How Credit and Faith Lead to Success

How Credit and Faith Lead to Success Have you ever really thought about how much credit and faith are factors, which lead to success? The word "credit" means faith. Credit is the faith of man in men. Faith is the basis of all business and of all success. No transaction today is carried on without it. You do not leave an order at the grocer's without having faith that the grocer will deliver the goods. Credit is faith. Credit in the business world is man's faith in his fellowmen. Your credit depends upon the faith of men in you; and this in turn depends on your faith in yourself. As lack of credit is due to the lack of true faith, so lack of financial backing is due to lack of a concrete plan. There is a difference. Credit is a spiritual attitude. Financial backing is a material condition. That is the reason a concrete plan is necessary in securing financial backing. An "idea" is not sufficient. Insane men have plenty of ideas. If you have a "good idea," work out a concrete plan of how to carry it out. If you do not do so, it shows that you lack the ability to do so, or lack the desire to make the effort to do so. In either case, you should not be given financial backing. But, if you do work out a sane plan of using your idea, have faith in yourself, and dare. Then, there is money to back you! A story recently published in one of our national magazines is worth a summary here. A soap salesman, leaving his position in the east because of ill health, travelled across the continent with his family in a small van drawn by mules. They travelled in this unusual way because he did not have the money to move his family in the usual way, and because he wished several months of outdoor life to regain his health. When he reached the Pacific coast, his cash was reduced to eleven dollars. While connected with the company in the east, he had taken trade away from a certain western company. So, on arrival, he called on the western manufacturer. To this manufacturer he outlined a detailed plan of how he, the former salesman of the east, could win the soap trade of the west for the western soap company. But, the manufacturer failed to take up the salesman's proposition because the manufacturer lacked vision. He judged the salesman's proposition by the condition of his clothes, which were shabby because of his long mule trip across the continent. Turned down by this one manufacturer, the soap salesman did not despair. He decided that he needed credit to buy clothes to improve his appearance, before presenting his proposition to another manufacturer. He went to a bank. Its cashier had previously known nothing of the man, but the salesman told his story and told why his proposition had just been turned down. The man's faith in himself and his well worked out plan, won confidence. The bank accepted his note and he left the bank with three hundred dollars in his pocket. Later, when he wished to finance his own soap company, "He gathered up his literature and credentials and called on the president of another trust company of the town. He saw the president, did not like his looks, and went away without making known his errand. The third banker he felt he could trust. To this man he told his complete plan. 'With soy-bean oil, I can undersell any soap that is made.' The president believed him, and the bank gave him the line of credit that he needed." Hundreds of thousands of men ask for financial backing every day of the year, and fail to get it. This soap salesman succeeded because (1) he presented concrete plans, instead of "good ideas;" (2) he won the confidence of others by his daring in presenting his plans; and (3) he had the courage to present them, because of his faith in himself.