by Napoleon Hill
Available in 122 free installments
Owner:
Cycles repeat with regularity. So, in the first half of the 1970s, thousands of honest, prudent persons again lost their wealth because they didn't clear their loans in time by selling a portion of their securities ? or didn't refrain from going further into debt to make additional purchases. When you use OPM, be certain to calculate how you can and will pay the individual or institution that loaned you the money.
Important: If you have lost a portion or all of your wealth, remember that cycles repeat. Don't hesitate to start over again at the proper time. Many wealthy persons today lost fortunes previously. But because they didn't lose their PMA, they had the courage to learn from their experiences and, subsequently, acquired even greater wealth.
If you would like to learn more about cycles, refer to Cycles ? The Mysterious Forces That Trigger Events, by Edward R. Dewey and Og Mandino. You may find it exceedingly profitable. You can keep abreast of the theories and experiments on cycles by subscribing to Cycles magazine (write to 124 S. Highland Ave., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.)
In business, there are very few numbers necessary in the combination to success, but if one or more of the numbers are missing, you will fail until you find the missing numbers.
The use of other people's money has been the means whereby honest men who were poor became rich. Money or credit is an important number in the combination to business success.
The missing number. A young sales manager, whose yearly earnings are in excess of $35,000, wrote:
"I have a feeling: the type of feeling one would have if he were standing in front of a safe which held all the wealth, happiness, and success in the world, and he had all the numbers to the combination ? except one. Just one number! If he had it, he could open the door."
Often the difference between poverty and wealth lies in the employment of all principles in a formula but one. Just that one missing number makes the difference!
This can be illustrated in the experience of another man who had been successful in selling cosmetics for a manufacturer before he went into business for himself.
In his own business Leonard Lavin, like any man who starts from the bottom, was faced with problems. As you will see later, that was good. It was good because he had to study, think, plan, and work hard before he found a solution to each problem.
Bernice, his wife, and he formed a perfect mastermind alliance. And they worked together in perfect harmony. They manufactured one cosmetic item and acted as distributors for other companies. But they lacked working capital so they were forced to do the work themselves.
As their business grew, Bernice became an expert in office management and purchasing, and an excellent administrator. Leonard became a successful sales manager and efficient production manager. And when the business grew, they were
wise enough to employ the services of a lawyer with good common sense ? the kind that gets things done. And they also benefited from the services of an expert in accounting and taxes.
The way to make a fortune is to manufacture or sell a product or service (preferably a necessity at a low cost) that repeats. They did both.
Every dollar that could be spared was plowed back into the business. Necessity motivated them to: study, think, and plan; make one dollar do the part of many; obtain maximum results from every working hour; eliminate waste.
Month by month their sales moved forward as Leonard aggressively sought to break each previous sales record. He became known in the industry as a man who knew his business. To many, he became known as a man who learned to go the extra mile.
Going the extra mile in two instances completely changed the course of his career for the better.
In the one instance his banker introduced him to three of the bank's clients who had made an investment in another cosmetic company. They needed expert advice from someone with good common sense. And Leonard took the time to help them.
Leonard went the extra mile in doing a good turn for a buyer in a drug store in Los Angeles. And then one day the buyer showed his appreciation by confidentially informing Leonard that the firm manufacturing VO-5, a quality hair dressing, might be for sale. Leonard got excited. For here was a 15-year-old company with a quality product that had leveled off. He knew, from his cosmetic experience and from the study of cycles and trends, that all this company needed was new life, new blood, new activity.
