From Getting Fired to Fired Up! This is a Story About Resilience

Have you ever been fired from a job? I know I have. As a matter of fact, I was fired by the same guy twice from the same company. But I learned some really good lessons along the way. Well, today we are in for a real treat because our guest, Dr. Marie Cosgrove, is going to be sharing how she not only got fired from a particular company, but ended up buying the whole company a few years later. Welcome to becoming wiser with Dr. Robert.

A. Rohm, author and world renowned public speaker, as he shares stories involving his experiences and lessons learned in a good, spirited, positive and fun way.

Here's Dr. Robert A. Rohm. Hi, I'm Dr. Robert Rome. I want to welcome you to this week's podcast where we're featuring Dr. Marie Cosgrove. She and I are good friends. We are both in the same field of motivational speaking, writing books, being an entrepreneur, being involved in business, and trying to help other people grow through their challenges. Marie is probably one person who has more resilience and more determination than anybody I've ever met. And I'm just so glad she's on our call today. You're in for a real treat. This is Dr. Marie Cosgrove. Welcome, Marie. How are you today?

I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me on your podcast.

You're so welcome. Well, listen, let's just jump right in and talk about it. You were trying your best to be a good person and to live your life and get a job and make money and raise your kids, and your whole world fell apart. Why don't you tell us a little bit about it?

Yeah, it was very interesting because I was doing such a great job in sales and I really thought I was going to get a promotion. When I get a call from the VP and he says, I'm going to meet you for dinner. I had never met one of the owners in person, so for them to come into town to meet with me, I thought it was a big deal and I thought I was going to get a promotion because they kept telling me what a great job I was doing. So we went out to dinner, and when we're out at dinner, he passed the sheet of paper over to me after he's been praising me. And that day I had just closed Baylor University and University of Texas. So that was a big, big deal. So I opened the paper and I read it and it had a number on it. Salary, $150,000 a year. Now, that may sound like a really great number, and it is. It is actually good. However, I was making more than that in commissions every month or every other month. And so my heart sank because I couldn't accept that. I had four children. I was a single mom. Dad lost parental rights due to domestic violence, and I had a lot of medical expenses for my kids. So I looked at that and said, I'm sorry, I can't accept this offer. I will stay under the financial arrangements we have now. And he says, no, you don't understand. You can't say no to this. You have to accept the offer or you're fired. But what he didn't understand is that I was traveling with my four kids everywhere I went, all across the country, I was traveling with them. And there's no way I could afford to travel with my kids to buy their supplies for school on that kind of income and pay for their healthcare needs because I did not have insurance. I said no. And they said, well, then you're fired. And in fact, we don't even want you to show up for the clients that you just closed, don't even show up for the training.

So I guess that sets you back just a little bit. Did you pick up a knife and throw it at him, or did you start crying? What did you. How did you handle that kind of news in a restaurant? I guess he wanted you in a public place for a reason.

I just. I guess I didn't really process it until I left. And it really hurt so much. And I remember going to one of my clients who I had met through this job, and we had become very good friends. And I told him what happened, and he says, this is the best day of your life. And I said, what do you mean it's the best day of my life? How am I going to take care of my four kids? You don't understand. I don't have child support. I don't have no one to turn to. To. I didn't really have family. My mom, she had brain damage. I didn't have a dad. I don't have a dad. So I had no one to turn to. And he said, well, why don't you just start your own company? And I just looked at him like, how am I going to do that? I don't know how to do that. He goes, sure you do. And that's exactly what I ended up doing. I ended up starting my own company. And then I was able to scale it to the point where I got the attention of the company that fired me. And one of the owners contacted me and said, are you interested in investing? I contacted My accountant. And I asked him, will you do evaluation for me to see if this is worth investing into? So we flew to the headquarters and we looked at the numbers, and he says, look at the numbers. And they looked really good during certain years. So I thought, you know, the numbers have kind of tailored down, so I thought, I can turn this back around. And. And he says, no, no, you don't understand. The years that they did the best, you did 83% of the sales. So then I decided, I don't want to just invest. I want to buy the company. So after six months of negotiations, I ended up buying the company that fired me.

Wow. That had to be a real jolt to everyone's system that you, first of all, were doing 83% of the sales of the company. And then when you first realized that you. You didn't want to be an investor, you wanted to be an owner. Yet if I heard you correctly, you had never bought a business before or even knew how to run a business. Is that correct?

Right. I mean, I had started a business from scratch, and. But this is totally different. And so this was a completely new experience for me. And I did feel, you know, I've heard this imposter syndrome. It actually is a real thing. And I actually had that where I felt that I didn't really belong because my employees were one, the board that had fired me, two. And at the time, I didn't have a PhD at engineers, so I felt inadequate managing them. But I got past that. I ended up investing in myself, and I also ended up giving the employees ownership into the business. What my fear was that they would leave. I didn't want them to leave because then, you know, I wouldn't know how to run the business because really, you need an entire team, and you do need all these experts to run the type of business. Manufacturing company that. That I was running. Yeah.

So I'm just curious. People probably listening today wondering, what kind of business were you in to be making that kind of commissions? I mean, you're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars. And so I know if I were listening to this today, and I didn't know you, I would think, my goodness, what kind of business was she involved in to be making that kind of commission?

So I was selling devices for different modalities. One of the devices was for pain management, and that machine was $150,000. Then we had some machines that were $30,000, $35,000 or $42,000. So your commission generally in healthcare is generally going to run between 20 to 35%. Most people would sell one machine and do nothing for a couple of months. I was selling four to six machines every single month because I was hustling, because I had four kids. I had four hungry kids. And so that's. They. They actually used to joke around. They used to say, how do you do so well in sales? And I used to say, well, I just don't feed my kids, make sure they're hungry. I take them to the doctor's office, make sure they're not wearing shoes, make sure they're filthy. And I tell the doctor, if you don't buy, they don't eat, and they need new shoes. And I used to say it like that, just.

Because the book was, where did you find her? And they used to joke around and used to say, we found her by the river, and she was begging for money, and she had her four kids, and we cleaned her up, put a suit on her, taught her English, and she learned English really fast. And I said, yes, I did. And I got new juice for my kids. And so it was just like a joke that I played along with.

Well, I know that's funny, and it is silly. I'm glad you can laugh about it. And I really think laughter and humor take the edge off of some of the pain that we experience. But nevertheless, it was true that you were, in your words, you were hustling. You were trying your best to make sure that you were getting sales complete. And Zig Ziglar used to say this. I remember hearing Zig say, poor salesmen have skinny children. And, you know, we laugh about that a little bit, but the truth of the matter is your back was up against the wall, and you really didn't have anywhere else to go or anything else to do. Looking back on that, do you think that's a good thing?

Well, it's not a good thing to be in that situation, but I think it is a good thing to have that determination to do whatever it takes to take care of your family. I think that's important. And I think if you have a family, you have children, you should do whatever it takes to make sure family's taken care of. So I think that the determination is a good thing situation may not have been so good.

That's great answer, because we don't really get to pick our situations. The challenges of life aren't necessarily something we want. Instead of us finding them, they tend to find us. You have such resilience. You know, you're like the Energizer Bunny. And I love your happy heart and your big smile. You know, we've done events together. You, me, Nick Boic in South Texas. I was watching you speak on a stage in a school auditorium to a bunch of high school kids. We have a lot of young people that listen to our podcast. What would you say to a young person who hasn't found their way, doesn't have any money, don't know what they want to do with their life, and yet they're willing to listen to someone like you or me who is down the road a little further? What would you say to them to keep them motivated to stay in school, learn, listen, and try to figure out how to make their life work better?

One thing I do know is that every single person has value. And every single person has. There's a reason and a purpose for you being alive. And I will just share with you a little bit about my background. So growing up, I was born to a mentally disabled single mom. She had brain damage. She was in a car accident before I was born. And I have no father. I won't get into all of the details, but growing up I had very low self confidence. And my point is this. It doesn't matter where you come from. I've come to learn that I do have value and I do have a purpose and so do you. Every single person does. And we are also uniquely made. And I don't think it's ever been more evident than it is today how special and how unique every single person is because the evidence is all around us now, especially with technology. You know, I call my bank and they do voice recognition because nobody has the same voice you do. Nobody has the same voice box, the same eyes, the same fingerprint, the same face shape. Everybody is unique and they'll never be another one of you. And then once you learn to accept who you are, and I think one of the biggest setbacks is comparison, comparing yourself to others, because that's what I would do. I don't have a father, I don't have a mother, I don't have a normal family. And I would look at all the kids and I would see how to me, it was like their perfect little family. And I've come to realize that life doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful. Despite the challenges you may be facing or going through or you may. Everybody's going to face challenges. And the best thing you can do is learn to accept yourself, who you are in the talents that you have. Every single person has talents. And if you think you don't have talent. Why? You write down 10 things you're good at. And it may be hard, but there are things that you're good at. Don't compare yourself with anybody else, because we tend to do that, oh, that person is a great singer. I can't sing. And then you put yourself down. But there are things you can do that other people can't do. So don't compare yourself to other people. Write down what those 10 things are that you are good at. And once you realize and you embrace your strengths, then you can walk in confidence, knowing that you are uniquely you, you have value, and you have purpose.

Well, that's so good. I remember reading this story about a gentleman who, when he was younger, felt like he really didn't have much talent and he really didn't have much ability. And he was looking for a job, and he was trying his best to try to find something he could do in life. And he. He said, really, the only thing I was really good at was drawing pictures of little, little mice. And most people remember the name Walt Disney. That's how he got his start drawing pictures of mice. And most of us remember that. You know, all of we now remember Disney World and Disneyland, because Walt Disney got his start drawing pictures of little mice running around all over the place. Amazing story. Well, I do think also you said something that really touched a nerve in my heart. And that's this whole idea of the difference between how we start and how we finish. You know, I'm a. I'm a person of faith. I know you're a person of faith as well. And I have. Over the years, I have read the Bible from COVID to cover, and I've discovered there's not one word in it about our beginning as far as the value of how we got here. There have been people that have gotten here really in style, and there have been people who've gotten here really in trouble. But the whole emphasis is on how we leave. You know, my friend Mark Gorman says eternity is the wrong thing to be wrong about. So I recognize that you and I, as people of faith, we don't walk into a business or anything that we do with trying to wear that on our sleeve. But it is important. How has your faith sustained you during your difficult moments?

Well, I think it's the only thing that has sustained me because growing up, I. I knew my grandmother had faith that I didn't really grow up going to church. And it was when I got older where I really came to understand my faith. And you're right. You read the Bible from beginning to end. Nowhere does it talk about you. It's all about Him. It's all about Jesus Christ and what he did for you. But what he did for you is so powerful. I remember sitting at the counselor's office when I was a teenager. I had gone through some horrific trauma no kid should ever go through. And the counselor said, what you have gone through, Jesus Christ felt on his shoulders. And Jesus Christ came to Earth to live as a human being so that you can have that freedom and you don't have to carry that shame and you don't have to carry that guilt and you don't have to feel bad about what happened to you, because God forgives you. And he removes that shame. He takes away the shame. He takes away the guilt. And he did it for everybody. The person who hurt you and you who've been hurt, because he has felt it. And I just cried, realizing, wow, my birth certificate hits blank where it says Father, but I have a father in heaven who loved me so much that he came to this earth. He lived a life, a perfect life as a human. Experience every pain we've ever experienced, every emotion we have ever felt. He felt that. And then he lived a perfect life so that we can have what we don't deserve if he paid that price he didn't deserve. And so for me, that realization of what Jesus Christ did for me, and you're right, that's what the Bible says. It's what he did. When you. We read about King David and Goliath, and we always say, wow, King David was a hero. The hero was God. The hero was Jesus Christ, who actually gave him the strength to overcome Goliath. And that's what the stories are about. So when we're going through the struggle, it's not like, watch me, I'm the hero. I'm going to do this. No, watch what God can do. Jesus is the hero. And you know what? You don't have to worry about it because he's got it taken care of.

You know, that's. That's so true. People ask me a lot. You know, how did you start a company? And how did you get to know Zig Ziglar? And how did you travel around the world? And I didn't have a plan for any of it. The truth of the matter is I try to stay rightly related to my heavenly father and ask for guidance day by day. Again, you and I, we're having this, this podcast and, and we're talking about this as two believers And I know there are a lot of people who would listen to this to say, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's all right. That's good for you. But I'm not a very religious person, and the truth of the matter is, I'm not a very religious person either. I know that a relationship with God is not religion, is relationship. And so I'm just so grateful for you and your willingness to let go of the past. Somebody said that being bitter and angry is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die. And that doesn't do anyone any good at all. But listen, I do want to ask you this. What. What's going on now? I mean, you're very successful. You've got a business. Your kids are fed, they're grown, most of them, and you kind of got your feet on the ground. What's going on in your life now? What are you doing and what occupies most of your time?

So I'm doing a lot of speaking now. In fact, I'm going to be speaking this Friday for the YMCA Prayers Breakfast. And I also do mentorship, so I mentor other businesses, and I do consulting for them as well. And that's what I've been spending my time lately since I took your speaking program, which I love, the Speakers Boot Camp. And I would not be speaking the audiences I speak to if I had not taken your course, Dr. Rome, because I've spoken to audiences from, like, kindergarten to veterans all in the same room, and I've been able to keep the attention of the entire audience, and that's all because I learned from your program.

Well, you're very kind. We do have a speaker's bootcamp, and if people want to know that information, they can go to Personality Insights and find out about our Speakers Bootcamp. But beginning to wrap this up, I know that you wrote a book, and the book has all about the essential lessons that you learned from all of the challenges you went through. Tell us you have a book there you can hold up and show us. Tell us a little bit about that greater fortune. Essential Lessons from the Entrepreneur who Bought the Company that Fired her. What. What was it like writing that book?

So I didn't just like you. It just came to me. I wasn't looking to write a book. And Nick Wojcick, he's like, you have to write a book. You need to write a book. So he connected me with somebody to help me get started. But by the time we connect, I had already written it all out. But what I wanted to do was create lessons for the. For the reader. So it's just not my story, but it helps to guide you and how to overcome certain situations and difficulties so that you can become more resilient and you too can have greater fortune. And I'm able to share a little bit more about my background and strategies that you can use in business and your personal life.

I love the way the book has exercises and that you can do at the end of the chapters and create some like personal application to what you've read. And the book's an easy read. You write just like you talk. And I would really suggest if someone wanted to learn more about overcoming challenges, that they certainly get a copy of your book and read it. And so you're going to be speaking at the prayer breakfast coming up on Friday. And then I also know you and myself and BK Semendic are going to be doing a training in Cancun, Mexico where somebody could come spend a week with us. We not only do the training as three different individuals, but we spend a lot of one on one time coaching that people would not even have to pay for. It's just all included in the event in Cancun. You've been to those, we've done those in the past together and they always are just a great, great time. Well, in wrapping this up, what would you say to the person who's listening and to you or to me and said, well, you're just lucky, or you got some lucky breaks or you just happen to meet the right people? I know your story. I know that it's horrific. I know that instead of getting the lucky breaks, you got bad breaks. I also know there were automobile accidents. There was things that you did not deserve nor ask for. But like the old saying goes, what don't kill you can make you better. So how have all those things that didn't kill you made you better? And how would you share that with someone today who's listening, how to turn their lemons into lemonade and how to look at life and make things better?

Well, I do believe that out of adversity we do experience the most beautiful miracles in life. I really do believe that. And a lot of times what we end up doing, instead of looking at the opportunity, we look at the adversity. And oh my, I know life is hard. Life is not easy. And I get annoyed. There are some people out there who say if you only do this one thing, you'll never have a problem again in your life. And that's so not true. This is what I love about your podcast is that you're actually giving people strategies on how to deal with those challenges. Because I don't care who you are, you're going to run across challenges, but it's how we deal with them. And I. I don't know what you may be facing, financial relationship, health challenges or mindset challenges. I think a lot of the challenges we have is really, is it in our head. Because if you have faith, if you realize God ultimately is in control, there are certain situations you can't control. You can't control other people. You can't control some crazy person wrecks into you. It's their fault that you're going to have that bad experience. But you can control how you react to those situations. And it's all about your mindset. And for me, how I'm able to regulate my mindset is I'm able to trust in God. I'm able to submit God. I can't do this. I am going to overcome. But I know you're going to get me through this. And I don't have anything to worry about because I know he has my soul. So what am I worried about? I'm not. I know this is only temporary. So I just hope that you find that your value, your worth, and know that you will get through this. And that's what I love about your podcast, because then I think everybody should continue listening to it because they're going to get all the wisdom and all the nuggets they need to overcome those challenges.

Well, you're very, very kind. My mentor passed away last year. He was 85 years old. And one of the things he used to say is, always remember this life is just the dress rehearsal. The real show is yet to begin. And I love that because every day, this life, we have to live by faith. When we're in heaven, we won't need faith anymore. That'll be a different time and a different place. But getting up. I read something just this week. I had never read this sentence by J.R.R. tolkien. Most people know his name because he wrote Lord of the Rings. They were huge, huge successful movies and books that he wrote the Hobbit and others. But I had never seen this, and I saw it this week. Here's what it says. Quote, it's a dangerous business going out your front door, J.R.R. tolkien and that. And I thought he just summed it all up. It's a dangerous business. And it caught my eye because I thought, what's a dangerous business? He said, it's a dangerous business going out your front door. That was the whole quote. Marie, I'm glad that you're willing to go out your front door every day. I am too. And I wish you the best. Let's just keep on keeping on. I look forward to working with you and seeing you in Cancun with all the people that will be there. If there are others who would like to join us, they'll be able to find out how to join us as well. Any parting words?

It's been my honor. And remember, life doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful.

I love that. Thank you, Marie. God bless you. I'm Dr. Robert Rome. Thank you for being on this week's podcast. I know you got something out of it. It was a blessing to me and I hope a blessing and encouragement to you. Thank you so much. Bye Bye.

For more information about this podcast, please visit www.becomingwiserpodcast.com.