The story Katherine Miracle never wanted to tell

Someone’s past can be a shadow to their success. Katherine Miracle tried to hide her illness in junior high but as her eyelid began to droop, her speech became slurred and at moments she could not speak or even breathe well she could not hide anymore. 

Why hide an illness? In junior high if you see double and you slur words you are accused of taking drugs and for Katherine the gossip and rumors hurt her and her family.  Katherine’s parents Betty and Gene Robinson never accused their daughter; instead they took her to every doctor until the diagnosis of Myasthenia Gravis (MG) was found. 

Katherine had surgery and took medicine until 1988 when she met her Miracle, her husband Craig Miracle. As an adult Katherine remembers what is was like to be considered the sick kid and to not want people to ask about the scar on her chest.  Katherine wrote a book called “Discovering Your Dawn’ to help college students and she finally shared part of her story but never spoke about it. 

On Wednesday, February 23^rd, Katherine was awarded Best Speaker by CBC Magazine.  A great honor for a person who at one time could barely speak and who was not expected to have the quality of life to be a  Corporate Motivational Speaker who travels the United States.  

Best Speaker/Meeting Facilitator   www.cbcmagazine.com

Katherine Miracle
Katherine Miracle is the founder and owner of Miracle Resources, an Akron-based consulting, training, and educational resource for businesses and nonprofits. Miracle Resources specializes in the areas of marketing, public relations, advertising, and revenue development. The company creates seminars that help audience members increase awareness and revenue. Miracle is a  Keynote Speaker, University Guest Speaker, Marketing Keynote Speaker and  Corporate Motivational Speaker who teaches  Exceptional Teamwork,  Increasing your Passion and Productivity, she speaks across the United States for corporations and universities, and her client list includes Cleveland Clinic, Westfield Group, US Bank, Delta, and 50 businesses and 20 nonprofits. She and her consultants at Miracle Resources have raised more than 28 million for 10 nonprofits, secured $4 million in free publicity for corporations and non-profits, and created advertising/marketing campaigns that have increased revenue for more than 50 businesses. For more info: katherinemiracle.com or www.miracleresources.com

Thanks to all who voted for me and for those who attended I did plan to share this when I accepted but my parents are ill and I wanted them to be there when I shared this. For those of you who work with me please remember I am MG free I do not have double vision anymore so if I offer to drive do not be afraid !!! 

It is god’s blessing that we can laugh together about this because MG can be fatal and I am blessed with health because my parents made the decision for me to have the surgery.  I hope to speak at MG conference one day so people can see the surgery works and that they can become anything they dream of becoming. I am proof !!!

To be the One means to be the one person your company cannot live without, your family cannot live with out  but most important to be the one person you have always wanted to be

What you need to know

Your truth Revealed

“How to know yourself, believe in yourself and love yourself”

The first half of my life I tried to be exceptional for others, the second half of my life I will strive to be exceptional for me”

Only when you forgive can your truth be revealed. The obstacles, the hidden messages and the blessings are lessons that lead you to truth. Most people ignore them or crush under them. Can you say “it was my greatest gift” even if something was taken from you or your lost it.

Or do you crush under the weight of the loss. After forgiveness comes realization, connection and truth. Can you withstand the pressure of your truth. If you forgive and become accountable you can learn about yourself and slowly begin to believe about yourself and ultimately love yourself.

 Once I made peace with my past, I began to see the wonder and amazement of nature, people and love. I made peace, practiced positivity and did not judge but instead learned that love really never ends it just stays in your heart.

What is missing from your life?

What is it?  Did you lose it or did you ever have it?

Where do you find it?

Love = find it in yourself,  not through others

Happiness is not determined by your current circumstances it is determined by how you handle your current circumstances…jodie sweetin

I thought I was strong and to be the one, that is the one person I wanted to be, I needed to be perfect, happy, available and the smartest.  I was so wrong, I spent too much time looking at what I thought I was good at instead of listening to others. COSE saw my talent as a  Keynote Speaker and  Motivational Speaker  when I did not think I could do anything but seminars….. I would promote others but not myself.

I always wanted to see the reason why things happened, I wanted a conculsion instead of seeing the journey and learning from each moment.

My personal trainer  said I had the map but it was the wrong map for my weight loss. I told him my doctor told me no running but I kept running because I needed it.  My trainer said, “What are you running from?”  I realized it was myself , I need to run from my problems and not face them. It was easier to run get endorphins then face my truth.  My truth that I was not who I wanted to be and my self esteem was low because I lost faith in myself.  I was helping everyone but me.  My clients, audience members, family, friends and students got the best of me and I got nothing. Everyone said they needed me and I was their sunshine but I was not sharing my expectations of what I needed.  I was everyones Tylenol.

To be the one means to be someones rock and someones champion while getting the oxygen you need to be strong for others. 

The peace and discovery in my life began during the writing of my first book discovering your Dawn. As I spoke to more audiences, helped more students and clients it became clear that once you have forgiven you must learn to know yourself, believe in yourself and love yourself to truly become who you want to be.

During a time of intense pain and struggle I began writing this book because I was fighting for my happiness and learning how to believe in myself so I made a challenge, to be the one. The one God needed me to be and the one who I wanted to be. I needed to be accountable for the issues in my life like my weight and hiding my feelings of pain.  I did everything my first book suggested like asking for help, striving for self respect and achieving balance.  I did not make the mistakes I made during the first tragedy of my life.  I needed to kick myself in the butt on some issues and cut off some hurtful relationships in an effort to protect myself and my family.

 When I shared my expectations of my husband, my friends my family and my students they changed and expected more from themselves. 

Today I challenge you to Respect Yourself, Ask for Help and Strive for Balance only then can you…Be The One  

     To be the one means to be the one person that your clients/customers say “you have to call her/him they will help”  Miracle Resources heard clients say that phrase over and over and we decided to strive for it to be said by all of our customers.  If your mission is to bring value to clients, your purpose is to serve them by sharing your resources, expertise and by building a relationship of trust. 

     A wise woman named Linda Bloom asked me, “Katherine are your clients your best friends”   I quickly replied, “No, we have a professional relationships” Linda then shared the secret to keeping business relationships.  The secret is to build a trust that displays how you can help and to build a bond that is so strong it will never break.  I needed to hear this because my relationships consisted of visiting clients with my staff and I was very formal, always showing perfection. 

     My mistake was that I trying so hard that clients did not get to know me.  As I became accountable, I looked at my public speaking, I was formal and people would often write to me that they learned so much but knew I was very busy and they did not want to bug me after my speech.  How sad, I tried so hard to be perfect that I was unapproachable and did not truly build relationships. 

     As a  Corporate Motivational Speaker and  Marketing Keynote Speaker, I knew I had to open up, tell my truth and treat clients as I treat my friends and family.  I started telling stories about the crazy mistakes I make and I used my mistakes to help others.  Miracle Resources started to have coffee or lunch with every client, no agenda “just come to the table and we will listen”.   As we listened, we saw so many people hurting and carrying shadows that held them back from success.  When I started teaching college and saw students who struggled just as much as clients and audience members at my speeches I tried to find a book that would help but could not find one.  In an effort to help others, I exposed my mistakes, pain and tragedy in my first book   “Discovering Your Dawn”.

     The book has been a wake up call and help people in three countries. Miracle Resources has been amazed at how supportive clients were of the book.  Miracle Resources relationships grew deep and during the tough economy our clients stayed and although the economy made it tough to get new clients we could survive with the clients we had.  It became clear in 2010 that many of our competitors would close and what may surprise you is we did not race to get their clients. Our networking and relationship building led to our competitors sending their clients to Miracle Resources. 

     A note from Miracle Resources:

We have been blessed to belong to The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Katherine was trained by AFP to become a fundraising leader. Katherine built deep friendships with fellow AFP members and they learned to depend on each other.  During good and bad times, Katherine has the support of her AFP members and is honored to be asked to speak Thursday, December 2, 2010 as the Keynote for the AFP Annual meeting. AFP also requested a book signing.  The book signing will be held at Holiday Inn Rockside at 1pm  “The greatest blessing is to be recognized by the experts in my field and to have my book showcased” Katherine Miracle

     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”

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! 

My keynote speeches range from power of positive attitude to marketing / personal branding to motivation/inspiration.  I recently gave the keynote at a seniors luncheon and I was so impressed with the audience. Everyone was so engaging and very interactive.  I love to get everyone involved and the seniors were amazing.  I loved my time with them and after my presentation I met with several audience members.  A gentleman kept moving to the back of the line and he was much older then the other audience members.  I did not want him to wait so I asked the person I was talking to if I could move the older gentleman in front of the line.  Everyone in line agreed because no one wanted the older gentleman to be last in line.  We all quickly learned the older gentleman did not want to be first because he said, “I want to talk with Katherine alone! “   I thought oh no, this should be interesting.  When the older gentleman approached me he said,  “Katherine, I am 90 years old and I need you to do something every time you speak,  tell people that I have helped many people as they lay on their deathbeds.  Katherine, not one of those people talked about what they did with their life.  They all talked about what they wish they would have done.  Katherine tell people I am 90 years old and I have no regrets, I have done everything I wanted to”   I thanked my new friend and promised him I will tell people every time I speak.  I told him that he has lived a life full of passion and that is a life well lived!