Mel,
Round 3 of our Who Knows Planet Perry Best? trivia contest is live. 5 new questions dropped today, and the final 5 come tomorrow.
The top 10 scorers win a free month of RenAI. We'll announce the winners next Monday.
Now, a story about a courtroom and a kitchen appliance...
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In those first strange post-job, new-life-as-freelancer days of 2001, the most pivotal decision I made was to change my name.
If you look me up on Wikipedia, it says PERRY SINK MARSHALL. Sink is my middle name, but it used to be my last name.
The official name on my birth certificate is Perry Lenn Sink.
I HATED it.
Near Lexington, North Carolina there's a pocket of "Sinks" and it's a very common family name there. Before that it was Zink, and long ago in Europe it was Zinchk.
But today in modern English, it just sounds "downwardly mobile." I was one of those unfortunate people saddled with a stupid last name.
For most of my time growing up I didn't think much about it. But the older I got, the further I developed my writing skills and awareness of words and language, the more I put myself on the firing line and asserted my authority, the more I disliked my own name.
Whenever I would meet someone and shake their hand, I would wince just a little in the back of my mind.
Marshall is my mother's maiden name. I have a bunch of aunts, uncles and cousins who are Marshalls. My grandfather was Robert Burns Marshall, named after the Scottish poet Robert Burns.
I liked Marshall a lot.
When I quit my job I realized this was the one and only one time to make a name change. My inner procrastinator tried to maintain the status quo, but I thought, "I am NOT sticking Cuyler with this name. I'm going to the trouble and changing it for good."
I remember questioning whether I have the authority to change my own name. My Uncle Glenn said, "Don't you tell Granddaddy. He'll throw a hissy fit!!!"
I filled out the paperwork and went to court with a petition to change the names of our entire family. My kids were running around in the back of the court room.
The judge looked over his bifocals at me and said, "Mr. Sink, why do you want to change your name?"
"Your Honor, because it's better to be a sheriff than a kitchen appliance."
He says, "I'm not going to touch that." And signs the piece of paper.
From that day forward I liked myself better. Perry Sink = dislike. Perry Marshall = LIKE.
I suddenly felt different about shaking someone's hand; different about being an author; different about being an influential person.
I know LOTS of people who have changed their names. Many of them close friends.
John McGee used to be John Fancher. He didn't like it so he changed it.
Nate Jennison used to be Nate Tribble. He didn't like it so he changed it.
If you don't like something about YOUR identity, you get to change it. You're not stuck. You get to decide who you want to be.
The advent of Google ads came at the exact same time as my name change. And I can assure you that had I split tested
Beat the AdWords System
Access 100 million people in 10 min
The definitive fast start guide
www.perrysink.com/adwords
against
Beat the AdWords System
Access 100 million people in 10 min
The definitive fast start guide
www.perrymarshall.com/adwords
I know 1000% which one is going to win.
Before online advertising and social media, the average person didn't give much thought to the impact of a single word or phrase.
We sure do now.
Names are everything. Identities are everything. If I had kept the old identity, I would NOT be where I am today.
What do YOU want to change about who you are or how you show up?
You get to decide.
Perry Marshall
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