3-1 Trump 爸爸的奋斗发家史

2018-10-15 23:00:4125:17 147
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Chapter 3 Growing up


在第三章里Trump 讲述了他成长过程中的一些重要的人, 第一个就是他的父亲, Fred Trump。 Trump 说他从父亲身上学到了很多I learned a lot from my father. 


I learned about toughness in a very tough business. 

I learned about motivating people

I learned about competence and efficiency, get in , get it done, get it done right  and get out. 

Trump 这样概括父亲的故事: His story is classic Horatio Alge(霍雷肖,阿尔杰), 是典型的霍雷肖,阿尔杰 作品中的人物。 那么霍雷肖,阿尔杰 他的作品有什么特征? 在他的作品中多是那种出身贫寒的男孩子, 然后通过自身勤奋和努力, 晋级为中产, rags-to-riches


那Fred Trump 是1905年出生在新泽西, 他的父亲是打小就从瑞典随家人移民到美国的, 他有一家不大不小的餐馆(owned a moderately successful restaurant), 但这个人爱喝酒, 估计肝也不是特别好, Trump形容自己爷爷: he was also a hard liver and a hard drinker, 在Fred Trump 才11岁时就去世了。 撇下妻子和三个未成年的孩子, 老大Elizabeth, 老二就是Trump 爸爸, Fred, 老三John。 Trump 爸爸是家中长子 , 按照他们家的传统, 虽然当时Fred Trump 只有11岁, 但也要和母亲一起承担养家的担子。 


所以从那时起,他就开始做各种杂活,比如帮水果店送快递呀, 给人擦鞋,或者在建筑工地拉木头等等。 he began taking everything from deliveries for a local fruit store to shining shoes  to hauling humber on a construction site. 

上高中时还开始读夜校, 学木匠, 也学着看计划书, 做预算

during high school he began taking night class in carpentry, plan-reading and estimating, 想着未来学着做贸易,也是可以糊口的。 


Fred Trump 16岁时, 就建起了他人生第一座建筑, 是给他邻居建的一个个能停两辆车的简易车库,后来又持续不断地给人建这种车库 每个售价$50 自此开始了自己的建筑生涯哈,


1922 年, 当时也才17岁地Fred Trump 高中毕业啦, 因为要养家,所以直接给一个木匠当帮手(work as a carpenter's helper), 在皇后区一带建住宅房。 Fred Trump 还是很聪明的, 心灵手巧,又受过教育,在一起工作的工友中还挺突出, 而且就如Trump 在第二章中提到关于focus, 关于ambitious, 关于格局等等, 在他父亲身上也是有表现的。 

My father was always very focused and very ambitious. Most of his co-worders were happy just to have a job, my fathter not only wanted to work, he also wanted to do well and to get ahead. Finally, my father just plain loved working. 


而且老Trump后来还告诫小Trump 说: 

the most importtant thing in life is to love what you are doing, because that's the only way you'll ever be really good at it. 


Fred Trump 高中毕业一年后, 就建了他的第一个住宅, 一个独家住宅, 建设成本$5000, 卖了$7500, 他还成立了自己的公司, 叫Elizabeth Trump & Son. 这之后他就在皇后区建起了一幢又一幢的住宅, 为那些花费他们一生积蓄的辛勤工作的人提供了一种新的生活方式, 让他们不再住在狭小拥挤的公寓房中, 而是搬进到价格适中的郊区风格的更宽敞的砖建住宅中 (modestly priced suburban-style brick house.)


1929年, 他父亲又把目光瞄向更富有的阶层, 开始建比之前那种brick house 大得多得住宅。 Instinctively, my father began to think bigger. By 1929, aiming at a more affluent market, he started building much larger homes. 

在大萧条时期(美国29年开始, 一直到34 年才有所缓解的大萧条时期)他的父亲开始做其他生意(turned his attention to other businesses. ), 比如收购破产的房贷公司 , 建自助超市, He bought a bankrupt margage-servicing company and sold it at a profit a year later. Next, he built a self-service supermarket. 


1934年, 当大萧条有所缓解时, the Depression was finally beginning to ease but money was still tight, 那么他的父亲又回归了, 继续做低端的住宅市场。 然后又成功了。 once again, his instincts were right. 他在之后几年内一共卖出2500套住宅房, 非常成功。 


接下来1936年, Fred Trump 娶了Mary MacLeod, 组建了家庭。 


我们继续看Trump 对其父亲所从事的这个领域的一些介绍, 从前面的介绍我们也看出, 他父亲主要是在低端市场上找机会的, 那么这个市场的情况如何呢?我们看Trump 是如何描述的: you made it in my father's business - rent controlled and rent-stabilized buildings - by being very tough and very relentless. 

To turn a profit, you had to keep your costs down. 就是说你如果想在我父亲的这一行里生存下去, 你是一定得tough and relentless, 艰辛 , 还得无情冷酷。 

为了能赚到些利润, 必须要节流。 


Trump 说他的爸爸always very price-conscious. 对价格很敏感。 他甚至和那些买地板蜡和拖布的人都要想和他工程上的主要大宗物品提供商一样要negociate 。 他爸爸讲价还是很有一套的, 

一个是因为他对行情, 对成本很了解, 所以你别想蒙我哈

另外一个就是谈判技巧了, 虽然我给你的报价不是最高, 但你肯定能拿到钱, 你去别人那里, 虽然他承诺你的比我的高, 但你不一定见得到钱的, (建筑行业就是这样, 干活的总有被拖欠工资的风险哈), 而且我工程做得快, 你可以快进快出, 快拿钱,再去做下家, 这个帐你要不要算算呢?


Fred Trump 的确也是总能拿到项目, 也总是能最短时间内完工, 所以他爸爸谈价的第二个法宝就是: by selling them on his reliability. 

Trump 眼里爸爸还是个unbelievably demanding taskmaster, 非常强势, 自己特别拼, 每天6点就去工地干活了, 看到有人没有按他的标准干活, 还主动秀给人家看, 很拼的。 也因此和他几乎同期开工的做差不多项目的人很多都被他挤兑黄了, 他建房子更快, 还更宽敞, 更漂亮, 当然也就能更快地租出去了。 


时间到了1949年, 这一年又是一个关键点, 他的爸爸开始建那种appartment complexes 了, 公寓大楼, 这成就了他的父亲, made him one of the biggest landlords in New York's outer boroughs.  纽约周边地区地最大的地主之一, 大大的包租公哈。 很厉害

Trump 并不想完全接父亲的班, 

我们来看看原文里是怎么说的:


I learned very early on that I didn't want to be in the business my father was in.  He did very well building rent-controlled and rent-stabilized housing in Queens and Brooklyn, but it was a very tough way to make a buck. 

I wanted to try something grander, more glamorous, and more exciting. I also realized that if I ever wanted to be known as more than Fred Trump's son, I was eventually going to have to go out and make my own mark. 


Trump所接收的教育也让他不想做父亲那一行. 在Trump 大学毕业后, 他就回家继续跟着爸爸干,但他那时就开始想是不是有其他的可能。 

I immediately moved back home and went to work full-time with my father. I continued to learn a lot, but it was during this period that I began to think about alternatives. 

为什么呢?

他爸爸的这一行对于Trump 来说显得很rough, 而且是physically rough, 要有强健的身体和心理似的。 什么意思呢? Trump 举例: 

I remember going around with the men we called rent collectors. To do this job you had to be physically imposing, because when it came to collecting rend from people who didn't want to pay, size matters a lot more than brain. 

One of the first trick I learned was that you never stand in front of someone's door when you knock Instead you stand by the wall and reach over to knock.  


年轻的Trump 还比较萌,不明白, 问" what's the point?", 然后对方看着他, he looked at me like I was crazy, "the point is that if you stand to the side, the only thing exposed to danger is your hand. "被置于危险之中的只是你的手而已。 

Trump 还是半信半疑哈, 同行的人又给他解释: In this business, if you knock on the wrong apartment at the wrong time, you're liable to get shot. 做这行, 如果你在错的时间敲了错的门, 你都有可能会被枪打到。 

Trump 和他的爸爸不一样呀, 他是沃顿商学院毕业的, 沃顿是什么地方, 培养企业家的地方, 我也不差, 完成了学业, 结果就入这么一行吗? 

I'd just graduated from Wharton, and suddenly here I was in a scene that was violent at worst and unpleasant at best. 糟糕时,甚至是遭遇暴力, 而且还有很多不开心。 比如有些房客(tenant)还从窗口丢垃圾, 这些在Trump看来都是很让人不开心的事情。 


在一件让他觉得爸爸这一行没有什么吸引力的原因是利润空间太小了, 那些奢华的事情想都别想, 设计也是靠边站, 钱能少花就少花,为了节约成本,所有都用最便宜的材料做成完全一样的模样:

The second thing I didn't find appealing was that the profit margins were so low, You had no choice but to pinch pennies, and there was no room for any luxuries. Design was beside the point because every building had to be pretty much the same. four walls, common brick facades(普通的砖砌的正面门脸儿 fei·sard), you use red brick,  not because you liked it but because it was a penny a brick cheaper than tan brick(tan : 黄褐色)



说过这些看起来很实际的原因, 那么更深层的原因是什么呢?

The real reason I wanted out of my father's business- more important than the fact that it was physically rough and financially tough - was that I had loftier dreams and visions. And there was no way to implement them building housing in the outer boroughs. 

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