Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-03-23
HOW TO MAKE
YOUR JOB PAY

Recently q successful business
man took stock of himself For
lars he had been inventor31ng his
stock. Suddenly it occurred to him
to look over the most important
part of his stock in trade-himself.
Here is his accounting:
Twelve years in the business
world. Making $4,000 a year. Feel
old at thirty-five Have Indigestion,
insomnia-and a speaking acquaint-
ance with my family. Have a lot of
business pals-but no home friends.
Never have time to do a thing I
really want to. My college has
stopped sending me announcements
of its reunions.
Miss Fairfax, | decided when l
got that far that I was a failure.
And I decided to find out
why. 1t seemed to me to come to
this: | wasn't bringing the right
methods to my work. I was burn
ing up energy in the wrong way
trading on my personality.
81 thought a man would not buy
goods if he did not like me. didn't
see that a man who bought my
goods whether he liked them or not
wasn't the kind of customer who
would do me much good.
II was trading on personality. I
had no ideas of the value of time.
I always tried to jam in some odd
job between appointments, and so
when it came to big appointments
I was always five or ten minutes
late and wearing myself out in
apologizing and explaining. | was
gaining and holding my big Gus
toners, not through business ability
and my power to convince them that
it paid them to trade with me, but
by my social relations with them.
81 used myself up going to dances
and dinner and theater parties in
order to make friends and keep
customers.
"I was wearing myself out to
achieve my effects. I was spending
too much energy-burning the can
die at both ends. ! wasn't syste-
matte. l wasn't a good salesman.
] was a popular society man-who
translated his social success into
terms of business. Now I'm going
10 see that my goods are o. X. and
to sell them on their merits. I'm
going to get five good nights a week
sleep from now on, make my ap-
pontments to the second, get the
tired feeling out of my system, and
bet ! hold the business I've got
"I had been thinking n man
wouldn't buy my goods if he didn't
like me. Now / think men who re-
Spect me and trust me, who rely on
my business judgment will be bet
ter customers than the fellows !
could bribe with a funny story into
giving me the orders my goods
didn't warrant"
Personality with nothing real and
genuine back of it is the balloon Gle
ment of the business world. one
prick from the working end of a
sharp pin-and where is the bal
loon?
A woman may be a popular mcm-
ber of a bridge club, but her sister
players won't let her decorate their
homes because she knows low to
play mo trumper'-Oh, no, They
will patroniZe a little woman" they
would not think of including in
their social. life, but who knows
how to get wonderful effects with
Cretonne or velvet and who is
equally at home manipulating cream
enamel Adam furniture or wicker
You may count on personality to
win your friends in the business
world. Personality is your letter
of introduction. To keep friends il
wins for you, you must live UP 10
the promises of your credentials
You must show business ability as
great as your charming personality
itself.