Franklin Taggart's Blog

  Depression, anxiety, and other mental health concerns are common experiences for many solopreneurs, freelancers, and self-employed. Kim Pratt from the Alliance for Suicide Prevention of Larimer County is the guest on this episode of Your Own Best Company.  Kim shares early warning signs, symptoms, and support resources if you are concerned about your mental health. Her go-to suggestion is to program the number 988 into your phone. This national crisis hotline offers support and services 24/7/365 in the US and is free to call. She also shares insight into how to find the right kind of help and offers both local and national resources for help. In the meantime, stay connected to your family, friends, and peers, and be honest with yourself and with them if you're having a difficult time. More information: ⁠ https://www.suicideprevent.org⁠ #mentalhealth #suicideprevention #depression 

Thanks to Marvin Bee for the invitation to share my story of turning a question and answer session with ChatGPT into a published Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) book on Uncle Marv's I.T. Business Podcast! This was a fun conversation, and I'll be looking forward to welcoming Marvin to Your Own Best Company sometime soon.  We talked about concerns and opportunities that tools like ChatGPT and other technology are presenting as they become more widely used. I recall some of my music career experiences in which tech advances changed everything about the music business in a relatively short period of time. And we talked about my initial surprise at the thorough way my questions were responded to.  You can hear the whole episode here:  Marvin has some other great episodes to check out here, especially if you are interested in more tech-centered conversations. And he's got an Amazon link to the book: https://itbusinesspodcast.simplecast.com/episodes/495-a-conversation-with-chatgpt

  Michelle Nedelec ▼▼▼ Watch and Listen Below!! ▼▼▼ Being her own boss seemed like the best option after being fired from a job working for someone else - her sister. 28 career pivots later, Michelle Nedelec has gathered a toolbelt full of business experiences that she draws from as she helps other business owners and executives navigate their marketing challenges. She's also a sought-after speaker, the host of five podcasts at last count, and a wickedly wise business strategist. In this episode of Your Own Best Company, Michelle opens up about: ** Being led by curiosity. ** Finding opportunities in surprising places. ** Insanity as a marketing strategy. ** The important distinction between employee and owner. ** How to become a certified forklift operator wearing six-inch stilettos. Michelle's Social Media  Facebook https://www.facebook.com/michelle.nedelec1   Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessownershipsecretstoscaling   Linkedln https://www.linkedin.com/i

  Virtual Backgrounds in Zoom aren't a new feature, but my friend Bonnie asked how I make mine so I made a tutorial for her. I'm sharing it with whoever else would like to learn. I'm a Canva Pro affiliate, so if you haven't tried pro yet, use my link to start your trial: https://bit.ly/Franklin-Canva (Link is case sensitive) Thanks for watching, sharing, and subscribing! #Zoom #Canva #tutorial 

  Persuasive communication is a cornerstone skill for every business owner, and many have never learned effective ways to consistently present influential messages. They may have a compelling offer but haven't established a strong enough connection to support it. Or the reader may be skeptical of claims after trying solutions that haven't worked, but the message doesn't acknowledge their experience. Billy Broas has gathered messaging wisdom from some of the greatest marketing communicators in the world and consolidated that knowledge into an extraordinarily useful framework called The Five Lightbulbs. In this episode of Your Own Best Company, Billy walks us through the framework influenced by copywriting masters like Eugene Schwartz, John Carlton, Gary, Bond, and Kevin Halbert, and David Garfinkel. Using The Five Lightbulbs framework will enable you to tailor your message to your customer's specific circumstances, and it will give you all the components of a complete pe

  Lou Bortone on ▼▼▼ Watch and Listen Below! ▼▼▼ If you want to increase online visibility for your business, the universal advice is that you need to post videos. Everywhere, all the time, videos. Algorithms love videos, Kids love videos. Grandmas love videos. Videos, videos, videos! I was a slow starter when it came to posting videos for my music and my businesses. I've had a YouTube channel for a long time and it sat for years while I worked up the nerve and figured out how to use my camera. A few years ago, I heard about a class called 31 Flavors of video. In that class, I learned about 31 different kinds of online video I could make, I joined a Facebook group where I got daily feedback. And I gained some amazing tools and resources that helped me make good decisions about equipment, production, scripting, and more. In this episode, I'll introduce you to Lou Bortone, the creator of the 31 Flavors of Video, as well as programs like Fast Forward video mastermind, and the new

  Some of you long-time friends will remember Curt Bear's visit with me on The Reset Podcast several years ago. Curt is a colleague at Larimer SBDC and is the Founder of an amazing business resource called the LoCo Think Tank. He's also become a prolific podcaster, featuring some of Northern Colorado's movers, shakers, and community linchpins. It's an honor to be included in the lineup for The LoCo Experience show. One of the things I like about Curt's podcast is that it's a long format. He doesn't put a time limit on the conversation and he likes to get stories that no other podcasts capture. This is one of the most in-depth interviews I've ever had and I enjoyed the conversation that Curt teased out with his discussion style. You can listen to the interview below, and find out more about Curt, LoCo Think Tank, and the podcast here: https://locothinktank.com/the-loco-experience-podcast/