Franklin Taggart's Virtual Coffee Break and Unconventional Life School Franklin Taggart

Have you noticed a slowdown in your business in the last year?
You're not alone. A client I was talking with yesterday asked an increasingly common question, "Is it always this hard to find new business?"

She opened her consulting business early in 2023 after being laid off from her job in the post-COVID months. She landed a major contract within a month of opening that kept her in the black for most of the year, but that contract isn't being renewed, and now she needs to find new clients ASAP.

She's not the first one to come to me with questions like this in recent months. Costs are increasing, interest rates are rising, wages are not keeping pace, and belts are tightening. When spending slows down, most businesses are impacted at some level.
These downturns can be scary times, especially for new business owners who haven't experienced them before. Consistent, steady growth isn't a pattern we see in the normal nature of things. Sustainable businesses aren't that way because their circumstances are always the same. Their sustainability is more often related to their ability to adapt as circumstances change.

Like the person I spoke with yesterday, many businesses haven't been around long enough to have built responsive systems to keep themselves afloat during the off-season. They're now learning about cash flow patterns, market rhythms, supply chains, demand fluctuations, and how to account for these things in their planning. Until these systems are in place, these folks have to shift gears into rapid response marketing mode, and waiting passively for the SEO to kick in and people to find your now outdated website just won't do.

Two other parts of yesterday's conversation stand out in my mind. First, my client had the good fortune to have a hallmark contract fall into her lap without effort at the beginning of her business. That created an expectation that finding business would be easy for her. She's now seeing that it was a misconception. The second factor is that she is having difficulty thinking creatively because of her stress about the urgency of her situation.

The three suggestions I am making here are activities I've found helpful in alleviating my own stress during uncertain times and that reawaken the creative muscles I need to start seeing new ideas and opportunities. I'll also share in this written description an unspoken fourth activity that is facilitated by the others.

The three activities in the video are:
Making Lists
Deep Research
Making Offers

The fourth I'll mention here is to simply connect with people. The lists and research will fill up with people to reach out to. The next level of work is the actual reaching.

For list making, I like to use spreadsheets like the one you can copy or download here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

In the video, I share a couple of Google tools I use to guide my research and to help sort through information that may be out of date or irrelevant. I suggest to my clients that knowing how to get the most out of search tools is one of the most necessary and marketable skills of our time. AI is definitely enhancing that, as well.

The last suggestion I make is to either dust off an old offer or put together a new one to usher out into the marketplace. Is there a new product, service, event, or experience you can put in front of existing and potential customers? It can be any price or package, but it needs to be seen.

I've been working on a new series of video production resources for coaches that I'll be rolling out in the next month. I am hopeful these resources will stimulate many months and possibly years of opportunity for me. Stay tuned for the announcement of their availability.

These four things are at the heart of my strategy when business slows. If you haven't taken advantage of my free Best Next Step coaching session, you can schedule your one-hour, no-strings-attached call here: https://bit.ly/best-next-step




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Relationships are hard.



One of my supervisors used to say that when I did crisis intervention work. I believe it. The same theme has frequently emerged in recent conversations with friends and clients. We've noticed similarities as the relationship patterns from personal and family life play out in career and business situations. And why wouldn't they?

The challenges I face in marketing, selling, and delivering in my business have the same root as the challenges I have as a spouse, dad, son, and brother.  That root is me. But I'm no longer labeling it as a problem. I just have gotten okay with not being great at relationships.

I'm old enough to have read a lot of books, taken a lot of classes, attended plenty of weekend seminars, encountered encounter groups, and tried every way I know how to be better at it. But at almost 62 years old, I've decided that my odds for improvement seem to grow slimmer with each passing year. And it's become most important to just acknowledge all the ways I suck at relationships. And those realizations and acknowledgments apply to my career and businesses as well. 

"...it's become most important to just acknowledge all the ways I suck at relationships."I like people fine, as long as we don't have to spend much time together.

Read more at
https://www.franklintaggart.com/2024/04/i-suck-at-relationships-why-should.html




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I've been a #selfhelp #selfimprovement #selfdevelopment junkie for decades.

I've spent tens of thousands of dollars on books, programs, curricula, behavior modification, weight loss, smoking cessation, discipleship training, and seeking my vision in the wilderness. If I had invested that money in making more money, I would be comfortably retired by now.

For all the time, money, and effort, I would have hoped for a better result.

As Jamie Smart says, shouldn't light be streaming from all my orifices by now? But I'm not much, if any, different than I was before all of this. I struggle with the same things, think the same negative thoughts, worry about everything, and don't see the improvement I've been striving for. I use the techniques - mindset shifts, meditation, yoga, nature walks, writing my desires and goals clearly, clarifying my intentions, and doing all the prescribed work - but I'm no better off as a person or in life.

Don't get me wrong, I haven't had anything better to do.

There are worse ways to spend a life. I've learned a lot about everything along the way, but I've realized that most of my work has been in the wrong direction. I never challenged some important assumptions about the promise of a better me. Until recently, I haven't considered that many of the beliefs I've constructed about myself weren't mine. They came from other people. Another #realization I've had is that many of the messages about myself I've bought into were intended to persuade me to buy something. And the king of all assumptions is that there is a "me" in the first place, let alone to make it better.

What if the me that is the object of all the betterment isn't anything more than a bundle of thoughts?

More to read on my blog: https://www.franklintaggart.com/2023/12/the-false-promise-of-better-me.html


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I've had more than a few people contact me for coaching as they navigate new twists and turns in their career and business paths. Most recently, three find themselves having a Rip Van Winkle moment - waking up from a long nap to find that everything is different for them than before. One has been taking care of a dying parent, another has been sending the last of her children to college, and another has rekindled a music career after taking several years off to start another business. They've all returned to industries that aren't as familiar as the ones they left.

The pandemic effects are still landing for many people.

Music and meeting venues have only recently started reopening, and many have changed formats. I've noticed many businesses have continued to keep shortened or irregular hours than before the disruption. Schools and organizations have also changed their regular routines.

I went through a similar time when my music career was interrupted by a six-year series of health challenges.

#comeback #disruption #hiatus


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If you've been interested in listening to podcasts but have found the medium and apps to be difficult and confusing, this episode is for you. The good news is that you probably already use an app where you can find and enjoy podcasts, and it's most likely the same app you're using to watch or listen to this show.



In this quick overview, we'll learn some of the most popular apps for podcast listening, how to find the podcasts you'll enjoy, and I'll tell you about a new free mini-course I'm offering called the New Podcast Listener's Primer. It's available now at my blog, https://franklintaggart.com.



In addition to the course videos, I've included a list of some of my favorite podcasts, a playlist of episodes from that list, and a handful of videos when I've been a podcast guest. If you're interested in booking yourself as a podcast guest or would like to find out how to start a podcast of your own, I invite you to schedule a free Best Next Step call with me. My blog has all the deets.



#podcasting #podcastapp #podcastlistening


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When Podcast Movement announced that their annual conference was going to be held in Denver this year, I got excited. I've wanted to attend this conference ever since it started, but the timing and finances never seemed to line up. This year, thanks to the generosity of Buzzsprout and the close proximity of the venue, I was able to attend. Here are some of my highlights.



Podcasting is Still Growing

And it appears to be growing even more rapidly with YouTube's new commitment to podcast support and promotion. It's not just YouTube. Spotify introduced video podcasts into its features last year, and new networks were represented at every level at the conference. The overall trend is that podcasting continues to expand in every direction.



People Are Hungry for Podcast Curation

As more podcasts are becoming available, people are looking for reliable sources of curation for the podcasts they listen to. Networks are one of the prominent sources people are turning to for this kind of service. This need for curation is also putting some pressure on podcast hosting platforms to improve the quality of their search functionality and discovery features. I was blown away by the number of new networks I saw at the conference and the variety of niches and audiences they represented.



Video is Exploding

As I mentioned, YouTube and Spotify have created opportunities for podcast producers to include video in their show offerings. I know the video option has been available and popular with podcasters for years, but the increased support is causing some important shifts in the podcasting industry. YouTube has risen into the second slot from the top as the most popular place to watch or listen to podcasts. Spotify has also gained more podcast audiences as it increases access to its video-based podcast services. Several speakers and panels were dedicated to integrating video into the podcasting mix.



Monetization Options Are Increasing(In Some Ways)

Making money from podcasting is taking on some new shapes and appearances. The standard list of options like sponsorships, paid subscriptions, advertising, and product promotion is still on top, but there are new possible income streams coming forward for podcasters, especially those who are growing large and engaged audiences. Larger broadcast and production companies like Paramount, Disney, and iHeart Media are signing successful podcasts to their networks and offering unheard-of sponsorship deals as they diversify their markets.



New fan funding services similar to Patreon are also starting to spring up. Patreon has been a popular way for podcast producers to gain direct support from fans, but there are some fast-moving competitors whose presence at the conference was notable. YouTube and Spotify weren't alone in offering hosts direct support portals for fans to pay for support and premium access.



The only disappointing monetization news is the continued shunning of shows with long track records but smaller audiences. Many advertisers are raising their minimum audience requirements to a point that excludes all but the most popular podcasts. I'm hopeful that this will change, but I think it will take an organized strategic effort on the part of certain agencies to create a package that will work for all involved. I heard a few Braindate discussions on this topic that I'll be excited to watch as they unfold.



If you're just starting podcasting, I recommend checking out Buzzsprout. They are a small company with a big heart and do everything they can to nurture and support podcasters. They have packages starting at free, so you have nothing holding you back.



Do You Want to Start a Podcast?

I help people set up podcasts with a commitment to maximizing reach and keeping costs down. It starts with a free microphone placement session that you can schedule here: https://bit.ly/MicrophonePlacement



You paid for a better microphone. Let's make it sound great!


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