The Life of an Entrepreneur - by Perry Marshall

I'll never forget the first time I got fired from a job. I sent a rogue Fax - it's a hilarious story that I tell at seminars - but at the time it was a DEEPLY disturbing experience.

All the sudden, the world of people and productivity spit me out of its mouth. I was no longer useful, no longer getting a paycheck, no longer doing something "respectable." Every day I would roll out of bed and go buy a newspaper and hope for some new job openings in town.

This drove me into a spiral of self-doubt. I was taking a summer school class and suddenly I couldn't concentrate and started failing all my tests. I had to drop the class and forfeit my tuition and take the class over later.

Up until that point, I had defined success as "Never fail a class and never get fired from a job."

I had now failed on both points. I was really shaken by this.

I was suddenly open to the idea of taking the entrepreneurial path in life. As a result of all this, I was a lot more ready to listen when my friend Bill showed me a direct sales opportunity.

I got fired multiple times in the coming years. Just yesterday my 9 year old boy Caden was riding with me in the van with his friend CJ and he said, "Dad, tell CJ the story of how you got fired!"

Ain't it great? You walk in the door at 9:30am and your wife looks up at you in surprise. "What are you doing here?

Then she says, "Oh, never mind. I know the answer to that question. What was it this time?"

There are just certain people in the world who are chronically unemployable. (Ya think?)

And there are certain kinds of people who will never feel OK about their lives until nobody can fire them anymore.

If you're one of those people, then get on with building your biz, 'cuz I'll tell you right now - you're never gonna be satisfied until you do.

There's also an Entrepreneur's version of getting fired. It comes in the form of:

BEING EXCESSIVELY DEPENDENT ON ONE VENDOR, ONE CUSTOMER, ONE CLIENT, ONE ADVERTISING MEDIUM, ONE DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL, ONE SEARCH ENGINE, ONE SKILL, ONE EMPLOYEE, ONE MERCHANT ACCOUNT, OR RIDING ONE WAVE.

People who own businesses quickly learn that hanging out your shingle isn't necessarily any guarantee that you won't get fired.

***YOU ARE SELF EMPLOYED TO THE EXTENT THAT YOU HAVE CONTROL OVER VITAL ASPECTS OF YOUR BUSINESS.***

If you have a choice of vendors, customers, clients, advertising media, distributors, search engines, talents, staff, income sources and trends, then you are a free man. You are a free woman.

In the real world, you're exactly as good as your bag of tricks, your network and your willingness to be flexible. You're as good as your ability to identify the opportunities that come hidden in every crisis that presents itself.

Today is Christmas Eve. Tomorrow we celebrate gifts and giving and I hope you'll also celebrate your own giftedness and the opportunities you've been given.

As you finish out 2009, and consider where you're going in 2010, I hope you'll resolve to do *whatever it takes* to build your bag of tricks, your network and your opportunities. Build those things so deep that NOBODY can take you out.

On that day, nobody will run your life but YOU. And that will be cause for a mighty celebration.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Perry Marshall

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