BK Mike George offering "Butter Making" seminars

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ex-l

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BK Mike George offering "Butter Making" seminars

Post26 Feb 2017

BK Mike George offering "Butter Making" seminars for wannabe BK authors. Since when did "butter" become the BK euphemism for moolah?

Is it "for service" or just more BKs attempting to turn their adherence into a small cottage industry like him? Note, "BK publishing houses" will be in attendence to sign up any rising star writers.

Given that the US Self Improvement Market is estimated to be work $10,820,000,000 alone and the personal coaching marketing being worth $707,000,000 I can imagine they're already dusting down the cash registers and working out new self-marketing strategies as we type.

Interesting, following the link above provides a business insight into the New Age seminar and publish market. Slide 5 says, "What has not changed in the last 19 years ...
    • Still no industry association (hence no standards or accountability etc)
    • Still no industry trade journal or magazine
    • Just as many scams & fraud, moved online
    • 70% of the market is female clients
    • Low barriers to entry - lots of entrepreneurs

Slide 6 even mentions bogus "universities" like the Brahma Kumaris. Others underline scandals, old gurus dying, increase in quantity rather than quality.
Writer's Workshop with Mike George

28 January 2017

The International Publishing Group is pleased to announce the first-ever Writers' Workshop with Mike George

When? February 24, 2017: 9:30am–12:30 and 5–7pm

Where? Gyan Sarovar (venue to be confirmed)

What will you learn?
    · Finding the best reasons to write a book
    · The qualities and attributes you will need
    · Where is your book idea coming from?
    · How to structure your book
    · Conscious creation versus unconscious inspiration
    · Finding your personal style
    · What help will you need?
    · What is likely to happen during 'the process' of writing?
    · How to churn your own butter!
    · What happens when the book is finished?
BK publishing houses will have representatives on hand to talk to those who are at work on a book manuscript.

If you think you might “have a book in you,” register for this one-day workshop with Mike George and get started.

REGISTER by sending email to ipg@brahmakumaris.org. You will receive a confirmation email with 48 hours.

Godly regards,

BK Helen (Australia), Valeriane (Switzerland) and Marcelo (Colombia)
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Pink Panther

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Re: BK Mike George offer "Butter Making" seminars

Post26 Feb 2017

As an old advertising executive, like Brian Bacon, Mike George knows how to create a need then sell the product to fill that need.

My guess is that only 2% of those who choose to attend have any real aptitude for this kind of activity and the rest are those who are looking for something meaningful to do with their time and lives, looking to share with the world their unique ‘churnings'. I’d even be cynical enough to say that given his reputation within the BKs, he is probably approached by BKs all the time wanting advice and to share their "big ideas" and "a-ha" moments with him, and he sees an opportunity to monetise it.

I knew Mike very well. From that I can say that no one is kidding themselves more by remaining a BK after all these years, in the face of all that has happened (and not happened), than him.

GuptaRati 6666

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Re: BK Mike George offer "Butter Making" seminars

Post27 Feb 2017

When you want to neutralize the opposition, you try to dilute its effects on you and you trivialize the opposing forces. It is possible that the BKs are hoping to enhance its propaganda apparatus on the Western and Eastern fronts while diminishing the authority of writers they consider their enemies.
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ex-l

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Re: BK Mike George offer "Butter Making" seminars

Post27 Feb 2017

Pink Panther wrote:My guess is that only 2% of those who choose to attend have any real aptitude for this kind of activity and the rest are those who are looking for something meaningful to do with their time ...

Indeed, and particularly in such a "royal" occupation as writing. God forbid they actually have to go and do something that involves real people and their problems and getting their hands dirty.

As with the coaching and therapy worlds, it's a market of middle class individuals with too much time and money on their hands ... the "worried well" ... who really just want the peas under the matresses moved around a little.
I’d even be cynical enough to say that given his reputation within the BKs, he is probably approached by BKs all the time wanting advice and to share their "big ideas" and "a-ha" moments with him, and he sees an opportunity to monetise it.

I’d be cynical enough to say that he saw through the facade and realised that BKism was just a co-prosperity movement to financially sustain the lifestyle and pretensions of the old Sindi princesses and their courts ... and he just decided to sustain his own.

A cottage in the Cotswolds ain't "slumming" it with the Shudra proles.

What I have against such ventures ... and it's widely applicable to the whole corporate coaching number they got into too ... is that they are generally highly faddish businesses, that come and go out of fashion quickly, and always a big numbers game or pyramid sales, i.e. that only a very small percentage actually makes money out of them.

This is pointed out in the slideshow above.

Once one's flooded the existing demand or marketing and it starts to tail off, the next thing to do is sell courses to other people on the basis of your success, the carrot being that they too can have an equivalent success. Which they really cannot according to the laws of economics ... but if they don't succeed, as with BKism, it was their own fault for negative thinking or not trying hard enough. Hence they need to remember Baba more ... and go on other course to fix that.

Which is what the BKs are pretty much doing with all their extra courses and training centres. I am just shocked how corporate it's all become. No more, "donations only, we are a family". It's "money up front" with no guarantees offered.

Obviously they have their own relatively 'starved-for-ideas' market of one million plus adherents.

It's sort of clever in a evil way ... tell your adherents that there's no use in reading other books or philosophers and not to buy outside materials ... and then sell the one's you and your "official" authors write to them.

Now, add into that that a high proportion of "official" BK authors won't ask for a copyright fees or commission ... and accept that most of the "official" acceptable BK authors are really just reading the books and idea forbidden to the dumbed down proles and re-branding or re-cycling them for them.

"Butter"? I'd say it was more saturated fats and highly refined carbohydrates. Intellectual "toli" with no roughage to have to chew.
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ex-l

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Re: BK Mike George offer "Butter Making" seminars

Post27 Feb 2017

Pink Panther wrote: I’d even be cynical enough to say that given his reputation within the BKs, he is probably approached by BKs all the time wanting advice and to share their "big ideas" and "a-ha" moments with him, and he sees an opportunity to monetise it.

I’d even be cynical enough to say that he saw through the facade to where he realised it was all just one big money racking business intent on supporting the lifestyle and comforts of the old Sindi princesses, and increasingly their courtiers, and decided to support his own lifestyle and comforts.

I mean, a "cottage in the Cotswolds" is hardly slumming it with the proles.

What about a BK on BK economics?

1,000,000 adherents ... 10% buy the book = 100,000 ... now the industry standard profit margin for the publishing business is 40% to 75% ... and the BKs can further exploit having books published by sweatshops in the Far East or their own unpaid serfs ... so let's say a $10 book ... @ 40% = $4 profit ... equal $400,000 per book.

Now, add in a celebrity endorsement from Dadi Janki or one of her "VIP" associates ... a United Nations badge ... and numerous BKs will even buy more to give as amongst the only few "acceptable" birthday and christmas presents to give to friends and family. Then sell them a 'seminar-of-the-book' afterwards ... read the industry slideshow up above to see how it works.

is not that why they even write books in Janki's name pretending she wrote them?

Someone more intelligent than I could actually predict, fairly accurately, how many books the BKs could sell amongst themselves, how many books they can sell, and how many authors they can sustain ... only in the real world it will be less because the BKs have so few "acceptable" story lines they can follow.

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Mr Green

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Re: BK Mike George offer "Butter Making" seminars

Post28 Feb 2017

I knew Mike well too, I stayed In Shanti with him for a while. He was bitter then, and trying to accumulate as much money as possible from the BK machine. He'd long ago denounced The Cycle. He'd become a well renowned parasite and still is obviously. He never attended morning class, got his own Murlis. He moved out shortly before I did. He contributed almost nothing to Shanti Bhavan.

He was particularly bitter that when Sisters released a book they'd get a DJ special event in GCH, he was never given that exposure by the Seniors. He was a rather odd chap, quite aggressive, but friendly too.

He should have made the cut years ago.
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ex-l

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Re: BK Mike George offering "Butter Making" seminars

Post28 Feb 2017

I wonder if he has to pay to attend or whether he gets them to pay for his expenses by now?

All this talk of values and intelligences ... the BKs, as a culture, is always a little weak when it comes to financial and systemic transparencies.

GuptaRati 6666

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Re: BK Mike George offering "Butter Making" seminars

Post01 Mar 2017

ExI and Mr. Green, I do not want to judge nor label anyone. A more accurate term for describing Mike George's condition is energy vampirism. Individuals like him who simply only want to take and not give and recharge their ki are very depleted in internal energy and will easily zap the energies from associates, leaving the associates depleted. Left to themselves they will implode spiritually. Judith Orloff has an interesting book on energy vampires.
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ex-l

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Re: BK Mike George offering "Butter Making" seminars

Post01 Mar 2017

I could not go as far to say that. I have not seen him for more than 30 years ... but our paths also crossed in Shanti Bhavan for a short time, just prior to my leaving.

At that time, I made a bit of a stand and raised very much the same kind of issues as I am raising now at a big campaign planning meeting in front of the Kirpalani Klan, Janki and Jayanti, and, indeed, opposing them, e.g. anti all the VIP chasing, pro doing something practical. The Kirpalani Klan were dead against. Janki wanted us all doing "Peace Marches" around the UK with big Godly banners like they did in India.

That was the extent of her imagination.

I think the UK BKs ... indeed all Western BKs ... should have been grateful I saved them from that embarassment and humilitation!

At that time he was very much "embedded" and working closely with them on more professional marketing ideas with Nikki de Carteret (who also sells through "O-BOOKS"). However, he was supportive of the statement I had made. I think a space was created for other approaches, during which some Australia, I think it was, came up with the "Million Minutes of Peace" idea ... which became hugely successful for them.

I heard Mike went through a rocky phase and distanced himself from them for a while? Perhaps that was around the time you knew him, Mr Green? I don't know the details of what he is up to now, or where he really stands with them and it. Obviously he went along with Brian Bacon's 'corporate coaching crew' for a while.

I wonder how much he gave up of his original career to support the BKs? Perhaps he *had* to work out a second career in order to survive ... and became one of a very, very few Western BKs to make some kind of living out of BKism, or his time in BKism?

It's a tough reality to face when you realise Destruction ain't going to come and save you from your own personal career or pension fund destruction the BKs inspired!
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Mr Green

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Re: BK Mike George offering "Butter Making" seminars

Post03 Mar 2017

Yes, I am sure his faith had waned when I knew him. He did seem disillusioned.

I agree, it's awful when you realise The Cycle is rubbish and you have to fend for yourself after giving them everything!

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