Contest Queen Helene Hadsell Tells How She Used "The Secret" - 1

[Music] oh [Music] so can you tell us about how you got started with contesting yes uhuh uh Norman Vincent Peele had the book called The Power of Positive Thinking and I had picked it up read it and there were two things that really en enticed me to research further and that was when he said you can have anything you want provided you know what it is see yourself as already having it and those were three things that intrigued me and uh I was you know just a little happy Homemaker no education high school education period

and the mother of three and sitting home and needing a lot of little creature Comfort things you know and so I thought well that sounds exciting so that night uh my husband got in and I said I read this book and I saids what would you like and he was reading the Dallas Morning News and uh he said well look here cocacola has a contest and uh you can win an outboard motor all you have to do is write 25 words while you take cocoa on outings and I said and I then I'll board motor

and then he went on and finished reading his paper well I went into the bedroom and he's one in an outboard motor so I sit there and I thought cocacola on AED and I thought I don't we don't even drink Coes that's going to be a tough one but I saw him sitting in a boat with his mot enjoying himself and so I wrote uh oh he liked to go fishing by himself on weekends cuz he had a very serious job and he was always stretched out and the kids were too young to take him

fishing at that point and so he'd go out for the afternoon okay so now I'm sitting there and I see him in this boat and I write I'm a lone wolf fisherman coks are my silent Partners they contribute no yak back only enjoyment when called upon 25 words put it in an envelope mailed it off and actually said to him I wonder how long it's going to take him to let us know we won now that's positive thinking I didn't know any better I just knew uh he's got I wrote that right that incident he's

got to win it two weeks later the representative from Coca-Cola called and said uh Mr hadel you on your outboard motor I thought oh that's nice now what would we like to win see now what would we like to win and my daughter said well I'd like a swim bicycle and I said and you want what color you know I thought well everybody should do this because uh selected you know uh here it is see yourself as happy it so we had her sitting on a bicycle and it was uh now at that point in

time there were many many opportunities for contests and most of them see a contest is when you have to complete something in 25 words or less name something write an essay a sweep stake is when they just put your name in the pot and they draw from 1 million entries they draw your name uh I didn't think of that as competition I always thought the only competition you ever have is with yourself and that's when you doubt yourself so now my daughter uh we had to name a pony and it got to be now this

was a fun thing and my son I mean we didn't look for big things roller skates you know uh bicycles and uh things that were that children wanted um boom boxes you know for music and stuff and so we started uh he we s would sit at night and I says oh we're going to get Pamela her B her bicycle and we have to name a pony how we going to name a pony and uh I show him a picture of a pony and uh they said well he's brown and I said yeah he's brown

and what else and and uh what else does he do well I said does he prance well then we call him prance Charming prance charming and you get on a pony what else he bucks him buck too prance charm and these were what we call coined words and that's what we send in I don't know which entry won but she had her swim bicycle okay so with then we got all the little stuff now I want lenium for the floor and I get lenium then I want something else and I get it now I'm thinking

bigger now I want to win trips and my son my younger son said oh let's go to a dude ranch do you know we won this trip to a dude ranch and stupid me uh this was in Arizona and that's when I was afraid of flying and uh they I won the prize they're going to fly and I said I don't fly can you drive down and then I was I was I didn't get the prize because you had to follow their rules and so that he was very very ticked about that you have to

learn to fly you have to learn oh now the next thing I wanted the children wanted to go to Disneyland and that meant flying too and I thought well well I'll just Brave it out said really and truly I was stupid on that area but at that time I didn't know better and so we get to um won this trip to Disneyland we all get there and it was a fabulous fabulous trip and later on uh we did went a trip to the dude ranch and I did go to we did go to the dude

ranch and then we wenton a trip to the World's Fair did go to the World's Fair and one thing that was real funny I was going to be 40 years old and I had read that Paris is a city of light love and excitement and I wanted to be on the 1 of January I said what are we going to do this year and Pad said well I said I want to be in Paris France sitting at a sidewalk Cafe drinking wine on my 40th birthday and I started to enter contests only contests that were

offering trips and there were many of them there was a lot of trips all contest always 25 words or less and I always used the same 25 words I said I'm a pooped couple with three kiddos and I'd like to go to Paris friends to recapture the Rapture of Springtime ecstasy in my f 40 frustrated years that's the only thing I wrote well the first time uh one company uh investigates before you win a big prize you're investigated they call you or they come out interview you and they do that to find out if you

are any way related to the sponsors anyway related because contesting are really on the up and up and if they wouldn't be I mean it wouldn't serve any purpose so I had the interview and uh everything went fine but I only won third prize which a Hammond electric organ and it didn't win that prize and I said well why did they give me electric organ and you know somebody said to cultivate patience I have this big electric Hamond organ and here it is now my birthday's the 1st of June and here it is April already

and I still haven't had this trip now we're going to have to plan this trip we're going to be there uh drinking wine and my husband even said well we have enough money we'll I said no I want to win this with a trip well it's it seemed like the last minute I send that entry off and lo and behold I got a phone call and said Mr hadel I used his name and when I uh in my name uh you won a trip to uh Venice Italy and I thought well I don't want I've

been to Venice I want to go to Paris and the man said well you can change there first class and you can change uh whatever you want to do and I he saidh would you like the tickets I said like right now and he had a messenger come and bring these tickets and we got on the plane and to make a long story short on my 40th birthday I was at that sidewalk with my husband ring one so we did this this is something else I need to bring up cuz I thought this was well

it it was nice my husband and I are sitting here one afternoon and uh I just got back from a trip a long trip and uh sometime he went with me and sometime he didn't and he'd go with me first time and then second time he got bored because I was always counseling people and then at night I was in my and he knew everything so but anyway we're sitting here he said let's do something off the let's do something exciting what do you want to do I said you know I love love New York

I said and I noticed in the paper that they're having this um uh the best little h house in Texas and I said I would love to go and see that off Bradway show and he said well I'll tell you what let's uh I'll uh let's have lunch and I'll start calling uh the the Airlines and we'll see what we can do he says sounds like fun doesn't it we're eating lunch and we come back here for coffee and the phone rings uh Mrs hadel I said yes he said I'm rich little you don't know

him but he was producing a show to tell the truth in New York and he said your name came up as a very very good contestant how would you like to come to New York and be on my show I said I looked at Pat and I thought God is this for real and I said what is it um he said well it's to tell the truth and the show had just started and uh he said um we'll pay all your expenses first class and what else do you want and I said could I have

tickets to this off Broadway show will Success Ball Rock hun and he said and what else and I said well my my husband uh wanted to come well okay we'll do a to we'll give your husband a ticket also and what else I mean you know when they want you they want you and he said everything that we advertise you will also get electric blankets mix whatever they were advertising I said when do you want me when do you want he said where you come this week or next week and I said well let's see

and my husband says this week this week so I how about this week well we'll have your tickets for you by CER uh tomorrow morning so we went to to nework had this hotel saw this Broadway plate was there three days all they usually pay all expenses and they give you a voucher if you want to cab to go wherever you want to eat wherever you want to and Entertain You really it's nice to be on the talk shows well that's we had our little our little thing again so what is it I mean you

know there were many many instances where I would not hear of something uh the thing I'm digressing I'm sorry because you're interested in being a winner and all of you out there are winners you know that and you can have anything you want provided you know what it is see yourself as having it and if there's a delay in results uh don't be disappointed maybe you need to cultivate a little more patience that's all it is and it's yours and you say but the competition is so Fierce so Fierce and I says everything is competition

how long I mean eventually if you stay with something long enough and strong enough it's energy and it's got to come to you that's the Law of Attraction it's out there for anybody I never looked at it as competition I remember uh when after I had the publicity and had won that house in L cinus and had won all the cars and whatever I needed or wanted uh this was very interesting because that night we went to dance and we're dancing and uh right at the as you came in you signed in and they had

this fish bowl put your name in at the end of the night and they had fruit cakes cuz it was Christmas time and uh they had this big boom box and my daughter had been wanting this huge boom box that had all these Acoustics and things out and I looked at it and I said oh there's Pamela's Christmas present well the woman that was um uh taking the tickets her overheard me and uh she laughed and she said well Mrs hil's here so really and truly you it's stupid to put your name and the hatel

won the boom box already all right what did I do they were giving me their energy everybody in that room gave me energy cuz they knew now we'd won this house and we're dancing and this man said I guess she's got Pat said she's got the boom box and we're they're making a joke of it a joke and they don't know that I didn't take their energy they gave it to me and that night when his boss now it's time to take to have the drawing and here's that Fishbowl full of of names and the

the boss said I'm not going to have anything to do with this somebody come up and draw a name and a woman came up and she said I'll get a different name and she whisk around and whisk around and pulled a name and it was my name okay this is energy this is energy this is what they do and yes you can get energy from someone else if they're negative I mean why not you mentioned the house can you tell us more about how you won the house yes yes yes I came back after my

trip and in Dallas we have a group of women that get together and we called them the contest we called them the range writers and uh when we got there uh we would swap entry blanks we would stand up and say what we won this month we won this and this and this and this one month I won a prize every day 30 prizes one prize every day some of them would win four or five of them and we had a lot of fun and they were very supportive so the night I got there uh

the woman one of the women said oh you w the world's uh you went to uh New York on your way to Paris did you stop at the World's Fair and I said yeah my son want a trip to the World's Fair so he was with us and then after the trip we were at the World's Fair he went back home on plane and uh someone met him and so forth and we went on to Paris and she said while you were there did you see that from Micah house she said that's a uh that's

an entire United States contest and forah is having a new product that they're sponsoring and they're going to build a house someplace in the United States and all you have to do throughout the United States the builders were you building their houses but they were using this molding that for Micah was very very proud of using so anybody through throughout the United States you had to visit one of the homes that had these entry blanks that were using for mic well in my area it was Garland the only place that was had this thing and

she said well you could I said no I didn't know about it I didn't know about it well it's in Garland and it's closing next week and so on the way home uh driving home because Dallas is a 20 7 miles from Irving rather all I could think about was God I'd like to win a new house that's perf yeah I think I'll win that house so the next day it's drizzling and one of two of my friends that that were in this contest club with me live in Irving so I called one of them

and I said let's go over and see that for my house and enter And she said Oh She said you know they've already picked the entries it's in New York and they've already picked the entries and she no and the other one was having her rug shampoo she couldn't go and I tried I said I'll even buy your pizza on the way let's go and nobody would go with me starting to drizzle rain and I something I swear something pulled actually pulled me out the next thing I knew I'm in the car driving 53 miles

to go to that ver the house and when I got there I sat in one of the chairs and I looked at everything around there and I'm already deciding that I want Spanish Furniture I'm already building the inside of the house and there wasn't anybody there except the woman that sat you know at the open house I registered my name and I registered Pat's name and I took an entry blank home and that night I'm reading the entry blank and it said you must have visited the home and I said oh my God I said

I put in Pat's name and Pat winess do you know that Saturday morning Pat got up and I said we're getting in the car you're driving to Garland and you're going to look at that house so when they call you you can say you visited that he did he did he got to work he believed what I said we drove all that way so he could look at that house and that was it it was a done deal now we come home and he draws the plans for the house and he said tells the kids

uh mama's going to win us this big house where do we want it we're out looking for Lots we've got the plan here so when they come we can be ready and then uh it was a month now the contest closed that weekend it was a month later when uh somebody on the phone called uh Pat and I'm in Dallas and they called Pat and they asked Pat is Mrs hadel there no she's at a meeting uh your husband he said yes he said did she enter that I mean did she go to that foric

home and Pat said oh we were both there I am so impressed with that laminated from Micah we were so impressed and he said the right thing and that was it and he said uh well he said we're just checking uh everybody to see if they actually did go and there's nothing here thank you Mr hadson for your time that was all he said all he oh he asked them are you related uh to anybody at the house number one number two any relations that work for forite those were questions so they had he was

on the phone five minutes answering all this and he was he knew that because we knew when we got a big we'd have to have an investigation we call and so um I came home that night and he was ecstatic well we went our house and all we did was I wonder how long it's going to take them to let us know we W and that's all I told the kids and so it was about another month later morning I woke up and I said uh the kids were at breakfast the two boys were still

there and my daughter was in college and I said U well listen they're going to let us know we won this house for God's sake act surprised and they went off to school and my husband said are you sure they're coming I said yeah and he was I said just stay in bed and I says pretend just uh we're just going to wait for well at 2:00 and now it's 1:00 and they're and I went to the bakery to get some Bakery and I'm getting ready to put the coffee pot on when they come and

nothing happens and about 2:30 I get this phone call and they say um uh M Mrs hadel uh when does your husband get off work and I said well he's here now uh oh he they were waiting for him to get off work so they could tell us together I said well he's here on what is and I said he just took the day off well then we're coming right out we're Representatives vice president of formica and our um PR man uh we want to come out and tell you something very very interesting for you

and I thought yeah yeah so and then I of course reminded Pat to act surprised you know they came me in the door I did I acted surp oh my God oh no not me oh no no and I see I told Pat don't show them the plans so we're talking and he said well where do you want it and I said well there's a new area you know just and I said and we have the plans and uh the guy looked at me and I said well we were planning we were planning on building

a house but we didn't tell them that they were going to pay for it you know and so uh we had all the plans there and he couldn't believe it you know and I said yeah we we we had plans of enlarging this place and that's how it came about and from that period on they hired an interior decorator uh they hired so many people because it was publicity for their for M uh they would call me they send me flowers uh one weekend he'd always call and say are you happy are you happy uh

because at that time the national inquire which is at rag magazine called and said if there's any negative things cuz this is the first time a house that ever been given if there's any negative things tell us and we'll pay you for the negative and I says get a real and H up and I had that offer two three times and they were aware that they were looking for negative things and I I there weren't any negative but he call up and say are you happy is there anything we can do and every time they

came they wind us and dined us at the best best hotels and so one day he called and he said what's your favorite place and they were building and he kept coming and visiting bringing me candy flowers and so forth and I said God would I like to go to New York okay we'll put we'll send you to New York and they brought us first class tickets my husband and I went to New York and we had there were at that time the play was on Broadway will success spoil Rock Hunter that was the play

I wanted to see and they sent me to New York and while I was in New York I did a lot of publicity with uh one of the magazines uh the Good Housekeeping magazine and they interviewed me and so forth and then they had the house open for a month where they could uh people came in and um I was just the hostess and they had people there that took care clean the house and so forth and then it was turned over to us officially gold keys we had a gold key my husband and I

were given a gold key and uh then he asked listen that that's a big at that time that period in the four 50s 60s rather uh income tax was a big challenge if you want to lump some and you had to pay it right away and he said if income tax is a problem we'll take care of you know I mean they couldn't do enough they couldn't do enough that was a fabulous [Music]