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Permission before assumption
“I’ll wait until things calm down.” Sound familiar? Why permission is a braver step than assumption, and why only you can give it to yourself.

Mark Franklin
1 day ago3 min read


Building a body of evidence
Your Fears are stories you’ve told yourself for so long they feel like truth. Three small habits for building a body of evidence that says otherwise.

Mark Franklin
Oct 273 min read


Curiosity, frivolity and generosity
Three gifts you can give yourself when the world is asking for too much. They cost time, and for many of us that feels too high a price. Here is the business (not busy-ness) case for paying it.

Mark Franklin
Oct 133 min read


Like, know and trust (you read that right)
Like, know and trust might appear to be a strange twist on a well-known phrase but we are drawn to people we like before we get to know them. But there is a gap between being liked and being hired.

Mark Franklin
Oct 63 min read


Happiness vs contentment
A campfire in the woods and the sounds of nature. The thought of it makes me happy, but the actual experience brought a much deeper contentment.

Mark Franklin
Sep 293 min read


That's not my why...
Like those "That's not my..." touchy-feely books, your first answer to "why do you do this?" probably isn't quite right either. Keep turning the page. The real one is a few layers deeper.

Mark Franklin
Sep 223 min read


Comparison is the thief of joy
Ikigai asks what you're good at, what you love, what you're paid for, and what the world needs. Comparison convinces you that three out of four will have to do. What if it's wrong?

Mark Franklin
Sep 154 min read


Be more curious today
A friend once asked me who invented carpet. I still don't have an answer. But the question itself taught me something about the power of simply staying curious.

Mark Franklin
Sep 83 min read


What if it's not YOUR response to an event that currently determines the outcome?
Jack Canfield's Event + Response = Outcome sounds simple. Except your response may already have been decided for you, by a playbook your brain wrote years before today.

Mark Franklin
Sep 13 min read


What will it take for you to 'quit the but'?
Seth Godin was recently on The Diary of a CEO talking about quitting, resistance and the Gordian Knot. It got me thinking about the word 'but', and the promises we quietly break to ourselves.

Mark Franklin
Aug 253 min read


Action, impact, energy, technique
The premise of 'action, impact, energy, technique' is simple. What do you do, how does it make you (and others) feel, what is the cost and reward... is there a better way?

Mark Franklin
Aug 183 min read


Don't stop being (good) selfish
Good selfish means putting yourself first for the right reasons. Here's what the research on wellbeing, burnout and boundaries actually says about it.

Mark Franklin
Aug 114 min read


Do you have a 'Practitioner' or a 'Producer' mindset?
Entertainment coach John Blackburn introduced me to the Practitioner and Producer mindset. One masters the doing. The other builds the space for it. Which one are you avoiding becoming?

Mark Franklin
Aug 44 min read


The normalisation of deviance
Sociologist Diane Vaughan coined the phrase after the 1986 Challenger disaster. The gradual erosion of standards, repeated without consequence, until normal no longer means what it once did.

Mark Franklin
Jul 284 min read


The three most important currencies in your business
Self-value, self-trust, and self-worth are the three most important currencies in your business. Here's how to check your exchange rate and start shifting it.

Mark Franklin
Jul 215 min read


Snakes or ladders: Are you playing to lose?
Following on from the Creative's Hierarchy of Needs, I've been playing with the idea that the hierarchy isn't a uni-directional ladder. The odd snake in the story might slide you back down a tier. Which got me thinking about Snakes & Ladders, and whether we can shift the odds in our favour. Turns out the more interesting question isn't about the snakes or the ladders at all. It's about which one you're secretly rolling for.

Mark Franklin
Jul 73 min read


Sorry Maslow, but creatives have a different hierarchy of needs
When Maslow built his Hierarchy of Needs in 1943, he wasn't thinking about creative business owners. Here's a hierarchy of needs designed specifically for people building something of their own.

Mark Franklin
Jun 304 min read


Getting in your own way: the real reason your creative business is stuck
If your creative business isn't growing the way it should, the problem might not be what you think. Discover why getting in your own way is more common than you realise – and what to do about it at a free live session on 28th April.

Mark Franklin
Apr 214 min read
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