It is well that young men should begin at the beginning and occupy the most subordinate positions.
Many of the leading businessmen of Pittsb gh had a serious responsibility thrust upon them
at the very threshold of their career. They were introduced to the broom, and spent the first
hours of their business lives sweeping out the office. I notice we have janitors and jam tresses
now in offices, and our young men unfortunately miss that salutary branch of a business education.
But if by chance the professional sweeper is absent any morning, the boy who has the genius of the
future partner in him will not hesitate to try his hand at the broom. The other day a fond
fashionable mother in Michigan asked a young man whether he had even seen a young lady sweep in
a room so grandly as her Priscilla. He said so, he never had, and the mother was gratified beyond
measure, but then said he, after a pause, “What I should like to see her do is sweep out a
room.” It does not hurt the newest
comer to sweep out the office if necessary. I was one of those sweepers myself.
Assuming that you have all obtained employment and are fairly starte d, my advice to you is “aim
high”. I would not give a fig for the young man who has not already seen himself the partner or
the head of an important firm. Do not rest content for a moment in your thoughts as head clerk,
or foreman, or general manager in any concern, no matter how extensive. Say to yourself, “My
place is at the top.” Be king in your dreams.
And here is the prime condition of success, the great secret: concentrate your energy, thought,
and capital exclusively upon the business in which you are engaged. Having begun in one line,
resolve to fight it out on that line, to lead in it, adopt every improvement, have the best
machinery, and know the most about it.
The concerns which fail are those which have scattered their capital, which means that they have
scattered their brains also. They have investments in this, or that, or the other, here, there,
and everywhere.
“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” is all wrong. I tell you “put all your eggs in one ba sket,
and then watch that basket”. Look round you and take notice; men who do that do not often fail.
It is easy to watch and carry the one basket. It is trying to carry too many baskets, that
breaks most eggs in this country. He who carries three baskets must put one on his head, which is
apt to tumble and trip him up.
One fault of the American businessman is lack of concentration.
To summarize what I have said: Aim for the highest, never enter a bar room; do not touch liquor,
or if at all only at meals; never speculate; never indorse beyond your surplus cash fund; make
the firm’s interest yours; break orders always to save owners; concentrate; put all your eggs
in one basket, and watch that basket; expenditure always within revenue; lastly be not
impatient, for, as Emerson says, “no one can cheat you out
of ultimate success but yourselves.”