Over the years in writing this column, I have mentioned many times that what we need in America are more good role models; the people who have or had those qualities that we would all do well to emulate. Well today, I have one of those special people and I am very excited to tell you about him.
His name is W. Clement Stone, founder of Combined Insurance Company of America. Stone was born on May 4, 1902, in Chicago, Illinois, and passed away on September 3, 2002, and he lived during a good part of my lifetime. I certainly knew about him.
Most of the information I am going to share with you comes from his fantastic book titled, “The Success System That Never Fails.” As I began to read it, I found that I could not put it down because it contains so much good and useful information.
His father died in 1905, leaving his family in debt. To help his mother financially, Clement started selling newspapers when he was only 6 years of age on the streets of the tough South side of Chicago. He soon found that the larger kids already had the good corners sewed up, and with clenched fists they would run him off.
To show you what kind of young man (or boy) he was, his corner was near Hoelle’s Restaurant, and he had an idea: to sell his newspapers in the restaurant. He went inside and hawked the newspapers but with a much softer voice. At the first table he made a sale, and also at the next table, but at this point Mr. Hoelle ran him out. When he wasn’t looking, Clement went back in and sold three more papers until he was run out again. Then after a few minutes he went back in for the third time. By this time the restaurant patrons were enjoying the show, and one said, “Hoelle, let him be” This time Mr. Hoelle just threw up his hands and said, “what’s the use” and let him stay.
Clement sold all his papers that day. He and Mr. Hoelle became good friends, and he was able to sell all of his papers there every week. Clement and his mother were very close, and she was a great seamstress. Something that really touched me is when she was struggling to pay their bills she would get down on her knees beside her bed at bedtime and pray, and Clement would get down beside her. Later, his mother was doing so much better financially that she was able to enroll him in the Spaulding Institute, a parochial Boarding School in Nauvoo, Illinois.
This action gave her time to get on a solid financial footing, and after two years his mother let him come home. Not long after that, she would pawn her two diamonds to buy an insurance agency in Detroit, Michigan. This is where Clement got his start selling insurance policies, and in a few years he would begin the Combined Insurance Company of America and train thousands of sales people. In the process he become a multi-millionaire.
During his early years, Clement Stone became active in the Boys Clubs. He would serve as President of the Chicago Boys Clubs and later serve as a member of the Board of Directors of the Boys Clubs of America. His book “The Success System That Never Fails” will mean the world to you, I will guarantee it. It is available from Amazon.