As a boy William Lear grew up on the streets of Chicago and hence he initially acquired only a crude and limited vocabulary. When he was 18 he got employed as an office boy at Rotary International. The secretary of Rotary International named Chestary Perry was according to Lear, a brilliant, articulate gentleman. By constantly listening to the latter’s excellent rhetoric, Lear learnt to speak well and grammatically. Lear states that he could never have become a financial success without developing the facility to communicate effectively. He points out that anytime one has to sell an idea or a product, one has to express himself forcefully and convincingly. According to him “to get ahead, you must learn to communicate your ideas clearly and forcefully”.
When Lear was 16, he went to work in a leather tanning company in Chicago. He worked in the power station which has the difficult task of starting the generators each morning. It was naturally tough for a boy of his age. But as soon as he had mastered the job. He quit. In Lear’s view, a young man these days is too often concerned with periodic increments, pension prospects and sickness and other fringe benefits he feels that a man of this type will end up in answering the complicated quarrels of the management as to why deductions should not be imposed on his salary for various inconsequential reasons. To make a million, his cardinal rule is this: As soon as you have learned how to do your job as well as it can be done, ask for more responsibility in your company or a different job. If you don’t get it, get out.
Lear started with an investment of $500 and he is of the opinion that an individual can start with as little as that. All the same, the fact remains that you must have some capital to set up your business or start your enterprise. When one gets a brain wave or a brilliant idea which will serve the community or the country well and at the same time prove to be a successful business proposition, he will need funds to start a business of his own. Lear’s advice to build up savings, is to do extra work during spare time and even at nights. That you are working hard, you work elsewhere, at night, you are having ambitions, you are trying to get somewhere, are factors which will be regarded in your favour by your employer. He would prefer you to a man who is without drive or motivation and who is mediocre and wastes his time in doing nothing during his spare time. The rule is therefore to do extra work and save money for investment later.
Mr. Lear has been working at the rate of 12 hours a day and generally 6 days a week. At times, he has also worked during all the 7 days of the week. He is definitely of the opinion that people who put in extra work will always reap the benefit at the end. In his opinion executives everywhere are keen to locate men who are interested enough in their job to put in over time work. The will to work over time, to put in a future additional work of over time marks all the additional difference between the future top executive and the ordinary clerk. The rule is, therefore, that an individual should put consciously and deliberately at least one to two additional hours if he is to come up in life.
A little insecurity may prove to be a blessing in disguise. If one has an excellent idea for business or new product, he should not hesitate to invest his savings and also raise more funds if necessary by borrowing the capital wherever possible. Mr. Lear says that “Every millionaire is a calculating gambler.” He even recommends mortgaging one’s house or taking a bank loan on it, to start a new venture. The responsibility to repay the loan will make an individual work harder. If a person is always interested in ensuring security before starting a new venture, he may end up without starting the new business at all One has to he hold and enterprising and show readiness to accept calculated risks. Fortune will always favour the brave. She is like a woman. She would like to follow the lead of a bold man. She never follow a coward. So you must catch your opportunity and should not allow it to slip through your fingers. If you are bold, enterprising and industrious, you can dictate terms.
Millions of people have proposals and ideas which are brilliant and terrific on paper. But when examined from a practical viewpoint, one may find that they do not belong in the market places. In the ultimate analysis, it is the people who decide whether you are going to be a success in your enterprise or not. Therefore, before one decides to manufacture or to float a new product he must ask himself whether he would himself buy the product that he is going to develop or introduce. He must check and find out whether it is important to the economy of the country and the commonality In other words, he must examine every proposal by exercising his worldly commonsense. He should not be guided only by the theory’ and mere bookish knowledge. Ii the same way, the rules which have been stated above should be applied judiciously.
Conclusion
Mr. Lear concludes by saying that his six rules can, if intelligently and assiduously followed, make a millionaire.