Franklin Taggart's Virtual Coffee Break

The first online networking mixer I ever attended in 2021 had over 100 attendees. The hosts had to pay for the extra space and had inadvertently disabled the breakout room assignments when they did. As the event ground to a halt, the host apologized and then asked, "Is Robbie Samuels here?" From one of the many screens and rows of faces came the reply, "Yes, I'm here." With a couple of his brief s...

I've wanted to write and publish a book since I was a kid. I'm old now, so that's a long time to have a dream. I've started books many times in my life, but the determination and persistence to finish them have eluded me. I've had a lot of questions and concerns about AI. I know - I'm not alone. I've heard so many rumors, speculations, panic, and misinformation about all of it these past few month...

#Solopreneurs and #freelancers business success depend on their staying healthy. And we don't tend to plan for undesirable circumstances. We almost always plan according to ideal situations. And then the #calamities of life arrive. Then what? Laura Livingston is back to talk about her experience of business being interrupted by some unexpected physical challenges. Franklin has a few stories of his...

If you've been taking care of others for a long time, it may take a while to reawaken and recognize your own desires. Pay attention to your body. Give yourself time to relearn how to use your want muscles. They haven't had a workout in a while. My friend was taking care of other people from the time she woke until the time she fell into bed. When I asked her if she knew what she wanted, she said t...

Founded in FoCo is a three-day event for businesses of all sizes, from solopreneurs to large companies to non-profit organizations. It's a collaborative community effort that offers peer-to-peer education, inspiring speakers, networking, and more. This year's event is coming up at the Front Range Community College Harmony Campus in Fort Collins on March 1-3, 2023. If you're a business owner locate...

When did you learn important career-building skills like networking, finding mentors, interviewing, and finding great work opportunities? Most people didn't learn these skills in college or high school. We learned them when we had to - when we were searching for our first jobs or starting our first businesses. MIT alum and teacher Mark A. Herschberg saw this gap and decided to create a solution. H...

For many people ages 50 and up, we're adapting to a part of our life in which our normal roles are going through significant changes. Some of us are shifting into caretaking for aging parents while shifting away from the caretaking role we've had with our kids. The norms we've been used to, sometimes for decades, are undergoing great changes. Some of my friends and clients in this age group talk a...

In this video about pricing your freelance services, I challenge some of the things people think they're paying for. When it's all said and done, you're not being paid for your time, talent, knowledge, expertise, or qualifications. In truth, you're not being paid for your product or service. You're only being paid for one thing. Watch the video to find out what that one thing is, and join the conv...

Thanks for the supportive notes and calls after my video the other day talking about seasonal depression. I was telling a friend that one of the things that is hard when I'm feeling that way is that other people see it as a problem to solve or something broken to fix. That usually just makes it feel worse. Those of you who were able to just let me have the time I needed and my own process to work...

2022 ended for me with a round of depression. This isn't a new thing and is likely seasonal, but it is still depression, and it's not exactly comfortable. After finishing the year and achieving what I'd set out for, I was at a loss for what I wanted to do next. When desires seemed out of reach, I knew it was a visit from my well-known companion. Recognizing the signs, the first thing I did was all...

When his research led to finding a link between multi-passionate people and neurodiversity, Perry Knoppert ultimately created a movement. The Octopus Movement is, in Perry's words, a gathering of curious misfits. Now numbering over 2500 members from 60 countries, The Octopus Movement is a celebration of people who don't fit neatly into well-defined social structures and who share the common charac...

2022 has been a good year for me. My commitments were kept and my goals exceeded. I'm changing things a little in 2023. See the recap report here: https://www.franklintaggart.com/2022/12/2022-recap.html See my 2022 Reading List here: https://www.franklintaggart.com/2022/12/2022-book-list.html And see the podcasts I listened to most: https://www.franklintaggart.com/2022/12/2022-favorite-podcasts.ht...

Jody has risen to the highest levels of her company ladder, but she's frustrated that she's been getting passed over for promotion to the C-Suite. She's done the work, brought innovative ideas to the table, and has seniority over all but the CEO and COO of the company. It doesn't make sense that she is not being considered for advancement. This is a perfect situation in which to call Fran Gallaher...

I made a video the other day asking the question, "What if you can't find your why?" I've had some strong reactions to that idea. There were a couple of people who treated it as a condition on par with a disease, quickly prescribing things to do to solve the problem. Why are we so adamant that life has to have a purpose? Where did we get the idea that it needs to mean something, and that we're les...

The town where I spent many growing up years had a thriving local mom-and-pop-based business economy when I was young. The big stores back then had outlets in our town, but most of the commerce that happened, took place between people who lived there and whose families owned the businesses. My Aunt Lue was one of them. Our family helped Aunt Lue run her hotel until after she died, then they sold i...

This year I released a handful of new courses and have had over 300 people join my Teachable school. After some recent pricing and service changes announced by Teachable, I've made the difficult decision to leave their service and host my courses on another platform. I'm working on the last-minute details of that switch and will be sending out announcements to all my subscribers as soon as I have...

Continuing the theme of spirituality and faith. - I want to reiterate the proposition that entrepreneurship is as viable a path for spiritual development as meditation, yoga, and religion.  I think we compartmentalize life more than we need to, and we ascribe sacredness to certain activities and secular to others when it seems closer to Peter Mayer's observation that everything is holy now. C...

On this Christmas day, 2022, I remember a holiday season from many years ago when my faith had started to self-destruct. All the things I had believed in were called to question, and I was left without anything to stand on. At the time, there was a huge uproar in the community where I lived about displaying religious and spiritual symbols on city property, particularly a menorah for Hanukah and a...

Sharing a handful of childhood Christmas Eve memories, and featuring one of them in greater detail. If you've never watched Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas, my sisters and I are looking at you wondering how that could have happened. Go watch it and always remember that if you meet somebody who don't like soul food, they still got a soul. If you'd like to download a copy of the poem read here, cli...

A few years before her 18-year corporate HR career ended, Laura Livingston started allowing herself extended time off to travel. As her travels unfolded, she became aware of a growing need and vision for her life to undergo a radical change, but she wasn't exactly sure what that change needed to be. While still working full-time, she started to explore other interests and experiences to see if any...

I've had a few conversations recently centered on the difficulty of identifying one's purpose. And I'm reaching a point in my work where the next expression of my purpose isn't clear. I've had some well-meaning friends suggest the book Start With Why, by Simon Sinek. I've read this book a couple of times and I've found Sinek's insights helpful, but they aren't a universal answer to people who are...

I'm reading two books on the topic of creativity, Creative Quest, by Questlove, and The Rise of the Creative Class, by Richard Florida. Creative Quest is a fairly recent release and it's a personal exploration of his creative process as a musician, a creator, a DJ, and other roles the Roots drummer plays. The Rise of the Creative Class has an updated second edition that was released within the pas...

We have a strange set of cultural norms around how creative people are supposed to become successful. The common tropes of the starving artist, suffering for your art, and paying your dues need to be made a thing of the past IMHO. In the folk music world that I've been a part of, I've seen people show up year after year, volunteering for menial jobs at festivals, playing free gigs and open mics, a...

I was talking with a client yesterday about her feeling about not knowing what is next for her and her art business. She's had a few very successful years but has started to experience a slowing down and a level of dissatisfaction with the work she's doing now that suggests she's ready for a new level of development both as a creator and an entrepreneur. It's tempting at times like this to try to...

I made a TikTok video a while back about this, but I thought I'd add to it here. I had a client recently ask me what I believe as far as spirituality and religion are concerned. The best I can say is I really don't know. In my life, I've been a Mormon, Christian, skeptic, seeker, dabbler, and devotee. I've learned meditation, reflection, scripture, and yoga. I've read hundreds of teachings and lis...