Interviewing one of my hero's

 

One of my hero's

In 1991 Ralph William Perry was laid off from his job as a BBQ salesman.  Having taken the test to help a friend get a pest control license he decided that now was a good time to get into the pest control business. His family spent every evening putting out fliers trying to drum up business.  It was working but growth was slow. A couple years later Ralph’s oldest daughter was killed in a car accident. Because of the tragic incident, he was given an insurance settlement that allowed him to grow the company. 

Prior to starting the pest control business, Ralph started a newspaper and a variety of other businesses.  He found them all interesting and felt like he had learned a little bit more knowledge as he operated each of them. His success was meager until he got into the pest control business.

In 2007, Ralph sold his original pest control business and temporarily retired. During this time of “retirement”, he tried operating a bookstore, growing mushrooms, growing worms, selling food at farmers markets, and operating a food cart.

Ralph currently operates a successful pest control business in North Carolina. He purchased the business roughly two years ago. After purchasing the business he put in processes to allow him to step away from the day-to-day operations.  He plans to keep the company for as long as possible and live off the regular income that it provides.

- Why is Ralph so inspiring?  

He spent years failing and succeeding but ultimately succeeding.  How inspiring is that? Can we each go through failures and then come out the other side. It is so hard to go through a failure and then get back up. It is too easy to just believe you can't do it or don't want to go through that situation again. 

Did Ralph think big?

This week we learned about thinking big. Ralph always thought big and pursued big dreams. Whenever he jumped into a business he thought about what it could become.  He rarely achieved the end results but the dream always drove him forward. 

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