PERSONAL ADVICE crowningconcepts By Kyle Ean Haggerty Everything is Going to Plan No matter which event you’re preparing for, you must create and follow a list of steps in order to achieve your ultimate goal hen they are very young, most girls will say something like: “One day I will be Miss Ameri- ca.” One of my teen girls will eventually watch Miss Teen USA and say, “I can do that.” And, as we live in America, we know that all things are possible. Being a pageant, modeling, and performing arts consult- ant for more than two decades, I have met many types of young ladies with many different goals and aspirations. Some want to do pageants to get a new pretty dress, while others want to do a mod- eling competition with hopes that an agent will see them. Who wouldn’t want to win that $500 prize at the school talent show? A few months ago at a first training session, a young lady said to me: “Next year, I want to be Miss Universe.” She’s a beautiful young lady, 19-years of age. I asked her the following questions: How many national pageants have you competed in? How often do you work out? What is your budget for training and clothing? Do you understand the competition process well enough to become Miss Universe? Her answer was: “I don’t know.” A week later I had a young lady say to me that she wants to go to New York City as soon as possible and model for the Ford Agency. Of course I had a series of questions to ask her as well: What type of modeling are you planning on doing? What kind of experience do you currently have that qualifies you to present yourself? Do you have the tools needed... i.e. your composite portfolio? Her answer? “I don’t know.” I even meet people that often say they want to be the next Jay Z or Whitney Houston. As we know, only one-in-a-million can ever reach this kind of stardom. But I will ask these questions: W 60 PAGEANTRY How often do you practice your craft? Are you willing to relocate to achieve your goal of stardom? Are you willing to leave school or your job to pursue a career in en- tertainment or show business? And the answer: “I am not sure.” After you have clearly stated the prize, you must let the world know what you are trying to do. As we all know, you do not ac- complish greatness alone, it is very important to have your support team on board with your goals. You must create a plan of action. Note the following examples: Your Prize: “I want to win a National Pageant.” Step 1: Own it. Step 2: Get your family and support team on your page with this goal. Step 3: Review “YouTube” and videos of the national pageant. Step 4: Request and review all paperwork as well as competi- tion category descriptions. Step 5: Determine a realistic timeline to achieve this goal. If you have never competed in this pageant, take a look at the history of its winners. You may determine that it may take you 3 years to achieve this goal. This step is very important as you can become frustrated if you are not working within a realistic time frame. Step 6: Create a budget for first year of this goal. Please note that if you allow yourself a few years to achieve a goal, your strat- egy will be very different than if you plan to win in the first year. Step 7: Fill out the paperwork and send in initial payments for the state pageant. Step 8: Set up fundraisers to raise money if the funds are not already available. Set a timeline for monies needed so you can start securing items needed to compete.