Part 12

Do not ride when you can walk. You need exercise and walking is the best and cheapest method, much cheaper and better than the bowling alley.

Don’t buy two pounds of meat when one pound will do; nor a bushel when a peck is sufficient.

The first fruits and vegetables of the season are expensive; wait a few days and they will be cheaper and more mature.

_Quick Sales and Small Profits_

Our modern system of transacting business has so materially changed from what it was a decade or so ago, that a special training is required to make a success.

Theoretically, the difference between the cost price and the selling price represents profit. But it often represents loss.

If goods could be delivered at your place of business at the invoice or purchase price, the selling price might cover some profit. But complications begin as soon as you have made a purchase.

There is transportation, insurance, demurrage, haulage, rent, light, heat, clerk hire, taxes, and perhaps license fees, to be added to the burden of the cost price.

With such, and so many additional charges, how can there be any profit, if the goods are sold customers at a fair price that will attract them?

There is only one way to cover possible loss and that is in getting rid of the goods at a small profit. If you do not, depreciation enters the field to compete with the other troubles, and with handling, dust, mussing, etc., you will have to put up a sign “Selling below cost,” or “Bargain Sale.”

A quick turn is the best turn in business, and to hold on to a price until you get a fixed profit you have determined on, is like refusing a good job because the wages or salary is lower than you have calculated upon getting. The opportunity slips away.

A landlord demands a certain rent for his premises and he will not come down a dollar a month. So his property is untenanted for a long time, and he loses in pocket although eventually he gets his price.

Make quick turns at small profits and repeat often. Nickel car fares are making the car companies multi-millionaires.

_The Early Bird Gets the Worm_

This is a saying that contains a large load of philosophy.

There is always a worm around for an early bird to pick up for breakfast. Of course it is very foolish for the worm to come out, but that is the way things are in this world.

What you have to do is to play the part of the bird by getting there first. To carry out the idea, remember that you are not the only bird after the foolish worm.

This means hustle on your part, and that is what every business must show—hustle.

In any event do not be the worm.

You watch the markets and take advantage of every fall in prices. Perhaps there is a small telegram in an out of the way place in your morning newspaper, which intimates that there is going to be a large shipment to market of potatoes, peaches, cabbages and so on. Down you go and put in an order at a small price and you get the product. Or, you have a lot on hand and a glut will lower prices. Up you get and down you go to sell out your lot at less than the market rates to those who have not yet seen the approach of a glut.

You do not have to wait for breakfast or for anything—just travel and hustle.

The weather report mentions a probable frost. Down you go and mark up the product likely to be affected. Everybody—every early bird is doing it, and it is the custom of business men to do this.

The worm picked up by the early bird is the man who says “Pooh! I don’t believe there is going to be any glut or any frost.”

This is a mighty big country and things are coming and going all the time. There is a big production and it is crowded to the point where there is liable to be a frost—that is a deficiency in the market, and then you have a glut. Keep your eyes and ears open and watch the market reports.

OPEN A SAVINGS BANK ACCOUNT

If you ever hope to be considered a thrifty citizen, a man to be looked up to, you must exhibit some financial standing.

You can do this by opening a savings bank account. A man who has a bank account is never ignored, whether his account is large or small. It means something substantial, and you feel more like holding up your head and looking at the sun without a smoked glass.

Many people save their money, or think they do, by hiding it away in the bottom of a trunk, burying it, or carrying it around in their pocket. These people generally lose their money because it is as easily accessible to others as well as to themselves.

Banks are safe institutions at the present day, but not a bank run by private parties for their own benefit. You must not be deceived by glowing promises of returns on your money, for they always come from those who are scheming to get it away from you without returning it.

There are all sorts of tricky people roaming about looking for those who have a little money saved up and who are afraid to put it into a savings bank. Do not listen to them for you will be deceived. You can not take up a newspaper without reading about some man or woman who has been defrauded of the little money hoarded in a tea pot, or burned up in an old stove, dug up from some secret hiding place under a tree, or picked from his pocket by an enterprising thief.

Trust your money to first-class savings banks and it will be there when you want it, and it can not be lost or stolen. The bank is responsible.

“Some banks burst.” True, but not a good bank, the shady ones always fail when they get a good sized roll.

If you do not know enough to put your money in a safe place, you do not deserve to have any, and you generally do not.

SAVE YOUR MONEY AND MAKE IT WORK FOR YOU

There is one open opportunity that everybody can take if he wishes to do so, and with very little exertion on his part.

The man who makes his money earn money for him relieves his own back of many heavy burdens.

To do this is the object and aim of every go ahead person, and there are many men who walk our streets who have money making money for them, even while they sleep.

All you have to do is to save your dollars instead of giving them away for somebody else to work with—work them yourself.

It is worth knowing that when you squander, or spend unnecessarily, one dollar, you are at the same time parting with a servant that will bring you in profitable returns—you are killing the goose that lays golden eggs.

Stop and think that whenever you part with one dollar you are sacrificing two or more dollars, some say, five or ten, for the reason that in the course of a few years, your dollar will earn you several other dollars by being put out at interest, or in bonds that pay good rates of interest.

It is a comforting thought to know that when you can not work, your money is working for you every moment.

The following tables will show you just what it does:

TIME IN WHICH MONEY DOUBLES.

═════════╤════════════════╤════════════════ Per Cent │ SIMPLE INT. │ COMP. INT. ─────────┼────────────────┼──────────────── 2 │50 years │35 years 2½ │40 years │28 yrs. 26 da. 3 │33 yrs. 4 mos. │23 yrs. 164 da. 3½ │28 yrs. 208 da. │20 yrs. 54 da. 4 │25 years │17 yrs. 246 da. 4½ │22 yrs. 81 da. │15 yrs. 273 da. 5 │20 years │14 yrs. 75 da. 6 │16 yrs. 8 mos. │11 yrs. 327 da. 7 │14 yrs. 104 da. │10 yrs. 89 da. 8 │12½ years │9 yrs. 2 da. 9 │11 yrs. 40 da. │8 yrs. 16 da. 10 │10 years │7 yrs. 100 da. ─────────┴────────────────┴────────────────

=A Dollar Saved Is a Dollar Earned=

A small sum saved daily for fifty years will grow at the following rate:

DAILY SAVINGS RESULT One cent $ 950 Ten cents 9,504 Twenty cents 19,006 Thirty cents 28,512 Forty cents 38,015 Fifty cents 47,520 Sixty cents 57,024 Seventy cents 66,528 Eighty cents 76,032 Ninety cents 85,537 One Dollar 95,041

BECOME A LAND OWNER

From the material point of view, there is nothing on this earth that leads to so much success, security, and social standing as the ownership of land.

By owning land you become a landlord, and you gain that opportunity by thrift and economy.

Land is the soundest investment in the world, and it has always been one of the great objects and hopes of the people of the earth to own a small slice of its surface.

If you own land, you acquire a sense of responsibility to the community where it is located. You are invested with a dignity which you can not obtain in any other way. You possess a sense of security and independence that nothing else will give you.

All over the world it is land which is considered first security. In this country, the courts refuse money or jewels for bail, insisting upon land as the requirement of the bond.

The reason is because land is a fixture; means security that can not be carried away or be lost, it is always there when it is wanted.

Buy land, therefore, if only a small portion. If you can not get forty acres, get twenty, or ten, or one, but get some land, and you will be surprised to find how fast your acre will become two, etc.

There are always opportunities to buy land on time, so that you do not have to wait until you have a large sum of money, but you can pay in small amounts on long time.

It is a good business that of real estate. You buy land, then subdivide it, sell a part to pay for the whole, and own the rest. It is a common, every day transaction, and is successful, but you must keep your eyes open.

OWN YOUR OWN HOME

A man without a home may as well be a man without a country. A home is bail for success in life. Not a mere place to live and sleep, or eat and get your washing done, but a home of your own, what an Englishman calls his “castle.” Yours where you are safe from intruders, and feel like a king in his own domain.

It is easy to acquire a home, but you must begin at the beginning and do as all others have done and will always do. Buy the beginning of a home with what you can easily save out of your earnings or wages.

The way to do is to buy a small lot for a home, a small piece of ground upon which you can build a little cage for yourself, your dear ones, and for your posterity, or in anticipation of such an event. It pays. The man who does not dream of a posterity is not a good citizen, a good friend, nor a safe man to deal with.

You do not have to pay out a large sum of money; a small sum to begin with will secure you a start toward a home. Paying gradually, you will soon have the ownership of a portion of this green earth, and a spot all your own. Then you can build when the ground is paid for. That is the key to a home—get a lot paid for and you can always secure a building fund.

In this way you become a real member of society, a citizen who has an interest in the way his affairs are carried on. In addition to that, you are deemed a solid citizen, a fixture, and when the time comes you are the one selected to fill an opportunity of any sort within your capacity.

DON’T BORROW MONEY FOR NEEDLESS EXPENSES

It is a common business transaction to borrow money when there are sufficient assets to justify it. But in such cases there is a regular rate of interest fixed by law as payment for the use of the money borrowed. You can not risk any other than the legal rate of interest, if you do you are taking unwarranted risks, and subjecting yourself to the yoke of a loan shark, out of whose clutches you can never emerge without tremendous sacrifices, often ruin.

Money borrowed to speculate with is a heavy and dangerous burden on the borrower. When he loses, he not only has nothing to show for his folly, but is goaded into borrowing more in the hope of making good his loss. Once in the toils, he will not stop until ruined financially—perhaps morally. If he wins he will still pursue the phantom fortune on borrowed money and lose finally. Speculation is a gamble with the odds against you.

In speculations, “Neither a borrower nor a lender be.”

If you have to borrow money to complete or perfect some transaction or business deal, or to carry you through, or tide yourself over some delay, you can always get it at the regular rate of interest, provided you have reputation, and security. But do not mortgage your clothes, furniture, etc., for anything but an absolutely necessary loan.

Remember always, that money borrowed and spent is a hardship to return unless you have the wherewith in the way of business to make good.

If you worked half as hard to get money for your own pocket as you do to repay a loan, you never would need to borrow.

ESTABLISH A REPUTATION FOR YOURSELF

To get along successfully in business, or in any other occupation, for that matter, every man must establish a reputation for himself.

Indeed, reputation is the basis of credit; it is his first and best capital with which to make a start in life.

Of course, the reputation meant is a good reputation, and not one that is open to question.

A man may have a reputation as a fighter, a shrewd man, a tricky man, a dishonest man, and so on, but these keep him back in the life struggle, and even if he should succeed, as the wicked are often said to do, his success will be only temporary.

It is the lasting reputation for honesty and fair dealing that brings a man up to the standard of success.

Be true to your word, stand by your contracts even if you should lose an advantage, for you will regain more than you lose by your reputation.

A good reputation in small things means the acquirement of a reputation in large things. You are always gaining.

It must be borne in mind constantly, however, that a reputation is easily lost by a false step: “At every word a reputation dies.” Hence, having once gained a reputation for fairness, honesty, and squareness, do not let any small advantage or chance of gain persuade you to throw it away, for a reputation once lost will cost you years of sorrow to regain. When you have lost the good opinion of your fellow man, you may as well withdraw from their society for you will be an object of suspicion ever after.

IMPROVE PRESENT OPPORTUNITIES

If you knew that by pulling up a rope hanging down a well, you would get a rich prize, a bag of gold, or a box of diamonds, you would keep on pulling.

Now, life is nothing but pulling at something at the end of which we hope and expect to find something worth while.

What we pull at consists of a long string of opportunities, and if we let go, then we lose.

The fact is, we must improve our present opportunities, for they lead to other and better ones. Small opportunities are not to be despised for several of them make one large one which is what you are aiming at. “Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean and the beauteous land.”

Some people want to get rich immediately, and venture into all kinds of speculations to get there. These are not opportunities, they spell ruin in the end. They are the destroyers of opportunities.

An opportunity always makes good if you stick to it, but flies away from you if you neglect it.

Opportunity says to you: “Oh, well, if you do not care for my company, there are others who do,” and away it goes to the others, and then you have regrets, too late perhaps, some other man has appropriated it.

It is a common saying: “Everything comes to him who waits,” but Napoleon said: “Everything comes to him WHO KNOWS HOW to wait.” There is a vast difference.

Do you know HOW to wait, friend? If you do then you are ready to grasp opportunity when it comes your way.

Christ said: “Seek and ye shall find.” To this may be added the saying of St. Paul the great Apostle who was certainly a wise man: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” Do it now, for time flies. “The Bird of Time has but a little way to fly—and Lo! the Bird is on the Wing.”

HOW TO MAKE USE OF VALUABLE SPARE TIME

What do men do when their work for the day is over?

We are arranging things so that a man will have eight hours’ work, eight hours’ play and eight hours’ sleep. The sleep you must have or you can neither work nor play. This division of time consumes the whole day.

When we speak of eight hours’ work, we mean “work,” not dawdling.

By attending to the business you have on hand you work, and the clergymen say: “A man who labors prays.”

But what to do during the eight hours set apart for play; that is the rub. Of course everybody should understand that by “Play” is not meant dissipation, far from it. It means “recreation” of some sort that will help do the work and induce sleep.

A change of occupation is often play to some, because it gives the mind and the unused muscles a variety which is equal to rest.

A few hours of the play time devoted to improvement either of the mind or in the business we are in, will be of great benefit and result in a “raise.”

Few people want to die young, but the sure way to reach the end is to work when we should play. Labor constantly undergone, for sixteen hours every day, shortens life by about one-half. The human machine is built for so much service, and if that service is crowded into a short space of time, why then the machine gives out. Like any other machine it gives out and goes to the scrap pile.

If we play all the time, why then, the machine rusts, and gives out just the same. So if we sleep all the time, we rust and the brain gives out by inaction.

It is wise to divide the day equally as is suggested, and do something during sixteen hours, and sleep the other eight hours. This is scientific, and leads to good health, long life, and, if you do not speculate, leads to wealth, at least to a good living.

FIT YOURSELF FOR SOME TRADE OR CALLING

What do you intend to do for a living?

Plenty of time to decide that, you say for yourself or for your boy.

You deceive yourself, for there is not plenty of time. You must decide early, and educate yourself for the trade or calling you have decided to follow.

You must have some definite aim in life. Nobody can fix one for you. You know best what you can do, what you would like to do, and what sort of an education you need to do it.

Things move swiftly in these modern times, and you must decide quickly, or fall behind in the race to the life goal.

Others are treading on your heels and you must go ahead or fail out altogether, and the procession is so large, and so closely packed that you can not wedge your way in again without a hard struggle.

Do you want to be a farmer? Study farming, and everything that pertains to farm work.

Perhaps you would prefer to be a doctor. Well, then you must study for a doctor’s profession and let farming alone. If you are built for a doctor you can be one, but you should study yourself carefully and take advice on the subject.

You would rather be a lawyer? The same effort to be a doctor must be made. You can not be a lawyer just because you are bright and say funny things sometimes.

Whatever you decide to do, whether farmer, doctor, lawyer, blacksmith, carpenter, or merchant, be one or the other and do not try to straddle all of them.

A Jack of All Trades is master of none, and he is not wanted in this age of specialties. Be some one thing and be that thing for all there is in it.

WORK FOR SUCCESS WHILE YOUNG

Youth is the time to work for success.

Old age is the winter time of life and if no provision has been made to acquire a competence before that period, it will be an unhappy time, perhaps a miserable existence as the result.

Success has no tomorrow, it is always today, and if the sun of today sets upon failure, it can not be hoped that it will rise tomorrow upon success, there being nothing to cause it to do so.

There is no greater duty to be performed by man than to lay by provision for the future. Even the animals prepare for a rainy day, the worst specimens are those who neglect this instinct.

It is an instinct, the instinct of self-preservation.

Experience demonstrates, in fact, it has become an axiom of science, that after a certain age, a man is incompetent to perform his duties in as profitable a manner as before.

Some fix the age at forty years, while others say that a man has reached the fullness of his capacity at the age of fifty years.

It depends, of course, upon your employment, as to that. When a man’s occupation consists of hard physical labor, he should have acquired enough to carry him over during the rest of his life, by the time he has reached the age of fifty years.

It is certain in business and trade circles, that a man need not look for employment as a skilled laborer after the age of forty-five years.

The body wears out after years of toil, or years of idleness—which is the same thing—and the mental vigor lessens materially.

For this reason, you will become worn out before attaining success, unless you spend your time of youth in attaining it.

Opportunity for Business Life

Become a merchant, if that is your inclination, but begin in a small way and build up. You have children, then the business will be for them when they grow up and are able to help you.

The way is easy if you look around for the best opening. Pick out your neighborhood and study the wants of the people. There is always a law of demand and supply, for people want things of every description every day and every hour.

Now what does a particular neighborhood need? That is the first thing to learn. Next, what do they want? That is the second. Thirdly, how many people are there needing and wanting things? There you are with the elementary knowledge ready at hand.

Talk with a few of them and find out how they feel about a business among them within reach and with accommodations of supply and delivery.

Then begin quietly without a splurge or plunging. Go slowly, except when there is a sudden demand, then work quickly to supply that demand. Generally, however, you should work up, and put yourself in a position to be liked. You treat everybody as if you wanted to accommodate them, and they soon realize that.

You never can tell what a small beginning will lead to. If you keep your eyes open the future will unfold itself. In every locality in our cities and settled country districts, the population is increasing, in many cases by leaps and bounds. You are there and with the proper kindliness and affability you will grow with the place, and the more the population increases the greater will grow your business.

There you are, a business man, grown to be such by the force of circumstances and tact with good judgment. The business will grow still more with the help of your children.

Build Up Your Credit

By making your word as good as your bond, you are seizing an opportunity to build up your credit, and without credit you can not hope to win in the battle of life.

Pay your debts and meet all your obligations as promptly as you can, and if you can not on the specified day, come out squarely and give the reasons why.

Be frank and open with the man you owe, and while he expects you to meet your engagements according to the express letter of your contract, he recognizes the fact that in every business transaction there are accidents that prevent it.

There are always modifications of contracts, because human nature makes mistakes. The best of men do this, but they come out in a manly fashion and admit it.