It was exactly 15 years ago this week that my boss Wally called me into his office and fired me.

It had been two years of “Perry is a sales guy just waiting to happen.” Wally waited. And waited. And waited. Eventually push came to shove.

Two days later a company I’d interviewed at, hired me, and I managed to get a new job without them ever finding out about me getting fired.

The firing was just before Thanksgiving; my start date was December 1, just after Thanksgiving.

By the skin of my teeth….

Meanwhile we drove to Nebraska for the holiday in our light blue 1985 Toyota Corolla, with holes in the muffler and fenders, toting our 18 month old daughter in the back seat and buying gas on whatever room we had left on our credit cards.

On Thanksgiving Day I was riding with my brother-in-law Brett whose son, following in my footsteps was just finishing his Electrical Engineering degree.

“Perry, I’ve been watching you and I’m concerned the rewards aren’t going to ‘be there’ for him when he gets done with school.”

“Brett, this has nothing to do with engineering. I, um, went into sales and I haven’t quite figured out how to be effective selling stuff just yet.”

I remember on the drive home later that weekend, cruising through Iowa late at night under bright moonlight, wife and baby sleeping and music cranking in my headphones:

I’ve got this feeling
The tide is turning now, baby
Funny feeling
Everything’s gonna be all right now*

And it was OK. I went from pushing to pulling; from pounding through walls to attracting.

And that has made all the difference.

It took a few months before our cash flow even began to reverse, but knowing that water was beginning to flow out of the boat instead of coming in, was a huge relief that I can barely express even today.

Funny feeling
Everything’s gonna be all right now

I’m thankful for the job Wally gave me, and the HUGE education it gave me; I’m thankful he finally did what he had to do and fired me; I’m thankful that Mike and John took a chance on a 28 year old punk with hardly any track record.

I’m thankful that before that opportunity came along, I’d gone way out of my way to learn about guerilla marketing. I’m thankful that my earlier mentors – even the toxic ones – had drilled into my head:

The investment you make in yourself is the best investment you’ll ever, ever make.

Happy Thanksgiving. And I’ve got this feeling – the tide is turning now, baby.

Perry Marshall

*Lyrics from Caught in a New Millennium by Dream Theater

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.