Re: Simon, you're on my list to interview...in the meantime...

If you are reading this thread, would like to think and grow rich and the thought of the task in front of you hurts your head...understand that Thomas Edison failed over 10,000 times. I myself have only failed several hundred times. Abe Lincoln was social failure until the age of 40. I am younger than that. Point being, keep at it. You probably have a long time until you will hold your riches that are still in someone else's checking account.

Dr. Ralston played his role. In the early
> 20th century and a couple of decades before,
> PATENT medicine was the leading MAILORDER
> item and biggest advertiser.

> The CEREAL wars of that era, with Kellogg
> and Post and Quaker Oats and a guy name
> RALSTON...who hooked up with a Danforth of
> the Purina company...to endorse his cereal.

> These SUCCESSES were on Carneige's list for
> Hill to interview...

> Dr. Ralston had a huge following, over
> 800,000 on his house list in the 1890's. He
> was a "health nut" in the mode of
> Dr. Kellogg.

> Anyhow, a whole society grew up around this,
> and one of those societies was the
> "Ralston Society" which began
> publishing new thought books in Meriden
> CT...and (BUT MY RESEARCH IS INCOMPLETE ON
> ALL OF THE REST OF THE STORY)...it appears
> that Napoleon's commission had him publish
> his massive work by Ralston Society
> Publishing...the work being the huge LAW OF
> SUCCESS. In 8 volumes.

> It was sold by SPACE ADS in popular
> magazines (I'm hoping to have a few of them
> in my future work)...and also with direct
> response letters (and if I'm lucky a friend
> of mine with the Western Reserve Historical
> Society may have some for me to
> peruse...Ralston Publishing moved to
> Cleveland in 1944.

> The LAWS OF SUCCESS were sold in
> "lessons" and THINK AND GROW RICH
> was supposedly a condensation of the lessons
> that were affordable for the masses. Or so
> the story goes.

> I think you are right. Hill had the support
> of scores of the most successful men of his
> day.

> But it is not unlike what Mark Victor Hansen
> and Jack Canfield did with Chicken Soup.

> They let others write the books (Hill's
> interviews) with little stories and when
> they went to market it, they had dozens of
> salespeople.

> When Hill finally published his
> "commission" (which implies to me
> he got something) there were the names of
> 500 GIANTS of the day in it...each acting as
> a salesperson for the work...it is believed
> that some ordered the lessons in quantity
> for their employees.

> Again, just like modern employees might give
> their people Chicken Soup.

> anyhow...

> I can't yet identify the COPYWRITER for the
> ads, and it seems like it could be just
> about anyone from that era...but if I do
> find all this out, I'll make sure I mention
> it.

> Simon, you may be right. But the person who
> DOES it, is the one that gets any reward. It
> is the action of interviewing and presenting
> the interview's contents to the buying
> public (through some sort of advertisement).

> Hill may not have been "paid" for
> his time and research, but he was granted
> access to the most successful men of his
> day, and it wouldn't surprise me if he had
> more than one meal at his "host's"
> expense.

> Gordon Alexander

> PS. Think And Grow Rich is considered to be
> the all time best seller in it's category
> (which can't be agreed upon)...but it is
> safe to say that much of that early success
> was because of WHO Hill knew, not what he
> did. Although he DID have to meet them.

Hi Jay,

> If you are reading this thread, would like
> to think and grow rich and the thought of
> the task in front of you hurts your
> head...understand that Thomas Edison failed
> over 10,000 times. I myself have only failed
> several hundred times. Abe Lincoln was
> social failure until the age of 40. I am
> younger than that. Point being, keep at it.
> You probably have a long time until you will
> hold your riches that are still in someone
> else's checking account.

Jay, that's very true.... When you read a lot of "success stories," this fact comes up over and over....

Many "overnight successes" were in fact toiling away in obscurity for many years before they "struck it big."

For example, many people may know of the British entrepreneur Richard Branson and his "Virgin" label -- from Virgin Airlines to Virgin Megastores to Virgin Cola.

Well, he started Virgin in the early 70s, and his company was pretty much just barely surviving for around a decade before he began to really strike it big.... It's clear when you read his autobiography. While he had some early successes -- for example, his early company Virgin Records debuted with Mike Oldfield and his album "Tubular Bells," which started the whole "new age" music movement.

A few years later, Virgin Records signed the infamous punk band the Sex Pistols -- but these successes only just barely covered the losses from the other bands he signed.... He had to keep struggling until he finally managed to strike it big in the early 1980s.... And, as they say, the rest is history. :)

Another example from the arts is Frank Herbert, the author of the "Dune" series of science fiction novels.... To many science fiction fans, "Dune" is considered to be one of the best sci-fi novels ever written. "Dune" was rejected by 23 publishers, one after another.... But Frank Herbert didn't give up, and finally was accepted by the 24th publisher he approached!

This lesson just keeps repeating itself.... Don't give up.

Everybody gets frustrated.... But some people stop, pull themselves back together, and then keep going....

One of the biggest "secrets" of successful people is really no secret at all.... It's tenacity.

- Dien Rice