by Napoleon Hill
Available in 122 free installments
Owner:
"Remember, that six pounds a year is but a groat a day. For this little sum (which may be daily wasted either in time or expense unperceived) a man of credit may, on his own security, have the constant possession and use of an hundred pounds."
Now this statement of Franklin's is a symbol of an idea. His advice is as good today as when it was written. You can start with a few cents and have constant pos-session of $500 by employing it. Or you can expand the idea and have constant possession of millions of dollars. That is what Conrad Hilton does. He is a man of credit.
The Hilton Hotels Corporation obtained credit of millions of dollars to build luxurious motels for air travelers at large airports. The corporation's collateral: mostly, Hilton's name for honest dealing.
Honesty is one thing for which a satisfactory substitute has never been found. It is something which reaches deeper into a human being than most traits of personality. Honesty, or the lack of it,
writes itself indelibly into every word one speaks, into every thought and deed, and often reflects itself in one's face so that the most casual observer can sense the quality of sincerity immediately. The dishonest person, on the other hand, may announce his weakness in the very tone of his voice, the expression on his face, in the nature and trend of his conversations, or in the type of service he renders.
So while this chapter might seem to be one about the use of other people's money, it also has strong overtones about character in it. Honesty and reputation, credit and success in business are all intermixed. The man who has the first of them is well on his way to gaining the other three.
Make investments with OPM. William Nickerson was another man of credit and reputation who found: "Money can beget money, and its offspring can beget more," and so on. He tells about it in his book. The title tells what he did. The book tells how he did it.
Nickerson's book is aimed specifically at how to make money with OPM in your spare time in the real estate field. But almost everything he has to say also applies to you in your efforts to acquire wealth by making investments with OPM.
How I Turned $1000 Into $3 Million in My Spare Time is the title of the book.
"Show me a millionaire," he says, "and I will show you almost invariably a heavy borrower." To back up his statement, he points to wealthy men such as Henry Kaiser, Henry Ford, and Walt Disney.
And we will point to Charlie Sammons who, with bank credit, developed a forty million dollar business in ten years. But, before
we do, let's talk about the people who help men like Conrad Hilton, William Nickerson, and Charlie Sammons by loaning them the money they need.
Your banker is your friend. Banks are in business to loan money. The more they loan to honest men, the more money they make for themselves. Commercial banks loan money primarily for business purposes. Thus loans for luxuries are not encouraged.
Your banker is an expert. And more important, he is your friend. He wants to help you. For he is one of the people eager to see you succeed. If the banker knows his business, listen to what he has to say.
For a person with common sense never underestimates the power of a borrowed dollar or the advice of an expert. It was the use of OPM and a successful plan ? plus the PMA success principles of initiative, courage, and common sense ? that resulted in an average American boy named Charlie Sammons becoming wealthy.
Like some Texans, Charlie Sammons of Dallas is a millionaire. In fact, like some other Texans, he is a multimillionaire. Yet at the age of 19, he was no better off financially than most teenage boys except that he had worked and saved some money.
One of the officers in the bank where Charlie regularly deposited his savings each Saturday took an interest in him. For the banker felt: now here's a boy of character and ability ? and he knows the value of money.
So when Charlie decided to go in business for himself, buying and selling cotton, the banker gave him credit. And this was the first experience Charlie Sammons had in the use of OPM. As you
will see, it was not the last. He learned then, and has seen it confirmed since:
Your banker is your friend.
About a year and a half after he became a cotton broker, the young man became a horse and mule trader. It was then that he learned much about human nature.
