[00:12.31]It is well that young men should begin at the beginning and occupy the most subordinate positions.
[00:19.59]Many of the leading businessmen of Pittsburgh had a serious responsibility
[00:25.14]thrust upon them at the very threshold of their career. They were introduced to the broom,
[00:32.37]and spent the first hours of their business lives sweeping out the office.
[00:37.67]I notice we have janitors and janitresses now in offices,
[00:42.01]and our young men unfortunately miss that salutary branch of a business education.
[00:48.38]But if by chance the professional sweeper is absent any morning the boy
[00:52.62]who has the genius of the future partner in him will not hesitate to try his hand at the broom.
[00:59.85]The other day a fond fashionable mother in Michigan asked a young man
[01:04.47]whether he had ever seen a young lady sweep in a room so grandly as her Priscilla. He said no,
[01:11.69]he never had, and the mother was gratified beyond measure, but then he said, after a pause,
[01:19.19]“What I should like to see her do is sweep out a room.”
[01:23.15]It does not hurt the newest comer to sweep out the office if necessary. I was one of those sweepers myself.
[01:29.86]Assuming that you have all obtained employment and are fairly started, my advice to you is “aim high.”
[01:38.71]I would not give a fig for the young man who does not already see himself the partner or the head of an important firm.
[01:47.63]Do not rest content for a moment in your thoughts as head clerk, or foreman,
[01:53.46]or general manager in any concern, no matter how extensive. Say to yourself,
[02:00.11]“My place is at the top.” Be king in your dreams.
[02:05.49]And here is the prime condition of success, the great secret: concentrate your energy,
[02:13.41]thought, and capital exclusively upon the business in which you are engaged.
[02:20.37]Having begun in one line, resolve to fight it out on that line, to lead in it, adopt every improvement,
[02:29.46]have the best machinery, and know the most about it.
[02:35.12]The concerns which fail are those which have scattered their capital,
[02:40.28]which means that they have scattered their brains also.
[02:44.52]They have investments in this, or that, or the other, here, there, and everywhere.
[02:51.15]“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” is all wrong. I tell you “put all your eggs in one basket,
[02:59.64]and then watch that basket.” Look round you and take notice, men who do that not often fail.
[03:08.47]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.
[03:17.78]He who carries three baskets must put one on his head, which is apt to tumble and trip him up.
[03:25.67]One fault of the American businessman is lack of concentration.
[03:30.58]To summarize what I have said: Aim for the highest, never enter a bar room; do not touch liquor,
[03:38.87]or if at all only at meals; never speculate; never indorse beyond your surplus cash fund;
[03:47.57]make the firm’s interest yours; break orders always to save owners; concentrate;
[03:54.70]put all your eggs in one basket, and watch that basket; expenditure always within revenue; lastly be not impatient,
[04:05.23]for as Emerson says, “no one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourselves.”
