Dear Readers,

     My title may concern you but as you send me comments I am inspired by your ability to overcome obstacles, find your passion and discover your truth(what I call your dawn).  As a  Christian Speaker for a retreat last weekend we discussed that people will betray you and you will put faith in people who let you down. God is the only one who will not let you down.  In an executive womens retreat I served as a  Motivational Speaker and Womens Speaker and we discussed how to increase revenue in a tough economy I realized how blessed I am to have a staff who works hard to help businesses and non profits increase their revenue. We were excited to be featured on Outreach News this week. Check us out on you tube  http://youtu.be/y4YBgCCapqw

   My work as  Marketing Speaker and Keynote Speaker is featured on this broadcast and I share how non profits can hit revenue goals in a challenging economy.  My prayer for you today as you grow your non profit or business is to look at the pain and become motivated to turn it into beauty.  One of our clients lost an employee and created a memorial and engage vendors in an effort to raise money for cancer. The event was beautiful and the tributes to the employee motivated all of us to continue our work with passion. 

   Have a great weekend everyone and remember during pain it is hard to see beauty but even in betrayal you can learn great lessons.  I wrote this quote after a very painful realization happened to me this week. “Whatever you are going through use it,  if you lose love learn to love yourself, if you are hurt help another, if you lose faith fight to find it”

Dear Readers,

     I write with a heavy heart today.  A very dear friend of mine has passed and it is hard to hold back tears.  As I spoke with the family we focused on the fact that he is in a better place, in god’s loving arms, as we reviewed the what if’s ,if he had been in prolonged pain or had to be on life support it was clear that we we striving to see the good in this horrible time. 

     I know that looking at the positives helps us become stronger, motivated and helpful to others.  When I wrote, Discovering Your Dawn, I knew I had to share that when I became negative I created a personal prison. When I share the mistakes I made it has helped others. I have learned that even when I am speaking about leadership people relate to us and learn from us when we share the reality of our lives.

     As a Corporate Motivational Speaker I have seen people hear my message and act on the ways to unlock their potential. My friend who pass ed shared his business struggles with me and helped me see how I would grow my business one day. He also let me share my personal struggles and he and his wife showed me how faith can help you overcome anything.  As a  Christian Speaker I share how God sent people to help me.  My friend Ned and his wife Geri were the first people I ever met who were open about their faith.  They gave me a great gift in my friend Renee.  Renee gave me friendship that changed my life.

    As Renee and I shared our love for her father Ned we remembered how he taught us  Exceptional Teamwork and he always valued his employees and everyone he met.  Ned modeled to me, Increasing your Passion and Productivity and now as a  inspirational speaker I have the blessing to share ways to motivate people and change their world.

    Through my tears I can see the sunset tonight and say “What if I had never met Ned”  he changed my life, believed in me and helped me help others.  God Bless you always Ned you are the very best of what a business owner, a father, a mentor and friend should be.  I am sure God is looking at you saying, “Well done good and faithful servant” 

Love you always,

Katherine

Check out this new title, Marketing and Motivation CZAR. One of our clients called me the Marketing and Motivation Czar and I was grateful.  I never would think to give myself that title.  I am blessed with clients and staff that inspire me and I am thankful I can help them.

 As a university speaker, I speak on securing mentors and positivepeople in your life but most importantly, finding out what holds you back or what I call your shadow.  I let my shadow hold me back from success and happiness too long and I call my truth about this, my Dawn.  My book “Discovering Your Dawn” is a story of love, friendship, tragedy and hope.  

Please know how grateful I am to you for reading this blog and my book. I never imagined the impact the book would have I just knew I wanted to help people.  At our first book signing January 16th I was shocked over 125 people attended and I signed books from 12:40 to 4pm  it was amazing. 

I really wanted the book signing to be more networking and I wanted to interact with everyone not sit behind a table and sign books but Barnes  and Nobles was packed because my staff marketed the event so well. As a top motivational speaker I want to give my best to everyone I meet and I did not get to spend the time I wanted with each guest so my friend Tom Stephens is hosting the next event.

We are having the second book signing Feb 6th at Liberty Tax in Wadsworth at 1:30pm  this event should be smaller and I will get a chance to talk to everyone.

My book “Discovering Your Dawn”  was written to help people unlock their potential and I am hearing from people across the United States and now from other countries that the book is life changing.  I am so thankful the book helps people that was my goal.  I just want readers of this blog to know  that this book was hard to write and the journey contained many tears. To make an impact I had to share my mistakes and show the reader the reality of my bad choices.  I did not want to publish this book but so many people came to me that needed the book that I could not turn my back on the truth. I begged God so I did not have to publish but he had other plans.  I have learned to trust God and not push my own agenda, please know that is a daily struggle but I love God and trust his will for my life. As a christian speaker I am not perfect and I am a sinner like all of us. I just want you to know that I am trying to be a help to God.

I hope “Discovering Your Dawn” helps you and you share it with anyone who needs it.  The book benefits three charities and I want to thank each of you for inspiring me to get the courage to publish.  Jasmine wrote a nice note to me and I wanted to share that if you want to find me on twitter I am katherinemiracl    no e on the last name.  Jasmine thank you for inspiring me. 

I love marketing and motivating people and businesses to unlock their potential and I hope to see you Feb 6th for our second book signing!

Why do you let fear stop your success? As you learn from your past, do you see moments and opportunities that you regret not pursuing? Learn from them! As a university guest speaker I see that your fear of failing prevented your success and often your happiness. If you had tried and failed, you would have at least learned something, improved for your next attempt and had no regret. If you do not try you will not learn, you will not grow and you carry regret…you just push yourself away from what you want. During the time I was writing “Discovering Your Dawn”, I learned that I should have been there for my friend’s families but I was afraid it would upset the family to hear from me. When we reconnected in 2008, it was a time of healing for the family and me. This healing changed my life and I stopped holding myself back and saw my true potential. My next step was to ask for forgiveness from all the people I hurt during a time of tragedy. I was afraid and many tears flowed about how I should I ask for forgiveness or should I just bury all the pain. The ask to each person built new relationships, cleared up assumptions and healed the past. I struggled with forgiving the men that killed my friends and I knew it was unsafe to meet with them, just like some people you cannot have a relationship with but by forgiving them, you can move on and not give them power to hurt you. When I work with audience members as a christian speaker I hear of relationships that are unsafe and people we need to remove from our lives or maintain a distance.  If someone hurts you and you can forgive them and grow a healthy relationship that is amazing. But I have to acknowledge as a Corporate Motivational Speaker I have seen times when people cannot have a relationship. Sometimes we fear moving away from unhealthy relationships but that contains a risk of continued unhappiness, unhealthy behavior and loss of self.

When we fear, we let the fear dominate our actions. I know each decision I made could have a positive and sometimes negative effect. I finally decided that my book may bring up painful memories and it may hurt someone but the thousands of people who have read the book and share that it has helped them let me know I made the right decision. I knew I would have to pay a price for writing “Discovering Your Dawn” and I had to face my fear to show my past and my mistakes in an effort to help people unlock their potential. I used to be afraid to let my scar show and to talk about my friends who were murdered. I realized that my scar is a symbol that my parents love me. My parents made the decision to have an experimental surgery that no one knew would work. My parent’s decision saved my life, what if my parents chose to fear and I did not have that surgery? My friend’s murders have defined who they are and this year I have decided that is not acceptable. I am not afraid anymore because people need to know who my friends were and how important their lives are. My motivational speaking  and my book shows how my friends helped me and our other friends. I will not let fear stop our story from helping people. If you choose to not fear you can have what you desire, enjoy success and even if you fail, you will have no regret because you tried. Sometimes not everyone is happy with your risk but as you consider the risk consider the reward for you and for others. Fear can dominate your life…how long are you willing to let fear hold you back?

Do you know the secret weapon that can help you in 2010? 

Confidence is your tool to overcome obstacles andas a christian speaker I share my testimony and my times of no confidence and I am blessed that my story helps people.  In business motivational speaking I am finding audiences are more open about their struggles than I have seen in the past. The economy, increased debt and relationship issues have made it difficult for people to have hope and be confident.  In 2009 I was blessed to be the womens speaker for several amazing organizations. I felt a connection to the audience when we discussed the following issues about confidence:

Confidence

Is perception reality?

What does confidence look like?

 Standing Tall

  Positive Attitude

Self Motivation and being proud

Good Communication

  Powerful

Dress for success

Walk and Talk

Make others feel good

Unstoppable

Examples of confidence: My college students made this list(remember everyone on this list is being paid to be confident and create a confident image)

 Gabrielle Union

 Beyonce

 Jada Pickett Smith

Angelina Jolle

Jennifer Love Hewitt

Danzel Washington

  Tom Cruise

  Will Smith

  Brad Pitt 

What is the benefit of being confident?

  Success

  Respect is given

More Opportunities

 Gain Trust   Doctors/ Military as an example

  Rubs off on others

  Gives off energy

 Better outcomes if you are confident

When confidence is absent?

  Potential outcome of failure

Bring down others

  Codependence

 Negativity

 Fear

No Trust

Depression

 Reluctant 

Fake it till you make it? Does that work?

 Does this work?

 Do you really look confident when you act confident?

What if you could figure out why you should be confident?

Uncovering your lack of confidence:

 Negativity- do you have a valid reason for the negative thoughts?

Are you allowing someone else’s judgment hurt your confidence?

Are you looking for negativity because you fear success?  Is guilt feeding your negative thoughts?

Consider confidence as a choice: If you wake up look in the mirror and think about your past mistakes, the times you were rejected and anything bad someone said about you, you have set the tone for your day. 

If you wake up look in the mirror and think about your times of success, the nice things people say about you and the obstacles that you have overcome, you have set a tone for the day that helps you be open to challenges that may lie ahead. You confident attitude can protect you and help you! 

I wish you all the best in 2010 and remember my campaign theme for 2010  “Whatever it takes”  make a campaign theme for 2010 and live by it to help you grow confidence, happiness and success!