How eagerly the miner prospector drinks in every bit of news he hears about a new strike!  How alertly the master salesman listens to casual gossip that holds a clue which may lead to a sale!  But the miner and the salesman prospectors would not benefit in any degree by what they learn through their perception of prospects if they did not then act intelligently upon the clues secured.  Not only should you keep your eyes and ears open for indications of opportunities to succeed, but you should be ready in advance to take instant advantage of any you may discover.  What a fool a miner would be if, after finding rich prospects of gold, he were to lose his chance to someone else because he did not know how to file a mining claim!  Could there be a greater failure in salesmanship than learning about a big contract to be let, and being unprepared to bid on it?  Before doing any outside prospecting, be sure you know what you have in you.  Make certain of your ability to take full advantage of your chances to succeed when you come upon them.

[Sidenote:  Little Doors To Big Success]

Prospects that seem at first glance to be hardly worth following may lead to other prospects.  Merely because your ambitions are big, do not neglect a chance to make a little success.  Investigate completely every minor prospect you find.  Until you look into it thoroughly, you cannot be sure of all that a clue holds.  The indication of an opportunity that seems of slight importance may possibly lead straight to the bonanza lode.

An elevator boy in an office building made up his mind to rise permanently in the world; to get out of the vocation in which he was just going up and down all the time without arriving anywhere in particular.  He prospected the tenants of the building, learned all he could about them, and determined who were the biggest men.  He studied the directory, asked questions, and finally selected the one big business man to whom he was resolved to sell his capabilities.

[Sidenote:  Persistent Effort After Prospecting]

This man was known to be unapproachable.  So, instead of attempting to interview him, the elevator boy prospected to discover his characteristics.  He found out exactly what qualities were most likely to please his intended employer.  Then he cultivated the tone, manner, and habits of action that he felt certain would impress the difficult prospect most favorably.  It took the resolute elevator boy nearly a year of continual, skillful work to make the big business man notice him and distinguish him from the other elevator boys.  Six months more were required to develop the big man’s attention into thorough interest.  But at the end of a year and a half of faithful prospecting, the ambitious youth gained his selected, self-created opportunity to succeed.  There was no stopping him after he got his start.  In less than a decade he had sold his qualifications so successfully to a group of powerful financiers that he, too, had become a multi-millionaire.