#158 – The Real Reason I Built My Business
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Episode Summary:
In this episode of Sport Is Life, Ian Hawkins shares the real story behind why he started his business and why understanding your “why” is essential in sport, business, and life. Far beyond financial motivations, Ian’s journey is rooted in purpose, unfulfilled childhood dreams, and a desire to give others the opportunities he never had growing up. Ian takes us back to his early days, from a conversation with his cricket coach that sparked his first business idea to the emotional impact of his father’s passing, which drove him to search for meaning and legacy.
From working in youth sport to coaching grieving adults and eventually returning to sport in a more aligned, purpose-driven way, Ian’s vulnerability and insights make this episode more than a business origin story; it’s a call to action for anyone looking to make a difference, rediscover their passion, or redefine success. Whether you’re a coach, parent, or leader, Ian’s reflections challenge you to ask yourself: What’s your why?
About the Host:
Ian Hawkins is dedicated to showing how sports can transform lives. With extensive experience as an athlete, a coach, PE teacher, community volunteer, and manager at Fox Sports, Ian brings a wealth of knowledge to the podcast. His journey began in his backyard, mentored by his older brother, and has since evolved into coaching elite athletes and business leaders. Ian's commitment to sports and personal development is evident in his roles as a performance coach and active community member. Through "Sport Is Life," Ian shares inspiring stories and valuable lessons to help listeners apply sports principles to all areas of life.
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Transcript
People often ask me why I started this
Speaker:business. The truth? It had nothing to do
Speaker:with money or status, or maybe a little
Speaker:bit about money. I was searching for
Speaker:financial freedom, but it was more about
Speaker:purpose, about fulfilment and deep
Speaker:down knowing there was more I was meant
Speaker:to do. In today's episode, I'm sharing
Speaker:the real story behind it all and why
Speaker:understanding your own why might be the
Speaker:most important step you. Take whether
Speaker:you're leading, coaching, parenting
Speaker:or searching for your next level.
Speaker:I'm Ian Hawkins and this is Sporty's
Speaker:life. The purpose of sport, as I
Speaker:see it, is to see your vision become a
Speaker:reality, find your voice, create
Speaker:strong connections and learn to trust
Speaker:your body.
Speaker:Back in 2013 was when the
Speaker:idea for having my own business first
Speaker:came to me. It was
Speaker:nothing that I'd ever thought about
Speaker:seriously. I can remember when I
Speaker:was coming to the end of university. My
Speaker:cricket coach at the time, he knew I did
Speaker:a PE teaching degree and he said you know
Speaker:what you should be doing. You
Speaker:should be. Going into
Speaker:schools, God, I was, I was telling him
Speaker:how much I loved primary school teaching
Speaker:the, the PE primary practise and how much
Speaker:better they were than secondary and
Speaker:which was a reflection of where I was at
Speaker:as a young person just coming out and,
Speaker:and my secondary pract ise where I felt
Speaker:likeI was only just older than the kids I
Speaker:was teaching. I found that quite
Speaker:intimidating. But for the primary schools
Speaker:I loved it. And yeah, my cricket coach
Speaker:suggested that most primary school
Speaker:teachers don't want to do. Payee
Speaker:that it would be great to have a business
Speaker:where you go to primary schools and
Speaker:approach them and say Oh well come in and
Speaker:do your PE lessons. Now he was ahead of
Speaker:his time because that's pretty common
Speaker:practise these days, but it had never
Speaker:been thought of at that point. So there's
Speaker:an opportunity first opportunity lost in
Speaker:business. And if you've been in
Speaker:business, you know you miss plenty of
Speaker:opportunities, but you also, if you're in
Speaker:the right space, you, you also attract
Speaker:other better opportunities, some
Speaker:opportunities you're meant to miss. So
Speaker:that was my first thought of business,
Speaker:but I didn't think of it again. It was
Speaker:always going to be somebody who worked
Speaker:for someone else and getting to
Speaker:retirement. But then as. Spoken about
Speaker:many times before. That all changed when
Speaker:my dad passed away 2005 and had me
Speaker:questioning everything and starting to
Speaker:look for answers for where my
Speaker:life was heading up to. My first mentor
Speaker:and then went to another workshop that
Speaker:my mentor had suggested that I go to. I
Speaker:think I had a free ticket to go because I
Speaker:was already signed up with this guy and I
Speaker:go to this business building
Speaker:thing. It was like a futurist type. Type
Speaker:arrangement and the guy was talking
Speaker:about. Like what you can do in
Speaker:business with very little effort and
Speaker:one of the first tasks in?
Speaker:With my first mentor, I was building like
Speaker:a game plan for life. This is something
Speaker:I'd never done, having these goals and
Speaker:plans and details around where my life
Speaker:was heading.
Speaker:Let us go and like, you know, go and
Speaker:create this big vision. And then and then
Speaker:he came back a couple months later and
Speaker:said, no, you need to go bigger. You've
Speaker:already gone through some growth. Like
Speaker:you go for the impossible dreams. And he
Speaker:talked about some of the impossible
Speaker:dreams that he thought was so far out of
Speaker:the realms of possibility that it
Speaker:actually. To be.
Speaker:And so that's what I did and it went
Speaker:bigger. Am I actually, oh, I'd love to
Speaker:start my business. I was already starting
Speaker:to think about how I wanted to dictate my
Speaker:own financial future, my own
Speaker:time. When you have kids, you sort of
Speaker:think about that, how can I have more
Speaker:time with them? And so that was the first
Speaker:sort of idea of having a business and
Speaker:then. It wasn't until I went
Speaker:to this other conference where
Speaker:I'm seeing you can create newspapers with
Speaker:a few all the things that AI do now, but
Speaker:it would like pull information from a
Speaker:whole lot of different sources that you
Speaker:followed and create this newspaper and
Speaker:all these different things. I'm like,
Speaker:actually I can start a business now. It's
Speaker:my first incarnation of business in
Speaker:in that very formative stage in
Speaker:2013 and then actually getting started
Speaker:on creating it in 2014. Was
Speaker:working with young people. In sport.
Speaker:And my vision was all based on my own
Speaker:experience. So This is why I got into
Speaker:business in the 1st place, is that as a
Speaker:youngster, I wanted
Speaker:to go and do all of the things I wanted
Speaker:to go and try out for reps in in soccer
Speaker:and cricket. I wanted to play rugby
Speaker:league. I wanted to try everything.
Speaker:But I was one of five kids
Speaker:we were, I'd say.
Speaker:Middle working class probably, you
Speaker:know, 1 income, fibro house, all of those
Speaker:different things and just the
Speaker:opportunities weren't there. And then
Speaker:having people tell me when I was much
Speaker:older and the opportunity had passed
Speaker:saying, oh, you, you could have played
Speaker:National League, you could have played
Speaker:this, you could have played that. Now
Speaker:whether that was true or not, it really
Speaker:reinforced to me actually.
Speaker:Well, what if I had got those
Speaker:opportunities? What if I had got into
Speaker:good Rep systems and. And being able
Speaker:to improve
Speaker:because most of what I learned was
Speaker:by parents volunteering and some of
Speaker:them were amazing. I've had blessed, have
Speaker:had some pretty amazing coaches over the
Speaker:years, but. You
Speaker:know that when you're exposed to people
Speaker:at a higher level that you end up being
Speaker:dragged up with the crowd. And so my
Speaker:first idea for businesses like, well,
Speaker:creating a pathway
Speaker:for children from a low
Speaker:socioeconomic background to elite
Speaker:sport. And.
Speaker:That's why I was passionate about
Speaker:business. I wanted to create that
Speaker:opportunity that I never had. Now this
Speaker:still happens, like particularly
Speaker:in football, in soccer, in Australia.
Speaker:User pays. It's like.
Speaker:and a half, $1000 to play
Speaker:ata representative level that's
Speaker:mental. So there's still this need
Speaker:and my business has gone full circle of
Speaker:I've worked with elite athletes
Speaker:further, a little bit further along the
Speaker:the path in business. Then I
Speaker:got into working with just everyone from
Speaker:corporate to business owners to.
Speaker:People. Post grief all of again,
Speaker:all based on my own experience.
Speaker:And then come full circle back to sport
Speaker:because it kind of found me again. I
Speaker:didn't chase it, which is interesting in
Speaker:itself. It's amazing how many of these
Speaker:opportunities come to you when you
Speaker:when it's just meant to be.
Speaker:So I share this because the why
Speaker:is so important for bringing that
Speaker:fulfilment. And I've found that there
Speaker:are many other YS and why I do what I do
Speaker:now because I didn't do a great
Speaker:job as a sports that I was that typical
Speaker:parent that was trying to relive
Speaker:my missed opportunities through my child,
Speaker:through my children. One of them resisted
Speaker:very early on and got did a little bit of
Speaker:sport, but moved into other things like
Speaker:drama and music and so on because they
Speaker:weren't interested in that push from
Speaker:that. Now for me, my experience was I
Speaker:wanted more pushing for my parents.
Speaker:Now know what a blessing that was to have
Speaker:had so much choice, But I would have also
Speaker:liked a bit of more of a kick out the ass
Speaker:more of that drive, more of that, you
Speaker:know, let's let's have a crack at this.
Speaker:So I made sure I provided the things I
Speaker:missed out on and I probably took that
Speaker:too far, but I've learnt so much along
Speaker:the journey as a result of that. So, so
Speaker:much of what I've created in that space
Speaker:is very much again linked from my own
Speaker:mistakes and how I learned and how I
Speaker:improved in those areas.
Speaker:And yeah, I mentioned the why. This is
Speaker:where you find purpose. This is where we
Speaker:find things that are fulfilling. This is
Speaker:what lights us up. This is what allows us
Speaker:to keep enjoying every single moment.
Speaker:It doesn't mean that you don't have down
Speaker:times and you doesn't mean you don't have
Speaker:dark days and challenges and tough
Speaker:moments. But it's so much
Speaker:easier to deal with and to come out the
Speaker:other side quickly when you have this
Speaker:purpose that just feels so
Speaker:right, that's just so fulfilling,
Speaker:so energising. It's . funI
Speaker:come home from doing days
Speaker:with a with a football club or with a
Speaker:school just buzzing. It's
Speaker:like haven't worked at all. So for you,
Speaker:it's thinking about what is that? Why for
Speaker:you, what did you not get that
Speaker:you'd love to provide for other people?
Speaker:What have you learned along the way?
Speaker:What are some of those mistakes you made
Speaker:and you really went down that rabbit
Speaker:hole of, well, how can I be better in
Speaker:this area?Because
Speaker:someone somewhere will need your
Speaker:help because they're facing where that
Speaker:same challenge of wherever you were, were
Speaker:when you had that challenge originally
Speaker:five years ago, 10 years ago for me in
Speaker:youth sport, 40 something years ago
Speaker:when I go into detail.
Speaker:And if you incorporate all of the parts
Speaker:of your wire from all the different steps
Speaker:of the journey, which is what I'm doing
Speaker:now. Yeah, like.
Speaker:Just seems so effortless
Speaker:opportunities fall in your lap.
Speaker:The right opportunities. It's easy to say
Speaker:no to things because you know what's
Speaker:right and what's not right
Speaker:instead of making decisions based on umm,
Speaker:money, stature,
Speaker:ego, all of these different things.
Speaker:Make decisions. Based on
Speaker:alignment like is this purposeful? Is
Speaker:this fulfilling?I get
Speaker:messages like I did this morning, you
Speaker:know. Do you do coaching with families?
Speaker:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker:Something I wouldn't have said yes to,
Speaker:maybe even 3 or 4 years ago.
Speaker:Self doubt hadn't done a heap of work
Speaker:with young people. Well, as it turned
Speaker:out, I'd been doing. I've been working
Speaker:with young people my whole life. I just
Speaker:didn't sort of look at it that way. And
Speaker:it wasn't until I had parents reaching
Speaker:out to me saying, can you help me with my
Speaker:child, with my young athlete? I'm
Speaker:like, yeah, I guess I can. I'll give it a
Speaker:crack. So
Speaker:take a moment. To look
Speaker:at your life and think, what is it
Speaker:that I needed and I didn't
Speaker:get?And I've now
Speaker:learned on the other side of that.
Speaker:Imagine that I'd provide that for
Speaker:someone. For them to have something that
Speaker:you. Needed, but didn't
Speaker:have. So they never have to go through
Speaker:that, don't have to go through it alone.
Speaker:They don't have to go through it without
Speaker:all the tips and tricks and knowledge
Speaker:that you now have. This
Speaker:will change your life for the better in
Speaker:so many different ways.
Speaker:It doesn't mean you have to get a
Speaker:creative business, it doesn't mean you
Speaker:have to go create this massive thing.
Speaker:Just bring it to you every day, bring it
Speaker:to your job, bring it to your personal
Speaker:life, bring it to all these different
Speaker:places and that it alone will fuel
Speaker:everything else you do. It'll make
Speaker:everything else worthwhile. It'll make
Speaker:everything else easier.
Speaker:It will give you energy that you didn't
Speaker:know you didn't know you had.
Speaker:So you know now why I started my
Speaker:business?What it's
Speaker:given me. So what's your
Speaker:why to start on whatever the next project
Speaker:is for you?What is it that you know
Speaker:you need to take on that you're kind of
Speaker:ignoring whether it's a change of
Speaker:career, whether it's just a new job
Speaker:somewhere else. Maybe your sleep needs
Speaker:attention. Maybe your health needs
Speaker:attention. Maybe you'd like to do a
Speaker:better job as that sporting parent. Maybe
Speaker:it's your golf. Maybe it's your coaching.
Speaker:Whatever it is.
Speaker:Have a think about that project.
Speaker:Get started on it.
Speaker:And find your why.
Speaker:That propels you.
Speaker:Through and to the end of that project.
Speaker:In a way that's fulfilling, purposeful
Speaker:and fun.
Speaker:You've taken the time to listen to this
Speaker:whole episode. Now it's time to take
Speaker:action. Commit to one thing you've
Speaker:learned today and make it happen. And to
Speaker:avoid any obstructions, join the Sporty
Speaker:Life movement by clicking on the link in
Speaker:the show notes.
