The Kevin Miller Podcast

Here’s a story that puts all the positive thinking to the real test of life. I appreciate Mike Tyson famously saying, “Everyone Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth.” That’s what we all deal with, our good intentions, then the trials that come and punch us in the mouth. That’s what this show is about. Joy was going along in life achieving her goals and becoming a dolphin trainer and filmmaker and living the perspective she got from Zig Ziglar to be joyful in the face of challenge. Then at age 25 she was diagnosed with cancer. The really bad kind. She approached it with an incredibly positive attitude and decided to utilize her love of and expertise with film to document the entire ordeal and capture her triumphant overcoming. But it’s not a perfect story. Along the way she realized the end might not be the triumph she expected. Living. She did live however and today helps kids with cancer through a unique event involving dolphins. We talk through the realities of having hope, losing it, and persevering anyway. It’s a message truly relevant to us all, even if we haven’t been at death’s door. If you visit Joy’s website at Joyclausensoto.com and sign up for her newsletter so you can get her book for free. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our focus is goals, and more importantly, actually making them happen. We all, me included, have goals and dreams and desires we want to achieve. However, every day, life happens. The urgent duties and demands we must tend to, then trying to rest and recover and have a break now and then. Those very important goals are never going to be as urgent. We listen to a two minute clip from Zig Ziglar on the issue, thenI polled our audience on some of their tactics and Tom Ziglar and I talk through the need for compassion with ourselves, but also some very real strategies we can use. And know this, there is no one best strategy, and your’s can be as goofy as ever, as long as it produces results. So Tom and I share some of our own as well, and I’ll admit mine often fall on the...not so conventional side. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re back with Mark Victor Hansen of Chicken Soup For The Soul Fame, and his wife Crystal Hansen, to discuss their health habits for success. It’s always interesting with high powered couples to hear what habits they share and where they differentiate. The statement that caught my attention here was Crystal talking about her nutritional journey and us sharing our joy of being foodies. She said her personal goal and advocacy is to, "Love foods more than you ever have, but just learn to love the foods that love you back." That is wise and falls in line with our premise on my True Life podcast that we are and will be creatures of appetite, but the goal is to upgrade our appetites to healthier options. Don’t miss episode 895 where we talked about the Hansen’s message and new book, Ask - The Bridge from Your Dreams to Your Destiny. You can get the book at Amazon and then Mark & Crystal invite you to join them at Askthebookclub.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Doing good business isn’t enough to keep customers loyal. I asked our listeners two questions, “How do you create goodwill and customer loyalty in your business?” and then, “What business has your customer loyalty and why?” I was fishing for something Tom Ziglar and I came to in Ziglar Show episode 892 about what some businesses do beyond competing for price and even quality, to wow their customers. We all think we do a great job. A better job to deliver a better service or better product. Yet most every business person I’ve met has some frustration with customer attrition and losing them to competitors. Let’s talk about how you can own your customers for life. This will be significant for all of you with businesses to hear and glean from. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Let’s come back to a basic, common sense skill that has become uncommon. Asking. Asking for help, guidance, insight, advice, and direction. Imagine waking up in the middle of New York City with no phone or map and you must make it to a certain destination for your own saving. What would you do? You’d ask the first person you came upon for direction. But today in our increasingly isolated lives we seldom reach out and ask for much of anything. We seek information to apply to our lives and strive to do it autonomously. We mistakenly think all the leaders and influencers we follow are smarter or wiser than we are. What we find is the people we all look to for guidance spend a significant portion of their existence asking others for guidance. Mark Victor Hansen, co-author of the Chicken Soup For The Soul book and many others that has resulted in half a billion book sales, and his best selling author wife Crystal, have written an entire book on this issue and the grand opportunity we can all claim for ourselves if we will learn how and when to ask for guidance and direction in our lives. It’s called Ask - The Bridge from Your Dreams to Your Destiny and we dig into it here in this episode and discuss why we don’t ask anymore, and how we can get comfortable and proficient with asking and get past our fear and pride. You can get the book at Amazon and then Mark & Crystal invite you to join them at Askthebookclub.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The question is, “Who do you work for?” We hear a true and acute story from Zig Ziglar about two men who started with a company at the same time. 20 years later one was still working for the company and one was the president. A stark difference. The reason cited by the one still just working for the company is he merely went to work for the money. So I put this question to the Ziglar audience, “I work for (blank)”, Who do you do your work for? Who are you serving?” Great responses from so many varieties of industries that really pulls our attention to just exactly what we all are...working for, and we hear from an equal amount of employees and business owners. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m back with Tommy Breedlove to talk about his habits for success in his life. Every guest I have on my podcasts is here in great part because of their intentionality in life. But I must say, Tommy is one of the more intentional people I’ve known. This is one of the more robust Habit’s shows I’ve done. And for you guys, I also questioned him on some of the primary areas of struggle he sees amongst all the high performing, executive clientele he leads and walks with. The answers will surprise you, such as him saying that across the board a primary struggle all the men he works with have are issues of self confidence, self esteem, self respect, and self love. Even if they are worth many millions. That was the number two issue. The number one issue, you’ll hear in just a moment. Another stand out perspective Tommy shared is how we have it backwards. When you ask about priorities most will say family, then work, then themselves. He believes it’s one, a lie, and two is upside down. We need to put ourselves first. Not selfishly, but if we don’t have ourselves worked out, our family and our business will suffer as a result. So strap yourself in, you will get some habits equipping right here. I encourage you to check out Tommy’s book, “Legendary” at Amazon, and you can connect with him at tommybreedlove.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is and isn’t working in businesses today. I polled our Ziglar audience on Facebook, which I invite you to participate in as well, you can find me on Facebook at agentkmiller, I’d be honored to get your perspectives on our weekly questions. I asked, Business Owners: 1) What is your business?, 2) Where are you finding the most success in your business today?, and 3) Where are you finding the most challenge? We got insightful responses from businesses such as property managers, insurance brokers, food trucks, realtors, business and fitness coaches, website building and marketing, and even eye surgery equipment. You’ll gain great insight into the opportunities and challenges in the real life, nitty gritty of businesses, right now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How about your ability to change? Not just a little, but a lot. We all desire to grow as individuals. To increase our capacity and ability, our resilience and wisdom, our character and peace. To be people who deal expertly with the waves of the world and have plenty of depth to draw on for the service of other people. But as you’ll hear in this show, I’ve often looked at incremental changes and sometimes question just how much someone can truly change. So I bring you the incredible story of Tommy Breedlove who joins me in this episode. Tommy is a high end executive life coach who has influenced the lives of many of the leaders I’ve had on my podcasts. His story is one of an abused kid in poverty who was mercilessly bullied, and grew up to be a bully. At 18 he beat someone up so badly he was charged with felony accounts and imprisoned. Later he put his anger toward business and made a lot of money until he came to his end. Ultimately his story is someone who went from a heart of darkness, to a heart so many now turn to for light. It’s a dramatic shift and we discuss it in depth in this episode. If you want more of the story, get his book on Amazon, “Legendary: A simple playbook for building and living a legendary life, and being remembered as a legend,” and visit his website at https://tommybreedlove.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We face a stark reality. The world influencers we all follow and revere speak staunchly to the power in their lives derived from people who have personally inspired them. In this show we hear a two minute clip from Zig Ziglar and a story of someone who changed the trajectory of their life by changing who they associated with. However, I did a survey and from it what we discern is most of us aren’t associating with...anyone. Most have nobody in their lives who is inspiring them. I’m not talking about a mentor or personal yoda even, just anyone they are around at all who raises the bar and gives them inspiration. You’ll hear me lay it on Tom and render him nearly speechless. So what you many find is some compassion for yourself not having someone, which is good. But then we try to do justice to ideas for finding a way to have someone or ones in your life consistently who are calling you up and raising the bar and inspiring you to see more than you can from just between your own two ears. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices