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diff --git a/31494.txt b/31494.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9accc75 --- /dev/null +++ b/31494.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1080 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Young Man in Business, by Edward W. Bok + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Young Man in Business + +Author: Edward W. Bok + +Release Date: March 3, 2010 [EBook #31494] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YOUNG MAN IN BUSINESS *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif (from files available at www.archive.org) + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: book-cover + +THE YOUNG MAN IN BUSINESS + +THE DAY'S WORK SERIES] + + +The Day's Work Series + +THE YOUNG MAN + +IN BUSINESS + +BY + +EDWARD BOK + +BOSTON + +L. C. PAGE & COMPANY + +MDCCCC + +Copyright, 1900 + +BY EDWARD BOK. + +All rights reserved + +Colonial press + +Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. + +Boston, U. S. A. + + + + +THE YOUNG MAN IN BUSINESS. + + +A WELL-KNOWN New York millionaire gave it as his opinion not long ago +that any young man possessing a good constitution and a fair degree of +intelligence might acquire riches. The statement was +criticised--literally picked to pieces--and finally adjudged as being +extravagant. The figures then came out, gathered by a careful +statistician, that of the young men in business in New York City, sixty +per cent, were earning less than $1,000 per year, only twenty per cent, +had an income of $2,000, and barely five per cent, commanded salaries +in excess of the latter figure. The great majority of young men in New +York City--that is, between the ages of twenty-three and thirty--were +earning less than twenty dollars per week. On the basis, therefore, +that a young man must be established in his life-profession by his +thirtieth year, it can hardly be said that the average New York young +man in business is successful. Of course, this is measured entirely +from the standpoint of income. It is true that a young man may not, in +every case, receive the salary his services merit, but, as a general +rule, his income is a pretty accurate indication of his capacity. + +Now, as every young man naturally desires to make a business success, +it is plain from the above statement that something is lacking; either +the opportunities, or the capabilities in the young men themselves. No +one conversant with the business life of any of our large cities can, +it seems to me, even for a single moment, doubt the existence of good +chances for young men. Take any large city as a fair example: New York, +Boston, Philadelphia, or Chicago, and in each instance there exist more +opportunities than there are young men capable of embracing them. The +demand is far in excess of the supply. Positions of trust are +constantly going begging for the right kind of young men to fill them. +But such men are not common; or, if they be, they have a most +unfortunate way of hiding their light under a bushel, so much so that +business men cannot see even a glimmer of its rays. Let a position of +any real importance be open, and it is the most difficult kind of a +problem to find any one to fill it satisfactorily. Business men are +constantly passing through this experience. Young men are desired in +the great majority of positions because of their progressive 'ideas and +capacity to endure work; in fact, "young blood," as it is called, is +preferred in nine positions out of every ten, nowadays. + +The chances for business success for any young man are not wanting. The +opportunities exist, plenty of them. The trouble is that the average +young man of to-day is incapable of filling them, or, if he be not +exactly incapable (I gladly give him the benefit of the doubt), he is +unwilling to fill them, which is even worse. That exceptions can be +brought up to controvert I know, but I am dealing with the many, not +with the few. + +The average young man in business to-day is nothing more nor less than +a plodder,--a mere automaton. He is at his office at eight or nine +o'clock in the morning; is faithful in the duties he performs; goes to +luncheon at twelve, gets back at one; takes up whatever he is told to +do until five, and then goes home. His work for the day is done. One +day is the same to him as another; he has a certain routine of duties +to do, and he does them day in and day out, month in and month out. His +duties are regulated by the clock. As that points, so he points. +Verily, it is true of him that he is the same yesterday, to-day, and +forever. No special fault can be found with his work. Given a +particular piece of work to do, he does it just as a machine would. +Such a young man, too, generally considers himself hard-worked--often +overworked and underpaid; wondering all the time why his employer +doesn't recognize his value and advance his salary. "I do everything I +am told to do," he argues, "and I do it well. What more can I do?" + +This is simply a type of a young man to be found in thousands of +offices and stores. He goes to his work each day with no definite point +nor plan in view; he leaves it with nothing accomplished. He is a mere +automaton. Let him die, and his position can be filled in twenty-four +hours. If he detracts nothing from his employer's business, he +certainly adds nothing to it. He never advances an idea; is absolutely +devoid of creative powers; his position remains the same after he has +been in it for five years as when he came to it. + + * * * * * + +Now, I would not for a moment be understood as belittling the value of +faithfulness in an employee. But, after all, faithfulness is nothing +more nor less than a negative quality. By faithfulness a man may hold a +position a lifetime. He will keep it just where he found it. But by the +exercise of this single quality he does not add to the importance of +the position any more than he adds to his own value. It is not enough +that it may be said of a young man that he is faithful; he must be +something more. The willingness and capacity to be faithful to the +smallest detail must be there, serving only, however, as a foundation +upon which other qualities are built. + +Altogether too many young men are content to remain in the positions in +which they find themselves. The thought of studying the needs of the +next position just above them never seems to enter their minds. It is +possible for every young man to rise above his position, and it makes +no difference how humble that position may be, nor under what +disadvantages he may be placed. But he must be alert. He must not be +afraid of work, and of the hardest kind of work. He must study not only +to please, but he must go a step beyond. It is essential, of course, +that he should first of all fill the position for which he is engaged. +No man can solve the problem of business before he understands the +rudiments of the problem itself. Once the requirements of a position +are understood and mastered, then its possibilities should be +undertaken. It is foolish, as some young men argue, that to go beyond +their special position is impossible with their employers. The employer +never existed who will prevent the cream of his establishment from +rising to the surface. The advance of an employee always means the +advance of the employer's interests. An employer would rather pay a +young man five thousand dollars a year than five hundred. What is to +the young man's interest is much more to the interest of his employer. +A five-hundred-dollar clerkship is worth just that amount and nothing +more to an employer. But a five-thousand-dollar man is generally worth +five times that sum to a business. A young man makes of a position +exactly what he chooses: a millstone around his neck, or a +stepping-stone to larger success. The possibilities lie in every +position; seeing and embracing them rest with its occupant. The lowest +position can be so filled as to lead up to the next and become a part +of it. One position should be only the chrysalis for the development of +new strength to master the requirements of another position above it. + + * * * * * + +The average young man is extremely anxious to get into a business +position in which there are what he calls "prospects" for advancement. +It is usually one of his first questions, "What are my prospects here?" +He seems to have the notion that the question of his "prospects" or +advancement is one entirely in the hands of his employer, whereas it +rarely occurs to him that it is a matter resting entirely with himself. +An employer has, of course, the power of promotion, but that is all. He +cannot advance a young man unless the young man first demonstrates that +he is worthy of advancement. Every position offers prospects; every +business house has in it the possibility of a young man's bettering +himself. But it depends upon him, first. If he is of the average +come-day go-day sort, and does his work in a mechanical or careless +fashion, lacking that painstaking thoroughness which is the basis of +successful work, his prospects are naught. And they will be no greater +with one concern than with another, although he may identify himself +with a score during a year. If, on the contrary, he buckles down to +work, and makes himself felt from the moment he enters his position, no +matter how humble that may be, his advancement will take care of +itself. An employer is very quick to discover merit in an employee, and +if a young man is fitted to occupy a higher position in the house than +he is filling, it will not be long before he is promoted. There are, of +course, instances where the best work that a young man can do goes for +nothing and fails of rightful appreciation, and where such a condition +is discovered, of course the young man must change the condition and go +where his services will receive proper recognition and value. But this +happens only in a very small minority of cases. In the vast majority of +cases where the cry of inappreciation is heard, it is generally the +fact that the crier is unworthy of more than he receives. + +No employer can tell a young man just what his prospects are. That is +for the young man himself to demonstrate. He must show first what is in +him, and then he will discover for himself what his prospects are. +Because so many young men stand, still does not prove that employers +are unwilling to advance them, but simply shows that the great run of +young men do not possess those qualities which entitle them to +advancement. There are exceptional cases, of course; but as a rule a +man gets in this world about what he is worth, or not very far from it. +There is not by any means as much injustice done by the employer to the +employee as appears on the surface. Leaving aside all question of +principle, it would be extremely poor policy for a business man to keep +in a minor position a young man who, if promoted, would expand and make +more money for the house. + + * * * * * + +And right here a word or two may perhaps be fitly said about the +element of "luck" entering into business advancement. It is undeniable +that there are thousands of young men who believe that success in +business is nothing else than what they call "luck." The young men who +forge ahead are, in their estimation, simply the lucky ones, who have +had influence of some sort or other to push them along. + +When a young man gets into that frame of mind which makes him believe +that "luck" is the one and only thing which can help him along, or that +it is even an element in business, it may be safely said that he is +doomed to failure. The only semblance to "influence" there is in +business is found where, through a friendly word, a chance is opened to +a young man. But the only thing that "influence" can do begins and ends +with an opportunity. The strongest influence that can be exerted in a +young man's behalf counts for very little if he is found to be +incapable of embracing that chance. And so far as "luck" is concerned, +there is no such thing in a young man's life or his business success. +The only lucky young man is he who has a sound constitution, with good +sense to preserve it; who knows some trade or profession thoroughly or +is willing to learn it and sacrifice everything to its learning; who +loves his work and has industry enough to persevere in it; who +appreciates the necessity of self-restraint in all things, and who +tempers his social life to those habits which refresh and not impair +his constitution. That is luck,--the luck of having common sense. That +is the only luck there is,--the only luck worth having; and it is +something which every right-minded young man may have if he goes about +it the right way. + +Things in this world never just happen. There is always a reason for +everything. So with success. It is not the result of luck; it is not a +thing of chance. It comes to men only because they work hard and +intelligently for it, and along legitimate lines. + + * * * * * + +Now a word about a young man's salary. It is human nature to wish to +make all the money we honestly can: to get just as large a return for +our services as possible. There is no qualifying that statement, and as +most of the comforts of this life are had through the possession of +sufficient money, it is perfectly natural that the subject of what we +earn should be prominent in our minds. But too many young men put the +cart before the horse in this question of salary. It is their first +consideration. They are constantly asking what salaries are paid in +different business callings, and whether this profession or that trade +is more financially productive. The question seems to enter into their +deliberations as a qualifying factor as to whether they shall enter a +certain trade or profession. I never could quite see the point of this +nor the reason for it. Of what significance to you or to me are the +salaries which are paid to others? They signify nothing. If the highest +salary paid to the foremost men in a certain profession is $10,000 per +year, what does that fact prove? There is no obstacle to some one's +else going into that same profession and earning $25,000. The first +consideration, when a young man thinks of going into business, is not +which special trade or profession is most profitable, but which +particular line he is most interested in and best fitted for. What +matters it to a man that fortunes are made in the law if he has +absolutely no taste or ability for that profession? Of what value is it +to a young man who loves mechanical engineering to know that there are +doctors who earn large incomes? What difference do the productive +possibilities of any line of work make to us if we are not by nature +fitted for that work? + +When a young man is always thinking of the salary he is receiving, or +the salary he "ought to get," he gives pretty good proof that he is not +of a very superior make. The right sort of a young fellow doesn't +ever-lastingly concern himself about salary. Ability commands income. +But a young man must start with ability, not with salary. That takes +care of itself. + + * * * * * + +Now, a substantial business success means several things. It calls, in +the first place, for concentration. There is no truth more potent than +that which tells us we cannot serve God and Mammon. Nor can any young +man successfully serve two business interests, no matter how closely +allied; in fact, the more closely the interests the more dangerous are +they. The human mind is capable of just so much clear thought, and +generally it does not extend beyond the requirements of one position in +these days of keen competition. If there exists a secret of success, it +lies, perhaps, in concentration more than in any other single element. +During business hours a man should be in business. His thoughts should +be on nothing else. Diversions of thought are killing to the best +endeavors. The successful mastery of business questions calls for a +personal interest, a forgetfulness of self, that can only come from the +closest application and the most absolute concentration. I go so far in +my belief of concentration to business interests in business hours as +to argue that a young man's personal letters should not be sent to his +office address, nor should he receive his social friends at his desk. +Business hours are none too long in the great majority of our offices, +and, with a rest of one hour for luncheon, no one has a right to lop +off fifteen minutes here to read an irrelevant personal letter, or +fifteen minutes there to talk with a friend whose conversation +distracts the mind from the problems before it. A young man cannot draw +the line between his business life and his social life too closely. It +is all too true of thousands of young men that they are better +conversant during the base-ball season with the batting average of some +star player, or the number of men "put out at second" by some other +player, than they are with the details of their business. + +Digression is just as dangerous as stagnation in the career of a young +man in business. There is absolutely no position worth the having in +business life to-day to which a care of other interests can be added. +Let a man attempt to serve the interests of one master, and if he +serves him well he has his hands and his head full. There is a class of +ambitious young men who have what they choose to call "an anchor to the +windward" in their business. That is, they maintain something outside +of their regular position. They do this from necessity, they claim. One +position does not offer sufficient scope for their powers or talents; +does not bring them sufficient income, and they are "forced," they +explain, to take on something in addition. I have known such young men. +But, so far as I have been able to discern, the trouble does not lie so +much with the position they occupy as with themselves. When a man turns +away from the position he holds to outside affairs, he turns just so +far away from the surest path of success. To do one thing perfectly is +better than to do two things only fairly well. It was told me once, of +one of our best known actors, that outside of his stage knowledge he +knew absolutely nothing. But he acted well,--so well that he stands at +the head of his profession, and has an income of five figures several +times over. All around geniuses are rare--so rare that we can hardly +find them. To know one thing absolutely means material success and +commercial and mental superiority. I dare say that if some of our young +men understood more fully than they do the needs of the positions they +occupy, the necessity for outside work would not exist. + +Stagnation in a young man's career is but a synonym for starvation, +since there is no such thing as standing still in the business world. +We go either backward or forward; we never stand still. When a young +man fails to keep abreast of the possibilities of his position he +recedes constantly, though perhaps unconsciously. The young man who +progresses is he who enters into the spirit of the business of his +employer, and who points out new methods to him, advances new ideas, +suggests new channels and outputs. There is no more direct road to the +confidence of an employer than for him to see that any one of his +clerks has an eye eager for the possibilities of business. That young +man commands the attention of his chief at once, and when a vacancy +occurs he is apt to step into it, if, indeed, he does not forge over +the shoulders of others. Young men who think clearly, can conceive good +ideas and carry them out, are not so plentiful that even a single one +will be lost sight of. It is no special art, and it reflects but little +credit upon any man simply to fill a position. That is expected of him; +he is engaged to do that, and it is only a fair return for a certain +payment made. The art lies in doing more than was bargained for; in +proving greater than was expected; in making more of a position than +has ever been made before. A quick conception is needed here, the +ability to view a broad horizon; for it is the liberal-minded man, not +the man of narrow limitations, who makes the success of to-day. A young +man showing such qualities to an employer does not remain in one +position long. + + * * * * * + +Two traps in which young men in business often fall are a disregard for +small things, and an absolute fear of making mistakes. One of the +surest keys to success lies in thoroughness. No matter how great may be +the enterprise undertaken a regard for the small things is necessary. +Just as the little courtesies of every-day life make life the worth +living, so the little details form the bone and sinew of a great +success. A thing half or three-quarters done is worse than not done at +all. Let a man be careful of the small things in business, and he can +generally be relied upon for the greater ones. The man who can overcome +small worries is greater than the man who can override great obstacles. +When a young man becomes so ambitious for large success that he +overlooks the small things, he is pretty apt to encounter failure. +There is nothing in business so infinitesimal that we can afford to do +it in a slipshod fashion. It is no art to answer twenty letters in a +morning when they are, in reality, only half answered. When we commend +brevity in business letters, we do not mean brusqueness. Nothing stamps +the character of a house so clearly as the letters it sends out. + +The fear of making mistakes keeps many a young man down. Of course, +errors in business are costly, and it is better not to make them. But, +at the same time, I would not give a snap of the fingers for a young +man who has never made mistakes. But there are mistakes and mistakes; +some easy to be excused; others not to be overlooked in the case of any +employee. A mistake of judgment is possible with us all; the best of us +are not above a wrong decision. And a young man who holds back for fear +of making mistakes loses the first point of success. + +A young man in business nowadays, with an ambition to be successful, +must also be careful of his social life. It is not enough that he +should take care of himself during the day. To social dissipations at +night can be traced the downfall of hundreds upon hundreds of young +men. The idea that an employer has no control over a young man's time +away from the office is a dangerous fallacy. An employer has every +right to ask that those into whose hands he entrusts responsibilities +shall follow social habits which will not endanger his interests upon +the morrow. So far as social life is concerned, young men generally run +to both extremes. Either they do not go out at all, which is +stagnating, or they go out too much, which is deadly. Only here and +there is found one who knows the happy medium. A certain amount of +social diversion is essential to everybody, boy, man, girl, or woman. +And particularly so to a young man with a career to make. To come into +contact with the social side of people is broadening; it is educative. +"To know people," says a writer, "you must see them at play." Social +life can be made a study at the same time that it is made a pleasure. +To know the wants of people, to learn their softer side, you must come +into contact with their social natures. No young man can afford to deny +himself certain pleasures, or a reasonable amount of contact with +people in the outer world. It is to his advantage that people should +know he exists,--what his aims and aspirations are. His evening +occupations should be as widely different as possible from those which +occupy his thoughts in the daytime. The mind needs a change of thought +as well as the body needs a change of raiment. The familiar maxim, "All +work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," contains a vast amount of +truth. + +At the same time, nothing is more injurious to the chances of a young +man in business than an overindulgence in the pleasures of what, for +the want of a better word, we call "society." It is a rough but a true +saying that "a man cannot drink whisky and be in business." Perhaps a +softer interpretation of the idea would be this: that a man cannot be +in society and be in business. This is impossible, and nothing that a +young man can bear in mind will stand him to such good account as this +fact. No mind can be fresh in the morning that has been kept at a +tension the night before by late hours, or befogged by indulgence in +late suppers. We need more sleep at twenty-five than we do at fifty, +and the young man who grants himself less than eight hours' sleep every +night just robs himself of so much vitality. The loss may not be felt +or noticed at present, but the process of sleeping is only Nature's +banking system of principal and interest. A mind capable of the +fulfilment of its highest duties should be not only receptive to ideas, +but quick to comprehend a point. With a fresh mind and a clear brain, a +young man has two of the greatest levers of success. These cannot be +retained under social indulgences. The dissipation of a night has its +invariable influence upon the work of the morrow. I do not preach total +abstinence from any habits to which human nature is prone. Every man +ought to know what is good for him and what is injurious to his best +interests. An excess of anything is injurious, and a young man on the +threshold of a business career cannot afford to go to the extreme in +any direction. He should husband his resources, for he will need them +all. + +For no success is easily made nowadays. Appearances are tremendously +deceptive in this respect. We see men making what we choose to regard +and call quick success, because at a comparatively early age they +acquire position or means. But one needs only to study the conditions +of the business life of to-day to see how impossible it is to achieve +any success except by the very hardest work. No young man need approach +a business career with the idea that success is easy. The histories of +successful men tell us all too clearly the lessons of patience and the +efforts of years. Some men compass a successful career in less time +than others. And if the methods employed are necessarily different, the +requirements are precisely the same. It is a story of hard work in +every case, of close application and of a patient mastery of the +problem in hand. Advantages of education will come in at times and push +one man ahead of another. But a practical business knowledge is apt to +be a greater possession. + + * * * * * + +I know there are thousands of young men who feel themselves incompetent +for a business career because of a lack of early education. And here +might come in--if I chose to discuss the subject, which I do not--the +oft-mooted question of the exact value of a college education to the +young man in business. But I will say this: a young man need not feel +that the lack of a college education will stand in any respect whatever +in the way of his success in the business world. No college on earth +ever made a business man. The knowledge acquired in college has fitted +thousands of men for professional success, but it has also unfitted +other thousands for a practical business career. A college training is +never wasted, although I have seen again and again five-thousand-dollar +educations spent on five-hundred-dollar men. Where a young man can +bring a college education to the requirements of a practical business +knowledge, it is an advantage. But before our American colleges become +an absolute factor in the business capacities of men their methods of +study and learning will have to be radically changed. I have had +associated with me both kinds of young men, collegiate and +non-collegiate, and I must say that those who had a better knowledge of +the practical part of life have been those who never saw the inside of +a college and whose feet never stepped upon a campus. College-bred men, +and men who never had college advantages, have succeeded in about equal +ratios. The men occupying the most important commercial positions in +New York to-day are self-made, whose only education has come to them +from contact with that greatest college of all, the business world. Far +be it from me to depreciate the value of a college education. I believe +in its advantages too firmly. But no young man need feel hampered +because of the lack of it. If business qualities are in him they will +come to the surface. It is not the college education; it is the young +man. Without its possession as great and honorable successes have been +made as with it. Men are not accepted in the business world upon their +collegiate diplomas, nor on the knowledge these imply. + + * * * * * + +There are a great many young men in business to-day who grow impatient. +They are in a position for a certain time; they are satisfactory to +their employers, and then, because they are not promoted, they grow +restless. These young men generally overlook a point or two. In the +first place, they overlook the very important point that between the +years of twenty and twenty-five a young man acquires rather than +achieves. It is the learning period of life, the experience-gaining +time. Knowledge that is worth anything does not come to us until we are +past twenty-five. The mind, before that age, is incapable of forming +wise judgment. The great art of accurate decision in business matters +is not acquired in a few weeks of commercial life. It is the result of +years. It is not only the power within him, but also the experience +behind him, that makes a successful business man. The commercial world +is only a greater school than the one of slates and slate-pencils. No +boy, after attending school for five years, would consider himself +competent to teach. And surely five years of commercial apprenticeship +will not fit a young man to assume a position of trust, nor give him +the capacity to decide upon important business matters. In the first +five years, yes, the first ten years, of a young man's business life, +he is only in the primary department of the great commercial world. It +is for him, then, to study methods, to observe other men--in short, to +learn and not to hope to achieve. That will come later. Business, +simple as it may look to the young man, is, nevertheless, a very +intricate affair, and it is only by years of closest study that we +master an understanding of it. + +The electric atmosphere of the American business world is all too apt +to make our young men impatient. They want to fly before they can even +walk well. Ambition is a splendid thing in any young man. But he must +not forget that, like fire and water, it makes a good servant but a +poor master. Getting along too fast is just as injurious as getting +along too slow. A young man between twenty and twenty-five must be +patient. I know patience is a difficult thing to cultivate, but it is +among the first lessons we must learn in business. A good stock of +patience, acquired in early life, will stand a man in good stead in +later years. It is a handy thing to have and draw upon, and makes a +splendid safety-valve. Because a young man, as he approaches +twenty-five, begins to see things more plainly than he did five years +before, he must not get the idea that he is a business man yet, and +entitled to a man's salary. If business questions, which he did not +understand five years before, now begin to look clearer to him, it is +because he is passing through the transitory state that separates the +immature judgment of the young man from the ripening penetration of the +man. He is simply beginning. Afterward he will grow, and his salary +will grow as he grows. But Rome wasn't built in a day, and a business +man isn't made in a night. As experience comes, the judgment will +become mature, and by the time the young man reaches thirty he will +begin to realize that he didn't know as much at twenty-five as he +thought he did. When he is ready to learn from others he will begin to +grow wise. And when he reaches that state where he is willing to +concede that he hasn't a "corner" on knowledge in this world, he will +be stepping out of the chrysalis of youth. + + * * * * * + +There is another point upon which young men are often in doubt, and +that is, just how far it pays to be honest in business. "Does it really +pay to be honest in business?" they ask, and they are sincere and in +earnest in the question. + +Now, the simple fact of the matter is that a business success is +absolutely impossible upon any other basis than one of the strictest +honesty. + +The great trouble with young men, nowadays, is that their ideas are +altogether too much influenced by a few unfortunate examples of +apparent success which are prominent--too prominent, alas!--in American +life to-day. These "successful men"--for the most part identified in +some way with politics--are talked about incessantly; interviewed by +reporters; buy lavish diamonds for their wives, and build costly +houses,--all of which is duly reported in the newspapers. Young men +read these things and ask themselves, "If he can do it, why not I?" +Then they begin to look around for some "short cut to success," as one +young fellow expressed it to me not long ago. It is owing to this +practice of "cutting across lots" in business that scores of young men +find themselves, after awhile in tight places. And the man who has once +had about him an unsavory taint in his business methods rarely, very +rarely, rids himself of that atmosphere in the eyes of his +acquaintances. How often we see some young man in business, +representative of the very qualities that should win success. Every one +agrees that he is brilliant. "He is clever," is the general verdict. +His manner impresses one pleasantly, he is thoroughly businesslike, is +energetic, and yet, somehow, he never seems to stick to one place. +People wonder at it, and excuse it on the ground that he hasn't found +the right place. But some day the secret is explained. "Yes, he is +clever," says some old business man, "but do you know he isn't--well, +he isn't quite safe!" "Quite safe!" How much that expresses; how +clearly that defines hundreds and hundreds of the smartest young men in +business to-day. He is everything else--but he isn't "quite safe!" He +is not dishonest in any way, but he is, what is equally as bad, not +quite reliable. To attain success he has, in other words, tried to "cut +across lots." And rainbow-chasing is really a very commendable business +in comparison to a young man's search for the "royal road to success." +No success worth attaining is easy; the greater the obstacles to +overcome, the surer is the success when attained. "Royal roads" are +poor highways to travel in any pursuit, and especially in a business +calling. + +It is strange how reluctant young men are to accept, as the most vital +truth in life, that the most absolute honesty is the only kind of +honesty that succeeds in business. It isn't a question of religion or +religious beliefs. Honesty does not depend upon any religious creed or +dogma that was ever conceived. It is a question of a young man's own +conscience. He knows what is right and what is wrong. And yet, simple +as the matter is, it is astonishing how difficult it is of +understanding. An honest course in business seems too slow to the +average young man. "I can't afford to plod along. I must strike and +strike quickly," is the sentiment. Ah, yes, my friend, but not +dishonestly. No young man can afford even to think of dishonesty. +Success on honorable lines may sometimes seem slower in coming, but +when it does come it outrivals in permanency all the so-called +successes gained by other methods. To look at the methods of others is +always a mistake. The successes of to-day are not given to the +imitator, but to the originator. It makes no difference how other men +may succeed--their success is theirs and not yours. You cannot partake +of it. Every man is a law unto himself. The most absolute integrity is +the one and the only sure foundation of success. Such a success is +lasting. Other kinds of success may seem so, but it is all in the +seeming, and not in the reality. Let a young man swerve from the path +of honesty, and it will surprise him how quickly every avenue of +permanent success is closed against him. It is the young man of +unquestioned integrity who is selected for the important position. No +business man ever places his affairs in the hands of a young man whom +he feels he cannot unhesitatingly trust. And to be trusted means to be +honest. Honesty, and that alone, commands confidence. An honest life, +well directed, is the only life for a young man to lead. It is the one +life that is compatible with the largest and surest business success. + + * * * * * + +And so it is easy enough for any young man to succeed, provided he is +willing to bear in mind a few very essential truths. And they are: + +Above all things he should convince himself that he is in a congenial +business. Whether it be a trade or a profession,--both are honorable +and profitable,--let him satisfy himself, above everything else, that +it enlists his personal interest. If a man shows that he has his work +at heart his success can be relied on. Personal interest in any work +will bring other things; but all the other essentials combined cannot +create personal interest. That must exist first; then two-thirds of the +battle is won. Fully satisfied that he is in the particular line of +business in which he feels a stronger, warmer interest than in any +other, then he should remember: + +First--That, whatever else he may strive to be, he must be absolutely +honest. From honorable principles he never should swerve. There can be +no half-way compromise. + +Second--He must be alert, alive to every opportunity. He cannot afford +to lose a single point, for that single point may prove to be the very +link that would make complete the whole chain of a business success. + +Third--He must ever be willing to learn, never overlooking the fact +that others have long ago forgotten what he has still to learn. +Firmness of decision is an admirable trait in business. The young man +whose opinions can be tossed from one side to the other is poor +material. But youth is full of errors, and caution is a strong trait. + +Fourth--If he be wise he will entirely avoid the use of liquors. If the +question of harm done by intoxicating liquor is an open one, the +question of the actual good derived from it is not. + +Fifth--Let him remember that a young man's strongest recommendation is +his respectability. Some young men, apparently successful, may be +flashy in dress, loud in manner, disrespectful to women and irreverent +toward sacred things. But the young man who is respectable always wears +best. The way a young man carries himself in his private life ofttimes +means much to him in his business career. No matter where he is, or in +whose company, respectability, and all that it implies, will always +command respect. + + * * * * * + +If any young man wishes a set of rules even more concise, here it is: + +Get into a business you like. + +Devote yourself to it. + +Be honest in everything. + +Be cautious. Think carefully about a thing before you act. + +Sleep eight hours every night. + +Do everything that means keeping in good health. + +Don't worry. Worry kills more men than work does. + +Avoid liquors of all kinds. + +If you must smoke, smoke moderately. + +Shun discussion on two points,--religion and politics. + +Marry a good woman, and have your own home. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Young Man in Business, by Edward W. 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