Book review: The Art of Money Getting by P T Barnum

Here is the book review link.

PT Barnum believed wealth would naturally flow from good character

No one succeeds, Barnum asserts, without knowing their field inside out. His reflection on his 19th-century countrymen could be applied to people in any time and place: ‘As a nation, Americans are too superficial – they are striving to get rich quickly, and do not generally do their business as thoroughly as they should, but whoever excels all others in his own line, if his habits are good and his integrity undoubted, cannot fail to secure abundant patronage, and the wealth that naturally follows.’

Learn your own lessons

Even in Barnum’s time most successful business people were self-made, and the same is true today. He warned not to depend too much on other people’s capital, particularly inheritances. If anything, this ‘easy money’ will hold you back.

It may be convenient to be given or to borrow a load of money to start a business, but as Barnum notes: ‘Money is good for nothing unless you know the value of it by experience.’ The tycoon John Jacob Astor commented that it was more difficult for him to make his first thousand dollars than it was to accrue all his succeeding millions. But the lessons learned in creating the initial capital – self-denial, industry, perseverance, and patience – were priceless.