26 SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 2007BALDWIN REGISTER

‘I AM HAVING A BLAST’Persistence pays off for author/motivational speaker Andy Andrews

Faculty andstaff atFairhopeElementarylisten as AndyAndrews talksabout “TheLost Choice.”PrincipalTerry Beasleychose thebook for afaculty bookstudy andinvitedAndrews tospeak to thestaff abouttheimportance ofthe choicesthey make.

By BETH OSBORNECorrespondent

ORANGE BEACH — Author.Comedian. Motivationalspeaker.

These are just some of theterms that come to mindwhen people hear the nameAndy Andrews.

His books are bestsellers,he travels the country doingseminars for major corpora-tions, he has headlined for thelikes of Joan Rivers and KennyRogers, and he has spoken atthe request of four UnitedStates presidents.

But for the strong group offamily and friends of the Or-ange Beach resident, thewords used to describe theman they know have a differ-ent ring. Ask them about An-drews, and you’ll hear thewords “loyal,” “humble,” “per-sistent” and “sports enthusi-ast.”

Andrews is an Alabama na-tive, having lived in variousplaces throughout the state asa youngster growing up with apastor for a dad. While his ca-reer successes have taken An-drews throughout the UnitedStates and the world, his fa-vorite place is still the cityhe’s called home for morethan 20 years — OrangeBeach.

“There’s no place we lovebetter than here,” Andrewssaid. “If you live in this area,you’re living in the best placethere is.”

Andrews’ wife, Polly, origi-nally from Mississippi, agrees.

“We love living at the beach— we love the water, thesand, the fishing, the crea-tures in the water. We cur-rently have a number of ‘seacreatures’ in the aquarium, allcaught down at the dock,” Pol-ly said.

Fishing for creatures is a fa-vorite pastime of the Andrewsclan. All three boys — An-drews and his sons, Austin, 7,and Adam, 4, — love to spendtime fishing. Just recently,they caught their first speck-led trout of the year.

If the Andrews family isn’tfishing, they might be playinga serious game of football, oneof Andrews’ favorite sports.

“I get out in the back yardsome afternoons and throwthe ball with Peyton and Eli(Manning — aka Austin andAdam), they tell me what I’m

supposed to be doing. It’sgreat!” the Indianapolis Coltsfan said.

‘Everything is perspective’The Andrewses have

learned first-hand that livingon the beach does have adownside. Their house wasdestroyed in Hurricane Ivan,and it was two years beforethey were able to finish re-building and move back in.During that time, they lived inthree different rental houses.

“We kept remembering thatwe lost our house, not ourhome — everything is per-

spective,” Andrews said. “Pol-ly and I are very glad that ourboys were young. It was a life-shaping experience for themto see how Mommy and Dad-dy reacted.”

There have been other diffi-cult times for the family, too,but Polly said that throughoutit all, they always envisionedbeing close to where they arenow.

“I’m not sure you can getthere if you don’t envision it.For the most part, a fabulouslife doesn’t drop out of thesky. A saying I like is, ‘Godfeeds the birds, but he doesn’t

throw the food into thenests,’ ” she said.

Leisure time at home withfamily and friends is treasuredby Andrews, who spends anaverage of seven or eight daysa month on the road. Whenhe’s not gone, he’s likely to beworking on an upcoming bookor seminar, or talking to localschool groups or businesses.

For more than 20 years, An-drews has been entertainingfolks with his unique style ofcomedy intertwined with in-spiration and learning by theexamples of great figures inhistory.

‘The Traveler’s Gift’The author has written nu-

merous books, some with fun-ny but warm stories of hisgrowing up years, and somewith serious inspirationalmessages built into historicalfiction tales. His most well-known book, “The Traveler’sGift: Seven Decisions that De-termine Personal Success,”has been printed in nearly 20different languages and inBraille, and it ranked secondon the bestseller list in SouthKorea for almost a year.

“We couldn’t knock off thatlittle Harry Potter,” Andrewsjoked.

The general manager of theAtlanta Braves baseball teamgave everyone in the front of-fice and on the team a copy ofthe book, and one person withSonic (drive-in restaurants)

has personally given awaymore than 1,000 copies.

“It overwhelms me sittinghere thinking about it,” An-drews said.

The book’s principles werethe basis of a PBS special enti-tled “Andy Andrews: The Sev-en Decisions,” and Andrews iscurrently conducting “SevenDecision Seminars” aroundthe country for companieslike Microsoft, General Motorsand AT&T.

“I am having a blast. I haveeven done three of theseevents for the CIA, which ispretty funny to me,” Andrewssaid.

Overcoming obstaclesBut the successful life

didn’t come easy for Andrews.By the time he was only 19years old, he had lost his twobiggest supporters — his par-ents — within a year of eachother. His mom died of can-cer, and his father died withina year in a car accident. Hislife took a turn for the worse.

“I made some bad decisionsand was homeless before itwas a word,” Andrews said ofthose years. At one point, hewas spending nights under apier in Gulf Shores.

“I started wondering, howdoes one family get happinessand one end up under a pier?”

That thought put Andrewson a quest to learn how suc-

Please see Andrews Page 28 !

Courtesy of Wendy Troup

Courtesy of Andy Andrews

Andy Andrews kneels at the grave of an American Medal ofHonor recipient who died in combat during the Battle of theBulge.

28 SUNDAY, JUNE 24, 2007BALDWIN REGISTER

Andrews hasshared hismotivationaltips withthousands —from teachersto CIA staffersto militaryleaders.AT LEFT: Thewriter posesfor a photowith pilotCapt. Matt“Soju” Yeatterafter flying inan F-16FightingFalcon.

Andrews! Continued from Page 26

cessful people overcame theirobstacles.

He read more than 200 bio-graphies of successful, influ-ential and happy people andspent time talking to peopleon the beachabout their for-tunes in life. Heidentified sevenprinciples that allthese people hadin common —principles whichlater became thebasis of “The Trav-eler’s Gift.”

“That’s what Iused to yank meout of that life,”Andrews said.“They’re princi-ples and that’swhy they work. It’slike the principleof gravity — oncewe get it, we canharness it.

“When you make decisionsbased on principles, you don’thave to depend on the luck ofthe draw.”

He doesn’t just talk aboutthe concept, he lives it.

“These seven decisions are

key in my daily life and in ev-erything Polly and I teach ourboys,” Andrews said.

Avid readerThe reading habit that An-

drews picked up in thoseearly days still holds true forhim, and he lists a number ofsuggested books to read on

his Web site,www.andyandrew-s.com (free studyguides for hisbooks are alsoavailable on thesite). He reads anaverage of twobooks a week, ofall genres.

“I think it’s real-ly important toread. The peoplewho accomplishthe most are read-ers. We read allthe time with ourboys, at least twobooks a day,” An-drews said.

Jimmy Grant-ham, owner and team leaderof The First Team of RE/MAXof Orange Beach, met An-drews when the two wereteenagers. Andrews conductsteam coaching for Grantham’sstaff, and Grantham said it has

helped not only in their worklife, but also in their home life.

“With Andy, it’s not allabout (financial) success.These are tools that make yousuccessful in life, period,”Grantham said.

“Andy helps you overcomethe stress out there so you’re

a peaceful person and you canhandle things that you thinkare unbearable,” Granthamsaid. “Knowing him and wherehe came from — if it can workfor him, I know it will work foranyone.

“He lives it, he believes it.‘Persist without exception’ —

that’s one of Andy’s princi-ples. He’s had a lot of adversi-ty in his life but he was boundand determined to make it,and that means a lot,” Grant-ham said.

Please see Andrews Page 29 !

“For the mostpart, afabulous lifedoesn’t dropout of the sky.A saying I likeis, ‘God feedsthe birds, buthe doesn’tthrow the foodinto thenests.’ ”

Polly Andrews,wife of

Andy Andrews

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“TheTraveler’sGift”rocketed tofame after itwaspublished in2003. It hasbeentranslatedinto almost20 languagesas well asBraille andspawned anumber ofproductsbased on itssevenprinciples forsuccess.

! Continued from Page 28

PersistenceAnother friend of Andrews’,

Foncie Bullard, also sees per-sistence as a key factor in hislife, noting that he signs hisworks with one word — “Per-sist.”

Bullard’s family business,Joe Bullard Automotive, is in-volved with Camp Rap-A-Hope, a camp for children andteenagers who have battled orare battling cancer. Andrewshelped out by serving as em-cee several years ago for theannual event.

“Probably what first im-pressed me the most aboutAndy was that he is a self-made man. He rose to thechallenge and created oppor-tunity where to most observ-ers’ eyes there was none. Iknow his parents are veryproud of him,” Bullard said.

History is a common themein Andrews’ books. In ‘TheTraveler’s Gift,’ such histori-cal figures as Harry Truman,King Solomon, Anne Frankand others play pivotal roles.Andrews believes in studyingindividuals from the past tofind ways to learn from them.

For some readers, Andrews’books have brought a freshperspective on history.

“My first reaction to ‘TheTraveler’s Gift’ was, ‘If I’d readthis at a younger age, I mighthave been interested in histo-ry,’ ” Bullard said.

‘The Lost Choice’Ann Agerton, assistant prin-

cipal at Fairhope ElementarySchool, where Andrews spoketo the faculty and staff afterthey read “The Lost Choice”as a group, agreed.

“History’s not my thing, butthat book just caught me,”Agerton said.

The story of “The LostChoice” is wrapped aroundthe principle that everythingpeople do matters.

“A key element to successin life is to realize that everymove you make matters. In amacroenvironment, everymove others make shapes thelife of your kids, and shapeshow we treat each other,” An-drews explained.

Agerton said she sees theimportance of rememberingthat theme as an educator.

“We make choices daily thathave significant effects on ourlives and those of our stu-dents. It is essential to consid-er the choices that come

along in our lives and whatthe ramifications, whethergood or bad, may be.”

In the combat zoneWhile Andrews has fun talk-

ing to businesses and othergroups, the work that has be-come most meaningful to himis his role with the country’smilitary forces.

A couple of years ago, An-drews traveled overseas withthe USO (United Service Orga-

nizations) to talk to thetroops. While there, he wasapproached by Gen. RobertFoglesong with the idea ofworking with military leaders.As a result, Andrews has sincebeen overseas several times,including spending time incombat zones.

“It’s kind of scary (beingover there), but these peopleare the most unbelievablepeople I’ve been around mywhole life,” Andrews said of

the experience.Stateside, Andrews works

with the special operationssquadron commanders underthe direction of three starGen. Mike Wooley, the AirForce Special OperationsCommander.

“I am actually the last per-son to speak with the squad-ron commanders and theirspouses before these guys are

Please see Andrews Page 30 !

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! Continued from Page 29

deployed,” Andrews said.One organization close to

Andrews’ heart is the SpecialOperations Warrior Founda-tion (SOWF), which providescollege assistance to the chil-dren of Special Operationspersonnel in all branches ofthe military who were killed inan operational mission ortraining accident.

Last year, Andrews startedworking with friend Glen Kai-ser, of Kaiser Realty Inc., toput together a seven deci-sions seminar for Kaiser’sstaff. They wanted to invitethe community, and then de-cided to make it an event toraise money for a worthycause.

In November 2006, the re-sulting seminar raised $10,000for SOWF.

“Andy is a remarkable indi-vidual who is blessed in manyways,” Kaiser said. “I truly be-lieve he’s been blessed withthe Holy Spirit to do what he’sable to do — he’s gettingsome divine intervention.”

While he has become an ac-complished author, Andrewssaid he does not like to write.It’s the finished product that

he enjoys.“I don’t like writing at all. I

love having written. You don’thave to like everything youdo, but you have to like the re-sult. People who can disci-pline themselves to do whatthey don’t like, to get whatthey do like, live a whole dif-ferent life,” he said.

Family Reading NightAndrews recently took that

advice to students and theirfamilies at Bay Minette Inter-mediate School. A friend, Su-san Arnette,teaches gifted stu-dents in fourthand fifth grade,and she assignedreadings from sev-eral of Andrews’books before invit-ing him to comespeak at theschool for FamilyReading Night.

“We’ve done‘Socks for Christ-mas’ at Christmastime for severalyears, and we readexcerpts from ‘TheTraveler’s Gift,’ ” Arnette said.

Students also read “Base-ball, Boys and Bad Words,” achapter from “Tales from Saw-yerton Springs,” and wrote let-

ters to the author about whatthey’d read.

Mary Mosley’s letter cap-tured the students’ reaction:“Baseball, Boys and BadWords’ is the most funny (sto-ry) I’ve ever read, it put myteacher in shock, and it mademe laugh until I cried.”

A look aheadWhat’s in the future for An-

drews? He has written a non-fiction book titled “Masteringthe Seven Decisions,” whichwill come out in March 2008,

and a “story”book, “The Notic-er,” which willcome out the fol-lowing May.

Another book,“Island of Saints,”is being made intoa movie and has alocal connection.The book’s storyof forgiveness isbased on the Ger-man submarines inthe Gulf of Mexicoin World War II.The story takes

place in the Gulf Shores, Mo-bile Bay and Fort Morganareas.

This fall, Andrews will leada one-time, three-day “Guided

Traveler’s Experience” in Or-lando, designed to help asmall group of people explorein detail how to put the princi-ples in Andrews’ books intodaily practice for a successful,secure life. For informationabout the conference, checkAndrews’ Web site.

While in Las Vegas at TheMirage to do a seminar recent-

ly, Andrews took a trip downmemory lane as he remem-bered being the very first per-former on the stage at thehotel in 1989, when he washeadlining as a comedian forthe Kenny Rogers show.

“Then, I could only makethem laugh,” Andrews re-flected. “Now, I give themsomething, too.”

Andrews

“When youmakedecisionsbased onprinciples, youdon’t have todepend on theluck of thedraw.”

Andry Andrews,motivational

speaker

Courtesy of Susan Arnette

Haley Thompson gets an autograph from Andy Andrews during“Family Reading Night” at Bay Minette Intermediate School.

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