“It presents an opportunity for leadership,” Hawkins says. “Through real estate you can promote your hometown, promote business and be a part of the growth of those facets.”

As a Gainesville native, Hawkins would love nothing better than to help his hometown. And through his position with the Norton Agency, Hawkins believes he has found the perfect avenue to do just that.

“There’s so many great things here; I love this town, and I would love to help Gainesville to be the best it can be,” Hawkins says. “ There is also potential here, and I think as we are headed for growth we need to strategically promote and improve areas of this town that needs it and deserves it. Otherwise we will be missing out on the long term/overall image I think Gainesville deserves.”

It’s an ideal that would not shock his mentors or classmates. After all, Hawkins was nominated as a “future community leader” in high school.

As nice as that vision sounds, however, Hawkins knows it’s up to him to lay the foundation for that success. And for a young agent, that means pounding the pavement, pressing the flesh and bending the ears of hundreds of people throughout northeast Georgia.

“Right now it’s about winning respect of people and showing them that I know what I’m doing,” Hawkins says. “I’m willing to work 24 hours a day for my clients. I want people to know that if they will trust me with a listing that that means a lot to me, and I’m here to work harder than anyone for them.” Hawkins has dived into the real estate side of the Norton Agency, joining the company at a time when — although the market is turning — deals are not always easy to come by.

“I don’t know any better though,” Hawkins says. “I know that it’s going to be hard work, and I’m happy to market myself. Marketing is something I enjoy.”

Hawkins also enjoys balancing an analytical and common sense approach to the real estate business.

“You have to be able to look at the numbers but also use some common sense and put yourself in the other person’s shoes,” Hawkins said.

They are all facets of a job that Hawkins gravitated toward at a young age, learning from a step-father who owned his own real estate agency and from a step-mother that owned her own construction firm in Atlanta.

“I could see something that they had accomplished; they had left their mark in ways that everyone could see, and I thought that was really unique,” Hawkins said. “Really it was about middle school when I started to think like that, and it was late high school when I really got serious about it.”

And after an internship with his hometown Norton Agency, there was only ever one real future for Hawkins.

Now he hopes to bring that future to Gainesville and the rest of northeast Georgia.

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