ASSOCIATE YOURSELF WITH
SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE
Birds of a feather flock together; and this applies to
money. Money often gets money. Success often begets
success.
ONE TIME WHEN J. P. Morgan was asked for a loan of a
thousand dollars, he put his arm around the shoulders of the
one asking for the loan and replied,
"Let's walk through the Stock Exchange together, and
then anyone will gladly loan you f 1,000."
By this Morgan meant that if you saw anyone in the
company of this great man, you would believe that person
worthy of lending money to.
It seems that birds of a feather flock together even in the
financial field.
If you want to be a success be around success.
They Talk Coal in Newcastle
People in Newcastle can talk coal and know what each is
talking about; and people in Munich can talk beer and
understand each other.
Successful people can understand each other's success, and
in discussing their brand of success they give each other
ideas.
The coal miner who lives in Miami Beach finds few
people to share his ideas with, since coal is not needed there,
is not mined there, and so excites little interest
If you want to make a million in oil don't decide to live in
Boston. That would be having a desire, a wish, but not
Knowing Where To Start to get it, (Step Three).
You will certainly go to Texas where people talk oil, know
oil and where your chances of becoming an oil man would
be greater than on the Boston Commons.
Step Three in the Master Formula, is important: Know
Where To Start.
And that place is usually among the people who are a
success in what you want to be a success in.
Birds of success flock together.
Go Where Success Breeds
Joe Louis wanted to become the world's champion fighter,
so he didn't bother hanging around theatrical people he
went to where fighters ate, slept, and lived.
Joe DiMaggio wanted to be a ball player, so he didn't
hang around dance halls. He went to ball parks. Hobnobbed
with ball players. Ate, slept, breathed the very air they did.
On the other hand, Arthur Murray had to get his training
and background in dance halls.
In this way these two champions got the feel of what they
wanted, heard first hand the ways others became a success.
They got help and ideas from others who had become a
success ahead of them.
If you want to become a sales success join the local Sales
Club, the Advertising Club go to sales conventions, read
sales books, become a salesman and your chances to be a
star are greatest.
Sit around as a bench worker and listen to the factory
bosses talk. Try to understand them. Hear their stories. Get
their help. Be seen with them and soon you become a part
of their thinking, and in this way know how to become a
big boss yourself.
You can't learn about the diamond business at a school for
veterinarians; and you can't become a Vet by reading books
on "How To Write Short Stories."
Vets flock together; so do short story writers, millionaires,
women with mink coats, men with Cadillacs!
Try to get as near as you can to people successful in the way
you want to be successful. You might not yet rate being
actually "in" with them, but get as near as you can. The
nearer the better.
Ford, Edison, Firestone
Perhaps one of the greatest pictures I've ever seen was the
famous one of Ford, Edison and Firestone three great men
all together.
They were friends. They were millionaires. They were
successes each in his field but they were together, and thus
could swap ideas of success.
Each one's success helped the other.
A fellow in Simi, California, gave up an ambition to be-
come an architectural designer. He had associated with
painters so much he became interested.
Being fond of dogs, being with dog owners, he decided to
paint dogs. So far he has painted 7,000 pooches for high
society folks.
He interests rich, dog owners by being with them, in their
own circle.
By associating his dream with people who could help his
dream come true, E. Robert Hildebrand today is the world's
most famous dog painter.
He dropped in the other day at my home to sketch my
Doberman, Josef.
He Associated Himself with Success
Recently Barney Berns, one of the top men in the soft
drink industry, told me about a salesman who has been
unusually successful through his ability to hobnob with
others in his business.
This salesman, Barney says, almost didn't get a certain job
because he seemed "too slow 5 * on his feet. But he began to
break sales records almost the very day he went to work.
And this was the reason:
He realized he wasn't quick on the trigger, and so planned
every sales call as though it was his most important oppor-
tunity. His experienced friends helped htm.
This salesman planned every sales talk with his successful
associates from the standpoint of the prospect, asking him-
self, "What would I want to hear, if I were this prospect?"
As the years passed, this salesman because of practice
and willingness to listen to others gained confidence, even
got a reputation as an ace salesman. He learned to handle
himself as a public speaker and to write with great force.
Many of the good salesmen I know could tell the same
story.
As a matter of fact in this instance it applies to Barney him-
self. But it might as well be the story of my own career.
And Never Lose Touch with Your Field
It takes two people to make a marriage work.
And in recent years it takes two people working to support
a marriage.
That's what the Women's Bureau of the Department of
Labor told me the other day.
Since 1930 when only 30 per cent of the married women
in the country held jobs outside the home the percentage of
working wives has gone steadily up.
Today over half of all married women hold jobs.
The depression, then the war and now the high cost of
everything has changed the business face of America.
Where women used to be confined to certain types of
work, today there is hardly a field from U.S. government
investigators to the production line where women haven't
a place for themselves.
Because of this trend, more and more of the letters I
receive are from women.
Often these letters come from a married woman who has
decided to return to business after several years as a house-
wife.
Too often, too, there is a real need behind the decision to
return to work and there has been no preparation for the
return to work.
Perhaps, Mrs. Housewife, you can't foresee it in your
future.
But if you once held a job, keep up your associations with
successful people in your field. It will take only a few minutes
each week to keep up with new developments this way.
I don't know of any better insurance for happiness. Why
not do it just in case?
Success of Your Elbow
So I repeat, if you want success associate yourself with it.
When a group of bankers get together banking ideas fly
all around.
The hardest home party to have is one in which your
friends are in businesses the others do not understand.
But get a group of oil men, bookkeepers, lumbermen in
one room and ideas are born.
So when you figure your life's work, try to hobnob with
others in this field you have chosen.
Success breeds success.
One idea leads to another and if you are surrounded by
others who think and do and act and hope and pray, as you
do your chances of success are greatest.
Success Is a Microbe That Breeds
