THE PRICE OF SUCCESS
Anthony H. Geuting, ex-president of the National Shoe Retailers’ Association, and one of Philadelphia’s successful merchants, has told the story of his early start toward the position he now occupies. The experience dates back about thirty-five years, but it clearly shows that the “going” for the young man or woman is a great deal smoother today than it was then.
Although I started on my first job at $3.50 per week, and paid out of this $3.00 every week for board and room, I was able, when the year was around, to show something saved. Ever since I have kept up this practice and have never spent all that I made; always saving something. But to do this it was necessary in the early days to practice self-denial. I could not patronize pool-rooms, theaters, circuses and many entertainments that were calling young men away from their occupations, and often it was with bitter regret that I could not take part with the other fellows. The temptations were very great, but I knew they could not be followed if I intended to succeed.
Every man of any consequence in the world has had this same experience, and the big, successful business houses of today were built by men who practiced this method of self-denial, through which they gained control over themselves. They learned to say “no,” accumulated money, and above all, built for character and ability.
I remember one winter going without an overcoat—and you can imagine when the weather was below zero, how I longed for the luxurious fur coats so much in use at that time. However, I never felt bitter toward those who had them, but rather I made up my mind that one day I too would own one.
The reader will find in himself a feeling that he is unsatisfied with his present progress in business and that his future is still to be made. Unless he were a man of purpose it is safe to assume that he would not be reading these pages. He is unsatisfied, and that means that no matter how well he may have done up to the present he still sees ahead something better for the future. To be continually dissatisfied stamps a man as a grumbler and a perpetual grouch, but to be unsatisfied is the mark of distinction for the man with a healthy purpose, character and a bedrock foundation of confidence in his own ability to win.