The oldest of all principles in the business world is the lasting effect of first impressions. First impressions are the most difficult thing to change. It’s the easiest thing on earth to create a good impression, but it’s also the thing that is most neglected by a lot of people. First impressions can be misleading, but it will take a long time to convince someone that you’re not actually what he thinks you are.

You have one chance to make a good impression. Use it to the best of your ability. If you want people to think you are successful, you must look successful. If you want people to think you are rich, you must look rich. If you want people to think you are intelligent, you must sound intelligent.

Looking successful begins with neatness and dress sense. If you arrive at a meeting in baggy shorts, a T-shirt and slip-slops, no one is going to take you seriously. I would rather be overdressed than underdressed. I don’t like slovenly people at all – and they are always remembered for the wrong reasons. If people remember me as the only guy who had a suit on, I’ll be completely satisfied, because they’ll always remember me for the right reason.

If you want to look rich, then I can’t actually give you any advice, because this is something that I avoid. To me it borders too much on the typical bigmouths I wrote about before, but Ari Onassis said that in his poorer days he made sure that he was regularly seen in the best restaurants in the city, even if it meant he had to sip on a glass of soda water all day and eat the cheapest salad.

If you want to sound intelligent, you must read and read, and read some more. Well-read people always sound clever without trying to be clever. There’s no one who sounds as stupid as someone who is trying to sound clever. Remember that!

(Excerpt from Coert Coetzee’s best seller book, RICH MIND RICH MAN which is available on Amazon Kindle)