Many of the readers of this book will select one or more of the plans herein set forth, and no doubt some of them will require local canvassing to make a success. But a great many people, after having an article ready for sale, will not know just how to start selling. In order to aid these people in disposing of what they have for sale, we give herewith the selling plan employed by a very successful salesman in Buffalo:
He was selling a fine massage cream, nicely put up in a dainty jar, and bearing a very fancy label. The jars held one ounce, and sold for 50 cents each. Instead of rushing up to a house and asking the lady who answered the bell if she wanted to buy some good massage cream, he provided himself with a nice premium, such as an ornamental clock, a set of knives and forks, a silver spoon or bon-bon dish—something really valuable, yet which at wholesale cost him only 60 or 75 cents, but would retail at $1.50 to $2. He also carried a number of self-addressed postal cards, with room on the back for ten names and addresses, under a request from ten ladies to call upon each with a jar of the cream. He also had several jars of the cream along with him.
When a lady came to the door, he would show her the premium first, and inform her that he was giving it away. This, of course, interested her. Then he would show her the jar of massage cream, give her one of the postal cards, and tell her that if she would buy one of the jars of cream, and have ten of her lady friends write their names and addresses on the self-addressed postal, and mail it to him, he would give her the premium. This caught nearly all of them, for the lady got the 50-cent jar of cream and a $1.50 to $2 premium for 50 cents, and for getting ten other ladies to sign an order for one jar each. Then when the ten orders came in on the card, he called with the premium and another card for each and made it a sort of endless chain. This isn’t canvassing, it’s planning.
Elsewhere in this book is an account of a party in a northwestern city who made from $12,000 to $15,000 a year through establishing a successful plan of collecting old accounts, mainly by means of letters.
Practically every merchant doing business anywhere has a large number of accounts which he has been unable to collect, and it is from these accounts that the solicitor can earn a good living.
Calling upon the merchants of his home-city first, he asked to be allowed to take over these accounts, the merchant to pay him 10 cents for each account so assigned, and, as he frequently listed as high as 200 accounts in a day, he derived $20 from this source alone as he was allowed to retain the entire amount. Then, on receipt of the accounts at the agency, he would be paid 20 cents more for each account, thus making his income $60 for one day’s work. This was unusual, however, but any good hustler can make a good living from this work.
A man and his wife, who lived in a city surrounded by a good fruit and agricultural country, and whose only possession was a horse and light wagon, and less than $100 in cash, concluded to open what they called a “surplus” market, where they disposed of a great deal of farm and orchard products that would otherwise have gone to waste. They rented a small stall in one of the city markets, and the wife took charge of that, while the husband drove several miles into the country each day looking for surplus products that could be had for little or nothing, simply to get them out of the way. He was thus able to pick up in a day a wagon-load of good, sound apples, peaches, pears, vegetables, berries, small fruits, etc., at a total cost of $1 or even less—often for nothing—and these he brought to the market stall and offered for sale at just about one-half the prices asked by other dealers. To be sure, the fruits were not wrapped and labeled, or the berries placed in boxes, but their quality was fully equal to those that were.
Small as was this beginning, it gradually led to something larger and better, and they now own one of the most profitable little fruit stores in their city.
A northwestern young man, who believed that more factories and other valuable enterprises could be brought to his home city through stronger literature than was being sent out by the local chamber of commerce, prepared a brief summary of resources, supplies of raw materials of all kinds, marketing conditions, power costs, and everything that could possibly interest a manufacturer looking for a new location.
This matter was contained in an attractive booklet, concise and forcible in style, and dealt only with established facts and figures, with data that could not be questioned.
Then he advertised throughout the eastern cities and stated that he would send this reliable publication on receipt of 50 cents per copy, and received many answers containing enclosures.
Later he prepared another booklet of special interest to farmers and as the matter it contained was so different from the ordinary literature so widely scattered over the country by various corporations, it met with great success, and brought a great many farmers to the surrounding country.
When a new daily paper was established in a northwestern city a few years ago, a young man who was an untiring hustler for business, and who had had a great deal of experience in soliciting ads., proposed to the publisher to conduct a page devoted to home manufactures, and make it an important feature of the paper, on a commission basis of 40 per cent. The publisher agreed to this, as he was confronted with very strong competition, and every new feature he could add to his paper was just that much more in his favor.
The young man therefore had a 3-column cut made, showing a large factory in full operation and below was a prominent display line, “Patronize Home Industries and Buy Goods Made in ———,” the name of his town.
Following this were the names of all products made in the home city, alphabetically arranged, the name of the article coming first, with the name of its manufacturer immediately following, so that anyone wishing to buy a certain article had only to turn to this alphabetical list to find the name of the article wanted, the firm or concern that made it, and either phone for it or call in person to obtain it.
The page became so popular that the name of every manufacturer in the city, with the name of his product, was listed in it, and exactly $5,000 was the revenue derived from it the first year. The manufacturers were greatly benefited by it, the paper got $3,000, and the young man who originated the plan drew $2,000 as his commission.
A woman in Denver, who had often felt the need of some refreshments while out for an afternoon’s shopping, and yet did not care to pay the fancy prices asked at most of the swell cafés where it was “all style and nothing to eat,” evolved a plan that she believed would be gladly welcomed by the women, and at the same time yield her a good income.
Not having sufficient means to rent a choice store on the leading street, or convenient to the shopping district, she went to the proprietor of one of the leading department stores and made arrangements to establish a little refreshment counter in his store, where she could serve hot coffee, sandwiches, etc., to women during the day. The merchant was glad to add this feature to his establishment, as it would be a benefit to him in attracting trade, and to the women shoppers as well as to the clerks in the store who would appreciate refreshments of this kind, at a very moderate cost.
She made her own coffee, prepared her own sandwiches and the few delicacies she served, and they were exceptionally good. She made a reasonable charge for what she served, and, although the profit was not large on any one article, it was a steady income and paid her well each year, for her refreshment counter became a permanent and popular feature of the store, drawing a large volume of trade, and no charge was made for the space she occupied. In fact, the merchant would have been glad to pay her to stay, if he could not have induced her to remain otherwise.
A young law graduate was without funds so decided to go back to his early work, teaching school. His work was not very profitable and, besides, he wanted to marry, so he borrowed $150 to wed the girl he loved and took her to Northwestern Canada. There he went into the real estate business and formed a partnership with a man who thought playing pool was his business. In February he decided to go by himself. In Canada a book is issued giving the legal description of land for sale, price asked and the commission to the agent. The only asset he had was this book and a knowledge of the farm country. All through the cold month of February his office paid him but 50 cents, but March was better and in April he did a good business. That year his commissions alone netted him more than $8,000. He could not practice law in Canada but he could make out deeds and give advice which netted him a sufficient income to save the $8,000. He purchased at a low price 1,000 acres of wheat land. At the end of three years this poor lawyer-school-teacher had 500 acres in good wheat, his land almost paid for, with his third year paying him more than $10,000 in commissions.
When I knew him at college he was a fine fellow, but felt somehow that the other fellows had a corner on success. Of recent years he has changed—his dress, manner and his enthusiasm impress you at once on meeting him. What he has done many will again do in the coming years with as great results.
A woman made a comfortable living by collecting old brass teakettles and old furniture from the homes of well-to-do people, second-hand dealers, etc., and advertising them as antique wares. One room in her home was used for displaying these articles, and many persons called to see them, with the result that they were rapidly disposed of at a good profit.
One woman, who has good taste in the matter of decorations, derives a good income from taking orders for wall paper from the home-owners of her community. She visits a home, notes the furniture, finishings, etc., and shows samples harmonizing with the same.
The effect is usually so pleasing that she is generally given an order for wall paper or wall stains, of which she also carries samples supplied by a reliable company, and every order means a handsome profit to her. She often visits neighboring towns and takes many orders, as her good taste is recognized and her samples are greatly admired.
It was a mere boy who worked out this little plan of making money during his spare time, and found it paid exceptionally well for the small amount of time, labor and capital involved.
Possessing some artistic talent, he sent for a tinselling outfit, that was advertised, and inserted a few small ads. in the local papers, to the effect that he would tinsel post cards for 3 cents each, or ten for 25 cents, and do better work than could be obtained in the stores selling the cards.
Many orders were received, and the work he did was so satisfactory that orders were repeated in most cases, and it was not long until he had cleared $87 on the work that required but a few hours of his spare time.
He has now decided to give his entire time to this line of work, as he can easily make from $100 to $125 a month, which was good for a boy.
The best tinselling outfits can be purchased for about $1.50 each, and very quickly pay for themselves, after which the returns are practically all profit, although he tinsels up to five words on each card, all for 3 cents per card, while the stores charge 5 cents each, and then only put on the name of the town desired.
A young man whose ambition was to build up a permanent business from a small beginning, as he was practically without capital, concluded to start on one item at first, and gradually add others as he could afford it, so he chose inks—not one, but several kinds of inks. These inks he purposed to put up in the form of powders, leaving only the hot water to be added by the customer. But the different formulas were all so good that from anyone of them an enterprising man could work into a good-paying business, and they are therefore submitted herewith as separate plans.
Here is the formula he used for producing a powder for a writing fluid that is equal to the best inks on the market and better than most of them. And the beauty of it was that he could sell enough of the powder for 10 cents to make a full pint of the very best ink, and realize a very good profit on it over that price:
Nigrosin, 1 ounce; soluble blue or water blue anilin, 2 ounces; salicylic acid, 15 grains; dextrin, 11⁄2 ounces.
This will make from one to two gallons of ink, when dissolved in hot water, according to the shade desired—the more powder the darker the ink. Fine for either ordinary or fountain pen, and sold well.
Many people prefer blue ink, and for them he made powders of an excellent quality as follows:
Water-blue anilin, 1 dram; dextrin, 5 drams; or according to the following formula:
Soluble Prussian blue, 1 dram; dextrin, 2 drams. Dissolve the powder in hot water, varying the intensity of the blue shade as desired, by using more or less powder.
This was a popular and profitable seller.
Green ink is a novelty, and for that reason many people like to use it. He made the powders for green ink as follows:
Green anilin, 1 dram; dextrin, 4 drams. To use, dissolve in hot water, using more or less of the powder as darker or lighter shades of the green are desired.
Very easy and cheap to make; very easy and profitable to sell.
Red ink is always in demand, but many of the red inks on sale at stationery and other stores are of a very inferior quality. Red ink made from the following formula, as this man made it, gives universal satisfaction in all cases where red ink is required:
Red anilin, 1 dram; dextrin, 1 dram. To use, dissolve the powder in hot water.
These various ink powders are usually put up in packages of a sufficient quantity to make a pint of ink, and this requires from a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful of the powder.
Having no capital, the young man began with the direct selling plan, canvassing from house to house and from store to store, and selling to his acquaintances whenever possible. From the profits these sales brought him, he was soon able to take up the trust scheme, sending twenty-four packages of the powder, put up in small envelopes, to boys and girls whose names he obtained in various ways, offering them a premium of a watch, a camera, roller skates, silver spoons, or other articles he could buy cheap in quantities, when each one had sold and remitted for the twenty-four packages.
Later he inserted 25-word ads. in various papers, and made a large number of sales direct by mail from that source. Today he owns the largest and best patronized stationery store in his town.
Seven boys, from 12 to 15 years of age, all pupils at the same city school, and all close chums, adopted seven different ways of earning a little money during vacation, and it is pleasing to know that all seven succeeded. Here are the plans they followed, one boy to each plan:
One boy went to the large business houses and collected all the canceled stamps he could find on envelopes received through the mails. Many of these were from foreign countries and brought good prices when offered to dealers or boys making stamp collections, while the domestic stamps he sold for 25 cents per thousand. During the vacation period that year he made over $50.
Another boy induced his father to help him buy a small printing press, and cards of various sizes. He then took orders for the printing of these cards for other boys and for men needing the cheaper grade, charging 75 cents per hundred and cleared up nearly $40 above expenses, besides paying for his printing press.
The next boy with a taste for entertaining, and being clever at sleight-of-hand tricks, bought a book on parlor magic, and gave entertainments at his own home and the homes of other boys, charging 10 cents admission. He performed these tricks so well that everyone felt that he or she had received full value for the dime paid at the door, and the youthful entertainer realized a net profit of almost $60 during the three months of his summer vacation.
The fourth boy, being of a mechanical turn of mind, bought a scroll-saw, with which he made a great variety of very pretty things, and for these the neighbors were glad to pay good prices, especially where he made any special design to order. He was very skilful in his work, and was kept busy most of the time, so that his net earnings during vacation were $37.
The fifth boy had a taste for merchandising, and set up a lemonade stand in the front yard of his home, where many people passed every day. He had various-sized glasses in which he put his lemonade, properly made and tastefully displayed, and sold his product at 1 to 5 cents a glass, according to size. He also had some very good ice cream which he sold in small dishes at 2 to 5 cents a dish. Children were his principal customers, but even at these low prices, he made a good profit on his sales, and the business netted him a little more than $30 altogether.
The sixth boy did odd jobs wherever he could find them, such as carrying satchels or parcels from stores, or to and from trains, pushing baby carriages in the parks, running errands for neighbors, and anything else that came handy. He was always on the lookout for work and was very seldom idle. His earnings were $23.75, and he was very well satisfied with that.
The seventh boy went from house to house, collecting all the old magazines that people were willing to give away, and sold these to dealers at a good price per pound, as anything made of paper was in good demand. This boy was more successful and his earnings were $70 during that three months of vacation.
A few of the following plans, are mere outlines containing suggestions which may be worked out in more detail by those who wish to make use of them. New features may be added as they suggest themselves to each person adopting one or more of the plans as a means of making a living. In giving so many under one heading, space will not permit a separate method for handling each plan.
In order to determine the best selling plan, or the best method of profitably handling any of the ways outlined, it would be well for a person to read as many of the plans set forth as possible, and become familiar with the various means employed by others to obtain the best possible results.
Selling plans for produce named in this book are of various kinds, and include personal solicitation by a house-to-house canvass, the employment of agents to sell on a commission basis, placing the article on sale with druggists and dealers, mail order, advertising in suitable mediums, giving away of coupons to dealers, who in turn give them to their customers; the trust plan, or sending a certain number of articles or packages to children, to be sold by them at a certain low price, and paying a premium either in merchandise or cash; filling orders by parcel post; placing of general advertising through a reputable advertising agency, that will not only help to prepare the proper kind of advertising, but also be able to select the best mediums for that particular product; selling of certain items of information direct to the customer, telling him how to make practical use of certain ideas of which he had no previous knowledge.
All the above selling plans are set forth in various parts of this book, in connection with the statement of how certain plans were successfully worked by individuals who adopted them as a livelihood, and the testimony of these persons should prove a valuable guide to others seeking similar results.
Replenishing and replacing batteries for doorbells, mending kitchen-ware, and replacing various articles about the house will often give a very good income in a small place where experts from large establishments are not within reach. Many an elderly man, who could not do anything else, has made a comfortable living by doing these little “odd jobs.”
One of the most delicious confections, and one that scores the largest number of sales during the summer season, is made as follows:
One can condensed milk; 2 tablespoonfuls cornstarch; a little cold milk. Put the remainder of the milk in a double boiler, and when hot add the cornstarch. Cook five minutes, then add the condensed milk, and set aside to cool; then add the vanilla, and freeze. Cut into squares or sticks and pack closely in a wooden pail, and it will sell readily for 5 or 10 cents a stick.
A splendid seller at fairs, picnics, parties, etc., and a popular delicacy in the city at soft-drink stands and confectionery stores. Yields an unusually large profit.
Shoe polishes always sell, and it is only a question as to which is the best one. The following is not excelled:
Take powdered gum arabic, 5 pounds; sugar, 11⁄4 pounds; analine black, 3 ounces. Powder these and mix well. Then divide into ten packets, each of which will produce a pint of polish, or into twenty packets that will make a half-pint each, though more may be made from, a packet, as it is rather thick, especially for kid or glaze leathers. It can be used with either water or vinegar, or these combined, in which to dissolve the powder. Apply with a brush, and continue the friction until the superfluous fluid dries and the polish appears.
To make this a tan polish, use 1 ounce of chrysodine, instead of the analine black.
A fine polish and a good profit in this preparation.
These are made of precipitated chalk, 2 pounds; powdered tripoli, 1⁄2 pound; jewelers’ rouge, 1 ounce. Mix into a stiff paste, with 1 ounce of glycerine and a pint of water, previously mixed, and pour on just enough of the liquid to work the powders to the consistency of fresh dough. Then place in little wooden butter molds to shape them and set aside to dry, then force out and fill again. The blocks are used with a soft cloth and a few drops of water, which will give metal articles a fine polish. You can sell all you can make of these, and realize a profit on them that will surprise you.
These are made by passing sheets of paper over rollers and through a hot solution of liquid soap, then passing it over drying cylinders, and cutting it into sheets of the desired size.
They are so convenient and cheap that travelers will buy them and there is a good profit in making and selling them.
Just a little secret, but it is worth a good deal to buttermakers and housewives who pride themselves upon the color of their butter, and will pay something to know just how to obtain it:
Just before you finish churning, put the yolk of one or more eggs into the churn, and you’ll have just the color you desire—a rich yellow.
To determine whether or not the air at the bottom of the well is foul, place a lighted torch or lamp in a bucket and lower it into the well. If it continues to burn when the bucket rests on the water, it is safe to descend. If it is extinguished, the air is foul. To remove this, lower a pail filled with burning straw, or by dropping two or three quarts of freshly slaked lime down the well. But test with the light again before descending.
Plenty of people who have wells would gladly pay a small sum to have this information mailed to them.
Fowls will quickly fatten if given a mixture of ground rice, well scalded with milk, to which some coarse sugar has been added, making it rather thick. Feed several times a day, but not too much at a time.
An ad. in poultry journals, offering to tell how this is done, for 25 cents, should bring excellent results.
Regarding it as every woman’s duty to look her best at all times, a young lady in Denver prepared a most effective arm and bust developer from the following formula:
Lanolin, 2 ounces; cocoa butter, 2 ounces; olive oil, 2 ounces. These she melted in a double boiler, and heat until cold, when it was ready to put up in 2-ounce jars that sold for 40 cents each, and proved so satisfactory that she received hundreds of orders each month, through a few ads. judiciously placed, besides having a good sale through drug stores.
The directions she gave were to first bathe the parts with hot water, to open the pores, and then rub in the cream very thoroughly at bedtime for a number of nights.
Women who are annoyed by having brittle nails are always glad to learn of some effective way to make and keep them soft. This prompted a young lady in St. Paul to utilize the following formula:
White petroleum, 1 ounce; powdered castile soap, 1 dram; oil of bergamot, a few drops. This softens the nails, cures hang-nails and renders the cuticle around the nails soft and pliable, so that it can be easily removed with a towel or orange stick.
One small ad. in a leading magazine brought a great many orders, and by repeating the ad. in other periodicals, the young lady earned $1,500 clear profit the first year.
The delights of the bath are greatly multiplied by adding a well prepared bath powder, and one of the very best of these was put up by this lady, as follows:
Borax, 10 ounces; tartaric acid, 10 ounces; starch, 5 ounces. Mix the ingredients together, and perfume with lavender water. Two teaspoonfuls of the powder to a tub of water will soften and perfume the same making it at the same time more cleansing and delightful.
She put this powder up in 8-ounce paper boxes, and sold it for 25 cents a box. It proved a good seller all the year round and the profits were exceptionally large. The drug stores carried it in stock, as it assisted greatly in making other sales, owing to the demand for it.
There are many kinds of sachet powder, but none are superior to the following, which this lady prepared and sold in immense quantities:
Orris root, 10 pounds; lavender water, 16 ounces. Spread out the orris root in thin portions on a table, and sprinkle the lavender water over it. When dry, after the two have been well mixed, it is ready for packing.
She put it up in envelopes containing one ounce each, and these she sold in large quantities for 10 cents each.
Occasionally she would offer a package of the sachet powder as a premium with other preparations that were not selling as rapidly as they should, and thereby greatly increased her sales of other articles in this way. Besides, one package of the sachet powder usually brought repeat orders.
A Dallas, Texas, man made a very good living by coating small metal articles with silver, without the use of a battery, as follows:
First, he dipped the article to be silver-plated in a solution of common salt, then rubbed it with a mixture composed of one part of precipitated chloride of silver, two parts potassa alum, eight parts common salt, and eight parts cream of tartar. The article was then washed and dried with a soft rag, when it had all the appearance of silver.
By calling at houses and explaining what this would do, as well as by a few ads. in the local newspapers, he was soon getting all the work he could do, and as people were willing to pay good prices for having their ordinary ware look like silver, he made good wages at this business.
To make an excellent stove polish that was really an enamel, a Colorado man prepared the following:
Mix two parts of black lead, 4 parts of copperas, and 2 parts of bone-black with water sufficient to form a creamy paste. The copperas produces a jet-black enamel, causing the black lead to adhere to the iron.
The cost of making this was very slight, and when people saw what a fine polish it made it was easily sold.
A western man who was interested in the swatting-the-flies idea, yet wished to do so without using the messy, sticky stuff you put on fly papers generally, or running the risk of poisons, invented a fumigating flypaper that is easy and clean to use, and gets rid of the flies in a hurry. He makes it as follows:
Powdered quassia, 4-ounces; powdered chlorate of potash, 11⁄2 ounces; French oil of pennyroyal, 3⁄4 ounce. Mix these well, then add 3⁄4 pint of clear water and mix all together thoroughly. Soak sheets of blotting paper about 4x9 inches in size in this solution, stirring it up frequently. Dry the sheets in the sun or by gentle heat. A sheet thus prepared, if burned in a room, will clear it of flies.
The man put these up in packages of ten sheets each, and retailed it at 10 cents per package. The druggists and grocery stores bought large quantities, and when he advertised it in a list of good papers, he received a great many orders.
His first year’s operations netted him a very good livelihood.
Few of the accessories of women’s toilets are more highly esteemed than is a preparation known as almond cream, and a lady who was especially partial to this, put it up in the following manner:
Distilled water, 90 fluid ounces; quince mucilage, 5 ounces; solution of soda, 11⁄2 ounces; boric acid, 1 ounce; cold cream, 1⁄2 ounce; sweet almond oil, 1⁄2 ounce; glycerine, 1⁄2 ounce. Stir cold cream, almond oil and solution of soda together until a uniform soapy cream is obtained. Dissolve the boric acid in 60 ounces of water, warmed, and to this add the glycerine and quince mucilage, then add this composition slowly and with regular stirring to the former. Add sufficient perfume and the rest of the water, stirring until uniform.
The drug stores sold a large quantity, and she added to her receipts by making it a mail order proposition.
A physician in New York, who had made a specialty of preparing various toilet accessories for women, gave one of his patients the following formula for destroying the odor of perspiration, and she was so well pleased with its effects that she put it up for sale. She made a success of it, first through agents, then through the drug stores, and later through advertising it in a number of ladies’ magazines. To-day it is one of the standard preparations for women’s use, and is enjoying a large sale. It does the work, and the following are the ingredients:
Borax, 10 grams; starch, 10 grams; salicylic acid, 3 grams; powdered alum, 5 grams; talcum powder, 50 grams; napthol, 5 grams.
However, if the odor is not excessive, ordinary cooking soda, applied under the arms with a powder puff, is often efficacious.
An eastern woman, who was particularly susceptible to sunburn, prepared the following, which proved both a preventive and a cure:
Orange flower water, 2 ounces; rosewater, 2 ounces; tincture of benzoin, 1⁄2 ounce; borax, 11⁄4 drams.
By applying this before going out, it prevented the skin from becoming sunburned, while in those cases where the mischief had already been done, she bathed her face with it several times a day, until the sunburn was removed.
This was so easy and inexpensive to make, and met with such a ready sale, that she found it extremely profitable to put it up in large quantities. Every lady who tried it gladly recommended it to her friends, and soon the drug stores were calling for all she could put up. A little advertising greatly increased the sales, and she is today enjoying a good income from it.
A middle-aged man who had made a practice for many years of accumulating trade secrets, valuable formulas and various plans for making money out of little specialties not known to the public in general, was impressed with the belief that out of the itemized knowledge thus secured, he could render assistance to many people who were looking for something to do, and at the same time profit by largely himself.
He therefore had 1,000 copies of each of these money-making ideas printed in separate form, and advertised that for 10 cents he would send any one of them that might be selected from his list or any fifteen of them for $1.00. His expenses were confined to the cost of advertising, printing and mailing, and his receipts ran into hundreds of dollars the first year.
Green corn in the form of roasting ears is considered a delicacy even in its season, but to have the same thing in the winter time seems almost too good to be true. Yet a young farmer in Illinois did it, this way:
He gathered his sweet corn with the husks on, and putting a layer of salt in the bottom of a clean barrel that would not leak, he proceeded to fill the barrel, first with a layer of salt, then a layer of the corn, and so on until the barrel was completely filled. Then he put on top a large stone for pressure, and added a little pickle of salt and water. He set the barrel in the cellar, where it would be cool and yet not freeze, and found that it would keep perfectly for a year or more, if allowed to stay there.
That gave him an idea, and the next fall he put up nearly forty barrels of those pickled roasting ears, safely put away in his cellar, to be sold at high prices when the snow was flying.
A householder who had had much experience in building fires in the morning, and realized the difficulties and discomforts so often encountered in that necessary duty, experimented until he had perfected a kindling compound that could be relied upon.
He melted one quart of tar and three pounds of rosin together, brought it to a cooling temperature, and mixed it with as much coarse sawdust as could be worked in, with a little charcoal added. This he spread upon a board, and when cold he broke it up into lumps about the size of walnuts. These ignited easily and burned with a strong blaze long enough to light any fire.
Being anxious to confer this advantage upon other households, he made up a large quantity and sold it to the fuel dealers in his city, at such a rapid rate and such a big profit that he commenced to make it on an extensive scale, and thereafter he looked upon the winter as his harvest time.
An invalid woman, who liked working pretty designs on cloth goods, yet found difficulty in obtaining patterns to her liking, discovered a way of copying her own drawings on cloth, so that they could be worked as though they were stamped.
She mixed a quantity of finely powdered sealing wax with alcohol, until it was thoroughly dissolved. Then she dipped a clean pen in this liquid, and traced the desired pattern on tracing paper, and let it dry. She put this paper, marked side down, on the cloth on which she wished to copy the pattern, and pressed with a hot iron. The scaling wax in the liquid melted from the heat and stuck to the cloth, and formed a duplicate of the design she had drawn.
She was so well pleased with the results of the experience that she decided to make a profit out of the information, so she advertised in the classified columns of the daily papers that on receipt of 25 cents she would instruct anyone how to do this work. Remittances came in, and the printed instructions were duly mailed, to the satisfaction of hundreds of women who sent for them.
If you knew that furniture polish was largely all profit, the selling of it would look like a good business to engage in. A young Tacoma man thought so well of the plan that he adopted it, and made a good income from it. He compounded it from the following ingredients, and it did the work:
He mixed equal parts of linseed oil, turpentine, vinegar and spirits of wine, shook them well, and applied to the furniture with a piece of linen cloth, afterwards polishing with a dry flannel cloth. It made old, dingy, scratched furniture look like new, and he sold large quantities of it, not only to families, but to furniture stores, second-hand dealers, and others.
Then he employed boys to go from house to house, leaving a small sample, with directions for use, with each housewife, asking her to give it a trial. A circular was also left with each sample, stating that in a short time an agent would call and sell the recipe for making it for 25 cents, and that enough of the ingredients to make a gallon of it could be purchased at any drug store for less than 50 cents.
As this looked so much more economical than to buy furniture polish at 25 to 40 cents for a small bottle, the originator of the plan found that, after paying the agent a commission of 40 per cent, he was still deriving a net income from it that averaged close to $10 a day.
A Texas woman tells how she helped her husband rise from a poorly-paid shipping clerk to a business of his own where he became an employer instead of an employe.
Discouraged with the small salary he received, and noticing that the agents of the same company from outside towns appeared well dressed and prosperous, she induced her husband to ask the manager to allow him a commission on such sales as he might be able to bring in. The company agreed to give him 5 per cent commission on all orders he might secure, and the wife began writing letters to those she judged, from reading the papers, were prospective customers.
Receiving no answers to these letters she looked for the names of contractors and architects, and was soon in communication with a construction company that was erecting a large building. She interested the manager in brick, which the company employing her husband was making. Her husband informed his company of this prospect, and saw the construction company personally. The manager secured a large order as a result of this visit, and sent a check for $226 to the shipping clerk and his wife as commission.
The wife bought a typewriter and some letter heads, and carried on a correspondence with other contractors with the result that many more sales were made through her efforts, many more commissions were paid them, and shortly afterwards the husband resigned his position and gave all his time to the sales end of the business.
To-day they own a good office where others are employed to help them, live in their own home, and are surrounded by many comforts they never dreamed of before.
Just because the wife had the wisdom to see ahead, and the courage and ability to carry out her plans to a successful conclusion.
A furniture repair man in Seattle discovered the following method of refinishing American or printed oak, a clever imitation of genuine quartered oak:
Clean up the piece, whatever it may be; if it needs washing, give it a good scrubbing, and then an equally good opportunity to dry. If you want to replace the figure, and it is not generally worn off, mix some dry Van Dyke brown with stale beer or cider, and pencil in the flakes. This can be done with a long camel hair “striper,” or even with an artist’s brush about one-eighth inch in diameter. With a little practice, the grain of the wood can be followed so that each piece can have its general design carried out. When this graining process has dried, coat with shellac, then varnish.
The effect produced by this method was so artistic that he was offered a good salary to take charge of all such work in a large furniture store in the city, but there are hundreds of other places in this country where the same method can be employed with equally good results.
There was one man in Portland, Oregon, who was a competent and skilled tree trimmer. He knew all about shade trees, fruit trees, grape vines, shrubs, plants—everything that is worth saving and caring for in that line. He knew how and when they should be trimmed, and he obtained so much work that he was obliged to hire men to help him. But they had to be men who knew what they were about, or were willing to learn from him what they didn’t know, so that he soon had them trained to do the work as it should be done.
There are plenty of openings everywhere for real tree-trimmers.
If farmers more generally realized the profits to be derived from the raising of geese, there would be many more in the country, and thousands of dollars more in the farmers’ pockets.
The wife of an Illinois farmer, who did realize how easy and economical it is to raise geese, and the profits they pay, in both flesh and feathers, made a specialty of them, and as a result of her foresight and enterprise always had money, while the other farmers’ wives were continually complaining of the lack of pin-money. At last a number of them followed her example, and raised geese in great numbers. The care and cost of geese are small, compared with the expense of raising other fowls. They rustle their own living off of land that is good for nothing else, though in the breeding and laying season this lady gave them shorts and Indian meal twice a day.
From 100 geese, this woman generally realized from $250 to $300 a year, which was nearly all profit. She made the profits increase her flocks, until she had several hundred, which brought her an excellent income every year.
A young man in Oakland, California, who was a good salesman worked out a little plan that brought him a good income.
He secured a first-class printer to make him up 1,000 very rich looking cards in colors. Then he called upon five prominent merchants, in different lines, showing them the cards, stated he was about to place these in the hands of the ladies at the heads of families in the city; that these cards entitled the holders to trade at any one of the five different stores named, and receive a discount of 10 per cent in cash at the time of the purchase; that he would call at these stores every month and collect a commission on all business each merchant had received through the cards, and that the use of these cards would greatly increase the merchant’s trade. Most of those approached agreed to the plan.
Having secured the five merchants, our young man called at the residences, presented the card to the lady of the house, and assured her she incurred no expense or obligation in accepting it. In this way he distributed 200 of the cards.
Now, as it turned out that each holder of these cards spent at least $10 a week with each of these five merchants, his commission on the sales thus made amounted to $200 a month.
Here is a plan that was very successfully operated by a young lawyer in a western city, and can be worked out just as well in every county-seat town in the United States:
He employed a young lady to go carefully over the dockets of both the superior and justice courts, and make a complete list of all unsatisfied judgments rendered during the six years preceding, so that they were not barred by the statute of limitations.
She made a careful note on a blank prepared for that purpose, of the number of the book in which the judgment was recorded; the case number; the name of the court; names of plaintiff and attorney; of defendant and attorney; of garnishee defendant, if any; amount of judgment; amount of costs; amount of attorney’s fees, if stated; time judgment was taken, etc.
When she brought these reports to the lawyer’s office he would consult a city directory or state gazeteer, to learn the present address of both plaintiff and defendant, then obtain from a reporting company the financial standing of the defendant.
He would then write the plaintiff, asking him to call in reference to the judgment, but not stating his knowledge as to the defendant’s condition. When the plaintiff came in he would state he had a report on the defendant, which he could have upon the payment of $2, the cost of obtaining this data, but if the defendant was in such shape that the judgment could be collected, he would offer to collect it for 50 per cent, and have it assigned to him for that purpose. Then he would see the judgment debtor, and in many cases he was able to secure the entire amount. He would then enter satisfaction of the judgment on the court records, remit one-half to the plaintiff, and the balance was his. This plan made him $5,000 the first year.
A well known firm manufacturing bookcases in an eastern city wanted a new catch-phrase for their advertisements, and offered a cash prize of $50 for the best one submitted.
A man submitted a phrase and won the $50. The firm, in sending him a check for the amount, announced that they would pay him a cash commission on all sales of their bookcases he might secure for them in his community, and being in that line himself, he was able to come in contact with many persons who wanted bookcases. As the merits of this particular one had been brought favorably to their attention through the effective advertising the firm was doing, sales were not difficult to make. The catch-phrase contest put them in contact with many hundreds of prospective purchasers for bookcases which were later turned into business.
To the canvasser or agent who has spent his life selling little 10 and 25-cent articles, shunning the homes of the wealthy through fear of being refused admittance, and wishes for something better, the following plan should appeal:
A New York man got in close touch with several of the large importing and jobbing houses in eastern cities, and had become familiar with the better grades of imported laces, sold only by the best stores. He had acquired an intimate technical knowledge of these expensive goods, and was equipped with a complete outfit of samples mounted on cards that folded in four sections, covered with bookbinders’ cloth and mercerized silk. He also had very rich business cards, containing his name as the representative of a big importing house.
Stopping in a town of considerable size, he would go to the best hotel, and soon would be in possession of the names of many society leaders. These he would call upon, send up his card, and, when admitted, state that he recognized the difficulty ladies have in obtaining fine laces outside the large cities, and that his house had therefore adopted the plan of offering its line of high-grade laces direct to the purchaser. In a most skillful manner he would lead the lady to the point of stating when he might present his samples for her inspection and practically every such inspection meant a large order, amounting to hundreds or even thousands of dollars. He would then ask the lady for an introduction to her friends upon one of her own cards, and this meant more sales—big sales—without number, for he used the card plan for introductions until he had supplied all the women in that town financially able to buy large amounts of fine lace. This required high-grade salesmanship, and his profits ran into many thousands each year.
An Indianapolis man made a profitable and permanent business of repairing and upholstering furniture, and by doing first-class work, at prices considerably below those charged by furniture houses, he secured the regular work of a large number of householders and some of the stores in that city. The various materials used, and the voluminous instructions given for performing the work in all its details, are entirely too long to be given in this book, but any one with a taste for this work will have no difficulty in familiarizing himself with the most approved methods, and can rest assured he can make a good living at it by diligent application.
Six high-school girl-graduates, who had just finished a course in domestic science, and were wondering what they could do to make a little money, were told by their instructress that she would give each of them a valuable household formula to work with, and that she would give a cash prize of $25 to the girl who made the most profit out of her formula in six months. The girls promptly accepted the offer, and went diligently to work with the following results:
Girl No. 1 selected the following as the basis of her activity:
Tripoli powder, 1 pound; whiting, 1 pound; pumice flour, 1⁄2 pound; crude oleic acid, 1⁄4 pound; kerosene, 3 fluid ounces. Mix together with sufficient petroleum jelly to form a paste, and add perfume, such as oil of lemon, cassia, or nitrobenzol (mirbane) which gives the usual almond odor.
Making up a considerable quantity, in the above proportions, she canvassed a large part of the residence district in the city and took trips to outside towns, demonstrating and selling it, and received valuable aid from one of the drug companies when she put it on sale.
Her profits for the six months were $248.
The third girl chose a foot powder to work upon, the formula being as follows:
Finely powdered talc, 60 ounces; boric acid, 30 ounces; salicylic acid, 1 ounce; powdered alum, 1 ounce. Mix well, and scent as desired. The drug stores of the city told her they would take all of this she could make, as it was better and cheaper than powder widely advertised, and in the following six months her profits amounted to $287.
Girl No. 4 thought she saw in a formula for a hair dye the foundation of at least a small income, so she chose that:
She gave samples to several elderly ladies of her acquaintance, and they were delighted with it. From these samples, indirectly, she sold several hundred bottles, and then a young lady friend of hers, a very successful canvasser, offered to sell all she could make of it, on a commission of 40 per cent. She accepted the offer and, began making it in large quantities, while the other girl sold it, and at the end of six months found that her profits were $397.
Girl No. 5 was rooming at a house where cockroaches were driving the landlady almost frantic, and gladly chose the following formula as her field of operations: Persian insect powder, 4 ounces; borax 30 ounces; starch, 4 ounces; sugar, 3 ounces; cocoa, 4 ounces; tartar emetic, 4 ounces. Reduce all to a fine powder and mix thoroughly.
The landlady was her first customer, and soon dispelled the roaches. Then the girl visited all the rooming houses, hotels, bakeries, cafes, etc., in the city, and made good sales. The drug stores sold considerable of it also, while women canvassers sold some, and the profits of her plan in the six months were $275.
There was but one of the formulas left, and the sixth girl took that one, determined to make it a success. The formula was as follows:
Stearine, one powder; paraffin, 4 ounces; powdered ultramarine blue, 1⁄2 dram.
Fortunately, this girl’s uncle was the owner of a large laundry in the city, and he offered to make a thorough test of her product in his own establishment. The result of that test was that he offered to furnish the money for making this starch enamel on a very extensive scale, and the sales were so large that by the end of the six months her share of the profits were over $700, and she not only took the prize offered by her domestic science teacher, but found herself a half-owner of a business that later made large profits each year.
A man who owned a small tract of fine garden and fruitland adjoining a western city, had suffered for years from diabetes, and all the ordinary forms of treatment had failed to improve his condition.
At last he purchased a book written by a celebrated eastern physician who had long been a professor of medicine in a leading university, as well as being associated with hospitals in large cities, and was an authority on diabetes. This book outlined a course of treatment which this man followed.
The source from which he received the most benefit and to which he mainly attributed his successful treatment, was that portion of the book relating to the proper vegetable diet for diabetic patients, advising the use of those containing the least amount of sugar and starch, and he raised most of these vegetables himself.
Acting upon the experience thus gained, he decided to extend this valuable aid and information to the thousands of other diabetics to be found in every community, and he thereupon inserted an ad. in a large number of newspapers, asking those so afflicted to write to him if they wished a certain and inexpensive treatment. To the hundreds who answered this ad. he wrote that he would supply the vegetables especially required for the diabetics, at very reasonable prices, either summer or winter, as he had them canned for that purpose. Or, if preferred, he would mail the names of all the vegetables necessary, with complete instructions for their culture and use, for a certain amount.
These ads. and letters brought him a good revenue.