SELF-CONTROL 513will find that everyone of them is turning away the finest sort of
opportunities every hour of the day.
One day I went to visit a friend who was associated with a com-
mercial school. When I asked him how he was getting along he replied:
"Rotten! I see a large number of people but I am not making enough
sales to give me a good living. I am thinking about changing positions as
there is no opportunity here."
It happened that I was on my vacation and had ten days' time that
I could use as I wished, so I challenged his remark that he had no
opportunity by telling him that I could turn his position into $250
in a week's time and show him how to make it worth that every week
thereafter. He looked at me in amazement and asked me not to joke with
him over so serious a matter. When he was finally convinced that I was
in earnest, he inquired how I would perform the "miracle:'
I informed him that by using organized effort he could enroll from
five to ten students with the same amount of effort that he had been
putting into the enrollment of one or of none. He replied that he was
willing to be shown, so I asked him to arrange for me to speak before the
employees of one of the local department stores. He made the appoint-
ment and I delivered the address. In my talk I outlined a plan by which
the employees could not only increase their ability so that they could
earn more money in their present positions, but it also offered them an
opportunity to prepare themselves for greater responsibilities and better
positions. Following my talk, which of course had been designed for that
purpose, my friend enrolled eight of those employees for night courses
in the commercial school that he represented.
The following night he booked me for a similar address before the
employees of a laundry, and following this address he enrolled three
more students, two of whom were young women who worked over the
washing machines at the hardest sort of labor.
Two days later he booked me for an address before the employees
of one of the local banks, and following the address he enrolled four