_OTHER CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS._
It does not follow, however, that a good moral or religious character by
itself will ensure success in the business of life; one must have certain
well-known qualifications and habits, and the reputation of possessing
them.
1. Reputation. Probably it stands next to character, if a young man
is to depend upon others for help in his work. Character is what one
is in himself and before God; reputation is what others take him to
be. A bad reputation certainly blocks the way to success. A good name
among business men is the equivalent of capital. Every young man who is
starting in business for himself must rely upon older men to help him
on his way. They have watched others closely. They have seen successive
generations of young men come to the front, and climb the hill of
difficulty till they have reached positions of safety and honor, or go
down to the abyss of dishonor and misery. In a word, watching others
closely they have accumulated facts that make it easy for them to
forecast the future of younger men with marvelous certainty. They are as
sensitive to the outward appearance and the known or suspected habits of
those who approach them for favors in trade as mercury to the changes
of temperature. No young man can afford to have the reputation of being
extravagant, or reckless, or mean, or untrue to his word. He cannot even
appear to be such without danger to his credit, on which to so large an
extent, as business is done, success must depend.
An acquaintance of my own came to the city a youth without capital. He
was honest, frugal, industrious, and of firm will. Having begun business
in a small way, and mostly on credit, he was invited by a friend—after
business hours—to ride beyond the limits of the city behind a fast horse
and with a fine turn-out. He accepted the invitation, but found the
pleasure of the ride reduced to a minimum by the tormenting thought that
he might be seen by some of the men who had given him credit.
In a new firm, with very large capital, one of the younger partners
secretly bought a horse. A senior partner learning the fact quietly
informed him by letter that his early extravagance would hurt the
reputation of the house.
It may be a hit at our times, but I have seen it stated that business men
sometimes inquire of persons seeking advanced positions whether they have
already supplied themselves with such trifles as elegant jewelry and fast
horses, hardly daring to risk employing them if these things are yet to
be secured.
It remains a truth that needs to be made very emphatic that young men
laying their plans for success in business, whether as subordinates or
principals, must look well to their reputation.
Are they given to billiards? There are many reasons why they would do
well to limit their indulgence. Of one thing at least they cannot afford
to make light: conservative men older and wiser than themselves, on
whose favor they must depend for a while at least, look with distrust on
young men who indulge largely in this game, and especially in not very
reputable places.
A young man drinks beer, wine, whisky or brandy with his dinner. This
habit will grow upon him. His young blood needs no quicker rush than
it has. If he gives it the force of such a stimulant when he is young
he will be old before his time, and never enjoy the full confidence of
men with whom he wishes to stand well and without whose favor he cannot
succeed. He may not spend half his income in extravagance but other
people cannot be sure of this, and he has need both to deserve and keep
their confidence. Credit is the equivalent of reputation. It may be hurt
by not saving at the outset and increasing capital. In that case one
must pay more for goods than men who have better credit. Or he may not
be able to buy at all of men who know him well and have the goods he
needs. Then he must buy of others goods that will not suit his customers;
and so his lack of credit or loss of reputation will bring him to speedy
grief. The first bad year in the business would leave him like a vessel
that hardly floats when the tide is at the full, but sticks fast in the
mud at the first of the ebb.
2. Another condition of success is diligence. Mark the word. It is
not the precise equivalent of industry. It implies choice, selection,
delight. One needs to have true delight and enthusiasm in his business.
Therefore the great importance of choosing wisely at the outset. We pity
men and women who in their babyhood had inflicted upon them fanciful
names, but this is nothing to the blunder of putting a son to a business
in which through his whole life he can take no delight. His only relief
is to set himself, with all possible energy and enterprise, to lift his
business, supposing it to be right in itself, up to a plane so high that
he can sincerely rejoice in his achievement, as very difficult to make
but of great worth when it is made.
Diligence supposes a fixed purpose and constancy of effort, as well as
enthusiastic devotion. When Isaac Rich trundled his wheelbarrow from
the oyster-boat in Boston to the market-place three miles off, having
invested all his worldly goods in what was before him, there was light
in his eye and warmth in his heart though the day had not dawned. He was
a poor young man from Cape Cod. He had made choice of his business for
life. I do not know how long he followed it behind the barrow. Years ago
he gave a million and three quarters of dollars to found a college in
the city that itself yielded this treasure to his diligence and thrift.
“The hand of the diligent maketh rich.” “Seest thou a man diligent in his
business? He shall stand before kings. He shall not stand before mean
men.” Let young men bind these divine proverbs upon their foreheads, and
write them where they can be seen, as rules of their business lives.
3. Another condition of success is force, or energy. This comes often by
heredity, transmitted from parent to child. In any case it is a precious
gift, a great talent, for the right use of which every one receiving it
must give account. From it, as a reserve power, one may draw at will
to push on any work in which he takes delight. Call it the magnetic or
electric power of the will, if you please. It may be like the same subtle
fluid in destructive flash, or like it in the crisp air of a winter’s
day, nerving one for almost tireless effort.
4. It may seem almost superfluous to add to the list of personal
qualities conditioning success in business the quality of competency. It
may be said to include all that have been already noticed, and all that
a business man needs. It is the state of being competent or adequate
for what one has to do to win success. It supposes that in theory and
practice he has acquired fitness for his calling. The theory he must get
by careful observation of everything connected with his business, by
conversation with others, older and, it may be, wiser and more gifted
than himself; by carefully reading what is current, and what is past,
bearing upon the work he has in hand, and by much thought of his own.
He may then be able to reach conclusions far in advance of any dreamed
of by the heedless. He studies fabrics, woods, metals, fruits, sugars,
teas, coffees, markets, finance, men. So he grows in mental power and the
consciousness of it. He commands an increasing influence among business
men, and learns how to expend the force that urges him on to larger and
better ventures in trade.
But he must have practice with theory; habits of doing as well as
thinking. This he can accomplish only by putting his own hand to the
work, as a child learns to write, or to master the key-board of a piano.
The men who take the lead of affairs, whatever they lack, are sure to
have a most minute and entire knowledge of their branch of business; such
a knowledge as can be got only by taking hold and doing every part of it.
Young men should see things with their own eyes, and touch and fashion
things with their own hands. With character, and reputation and diligence
and force and competency, in all ordinary circumstances they can make a
business for themselves. If they have little money and live within their
means they will find it growing on their hands fast enough for their
good. If they go largely on credit they will be in danger when a panic
comes. Let a young man keep safely within due limits, be content with
moderate gains, ask of the Lord “a prudent wife,” and take his place
among the true and strong men of the land and the world.