The Kevin Miller Podcast

Some people struggle with having ambition in the world and being devoted to God, yet Deborah Smith Pegues holds these both with peace and joy. In episode 825 we heard Deborah’s profound story of having every right to be a victim and be minimized, but instead she went from a difficult upbringing and being a southern maid to being VP of a Fortune 500 Company. This is my Habits show and we get to hear first hand the habits, routines and values that give Deborah such a rich and vibrant life and successful career. She is jointly full of laughter while not pulling any punches about what she believes, what she struggles with, and how she addresses it all in her daily life. I believe you’ll find yourself smiling and convicted as you listen to this episode. You can find Deborah and all she has to offer at https://www.confrontingissues.com/ and you can find her new book, Lead Like a Woman anywhere you buy books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First doesn’t mean most, but it is a relevant sequence. Here is a simple and easy analogy that you will get, but it will be an effort to truly...get. Before a busy week of caring for your family and running them around everywhere, you fill up your car with gas. I bet you don’t drive until you run out and end up stranded with your family, right? And you don’t get out and push and have one of the kids steer for a few days, right. You get gas before you are empty, possibly every week or more. You also change the oil, put washer fluid in, get new brakes and tires and more. What about yourself? We often don’t treat ourselves with the wisdom and necessity of our car. We run ourselves to empty and spend untold days, weeks, months, maybe years, running on empty. Slow and sluggish or hectic and frantic, and the people we care about are not getting the best ride. It’s a cultural error. In this episode I play a clip from Zig Ziglar where he talks about balance and having us look at where we are out of balance. I then posted this question to the Ziglar audience; Right now, which area below gets most of your focus and interest, and which gets the least?  1 Health & Wellness 2 Relationships 3 Mental  4 Finances 5 Spiritual 6 Career 7 Personal Tom Ziglar and I talked through the responses. You’ll be interested to hear where people said they were giving the most focus, and this wasn’t where they thought they should be giving more and less focus, but where they actually are. The punchline I’ve made obvious though, the place people most cited giving the least focus to was, themselves. Their own personal care. So of course Tom and I address this in the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Everything works together for my good; I’m never a victim.” Deborah Smith Pegues had every reason to be a victim but ultimately didn’t see the value in it. She was poor, underprivileged, black, she’d been molested, yet figured out how to get an education and went from southern maid to Fortune 500 V.P. and then on to become an international speaker and award winning author of 17 books including her book, 30 Days to Taming Your Tongue which has sold over one million copies worldwide. But don’t expect some hard charging war horse here, that’s what intrigued me. Deborah was all smiles and laughter as she gave light hearted but profound answers to my inquiries. At one point as I pressed her on the hardships she faced, she just said, “Well what were the options? Let it all take me down, or just go succeed?” It left me feeling silly for minimizing myself or letting any circumstance get me down and handicap me. She has a new book called, “Lead Like A Woman” but I’ll tell you her message spoke to me as much as any I’ve heard in a long time. What we discussed regarding gender and race and opportunity was powerful. As a black person she never tried to be white and as a woman she never tried to be a man. However she recognized how the cards were stacked and simply did what needed to be done. She knew she’d have to work twice as hard to get half the credit, which she again, simply accepted and did it, realizing complaining about it or letting it hold her back gained her nothing, it just diminished her and her opportunity. What she is today is a wildly successful and joyfully fulfilled human and it was a pure delight to hear her wisdom. I think you’ll find the same thing. Find Deborah and all she has to offer at https://www.confrontingissues.com/ and you can find her new book, Lead Like a Woman anywhere you buy books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We often talk about the things we would do if we had more time. In this episode we kick off with a two minute clip from Zig Ziglar about the power of focusing in on one goal because we can’t address every goal all the time. From this message I asked the Ziglar audience this question, “If you were given time to double your focus on improving one area of your life or progressing toward any one specific goal...where would it be?” Great conversation reading through the comments with Tom Ziglar. Many of the comments talked about business goals but the majority were addressing themselves, which shines light on the reality of how we often shortchange our own care, which leaves us unable to serve others and our goals at full capacity. You’ll get much from this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andy Andrews cites George Washington Carver saying he was up before birds and would promptly go outside and get his marching orders for the day. Andy prescribes to this as well as he shares some of his most valued routines here in my Habits show. If you didn’t hear episode 819 where I talked with Andy about his new book, Just Jones, please...go listen to it. You’ll hear some of his personal story of both parents dying while he was a child, ending up living under a pier and ultimately being befriended by an older man named, Jones. To come from this lifestyle and seeming lack to being a renowned, best selling author and influencer to influencers requires some healthy habits and routines that differ from the norm. Here in this episode you’ll hear some. But you’ll also hear us go on a tangent of parenting and some counsel Andy gave me years ago that stuck. As a teaser I’ll just ask you this, “Is your goal to raise good kids, or good adults?” It’s a paradigm shift. So if you want a serious and significant dive into core issues of parenting, you’ll find it here. And check this out...I encourage you to again, listen to episode 819 with Andy and me, and if you bless yourself and buy Andy’s new book, “Just Jones” from Amazon or anywhere and send him a receipt or screenshot to andy@andyandrews.com, you’ll gain access to his 4 hour audio program, “Becoming a Noticer.” And we all want to be noticers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We buy what we buy for the benefit it gives us, in the form of fulfilling a desire or solving a problem. Sometimes we aren’t even aware of why we buy what we do, but there is almost always a specific reason. The exercise of this show is to get us thinking about benefits from the products and services we buy, so as to help us better conceptualize how we need to showcase the products and services we offer. Even if you are an employee, you are paid for a result, not simply to take up space. Are you aware of the specific benefits you provide? I start this show off with a three minute clip from Zig Ziglar, from his direct sales training, not a stage with all his humor. He talks about the three aspects of anything we offer, features, functions and benefits. With the core value being of course, benefits. From this clip I asked the Ziglar audience this question, “Please recommend a few of your favorite products and services and WHY...what is the benefit you get from them?” What came out was a great overview of just what Zig outlined, features, functions and benefits. Tom Ziglar and I had a really interesting conversation dissecting this triad as we talked through many of the comments. This will really help you conceptualize just what benefit you, your product or service is providing.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you get a mentor? What does a good mentor look like? That’s how we kick off this show. I’m with Mark Timm. Mark is a seriously successful businessman who can I just say...has done very well. But he wanted to do better, in business, and as a dad. So he got a mentor. Not just any mentor mind you, but Kevin Harrington, the original shark on the blockbuster Shark Tank TV show. Inventor of the infomercial and if you’ve ever heard, “Wait, there’s more,” that’s from Kevin. The two met through the Ziglar corporation and family and I’ve been blessed to spend time with both guys. They have now written a book together, Mentor To Millions, which you can get at getmtm.com. But what you’ll find in the book, we cover in this show, and it’s literally, a “Wait, there’s more!” episode. As I said, we start off with what everyone wants to hear most, how do you find a mentor? Here is what’s interesting though, Mark talks so much about the mentoring he got and gets from Kevin, even now as they are business partners. And folks, the book is along with everything else, a complete playbook on the business methods of Kevin Harrington. But Mark not only applies the lessons to his businesses, but his family, as a primary focus for Mark, as you’ll hear, is nurturing and growing his family. So everything he learns and applies to business, he applies to his family. He showcases that not only do you not have to sacrifice your family to be successful in your work or business, but you can actually benefit your family by bringing them into your work. It’s really an intriguing message and show. Again, you can get Mentor To Millions which has just come out and already hit the bestsellers list, at getmtm.com. Show them a receipt from buying the book and they are offering 30 days of mentorship, for your business and family! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You have a product or service to provide. You love for people to experience it. But alas, you also need income from the time and money you spend developing and delivering your product or service. Which means, not just sales, but the ultimate setting of a price and asking to be paid. This is not a fun aspect for many. In fact, it’s often a place of severe dread with multiple negative feelings attached to it. This show is for you and it’s packed with paradigm shifting perspective changers you can take action on right now. I kick the show off with a 3.5 minute clip from Zig Ziglar where he shares a time when he was kindly chastised for selling his books, tapes, and resources from the stage where he was presenting and told it took away his credibility. How did he respond? In a way you need to hear, and you will in just a moment. From Zig’s message I asked the Ziglar audience this question, “For those of you with a product, service, or message you truly believe in, how do you feel about the task of actually selling it and asking others to pay?” I know I always say we get great comments, but friends, this turned into possibly one of the most valuable shows on how we can perceive what we provide and charge for it with peace, joy, and confidence.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wonderful movies and stories of our time are made from people who achieved something which seemed impossible, either for themselves or for anyone at all. The best stories are the ones which are actually true. History is littered with such feats. How about you? Have you done something you or others once thought was impossible? Or do you dream of achieving something you feel is impossible and unreasonable for you? This show is for you. Andy Andrews is my guest. Andy is author of more than 25 books, several of which are New York Times bestsellers including The Traveler's Gift and The Noticer. ABC's Good Morning America named The Traveler’s Gift one of the “Five Books You Must Read In Your Lifetime.” Andy has spoken at the request of four different presidents of the United States. He's coached our nation’s Special Operations Command for eight years and has been a part of nine College Football National Championship teams in a row. He works as a consultant to Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, and sometimes, entire communities who hire him to create a starting point for extraordinary results. His newest book—Just Jones - Sometimes a thing is impossible until it is actually done—released September 8, 2020. A New York Times reporter recently wrote, “Andy Andrews has quietly become one of the most influential people in America.” To me, Andy is an incredible guy with an incredible story and he writes incredibly intriguing fiction...with a point. Such as the point of this latest book of his, Just Jones, about doing something that seems impossible, until it’s actually done. A key point we discuss in this show together is Andy stating, “What most folks lack...is perspective. A broader view.” I find it true for myself and others, we so often have such a narrow view of what is and what is not possible. This is why Andy is cited by some of the world’s elite as a Professional Noticer. He believes we can all become such. Matter of fact, buy Andy’s new book, “Just Jones” from Amazon or anywhere and send him a receipt or screenshot and send it to andy@andyandrews.com and you’ll gain access to his 4 hour audio program, “Becoming a Noticer.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How many of you are incredible with helping clients, but it’s other areas of your business where you struggle? I asked the Ziglar audience just that, “COACHES/CONSULTANTS/COUNSELORS - What area of your business is the greatest challenge for you?” Tom Ziglar and I read through the comments and gave counsel primarily to the business of coaching, consulting and counseling. Ziglar is in the business of helping grow these kinds of businesses, it’s what Tom Ziglar specializes in with his Choose To Win Coaching program which you can see at ziglarshow.com/ctw. This however is our best counsel to the questions asked, free for the taking. A heads up, the most popular question was in regards to marketing and lead generation which we saved as the last issue to cover. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices