The Greyhound Bus Story: A Defining Moment In The Life Of A National Best-Selling Author

“Wouldn’t you pay $40 to change your life?”

The next passenger you meet may have just bought a ticket to a new life

Eighteen-year old Asha Tyson bought a Greyhound ticket in Detroit, Michigan, bound for the small town of Hancock, Michigan. She packed everything she owned in a few boxes and gave them to the GPX agent to ship ahead. Just out of high school, she clung to a colorful brochure describing a two-year college she’d never seen. Her mother was dying, her father’s whereabouts were unknown, and Tyson’s only support system was a stranger who found Tyson homeless. The woman found the teenager shelter in the basement of a church until barely graduating high school.

With $80 in her pocket and her one-way ticket, Tyson embarked on what would be the 15-hour trip of a lifetime. When she arrived at the school, her only plan was to beg the financial aid office to give her a chance to work hard and educate herself.

“I told the director that I didn’t have any money and that my grades were poor, but if they’d just give me a chance, I promised to do something with my life. I told them someone would have to help me, but I believed in myself,” said Tyson. “Amazingly, they were convinced to help me after only 20 minutes."

The college worked out a plan for Tyson to get grants and loans in time to start classes just one day after her arrival. They found college housing for her and enrolled her in a work-study program to earn money.

Two years later, Tyson graduated from the school and transferred to Northern Michigan University where she went on to earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree with honors by age 23. From there, she took jobs in higher education.

Now 33, Tyson looks on that anxious bus journey as one of the most significant events in her life. “It was just a bus ticket that cost about $40, but it saved my life. Greyhound sells opportunity for a whole new way of life. Who wouldn’t pay for that?”

Tyson turned that opportunity into a successful career as an author. Her national bestselling book, How I Retired at 26! helped her gain high acclaim as a speaker at events worldwide. When asked how she transitioned from educator to speaker, her story is just as remarkable.

“I didn’t want to stay in education so I tried my own small printing business for a while. It was one of those little carts in the middle of a mall. A friend came by one day and we walked to the bookstore where I saw the book Speak and Grow Rich by Dottie and Lily Waters. I read it cover to cover in one night and knew that’s what I was meant to do. I printed my own business cards the next day. I believe that when you are determined, angels will be in your path.”

The next day, a mall employee told her about the trouble his daughter’s school was having finding a speaker for its graduation ceremony. She told him she was a speaker and gave him one of her cards. When he left, she called the school and told them she was available.

“I went for an interview and told them my personal education story. They told me I could speak for 10 minutes. They paid me $100!” Tyson said. That event was the beginning of hundreds of opportunities that would follow.

“Every time I tell my story, I talk about Greyhound. I tell people that dreams are found when going Greyhound.” nnn