How to Succeed in Business
Section II: Coming into Close Quarters
“Love, therefore, labour; if thou shouldst not want-it for food, thou mayst for physic. It is wholesome to the body, and good for the mind; it prevents the fruit of idleness.”
: — WILLIAM PENN.
“Here are six shoemakers working in one shop. One of them attends to his business; you can hear the music of his hammer late and early. He is in love, it may be, with some girl on the next street; he has made up his mind to be a man, to succeed, to make somebody else happy,to have a home; and while he is working, in his imagination he can see his own fireside, with the light falling upon the faces of wife and child. The other five gentlemen work as little as they can, spend Sunday in dissipation, have the headache on Monday, and, as a result, never advance. The industrious one, the one in love, gains the confidence of his employer, and in a little while he cuts out work for these other fellows. The first thing you know, he has a shop of his own; the next, a store, because the man of reputation, the man of character, the man of known integrity, can buy all he wishes in the United States upon credit. The next thing you know he is married, and he has built him a house, and he is happy, and his dream has been realised. After a while the same five shoemakers, having pursued the old course, stand on the corner some Sunday when he rides by. He has got a carriage; his wife sits by his side, her face covered with smiles; and they have got two children, their faces beaming with joy, and the blue ribbons are fluttering in the wind. And thereupon these five shoemakers adjourn to some neighbouring saloon, and pass a resolution that there is an irrepressible conflict between capital and labour.”
CHAPTER TI.
HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS..
A MINISTER talking about business? Exactly so. That is precisely how the case stands. I am a minister, yet I am interested in business. I not only like the pursuit of business — my belief is that every man ought to be proud of honest business. I am going to talk only to beginners, and by no means to instruct seniors and leaders. I have in view young men who are beginning business on their own account, and who want to succeed upon honourable terms. I boldly undertake to show them how to do so; and I boldly guarantee that it is impossible to fail if my instructions are thoroughly carried out.
In assuming these bold undertakings, there is one preliminary point which must be settled in my favour; viz., that you, the young business man, are fit to be a principal. I have known so many men who were excellent servants, but bad masters, that I must insist upon having the right kind of material to deal with if my miertaiaoge have to be realised.
I have before me now two brothers; the one in the employment of the other, and doing admirably as a servant. At one time he became restive, and demanded to be made a partner; he was made a partner, and from that hour he lost his balance, and made a fool of himself. He wanted ballast. So long as he was told to do certain things, and so long as he acted within well-defined limits, he succeeded admirably. He has now gone back to his brother’s service, and as a paid servant he is doing well. That is what I mean by being fit to be a principal. We cannot all be masters. Many a man must say plainly to himself, “I was meant to be a servant and not a master, and I accept my lot without complaining, and by God’s daily help T will make the best of it.” Do learn, my young friend, to talk plainly to yourself. Whoever may tell you lies, never tell yourself any. Know your height and weight and force, and never suppose that wheels are wings, or that elevenpence halfpenny is the same thing as a shilling. Many a man has been ruined by supposing that a guinea a week was three and sixpence a day.
Now that we understand one another so far, let us begin. The bargain is that you are fit to be a principal, and that I have to show you how to succeed as a man of business,
Just before going down to the City I must see how you are dressed. I don’t care about your clothes being fine, but I do care about them being clean. Your clothes must be well brushed, and you must brush them yourself. Mind that. I should think none the worse of you if, for the first two years of your business life, you had to blacken and brighten your own boots. Whether you do or not, I must ask you not to put that ring on your finger, but to leave it at home. After you have made your position, you may do what you please about wearing rings; but until you have made it, the ring must lie in the most inaccessible drawer. I know it cost only nine and sixpence, and that is one of my reasons for having it taken off. I know also that it was given to you, and that is another reason for dropping it. What do you want with a ring? You will look at it now and then, and so time will be wasted; others may want to look at it, and thus more time may be thrown away. Put it off, put it off at once, forget where you laid it, and, when you are worth ten thousand pounds, I will give you leave to put it on again. Then there is a walking-cane which I must ask you to leave behind until you have made your position. After you have made your position, you may have a walking-cane in each hand, if you
like; but until you have made it, put the cane E away. I am particularly anxious about this, because I have so often noticed that a young man with a silver-headed cane almost invariably goes to town on the top of an omnibus. Now, let me ask you, what can be the possible use of a walking-cane in such a position? The absurdity of the thing is palpable. But I will not consent to your riding to town; you must walk every inch of the way, and walk without a stick or cane! You will say that the ride costs only threepence. That is a mistake. It costs threepence back. Sixpence a day is three shillings a working week, and three shillings a week would buy a small library in the course of a year. If you think you have not time to walk, get up an hour earlier, and you will have no further difficulty. Another thing, if you please, before you start to the City, there must be no smoking on the road! After you have made your position, you. will be out of my hands; but until you have made it, I must put your pipe out. Show me a young business man on the top of an omnibus, with a walking-cane and a cigar in his mouth, going to business, and I will show you a man against whom the chances are infinite that he is on his way to bankruptcy. Whether you ride or walk, you must not smoke on your way to business. If you do, you must at once leave my school, and I will be no longer responsible for your business education. That you will drink on the road I will not allow to be possible. Drink! Then farewell business, because farewell clearness of mind, steadiness of nerve, force of will, and moral self-respect. Here we are, then, so far; clean, walking out early, and with the mind set in the attitude of unbroken attention.