In the Neighbourhood, Dudley's story

September 2, 2017

THE KEY POINT I DISCOVERED, LIFE IS A BLANK CANVAS AND ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE

I grew up in a culture where asking directly for the things you want in life or in general was considered rude. However, I soon learnt that the problem with waiting for someone to notice you, meant that you could be waiting a long time, perhaps It was best to put myself out there, be assertive and maybe asking was not such a bad thing.

The key point I discovered was that we all have wants and needs in life and that life is a blank canvas, anything is possible and sometimes in order to achieve, we often require assistance from others. Which brings me to share an experience with you.

DOING MY O/E AT AGE 21, I WAS WORKING AT ANNIE BAILEYS, A WEE ENGLISH PUB IN THE VILLAGE OF CUDDINGTON

Whilst on my O/E in Buckingham Shire, England at the young age of 21, I was working at Annie Baileys, a wee English pub in the village of Cuddington. Now, this village was filled with lots of interesting people and in particular a high flying gentleman who owned a mansion with a butler, a personal helicopter parked on the helipad in his back yard, a massive lap pool and fleet of vintage cars to boot.

Simply known as ‘Mike’, Mike booked Annie Baileys pub out every Sunday and would invite his friends for brunch, pimms, gins, lager and lots of wine. He requested the kiwi crew (being myself and the kiwi chef) host his Sunday events which were guaranteed loads of fun and often ended with a tip jar loaded with enough coin to fund trips to Paris for a long weekend.

One Sunday arvo, while pouring the bevvies for Mike and his buddies he said to me, “Duds if you ever need anything... all you need to do is ask”. I brushed the remark off with a, “Thanks Mike!” but I wondered whether he’d remember he had said it in the morning. The morning came and Mike called in to pay his tab and leave his overly generous tip as he did, and as he left he quietly said... “I meant what I said last night, just in case you thought it was a passing comment”.

AFTER ALL, LIFE IS A BLANK CANVAS, IT'S UP TO US TO CREATE HOW IT LOOKS

Returning home after several years of travelling, I landed on the West Coast in the small surfing bay of Tauranga Bay just south of Westport and sitting, nestled in the flax, literally metres from the water, sat The Bay House Café in the most idyllic setting you could imagine. I fell in love with it and... it was for sale!

Having nothing but the clothes on my back, a backpack, and a little loose change it was not looking good. Soooo, I called Mike! He was lying on the beach in Barbados drinking cocktails with his wife. I told him about this amazing café justifying for an hour why it was so amazing and asked him for $280,000!!

After what seemed like a minute of silence, he said, “Well you’ve got balls haven’t you!...” and my heart sank. He then responded with: “there have only been a handful of people I have made this offer to and I must say you are the first to have ever been brave enough to have asked”. At the age of 23 I owned my first business, and after 2 years and the support of an amazing crew won ‘The Best Small Business Category” in the ‘100% Pure NZ Tourism Awards’ which would not have been possible had I not asked.

Think about it — what’s the biggest thing that you want that you’ve been going without? A promotion? A business loan? That special someone that you’ve wanted to ask out on a date for a long time? Whatever it is, you should go for it and remember never be afraid to ask for what you want, after all life is a blank canvas, it’s up to us to create what it looks like. - Dudley-Anne Hill.