The object of this work is to help people who are out of employment to
secure a situation; to enable persons of small means to engage in
business and become their own employers; to give men and women in
various lines of enterprise ideas whereby they may succeed; and to
suggest new roads to fortune by the employment of capital. The author
has been moved to the undertaking by the reflection that there exists
nowhere a book of similar character. There have indeed been published a
multitude of books which profess to tell men how to succeed, but they
all consist of merely professional counsel expressed in general terms.
We are told that the secrets of success are “industry and accuracy,”
“the grasping of every opportunity,” “being wide awake,” “getting up
early and sitting up late,” and other cheap sayings quite as well known
to the taker as to the giver. Even men who have made their mark, when
they come to treat of their career in writing, seem unable to give any
concrete suggestions which will prove helpful to other struggling
thousands, but simply tell us they won by “hard work,” or by “close
attention to business.”
The author of this book has gone to work on a totally different plan. I
have patiently collected the facts in the rise of men to wealth and
power, have collated the instances and instruments of fortune, and from
these have sifted out the real secrets of success. When as in a few
cases, the worn-out proverbs and principles are quoted, these are
immediately reinforced by individual examples of persons who attributed
their advancement to the following of these rules; but, in general, the
suggestions are new, and in very many cases plans and lines of work are
proposed by the author which are entirely original, and so far as he
knows, absolutely untried. Hence, the work becomes of incomparable value
to business men who are constantly seeking new means to interest the
public and to dispose of their goods.
Of course, the vast field of action treated of in this work lies beyond
the experience of any one man, but the author has talked with business
men in every walk in life and gleaned from them the essential facts in
their career; in many instances these facts are not the things they have
done, but the things they would do if they could begin again, thus
giving the reader the benefit both of their success and failure. As a
book offering opportunities to the ambitious; presenting openings to
those seeking a wider scope for their faculties; affording stimulation
to persons of sluggish blood; and giving away trade and business secrets
never before divulged; the author feels confident that the little work
stands unrivaled, and as such he modestly offers it to the public for
its approval.
ONE THOUSAND WAYS TO MAKE MONEY.