Do you Have ‘Mark’ on Your Payroll?

I started working at what is now known as Infusionsoft about six months after Scott and Eric Martineau began developing custom software for small businesses. Over the next year or so, we ‘founded’ Infusionsoft and began working toward out big hairy audacious goal (BHAG): to become the QuickBooks of Sales and Marketing software.

Something happened during my first week that I think is very enlightening for small business owners.

I was looking through the expenses for the prior month. I saw rent, phone, internet connection and some miscellaneous items. All of these monthly office-related expenses amounted to a couple grand. Then I saw the payroll items, including salaries for Scott, Eric, Joseph and some guy named “Mark.”

This was a surprise to me. I knew who Scott, Eric and Joseph were. They were my new partners, all of whom were taking home $2k or $3k per month (welcome to entrepreneurship!), the bare minimum to survive. And yet, this Mark guy was taking home $5K per month — and I had never seen him in the office. I saw the blood, sweat and tears from Scott, Eric and Joseph every day. And I was now a part of this hard-working, under-compensated partnership. As I looked over the expenses, I was feeling like Mark needed to at least show up to the office — where the heck was he?

I went over to the guys and asked who Mark is and why is he making more money than each of us. They said, “Oh, that’s our marketing budget.”

From the very beginning of this business, we have invested in marketing. Not just when cash was flowing. Not just when we needed a shot in the arm. And not just when the market was booming. We set the money aside every month, before paying ourselves or any other expenses, and put the marketing budget to work for us. And that disciplined practice has been the single most important ingredient in the growth of our business over the years.

I can laugh now at some of the dumb ways we invested those marketing dollars. We made a lot of mistakes. But we found a lot of successes. I learned that if you don’t invest in marketing, it’s a slow (nearly impossible) road to success.

Do you have a “Mark” on your payroll?

[Photo adapted from Looking Glass on Flickr]