Monthly Archives July 2010

I cracked the Homebased Code for Success

Posted by Andrew    Posted in BLOG, Business, Featured, My Rant    Posted in July 30, 2010    |    2 Comments

Homebased success codeHello out there Andrew Hawkes here,

I want to let you in on a secret.... I cracked it,  I cracked the homebased business code for success! And the good thing is anyone can do it. Are you ready? Shh.... come a little closer.... here it is 'consistent action, congruent with your vision or why toward the direction of your goal.' That's it. Simple right?

So then if it is so simple why does 95% of the worlds population live week to week and hand to mouth existences. Well I am pretty sure I have worked that out too. I used to think that it was because people were afraid (to a point I still do, just not like before) however now after the last few days working with the very talented Casey Van Liefde and some of the things she shared with me. It is not about being scared, Casey is a very talented Photographer and she really is an entrepreneur, she is happy to look at something at its merit, make a decision about it and then act in total congruency with that decision. This means that Casey has already succeeded here.

So what I came up with and what made me think that it was more than just fear was this, Casey and I had a conversation, we were talking about an opportunity, a very cool opportunity, one that utilises two fortune 500 companies, so companies with a proven track record. For a ridiculously low investment per month (I mean the cost of a cup of coffee each week) they could create a substantial residual monthly income. The catch is that the people that get involved have to actually do some work. I know crazy. Now I have been involved in homebased business for quite a while now and they biggest issue any body had with the opportunity I represented was the investment price.... So here Casey is talking to me about a stupidly low (seriously it should be more for the value you are getting) investment each month, and people are telling her, or rather implying that it was all a bit like hard work. What?

OK, so from that conversation I came to the realisation that people aren't scared... people are just plain lazy, they would rather sit on the couch, drink beer, eat corn chips and stay living in lack than put a little effort in to make a huge difference in their life.

But I guess it is deeper than that right? Yes people are lazy, however there is more. People would rather sit back give direction and say I told you so than get in amongst it themselves, and it comes down to one thing, and this one thing is condoned and even practiced by society. Lack of responsibility. It is far easier (see LAZY) to blame someone else for their shitty existence. As I said though in my post about What is Wrong with the World when the government set such a low barrier, it really is easy to be average, or even below average.

So here in summary, the homebased business code for success is pretty simple, follow it (with out detouring from the prescribed method) and you will have astounding success and that is with anything, homebased business, real estate trading, investing ANYTHING.

So what are you waiting for, stop BEing lazy, get off your a*se, stop blaming others for your short comings and become part of the solution as opposed to the problem.

You are that Powerful, Ignite your passion!

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To Your Success

Andrew-HawkesAbout the Author

Andrew Hawkes is an Entrepreneur that has had good times and bad, he draws on all the experiences that he has had, military and in business, to provide solid information that anyone can use and understand to improve the results in thier own life and therefore show others to imrpove thiers. He believes that anyone can make a difference in the world and that ultimately anything is possible.

One Variable, Andrew Hawkes pt4

Posted by Andrew    Posted in Andrew Hawkes, BLOG    Posted in July 29, 2010    |    3 Comments

Hey out there in cyber space Andrew Hawkes here,

lets see if today I can wrap up this story of mine.

If you have not read the first installments you can do that;

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

You know there is a quote that I believe holds a lot of answers and that is this "We see the world not as it is, but as we are" The reason I say this is because I was really kidding myself if I thought that moving was going to magically sort all of our issues out, and I guess deep down I knew that. There was of course more than one reason to move, and part of it was in fact to escape the negativity that was ever present where we were living. Albert Enstien said it well when he said "The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them." Yet here I was thinking that all I needed to do was move. What a schmuck! No if I was going to truly sort the issues out I was going to have to change my level of thinking.

So during this time I had gotten started with a number of Home Business, and there, as I said was really plenty of opportunities to choose from. All with varying levels of investment. I was committed to (and to this day am still) ensuring that the creditors are compensated for their loss. (you see even though the debt is effectively wiped clean with a Bankruptcy you can still pay it back, its just who I am). The sad part about all of this, was that I was yet to realise that I had not yet changed the way I was. So there was now a pattern starting to emerge, and the one variable was me. We started to get behind in our bills again, only this time in Australia. So any money I did make with the home business that I was actually working at was going towards catching ourselves up once again. It was a perpetual cycle of get behind, make some money, get caught up, get behind, make some money, get caught up. It really was just like working a job... and that started to take its toll on me. I slipped into a pit of darkness, and this is where the real damage started to occur.

Funny things happen to people when things are not quite right. The little things that we have always been so good at seem a little harder, we start to doubt our own ability, we begin to be cynical and resentful. The stupid part is that you yourself (I mean the person who is doubting etc...) are the only one who sees or thinks this. Everybody else see's you as the capable person you are. You are most certainly your own worst enemy in that situation.

So we didn't have a lot of money, yet I always held on the the belief that it was just around the corner (if you know anything about NLP or personal development you will know how stupid that is, its like tomorrow never comes), however due to the fact that I held this belief I didn't go out and get myself a job like normal people would (then I have never claimed to be normal). What I did have was time. It is true that we are all given the same 24 hours in day, and it is true that a lot of people spend their time doing any number of things, what I did was I chose to invest my time. I have lost track of the times that my wife has told me that she is going to lock my office door so I come out to the lounge. (I have found that great balance now of course). So what did I invest my time in? Well I was now an online businessman so I invested my time in learning things like HTML Code and the inner workings of SEO, teaching myself how to build websites and do graphic design. I learned a truck load of information about how a computer works, I mean like the inner workings, I had no money to pay anyone to do it, if I didn't do it, then there was never going to be cash flow come in.

It is safe to say that I was changing the way in which I saw the world, it was no longer about getting ahead and making money, lets face it, making money is EASY, I had already proved that to myself and to my family. My issue came as I didn't know how to keep it. And the biggest factor to this was how I saw the world, in other words how I saw myself.

Having always been the outcast in school and never really fitting in, at the end of the day it came down to a matter of me not truly believing that I was worthy of the money,or that happiness. Thankfully the past does not dictate the future, and the fact is that I can BE DO and HAVE anything that I truly desire, no one said it would come easy.

So by now I am looking at the world in a totally different light, and it is all because I have change the way I am. You see the truth is that I never lost any of my ability, I did misplace my belief for a little while, however my skills and my (ever expanding) knowledge were always there, only when I was able to look from a place of total gratitude was I able to see it. So here today there are a  few people that I would like to acknowledge for their support, this is support that came fiscally as well as emotionally.

They are, in no particular order;

Heidi Gray and Stephen Gagie, Kaz Spence, Justin and Sharyn Hawkes,  John and Melanie Kaczon, John and Shannon Lavenia, Natalie Meyle, and Ted Hooper.

Your kindness and support will never be forgotten.

So many people say, and no doubt will continue too that Andrew Hawkes lied, cheated and scammed people out of money. They will say that I ran away to avoid paying anything back. You know what? I have no control over what they say, what I do have control over is my actions. Actions speak louder than words, and so long as I act with integrity towards my obligations then I am OK with that.

I know that regardless of what others think, it is always going to come down to me. They can blame me all they like, at the end of the day they are responsible for the stuff in their life. If they want to simmer and stew, good luck to them, all that will succeed in doing is expending energy without result. In the eyes of the law, I owe nothing and am free to get on with my life. Which is what I have done.

So this is me, this is Andrew Hawkes, this is the good the bad and the ugly of the last 4 years. And as I have said here in the post, the past more certainly does not dictate or equal the future. I am just like every body else, working toward and better future for myself and my family.

To Your Success

Andrew-HawkesAbout the Author

Andrew Hawkes is an Entrepreneur that has had good times and bad, he draws on all the experiences that he has had, military and in business, to provide solid information that anyone can use and understand to improve the results in thier own life and therefore show others to imrpove thiers. He believes that anyone can make a difference in the world and that ultimately anything is possible.

Bankruptcy V’s Suicide Andrew Hawkes gets Frank pt3

Posted by Andrew    Posted in Andrew Hawkes, BLOG    Posted in July 28, 2010    |    2 Comments

G'day Folks, Andrew Hawkes back here again with part three of my getting frank story.

Now in case you are just joining the story then you may want to bring your self up to speed with the first two posts, All I can do is Just be Me, Andrew Hawkes gets frank about his life pt1 and Your Failures are Sometimes your Biggest Assets, Andrew Hawkes gets frank pt2. That will bring you up to speed as to where this story has come from... will it finish today? Maybe, we'll have to wait and see.

So picking up where I left off... we were where we were from the decisions we had made.We really were in a world of hurt, no income, no business's, mortgages to pay, leases to service, creditors phoning every 5 minutes making threats and demanding blood, staff, who had been fed lies and utter bullsh*t, all wanting money... money that we no longer had. Again, this was due to decisions we had made. Of course we had, and still have, family members that try and tell us that is was because of this and that, at the end of the day, the buck stopped with us, no one else.

Not wanting to admit defeat, I was determined to carry on, I was searching for that magic bullet, the one thing that was going to solve all of our problems over night, problems that we ourselves created. Funny how that works... we put ourselves in that precarious position trying to avoid it. You see our focus was on getting out of debt, not getting a poor credit rating, not going bankrupt, not going out of business, not losing money, not losing our house's, not losing our cars. Now what is wrong with that, isn't that what most people would focus on? Short answer... YES, it is precisely what they would focus on, which is more than likely what 95% of the population is broke. You see we were focusing on all the things we didn't want. It may seem like I am splitting hairs when I say this, and to a lot of people I may be, yet you always get what you focus on... the mind negates or does not see the negatives, all it sees are the keys, the triggers, it sees debt, credit rating, bankrupt, going out of business, you get my point? Here is the hair splitting part, if we have just changed our inner dialogue slightly we may have been OK. If we had said, we are so happy now that our creditors have been paid. I am sure you can see where that is going right? It effectively says the same thing yet is has such a different meaning psychologically.

So, things as I am sure you can imagine and appreciate were pretty dire. I just want to add a note here, I am not writing this for anyone's sympathy, and I not looking for vindication. What we did and what happened was entirely our doing... I guess what I am highlighting here is that sometimes even with the best intentions that not everything turns out as you might anticipate.

For years I had thought of ways for me to avoid bankruptcy... so in point of fact, I thought myself into it. It is a viable alternative to suicide, bankruptcy laws are in place to protect people, they are there to help people out. There is a lot of stigma attached to people being bankrupt, mostly of course by people that are too scared to try something new because they have some ludicrous belief that the government will actually be able to support them in retirement (that is another topic entirely). However the fact remains, there are the laws in place for a reason. Personally I never wanted to do it... in fact at the time, I had a tremendous life insurance policy, there was no suicide clause (well there was, it was a time frame that had lapsed), I had done the math, all of my debts would be cleared, all of my mortgages would be paid, my new wife would be set for life and would never have to work again. So to say that I didn't contemplate doing exactly that would be a lie... I can't be clearer than that. I do the best I can with the tools that I am given, the same as anybody does. Then I really starting thinking about it, what a cowardly thing to do... how many people would I hurt, if you know me, and some of you who read this will know me very well, I don't like to hurt anyone, regardless of who they are, so to do something that would hurt my own family so deeply was never ever really going to fly in my mind.

In my search to find that magic bullet to fix all my woes, I found a new and exciting world of the Internet, sure I had used it in business for a long time, yet the business I used it for was all offline, if that makes sense. I didn't know about Google Adsense, I didn't know about Affiliate marketing. Yes it is safe to say that I was pretty naive when it came to the potential of the internet.

Now if you have ever searched for money making opportunities online then you know that there are A LOT, and I am sure that you can make money from all of them.  In fact I know quite a few people that have made great money from them. Most will make the promise of riches overnight... of course there is some hard work. And I know people who have made tremendous amounts of money in a very short period of time. So yeah you can make good money. I thought I could see a way to sort all of the problems that I had created out in one foul swoop.

If you have ever watched 'the secret' or had anything to do with personal development you will know that constant negativity is not a healthy environment for creating abundance. So I made a decision (I didn't even consult my wife, although I knew she would be happy), I decided that we were moving to Australia. It would give us the clear air we needed to get back on top of things. It wasn't an easy decision, I was about to leave my family, whom I am very close to, I was about to leave everything that I had ever worked for in New Zealand and just give it up. At the time we still had our mortgages with the bank, and we were still lagging way behind in paying them.

It was time to pull out all the stops....

And for that, looking at this length, you will have to wait until tomorrow to see what happened.

So here again this is Andrew Hawkes signing off and saying that I will see you tomorrow

To Your Success

Andrew-HawkesAbout the Author

Andrew Hawkes is an Entrepreneur that has had good times and bad, he draws on all the experiences that he has had, military and in business, to provide solid information that anyone can use and understand to improve the results in thier own life and therefore show others to imrpove thiers. He believes that anyone can make a difference in the world and that ultimately anything is possible.

Your Failures are Sometime your Biggest Assets, Andrew Hawkes gets frank pt2

Posted by Andrew    Posted in Andrew Hawkes, BLOG, Business    Posted in July 27, 2010    |    3 Comments

Hey all Andrew Hawkes here again,

seriously though...  who else could it be? lol Sorry just having a little joke with myself.

So my last post was about me and my story... and it kind of left off leaving you hanging a little. So today let me try and fill in some of the gaps that were left.

Right I left off mentioning that I was also involved in a Franchise Hair Salon. I guess I want to start this by saying that you really should investigate and carry out a thorough due diligence on a business before making a solid decision. We made a decision based on  a franchisors word and projections he threw together. If your franchisor or the person you are buying an existing business off cannot provide you with timely accurate figures for the business in question WALK RUN AWAY. Normally I myself would have walked away... however this case was different. My wife had been managing one of his franchises in another part of town in another mall. I had seen what the weekly figures were that these salons were doing, and of course given that my wife was working for the franchisor previously we had every reason to trust him and really none not to. And also at the end of the day we made the decision to move forward and get involved with the salon.

Now I am not sure if you have ever heard the term about how life or rather the universe will tell you when things aren't right, they will give you signs, they are likened to a feather, a brick, and then finally a truck. Meaning of course that the signs get stronger and stronger until you can no longer ignore that there is an issue. Oh, BTW the by the time the truck comes you are pretty much f**ked (excuse my french)

So here is the feather;

Our settlement date for the Salon, i.e. the salon was supposed to be finished so that we could start trading, was the 12 of October. The date we actually settled (as construction took a lot longer than implied) was the 22nd of November. At this stage, we should have, and would have been well within our rights to, cancel the contract on the salon purchase, we would have received our deposit back, and would have forgone the even greater debt we were about to get ourselves in. Given my nature, of always trying to do the right thing by other people... I felt we were obligated to stay in the contract and see it through. This turned out to be a massive mistake.

OK so here now is the Brick;

We were fast approaching settlement (and we still could have canceled) and our finance fell through. New Zealand was going through a major rut of finance companies falling over left right and center and even though under normal circumstances our applications for finance did stack up... we were no longer in normal circumstances. Top this off with the fact that my mother in-law, who lived in a different country, had just been diagnosed with a terminal illness, this really should have been (and was we just didn't want to see it) our second warning and the one in which we walked away. Instead, driven by my needing to do right by everybody else we carried on.

I'll get to the Truck in a minute.

We settled the deal... how? Well our friendly franchisor offered to provide vendor finance so that we were able to make settlement and to be able to trade. He was in as bad a spot as us really. He wanted someone to run the salon and didn't have the time to do it himself. We actually thought this was a good thing. Now as part of the vendor finance deal there were certain caveats as to what we were and what we were not allowed to do within our own business. He was, by rights,  protecting his asset. In the same position I would have done the same... I may have been a little more realistic with my demands, however that is not what this is about.

One of the caveats that was placed upon us was that we were only able to draw a certain amount from the business each week, which was basically less than what Sarah was getting while she was earning wages. Now I was not in a very good frame of mind money wise with the fall out of the cafe and the fact that my property trading had taken a hit due to my investment in the said cafe. All I could think of was keeping a clear credit rating so as to be able to continue in my primary business. So I worked out a way to get around the caveats placed upon us... we were allowed to pay contractors... So I contracted my services to the salon. This is all very legal and totally above board. In hindsight however it was not the best or smartest move I had ever made. I was fighting a losing battle with my credit rating, and I would have been better to take the hit then... again this is another one of those hindsight moments. The fact the I had contracted my services to the salon would come to back to haunt me in the eventual demise and sale (this is in italics as it was not really a sale, just enough for the franchisor to get his money back, and NOTHING else) of our salon.

The way it came back to haunt me was by the franchisors wife informing our staff (who were paid everything accept their holiday pay)  that I had stolen from the business. Which was a blatant lie. Now was I responsible for her saying that... you bet, so I am not sending any negativity her way. I believe in karma...

Right so here is the brick;

What started the eventual lead up to the resale of the business back to the franchisor was really two things. The franchisor took a disliking to our accountant, now at the time we were unaware as to why... and to be fair what I am about to say is a little speculative, however our lawyer agreed, it was due to the fact that our accountant was started to smell a rat, and the rat looked a little like our franchisor. This is something that we ourselves should have and would have seen if we had looked through business eyes instead of emotional ones.

Once this dislike was totally apparent, things really started to change (now of course this may just be my perception). Our franchisor had always maintained that he had a great relationship with all of our suppliers, and he did, they did exactly what he told or asked them to do. It was not long before we were put on stop credit with little to no chance to prove that we would be able to trade our way out the situation that we, and only we, had gotten ourselves into.

So what did all this mean? Well it meant that we were neck deep in the kaka. All thanks to decisions we had made. I had let my property business lapse, we had 3 mortgages to pay, solicitors fees, accountants fees, and top all of this off with creditors from not one, but two business I no longer had. And now, there was no income coming in. What happened next was entirely of our own doing... no one ever forced us to make any decisions, no one ever put guns to our heads. And all of the bother we were in came down to the choices we made. rightly or wrongly we made them...

And once again, I am looking at the length of this and realise that I have written enough for one day...  so I will complete this picture tomorrow.

Once again this is Andrew Hawkes signing off, and until next time,

Ignite Your Passion

To Your Success

Andrew-HawkesAbout the Author

Andrew Hawkes is an Entrepreneur that has had good times and bad, he draws on all the experiences that he has had, military and in business, to provide solid information that anyone can use and understand to improve the results in thier own life and therefore show others to imrpove thiers. He believes that anyone can make a difference in the world and that ultimately anything is possible.

All I can do is Just be Me… Andrew Hawkes gets frank about his life pt1

Posted by Andrew    Posted in Andrew Hawkes, BLOG, Business    Posted in July 26, 2010    |    5 Comments

Hey there Andrew Hawkes here once again,

I want to change things up a little today... I am going to be pretty frank... some of the things I say may come as a shock... others maybe no surprise at all.

You know the world is changing, and it is changing at a rapid pace... in fact sometimes I think that we maybe evolving to fast, at the same time there is a stirring of excitement inside of me of the abundance of opportunity that will be, and is being created because of it.

We all have things that we have done or not done in our life that we would rather forget. It is all part of life's journey and it makes us into the people we are. We do what we can with the tools we're provided and we pick up and learn new techniques and strategies along the way.

Some things that we must keep in mind is that it takes years to build a reputation and only minutes to destroy it, and there are, unfortunately, people out there that would try and slander your name or your reputation for their own personal gain. The internet has been a little like the wild west, it has been a free for all for people to say what they like about anyone, regardless of whether it is true or not, I mention that briefly in this post, and basically people have this belief that what ever they do on the internet is totally anonymous, like there is no way to track them, and while there are some very techie people out there that could make this so... for most internet users everything they do has a digital signature or trace as to where they have come from... so people really should be careful what they say... if there is no truth to it or they misconstrue or misrepresent what actually happened they could find themselves in hot water. Now this is not what this post is about, I just find it very amusing that there are people out there that are really that naive.

So who is Andrew Hawkes and where did he come from, what has he done?

Well I am just like the majority of people (and you won't hear me say that very often), you see I believe that people are inherently good, I believe that people generally try to do the right thing by people. That is most certainly how I have lived my life. If you have read my bio you will know that I spent the better part of 11 years in the RNZAF, I did my trade as suggested by my father and found myself still searching and yearning for something else. And also like the majority I am always looking for ways in which to improve my life. However unlike the majority I am prepared to do something about it... perhaps this is what makes people targets... I am not sure. Anyway I digress, you will also have read that I had some failed business's and this is where I want to start.

Talk to anyone is business and they will tell you that if you have not failed at something then you have not been trying hard enough. Building a business is not easy and of course there are many factors that come into play. I learned some of the best lessons from those failed business, so therefore in my eyes I actually won. When you are master of your own destiny (and really everybody is) you allow yourself to look at things from a different angle or in a different light.

The first business is probably the key to my failure in the subsequent business. I went into business with a friend, now people will tell you that is a bad idea, I think that if you are both professional and treat the business in a professional manner, you document everything and you are on the same page as to the direction of the business there should be no problems. That being said, it is a lesson I learned after the fact, so it did in fact cause issues. In fact regardless of the fact that I am married to his sister he still, to this day, does not talk to me. Despite the fact he never invested any money in the business (v's my 30k) I apparently ruined his, and his wife's life. And you know what... for him that is obviously true, that is his truth. I have no control over how he chooses to look at something... all I can do is to try to do the right thing, which I did.

Now one of the biggest lessons I got from that is that you can't please everybody all of the time. We were all in debt from the business, which was a cafe, and given my main business was trading property I needed to have a clean credit rating. (this was a belief that I held). I resigned from the Cafe as I thought it was the right thing to do by my business partners, and yes it was a bit of self preservation also, I could see where the cafe was heading and being that I was unable (or more likely unwilling) to put my foot down, it was not a good direction. I had invested an unmatched amount of money and was not willing to invest any more until it was matched (I didn't think it was that unreasonable, you decide).  The lesson here is to trust your gut, and if something is not going the way you had envisaged then say something!

This failure had a follow on effect. I was also a partner in a Hair Salon franchise (my wife is a hair dresser).

I am looking at how long this is already... so I am going to leave you hanging.. I will be back in another post to finish this, or at least follow on

So this is Andrew Hawkes saying I will see you next time.

To Your Success

Andrew-HawkesAbout the Author

Andrew Hawkes is an Entrepreneur that has had good times and bad, he draws on all the experiences that he has had, military and in business, to provide solid information that anyone can use and understand to improve the results in thier own life and therefore show others to imrpove thiers. He believes that anyone can make a difference in the world and that ultimately anything is possible.

So here is what is WRONG with the World…

Posted by Andrew    Posted in BLOG, Featured, My Rant    Posted in July 25, 2010    |    2 Comments

Hey all Andrew Hawkes here coming to you as always from some tropical part of the world (its easy to say when you work from home).

Those of you who know me know that I am the perpetual optimist, I  generally always look for the good in everything that happens, and I know that anything that does happen (in my life at least) is a direct result of what actions I have either taken or not taken. I am truly that powerful... so are you, just keep that in mind.

So when I said to a couple of my buddies hey I am going to write about what is wrong with the world I was greeted with a little friction as it were. So that is how I knew I was on to a winner. You see I am never happy with the status quo, I like to shake things up when I can... now some people call that sh*t stirring I prefer to look at it another way, I like think that I am provoking thoughts and feelings in other that would cause an individual to think and act a different way. So here I am.. I was put on this earth for a purpose and it really is high time I lived that purpose daily instead of every now and then. So here we are.

Right so what is it, what is so wrong with the world. Where do I start? Seriously... there is so many places this can go... in fact thinking about it this post may have to be broken down into chunks!

What is Wrong with the WorldLets start with the Australian Federal elections... currently in Australia we are in an election year and the election has been called early, due, in part, because Australia's leader was unceremoniously over thrown as Prime Minister due to underhanded tactics (we may go further on that later). Anyway, both parties are on the 'campaign trail' drumming up supporters and votes.. and if you live in Australia there is no escaping it... I don't watch a lot of T.V. yet the little I have seen since the announcement of the election has been even worse than before... why, I hear you ask?

Well there are campaign ads on T.V. right? Of course, but these aren't ordinary ads. These are ads that actually, not only condone the slander of another person or party, they send a clear message that it is perfectly OK for you to do it. Think about it... this is the government... this is who will lead our country. My god this is where it starts, what sort of chance do we have if our own leaders use underhanded tactics to win? Now as far as I know no one is perfect... heck I have made some monumental mistakes in my time, that is all part of the journey of life. Most of us enjoy a certain amount of  privacy in our lives and to be fair are happy to, we don't want the whole world knowing some of the things we have done... we were young and stupid.

So what is my point? Well it is this... If you are that quick to point out someone else's flaws (and as I said we all have them) then what is it that you yourself are trying to hide or cover up. When political parties only point out all of the things that another party has done wrong instead of all the right reasons you should be voting form them... what are they hiding? If they truly had a solid plan or policies then would they not be better to promote that? Oh and in case you are wondering... I am lucky enough to have an unbiased view on this, you see I don't have the right to vote in Australia... and even if I did I am not sure I would, BOTH parties are as bad as each other. The question is however, What sort of example does this set for the country? It is no wonder that no one is willing to take responsibility when the damn government won't. It therefore is no wonder that Australia and New Zealand alike (I can't speak for other countries, I have only visited them) are a nation of Tall Poppies. You know what I mean, they like to tear someone down, try and squash their dreams. When the government sets such meager standards why would one try be more than they are?

Of course this is just one example... You can see it everywhere, in fact a good friend of mine highlighted in his book Integrity is Everything that business take advantage of the fact that no one is willing to take responsibility. He mentions in his book that one day at the gym his iPod run out of batteries and that he heard the gym radio when an ad came across telling members that 'they understand how life can get in the way, if you need to put your membership on hold we can help you out'. OK so I am paraphrasing a little bit here, however you get the point, its a flow on effect, the government can do it, so can we! The Gym's go on further though, they let people do this because they know that they have oversold memberships... if every member turned up at the same, there would be no room for exercise, in fact it would be standing room only... The gym is exploiting our lack of responsibility.

So in the above scenario it is the gym that makes it OK to not be responsible... That is a big part of what is WRONG with the world.

People on a whole are sheep, they are part of a herd and if one sheep does or does not believe something then the rest of them are likely to follow. Now this can be down to a number of reasons, they don't know any better, the other sheep in the herd are scared that the one that wants to leave may make something of themselves and forget about the herd... there are HEAPS of reasons that they might stay. What chance does one have to leave the herd when a countries leadership and society as a whole make is so easy to be below average? Not a very high one... that is more than likely why 95% of the worlds wealth is controlled by 5% of the population...

Of course it doesn't end there does it? No it takes someone pretty freakin strong to keep getting up after being kicked in the guts or being knocked down... It takes something pretty special to be able to cipher through all the crap that is out there, seriously... when you have companies (some even personal development companies) and countries that are run by so called 'enlightened people' tearing each other down at every turn then what chance does the average person have?

Can you guess?

NONE!

Of course you could be come above average... it is a choice... you only have to do one thing more than the average person does and then you would be above average right? It all starts with one step.

Well this is a long one....  should I break it up? Not sure it would flow right.... there is of course way more to say on this topic... perhaps now is not the time?

Enjoy

To Your Success

Andrew-HawkesAbout the Author

Andrew Hawkes is an Entrepreneur that has had good times and bad, he draws on all the experiences that he has had, military and in business, to provide solid information that anyone can use and understand to improve the results in thier own life and therefore show others to imrpove thiers. He believes that anyone can make a difference in the world and that ultimately anything is possible.

Where do you find the strength to carry on?

Posted by Andrew    Posted in BLOG, Business, General    Posted in July 20, 2010    |    3 Comments

Ladder of <a href=Success" width="257" height="300" />Hello out there, I trust this will find you all safe and well... and if it doesn't... ask yourself a question, 'How did I (meaning yourself) create this?' Because when you can answer that honestly and without aggravation towards me for suggesting that you some how created what ever situation you found yourself in right now, you will be set for life!

This is not where I am heading however I am just going to chase that rabbit for a second, think about this... if things are going well and all the right things are happening in someones life, they are pretty happy to say that it was a direct result of something that they themselves had done... and I am all for that, they should... so why then when things are not going so well and that everything is seemingly turning to custard it is someone or something elses fault? Now that is something to think about... we have ALL been guilty of this at one stage or another.

Now on subject here... where do you find the strength to carry on? I believe this to be a very pertinent question due to the fact that if you can't answer this, or you have absolutely no idea... I would suggest that things are more than likely not as you would prefer them to be in your life.

Now this is going to be different for every person you ask... in the same way we all have an individual DNA make up so to do we have different motivating factors. That is not to say that we don't share similar motivators to others... however like our fingerprints they are unique to us.

If you have never heard the term 'climbing the ladder of success only to find it was leaning against the wrong wall'... you have now (sorry cracking myself up right now) as a generalisation it really does refer to what I am talking about here today. Let me see if I can put it into context for you... have you ever worked somewhere... you worked hard because you have always had an amazing work ethic, you progressed your way through the company or organisation that you were with, you always received glowing reports, you work your way up to manager (or what ever), you give years of effort and your life.... only to find that you would really like to be doing something else. This is exactly what I mean.

I have experienced this myself in my own life and from observing the life of someone that is very close to me and an important part of my life.

My father had a passion for farming from a very young age that is all that he wanted to do, he like many people of his time (and to a point still today) listened to his father who told him "get a trade behind you son, once you have done that then you will always have that to fall back on". This sounds like good advice right? I know that my grandfather only ever wanted the best for his son, the same as any decent parents want the best for all of their children... unfortunately the advice they dole out is not necessarily the right advice.

So my father started his trade and completed his apprenticeship and started working for the local plumber. It was not long before he was working for himself and supporting a growing family. He made good money and our family never really went without... and that is not what this is about... He was always thinking 'if I do this for another two to three years I will have my farm'

This is a classic example of the ladder being against the wrong wall... yes he did everything that was expected of him as a husband, as a father and of course as a businessman. And while he was successful in the fact that there was always food on the table and clothes on our backs... it was always a struggle. He was always going to work.

Dad no longer works for himself, he took a salaried position with a local company and while he knows exactly what is coming into his bank account every month, he is not even working within his fallback trade (good advice then? You tell me). Now since he has been with this company he has been able to participate in his real passion, farming. Now he can spend hours on the farm and raising his stock... passionwhen I, or anyone for that matter, say "hey you need to take it easy, your working to much" he simply replies "this isn't work... this is fun, its relaxing, its my me time" The same can't be said about his salaried position (or when he was working for himself). Now he only works his farm part time... yet it pays him well... Hmm... imagine if he worked his passion full time...

So where do you find the strength? Is it from your passion? Is it from your family? Is it from your absolute drive to be the best?

You absolutely must find your why... it is that simple.

To Your Success

Andrew-HawkesAbout the Author

Andrew Hawkes is an Entrepreneur that has had good times and bad, he draws on all the experiences that he has had, military and in business, to provide solid information that anyone can use and understand to improve the results in thier own life and therefore show others to imrpove thiers. He believes that anyone can make a difference in the world and that ultimately anything is possible.

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