It’s the day before New Years Eve, I’ve been up since 6am getting all kinds of projects done. It’ll be at least a year before most of this morning’s work sees the light of day, but it’s on the conveyor belt.
Snowflakes are drifting down from the sky outside my window and I just came back from a walk around the neighborhood. (I prefer a brisk walk outdoors to an exercise machine, personally.)
At my fingertips, access to most of the world’s information and the greatest minds, both living and dead.
At my fingertips, tens of thousands of awesome customers and virtual friends who give me the honor of their trust, with important business and marketing decisions. They’ve given me permission to talk to them when I feel I have something worthwhile to say and that’s a high privilege.
Downstairs, a very close friend of ours is making lunch.
In Saint Louis, my wife is at a conference where she met a woman just yesterday who is helping former child soldiers in Uganda. Something can now be done to right something that for years has been horribly wrong.
On my headphones, jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan is performing a remake of Joe Jackson’s “Stepping Out” and he’s doing a superlative job, in my humble opinion.
Outside in the snow, my kids are playing some crazy game with their friends, running around with imaginary weapons and preparing for more serious games they’ll be playing decades from now.
The World Wide Web is the most radical technological development since fire, and 20 years ago it didn’t exist. The most influential company on the Internet didn’t even exist 12 years ago. In the next 10 years, companies will spring up even faster than Google, and make even more money.
5 years from now you may be in a business that has never been thought of in 2009.
What an incredible time to be alive.
Yes, I know about the problems. I know about the global warming and the slave trade and the earthquakes and tsunamis and Osama Bin Laden. I know about cancer and birth defects and the bloody 20th century and the pollution in China and the prostitution rings in Bangkok. I know about all that.
But you don’t get rid of bad things by obsessing about them. You create alternatives.
You don’t free enslaved people by enslaving free people. You work to make free people even freer.
This morning a guy named Steve posted a comment on my blog: “Your devotion to helping small time Entrepreneur’s make it big is without a doubt the most noble profession any human being could take on and you should be praised for you commitment to helping your fellow man.”
Wow, what a high compliment. I’m thankful to be assisting a ragtag collection of geeks, freaks and misfits find their way in this crazy, digital world. I’m thankful to be surrounded by a community of passionate entrepreneurs who help each other and watch each others’ backs and build things together.
I’m thankful to have been taught principles by the world’s wisest people, both past and present. I’m thankful to live in a country that has a constitution and faith in right and liberty and human rights.
I’m thankful that despite whatever paranoia the media throws into the stir-fry today, I have the right to ignore them and charge forward and build a better world for next week and next year and the next century.
I’m thankful for customers who believe as I do, for people who face insurmountable odds (there are occasional days when NOBODY would ever choose to be an entrepreneur, right?).
I’m thankful for victories and resilience and the never-ending stream of innovations and ideas.
We truly live in miraculous times. Don’t ever let anyone make you forget that.
Here’s to living your own resounding success story in 2010 – the story you will someday tell.
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.
52 Comments on “I'm thankful.”
Am impressed with your mature and enlightened perspective. What you wrote is well worth keeping in mind. Best wishes.
Perry,
I awoke this morning, before ever reading this email, thinking about how I needed to ‘check in’ with you. I have always admired who you are and what you do. I have not had the caliber of client (until this past year) to actually put what I’ve learned from you into practice. However, I think of you often and how lucky I am to have stumbled upon you 5 years ago.
I forwarded this email to my sister and said: “I wish I could write like he does. He weaves as story. Has something to say. Says it so well. And articulates thanks.”
Maybe this wish is part of a breakthrough for me in 2010.
Thanks Perry,
claudia
Claudia,
Write every day and find YOUR voice. It’s been great having you along for the ride.
Perry
Hi Perry,
Thank you so much for this wonderful post. Just what I needed to hear right now. I always read your emails because I always learn something new from them.
I am just really starting out in this business but have spent the last 18 months learning from people like you, and what you say makes sense. Thank you, Happy new year to you and your family and look forward to reading more great things from you in the future,
Lisa
Hi Perry!
Thank’s for, positiv, good words on the latest day of 2009. I’m very impressed about your capacity of writing, day by day so many good emails. Always, some good attitude, inspiring words, helping me to do my best on the net.
Happy new year in 2010.
Bjorn Henry
Trondheim, Norwat
Thanks for this wonderful essay.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to you and your family Perry, as well as my own thank you for the wonderful material you have provided.
As I stood with my 2 best friends welcoming in 2010, we were reminded of the scene one decade earlier when as IT techs we awaited with baited breath (and long hours) the crash of technology as clocks ticked towards the year 2000.
As we looked back, I was reminded once again of how thankful I am to have such wonderful friends as well as a happy and healthy family to enjoy. I pray that whatever 2010 brings in the way of challenges, that I will never forget this blessing.
Hi, Perry…
Just wanted to take a moment to thank you for constructing that very inspiring email message. While all of your material is generally very informational, this one takes the cake for me in that I can almost literally FEEL the gratitude – and the passion – in your words, and in that way I know it’s real for you. That’s the stuff of inspiration for me.
Congratulations on all your successes to this point, and I wish you the very best in 2010.
Yours in health and happiness,
Robert Mantell, Ph.D., C.M.Ht., C.M.C.
Founder and Executive Director
BrightLife Phobia and Anxiety Release Center
http://www.fearintopower.com
TOLL-FREE (866) LIFE-NOW
I am grateful for crossing paths with The Perry.
Thanks for showing me the reality of Marketing.
I read a statistic once that stated if one could place their hands on $2500.00 by any means that they were among 95% of the wealthiest people in the world. Really all we ever do is control a small piece of the world for a very short time, and those who can raise $2500.00 have an almost royal existence in comparison with those in extreme poverty elsewhere.
I couldn’t agree more that the times we live in are unprecedented. The age of the knowledge is incredible for all who decide to embrace it. Todays answers are waiting for the bold and courageous to unlock them from the unknown.
Two thousand ten is definitely the year for the optimist to relentlessly pursue dreams of a brighter tomorrow, and gratitude is the core element behind such successful endeavors.
Thank you Perry for your consistent leadership.
Happy New Year Perry to you, your family and your whole network.
Like most people on here I am grateful for your advice and inspiration. Let all of us transpire to help promote the internet to a whole new level and get rid of these cowboys who drain everyone with their nonsense about easy riches without any effort.
Long may you continue to thrive together with those few others in IM who have your ethical approach and high morals.
Best wishes
Perry,
Your heart felt messages almost always strike some kind of cord with me, but this particular one I will save forever. Not to draw any attention to myself, but I’m the guy you quoted in your message as the one who paid you a compliment. I only mention this to you because I received your e-mail via my BlackBerry and normally after reading them I delete them, but save all your e-mails on my laptop. I just wanted to let you know that the moment I read this e-mail and saw that you repeated my quote my heart about jumped out of my chest. I couldn’t believe that Perry Marshall would mention something that I wrote. I have saved this e-mail on my BlackBerry and I read it about 50 times a day and I will never delete it and as bad as things are for me right now you couldn’t have delivered a more important message at the right time.
I am literally at the lowest point in my life right now being unemployed and battling a legal matter that no one would want to go through. My wife has had a nervous breakdown and we are hanging on by a thread, but it’s your words and encouragement that get me through to the next day.
One thing I have learned from my present situation is there is always someone else who is worse off than me. It’s not that I purposely took my good life for granted when I was gainfully employed, but that’s exactly what I did. I didn’t express my gratitude to god everyday and I didn’t do enough for people that are less fortunate than me. And it was you Perry and only you that after 5 plus years of reading your e-mails that life can be rewarding and it doesn’t have to spent in Dilbert’s cube.
Eventually I will make it out of Dilbert’s box, but in reality it doesn’t even matter anymore because I’m thankful for what I have right now and I’m not going to worry about how much money is in my 401K or how big I can get my pension up to or any of that crap because it simply doesn’t matter. Even though I have nothing to give I’m going to make it a point to give something to someone who has less than me every chance I get.
I have read countless e-mails on your website on how all your fans say how much they appreciated the things you say and I will say it again, you are possibly the only one on the entire internet that really has all your customers best interest at heart. I can tell from the tone of your e-mails that you probably don’t put a very high importance on the amount of money you make or currently have, but yet you truly do everything you can to make sure all your clients are achieving their financial goals, wow Perry you are something else and I appreciate what you have done for me. Thanks again for your powerful and encouraging words of wisdom. Steve
Steve,
Everybody goes through crucibles, and if we’re really paying attention they teach us profound things. We evolve and advance through them and if we learn what we’re supposed to, we come out on the other side vastly wiser. There’s a Bible verse that’s always meant a lot to me, James 1, “Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance…. if any man lacks wisdom let him ask of God who gives generously and without reproach, and it WILL be given to him.” That’s it right there, my life verse.
“Bring on the wisdom.”
Perry
Steve,
I just want to encourage you with my own testimony about the truth of the scripture Perry quoted. I’ve gone through some pretty awful trials myself over the years and the most important thing you can do is pay attention when they happen to you. God doesn’t waste anything, especially trials. It sounds to me from your post that you’ve already learned something from what you’re going through.
I hope that 2010 brings you and your wife to a whole new level of wisdom and prosperity.
God bless,
Eunice
You never fail to inspire. Thanks for reminding us why we’re awesome for trying to change the world, one person at a time. Why America is the greatest nation on earth, despite the problems.
Very apropos quote seen at the public library in Anaheim CA:
“In times of no money, libraries will get you through. In times of money, no libraries will stop your thoughts”
That is very well said Perry and I dito that whole post.
I can’t say it any better.
I’ve made it a commitment now that I commute to my coffee pot to spend 30 minuites daily to be thankful for our blessings here in Toronto Canada.
We have SO MUCH in our culture to be thankful for.
We have so many opportunities available to make money and a life style that we want and yet when I mention this to my complaining friends and family they look at me like I have 3 heads.
I get hammered with negative garbage to the point that I’m thinking wtf are you folks talking about?
The way these negatrons speak you’d think we live in the Sudan or Eritrea or Iraq or Afganistan or…..any where but North America where most of these folks fight just for food on a daily bases.
So many here act as if their faces are stuck in the mud and there is no way to get out.
There is no fight in them.It disgusts me.
That is what has been created by our looters in charge in the west.( read page 410 of Atlas Shrugged)
Thank God for leaders like you Perry.
Happy New Year to all!!
Let’s keep leading in 2010.
Thankful?
This is a long story but I will be super brief.
I just moved the last part of my belongings into a new apartment.
Cleared everything from the kitchen area except my printer.
I brought out my laptop and a new external drive that I just bought so that I could back up my data into that external drive.
I set it up and the data was nicely flowing from my system to the external drive.
I saw an ad for a discount coupon from seagate that would allow seagate customers to save 30 dollars if they register now with an online backup firm that they are affiliated with.
The keywords were fireproof, waterproof, etc.
My first impression was I could bid on these keywords to sell online back up system.
My second impression was BS. What are the odds? I am a very careful guy. I own another external HD and now you want me to by an online backup system now?
Wrong!
Anyway, to cut the long story short, Perry.
I was nicely adjusting a box under the counter top in the kitchen when all of a sudden the box bumped into a gas pipe. You know that gap pipe that connect the oven.Right?
Guess what?
Within seconds, it was a series of drama.
Everything exploded.
Not that Hollywood-movies type of fire but real one.
Sorry, I know I said I was going to be super brief. That is why I can’t go into details here.
Anyway, I was fortunate to quickly locate the fire extinguisher outside of the apartment that I was moving into.
I single-handedly battled the flame. When I could not fight it anymore, I yanked my laptop and the external hard drive and ran out of the building into the freezing snow bare footed.
It was so fast that even I had registered with the online backup system, the backup would not have been completed.
I suffered a first degree burn on my right arm.
It was so close that it grazed my nice eye brow and a part of my lovely hair.
If I had a hat on, it would have been worse.
If I had my glasses on,I’d probably be blind person now.
As a new “wanna be”entrepreneur who has lost a lot of money online, bought courses upon courses, finally put it all together.
And I was like let me backup the whole thing then start afresh.
And believe me up till now it has been one huge insurmountable obstacle after another that I had to climb to get this far.
I was like NOW I have to consult with this Perry guy, show him the blueprint of the projects I am working on and at least he would be able to say UNEQUIVOCALLY if it is great or it is crap
This way one would know immediately if one is on the right track or not.
Still in shock but I am in a small hotel now, trying to put all the pieces together again.
Yes, I am deeply thankful to God that I am alive and can still continue the fight.
This time, gracefully.
** p:s: Thanks perry for all you have done via this medium to help little folks like us to hang around.
Thanks for all you and your lovely wife are doing to help other folks. You talk about her and her mission a lot.
According to Bob Marley “He who feels it knows it”. Trust me, I know it!
God bless
Williams,
What an amazing story. I’m so *thankful* you escaped intact. It’s a story you’ll tell the rest of your life.
Thanks to ALL of you who posted these wonderful comments. Happy new year!
Perry
Hi Perry,
All this sounds wonderful, but are you thankful to God for putting you on this
earth? That is the most important thing to be thankful for.
Happy New Year & God Bless!
Marion
Thanks be unto God for His wonderful gift:
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God
is the object of our faith; the only faith
that saves is faith in Him.
Go for it.
Digby
P.S. Those were the first words in my head when I finished reading your email.
Hi Perry,
I must admit that I always dreamed about having a white Christmas one day. I’m from South Africa and here our summer holidays and for that matter Christmas and new year, are fairly warm. So; I’m sure you won’t mind if I envy you!
Just to let you know that I have only recently (say for the past 9-10 months) started looking at the possiblity of getting involved in an internet business. From al the hundreds of people that have send me information and trying to sell me such wonderful opportunities, you are the only one that so far, made any sense to me. Once I am set up, I will most definitely make use of some of your systems.
Hope you and your family will enjoy a wonderful and prosperous new year.
Take care.
Regards,
Frank
Thank you Perry so deep a year end perspective so poetically expressed.
A new world is unfolding and we have a new year to experience…
:-)
Hi Perry,
thank´s for 2009 and your valuable information.
best regards
Norbert from Germany
I’m thankful for people like you Perry, that believe in our vision. I’m thankful that although I can be down as long as people like you are around I will never be out. I am thankful for my Lord, wife and son and my vision that lives on. I’m thankful for all of the rejection I have been dished out because it has pushed my in a new direction in the long run and I have found that there are others that do not even know you and yet they really care. The rest of them will have to answer to a higher authority some day as to why they failed to lead when they were supposed to be leaders. The ones that are supposed to care but never did will be scratching their heads some day wondering how did that person do it. I’m thankful for all the dirt that was shoved on my family because we realized that in reality these were steps to walk out of a hole and into the light. I’m thankful and amazed for 2009! Our second best year ever and maybe the best (I still need to do the final numbers) and it has not slowed down at all. I can go on and on. But here is the most amazing thing about this. I have not EVEN BEGUN TO TAP into Adwords! Perry, 2010 will be the year I am added as another student. No doubt I will see more success than I could imagine. I’m already seeing it now but I know that I’m barely on the fringes. With “Perrys” out there, people that actually care, 2010 never looked better. Looking forward to the journey more than ever.
Edwin Soler
Thank you. For reminding me. Am chomping at the bits and ready to smash everything down…most of all myself. But I guess that can wait for another day. Time enough to procrastinate the wrong things. Time enough to change the world first…
Thanks for your positive year end note. Liberty, freedom, choice and information, I realise, are the essentials for human life. Sadly in the developing world, most people, particularly the politicians and administrators fear these. But as you say so rightly, we have to create alternatives.
Happy 2010.
Perry – I’m on your list and pretty much read all your stuff man, and it’s all good all the time … but this one really stands out … I think this one is definitely one of your best, I could tell it came from your heart as it really touched mine. I’m thankful to have you to share your insight and wisdom … from one old ex-amway guy to another, Happy New Year to you!!
Thanks for everything you do. Btw, I like your Joe Jackson reference, second one in past two months (Owen Garratt interview). Hope you and your family have a Blessed New Year.
Thanks for a beautiful message to end the year on and inspiration to begin the next.
May you have a blessed and prosporous 2010 !
I’m thankful, too, Mr. Marshall.
Thanks for your positive messages.
Happy 2010!
Hi Perry
Just as the waves of sadness and depression started to clog my mind (mainly in regard to things I can’t change – as with your paragraph below “What a good time to be alive)into my mailbox pops this powerful email.You’ve helped me realise that there is much to be grateful for, and that my dream of earning a living, while helping my fellow man, is do-able. Thank You. I hope you have a sensational 2010.
Thanks for the wonderful email which helps me to soldier on despite achieving limited success so far, especially with the thoughts of whether making a living is possible ringing louder and louder in my mind.
On a separate note Perry, in case you are not aware your link in the mails are not clickable. I’ve to copy the link and paste in on my browser to come to this page. You might want to take a look at it.
Wishing we all a great and fruitful year ahead :)
Very well said, Perry.
I agree with you wholeheartedly – maintaining a positive mindset doesn’t mean that one is naive or ignorant. Rather, it shows that a person is more interested in making things better instead of fixating on and bemoaning about current problems.
You nicely outlined a very few of the things almost all have in our lives to be grateful for – from the timeless beauty of a snowfall to the warmth of the love of family and friends to the wonder of the internet and the marvels of technology.
Life is getting better and the world, despite its problems, is improving at an incredible rate.
Gratitude is the appropriate response.
Again – well said. Thanks for saying it
All the best in 2010
Joe
Good on you mate.
Love your thoughts and your inspiration
good stuff
Thank you, Kind Sir. After hanging around awhile in the dog-eat-dog world of unkindnesses that the internet marketing world seems determined to become, I’m grateful to read this touching (yes,I teared up…several times) alternative, particularly as it comes from one of my role models.
Thank You for being you and God Bless!
Thank You for being you and God Bless!
I’m thankful that we spent $900 this month on Google ad words and the phone is ringing! Thanks Perry.
“You don’t free enslaved people by enslaving free people. You work to make free people even freer.”
Thanx for another great quote Perry. I put that one online at my favorite quotes page.
Too bad the frakkin politicians and lobbyists aren’t on your list. Not that they’d listen tho…
Perry,
My bulk email box gets so many emails every day from all the lists I’ve subscribed to over the years. Every week or so I go in and delete 90% of it. But whenever I see your name, I open and read right away. Thanks for all of your wonderful posts and everything that you do :)
Happy New Year!
Wow, what a beautiful way of expressing it. You said exactly how I feel every day and I couldn’t have said it better. Here’s to a beautiful 2010!
Thanks for a wonderful e-mail!
We really do have so much to be thankful for – and I completely agree that we don’t solve the world’s problems by constantly focusing on them. In fact, if you believe in the Law of Attraction, we make them worse by crying about them all the time.
I try to begin and end each day with giving thanks… for all good things great and small.
Love it, Perry. I feel much like you do. Just plain grateful to be alive at such an exciting time, where the internet is revolutionizing the way we work and add value to the world.
Thanks for all your work to empower entrepreneurs. And thanks for being there years ago when I was looking for help getting our tech company off the ground.
You are great.
Hi Perry,
My inbox can be a crowded place these days. I am thankful that at least one of those messages can make a BIG difference on how I approach a day. Your messages can bring a tear to my eye, and at the same time provide reinforcements to my fickle resolve.
Happy New Year!
Thank you Perry.
Desde Brasil y Latam mis lectores y lectoras y yo, Jorge Aldrovandi te enviamos el mejor deseo de felicidad y paz. Gracias por tu aporte. Hasta el 2010!
———-
Desde Brasil e Latam meus leitores e leitoras e eu, Jorge Aldrovandi enviamos para você o melhor desejo de paz e felicidade. Obrigado pelo seu aporte. Até 2010!
Abs,
Jorge
Thank you, Perry. As someone else, in an earlier comment said, this article was truly a breath of fresh air. Truly a wonderful perspective to hold on to.
Always interesting to listen in when you philosophize. You said a mindful. Happy New Year. BobV
I think frequently of the miraculous times we live in. I’m thankful that we have the right to educate our children in the way that is right for them. I’m thankful that nearly everything we want to learn about is at our fingertips.
Perry, I’m thankful to have smart, generous, innovative clients like you that we get to work with every day, helping you to serve your customers better.
And like David, I’m thankful to God that we know how it all ends, and for the faith that makes every day a chance to have an eternal impact.
Becki
I couldn’t have expressed my own gratitude better than what you have.
Ditto. Ditto. Ditto.
I’ll add one personal element of my own gratitude that isn’t very PC now days, but nonetheless, it’s one of the greatest elements of my gratitude-ness.
And that is…I’m grateful for my faith in Jesus Christ who has given me, and continues to give me chance, after chance, after chance, after chance.
David Frey
In amongst all the negativity I read every day, up pops your thankful essay like a puff of fresh air. Oh if only everyone had the same attitude it’d be a happer place.
Thanks Perry
How does a a failed salesman – fired from multiple jobs and an Amway drop out – accomplish all of this? Magic? No. Alchemy!
The fire of entrepreneurialism burns brighter than ever. My thanks to you for the role you’ve played in keeping it burning in my heart over the past few years.
Here’s to Livin’ On in 2010!
Nick