Journey

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.

Ever Feel Like your Standing Still?

Posted by Andrew    Posted in Uncategorized    Posted in May 14, 2009    |    No Comments

Hi All,
its been a little while no? What can I say, I have been flat tack, have hardly had a chance to take a breath.
Doing what I hear you all ask? Well expolring the possibilties of the online world, and oh my god, talk about opening pandoras box, you could literally spend every waking moment online and still not even scratch the surface of what is available out there, it is no wonder that there are so many people making great livings online, so whats their secret?
Well as best as I can tell it is the fact that they pick their niche and stick to it, whether it be network marketing, affiliate marketing, peddling home made things, they pick their passion and go with it.
So if my passion is helping people avoid the same mistakes I did, and helping them to grow how can I turn that into and online goldmine? One way is to write an E-Book and provide infomation that way, you can provide the E-Book free and develop and list and then email the people with monthly or weekly tips to help them out, then provide them with other tools that they can purchase through you to help them on their journey.
The means are really only limited by your imagination, and isn't that true of all opportunity.
Who says that you cannot have your cake and eat it too?

You know, and this has been said before, the only thing that seperates the haves from the have nots is the belief that they harbour.
So if you believe you can have it all, you are right.
The same as if;
You believe your destined to fail and spend your life in poverty, you are right.
Get up one more time than you have been knocked down and you will win, PERIOD.

Very short and to the point, BE, DO and you will HAVE

Andrew

Half Way; There is Light at the End of the Tunnel

Posted by Andrew    Posted in Uncategorized    Posted in February 28, 2009    |    No Comments

So, we are a little over half way now in our challenge to be millionaires in a year. How are we going?

If I had to sum it up in one word it would be 'forward' that's how we are going.
Despite what is happening on our journey and despite what ill informed no bodies (not content with their own lives so they feel the need to belittle others) continue to say we are learning a great many things, about ourselves and about people in general.

You see there are people in this world that would have you believe that certain people are bad, and I guess you can find evidence of this in psychopaths and psychotics.
However I am of the opinion, and it is just that, my opinion that people are generally good.
No one goes into business to try and wrong someone. To deliberately try and rip someone off.
There may be some that will argue that point, and to them I would say read my post Lean January to see what sort of person you are, if you truly believe that people you are going into business with are going to rip you off, then perhaps you need to take a look at yourself as to why this might occur. Could it perhaps be that you would have no trouble in doing so yourself to someone? Food for thought.
That includes the people that continually try and drag people down. The people that make assumptions based on their own best thinking. The reason I say that is this;
These people feel, for some reason, that they are the victim, they have been brought up to try and find an answer outside of themselves to the problems they have in their lives.
So it's not that these people are bad or other wise, it is more the fact that they have brought into the lies that have been sold to them, by their parents, by society, by the media, you fill in the blanks.

Can they change the way they look at things? Absolutely, will they? Probably not, they would rather hold on to their way of thinking because they're right than entertain the fact that there could be more to something than what is on the surface. This is a good reason why that only 3% of the world population is truly wealthy, their mind is open to the fact that perhaps they don't know everything. They are willing to entertain a thought that might be foreign to them at first.
This is one of the very things that does, in fact, separate the haves from the have nots. That simple notion that perhaps they do not know everything.

Delving a little deeper into that, the haves in this world understand that it is the area that we don't know that we don't know that our true success is located.

Read that last sentence again to let it sink in.

So what does it all mean? Simple, we all have choices in life. Anyone can have success, it is a choice. We must be willing to look into where we don't know that we don't know.
So if success is as easy and simple as looking in that place and making a decision why aren't more people doing it?
Fear! False Evidence Appearing Real which of course I have spoken of before.

Let me sum up with this, you are not going to be able to please all people all of the time, and you know what, who cares, stay true to yourself, stay focused on your outcome and keep striving until you get it.
Will it happen in a day? Will it happen in a year? Who knows, more to the point WHO CARES!
Just know that the only way you are going to fail in achieving your goals and ultimately having anything you truly desire, is to QUIT.
The only one who can determine that is YOU

Until next time!

What lies are you living by?

Posted by Andrew    Posted in Uncategorized    Posted in February 11, 2009    |    No Comments

Hi all,

I wanted to follow on a little from the last post here.

Since I have been on my path to self discovery I have be chronicling my progress, journaling if you like, of course this is one the fundamentals of growth and personal development, and I guess I must thank Zig Ziggler for the fact that I started, after all he says that everyone should write a book of their lives. So that's what I did, well at least I started it, its far from finished! In fact it is now starting to get exciting.

Now journals serve a great purpose, not only do they log your progress on your journey, they also provide you with a map in case you get lost. You can always go back and look at something you have written to find your way again.

It is often when we go back through these entries or chapters that we gain some useful insight into, not only who we were/are at the time of writing, but also into the strength of character we really have. We have so much potential!

I was privileged enough to be invited as a guest speaker on an associates of mines (Great Leaders in my business) team call this evening, and it was a great experience, I took so much away from it my self, and John Lavenia talks of this in his book a little bit, it goes something like this;



"These tend to be powerful experiences where people gain a whole new level of understanding on things. But at the same time, I can't give anything away. I learn lots from these interactions as well."

So it is safe to say that I benefited greatly from the call, if for nothing else but reaffirming my own belief, my own resolve.

So you really do get who you are, I choose to be a leader in my chosen field, and because that's who I am being then that's what shows up in my business. The leadership possibilities now show up as a direct result of what I am thinking.

I want to share an extract from one of the chapters in my book, something that I had not read in a while and it was the perfect time for me to reflect upon it, to remind my self of who I really am and again who I choose to be!


First City would allure people to the Seminar by offering a free digital camera, or a ‘vanishing credit card’ to value of $5,000, meaning they would pay your credit card if you ‘won’ the prize, funny thing is, I can not recall it ever being drawn.

By this time I had lost all faith in this company. A funny thing happens to a good moral person when this occurs. How could I in good faith tell all the people at one of these seminars that they needed to have faith in this company when I no longer had it, I still believed, and to an extent still do believe in the product they provided, just not in the way they provided it.

I called my manager in Auckland and told him that I could no longer work for the company as I had lost all faith that they had any integrity what so ever. He told me that I should take a few days to reflect and think about how ‘good’ I would have it. This of course meant that I would not be able to speak at the seminar that night, which was a Tuesday. It left it down to the last two staff members that First City had left in Christchurch, Bruce, or Colin. Bruce, who was the manager I had taken over from was very receptive to doing the speak that night…..well no we wasn’t really, he had decided (as I would have too) that he was going to take some stress leave. So now we are down to Colin, by this stage it was not unusual for one person to do the whole seminar by themselves. The only problem with this was the fact that Colin’s partner and their son were flying back to Australia the next morning at 4am and would be away for a month, this was the last night he would see them for some time.

Colin and I thought that the best thing to do under the circumstances were to cancel the seminar, as there was no one that really could, or was willing to do the seminar. The national sales manager was really not all that impressed with this idea. He rang me and told me we couldn’t afford to cancel and would I mind doing the seminar as Colin could not and neither could Bruce. I told him that I did not think it was a good idea considering the state of mind I was in, remember I had lost all faith in this company’s ability to follow through on its promises. He convinced me, against my better judgment to do the seminar.

The seminars always started at 7pm, with registration at 6.30pm and usually only took about three quarters of an hour. On this particular night the seminar was at the George on Peterborough Street in Christchurch, I happened to, at the time live just across the road, so I was able to walk to the venue. I went over at about 6pm to start setting up for the seminar, I had this nagging voice, my conscience, it was telling me what I was doing was wrong, you can not in good faith tell these people they should do business with this Company. I had two choices, I could not leave the seminar, as there were people who had given up they’re time to be there, that was my responsibility. The choices I had, were to stand by my moral beliefs and integrity, or sell out for the sake of a company I no longer believed in.

It was not until I closed the door for the seminar and went into start that I knew what it was I had to do. I have been told that doing the right thing is never the easiest thing. I guess that could be part of the reason that not many people always do the right thing. I summoned up all the courage I had, courage by the way is not lack of fear, it is having fear and moving forward in spite of it, and I looked at the people that had all come to collect their free digital camera and gain some knowledge that would help them retire comfortable and save 30-40% of their tax burden each year. As the tears started to well up in my eyes, in front of a full seminar room, I explained how this company, that some of these people were about to put their faith in, did not keep their promises to its employees, how would it keep its promise to strangers, strangers that were going to give them money. I did however show them a few things on what they can do to help their situation. I was called a few things on that night, conman, liar, cheat to name a few. I can not blame those people who felt robbed, in fact now I would like to thank them, it made me realise I was doing the right thing, they had given up their time that night, and time is the most valuable investment you will ever make, time is priceless. I continued through the seminar and believe me it got no easier in fact it was one of the most testing things up until that time that I had done. I know however that I did not lose my integrity that night, I stood by my convictions. Had I knowingly booked people to the next step that night, I would have been no better than the company who were not paying me for the service I was providing them.

You would think that after such a great level of commitment to the company that I had shown that night that I would have been cut loose fairly quickly, well, the total opposite happened. My manager offered me even more money to stay on board, they offered to pay me close $2,500 per week, before commissions to stay and work for them. That was the day that I realised that no price can equate to ones integrity. Once you sell out, there is a lot more than just doing good things for people to get it back. Once you sell out, you may never come back from that track.


So looking back on that today I regain even more strength, never give up on the truth, or your convictions, one way or another the truth will come to bare.


Namaste

Lean January

Posted by Andrew    Posted in Uncategorized    Posted in January 29, 2009    |    1 Comments

Well It has been a lean January as far as BLOG posts is concerned, that's not to that January has not been fantastic!

I have now been back from LA for almost three weeks and what an amazing three weeks! We are starting to generate some great momentum with our business and we are on target to be meeting some of our goals!! So it is safe to say that we are very excited, well I am anyway!!

So whats been happening, why was I in LA? I was in LA to attend our 2009 Kick Off event and it was a whistle stop tour, it was absolutely fantastic! So many great insights from so many great people, people of integrity and are not interested in be-littleing others, why? I would surmise that it is because they are far to successful to try and point out the flaws in others or make slanderous false remarks.

Yes the people I choose to associate with (these days) have integrity, more so than anyone in the past that I have had the opportunity to associate with. Well apart from my Military days, and even some of them were questionable.
Now I wonder why that is? Is it because of some outside force? Is it perhaps because I have moved countries?
The answer in case anyone was wondering is most certainly NO, it is not.
You see what I have learnt on my journey here, and do not get me wrong, I still have some ways to go, is that is that no matter what out external influences are, no matter what our circumstances might be, until we change the way we look at things then nothing will change.

I would like to share this with you if I may;

There was once a Farmer who lived on the edge of town, right off the main road. One day, this farmer was mending his fences when a wagon came rolling up. It appeared to be a new family moving into town. There wasn't a single space anywhere on that wagon that didn't have a box, blanket or frying pan strapped to it or hanging off of it. As the wagon got nearer, a man on the wagon called out.

"Howdy. We're thinking of relocating to this town. Do you mind me asking what sort of folks live in these parts?"

The farmer called back, "What were the people like where you came from?"

"Not a kind bunch," said the newcomer. "They'd stab you in the back just as quick as look at ya."

"Well that's exactly the kinda folks you'll find here."

It wasn't more than an hour or so later when another wagon approached looking much like the last. It was another family looking to put down roots.

"We're fixing to move into town. We were wondering what kind of people we'll find here," says the man sitting on the wagon.

"What were the people like where you came from?" asked the farmer

"Oh they were wonderful! Any one of'em would give you the shirt off his back," said the newcomer.

Then the farmer said, "Well, that's exactly the kinda folks you'll find here."

So what am I getting at with this little story, (which by the way is out of the best personal development program I have ever seen!! Beyond Freedom) We can not out perform our own self image. As long as we are seeing things in a certain way we are going to attract certain people, things, what ever into our lives.

What I am getting at here we do not see the world as it is, we see the world as we are. If we see the world from the point of view of a victim, then we are a victim

So when I referred to my past, I made a lot of decisions out of lack, or a poverty consciousness, that of course set me up to fail.
Now in referring to my past I made mention about some of the people that I used to associate with, and this not limited to the people I contracted for, it includes the people I chose to go into business with. The reason I made mention of this is it has a direct connection to the story I just laid out above. I was seeing the world as I was, I thought that everyone was out to get me because I had made decisions from a lack perspective. When operating from the perspective, no matter how much you think that you are playing win/win you really are not, you are playing for yourself. And because I had made decisions from that lack perspective, others suffered.

So whats changed now? Well I am living at the cause of my circumstances for one, and now I am still seeing the world as I am although now when I look I only see opportunity, I see so many things to be thankful for.
Here is an example, some of the people I used to associate with find it necessary to post blasphemes and false comments about me on the Internet, you see they are operating from a lack perspective. I have a choice, I could be angry and upset about it, and I believe I have every right to be, however instead I choose to be thankful for that. I am thankful for that for a number of reasons;

  • It has shown me how much I have grown.
  • It gives me more drive and power to complete what I have set out to do.
  • It Reminds me of who I am no longer.

Just a couple of reasons there that I am thankful, and it serves me well to reflect upon that from time to time.

So I am thankful and full of gratitude to all the people, who I might ad, don't even use their real names, who have posted ill informed and down right untrue statements about me on the Internet, you know who you are. I know they will be reading this. Instead of empowering themselves they are slowly wilting with negativity.

So, again, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Two Weeks Into Movember!

Posted by Andrew    Posted in Uncategorized    Posted in November 12, 2008    |    No Comments

Well what a week it has been, and two weeks since we started growing for Movember! Must say, this year is somewhat different from other years.
If you wish to donate towards Movember and Mens health issues then you can click the title link or click here.

So what else has been happening? Well in the past few months I have talked a lot about personal growth, and the journey that we are on. It is fun filled, and not necessarily in the sense that you might think. I have been getting feed back through other mediums and it is fair to say that it has been very humbling and has truly hleped me to grow, and after all, is that not what life is about? As Kurek Ashely says "Your either Evolving, or your Desolving" You see, nothing stays the same!

There is a lot to be said about 'getting to know yourself' you can have some massive insights in to your self and your habits, after all, we are creatures of habit. I know that I have been far from perfect in the past, and there is nothing to predict that I will always be perfect in the future, that does not mean that I should give up, although this is what most people think you should do.
"Never let perfect get in the way of better"
What does that mean? It simply means this, do not let the fact that you are not perfect at something in particular keep you from trying, and giving it another go.

Have you ever heard of the fast food franchise called Kentucky Fried Chicken? Well if not it was founded by a man by the Name of Colonel Harland Sanders. Col. Sanders received his first social security cheque at the age of 65 of $99, he was broke, and as you can read right here. All he had was a chicken recipe. Long story short, he was told no and had the door slammed in his face over 1000 times. Who would have given up after the first one, or the tenth, how about the fiftieth? It would be safe to say that he did not let perfect get in the way of better.
Another example, when we first learn to ride a bike, we start off, well most of us, with training wheels, and then slowly we get weened off those and slowly but surely we ride, not perfect at first, however we do get better.
If we let perfect get in the way of better then we may have never learnt to ride.

So where I am going with all this is here, as long as we keep refining and honing our skill, and as long as we keep moving on, we are going to have success. Here is the kicker though, it starts in your mind. I know too simple right?
Wrong. It is not too simple at all, the problem is that we as creatures of habit like to over complicate things, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. Simple.
It is safe to say that during the time we have been here I have been working on me, and I sm so pleased that I have, it has helped me to see things in a light that most people never have the pleasure of, and that is something I am truly grateful for.
When you are truly grateful for what you have, how ever little or large it may be then every problem, or issue fades away. Its not that it disappears, it is more the fact that the universe will give you the right tools needed to cope with what ever is going on.

Thats about me for now, however I wanted to leave you with this, a little something that Tony Rush posted on facebook, its great "I Got Scammed" Enjoy the read, and I look forward to hearing from you.

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