Born Salesman?

How often you hear it said of some go-getting chap that he is a "born salesman." It generally means that the fellow seems automatically to have the knack of disposing of his goods to other people in exchange for their money, and has distinguished himself along that line to such an extent that good old-time humanity jumps to the conclusion that he was born that way.

Simply another evidence in the prevailing belief in that infamous old law of limitation that has done so much to retard the development of the efficiency of the human race. Because the fact is that ninety-nine times out of a hundred that "born salesman" is personally responsible and deserves credit for what he is and what he can do.

It isn't heredity that enables him to bring home the bacon, it's determination; it isn't inspiration, it's prespiration; it isn't luck, it's pluck; it isn't magnetism, or'hypnotism or any other ism that helps him deliver the goods. It's good old contagious enthusiasm, and pep, and punch, and optimism, and common sense, and eternal STICKTOITMNESS. And that sort of stuff has the "born" kind backed up on the shelf with the cold pie every time, and don't you doubt it, you who are ambitious to be a real salesman.

There is nothing on earth that makes a thinking man so all-fired mad as to see some fine example of what brains