Dollars and Sense Part 18
No man can afford to be independent. Men who have built up their business slowly are not the ones whose heads are turned and who affect this independent air. The independent man is nearly always the newly rich or the suddenly successful business man, and the moment he sets himself up as independent he is made the target for an army of enemies who are waiting for a chance to injure him.
Short Letters
Most business men make much ado about nothing in the matter of correspondence. They use a wilderness of words to express themselves.
They write at such length that the original meaning runs into so many by-lanes that the meaning is lost.
The man who writes long letters usually deals out high sounding phrases and customary paragraphs such as he has picked up through his perusal of others' letters.
The average business man seems to glory more in his ability to use euphonious sentences than to talk to the point.
Letters should be like telegrams, they should be short and to the point, so there will be no misunderstanding on the part of the recipient.
There is one business man that we have been in close touch with for over fifteen years. We have heard from him an average of once a week, and in all that time he has never written a letter of over twenty-five lines. Our records show there is no customer with whom we had so much business dealings and so little misunderstanding as this one.
Write short letters. Use small words. Don't be blunt, but be short.
Perspiration
No matter what one's aspirations may be, success will not come without perspiration. It is well this is so, otherwise success would not be appreciated. That which a man earns by perspiration he appreciates and knows how to enjoy.
If success were something that could be drawn by chance, like a prize, success would not be worth anything.
The measure of any valuable thing, or condition, or relationship is the amount of work, energy, trouble and sacrifice that has been expended to obtain it.
None is to be more pitied than the rich idle-born, who have every comfort around them. They do not know that perspiration must be added to aspiration before they get success.
Friends
How little the average business man understands this word "friends."
In everyday conversation we hear one man say to another "Mr. Blank is a friend of mine."
As a matter of fact the word acquaintance could be subst.i.tuted in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred where the word friend is used.
Real friends are few and far between. A real friend is never determined until a test has been made, and this test is usually troublous times, adversity or the loss of a loved one.
When afflictions come to our families, or reverses come to our business, when the dark clouds hang over us, when stormy seas are about to swamp us, when we need help, then is the time we find who are our true friends. When such calls for friendship arrive it is surprising to see how we have been mistaken in individuals. Those upon whom we counted most shrug their shoulders, draw their skirts about them and give us good advice, while those whom we had never counted as friends come to the front and lend helping hands.
The word friend has been greatly abused. Around places of gaiety, where drinks and good fellowship abound, we frequently hear the word friend, but in the time of trouble those who pose as friends will not help us, and the few who would help us cannot because they have squandered their substance and have not the ability to help us. A friend in need is a friend indeed.
There is no relationship more sacred than friendship.
Friendship carries with it love. The true friend is not one made in a hurry. There is no friend like the old one with whom you went birdnesting in your youth, the friend that has plodded along life's road with you shoulder to shoulder.
When you have a friend who has proven himself such, never let up so long as you live in your evidences of grat.i.tude for the kindness he has shown you. Repay him with interest for his good offices, and let your actions towards him ever be a source of happiness and pleasure to him.
Nothing is so much appreciated between friends as grat.i.tude, and nothing will kill friendship like ingrat.i.tude.
Genuine friendship is such a rare jewel that when you have a positive demonstration of it, let it be your great concern that you will do nothing to mar this friendship, for broken friendship is a source of grief to both friends so long as they live.
Employes
The success of any business depends upon the hearty cooperation of the employes.
We have often heard that a corporation has no soul. A corporation probably has no soul but most of us forget that the officers of the corporation have souls and hearts, and in proportion as the individual at the head of a corporation or private enterprise treats his employes just so he will be repaid.
We are paid back what we pay out. If we are harsh and mean to others, ever suspicious, ever looking for evil motives, those who work for us will be suspicious of us and look for evil motives behind our every act.
The employer who shows consideration, cultivates respect and sets a good example will find it pays from a monetary standpoint, as well as in the satisfaction he has in knowing that he is doing the right thing.
Lincoln said "A house divided against itself must fall." If the employes of an inst.i.tution spend their time in wrangling and quarreling, it means a divided house, and the house will certainly suffer.
Set a good example to your employes. Take them into your confidence.
Recognize ability. Advance worthy ones, and you will find everyone from the office boy to the officer pulling on the rope in the same direction, and you will get full measure of ability from everyone who works for you.
It is impossible to suddenly get a perfect working force. A good organization comes through the process of evolution and elimination.
Whenever an employe does all he is hired to do and a little more, that employe is in a position to occupy a place of greater responsibility.
If an employe is a sluggard or a four-flusher, he may be sure these things will be found out and he cannot hope for advancement.
Employes should remember that the most successful inst.i.tution is the one whose managers are developed from the rank and file. The best houses do not hire high cla.s.s help from other concerns. The most successful men are those who started in at the bottom of the ladder, and by perseverance and pluck and apt.i.tude they climbed the ladder until they reached the top.
Employes should remember that the most difficult problem the employer has to solve is that of good employes.
A small want ad. in the metropolitan daily will bring an army of cheap help. The market is full of cheap help, but good employes that are worth over $2,000 a year are very scarce. The high priced employes are generally the best money makers of the inst.i.tution, for they are selling their brains rather than their hands. The hands are limited, the brains are not.
Employes, there are golden opportunities before you. Disregard the clock. Bend your energies toward doing your work well. The advancement will be sure to follow.
The trouble with many employes is that their minds are filled with outside matters of a frivolous nature.
In every large city there are thousands of dude employes, the kind who wear high collars, the kind who spend all their salary for clothes.