Hey Junkies!!!

So, the other day, I’m going through my photos on my phone (looking to delete a few), when I run across the photo at the top of this post. I took this picture while I was out walking the dog one morning… and it stopped me dead in my tracks.

Now, to you, this photo may look like nothing but a bad landscape job – lol! But when I came across this scene – I had to stop and take a picture, specifically because of the pine tree.

You see – Here in Colorado, we get a taste of “tangible growth” every year when Spring comes around. When you check out that pine tree, you can actually see the difference between the darker pine needles and the lighter ones – the lighter ones on the most outer portion of the branches – are the “new growth”.  However – if you look at that same tree now, you can’t see any difference in the “old growth” verses the “new growth”. All the pine needles are the same color – but the tree is larger and stronger.

Oh how I wish every aspect of our lives had such “tangible growth” available in plain sight!

WHAT’S THAT THING GROWING ON YOUR ARM?

Yes – I think life would be a heck of a lot easier if we could actually SEE The progress we’re making on a daily basis. And not just with things like how much you weigh – I’m talking about seeing your personal development. Imagine if we could see a little part of us “grow” when we learned a new skill… or became just a little more proficient in our work… or acquired a piece of knowledge that will help us later in life! How much more motivating might it be to SEE the difference on a daily basis! You could actually SEE  who you were, verses who you are – as it was happening!

Unfortunately (or fortunately), little green leaves don’t start to grow on our bodies when we learn something new. Personal growth and development is intangible. You can’t actually “see” it when it happens – Which is what makes it sooooooo easy to skip it, thinking it’s not necessary…

MAINTENANCE MODE

I’ll admit… It’s much easier to sit and hang out in “maintenance mode” than it is to get excited about pursuing personal growth.

But maintenance can be deceiving.

Think about this…

You can maintain your weight, and yet actually increase in cellulite (not judging! It takes one to know one here!). You can also “maintain” the place where you live (or your car) – But “maintaining” your home doesn’t stop your furniture from getting old and outdated – and it doesn’t stop the parts on your car from wearing out and needing replacement.

You see… maintenance… isn’t staying the same. It’s worse.

Maintenance is holding still. Usually while everything and everyone else around you moves forward.

YOU ARE A TREE

If you’re not experiencing some sort of personal growth, it’s time to ask yourself, “why not?”

You and I actually have the capacity to experience SIGNIFICANT growth in a short period of time. We can adapt to difficult or ugly situations… We can ‘bounce back’ from disappointments, or even surge forward during amazing seasons of personal development. And it doesn’t matter if you choose to grow or if difficult circumstances force you to grow, the bottom line is still the same…

If you want something you’ve never had, you need to do something you’ve never done.

If you want to be more confident in your swimsuit presentation, you need to do something different than what you’re currently doing. If you want to have a stronger interview or talent (or both), you need to do the work that will allow you to grow in those areas.

YOUR CHANCE TO GROW

Now through Sunday, you have a chance to do something you’ve never done before in order to get results that can change your life.

And I’m not talking about winning a pageant… I’m talking about life-altering, personal growth that will put you on a path of self-discovery unlike anything you’ve experienced before.

The women inside PJU who have followed the system as it’s laid out, have “tangible growth” the likes of which they never believed…

And you can have it too.

In all categories of competition… I gave my best performance ever. I felt so confident and relaxed going into prelim night two after an amazing first night of competition. Thank you for everything you do in this program, Carrie! I know you are inspiring young women to love this program for all the right reasons. Your course really was an immense help to me and I am so grateful for the opportunity to talk with you!

~ Current PJU Student

Give yourself (or your daughter) the gift of growth. When you join Pageant Junkies University, you’ll be able to see the difference a winning system can make in your/her life.

Our 4 Day Summer Sale is taking place right now, July 28th-31st. Learn more at this link right here…

Maintenance is holding still. Usually while everything and everyone else around you, is moving forward.

#BigJunkieLove

Carrie Lakey

To read more #ThursdayPosts like this one, just click here…

Carrie Lakey is kind of obsessed with Miss America…
So are 18,000 of her closest friends.

As an avid fan of the Miss America Organization, Carrie began
publicly predicting pageant winners over 10 years ago.
Now, she’s galvanizing an online movement of fans
known as “Pageant Junkies”.
Learn more about the Junkie Nation
by clicking here.

HOLY COW!!! It’s been quite the crazy week! In case you missed it – let me give you a short re-cap…

Last Thursday, we announced the results from all the ladies who competed at their state pageant (both Miss and Teen) – who also happened to be enrolled at Pageant Junkies University. We were BEYOND pleased with the results – Especially considering the fact that the vast majority of these ladies have never even spoken to me! Instead, these ladies followed the system I created which teaches you how to discover and develop a Pageant Brand that gets noticed on stage (catch last week’s article here)…

Today – we’re going to go in the opposite direction.

You see, I believe that when you have a great product, all you have to do is be honest with people, and let them decide if they’d like to purchase it or not (so – just in case you’re wondering – that means there’s no hard sales pitch coming! YAY!)

Instead – I’m going to outline 5 kinds of people who WON’T benefit from The Branding Course at  PJU. That means, if you find yourself in one of these 5 categories – and you were considering The Branding Course – I’ll tell you right now – Don’t. Buy. This. Course. You’d be much better off without it.

OK – So – Here goes… 5 Types of people who should NOT buy The Branding Course from PJU:

1. You Have Bigger Battles

If you JUST STARTED in pageantry and you quickly realized your talent, fitness, and interview just isn’t up to snuff, I gotta be honest – PJU might not be for you. The Branding Course can do a lot of wonderful things – but if you have a poor talent, a bad interview, and don’t have the confidence you need in your fitness presentation, there’s absolutely no need to buy The Branding Course. I would much rather encourage you to put your time and effort into the major areas of competition before doing any work on your brand. Having a stellar brand does not compensate for someone who has a poor on-stage competition – Which is why you need to put your efforts there first.

2.  The Prettiest Girl Always Wins 

If you’re competing in a pageant system that’s all about looks and has nothing to do with a platform, or volunteer work, interview skills, or talent – Then developing a stellar pageant brand will not make any difference whatsoever. Instead, I would encourage you to find people who can help you create the perfect “look” – and can show you how to ‘amp up’ the glamour as necessary. If your pageant system rewards “beauty” alone – then this course is not for you and although I know you might learn a few things, in the end, those things will not help you win the crown.

3.  All You Do is Win

If you’ve been doing this pageant thing for decent amount of time, and you frequently win without really even trying, then The Branding Course is not for you either. There are some ladies out there who make pageantry look “effortless”… Honestly – they’re almost “gifted” when it comes to pageant competitions – and that’s absolutely wonderful! Each of us should find an area in which we can succeed! And if you happen to be one of those ladies who decides to do a pageant – and 90% of the time you walk away with the crown, then The Branding Course is not for you! Just keep doing what you’re already doing! If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

4.  You Think I’m Going to do the Work for You

Let’s say you like pageantry… You enjoy competing… And you’d prefer to win more often – But you’re not really ready or willing to put any more effort into getting different results. Well – I gotta tell you – The Branding Course is not going to help you either. I’m afraid you’re going to have to put in the effort if you want to change/improve yourself. Heck – You can watch all the modules and take the best notes in the world – But if you don’t APPLY anything that you’ve learned, you’re not going to succeed. It’s just like any other area of competition… If you want to succeed in Talent, you need to practice. If you want to succeed in Fitness, you need to make healthy choices and work out. Nobody else can do that work for you. It’s the same thing regarding the Branding Course. It’s full of incredible information that can change the way you compete – But I can’t do the work for you – You need to do it yourself.

5.  You’re Looking for a “Quick Fix” 

The truth of the matter is – Developing your brand takes time. This course will show you many of the things you’re not doing correctly – or not doing at all – But it can’t fix your brand overnight (frankly – nobody can do that). In case you didn’t realize it, The Branding Course is over 3.5 hours of video instruction, outlining our branding system, step by step. We give you successful examples of strong pageant brands, we show you a significant number of rookie mistakes – and we also offer dozens of  accountability questions to help you remain on track. Obviously, you could get through all the modules in an afternoon – but most ladies who are serious about developing a solid brand, find it takes some time to be objective about themselves and then determining what needs to change. You can do it quickly – Or you can take the time to do it right – and do it well.

And there you have it! If you find yourself falling into one of these 5 categories – I’ll tell you right now – Don’t even worry about it – The Branding Course is not for you.

However – for those of you still considering The Branding Course, there’s only one more week to wait! We’re opening the doors of Pageant Junkies University next THURSDAY (July 28th-31st) and we’ve just added a brand new bonus to our original offer…

The first 10 ladies who enroll in PJU during this special sale, will be invited to join me on a very special online “implementation workshop”. During this online workshop, I’ll be walking you through the EXACT STEPS of how to determine your Brand – Essentially giving you a “heads start” on the process. But this special offer is only available for the first 10 ladies who join PJU in July!

If you have any additional questions about The Branding Course from PJU – you can click here to see the full offer. 🙂

Until next week!

#BigJunkieLove

Carrie Lakey

If you’d like to see more #ThursdayPosts like this one, just click here…

Carrie Lakey is kind of obsessed with Miss America…
So are 18,000 of her closest friends.

As an avid fan of the Miss America Organization, Carrie began
publicly predicting pageant winners over 10 years ago.
Now, she’s galvanizing an online movement of fans
known as “Pageant Junkies”.
Learn more about the Junkie Nation
by clicking here.

Hey Junkies!

I once had a boss who frequently told me, “The proof is in the pudding, kid.” The first time he said it, it made me giggle – and every time I heard it thereafter, it at least made me smile (imagine it being said with a slight southern accent and it might make you giggle too!).

What my boss was saying – is that you can “theorize” about something all day long. You can hope and wish and dream and believe something will work, but until you actually put it into practice and evaluate the results – you’ll never know if it really works or not.

Today, is “Proof is in the Pudding” day for Pageant Junkies University and The Branding Course.

Yes – It’s time to report our results from the ladies who took the PJU Branding Course – And the good news is, THERE’S GOOD NEWS TO REPORT!!!  🙂 Let’s take a look!

First of all – We are SOOOO PROUD of ALL 27 Junkies who competed at their state title this year – As we all know, competing in a state pageant is no easy feat! I’m so happy for those who stepped on the stage with their best foot forward!

Second – The success you see above IS NOT OURS! It belongs solely to the women inside PJU who took the course and applied the principles they discovered. Let me explain…

When you enroll in PJU, it’s your choice as to how “involved” you’d like me to be in your journey. Believe it or not, several ladies chose to take the course without ever speaking to me! It’s true! In many cases, we didn’t have one bit of interaction with these ladies – It was almost like they read a book and decided how to improve their performance for themselves!

How did they do that?  Well – inside The Branding Course, we have a couple of ways to keep you on track (specific questions to ask yourself, a Branding Study Guide, The Brand Planner, etc). When you enroll in the course, there’s a built-in accountability system that comes with the course itself.

Now – there were also a few ladies who chose to interact with me via email, and a few others who took advantage of a free 30 minute offer via FaceTime/Skype. But don’t be mistaken – the VAST MAJORITY of women who took this course, found success on their own after taking it!

That’s because… Wait for it… Wait for it…

I’M NOT WONDER WOMAN – LOL!
(or insert your favorite super hero here 🙂 ).

Nope – Not a super hero…

Who am I…?

I’m just a gal who created a branding system for pageant contestants that gets results.

It’s the system that gets the credit – Not me!

One more thing…

I asked a few of the ladies what they thought about The Branding Course… Frankly, I was unprepared to hear the kinds of things they were saying… Things like…

Carrie…

Thank you for the way you’ve invested in me this past year – regardless of the outcome (of my state pageant), understanding and developing my brand has led to true life transformation.

I never would have understood the power behind my brand if it weren’t for you. I can’t wait to see what this next year has in store, and the biggest takeaway from all of your training is that my “pageant brand” is also my life brand, and my platform is an outline of my life’s work.

Understanding my brand, and how it maximizes the intersection of my strengths, talents, and passions, will allow me to have an impact on the world far greater than I ever could have imagined. Thank you for helping me realize this truth and truly understand who I am and what I stand for. For that reason, I feel like I’ve already won.

WOWZERS.

And let’s be honest – the only investment I made in that young woman, was OFFERING The Branding Course! That’s it! That’s why I’m no Wonder Woman – It’s the system behind The Branding Course that made the difference in this young lady’s life!

Therefore – Because this kind of transformation is what can happen if you follow the system outlined in The Branding Course, we’re going to open up Pageant Junkies University once again for 4 days at the end of the month.

When the clock strikes Midnight EST on Thursday, July 28th, you can enroll in PJU and receive The Branding Course that’s making a difference in the lives of those who take it. However, the doors will close on Sunday evening, July 31st.

During these four days, we hope to once again see Junkies from across the nation recognize the power that is inside of them. The power to fully understand who you are as a person – and how your unique brand can bring a lifetime of impact, influence and positive change in the world.

Now THAT’S a pretty great definition of “Wonder Woman” if I ever saw one.

If you have any questions, please email me directly at ThePageantJunkies@gmail.com – or to view our FAQ’s about PJU, just click here. To see the specifics of what’s being offered inside The Branding Course on July 28th, just click here.

We’d love to have you join us!

#BigJunkieLove
Carrie Lakey

To see more Thursday posts like this one, just click here…

Carrie Lakey is kind of obsessed with Miss America…
So are 17,000 of her closest friends.

As an avid fan of the Miss America Organization, Carrie began
publicly predicting pageant winners over 10 years ago.
Now, she’s galvanizing an online movement of fans
known as “Pageant Junkies”.
Learn more about the Junkie Nation
by clicking here.