Why Business Men Fail.

Northland Age, Volume IV, Issue 48, 20 July 1908, Page 3

Why Business Men Fail.

The Opinion of Experts.

Statistics of business in America prove that 95 per cent, of the men who embark in trade turn out failures. Not all of these unsuccessful men are bankrupts in the literal sense, but they are in effect. Their establishments go to pieces, or pass into other hands. Men who do not make both ends meet are failures. “ System ” has been asking noted business men why only 5 per cent, of American merchants stand the test. Business is business the world over, so that the opinions of Successful American merchants on this subject will greatly interest Australasian business men.

Without exception, the answers indicate that business failure does not come from lack of markets. There is business enough. Success is possible. Business is a science. Men who study it as a science succeed. Men who trifle with it, fail.

Fools and Guesswork

Why do business men fail? asks the president of a great sugar company. Because there are a lot of business men in the country who are fools. <■ Now, there are two kinds of fools. We are all born that way, but some of us educate ourselves out of it. That’s the first class. Others go on being fools all their lives. That’s the second class.

A business man, to attain success, must educate himself out of the tendency to do foolish things. There are two influences always at work upon a man ; one urges him to use his common sense ; the other urges him to jump in the dark. Most of the men who fail in business jump in the dark. They don't know what they ore doing half the time. They gueas, instead of know. They are fools because they attempt to do business without knowing business. The Magic of Concentration.

The president of a great concern says: Business requires the best that is in a man. Often men put into it their worst. If they always devoted to business their best energies, intelligence and foresight, there would be comparatively few failures. Beyond doubt, most of the business failures are due to conditions lying entirely within the, business men themselves. 1 believe that almost any business will succeed if it has the concentration and effort that goes to make success. Concentration is the quality I would emphasise because it is one that embodies all other qualities.

Concentration means a fixed resolve. It means thorough study of the business and of conditions governing it. It means effort applied intelligently, with due regard for cause and effect. Concentration means never-say-die. If truthful history could be written of many successful business men of to-day, the world w'ould be astonished at the seemingly narrow escapes they have had from business failure. Men often come perilously near giving up the struggle, yet fight on, and overcome. It is because so many men do give way at such a crisis that business records are strewn with failures.

Success comes from knowing whether you yourself can do a particular thiug, better than somebody else, or vice versa. If you are satisfied that you cannot, then hire somebody else to do it. But if there is some hard and disagreeable thing to be accomplished, and you know you can do it better than anyone connected with your establishment, do it yourself. Many a failure comes from relegating duties to others. To succeed, duty must not be merely duty, but pleasure. A successful busiiness man must train himself into getting most of his pleasure from his business. I came to New York when I was eighteen years old. One position I held required me to foot up columns of figures all day. I did this for three years. At first, I detested the work. But concentration enabled me to master it so that it grew to be an actual pleasure. I became an expert. A man who is an expert at a particular thing cannot fail to get pleasure from it. I attribute my later success in business to the concentration of those three years.

Train yourself to like your business, to concentrate yourself upon it, and success will follow as naturally as crops follow seeding. Failure, on the other hand, will come from indifferent application of yourself to your business.

What a Great Retailer Thinks.

Ninety-five per cent, of the salesmen in the United States are failures, yet a large percentage of American business men are recruited from the ranks of salesmen. How, then, are we to expect anything except the of failures in busi-

ness ?

Business men are failures for the same reasons that cause failures in salesmen. Instead of seekiug to make reputations for themselves, they seek to do the least possible for the money they get. They are indifferent.

The business man who is indifferent to his reputation must come to grief. Personality is one of the greatest of assets. Smile. Meet your customers. Make friends. Welcome the kickers. The good business man finds it a genuine pleasure to talkie customers with a kick. When the kickers leave, they have become his friends. I know of many instances in which a kicker, instead of injuring a business, actually sent many new customers —simply because he was treated right. The trouble with some merchants is that they have a grouch. No man can succeed if he’s grouchy. The proprietor is judged by his clerks. A salesman must earn more than his salary before he gets a rise, and usually he must wait a year or more for the rise. The business man must do business on the same principle—give the public more than full measure.