(no subject)
Недавно посмотрела фильм "The Greatest Showman" и заинтересовалась, по реальным ли событиям книга. Оказалось, что прототип есть, но история конечно была довольно сильно изменена. Однако, как выяснилось, создатель первого путешествующего цирка, P. T. Barnum еще и написал несколько книг. Одну из них, изданную в 1880 году, я прочла, меня заинтриговало название - "Art of Money Getting". Я решила узнать какие же методы были в ходу 150 лет назад. И, к своему удивлению, обнаружила, что мир с тех пор изменился не так уж кардинально. Книга доступна бесплатно на Google Books, вот избранные цитаты:
On wealth:
The road to wealth is, as Dr. Franklin truly says, "as plain as the road to the mill." It consists simply in expending less than we earn; that seems to be a very simple problem.
On economy (saving):
There are many who think that economy consists in saving cheese-pairings and candle-ends, in cutting off two pence from the laundress' bill and doing all sorts of little, mean, dirty things. Economy is not meanness. The misfortune is, also, that this class of persons let their economy apply only in one direction. They fancy they are so wonderfully economical in saving a half-penny where they ought to spend two pence, that they think they can afford to squander in other directions.
On career choices:
The college student that was about graduating, said to an old lawyer:
"I have not yet decided which profession I will follow. Is your profession full?"
"The basement is much crowded, but there's plenty room upstairs", was the witty and truthful reply.
...
After securing the right vocation, you must be careful to select the proper location. You may have been cut out for a hotel keeper, and they say "it requires a genius to "know how to keep a hotel". You might conduct a hotel like clock-work and provide satisfactorily for five hundred guests every day; yet if you should locate your house in a small village where there is no railroad communication or public travel, the location will be your ruin.
Money and debt:
Money is in some respect like fire; it is a very excellent servant but a terrible master. When you have it mastering you; when the debt is constantly piling against you, it will keep you down in the worst kind of slavery. But let money work for you, and you have the most devoted servant in the world. It is no "eye-servant." There is nothing animate or inanimate that will work so faithfully as money when placed at interest, well secured. It works night and day, and in wet or dry weather.
Investing:
If a man has plenty of money, he ought to invest something in everything that appears to promise success, and that will probably benefit mankind; but let the sums thus invested be moderate in amount, and never let a man foolishly jeopardize a fortune that he has earned in a legitimate way, by investing it in things in which he has had no experience.
On managing employees:
If you get a good one, it is better to keep him than keep changing. He learns something every day, and you are benefited by the experience he acquires. He is worth more to you this year than last, and he is the last man to part with, provided his habits are good and he continues faithful. If as he gets more valuable, he demands an exorbitant salary, on the supposition that you can't do without him, let him go. Whenever I have such an employee, I always discharge him. First, to convince him that his place may be supplied, and second because he is good for nothing if he thinks he is invaluable and cannot be spared.
On advertisement:
A French writer says that "A reader of a newspaper does not see the first mention of an ordinary advertisement; the second insertion he sees, but does not read; the third insertion he reads; the fourth insertion, he looks at the price; the fifth insertion, he speaks of it to his wife; the sixth insertion he is ready to purchase; and the seventh insertion he purchases".
Your object in advertising is to make the public understand what you have got to sell, and if you have not the pluck to keep advertising, all the money you have spent is lost.
On wealth:
The road to wealth is, as Dr. Franklin truly says, "as plain as the road to the mill." It consists simply in expending less than we earn; that seems to be a very simple problem.
On economy (saving):
There are many who think that economy consists in saving cheese-pairings and candle-ends, in cutting off two pence from the laundress' bill and doing all sorts of little, mean, dirty things. Economy is not meanness. The misfortune is, also, that this class of persons let their economy apply only in one direction. They fancy they are so wonderfully economical in saving a half-penny where they ought to spend two pence, that they think they can afford to squander in other directions.
On career choices:
The college student that was about graduating, said to an old lawyer:
"I have not yet decided which profession I will follow. Is your profession full?"
"The basement is much crowded, but there's plenty room upstairs", was the witty and truthful reply.
...
After securing the right vocation, you must be careful to select the proper location. You may have been cut out for a hotel keeper, and they say "it requires a genius to "know how to keep a hotel". You might conduct a hotel like clock-work and provide satisfactorily for five hundred guests every day; yet if you should locate your house in a small village where there is no railroad communication or public travel, the location will be your ruin.
Money and debt:
Money is in some respect like fire; it is a very excellent servant but a terrible master. When you have it mastering you; when the debt is constantly piling against you, it will keep you down in the worst kind of slavery. But let money work for you, and you have the most devoted servant in the world. It is no "eye-servant." There is nothing animate or inanimate that will work so faithfully as money when placed at interest, well secured. It works night and day, and in wet or dry weather.
Investing:
If a man has plenty of money, he ought to invest something in everything that appears to promise success, and that will probably benefit mankind; but let the sums thus invested be moderate in amount, and never let a man foolishly jeopardize a fortune that he has earned in a legitimate way, by investing it in things in which he has had no experience.
On managing employees:
If you get a good one, it is better to keep him than keep changing. He learns something every day, and you are benefited by the experience he acquires. He is worth more to you this year than last, and he is the last man to part with, provided his habits are good and he continues faithful. If as he gets more valuable, he demands an exorbitant salary, on the supposition that you can't do without him, let him go. Whenever I have such an employee, I always discharge him. First, to convince him that his place may be supplied, and second because he is good for nothing if he thinks he is invaluable and cannot be spared.
On advertisement:
A French writer says that "A reader of a newspaper does not see the first mention of an ordinary advertisement; the second insertion he sees, but does not read; the third insertion he reads; the fourth insertion, he looks at the price; the fifth insertion, he speaks of it to his wife; the sixth insertion he is ready to purchase; and the seventh insertion he purchases".
Your object in advertising is to make the public understand what you have got to sell, and if you have not the pluck to keep advertising, all the money you have spent is lost.