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Odd Enterprises

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With the help of her young sons she started making such objects as birds, fish, flying geese, etc. out of the gourds. The family "business" even whittled out an elephant and a comical Dachshund. They were painted in bright colors and then taken to the Spring Art and Gift Show for display to the general public.

Visitors to the Fair were so impressed with the gourd figures that orders began pouring into the woman's house. The Gift Show proved a valuable publicity stunt. Hollywood heard about the quaint business and made a film of the "industry" in color.

Displayed in theaters all over the country, it was an easy matter to sell all the figures she could make.

Later on she added palm brush, seedpods and other natural California floral and decorative weeds, forming them into attractive arrangements, each painted a bright color. Brilliantly painted sprays of large gourds, or seed pods, tied together with strips of red, yellow, blue and green raffia, leatherette or cord, give the dreariest room an air of a typical California flower garden.

Here's a business an entire family can work at. The woman with the "Gourd Studio" now has five work-shops in the rear of her place. Gourd novelties are excellent for decorating the porch, sunroom, yard or patio.

Wherever one resides the back-yard can be the means of an excellent way of making a living. If not from the things that grow in it, there is always a way to utilize the space in back of any home.

KEEPING A SCRAPBOOK FOR NOTABLES—692-694
Being an invalid in a wheel-chair isn't as hopeless as it seems. One wheel-chaired young man had plenty of time to read and study human nature. He observed this fact: Most people never fail to be interested in their own lives.

This keen observation gave birth to an idea. Why not contact political figures, prospective candidates for Mayor, prominent society women, professional lecturers and other people who are constantly in the public eye…and offer to keep a scrapbook for them!

He wrote letters to these prominent figures and told them he'd get every line printed about them locally and neatly arrange all the articles in a scrapbook. He charged a penny a clipping plus the cost of the book. To the political candidates after an election he would send the scrapbook with a bill attached to it. The politicians elected to various municipal offices would usually tell the young man to keep the good work up. The losers gladly paid up for the clippings in the scrapbook. Other prominent people contracted for a scrapbook and paid for it upon completion of same.

Clippings on various subjects may be collected, as each subject chosen will be sure to appeal to a certain group. For instance, there was a clipping bureau which specialized in building-permits, issuing notice of any over $10,000. These notices were sought by a National publication. In Illinois, there is a man who uses a mimeograph machine to furnish weekly bulletins of all building and construction items to trade-journals, manufacturers of contractor's equipment, dealers in that line, and local concerns who would be interested.

PROFITABLE VENTURES IN THE MUSIC WORLD—569-572
Sheet music, like records, constantly floods the market for song buyers who would like to buy ALL the song sheets but can't afford to. The "swap" method could be used to build up a huge stock of old songs. Many old time songs are being revived constantly. They're meeting with popular favor. Perhaps a rare music sheet would bring a nice price for the thousands of music lovers who would like to get some "old song" they have in mind, or a song their parents would like to see and hear again. A canvass could be made in the neighborhood for old song sheets. Many of the people would be willing to give them away. Much of this old music could be sold for a dime. Music lovers would buy them by the armful.

One shop of which we know is doing a good business selling second hand sheet music. It's a "serve-yourself" shop, so only a cashier is needed. They sell some of the "old stuff" at 7 copies for a quarter, and do a great business.

Another businessman is said to have started a clever service in which he swaps old sheet music, charging a small fee for the service, and he reports that thousands of people are listing old sheet music with him, along with their desires for other music.

Advertising will prove there are thousands of amateur song writers who would be glad to submit their songs for sale in a used music sheet shop. Insert an ad for amateur song-writers and outline your plan to them in newspapers and magazines. With the aid of a local printer one could sell these "new" songs for as little as 5¢ apiece. You could charge the young hopefuls a fee for having their songs printed and guarantee them a cent or two royalty on every song sold. Some of your customers might be interested in these "new and unheard" tunes.

THE CHRISTMAS TREE MEMORIAL—573-574
When one dares to be different in promoting the sale of an ordinary item, even the Christmas tree, nine times out of every ten the person will reap financial rewards…because he was original.

This story concerns the Christmas tree salesman whose trees weren't moving as fast as in previous years. So out of his Christmas trees he made bundles of "sprays", each trimmed with a large red oilcloth bow, to be sold by several agents as cemetery memorials. They could be tied to tombstones and hang there for a long period of time. The bow withstood all kind of weather. And the agents found many families in one block who bought one of these sprays for a departed member. Business was so good that by Christmas time the man had all of his trees cut up.

Holly sprays could be sold in various forms. How about a small Christmas tree with holly branches? It could be made along the same lines as the artificial trees of small stature. The holly branches could be cut down to the proper length and attached to a framework with thin wire. It would make an ideal center piece for the table. Housewives couldn't resist the door-to-door canvasser who displayed this unique holly tree to them. They'd love it.

SELLING CIGARS ON CREDIT—671
For more than 30 years now one man and his son have been selling excellent Havana cigars to smokers by mail. The cigars are sold on open account and no C.O.D's. Prospective customers receive letters by first class mail from the senior member of the firm inviting them to send for a box of Havana cigars on trial.

The smoker has the privilege of smoking ten or more free. If for any reason he doesn't like the cigars after smoking a few he can return what is left in the box and there's no charge. It is obvious that in this instance the advertiser has a whale of a lot of confidence in his fine Havana's making good with new customers, and this confidence, on the special arrangement, is catching to the extent that skepticism on the part of prospects melts.

The secret of this firm's success lies mainly in the high-type mailing lists they use—carefully compiled rated names every year. As the company prefer to use only those customers to whom they can mail on open account, rated names are desirable. Purchases of new mailing lists are frequent. Some of this company's customers have been doing business—purchasing the fine Havana cigars—for over twenty years.

When they started their mail-order business they had less than $50 and were obliged to purchase a small stock of cigars as the orders came in, using the remittances as a part of their working capital! Nowadays the scene has changed. We find this father and son partnership handling a gigantic set-up. Over 2,000 orders are taken care of on some of the exceptional days. As many as 10,000 pieces of mail have been received in less than a week! With such a tremendous amount of business on hand at all times, one would think that the losses would be a factor to consider. However, only 2 per cent of those ordering refuse to pay for the cigars!

This same principle of doing business by mail, on a trial basis, can be adopted in selling most any quality product for which there is a good demand. However, special care must be exercised with regard to the mailing lists used.

"I. Q." TEST BY MAIL—609-610
Many have heard of the "I. Q." or intelligence quotient test, but very few have the chance of testing their intelligence. That is, until one clever man devised the selling of individual intelligence tests by mail.

A questionnaire, whose purpose it was to obtain personal information from those who answered his newspaper and magazine ads, was worked out. The questions asked were about reactions to various situations, age, color, marital status, habits, etc. When the person answered two or three pages of these questions, he would then send him a helpful analysis of his abilities, his work, and his problems. The greatest cost was advertising. Despite this, he managed to net at least $110 every month for spare-time work.

Then there's the woman who charged $1.50 for a thorough "I. Q." test for her mail order clients. When the remittance was received she sent a special examination folder with approximately 75 questions to be answered. The folder contained a standard type intelligence test prepared by a recognized authority in this particular field. Directions were enclosed on how to work out the questions. The client was then allowed 30 minutes in which to complete the test. The completed test was then sent back to this woman who proceeded to grade the papers in accordance to a standard grading chart. In a few days the person would receive his "I. Q."

The grading was done along these lines: 1 point for each question answered, total score for answering correctly 59 questions out of 65 would be 59 points or an "I. Q." of 117 which is considered "superior". No points are given for any questions not finished.

The grading for an "I. Q." test cannot be devised by just anybody. There is some excellent material on this in public libraries, should anyone consider the undertaking of an "I. Q." test by mail—a proposition many would be interested in.

GUARANTEED: A PEARL IN EVERY OYSTER!—575-576
It's interesting to learn the true story of the birth of the pearl as it is to hear the fantastic or amusing legends about it that come out of the Orient.

The true version is that nature has provided the pearl oyster with the power to cover any intruding irritant which it may not be able to dispel from its shell with a smooth and irridescent substance called nacre. That is the beginning of the pearl—nacre! Over a span of years pass many additional layers of nacre. As the pearl grows in size, a gem of great beauty and value is formed.

Armed with this true version of the birth of the pearl there arise many ocean water "farms" that cultivate the "cultured Pearl." Here's how it's done:

The Oriental "farmers" of the deep blue sea insert in the oyster a mother of pearl bead. The oyster is then returned to the sea—in controlled beds—and proceeds to resist the intrusion of this new irritant by covering it with priceless nacre! Of course the cultured pearl isn't a natural pearl but it rivals the latter in beauty and lustre.

The result of it all was that the Oriental deep sea farmers put up these cultured pearls in cans, oyster and all. Some of the pearls were actually worth a lot of money, others weren't. A well-advertised "pearl in every oyster" campaign sold many of these canned oysters with the cultured pearls in them.

The war ruined this business for the Oriental deep sea pearl farmers, but soon, or even now, the canned pearls should be on the market again, wending their way to the United States. Why not use these "canned pearls" for a "Ladies Pearl Hunt Night" in local moving picture houses? Why not use them to good effect in various promotional stunts? Instead of giving away ordinary premiums here indeed is a "premium" that should hold the buyer or winner of these lucky cans in suspense. The oysters with the pearls in them could be chanced off from a punch board. In fact the "canned pearl" has unlimited possibilities. The interest is there. The rest should be easy.

BANANAS GROWN IN ICELAND—577-578
The hot volcanic springs in Iceland are being used by one enterprising woman for a large-scale hot house where she grows bananas and other fruit for the inhabitants of the islands. This is mentioned here merely to emphasize once more what imagination or creative thinking will do.

There's a similar hot house idea working in California. In the extreme southern part of that state, near the Pacific Ocean, one can see the strangest of farms…a Papaya Conservatory! There are about six hundred Papaya trees under three-quarters of an acre of glass. These "tree melons", a tropical fruit, will ripen outdoors in the more favorable sections of that state. However, artificial heat is necessary for commercial production. This "farm" is truly ingenious in selecting the type of crop to specialize in.

THE "BUTCHER-BAKERY"—579-580
Three women applied for rental space in a butcher shop. They set up a counter displaying an assortment of home-made cakes, cookies, breads, rolls and pies. The oven delicacies were the products they baked themselves.

A girl was hired and the novel "butcher-bakery" was an immediate success. The women are thinking or renting space in other stores in the town.

It was an ideal arrangement with the owner of the butcher shop, who found his business increased many times over since the bakery addition. Other merchants who have a corner to let in their store would gladly accept a business that wasn't in competition with their own.

If you are going into the bakery business, why not duplicate the success achieved by one baker who specializes in birthday cakes. He mails out printed post cards to the parents reminding them that their child is having a birthday in a few days and offering to prepare an extra-special cake for the occasion! Of course he has to buy the names of such children from a local list compiler, but the profits are worth it!

PAINTED COOKIES—581
Speaking of the unusual, the odd, the different, here's one that deserves mention in this book. It is a little joint business operated by a young fellow and his wife; i.e. making and selling, believe it or not, painted cookies. The husband models the cookie dough and the wife paints the models with a secret solution to prevent them from losing their shape while they bake.

As the cakes, which are molded ducks and mother goose characters, are taken out of the oven, they are painted in vegetable colors. At first this couple started to sell the painted cakes to neighbors. Within a year, news about them had spread generally, arid they were getting requests for the cakes from various parts of the country. Some of the cookies were modeled like teapots, violins, hearts, etc. and some of these would bring $3 apiece.

The foregoing is simply another combination in a business conducted right in the home, by man and wife.

TIPS ON NOVEL CHRISTMAS CARD SELLING—582-588
To overcome the stiff competition in the Christmas and Greeting Card field, one must turn to the unusual for unusual profits. Here are some of these unusual methods worked very successfully by their originators:

1. Hand colored cards: These can be bought uncolored and then colored at home in unusual style. There's a vast difference in these cards. They catch the eye immediately and find ready sales for people who like to impress their friends with cards that are different. A person who does the coloring himself states that 40 cards can be colored in an hour's time. Besides, a card like this can bring double the money that an ordinary card sells for. Besides Christmas cards there are Valentines, Mother's Day Cards, anniversaries, birth announcements, congratulations, thank you cards, gift enclosure cards, convalescence cards, etc.…all of them can be hand-colored and sold for practically double what any other card would bring in.

Jim had some designs drawn up and printed, and tested this idea. He sold them at 6 cards for 50 cents in handkerchief-size flat boxes. In a few days the test produced orders for over 1000 cards. Mailing out a free sample card did the trick in this particular case.

2. "Warranty Deed" Christmas cards: For ingenious originality in Christmas cards a New York men walks off with the prize. He sold "Warranty Deed" Christmas cards modeled and worded along the same lines as a warranty deed. A warranty deed is used for the transfer of a piece of real estate. Anyhow, he used excellent quality paper and had a silk ribbon with gold seal attached. However, there's no need for this added expense when one can have a drawing of the ribbon and seal lithographed instead of the real thing. Naturally, this unusual Christmas card was sold for a stiff price and found many buyers.

3. Days of yore Christmas cards: One woman has a collection of Christmas cards dating back as far as 100 years ago! Why not start a collection of your own by advertising for them or buying some from other collectors? These cards can then be printed in colors on up-to-date printing presses and advertised as antique Christmas cards (reproductions). This idea could go a long way if the promoter went at it hammer and tongs.

4. Crocheted Christmas Cards: A woman crochets Christmas cards! She makes a nice living doing this too! The cards are ordinary ones but specially adapted to receive crocheting. Holes are punched in the cards to "take" the stitches. This woman also sells the "punched" cards, cards which can be crocheted by the buyer, along with the colored skeins of floss to complete the job. As many women like to do their own crocheting, this type of a card would sell by the hundreds of thousands to women buyers all over the country.

5. Blessed flower cards: Here's an item that can be sold to millions of church people—a card with beautiful pressed flowers attached, direct from the bills of Judea and Jerusalem.

6. Photo Christmas cards: These are gaining in popularity and those who undertake to sell them can get rid of all they have on hand. A photo can be taken of the home, or a sketch made of it. A cut is then made and the home imprinted on the Christmas card. Individual orders can be secured by mail. A charge could be added for the making of the cut. Speaking of selling Christmas cards by mail, there are hundreds of people selling the cards wholesale to a list of door-to-door canvassers all over the country. One should never overlook the wholesale angle of selling Christmas cards by mail. The agents buy them in wholesale lots.

7. Perfumed greeting cards: Here's an idea that has a vast female market awaiting it. In fact the entire family would like a Christmas card scented with the fragrance of pine needles.

Competition in Christmas or greeting card selling can be voided via the unusual route. Readers may have unusual ideas of their own. They should be given a chance in the open market.

COLLECTING MOUNTAIN WILD FLOWERS—589-592
Out in a small California town, one man manages an extraordinary profitable business which started from scratch a number of years ago. About four months a year he roams the highest mountains in the western states getting orchids, butterfly weed, bleeding heart, cowslip and other wild-plant bulbs. He sends more than half a million yearly to customers in all parts of the world. On his enormous mailing list are seed houses and private fanciers. He engages many youngsters as well as grown-ups to collect certain mountain wild flowers. Some are ever searching for certain types of lilies producing anti-fatigue hormones needed in drugs. One of the best sellers is dogtooth violet which has sold to the tune of 35,000 bulbs in a single year.

Somewhat in contrast to this business conducted by the California operator, there is a man in New Jersey who tries to tame wild flowers. On his several acre farm he raises and tames some three thousand varieties of the rarest wild flowers, among which are gentians from Tibet, blue poppies from India and other wild flowers from the slopes of the Himalayas. His customers are flower fanciers throughout the country. About twenty years ago he was a schoolteacher living in a western town. The profusion of wild flowers in the foothills fascinated him. It was then he started to collect and cultivate them in his own yard. What began as an intensely fascinating hobby grew into a profitable sideline, and it was about this time he decided to abandon the teaching profession and devote his time and energies to seed selling, the result of which you have witnessed in the foregoing.

Seems like wild flowers have always held a great appeal for many people, and there are perhaps more opportunities for others to become engaged in some phase of this kind of business. A lady in Arkansas makes herself extra money by uprooting wild lady slippers, growing them at her home, and then transplanting them to pots which she sells for a good price. It is also reported that an Oklahoma firm is starting to sell the seeds of the California Fan Palm. In the extreme north this is a popular house, conservatory or porch ornamental shrub; in the more temperate zones it is a desirable park and driveway favorite. Then in the southern states it is a majestic tree. Probably a good many of these palm tree plants or seeds might be sold to the eastern states just as successfully as the Cactus plants were sold by mail through eastern stores.

REMEMBER THE LUMINOUS CRUCIFIX!—593
The above title brings to an end the many enterprises worked successfully by others and brought to you so that you too may pick one to your liking or to your ability and make a living or even a small fortune out of one or more of these business plans.

What has the above title got to do with all the plans you've read up to this point? Well, many years ago an ambitious couple sold approximately $40,000 worth of odd Luminous Crucifixes. When the story of this different enterprise was written up in many newspapers and trade magazines, the reaction to the Luminous Crucifix story may be the very same way the reader may look upon THIS BOOK!

Letters poured in to the author of the Luminous Crucifix story. Some thought the idea was great, revolutionary, had amazing possibilities, etc.…others said the idea was impossible. "Impossible" is a word for people who WANT to make something impossible.

Hundreds of the letter-writers found a thousand "obstacles". Luminous paint wouldn't take to the crucifixes, paint wouldn't stay luminous, it would lose its power, religious stores in their locality told them the item would be a poor seller, others couldn't buy, make or apply the paint, the paint rubbed off too easily, and on down a long line of lame excuses. "Won't work" seemed to have been the battle cry of the doubting Thomases. And those that thought it would work didn't do anything about it. All these people missed a boat! And what a boat! A boat laden with rich treasures…United States currency!

The fact of the matter stands that during the past few years magazines and papers have been full of large and small ads on, of all things . . . luminous items! Small and large fortunes were made on something that was discovered many years ago! Readers know of the luminous items. Orchids that glow in the dark! Gardenias that shine in the dark! Lily Plants that glow in the dark, etc.

So it is with the stories in this book. They'll work all right, if you want them to work! If a reader starts picking them to pieces, that's exactly what they're going to do — fall in pieces!