What's the Plan?
“ Good Bye Miss Maggi, safe travels!”. Warm wishes surrounded me as I left the trunk show in Alabama, this time attending as Mrs. International 2014. What a truly surreal moment. The question was asked many times “How does it feel to have your year ending, are you ready?” and “How was your year?”.
As I begin to work on my farewell speech, these two questions have certainly been mulling around in my mind. There is one simple reason though I was ready to give an answer before anyone even asked…I was prepared to be Mrs. International 2014.
Standing in Times Union Theatre in Jacksonville for on stage interview as a finalist, the MC asked “How are you doing tonight?” and my answer was simple “Prepared”. There was no certainty Mrs. International 2014 was in my future, but what I did know is I had done everything possible to prepare with all of my heart, soul and every fiber of my being.
Admittingly I am possibly the world’s worst packer, although able to fit a lot of stuff creatively into luggage, everything goes in there…..evvvvverything! I like to feel overly prepared because it is easier to put in the effort ahead of whatever is to come with due diligence and taking the time it deserves to think about it. The other option of scrambling later with a so/so outcome isn’t fair to anyone involved. My previous career of managing multi-million dollar construction projects for a decade certainly played a factor into the preparedness factor.
In January of 2014 God put it on my heart to start developing two schedules. There was a “Mrs. International 2014 schedule” and a “Maggi Thorne Soles4Souls continued partnership schedule”. Soles4Souls and I both agreed crown or no crown, our partnership had become pretty special and we both held each other in high value. At our initial meeting in 2013 Soles4Souls laid out goals and objectives they had for me as a spokesperson, so began the process again in January 2014 of what the year as Mrs. International 2014 could look like to help advance their mission of wearing out poverty through the gift of shoes around the world.
After starting the draft schedule in January of 2014, by the end of May, Soles4Souls CEO Buddy Teaster and I sat down to do the final review. Besides my wardrobe and a million other items, packed away in my files was the draft plan if crowned with the responsibility. Now, keep in mind this schedule was between Soles4Souls and I, so we built flexibility in to it, but it was a very useful tool as an outline of our objectives and goals of how we could best utilize the year as Mrs. International 2014 to bring visibility to both Soles4Souls and International Pageants to advance both missions.
This was the single most useful tool for me personally before coming to International Pageants because there was never a “Oh my goodness, I won, what is next, what now, what do I do?!”. My car was packed to get on the road for weeks (let’s be real, the next year, lol), our family lined up with childcare, we even had our kids birthday parties a month early before the pageant “just in case”. My “overpacker” mode was in hyper drive ☺
It is because of the plan, I am able to answer “My year as Mrs. International 2014 has been absolutely amazing and fruitful.” Having the support of International Pageants makes it all that much better, being a part of a family.
Now, has everything on the schedule we put together worked out? Nope. But we are at a 95% and more importantly, we have been able to put tens of thousands of shoes on the feet of people around the world in the effort to wear out poverty, to which I am grateful to all of the planning ahead of time.
Tips to consider for your plan:
Happy Planning!
Live What you Love,
Maggi
Your Mrs. International 2014
#GiveShoesGiveLove
As I begin to work on my farewell speech, these two questions have certainly been mulling around in my mind. There is one simple reason though I was ready to give an answer before anyone even asked…I was prepared to be Mrs. International 2014.
Standing in Times Union Theatre in Jacksonville for on stage interview as a finalist, the MC asked “How are you doing tonight?” and my answer was simple “Prepared”. There was no certainty Mrs. International 2014 was in my future, but what I did know is I had done everything possible to prepare with all of my heart, soul and every fiber of my being.
Admittingly I am possibly the world’s worst packer, although able to fit a lot of stuff creatively into luggage, everything goes in there…..evvvvverything! I like to feel overly prepared because it is easier to put in the effort ahead of whatever is to come with due diligence and taking the time it deserves to think about it. The other option of scrambling later with a so/so outcome isn’t fair to anyone involved. My previous career of managing multi-million dollar construction projects for a decade certainly played a factor into the preparedness factor.
After starting the draft schedule in January of 2014, by the end of May, Soles4Souls CEO Buddy Teaster and I sat down to do the final review. Besides my wardrobe and a million other items, packed away in my files was the draft plan if crowned with the responsibility. Now, keep in mind this schedule was between Soles4Souls and I, so we built flexibility in to it, but it was a very useful tool as an outline of our objectives and goals of how we could best utilize the year as Mrs. International 2014 to bring visibility to both Soles4Souls and International Pageants to advance both missions.
It is because of the plan, I am able to answer “My year as Mrs. International 2014 has been absolutely amazing and fruitful.” Having the support of International Pageants makes it all that much better, being a part of a family.
Now, has everything on the schedule we put together worked out? Nope. But we are at a 95% and more importantly, we have been able to put tens of thousands of shoes on the feet of people around the world in the effort to wear out poverty, to which I am grateful to all of the planning ahead of time.
- Print out a blank paper calendar from July 2015 to July 2016
- Write down on a separate piece of paper your goals and objectives with your platform
- Reach out to your platform leadership ahead of Jacksonville to discuss the year ahead and goals and objectives if crowned
- Keep in mind if crowned, a photoshoot is likely within the first few weeks with Clay Spann
- This schedule is not meant to be dictated to anyone, but again serve as an outline of goals and objectives
- Look at that year of 2015 to 2016 and how would you put it together so at when handing over the crown, you don’t end up thinking “I wish I did more for my platform”
- This is a platform pageant. When looking at the schedule, I put Soles4Souls at the forefront
- Things happen, plain and simple. Use a pencil in other words when drafting your plan! If every single plan anyone ever put together went 100% “as planned”, everyone would be crowned and every NFL team would walk away a Super Bowl champion. Planning is critical, but so is being flexible, so build in contingency’s for other area that even at first were certain, ended up in uncertainty.
- Have fun with it. Let planning be a useful and exciting tool to help you challenge yourself in a positive way! Every moment of life we can continue to be transformed…..if we allow ourselves to be
Live What you Love,
Maggi
Your Mrs. International 2014
#GiveShoesGiveLove
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