STARTING INTO BUSINESS 



25 



and sell to advantage, how to handle his patrons and satisfy them; 

 he must be a good mixer, liberal minded, always informed as to his 

 assets and liabilities and ready to act accordingly. He must be con- 

 servative, yet optimistic. Lacking some of these traits makes 

 some fail, while others succeed in spite of the lack. But the man who 

 is good at business, has the advantage. Those who have it in mind 

 to start without capital may claim that to do so twenty or thirty 

 years ago was an easy matter, but that it cannot be done today. But 

 this is wrong. There are greater opportunities today by far, than 

 there were in former times. Right now, there are men all over the 

 country, perhaps struggling along, not knowing where the money 

 for the next ton of coal is coming from; men who have to do their 

 own delivering, who in a few years will be among the successful men 

 of their day. There is a crop of just such men among the leaders 

 of today ; and other crops, and much larger ones, will follow as the 

 years pass by. 



A man without any capital to speak of should know his business, 

 should be able bodied, willing to work eighteen hours every day, if 

 necessary, and be determined to succeed. It is proper that I should 

 present in this chapter my idea of at least one way in which a man 



Fig. 5. — ^A Flower Shop Interior. A good example of a neat, inviting flower 



shop in Peoria, III. The retail grower who is equipped in similar manner as well 



as with adequate, uptodate greenhouses is fortunate indeed 



