Go to www.youngfreehq.com/contest & pick #2

Go to the left side of the page and enter your info (ONLY ONE VOTE PER PERSON NOW YOU CAN HAVE ONE VOTE PER EMAIL ADDRESS YOU HAVE) I am number 2 on the list (the guy with the ugly stache below)
And voila, you’re done!

It would be awesome if you could vote and then pass this along.
Enjoy your day,
Matthew A. Hawkins

I recommend you come on a Friday or Saturday morning and check it – stores you should check out: Button Box, Miss Muffets, Appledorns, Creekside, the Bookman and of course Decades Coffee.
Here’s our morning together:

Wanna chat?
Follow us on Twitter.

@mahawkins
@deanorrell

Check out a few of our laughs:

Here’s a video for their latest contest:

I love stationery stores. I would probably love working in a certain paper/printer sales company too.

I found out about Behance when I was looking for a good project management tool. From the get go I loved the way their design looked. It made me prod further.
Since then I’ve used their online Action Method for a project (combined with their free iPhone app) and have really liked it. My only problem – I don’t have what I think is enough work to warrant paying for their services… yet. That will come in time. (They have a very cool set-up for projects, including an option of having fellow co-workers to be a part of your action steps and simple check points to make sure everything is right on track.) You should check it out – HERE

So that said, I checked out their printed materials and knew I needed to give it a try. I just got the package in the mail yesterday and well, just check it out:

I loved the box the way it came and from there it just got better and better!

Both of my products were packaged very well (even though it’s just $15), but what I loved was the attention to detail. If you look at the book on the right, the bottom strip had creative and encouraging words for making ideas happen.

This book is the one I love and I think will be used the most (even though the action pad are just the papers from the action book, the action book has such a nice feel and sound to it!). Inside it has a little booklet on how to make the Action Book the most effective. Very cool! Just about ready to “show my ides some respect“.

To say I’m excited about these new purchases would be a lie. I’M VERY EXCITED.
I’m looking forward to moving forward with a few new initiatives of my own and getting some solid project management behind them will make a world of difference. This is gonna be good!

Cheers,

Matthew A. Hawkins

I’ve been given a project that is going to be crossing several months through print, web and video.

This is what I enjoy. I love leaving work knowing that I’m not complete a project yet. Doing projects that are just a few hours and they’re done are alright. They get boring pretty quickly. They just don’t seem to have the substance or intrigue to keep you too interested. I guess that’s the maintenance stuff (which is still important, just not as much fun).

I like the big picture.

I’m working on a thing we’ve titled “everybody”. Here’s some quick shots of it:

I built the base of it all in Illustrator. We’ve talked of making a large banner in the distant future, so I wanted to go vector right away so that I didn’t have to worry about having to type these names in again. From this vector I’ve just finished up a booklet that is 11″ wide and 4.5″ high (it’s basically half a letter size sheet across).
Here’s what the background looks like (completed in Photoshop). I’ll post the final printed product next week.

The website is underway and video is a few weeks away.
It’s fun though!

Matthew A. Hawkins

So we’ll see what happens.
What is something you want to do in the next 30 days but you’ve been putting it off?

Which of these do you call a spatula (black or green)? Why?

Here’s my life in the last month and for weeks to come:
Each morning I wake up to two boys climbing into my bed and wanting to immediately go downstairs.
They have one thing on their mind: food. More accurately, cereal and milk.
From there it’s onto wearing the days batman and robin capes and playing with action figures and cars.
I rush quickly to get showered and dressed and to check that Deb can make it downstairs ok. She is 13 weeks pregnant right now and feeling very ill.
Poor girl. My boys say that to her too now.
I go to work. I always have my family in the back of my mind. How are they? Are the boys fighting each other? Is Deb hurling?
My work, is work. It can be very rewarding, but to be completely honest, it’s not always that much fun.
I go home either on the bus or in a car that sounds like a bus.
I never know what to expect when I open the door when I get home.
Will there be any carpet visible? Will the kitchen still look like a kitchen?
I think I struggle with OCD. Messes and me don’t get along very well. At all.
I clean up, air out the house (Deb can’t do smells too well right now), it’s freezing.
I either ‘make’ supper or I actually make supper.
Deb and the boys come home. Debs been working and looks like she will keel over.
The boys are hungry and want to wrestle. I get them for 2 hours to eat, play, read, watch a show, wrestle, bedtime stuff and then wrestle some more.
My favorite time of the day right now is when the two boys demand I cuddle with them before they each go in their own beds. Two boys laying on my chest.
We pray together. I pray they will be good men. I pray God’s hand to watch over them.
We have kisses and I scoop them into their beds. (The came up with the word scoop, not me).
I go downstairs and clean up again. Deb is either laying on the couch or in bed. Poor girl.
I open my laptop and do work. I still run Hawkins Media and am looking to get some new initiatives running.
For the first time since I can remember, I’m not feeling overly motivated.
I look around. I imagine what I want for my boys. What I want for my wife.
I would do anything for my kids. I would give them whatever they needed when they needed it. I know I’m a suck for them. They just show me those eyes and big bottom lip and I give in.
I just want to be a good dad.
My wife makes me want to be a good dad. Not MAKES makes me, but the two boys she gave me and her love for me and them, make me want to be a good dad.
If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have two amazing boys. I wouldn’t have a third kid on the way.
Those are my days right now. Some days its overwhelming and feels like it will never stop. Other days are so rewarding and fun.
Today was one of those days: