Success and Internet Marketing - Perry Marshall's "Black Wall of Fear?" - You CAN Overcome

Happy Friday Everyone.

I thought it quite appropriate to republish an article in my post today that I recently received from Perry Marshall. For those of you who don't know Perry, he's the ultimate Adwords expert, and a marketing authority worth listening to. In an online world full of "noise", Perry's is a voice of wisdom, help and reason. I encourage you to visit his site at PerryMarshall.com. He's currently promoting a roundtable on March 26th. If you're interested, check out http://www.perrymarshall.com/adwords/roundtable.htm.

I had somewhat of a "meltdown" yesterday - things weren't going well, lately more people and projects have been demanding my time and attention when I don't have enough to accomplish the things I need to do, people were treating me with indifference if not rudeness, and I've been dealing with my own frustrations of trying to reposition myself where I want to be personally and professionally. All of a sudden, everything just got real heavy all at once.

If you've had one of those days recently, or if you've been kept from moving forward because of issues with which you're faced, the following may be of encouragement to you. I hope so. Just put one foot in front of the other. Keep it moving. Take care.

Kimberly

********************************************************************

Marcus is eleven, and last summer I took him to
father/son camp. Years ago Marcus' younger sister Andria
lived with us for three months as our foster daughter. Marcus
(a.k.a. "Tank") became my buddy from the inner city and has
been ever since.

So here we are with no electricity, no running water,
3 days on the Tahquamenon river and every day we
do some daring activity like pole-climbing or the ropes
course.

The ropes course is 25 feet above the ground and
even though Marcus had a helmet, climbing gear
and able assistants at every side, he was totally
intimidated.

The first section was a sort of horizontal rope ladder
that sorely tested his balance and stability. At long
last he made it across. But then the next section
was a tightrope walk on a single cable.... That's
when Marcus lost it.

He looked down at the ground far below
and shook with terror. "I'm afraid of heights!"
Just to put one foot on that cable and put his
weight on it took all the will he could summon.

When he got his second foot on the cable,
panic swallowed him up. He melted into a crying,
quivering, sobbing mess.

He begged, he pleaded, 'please, please, let me go back.'

But... on the ropes course, you can't go back.
Once you're on, you have no choice but to finish it.

After awhile this became a real problem. The camp
counselors tried to soothe him and reassure him but
to no avail. Their experience of helping hundreds of
other dads and kids get across meant nothing in
comparison to the yawning expanse of terror that lay
below that cable.

But then one of the counselors had an idea. She
adjusted his harness and physically proved to
him how far he would fall if he completely lost control,
by making him sit down right there on the high-wire.
He couldn't even fall far enough for his butt to touch
that cable. He sat there and realized how low, low
actually was.

No matter what happens, Marcus, no matter how
bad you screw up, you won't die. You won't
tumble helplessly to the ground and shatter your
bones into pieces. You'll be OK.

That was the turning point.

He got a hold of himself. He calmed down. He
tested and re-tested his harness and realized,
hey wait a minute, I can only fall about four feet,
not 25. This harness really will hold me up.

He was still terrified - his emotions were still raging
in a war with his mind - but he started putting one
foot in front of the other and making progress.

I told the camp counselor, "This isn't one one-hundredth
as dangerous as the neighborhood he grew up in, with
drive-by shootings and crack dealers on the corner.

"But he doesn't know that."

This reign of terror probably lasted 25 minutes. It held
up a lot of other campers. But Marcus eventually made it
all the way through the ropes course, including the giant
rope swing that spans 100 feet (took him a full minute
before he was willing to open his eyes).

Somebody at Camp Paradise took notice and decided
to give Marcus some recognition. This wouldn't be a
big deal to some of the other boys but it was to Marcus,
it was a major victory. Maybe the grandest accomplishment
of his 11 years. At dinner the camp director announced
that Marcus has triumphed over the ropes course and
120 men and boys gave him a round of applause.

He got high fives the rest of the day, and you should
have seen his beaming smile. The most celebrated kid
at camp.

I remember watching him during the worst part of the
terror, thinking "Man, that's me, at a whole bunch of
different points in my life. This isn't something that
happens to you once in your life at summer camp.
The Black Wall of Fear is something that you stare
down multiple, multiple times. Especially if you're an
entrepreneur. And not just in business; The Black Wall
of Fear obstructs your path in every sphere of life that
matters. There will always be times when the lizard
part of your brain is screaming at you, to retreat to safety
and sanity.

Hey, isn't this precisely the thing that keeps millions of
people locked in allegedly safe, secure Dilbert Cubes?
Laboring miserably under buzzing fluorescent lights...
going home to colorless nights washed down with a beer
and a bag of Ruffles. Drowning the droning of their
dreary, desolate lives with episodes of 'reality TV.'
Creating products or inventions or dreaming up
things and never having the courage to step out
and expose them to the harsh light of day.

Hey Marcus, don't ever forget this - you're going to
confront this same Black Wall of Fear at every
important transition of your life. You will always
question your sanity and you will always wonder,
at some level, if the bottom is going to fall out. If the
other shoe is going to drop. If you're going to tumble
to the ground and smash every bone in your body to
bits.

Dear friend, I only know of ONE way
to defeat that Black Wall of Fear:

Punch your fist right through it and drive on.

Do it.

-Perry Marshall