The man who would secure the largest net return from his individual effort in the field of endeavor, and he who would realize the greatest possible advantage from the efforts of those under his command must, of necessity, possess knowledge—indispensable perception far in excess of the needs of the moment. Discernment, like a bank account, soon runs out if it is overdrawn or if it is not continually replenished. In business the “checking system” of knowledge is the sort of account that pays best—not the “savings account system.” Knowledge that is simply corked up and allowed to accumulate cobwebs and rust can avail nothing. The sharpest vinegar is procured by constantly replenishing the old stock with new.
90% failures vs. 10% moneymakers
Reliable statistics prove that only about ten per cent of all people who engage in business are successful and make money; the other ninety per cent become insolvent and fail. That is, they do not actually encounter the sheriff, or go into the hands of a receiver, but they fail nevertheless to succeed in the sense of making money, and what other possible reason can anyone have for engaging in business if not to accumulate money?
Failures due to lack of intellectual capacity
Why do so many fail? Ask any credit man and he will tell you that it is not because of the lack of capital, or other material resources, but it is due primarily to a lack of intellectual capacity, the sort of brains that dig and work and sweat until they find a way to accomplish things; brains that go to the bottom of things; brains that are always looking for better results; brains that never abandon a problem until they have found a way to solve it. A friend once told me that he inquired of the manager of a house employing some three hundred traveling men how many salesmen they had. The manager replied, “Three.” My friend asked, “How’s that? I am told your force of traveling men numbers nearly three hundred.” “Ah, that is quite different,” replied the manager; “we have two hundred and ninety-seven traveling men, but only three salesmen.” Quite likely that manager’s estimate was intended to be taken figuratively rather than literally, but it serves to illustrate the fact that in this great United States there are millions of men, young, middle-aged and old, who are content to plod along in a mediocre sort of way, heedless or unmindful of the fact that opportunity, knowledge, possibilities, are calling, calling, calling to them to come up higher. There are hundreds of thousands of other men engaged in business who sit idly by while their trade, like the
sands in the hour glass, slowly ebbs away, and eventually is absorbed by their more progressive business neighbors.
Moneymaking and business literature
There is still another vast army of business men—salesmen, clerks and wage-earners of all classes—who are beginning to catch a glimpse of the dawning of a new business era, the greatest the world has ever known, an era impregnated with possibilities and opportunities for those who are ready with wicks trimmed and oil in their lamps. To the earnest latter class which is really desirous of profiting by the experience of others, there is no need of elaborating the possibilities embodied in this course of reading in Business Administration. This set of books, containing valuable business data on many subjects, thousands of pages telling the story of success illustrated by trained men whose names are respected everywhere, is intended to reach all classes. There is absolutely nothing in print that can even approach or can begin to compare with it in value as a reference library for business men or excel it as a complete course of instruction for any man desirous of making the best of his possibilities and opportunities in the kaleidoscopic age through which the business world is now moving.
Practical ideas best
The more practical the ideas, the better the basis for good work. Not long since, business men generally pooh-poohed the idea of employing in the conduct of their business anything new, which was taken from the writings and experience of others, such as is contained in this remarkable series, contributed to by some of the brightest minds in the business world today. There is, however, in these days unmistakably a hungering and thirsting for just this new sort of literature. It fills a long-felt need—fills it exactly, completely, satisfactorily. Being the author of a work on salesmanship which has had a countrywide circulation, I have been literally besieged by business men everywhere asking me to recommend books treating of successful business methods, and have been chagrined to find how limited was the supply. The man who formerly was prejudiced against such sources of information must now step aside and make way for progress or unite with the popular demand for more education and better methods.