I had worked at my first sales job for 18 months and had nothing impressive to brag about whatsoever.
One by one, every “deal” I had worked on crashed and burned.
But this one was different. A guy at U.S. Steel had called me in and I quoted a $1.1 million optical profiler project, a technology he had great difficulty procuring elsewhere. I was deliriously excited about the prospects of a $55,000 commission check.
The whole thing evaporated right before my eyes. I spent an hour on the phone trying to save the project from death. Then Wally called me in his office and informed me:
Perry, this thing is dead. There is nothing you can do to save it. It’s over.
In hindsight, there had been other telltale signs that the design firm wasn’t even legit. This was my first project with them.
This was like being stranded on a desert island and watching the boat that’s about to save you, crash gloriously into the rocks and sink.
My stress level was so high I’d wake up every night with my bed *soaked* with sweat. Was it because I had low-grade mono? Or did I have low grade mono because of the stress?
Mamalaura wisely tells me, “Maybe your system is trying to tell you to slow down, Perry.” I ignored her.
I couldn’t slow down. The wolf was at the door. I was starting to investigate getting a 2nd job. I interviewed for a position, teaching evening classes at a community college. Maybe I can get out of this by working 80 hours a week.
Shortly after that, Wally gave me an ultimatum: Your sales job is over. You can either leave right now, or you can take this other job as production manager in our parts assembly facility.
Two years in a sales job with nothing to show for it, I had little choice. Who wants to hire a sales guy with a track record like that? I’m talking to recruiters and figuring out how to position this… and hoping that while I’m working the production job, some of the “think-it-overs” from my sales effort finally cash in.
(“Think it overs” almost never do, by the way.)
I spent that whole summer and most of the fall lining up parts for manual labor assembly people and shipping packages out every afternoon. I was a glorified shipping clerk, really. Wally was kind, so he was still paying me $35,000 a year even though this was more like a $25,000 job.
We were something in the neighborhood of $40,000 in debt.
I was driving an orange 1984 Toyota Tercel with a leaky muffler. Fortunately the muffler tape kit mostly patched it up. A STANFORD UNIVERSITY bumper sticker in the rear window from the guy who owned it before me. Laura drove a blue 1985 Corolla with a big rusty hole on the left fender. After I bought the car I saw the rust had been covered up with Bondo. Baby carrier in the back seat. Our daughter was one and a half.
I remember being in quasi-denial about this. I knew the shoe was going to drop, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it, so I just plowed forward and let the chaos swirl around me.
Wally calls me into his office and fires me promptly after I arrive at work.
So it’s the Thursday before Thanksgiving and I walk through the door at 9:15 in the morning. Laura looks up, surprised.
She looks up and says, “Fired again, Perry?”
I was right on the cusp of landing a new job at a new company. Finishing touches and the offer would be on the table. If I played this right, my next employer would never know.
This was the week of Thanksgiving. Fired on Monday, offered a new job on Tuesday. Thanksgiving was Thursday and my first day of work on the new job was the following Monday. Skin of my teeth, baby.
Immediately before my first day on the job, I was in Nebraska visiting family for Thanksgiving and my brother-in-law Brett was riding with me in a pickup truck. Brett was a hard-working union railroad guy whose son Mark was finishing up the same Electrical Engineering degree that I had already gotten, at the same school.
Brett says to me, “Perry, I know you guys are struggling a bit, and I just wanted to make sure it’s going to ‘be there for him’ when Mark gets done with school?” My track record wasn’t exactly inspiring confidence in his son’s future.
I muttered something about my learning curve in sales (I wasn’t working as an engineer anymore, after all); that I was on a different path than his son would take and I just hoped this new job I was taking was going to work out.
Brief aside:
I was at a seminar once and this woman walked up to me and put her arms around me. She pressed her well-endowed chest against me and said, “Oooh, Perry Marshall, you Google AdWords guru” – like she thought I was a rock star .
The people around me busted out laughing. Later a guy said, “Man Perry you should have seen the look of horror on your face, it was hilarious!
At that moment I recalled something a guy said at one of those Amway rallies many years ago. He was talking to a men-only audience about some of the pitfalls of success. “Guys, when you’re an Emerald or a Diamond and you’re successful, women are going to start noticing you. They’ll make you feel good. You’re going to think they’re in love with you, but they’re not. Those women are in love with your success.
“A lot of guys let that go to their head [the enemy within] and fall for it. They leave their original sweetheart, but the only reason you’re successful is because your wife created a space where you could become successful in the first place. Much of your success is due to her. So the fawning woman who thinks you’re a rock star – she thinks she’s in love with you but the irony is, she’s really in love with your wife.”
I never forgot that. Never will. Am I a rock star? No. (Laura knows it, too.) Which is just as well. Rock stars only exist in peoples’ imaginations.
Laura loved me when I was 17 year old senior in high school whose dad just died of cancer and had nothing but lint in my pockets and dreams in my head and a rusty blue ‘74 Chevy Caprice with a giant hole in the back seat. She still loves me now when I’m just a teeny bit famous and even on days when I’m a moody, high-maintenance piece of work.
And yeah, we’re both glad we’re not scraping spare change out of the seat cushions to buy lunch anymore. We’ve been through thin and we’re sticking together when it’s thick.
Who told me she believed in me when I was fired AGAIN and down on my luck? Laura did.
I love you, Laura.
My friend, here’s to the moms and dads and brothers and sisters and spouses that love all of us misfits through our entrepreneurial trials and tribulations.
Reach out and thank one of ’em today, will ya?
Perry Marshall
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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.
42 Comments on “The Enemy Within”
Thanks Perry Great stuff
Perry, I read this late. You always surprise me, because what you write is always worth reading.
You’re famous?
“She’s really in love with your wife”
Priceless!
You are a very lucky man and your wife is a very lucky woman. So many value’s in your relationship that others have forgotten or were never taught. Thanks for sharing a geniune moment that brought a tear to my eye. You are a real man!
That was a long post – and good to see you thank your wife for it all.
A really thoughtful post that reminded me of my early work and marriage years. I was nineteen years old, married, we had just had our first child and we had just moved to northern California…no job. I looked everywhere for a job and applied at many places…no job. My wife told me to “hang in there, you can do it!”
Finally, down to our last $20, I applied for a night job at a large woodworking operation. I had swore I would never work at a place like that.
I got the job…worked hard…and 15 years later, I was promoted to General Manager.
What always kept me going was my wife. She always had faith in me…God Bless her!
Hi! Perry,
What a wonderful and truthful post!.You´re a great inspiration to us all.
Thanks so much for your sincere guidance in marketing and in my spiritual life.
Blessings!
I’m so touched by your post. Thank you.
Sophia
Thanks Perry for this inspiring posts.
I’m reminded of what is important to me.
Hello perry Love the part where you give props to our folks and loved ones that stood and continue to stand with us tru thick and thin…really loved that part.
perry i think you should be in the relationship advise market…U will have a hot product no doubt…
Really great piece here..made my day just goin over it.
Thank you.
Hey Perry,
Funny thing. You sent this message on the same day I was fired. So now I have to go and take my skills and make money on my own. Wish me luck.
A beautiful reminder to stay humble and balanced. Pride is such an ugly thing and so destructive. Thanks for sharing your story. I look forward to the sequel.
Blessings,
Angie
Perry:
Great post. I really appreciate that you have a “little bit of fame” (perhaps you are being a bit too modest” but are really up front with your value of relationships.
Well said…:)
Thanks so much Perry. That made my heart smile. One of the reasons you are so successful is that not only do you know what is important, you express it. I am sure that Laura loved this post too!
Perry,
Great write up. My wife and I are going on 17 years and we’ve been through so many trials and tribulations I’m not even going to list them all here. Because the important thing is, we’ve stuck together through thick and thin(and I don’t know how many people have asked me how I do it?) She has health problems, which as you know can lead to financial problems. But what am I supposed to do…leave? That’s not me. And she’s supported, or stuck with me, through all my business ventures. Now I’ve finally found something I like and am good at, copywriting, and we’re both glad we stuck it out.
So many people get divorced over the stupidest things these days. And if those tedious problems cause them to divorce, they should’ve never been married. People need to relearn the definitions of ‘love’ and ‘commitment.’ Congratulations to you and Laura for a successful marriage.
Hi Perry,
I was really looking forward to part two and when it didn’t show up, man I thought I may have spamleted it!
Such a great story and I hope when I finish diving for coins down the back of the lounge to buy lunch, I don’t forget it.
My Sandra has enabled me to ride the enterpreneurial range for some 25 years now, we lost the house when the GFC struck, life’s tough and yes I got fired again recently – oh “let go” that’s right not fired.
Things have never looked so good and I will repay those on my list of helpers beyond my wife and family when it hit pay dirt.
I will not forget your story and hope you get a buzz out of helping other struggling marketers.
Your friend from the land of Oz,
Greg Gillespie
PS. You ever in Narrabeen you are welcome to come and sleep on my lounge, I promise there will be some change left for you.
G.
Great post Perry. I am a guy and you almost make me cry. It’s true, some guys forget the people who were supporting them before they succeed.
Sometimes I forget myself how important my wife has been in my life, thanks for reminding me.
Keep coming the good stuff. I hate long letters except for yours, they always have valuable information/thougts.
It is always great to see someone strong enough to share their life and yours has many lessons. The Unconscious has an incredible amount of raw power that needs to be directed to be used. Learning to tap that power can take a lifetime. Morals and ideals came into acceptance as people noticed those using them were exceptional and accomplished more in their life. Someone taught you the value of these things and it has served you well. Good article, keep it up.
I was just describing to my wife how important she was to helping me start our new business. I wish I could have read this first – I would have sounded much more eloquent.
REALLY great post Perry, thanks for sharing your words of wisdom!
I have passed it on to my son and two sons-in-law and told them to put it where they can pull it out and reread it each time they reach a success milestone.
Wow, great words, looking forward to the next part. 20 years of marriage has told me, my best friend is my wife and all I do is to make our life better. No point if we lose that focus. As others have said it normally is the small things that help us to grow. Thanks again for your words, I have been loving your posts and always take time to read them.
Greetings from Down Under!
thank you for this touching message. It’s motivated to be reminded that our journey is possible only because of the ones who love and support us.
Awesome post, Perry. I loved it.
Thanks Perry
It is so easy to take for granted the people who believe in us and give us the strength to keep going.
Im going to go and make my other half a cup of tea now as a wee “thank you” and thanks to you for this reminder
Thank you for this Perry. I’ve been feeling more “misfity” than ever today but you helped remind me of all the love and support I have around me as I go through this. Thank you for such a timely post.
Perry,
Pretty touching. You’re one of the good guys IMHO.
Thanks for your inspiring emails.
Philip
Wish more marketers would learn the art of being genuine. It’s posts like these that show your humanity, and that identifies you with the rest of us…who are not even close to being “rock stars.” Closer to being nearly under the rock, in some cases. :)
Thanks Perry I love how open and honest you are. I attend a bible study with a few guys on Fri. mornings and our breakthroughs always come as a result of being brutally honest with each other. Thanks for your warts and all posts. I appreciate you.
Great stuff Perry. 100% true. Pure wisdom. And it’s proof that you are making your own luck as you go along too Perry!
I suspect that most people do not realize that one of your secrets to success is being totally authentic. You are totally open, sharing the good, the bad and unpleasant to look at.
Everyone should take a lesson from you. People want to and are willing to pay good money to do business with someone who is not afraid to be totally honest – sharing the good and the bad. No put on, no false fronts.
Great lesson – the article and the action.
My fave professor Dr. Knoll liked to say, “If you want to be a good teacher, you have to get naked.”
Brilliant man…… just brilliant.
Perry,
Thank you! You will never know how timely and “spot on” your words are for me today, right now! I’m reminded of the movie line form “What About Bob” when he’s talking to Marie, the TV reporter for the Shrink, Leo Marvin (played brilliantly by Richard Dreyfus) & he says, “It’s meat & potatoes, Marie…” You ARE meat & potatoes & you keep us all humbled and grounded because you a remodeling humbled & grounded. God bless you as you continue to share form your deep wells of truth the “meat & potatoes” we all need to sustain & succeed. Again, thanks!
This one brought tears to my eyes. Waking up with gratitude every day is a gift someone gave to me, possibly my mom. My dad was gone earlier than yours, so some of the insights we get about our parents when we are older got cut short (as you know).
But, saying I love you to someone in our meaningful realm every day is priceless. i second your call, Perry, for all of us to do it.
It’s easy to say it to strangers. But, in case someone reading this doesn’t have a someone to say it to directly, I’m saying it to you, so you can say it back to me because we are all one human family,
“I love you.”
Praise the Lord for someone willing to do what is RIGHT!
Hi Perry,
Just wanted to thank you for your inspiration over the years.
Although I’ve never asked for your help, my intuition keeps telling me that one day we will work together.
I genuinely appreciate you introducing me to Ari Galper. Ari’s philosophy to selling within Unlock The Game is exactly what I desperately needed right now!
To your success with warm regards,
Jeff
PS…Your interview with Ari was fantastic!
Ari Rocks!
Another great one I’ve forwarded to my husband. We are noticing more and more that it doesn’t matter how well your career is going if your personal life becomes a train-wreck. That’s not the same as a college student complaining about no social life. It is the issue of protecting the power-house that can lead to great success – the nurturing marriage.
On a related note, I just walked down the street to get a burrito and am reading this during lunch. I walked back down the street to the office with a young hispanic truck driver making a delivery nearby. Its only 2 blocks. But in that time he told me about his dreams for more. About how he works 2 or 3 hours every night, because as he said “You gotta have dreams, man…and just go for it.”
This made me cry. I was touched that someone really does remember where he came from and who was there to make it possible. So often people forget.
Terrific post Perry. Too easy to take for granted how amazing the women who married us are – and what judgment!!!