for building her audience. She looked at their sales pages and was overwhelmed by everything they were proposing she needed to do. She was relieved to find out that starting her blog was a relatively easy and inexpensive process and that much of what the course included would be stuff she'll never use. It made me want to share some options for getting started with content marketing that don't break the bank but can be grown to whatever size and shape you want. I learned about content marketing initially by blogging. Writing about things that were int

A client asked me today how she can become a better communicator in her marketing and she was surprised at my answer. Yes, there is an art and science of marketing communication. There's a reason that great copywriters like my favorite, Laura Belgray get paid a lot of money for their skill, but one of the cornerstones that marketing communication shares with almost every other kind is the ability to tell a compelling story - a story that people can't leave hanging. They have to finish it. I'll go even further with the idea. I think songwriters and poets have an even greater advantage. They have learned how to tell a story that leaves such an impression on people that they can remember it years later. These creators have a knack for getting people to stay with their tale until it's over and to want to hear or read it again. Some popular songs only have 8-12 lines in them, but with those few words, a memorable experience is created. If you want people to remember your pro

Reflections while driving home from a band rehearsal I had this afternoon. I've played with Paul Chet's bands for over seven years, one of the longest musical relationships I've been a part of in my long and often interrupted career. I was feeling very lucky to have found this group of guys to play with who are some of the finest musicians I've known. But I also realized that one of the things that made my finding this opportunity possible was that I was ready for it. I've spent thousands of hours learning, practicing, performing, and honing my own craft of music so that I can show up in a band like this and hold my own.  In my business, it's been the same. As I practice the craft and as I work on becoming not only a better coach but a better marketer, salesperson, and business owner, the level of opportunities that are coming my way is noticeably higher than has been the case until only recently. You can always be better at some aspect of what you do. And the b

Since my video two days ago, I've had some other thoughts about what I'd do if I were starting over in business right now. Like I said in the last video, I'm not sure what exactly I'd do differently since the business landscape is so different now than it was then, especially online business.  But I realized there are a few things I would do differently based on my experience. In this Coffee Break, I share what they are and why I would approach my business with these changes. I also tell you a couple of the coaches I would hire to help me get started. I've already taken a class with Tad Hargrave at Marketing for Hippies and I think I would look to him as one of my first choices for coaching and mentoring. I admire the way his own business has evolved and we're enough alike that I think he would understand me and push me where I need to be pushed.  My second choice for mentoring would be Danielle Gardner. I have not had a conversation with her yet, but I like the

If you're ready to expand and scale your business beyond what you're able to do yourself, the first place most consultants will tell you to start is in hiring help. The learning curve and blind spots to this process, especially the first time, can make finding and hiring help a harrowing experience. There are a lot of ways the process can go sideways and leave you and your business in a precarious place. Sophie Zollmann helps small business owners cover these bases easily and with one-stop shopping. You don't have to find a specialist for every other area of your business because she already has the team in place to do all the things you need to have done. And that leaves you with the time you need to do your own job well. Sophie is a certified online business manager, social media manager, and client acquisition specialist. She also brings years of experience as a virtual assistant and business owner to your side. She works with successful healing practitioners, coaches, c

One of the FAQs in my world is what would I do differently if I were starting over in my business. That is an interesting question to consider because if I started over again today, the circumstances, options, and available tools I have now are very different than when I started my earlier careers and businesses. Much of what I've learned in the past twelve years has gone through several cycles of evolution. The basic tasks don't change, but the way I do them changes often. And I can't predict even in the next few months what the circumstance of my business will be. All I can really do is work with the tools I have in the present moment to reach and serve the people I can help. It's still a good thing to plan with the understanding that life will unfold in a way that we all have to adapt. Additionally, not only do our circumstances and tools change, but our interests, desires, and bodies change, too. So those changes will influence how we would start if we were starting

I've met many people who want to make all or part of their living doing creative work but they're intimidated by the business part of it. I get it, business can seem like a very big deal with a lot of moving parts and a steep learning curve. But people aren't born good at business. Business is a skillset and skills are learned. Yes, you can have an aptitude for something. I've met people who were really great at sales early in their lives, but they still had to learn the skills associated with selling. I have an aptitude for music, but I wasn't born able to play the guitar masterfully. It took love and commitment to learning the thing before I could do it competently. Business is the same. What I usually ask people who come to me with this situation is if they are dealing with a skill problem or a will problem. Is it that they can't learn or they don't want to invest the time? We've all heard crap singers who were successful in the music business because

I've had a few conversations lately with creative people who feel like their work is insignificant in a time when such terrifying events are happening in the world. I have joined them in this feeling. It's hard to think about and talk about things like business and marketing as innocent people fight to defend their homeland while it has been arbitrarily attacked. As these historical events and examples of exceptional courage unfold before us, it's easy to think that our small, creative output has no place, at least for right now, in the greater scheme of things. In this Coffee Break, I have a couple of thoughts to share about it. This time is another opportunity for humans who care to find greater ways of coming together both in opposition to and as a viable alternative to those who would dominate the world by force. For some of us, there are ways to bring our talents together in service to a much greater cause than our own egoic interests. For others of us, there is a call

The day I became willing to sell used cars was the day I realized that I could sell my music services. How many creative people will gladly take on jobs in retail and in selling other people's stuff instead of selling what they make? It's more common than you might think. The business plan for a creative is simple but not easy - Make it. Show It. Sell it. For most of us, the making is the best part. It can be difficult but it was the reason we decided to go in this direction. We wanted to spend most of our time making the things we love to make. For some of us, the showing and sharing of our work is not a bad experience. We find ways and places to show people what we've made and we may even generate some sales this way. With technology, there are now more ways than ever to give people an experience of what we do. But selling, for many, is the sticking point. There's a self-consciousness that goes with selling our creations that stops us from acting and is our rationale

Two minutes of silence in solidarity with peaceful people everywhere. (There is nothing wrong with your volume. Sound will return momentarily.) #Ukraine

I looked at the forecast for next week and saw high temps in the 60s starting to show up again. Spring is getting closer! I'm ready to have shoveled my last snow for the year. It also feels like I've come into a Springlike season in my life. The last several years have had a lot of change and grief, along with a lot of reflection and introspection. Some of my limiting beliefs and habits have surfaced and I've been able to put them to rest, for at least a little while. What that leaves me with is a lot of energy, a lot of ideas, and a feeling of fresh optimism despite what else is going on in the world. There are a lot of new seeds being planted in my life - new directions, new clients, and new ideas that capture my curiosity. I don't know where any of them will lead for sure, but I will follow them where they go. I'm ready to tend my own soul more carefully and that's mostly what this Coffee Break is about. Finding ways to honor my own divinity and expressions o