FUN IN BUSINESS.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXI, Issue 12398, 10 November 1934, Page 9

FUN IN BUSINESS.

SIX SUGGESTIONS.

CONFIDENCE AND SUCCESS

Learn more,' believe more, . smile more, try more, sell moro and earn more were six suggestions made by Dr. W. G.. Fern, the eminent business advisor, in an address to Christchurch business men. His subject was ” ( llow to Get More Fun Out of Business.” Success was a persona] matter, he said, and to get pleasure out of business was also for the individual. To achieve success it was necessary, for one thing, to learn more, for without knowledge a job became a- drudgery. By knowledge he. meant knowing about ,a job, the rest of the staff, and, more important than all, about oneself.

It was impossible to bo happy or successful in business, ns in private life, “on a grouse,” said Dr. Fern It was all a matter of suggestion. A man should convince himself that lie knows his work and that cheeriness is an essential part of it. Dr. Fern gave six ideas to his audience which, he said, if carried out, would give them -a-greater joy in.their work. The first was that- every man should learn moro about, his job, because the more he knew about it and the more he realised the part- he was playing in a great reproductive organisation, the more interest he would take in it. “We all have an inferiority complex,” he said. It was necessary. If a man were a good general manager, lie should not tell his neighbors'about it but-should convince himself that

be had'the ability. Men should not become introspective, But they sßonkl get the knowledge of power. They should know themselves and know other people, and in the game of business they should never overlook the women. It was believed that. 99 nor cent of success in business depended on women. •

. GROUSE NO FOUNDATION. “You have never heard of a business built up on a grouse,” he continued. “No, you must smile,, and you must - supply your own consolation, unless you should grow into a habit of grousing.” The whole thing was a matter of suggestion, of which an excellent example was to Be found in good advertising. A well-display-ed advertisement, bright and attractive. demanded attention.

The first test is to ask yourself what three things you can do well and what three things are hampering you in your work, continued Dr. Fern. “I do not believe that a person should be painfully modest oi offensively arrogant, but if you know yourself, your strengths and weaknesses, you will find confidence jin cl success.

“You must study human nature and know people. Yon must study and serve the public to the utmost degree if you would get on. Keep your tongue between your teeth until yon are asked to speak, but. save your ideas until yon are called on. Study your job and do not try to tell the boss how to run his business. “If yon searched your personality you "would bridge the narrow gap between failure arid success,” he said Belief in oneself was another factor in success, for it gave confidence. .

SMILE IN BUSINESS. Smile more and take knocks with a grin was the speaker’s third tip. It might .have been worse, lie said But it was up to the individual to orovido his own con sol aria's, for it was so easy to slip into the habit- of grousing. Advertising should he brightened, and a smile should be put right through the business. “If it wore easy, wo would all bo there,” lie, continued, “so try more. Try to keep original, ff you don’t try, yon aro just drifting through life and won’t get any fun out of it. Some fellows, as soon a-s they meet a difficulty, throw up their hands and say it can’t he done. < 'Sell more. I am told that in this country-salesmen are not popular and are not wanted. Yet there is nothing worth while in this country that someone has not sold. America is in a decline because her salesmen have got wooden feet.' Britain lias gono ahead because she is selling more.

“New Zealand will go ahead because the Government, with its Dairy Commission legislation, has entered the selling field.”

Finally, ho said, earn more. Luck, opportunity and influence counted little against. feet and hands working in co-ordination with thought. That was the way to earn money, and a man was not going to he a success unless he used his brain.

These things meant joy, peace and success in business, concluded. Dr. Fern. If they were sought out by the individual he would get a; lot of fun out of business ; . , yi