In the Loop with Andy Andrews

In this week’s episode, we discuss the questions we’ve always wondered if there were answers for. Tune in this week to hear Andy’s take on questions like: • Why are there no B batteries? • Why aren’t there E’s on report cards? • Why does the Easter Bunny carry eggs? • And so much more! 

 

You can also hear more from Andy by subscribing to his new podcast, The Professional Noticer. Just go to AndyAndrews.com/podcast for details. 

Do you have a question for Andy? Call in and your questions might be features on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
  • Twitter.com/AndyAndrews
  • Instagram.com/AndyAndrewsAuthor
Direct download: ITL266_Questions_Without_Answers_.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 10:36am CDT

In this episode, we discuss our favorite Christmas memories as children. Tune in this week to hear about… • When Andy’s family opens presents • Andy’s favorite gift and the story behind it • The role football plays in his holidays • How Andy’s parents did Christmas • Andy’s favorite Christmas movie and why • How different things were when Andy was a child Listen to the end to hear Andy’s favorite Christmas song! Merry Christmas! 

 

You can also hear more from Andy by subscribing to his new podcast, The Professional Noticer. Just go to AndyAndrews.com/podcast for details. 

Do you have a question for Andy? Call in and your questions might be features on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
  • Twitter.com/AndyAndrews
  • Instagram.com/AndyAndrewsAuthor
Direct download: ITL265.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 11:40am CDT

In this episode, we discuss the reason Andy wrote an article regarding the anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

 

We study history to learn from our mistakes.

  • It’s vital to see, as a country, what we did right so we can keep doing it—and what we did wrong so we can avoid it.
  • It’s important to teach U.S. History to avoid an undercurrent of misinformation going throughout the country.
  • Imagine the paths people would go down if they were learning from a lie, rather than learning from the truth.

 

Most of our high schools have coaches teaching U.S. History.

  • Many students across America are taught by someone without a degree or certification to teach U.S. History.
  • A lot of high schools task the coach with teaching history.
  • American History may be the next subject to go in our schools.

 

 

Tune in to hear more about Andy’s intriguing article on Pearl Harbor.

 

You can also hear more from Andy by subscribing to his new podcast, The Professional Noticer. Just go to AndyAndrews.com/podcast for details. 

Do you have a question for Andy? Call in and your questions might be features on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
  • Twitter.com/AndyAndrews
  • Instagram.com/AndyAndrewsAuthor

 

 

Direct download: ITL264.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 1:48pm CDT

This week, I answer a listener’s question on what they should say to their nephew who has been in prison for a decade. Most people in prison think so much about getting out, they don’t know what to do when they finally are. • This leads to a huge amount of people who end up back in prison. • You can help them plan how they will achieve the life they want. • Let them know the opportunity they have to plan now, before they come back into society. Offer to be their life coach. • Let them know you’re willing to help, but they have to want to improve. • They designed their life in a way that made them end up in prison, so they need guidance. • Urge them to change their mindset and send them impactful books to read. Let them know many people have successfully traveled the path that lies before them. • Tell them you see great hope in their future. • Starting from ground zero isn’t easy, but it can be done. Tune in to hear the three books Andy recommends sending to someone in prison. 

 

You can also hear more from Andy by subscribing to his new podcast, The Professional Noticer. Just go to AndyAndrews.com/podcast for details. 

Do you have a question for Andy? Call in and your questions might be features on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
  • Twitter.com/AndyAndrews
  • Instagram.com/AndyAndrewsAuthor
Direct download: ITL263_What_to_Say_to_Someone_Whos_in_Prison_.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 10:05am CDT

In this episode, I answer a listener’s question on working with people on tenure who no longer do a good job. For the future of our country, we have to convince people there’s no free lunch. • Imagine if everyone had a checkmark beside their name so they couldn’t be fired—regardless of their performance. • Some people feel like they shouldn’t have to prove themselves year in and year out, but that’s what everyone else has to do. • While job security and comfort are nice, pressure is where we do our best. Focus on becoming friends with these coworkers so you have a chance to have an impact on their life. • There are two things that make people change: what’s in it for them and proof beyond a reasonable doubt. • Figure out what they want out of life by having conversations with them. • Once you know what they want, recommend resources that can help them see proof that getting where they want to be requires change. Tune in to hear about a crazy conversation Andy had about tenure with someone in the airport. 

 

You can also hear more from Andy by subscribing to his new podcast, The Professional Noticer. Just go to AndyAndrews.com/podcast for details. 

Do you have a question for Andy? Call in and your questions might be features on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
  • Twitter.com/AndyAndrews
  • Instagram.com/AndyAndrewsAuthor
Direct download: ITL262.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 12:50pm CDT

In this episode, our special guest, Cindy Monroe, reveals the secrets behind her massive entrepreneurial success. Cindy came up with her idea 13 years ago in Hixson, TN. • She saw boutiques popping up all over her town, but noticed they all closed at 6pm—right when women got off work. • She decided to create 31 Gifts, a direct sales company that sells handbags, jewelry, and other gifts for women. She grew her company and built raving fans by communicating her core values. • She wanted to help her family and other families achieve financial freedom. • 31 Gifts helps reverse the effect of the confidence crisis most women experience by showing them their true worth and value. • Cindy gives her sales consultants 25% or greater commission to help their families achieve financial freedom. • Her company takes giving seriously and donates hundreds of millions of dollars to charitable organizations. Cindy did all of this while having a family. • She focused on faith, family, and 31 Gifts—she said no to anything else that fell outside of those 3 buckets. • She communicated her expectations so everyone was on the same page. • Everything and everyone she worked with went on her calendar so everyone knew they were important. Tune in to hear Cindy’s advice for struggling entrepreneurs and click here to check out Thirty One Gifts. 

 

You can also hear more from Andy by subscribing to his new podcast, The Professional Noticer. Just go to AndyAndrews.com/podcast for details. 

Do you have a question for Andy? Call in and your questions might be features on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
  • Twitter.com/AndyAndrews
  • Instagram.com/AndyAndrewsAuthor
Direct download: ITL261.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 2:25pm CDT

In this episode, we discuss the best way to deal with people who are bitter. It’s important to understand the difference between a choice and a mistake. • A mistake is something like turning right at a stop sign when you were supposed to turn left, causing you to arrive late to a meeting. You can apologize for this. • A choice is something that was deliberately done, knowing it was wrong. You can’t apologize for this—you can only ask for forgiveness. After doing all you can do, the best way to deal with a bitter person is to ignore or avoid them. • If you humble yourself and express remorse when asking for forgiveness, you’ve really done all you can do. • We can only control ourselves (how we react to bitterness and how we forgive others). If you are the person holding the grudge, being bitter will only hurt you. • People can sense bitterness in others. • Holding a grudge makes you less effective in business. • If you don’t learn to forgive, your bitterness will last forever. Tune in to hear how Andy’s book, The Heart Mender, restored the relationship between a father and son who were estranged for 11 years. 

 

You can also hear more from Andy by subscribing to his new podcast, The Professional Noticer. Just go to AndyAndrews.com/podcast for details. 

Do you have a question for Andy? Call in and your questions might be features on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
  • Twitter.com/AndyAndrews
  • Instagram.com/AndyAndrewsAuthor
Direct download: ITL260_How_to_Deal_with_People_Who_Hold_Grudges_.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 2:33pm CDT

In this episode, I give advice to a listener who has a business meeting with a big-time buyer. Most people approach this situation by preparing to talk about themselves or their product. • Whoever you are meeting with already knows a lot about you or your product—otherwise you wouldn’t be meeting with them in the first place. • The person you are meeting with likely has 10 other meetings with people like you every week. People say yes to their friends. • You need to prepare for big meetings by looking for places you can connect with the person you are meeting. • Prepare by spending some time looking them up on Facebook or LinkedIn. • You want to show how you can provide them with value. Tune in to hear how Andy found 3 pages of information on someone his friend was meeting with in 24 minutes. 

 

You can also hear more from Andy by subscribing to his new podcast, The Professional Noticer. Just go to AndyAndrews.com/podcast for details. 

Do you have a question for Andy? Call in and your questions might be features on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
  • Twitter.com/AndyAndrews
  • Instagram.com/AndyAndrewsAuthor
Direct download: ITL259_How_to_Prepare_for_the_Biggest_Meeting_of_Your_Life_.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 9:16am CDT

In this episode, we discuss when to challenge conventional wisdom and why it’s not always correct.

 

Be careful believing something just because it’s said a lot.

  • There is never really a time where you don’t want to challenge conventional wisdom, especially if it has been around a long time.

 

There are several examples of conventional wisdom being incorrect.

  • A popular belief is that someone will forget what you said and did, but will never forget how you made them feel. This isn’t true—people WILL remember because it was your actions that caused them to feel that way.
  • An influential figure in academia said the #1 thing a teacher needs to do is have passion for their subject and convey that passion to their students. This also isn’t true—is it not more important for them to be teaching correct information?
  • A Miss America winner once spoke on a presidential election by saying the candidates should be focused on compromise. The problem is, you can only compromise on opinions—you can’t compromise on principles or facts.

 

Tune in to hear breaking news about Andy’s latest project. 

 

You can also hear more from Andy by subscribing to his new podcast, The Professional Noticer. Just go to AndyAndrews.com/podcast for details. 

Do you have a question for Andy? Call in and your questions might be features on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
  • Twitter.com/AndyAndrews
  • Instagram.com/AndyAndrewsAuthor

 

Direct download: ITL258_How_to_Know_When_to_Challenge_Conventional_Wisdom.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 1:30pm CDT

On this week's episode, we discuss how to ask for a raise the right way and whether you should use another job opportunity as leverage. Most people ask for a raise because they’ve been at the company for a long time. • This isn’t why you want to ask—it can make everyone uncomfortable. If you plan on using another job opportunity as leverage, you need to decide if it’s a real or potential opportunity—there is a huge difference. • Using a potential job offer as leverage has a lot of “pot holes” that come with it, because it’s not yet an actual opportunity. • You need to be careful not to make your employer feel backed into a corner. The best way to ask for a raise is to ask how you can increase your value as an employee. • Let your employer know why you want a raise (like because you want to increase opportunities for your family), but keep that part short. • You can never go wrong by showing gratitude to your employer during this process. • If your employer tells you there is no way to increase your value in the company, you should probably look closer at the other opportunity. Tune in to hear exactly how Andy would go about starting the often-intimidating conversation of asking for a raise. Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show! • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY • E-Mail: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews • Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

Direct download: ITL257_How_to_Ask_for_a_Raise_the_Right_Way.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 11:10am CDT

On this week’s episode, we discuss how to overcome obstacles, make your own history, and leave behind a legacy of your own choosing. George Washington Carver accomplished an unbelievable amount during his lifetime—while living in one of the hardest times in history for African-Americans. • He discovered 266 uses for the peanut that we still use today, even though he was born into slavery. • Congress asked him to appear before them to discuss his work with peanuts—which was unheard of for an African-American during that time. • He did everything in his life on purpose and with intention (which is one reason he accomplished so much). Tune in to hear how a shirt Andy was wearing started this conversation on making the history you want to be remembered for. Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show! • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY • E-Mail: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews • Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

Direct download: ITL256_.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 12:47pm CDT

On this week’s episode, we discuss how to vote even when you don’t like either of the candidates.

 

This election is not about who you will see on TV—it’s about the Supreme Court.

  • The next president, without a doubt, will choose at least 2 (if not 5) Supreme Court Justices because of the ages of these people.
  • How do you feel about abortion or guns? Your stance should decide how you vote.
  • It doesn’t really matter what the candidates say about immigration or taxes because they can’t do that much without the consent of the governed

 

Voting for the “lesser of two evils” or not voting at all are both bad options.

  • If you use either of these two as excuses, all you’re telling me is you haven’t really thought this through.
  • Everyone has lied and done things they regret, but it doesn’t mean they are evil.
  • Each candidate could lie, but you have to look at who they are surrounding themselves with and make a choice.

 

Regardless what side you are on, we all really want the same things.

  • We all want the best, but without the truth, we will never have it. Our search should be more for the truth than the best.
  • Sometimes the truth hurts, but it’s still the truth.

 

Tune in to hear the reasons why Andy believes everyone MUST vote.

 

Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • E-Mail: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
  • Twitter.com/AndyAndrews
Direct download: ITL255.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 12:10pm CDT

 

On this week’s episode, we discuss the proper way to deal with employees who bad-mouth a client and why it’s so important to do it quickly.

 

SO much time and money is lost by people who are too patient with bad apples.

  • Bad apples don’t become good just because they rub up against good ones—just the opposite is true.
  • The client (or customer) is the #1 priority—there is no excuse for employees who complain about, are annoyed with, or bad-mouth them.
  • If it were me, I’d get rid of the bad apples as fast as possible, because this is a nonnegotiable.

 

You can use these bad apples as a teaching moment for the rest of your team.

  • You can never show enough gratefulness to your client.
  • I would get everyone together and say, “You may have noticed we are down two people, and here’s why…”
  • If you are in a service-oriented industry, bad apples can be the death of you.

  

Tune in to hear exactly how Andy says he would handle a situation where 2 employees bad-mouthed a client.

 

Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • E-Mail: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • com/AndyAndrews
  • com/AndyAndrews

On this week's episode, I discuss the importance of the type of things we "feed" our mind.

 

What we listen to and watch could potentially be damaging.

  • If something is going to be in your mind anyway, why not choose what goes in?
  • Some people don't want to learn—they just want to know what they already know.

 

If life was a stream, you could go upstream, downstream, or tread water.

  • If you aren't going upstream, you actually are going downstream (whether you are aware of it or not).
  • We want to be the kind of people that other people can learn from, but we can only be that if we are in a state of learning.
  • People who have influence have something other people want.

 

Tune in to hear how a friend of Andy's started controlling what goes into her mind and the impact it has had on her.
Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • E-Mail: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
  • Twitter.com/AndyAndrews
Direct download: ITL253__Are_You_Damaging_Your_Mind_Daily_Without_Even_Knowing_It_.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 12:11pm CDT

On this week’s episode, I answer a listener question on how to be successful in sales situations.

 

I want to go to ground-zero with you.

  • If you’re in sales, you have been told by your sales manager that if you build a relationship, you will make a sale.
  • You know it’s true, but you should ask yourself why it’s true.
  • If you build a relationship with someone and they become your best friend, not only are they never going to do business with anybody else, they’re going to talk about you in glowing terms and bulldoze people in your path.

 

Customer satisfaction is a great concept, but I’m always blown away by companies that build their entire advertising campaigns on this.

  • The truth is that customer satisfaction is the lowest bar that you can possibly hit and stay in business.
  • What you want is a raving fan.
  • Raving fans do not happen because of price and product.
  • They happen because there is a relationship.

 

Whatever industry you’re in, the real product is you.

  • It is important to get your eyes off yourself and become someone that others want to be around.
  • People want to talk about themselves and they’re dying for somebody who will listen.

 

Questions for Andy

Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
  • Twitter.com/AndyAndrews
Direct download: ITL252_The_Secret_to_Success_in_Sales_.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 12:08pm CDT

On this week’s episode, a long time listener asks for my thoughts on giving kids an allowance. It is VERY important to give your children a great foundation in finances. • Most people that I see (but not everyone) give their kids a regular allowance because they are a kid and that’s just what kids get. • Some people say that an allowance is for doing chores, but my thought is that my kids are going to do chores because they get to live here. That’s just part of being a member of the family. What did parents of “The Greatest Generation” do to get their children to sacrifice, produce, and become more? • By what standards did they raise an entire generation of kids, that 70 years later we still look back and say, “That’s the best we ever were”? • “The Greatest Generation” had to get up before daylight and go milk the cows, feed the animals, or deliver papers, because families struggled to make ends meet. • Kids back then earned their way into adulthood and what they saw in adults was something they wanted to grow into. You’re not trying to raise great kids; you’re trying to raise kids who become great adults. • We all know people who had great kids, but then they turned 18 and something happened. • Now, there is a society of people who aspire to go backwards and become kids again, rather than aspire to become adults. Tune in to hear the impactful story of Ty, the son of Joe Bullard (the owner of Joe Bullard Automotive), and how he worked his way up in his family’s business the hard way. Questions for Andy Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show! Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com com/AndyAndrews Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

Direct download: ITL251_The_Importance_of_a_Strong_Financial_Foundation.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 12:23pm CDT

On this week’s episode, I answer a listener question regarding the infamous dead-end job and whether or not it is worth it to take a pay cut for a “white-collar” job.

 

Times have changed, but people are still stuck in the old way of thinking.

  • Decades of old thinking has made people think they are worth way less than they actually are.
  • People still aspire to have a college education and a desk job, even if it doesn’t turn out to be as profitable as other alternatives.
  • If money wasn’t an object, what would you get up and do every day? Work a job that aligns with your answer to that question.

 

There is no such thing as a dead-end job.

  • There are so many options and choices out there for you to do if you simply give value to other people.
  • Look at that awesome passion that you love doing and think about what kind of value you can bring to other people with it.
  • When you start creating value for others with your passion, there will be so much demand that you will have to start charging for it.

 

Tune in to hear how a “blue-collar” worker went against the grain and ended up owning Tucker ATV, the dealership where Andy got his Polaris Ranger Crew.

 

Questions for Andy

Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • com/AndyAndrews
  • com/AndyAndrews
Direct download: ITL250_The_Secret_to_Never_Feeling_Stuck_at_Your_Current_Job.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 5:00am CDT

On this week’s episode, a recently retired teacher and principal asks what to do when you’ve lost your purpose. She spends time with her kids and grandchildren, but after 45 years in education no longer feels needed.

 

By understanding the butterfly effect, you could make a case that an afternoon with a grandchild could make as much difference long-term as an hour with a stadium full of people.

  • Time spent with a grandchild is precious—not just for them, but for all of us.
  • You are shaping the world we all live in.

 

Create some kind of ministry or business based on passing along the wisdom you’ve accrued.

  • You may find you have much more purpose now because you’re at a point where you have the experience to lay things out.
  • As you lay out what you think people ought to do, fully explain why that is so. Prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.
  • So many people forget that some of the greatest businesses and ministries took years and years of preparations before they could make an impact.

 

If there was no more purpose for you to be here, you wouldn’t be breathing.

  • You may not know what your purpose is right now, but you need to look very closely at your circumstances and get to work going after it.
  • The very fact you’re still here tells me you have not fulfilled your purpose—the most important part of your life is still ahead of you.

 

Tune in to hear Andy’s best advice for harnessing the hard-earned knowledge you’ve won and getting it out to the most people possible.

 

Questions for Andy

Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
  • Twitter.com/AndyAndrews
Direct download: ITL249_What_to_Do_When_You_Feel_Purposeless.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 7:45am CDT

On this week’s episode, I answer two questions in response to our previous episode, which discussed utilizing attention deficit disorder as an asset.

 

If you like yourself, and so do others, then what’s the difference between ADD and a God-given personality with strengths and weaknesses? Not much.

  • Learn to be positive with how you are. We all have our strengths and weaknesses.
  • You may think Seabiscuit was the greatest horse of all time, but he would be horrible if you needed him to plow your field.

 

 

Try to catch your kid in the act of doing something right.

  • I’ve had teachers and others say, “You need to be more like this,” or “You need to work on this.”
  • If you wanted to pick out all the things your child doesn’t do like everyone else, you could talk to them about it all day long and destroy their belief in themselves in the process.
  • Just because someone operates on a little different plane, it does not make them inferior.
  • I think it’s very important to make a distinction with teenagers that being different is not a bad thing—in fact, it is desirable.

 

Tune in to hear about my trip with Adam to the doctor, and how Henry Ford declared his competence in court.

 

Questions for Andy

Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
  • Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

On this week’s episode, I answer a listener question on reigniting your passion when obligation gets in the way.

 

We’ve all been in a situation where we were doing something we thought we were passionate about, but the results are not what we think they ought to be.

  • When I feel like I’m doing something out of obligation, I first ask myself, “Who am I obligated to?”
  • If the passion is not there enough to carry the activity in and of itself, I think of the people relying on me for something and remind myself of their value.
  • Are they valuable to our country? Their families?
  • Would I be willing to honor my family, or God, by helping someone else I don’t even know?
  • Because I’m not doing it for them specifically. I’m doing it because I’ve been given the ability to do it.

 

To not use your gift in ways that can help other people is dishonoring.

  • I can talk to myself and give myself a great opportunity to look beyond myself, the income, and even the people I’m trying to help.
  • It’s important to realize you’re working for something bigger and longer-term.

 

Tune in to hear the bottom-line answer for hanging in there when the passion seems to be gone.

 

Questions for Andy

Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
  • Twitter.com/AndyAndrews
Direct download: ITL247.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 11:06am CDT

On this week’s episode, I answer listener questions on how to encourage and teach protection to a church congregation, and the top three things that influenced my life.

 

People tend to think, “Trouble’s not going to happen here or happen with me.”

  • Unfortunately, sometimes church people say, “I’m not worried, God is taking care of us.” Well, God gave you a brain, too.
  • You might have heard the old story about the guy on his roof during a flood. A boat came to save him and he said, “Nope, I’m fine. God will save me.” Then he declined another boat and eventually a helicopter. After he drowned and went to Heaven, he asked God what happened. God said, “I sent you two boats and a helicopter, what more do you want?”
  • We have to use some common sense, here. Ask questions that will allow people to explore the truth.

 

The list of the top things that have influenced my life is very fluid.

  • It’s often according to what’s going on in my life at any given time.
  • My relationship with God, many books, and many important people have been the sandpaper that has shaped my life.

 

Tune in to this week’s episode to hear about all the famous folks Andy has consulted with in just the last three weeks, including the second man to set foot on the moon!

 

Questions for Andy

Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
  • Twitter.com/AndyAndrews
Direct download: ITL246.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 1:06pm CDT

On this week’s episode, I answer two listener questions on how to lead a more balanced life, and what to do if you don’t believe in yourself.

 

We feel more balanced in life when we’re learning and moving forward in what we’re becoming.

  • I learned dramatically more and gained more wisdom when I started looking for something and reading with a highlighter in my hand.
  • The primary reason for reading with a highlighter is to find something worth highlighting.
  • When you’re actively looking for something, you read in a totally different manner.

 

A lot of people get into a situation where they don’t believe in themselves because they’re operating way outside of their purpose.

  • If you don’t see any purpose in what you’re doing, write down a list of both the aggravations and the benefits of doing it.
  • You need to look at where you are and what you’re doing.
  • If you can’t figure out any benefits or can’t picture those benefits guiding you to your purpose, you need to shift gears and allow your passions to give you a clue.

 

Stop just listening to yourself and start actively talking to yourself.

  • If you can’t remember the last time you wholeheartedly believed in yourself, you’ve begun to see yourself in the light the world would have you see yourself—average, ordinary, just one of the masses.
  • Really talk to yourself and you’ll be listening to what you are purposefully saying.

 

Tune in to be reminded of a simple gesture rarely used these days that will show friends and family just how important they are to you and so many other people.

 

Questions for Andy

 

Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
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Direct download: ITL245_What_to_Do_When_You_Dont_Believe_in_Yourself.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 1:06pm CDT

On this week’s episode, I answer a listener question on how to deal with resentment from a husband.

 

A struggling marriage overrides the good things that have happened.

  • It affects the income, work and family relationships, and the household the kids are growing up in.
  • You’ve heard of “fight or flight”—well, guys get into fights over feeling disrespected.
  • When a man is disrespected, his first instinct is to want to hit something. So when dealing with his wife, flight is the only answer to him and he withdraws.

 

You may have heard of the M1 tank.

  • It can literally be going 60 mph over crazy terrain and put a shell in somebody’s pocket 3 miles away.
  • This thing has been created to withstand missile strikes, but if anyone gets inside it, you can destroy it with a hammer and screwdriver.
  • Your husband is an M1 tank, and disrespect from the woman who has his heart is like swinging a hammer around inside him.
  • If you want to make things better than they ever were, you’re going to need to ask for forgiveness. I’m sure there are also things he needs to ask forgiveness for, but you can only control your own actions.

 

Tune in to learn what Andy believes is by far the best book on marriage relationships that’s ever been written—one he urges every married couple, struggling or not, to read.

 

Questions for Andy

 

Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
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On this week’s episode, learn why honoring your current job (even if you’re planning to leave) can create a wave of opportunity.

 

What you’re aiming at determines your destination.

  • I would be careful in how you express what you’re doing in your own mind.
  • As an entrepreneur and someone who wants to do more, there’s some stuff that we have to leave behind.
  • Leaving behind a job so you can build your own business doesn’t mean you should denigrate the job.

 

It’s important to be very sensitive as you move from one level to another.

  • When you leave your job, you want them to cry and give you a party because you’ve been the greatest employee they’ve ever had.
  • If you’re not careful, talking down on a job will catch up with you in other parts of your life.
  • Moving on with honor will pay dividends in the future.

 

Questions for Andy

 

Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
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ITL242: The Trick to Preparing Your Kid for Entrepreneurial Greatness

On this week’s episode, I talk about how you can help your children learn how to treat people with respect-—which will serve them well when they get into the business world.

 

If you want change to occur in your child or your world in general, two things have to happen:

  • Answer for them the question of “What’s in it for me?” and prove what’s in it for them beyond a reasonable doubt.
  • You want to connect with your child and have them explain what they want.

 

If your child has an entrepreneurial mindset, explain that they have an opportunity at a young age to learn to deal with people in a “practice game.”

  • What happens if you start a business and are always getting angry at your employees?
  • If you wait to learn how to deal with difficult people until you try to start a business, you’ll probably go out of business before you figure it out.
  • If you go into the game already knowing how to play it, you’re going to get much better results.

 

Tune in to learn the personality type I think is best, and why I had to make a change early in my career to keep people from feeling uncomfortable.

 

Questions for Andy

 

Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
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Direct download: ITL242.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 2:36pm CDT

On this week’s episode, I’m answering a listener question on how I stay focused at accomplishing tasks while dealing with Attention Deficit Disorder.

 

There are so many people who move slowly, and when they see somebody that’s energetic, they think something is wrong with them.

  • It’s crazy how many famous people, inventors, and leaders have ADD.
  • I think ADD is a benefit for entertainers or speakers because it makes you act faster.
  • Adults with ADD have generally learned how to deal with it and learned its benefits. But when it comes to children, I would be very careful with anyone saying something is “wrong” with them.

 

I have to make a choice just like everyone else does, but I make it from a different side.

  • A lot of people are prone to do nothing.
  • They have to discipline themselves to turn the TV off and go write, make phone calls, or work on something that will make their life better.
  • Everyone struggles with making themselves do what they want to do right off the bat.
  • A benefit of ADD is that, because you’re thinking in a bunch of different directions, you connect dots and make sense of some things that will help other people.

 

Tune in this week to hear an amazing example of Andy’s son Adam connecting the dots to create a logical story of how “noodling” got started.

 

Questions for Andy

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Direct download: ITL241__How_to_Turn_ADD_into_an_Asset_and_Get_Stuff_Done.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 4:40pm CDT

On this week’s episode, I’m answering a listener question on the value I found from reading the same book, three times a day, for 10 months.

 

Somebody got Robert Smith started on the book The Greatest Salesman in the World in high school or early college.

  • The story is about a wealthy person and a young boy who heard he was the greatest salesman in the world. The boy went to the man and asked how he could be like him.
  • The man gave him 10 scrolls and instructs him to read each scroll three times a day for a month, then move on to the next one.
  • Robert did the 10 months, and then did it again.
  • He told me how huge of a difference it made, and said he would do the ten months again with me.

 

If you’ve read The Traveler’s Gift, then you know the inspiration for the form of that book.

  • Jones was the old man that got me reading the biographies and that’s how I found those Seven Decisions.
  • When I presented them in story form using the David Ponder character, I wrote about the same kind of process where he was instructed to read these things.

 

I have gone through that book and done the 10 months four times.

  • A lot of people ask, “Why do you have to do it again?”
  • If you’ve read something multiple times, at some point you go, “Wow! Okay. I understand that now.”
  • I heard someone say the reason you read a book again is because if you put a couple years in between readings, you are a different person. You’re reading and understanding it from a different perspective and you can gain more.
  • Obviously this is over the top, but it’s only a couple pages that you’re reading. It really shaped me.

 

Tune in to hear Andy reading the fifth scroll from The Greatest Salesman in the World.

 

Questions for Andy

 

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  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
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Direct download: ITL240_Commit_to_the_Extraordinary_System_I_Did_and_Get_Turbo-Charged.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 11:58am CDT

On this week’s episode, I’m answering a listener question on how to ask exceptional questions to facilitate great conversations.

 

If you can figure out how other people make subconscious choices, you will stand out.

  • You are competing.
  • I don’t care if you have an hourly job—you’re an entrepreneur.
  • If you don’t think you’re an entrepreneur, then you’re closer to getting fired than you should be.
  • The competition that really makes a difference is not the obvious kind that’s sitting right in front of you.

 

Most people are only concerned with how to tell people something, but communication is a two-way street.

  • Ask questions that really pertain to the person you’re talking to.
  • Find a way to edify and encourage.
  • Somebody who is a great communicator and question-asker is more valuable.

 

Chart your path.

  • Write down three or four questions whose answers you likely know already and prepare a response that will immediately connect the answers with somebody you know.
  • For instance, ask someone where they’re from and have something to say about the answer.
  • Read about the different states and find out what the most visited places are, what the big football teams are, the biggest problems, myths, etc.
  • It’s not faking it if you’re learning and getting better.

 

Tune in to hear a surprise interruption from one of the young Andrews boys, which offers up a good example of how they speak to their father.

Questions for Andy

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  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
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Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

Direct download: ITL239.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 5:23pm CDT

On this week’s episode, I answer a listener’s question on how to determine when, how, and how often to use your “best story.”

 

We all hear, “Your worst times can become your best times.”

  • Your worst times really can write the ticket for the rest of your life.
  • My worst time is something I never would have chosen in a million years, and yet it was the time that the rest of my life—and my best story—was really built upon.
  • Picking your best story has a lot to do with relatability, which is key for me when telling my story of living under a pier.
  • I’m trying to use my story to help people understand that even though it might look like the world is ending for them, it’s not true.

 

Your best story may not come about because of anything you’ve ever chosen or done.

  • However, it may be the doorway to a mine you can dig things out of that are relatable and valuable to other people.
  • So many of the topics I’ve talked about in my books and speeches have come from a single event in my life.
  • Lessons of persistence, humility, seeking wisdom, how to act, how to take action, entrepreneurship, and so much more came from the mine that is my best story.

 

Tune in to hear how an old boss’s mistake almost got me thrown in jail—and how that mistake did and did not affect both our lives for the next quarter-century.

 

Questions for Andy

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  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
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Direct download: ITL238_This_Is_the_Key_to_Getting_People_to_Listen_to_You_.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 10:45am CDT

On this week’s episode, I’m addressing a listener question on how you can become impervious to insult and keep the attention of your audience.

 

I realized by watching other comedians that some would have more problems with hecklers than others.

  • Generally, hecklers keyed in on the performers who had a more arrogant attitude or a pushy demeanor. I’m not saying they were that way, but that was the perception of the audience.
  • They were also more likely to put out a vibe where people wanted to challenge them.
  • I decided that I wanted to be friends with the audience.

 

There are things in your profession that you will always have to deal with.

  • The same rules of comedy apply to great teaching, for instance.
  • Keep a list of things that could occur during your presentation and decide in advance what you’d say if they happened.
  • Take a good, close look at how you present. What do you do physically?
  • Moving unexpectedly to a different area of the room will grab listeners’ attention.

 

Tune in to hear Andy’s secret for handling a situation where someone is nodding off or focusing on something else, and find out how he gets their attention and keeps them from being a distraction.

 

Questions for Andy

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  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
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Direct download: ITL237_You_CAN_Command_an_Audience_Dont_Try_to_Beat_Em_Join_Em.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 10:31am CDT

On this week’s episode, I’m finishing the discussion of my career pivots and how I transitioned out of comedy into what I do today.

 

I was on a bus with Kenny Rogers and we were talking about how we had grown up and sharing times in our lives.

  • At some point I told him about the Seven Decisions, living under the pier, and Jones.
  • He said, “You ought to start talking about that on stage,” and I’m like, “Where on stage? It’s not funny.”
  • He told me I wasn’t a joke teller but a talker and a storyteller.
  • I starting throwing it in and transitioning back into comedy, but people were telling me that the serious part was their favorite part.

 

I realized more people asked me to speak on serious topics than were asking for the comedy.

  • This odd thing developed where I was funny, but it had a point.
  • I realized that God has used all these crazy things in my life to make me into a very different kind of speaker.
  • As I transitioned into speaking, I put together the Storms of Perfection books.
  • Then The Traveler’s Gift came along and I started writing the story that was born from living under the pier, and that developed into being more of an author.
  • The writing forced me to think.
  • To sit there and think, read through something, take notes, and ponder is not too hard, but people think it is and they choose not to do it.

 

Tune in to hear about the process of “getting to the bottom of the pool” and how that’s forcing me to learn new ways of explaining the topics in the next book I’m writing.

 

Questions for Andy

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Direct download: ITL236_The_Wild_Story_of_My_Career-_How_I_Became_a_Speaker_pt._3_of_3.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 8:57am CDT

On this week’s episode, I’m continuing to talk about the events that have shaped my career and how I learned to be willing and ready to pivot.

 

I wasn’t clear on my direction when I started—I had no clue this was in the cards for me.

  • I was willing to endure some things I thought were useless or miserable and look for what I could learn from them.
  • There are things that happened to me 40 years ago that I can now use as stories to help other people.

 

I never thought that living under the pier would be anything good. I was just trying to endure and get out of there.

  • Normally, people don’t want to be under pressure. But I can show you evidence over and over that peoples’ best work happens under pressure.
  • The proper perspective trumps almost everything.

 

I was able to tour with Joan Rivers for two years.

  • Opening acts normally don’t get paid much anywhere—but the huge benefit is the exposure.
  • I learned how to treat an opening act from Joan.
  • Joan’s manager also managed Cher. So I got the opportunity to work with her as well.

  

Tune in to hear about:

  • My experience touring with Joan and the extreme generosity she showed me.
  • The night Howard Stern watched me perform.

 

Questions for Andy

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  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
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Direct download: ITL235_vF.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 1:24pm CDT

On this week’s episode, I’m talking about how I got started in comedy and some of the events that have shaped my career in the first of a three-part series.

 

Tune in to hear about:

  • My first public performance in a Pizza Hut
  • Opening for Muse as my first paid performance, and why they asked me not to come back
  • How working on a cruise ship caused me to pivot my career, but taught me to perform at my best no matter what my job was

 

Questions for Andy

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  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
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Direct download: ITL234__The_Wild_Story_of_My_Career__Humble_Beginnings_Pt._1_of_3.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 12:04pm CDT

On this week’s episode, I’m discussing why everyone should think of themselves as an entrepreneur.

 

We tend to live our lives and make our decisions on the surface, where we can see what everybody is doing.

  • Knowing “why” will get you to what I call “the bottom of the pool.”
  • People only ask why when things go wrong. Nobody ever asks why when something is working.
  • You can live your life as it is, accepting the slop on your plate, or you can eat that slop on your plate thinking in couple weeks you’ll be eating chicken, a month from now eating steak, and a year from now nothing but lobster.

 

People who are entrepreneurs seem to have more hope for a life they can control.

  • They are creating a situation and value.
  • They have a longer lasting, more controllable level of hope than people who think of themselves as, “I have a job.”
  • I don’t believe we’ve been created with some of us having the lucky lottery ticket in life that gives us a better imagination or allows us to be able to get up earlier.
  • People can do what they want. They may refuse to believe that, but again, they’re choosing how they think.
  • If you can think of yourself as an entrepreneur, it allows for greater hope and a better awareness of the control you already have.

 

Tune in to hear how to think of yourself as an entrepreneur and add so much value to a company that you’ll be indispensable—indeed the first to get a promotion and the last to be laid off!

Questions for Andy

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  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
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Direct download: ITL233_How_to_Be_the_First_One_Promoted_and_the_Last_One_Laid_Off.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 10:30am CDT

ITL232: HATE Sales? You Can Still Use Sales Principles for a HUGE Life Boost

 On this week’s episode, I’m discussing why we are all in sales—even if you don’t consider yourself to be in a traditional sales position.

 

I am absolutely convinced that anybody who would like to make a living outside of a regular job structure, can.

  • If they can manage to think of themselves as an entrepreneur, their lives will improve dramatically.
  • People can be much more effective in every part of their lives by thinking and learning those entrepreneurial principles and thought processes, because they are very different from the way normal people think.

 

We are all in sales.

  • We walk around every day wanting to sway somebody to our way of thinking.
  • If you’re a mom or dad, you’re not only in a sales position but in an advisory position for other sales people.
  • The essence of leadership is influence, and the essence of influence is agreement.
  • The principles of entrepreneurship are controllable in a way that your job never will be; they supersede whether you’ll have your own business and carry over into all facets of life.

 

Tune in to learn the ONLY two reasons people ever disagree, and to hear about the wife of a United States Justice who felt Andy let someone off the hook too easily.

 

Questions for Andy

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  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
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On this week’s episode, I’m talking about the importance of having a child start their own business and how it opens them up to communication as a teenager.

 

I had a conversation the other day with Joe Bullard and his son Ty who run an auto dealership “empire.”

  • Joe took over his dad’s Oldsmobile dealership, and now Ty has recently taken the reins.
  • I asked Ty what the smartest thing his dad ever did was, and he said it was taking a step back from City Council and other things so that he could spend time with his son.
  • It occurred to Joe as he looked long-term that the best thing he could do to continue to expand the business for generations was to invest time in the person who would likely take it over.

 

I have had a lot of parents of teenagers say, “My teen won’t talk to me,” and the typical response is, “Well, that’s just a teenager.”

  • One of the huge benefits of prompting Austin to have his own business was we put him in a position that he had to talk to us.
  • Since age 12, he knew we weren’t buying him a car, so when he asked “How do I get the money?” I told him there are three ways:
  • You can save the $5 and $10 you get for your birthday and in a couple years you’ll have around $400 and you can buy a $400 car.
  • You can get a job at age 14 and work minimum wage for 2 years.
  • You can start your own business by figuring out how to create value for other people, and the more obvious the value, the more business you will have.

 

Tune in to hear why this approach will make you your child’s go-to person for advice, and why this is the best time for them to struggle.

 

Questions for Andy

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  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
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Direct download: ITL231.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 12:40pm CDT

On this week’s episode, I talk about the importance of having a coach and how to increase your life results.

 

I think cool people have an innate desire to get better.

  • They want to learn more, increase their effectiveness, be worth more.
  • They’re ambitious and want to make more money for their families so there’s less stress and more that they can give.
  • They want to have influence so they can make their community better.

 

For a long time, people have wanted me to coach them personally.

  • I had to come to an understanding in myself that I know some things and have the ability to convey them in a way that could help people increase their life results.
  • I want you to be fired up when we get through talking, but I don’t want you to be fired up by some emotional thing that I put on you. I want it to be real.
  • The only reason you would be fired up for real is if you learned something that made a ton of sense to you.

 

Tune in to hear about a demonstration I do on stage with audience members that proves how coaching affects someone’s ability to complete a task.

 

Questions for Andy

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  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
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Direct download: ITL230.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 11:22am CDT

On this week’s episode, I finish up last week’s discussion on how to decide who to vote for in this year’s election.

 

When we vote, we generally vote based on two things:

  • Perceived integrity.
  • Economics

 

Integrity doesn’t really mean anything.

  • Integrity means “capable.”
  • What we should vote on is character.

 

People say, “I want a moral person,” but morality can be defined as simply not doing anything wrong.

  • You can lie in bed all day and be moral.
  • Your kid can come home from school and say, “Everyone was picking on John today, but I didn’t do it.”
  • It takes character to step up and say to those bullies, “You are not going to do this anymore.”

 

You can walk through a forest and tell what kind of trees are above you without having to look up.

  • The leaves on the ground can tell you the kind of tree, if it’s healthy, and what time of the year it is.
  • People drop leaves, too.

 

Tune in to hear the two ways your money can be taken from you, and why “third-party purchases” are less invested in quality and price.

 

Questions for Andy

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  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
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Direct download: ITL229.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 11:44am CDT

On this week’s episode, I answer a listener question on what people should be looking for in a presidential candidate.

 

Have you ever known something but later found out you were wrong?

  • Is it possible you know what’s best?
  • The best is the truth. Things can be true in a certain context, but not the whole truth.
  • When people find what is true to them, they stop searching and don’t go any farther.
  • You can know the truth and not accomplish the best, but you will never accomplish the best without the truth.

 

The only time most people ask ‘why’ is when things aren’t working.

  • When they get the answer, they don’t ask anymore.
  • Always keep asking ‘why’—about the things that are working as much as you ask ‘why’ about the things that are not.
  • Only a principle can provide a bottom line or the truth. Principles work every time, whether you know them or not.

 

A wise person knows when a compromise will be useful or foolish.

  • Wise compromises are made with opinions.
  • You get 100% of the value of the compromise.
  • When you compromise on a principle, you get zero value.

  

Tune in to hear Andy’s enlightening comparison between choosing a candidate and choosing from a menu at a restaurant, and learn why America is the most prosperous place on the planet.

 

Questions for Andy

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  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
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On this week’s episode, I answer a listener question on balancing between our work lives and family lives.

 

Sometimes to get a balance in your life, you have to fall out of balance a little bit.

  • You’re going to have to go over to the other side to get it balanced.
  • Don’t be afraid to move swiftly and make things happen quickly.
  • I see just as many families knocked out of balance by little league, basketball, and soccer as I do from Dad working.
  • Answer the question, “What do we want to happen?” Define what you’re after. What do we want it to look like?

 

When Austin was playing baseball, it was hard for all four of us to get together.

  • A lot of people would say, “Well, are we not going to let them play this? All their friends are playing. Everybody is playing.”
  • Let me remind you what your momma used to say. “You aren’t everybody.”
  • The end result of what everybody is doing can be a pretty average result.
  • If you think that allowing one child to play one sport is worth scattering your family to the edges of the earth for the majority of the year, you’re not doing anybody a favor.

 

When you figure out what you want to be, you can get clear on your priorities.

  • My family knows they are my priority.
  • Sometimes, for a week or so, the priority is to lock myself in a closet and write, but that is only a means to an end and not the end.
  • In almost every area of life, it’s the communication that is the key.
  • You can intentionally engage your time and energy to create who you are to your family and create what they remember.
  • Because you can create who you are, and because you can create how they remember, you are creating who they will become.

 

Tune in to hear examples of how we set expectations during family time and how you can clearly communicate when exceptions must be made.

Questions for Andy

Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
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Direct download: ITL226_Full.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 11:17am CDT

On this week’s episode, I answer a listener question on beating depression and making the choice to be happy instead.

 

I think a lot of people have been depressed, and a lot of time for good reason.

  • Even though something is very real, how we deal with it beyond medication is also very effective and real.
  • If you understand that you can make choices that will lead you down a path of disaster, you can also understand that choices can lead you to great places.
  • Choices come from your thinking, and you have been created with a will that is stronger than your emotions.

 

How you act has great bearing on how you feel.

  • If you don’t believe it, go sit in a chair by yourself, stare at a wall, let your back slump, take shallow breaths for an hour, and see how you feel.
  • There is one thing that I want to make sure my boys are good at before they leave home, and that is for them to understand they can choose how to act—despite how they feel.

 

Tune in to hear specific ways you can start making yourself feel better from the moment you wake up in the morning.

Questions for Andy

Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
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Direct download: ITL225_VBR.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 10:41am CDT

On this week’s episode, I answer a listener question on why we push people to succeed when failing is what leads to learning.

 

Success is your destination, but we should also create value from every part of the journey.

  • My smart-aleck answer is that you push people to succeed because you don’t want to push them to fail.
  • What we want to do is reach a destination defined by a successful conclusion to something.

 

However, there is value in getting lost along the way.

  • There is no weaker leader than someone who has only succeeded in certain things and has gotten to where they are relatively easily.
  • A strong version of leadership enables a person to say, “I know how you feel because this happened to me, and this is what came about because of that.”
  • The ultimate goal isn’t to focus on the failure but to make sense of it and gain proper perspective.

 

Most people travel through their lives along the path of least resistance.

  • There is a push for success that can make people fearful of any kind of failure.
  • A balanced approach is to let people know that anything worth doing is worth struggling to get better at.
  • In our culture, to struggle at something reveals weakness when it should be seen as honorable.

 

Tune in to learn the difference between how our culture and some Asian cultures approach struggle while learning in the classroom, and how struggle can really open up more paths in life.

 

Questions for Andy 

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Direct download: ITL224.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 2:20pm CDT

On this week’s episode, I answer a listener question on how I come to a decision when there are many different determining factors to consider.

 

There are three questions that I ask to determine major decisions.

  • Is this something that will be good for God?
  • It cannot be in God’s will for me to do if it’s not good for God.
  • Will this help people who are hurting?
  • My mission in life is to help people live the lives that they would if they only knew how to do so. People who are not living the life they would like to are hurting, frustrated and stressed.
  • Will my take on it be unique enough to make a difference for people?

 

Smart people can’t help but play a little chess when they are having a conversation or being asked for advice.

  • Most times when I’m seeking wisdom from a person, I don’t ask the question straight out. I ask around it.
  • I want to find out what they think about certain areas and give stories of their experience in ways they’ve used to make decisions like this.
  • Your bottom line is you are seeking wisdom.
  • Ultimately when you’re talking with other people, reading, or praying—you are seeking wisdom. And seeking wisdom is work.

  

In the full episode you’ll hear the very first teaser for Andy’s new book, the “most direct” book he says he’s ever written!

 

Questions for Andy

Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • com/AndyAndrews
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Direct download: ITL223_Make_Tough_Decisions_Simple_by_Answering_These_3_Questions.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 10:00am CDT

On this week’s episode, I answer a listener question on allowance, tithes, and savings.

 

You should become a person who studies parenting whether you have kids or not because it has to do with employee/employer relations, sales, and almost every form of society.

  • Parenting is the fulcrum that society tilts upon.
  • If we want our children to achieve great things as an adult, we must be responsible, calm, and able to provide an understanding of how things work.

 

We don’t give the boys money for anything.

  • They do chores and their reward is they get to live in our house. That is being part of the family.
  • We sometimes give them gifts, but if something is not taken care of, it’s not just about the money, it’s about what the money represents.

 

God commands us to give.

  • If we look at money as a blessing, giving the first of it is saying we trust there will be enough.
  • I have lived very close to the bone a number of years and I must say that when Polly and I started tithing, it was really at the insistence of Polly.
  • As I began to learn how to tithe properly, I realized we were never without.

 

Listen to the entire episode to hear about one of the proudest moments of Andy’s life.

 

Questions for Andy

Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
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Direct download: ITL222__Should_You_Give_Your_Children_an_Allowance_.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 11:04am CDT

On this week’s episode, I answer a listener question on how to create a life by design based on the talents and gifts you’re given.

 

This question has an obvious answer that I overlooked for a number of years.

  • Talents and skills are two different things. Josh Groban’s vocal gifts are a God-given talent. My ability to juggle is a skill I developed.
  • It’s important to know the difference. And before you polish your talents or hone your skills…

 

FIRST look at where you want to go, THEN work with the talents and skills that will get you there.

  • There’s not a single pathway you can take that will work like you want it to if you don’t know where you want to go in the first place!
  • Even when you know where you want to go, the pathway will never take you to that destination in a straight line.
  • We’re most effective when we’re flexible. Life’s pathways shift; you need to build muscle in different areas to prepare for those shifts.
  • Then work with some faith and your end result in mind; once you know where you’re going, get on it—time’s a-wastin’!

 

 Tune in to learn the insider details on how Andy’s longtime friend Dave Ramsey prepared his pathway to becoming the most trusted—and successful—voice on money in America.


Questions for Andy

Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
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Direct download: ITL221__How_to_Use_Your_Strengths_to_Design_a_Life_You_Love.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 11:55am CDT

On this week’s episode, I answer a listener question on finding the right fit when choosing a school for your kids.

 

The 7th and 8th grade years are critical

  • It’s when kids are really deciding what they believe and who they think is cool.
  • There is not a more critical time to create a great relationship with your child.
  • We homeschooled Austin in the 7th and 8th grade, and some people might say that homeschooling is not preparing someone for the real world.
  • If you met Austin now, you might think that he seems more mature than some of his peers.

 

The social aspects of high school seem to be incredibly important to parents who look back on high school as being the best time of their lives.

  • If everything was downhill from high school, you’re probably dying for your kid to go to every party and social event.
  • However, you’re in high school a very short time; the rest of your life should be more important and get better and better.
  • How do you want your kids socialized? Do you want them to adopt different standards?
  • We were able to take Austin places and have him meet people and see how life goes on—he was socialized with adults.
  • I will admit that at 16 years of age, he seems to be more comfortable in the company of adults.

 

Tune in to hear how Andy believes trust issues with teens are best eliminated, and more on how educational environments impact different kids in different ways, at different ages.

 

Questions for Andy

Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
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Direct download: ITL220__The_Case_for_Considering_Alternative_Schooling.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 10:30am CDT

On this week’s episode, we’re switching things up and discussing a few of the “Andy Hacks” I use to save time and money.

 

Tune in this week to hear about…

  • The correct way to peel a banana.
  • The story of cutting my own hair for the first time—and how and why I continue to do it for myself, the boys, and others.
  • How Austin and Adam figured out how to peel pears with a power drill.
  • How I created a pair of reading glasses when each eye has a different prescription.

 

We would love to hear some of your life hacks! Send them in an email to InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com.

 

Questions for Andy

Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
  • Twitter.com/AndyAndrews

On this week’s episode, I answer a listener question about dating and when it’s time to give your children “the talk.”

 

This week’s question is from a parent with two boys, so let me start by saying…

  • I don’t think there’s anything more important in relationship-building than to tell those two boys how brothers act.
  • Tell them your house is a laboratory they can use to become the kind of adults who can deal with all kinds of people after navigating through sibling disagreements.

 

There’s going to be plenty of time for boys to be wild-eyed about girls.

  • 5th grade is not the time to press the dating issue.
  • If your child has a friend of the opposite sex, don’t take them somewhere and tell them they are on a date.
  • In my opinion, you are forcing something into this child’s head before it’s time.

 

You always want to have an open dialogue with your kids.

  • I urge you to watch them closely, and watch the parents of your kids’ friends closely.
  • Ask questions.
  • Boys are much more comfortable talking while they’re doing something.
  • If you can go throw the ball around or walk around the neighborhood—boys talk about these things much easier side to side than face to face.
  • These activities give you a lot of time to talk, and you’ll be able to discern when the time is right to have “the talk.” The time is earlier rather than later.

 

Tune in to hear how Andy approached “the talk” with Austin, and how you can start influencing your kids’ decisions on finding the right partner for the future.

 

Questions for Andy

Would you like to run something by Andy? Contact us and your question might be featured on the show!

  • Phone: 1-800-726-ANDY
  • Email: InTheLoop@AndyAndrews.com
  • Facebook.com/AndyAndrews
  • Twitter.com/AndyAndrews
Direct download: ITL218__THE_TALK__Ideas_on_When_and_How_to_Have_It_with_Your_Kids.mp3
Category:Podcast -- posted at: 9:39am CDT