W. Clement Stone. An Ordinary Person Who Made It.

byrjkennedy

2.5K followers

Updated 4 years ago

The life of W.Clement Stone is a "success story within a success story." Now chairman of Success Unlimited magazine, Stone has become the leader of the Positive Mental Attitude philosophy.

Although many a youth has had experience selling newspapers to make money, few are willing to endure and overcome the opposition that confronted W. Clement Stone. Having been thrown out of a restaurant several times because the proprietor thought he was annoying customers, Stone came back, and back, and back again. He figured people had to read their daily articles.

Finally, it was the customers themselves who came to his support because of his persistance, and Stone was allowed to continue selling his papers in the restaurant.

He began early to question himself on the things he was doing that would get sales and also on the things he thought were costing him sales. He would analyze himself and decide what he was going to do the next time.

His father having died when Stone was a child, Stone was rasied by his mother who worked as a seamstress for many years. A hard working woman with an astute sense of business, she was to have a profound influence on Stone's life. Young Clement was only in his teens when his mother took the money she had saved and inested it in an insurance agency of small means.

The agency occupied a small office with very little furniture. Stone's mother became the agency's sales force; there was no one else. At the beginning, no sales. Being a religious woman who prays a lot; eventually soon hit fourty-four sales.

Excited finally able to bank at Detroit's largest bank and selling to bank officers and others in the bank, the small agency began to prosper. W. Stone decided to give a shot at selling policies for his mother's agency.

During Clements time off from school and through summer vacation, Stone continued to sell the health-and-accident policies for his mother. His sales average climbed so high, that he realized he was making more money than the school principal. Right there, he said, "To hell with school."

He went to work full time for his mom. Sales limbed quickly, and by the age twenty, he opened up his own agency in Chicago. (He bought back fifty-four policies on his first day out!) Sales continue to skyrocket from city to city around Chicago! He averaged one sale every four minutes. His total for the day was one hundred and twenty policies.

Renewals had started to come in and there was no longer any doubt as to whether his agency would succeed.

Around the fourth year of selling for his own company, Stone decided it was time to expand. His efforts went in all directions and within six months, his sales force grew to an army of over one thousand agents. His operations had now grown so large that he was doing business all over the country.

The downside of things came when the Great Depression struck! Insurance sales dwindled, right along with its agents. Things were starting to look bad and Stone had to look for answers to overcome the adversity which he now faced. He faced this tough situation as a challenge!

The sales force of Combined Registry, Stone's agency, had in the meantime shunk to 200 men. He gathered himself and gave a very serious and motivational speech to his small group. To his amazement his team started writing more business than when 1,000 men were working with him.

Stone was soon to become a millionaire!

W. Clement Stone knew he would become successful before he even put one foot forward. Success through a positive mental attitude can be achieved by anyone. Those who believe will achieve!

Ron Kennedy