When I worked at my Dilbert Cube job, cutting my teeth as a newbie marketer, my wife’s friend Angela said, “Hey, Laura, wanna meet me at Starbucks?”

Laura said, “Ummm, Angela, I have, like, NO money. What. So. Ever.” Laura’s a proud farm girl, it was hard for her to say that.

1984 Tercel Wagon, voted “One of the top 10 ugliest cars” by Cars.com

Angela said, “I’ll buy.” Laura reluctantly let Angela purchase the latte.

At the time, I drove a a 1984 Toyota Tercel station wagon. It was burnt orange and it had a STANFORD UNIVERSITY sticker on the back window from the previous owner. I’d bought it for $1900.

Our other car was a $1200 1985 Honda Civic 4-door. Dark grey. Its engine had blown out a few months before. Laura had been driving solo just west of Des Moines Iowa in the middle of farm country with our 1-year-old daughter in the back seat when it started spewing white smoke.

At work I explained to my jeering co-workers my philosophy of buying cars: “Never spend more than a month’s income on a car.”

The Toyota station wagon had developed a radiator leak and I didn’t have the money to fix it. So I carried jugs of water around in the back and refilled the radiator every 100 miles.

One time at a trade show, our partners from Germany came to visit. At the end of the day I needed to give them a ride. We walked to my car and I opened the trunk for their luggage. Everyone saw the gallon jugs of water and antifreeze and chuckled because they instantly knew what they were for.

At dinner, the president of the German firm jabbed my boss Mike: “Don’t you pay Perry enough to live on?” Mike was EMBARRASSED by my “P.O.S.” car.

I wasn’t making a lot of money, but by most standards I WAS making enough money to drive a better car than that.

Why didn’t I spend more money on a car?

Cuz for the previous five years I’d spent every last dime on business education.

Some of that education was the business equivalent of daytime TV. Amway tapes and all the rest. But that was the priority I’d set and I always always always invested in myself ahead of “having stuff.”

Fast forward a few years, we were still living in our 2-bedroom bungalow. Me, Laura, four kids, a niece-turned-Nanny, two cats, a parakeet and several goldfish. I was investing something like $45,000 per year in education. Easily three times my house payment. Except by now it was the Ivy League of the guerrilla marketing world.

My car then was a 1994 Geo Prizm. It wasn’t rusty or beat up, but it had cost $3000 and it was paid off long ago. I still drove that when some months I might reel in over $100K.

I drove it until 2006, when I wrecked it. Bought a much better car for $9K.

Eccentric?

You bet.

But it’s how I teach people to buy any commodity item. Especially things like Google clicks.

Solomon said, “Build your barn before you build your house.”

While you’re at it, build your business Ferrari before you buy your transportation Ferrari.

Perry Marshall

Just got an email this morning from one of our Rainmaker Alchemist estudiantes:

“I just got an extra $10,000 in signed contracts this week for work a couple of months ago I would have gotten $3-4K for. It’s a marathon like you both said, but it sure is a hell of a lot better having your help along the way.”

Kevin Williams
Burlington, CT

Stop charging $4K for projects & get $10K instead:

http://www.perrymarshall.com/fed-up/

About the Author

Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.

He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.