My profession and my training is in business, and of late we are reading about the worst of the bunch of us - those "business" folks that take billions from taxpayers in bailout … and reward themselves with bonuses for sub-par and failing work product.
Enron execs go to jail after manipulation of energy markets … taking more money than they earned… and further misstating it so they could personally profit further - aided by a certified public accounting company.
Financiers rip off their friends and family and ruin lives.
Geeezzz ...
As real estate practitioners we are doing business, too. I believe most of us are honest and work hard to make a good living and so then, based upon my own training plus a book by a couple of guys I work with by the same title ("Foundations of Business Thought" by Cal Boardman and Alan Sandomir) and who have nothing to do with this blog...I'm going to sort of pinch the title of their text because I can -- and it rightly indicates the subject matter ahead -- let's talk about this stuff. Surely business is not built on dishonesty.
How do we … how ought we do … business? And so, here I go to explain why and hopefully how … and please note this is not a big bunch of theory or pontification or an altruistic scolding. It will help you understand your profits and make them even bigger. Commissions are good.
"Commissions Are Good …" or "Foundations of Business Thought"
To get started, please read the following selections from "The Business Guide," J.L Nichols self-published it in Naperville, Ill in 1883…
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How to Do Business
Business, in every age of the world, has been the chief pioneer in the march of man's civilization. Blessings everywhere follow its advancing footsteps. It travels over no bloodstained fields to secure its noble ends, but everywhere brings man into friendly and harmonious intercourse. It removes local prejudices, breaks down personal antipathies, and binds the whole family of man together by strong ties of association and of mutual and independent interests.
It brings men together, and towns and cities are built; it makes men venture upon the seas in ships, and traverse continents on iron pathways, and wherever we go, whether abroad or at home, it is business that controls the great interests of the world, and makes the affairs of men mighty.
Practical Rules for Success
1. Keep your health good by adopting regular and study habits.
2. Never be afraid to say no. Every successful man must have the backbone to assert his rights.
3. Remember that steady, earnest effort alone leads to wealth and high position.
4. Be not ashamed to work, for it is one of the conditions of our existence. There is not a criminal who does not owe his crime to some idle hour.
5. Never covet what is not your own.
6. Remember that time is gold.
7. To industry and economy add self-reliance. Do not take too much advice, think for yourself. Independence will add vigor and inspiration to your labors.
8. Don't be selfish. Selfishness is the meanest of vices, and the parent of a dozen more. Selfishness keeps a penny so close to the eye that it can't see a dollar beyond.
9. Never forget a favor, for ingratitude is the basest trait of a man's mean character.
10. Never taste or touch that which befogs the mind or dethrones the reason. A drunken man is always at the mercy of his enemies.
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This is a good place to stop and think about it all, I think.
I like the "do not take too much advice" in no. 7. If the truth be known, I think there's an overabundance of advice in any particular office on any given day.
We will continue.
From My Porch
Prof. Mike • Class Star®
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