Books:

Discovered! 505
Odd Enterprises

Hidden Dollars

How to Make
Money at Home

Small Business
of Your Own

You Can Own
a Business

U.S.A. . . . . DRAMATIZED SOUP
Recently, while driving through the central part of this state, we started to pass signs that advertised the "Original Home of Split Pea Soup". Each sign showed a tiny midget chef holding a chisel over a pea and a tremendous chef raising a sledge hammer over his head in preparation for hitting said chisel and thus "splitting the pea". A clever bit of illustration, all in fun of course.

After passing through 50 miles of desolate mountainous country and continually seeing these signs, we were ready for a lunch of soup, although we do not particularly care for split pea soup.

The thing that impressed me was the fact that when we finally arrived at the tiny town which consisted of only a few service stations and a store or two, nothing else as far as I could see, this particular roadside cafe had cars galore parked around it. Of all places in this country I'd say this was the last place on earth that I would expect to find a restaurant featuring split pea soup, or even any kind of a restaurant doing the amount of business this one was doing that noon-time on an ordinary weekday!

Just imagine the picture, 50 miles of winding, hilly, mountainous country leading up to the place, the area hardly populated, than many more miles of sparsely populated countryside on the other side of this stopping place! Yet, folks from all over the United States were looking this spot up on the map and making a special effort to pass by that way and visit it. In fact, they claim that some 150,000 people order their split pea soup each year!

They've been operating in this desolate spot since 1923. Showmanship has helped a lot. Dramatizing this popular soup has helped a lot. And the soup isn't bad either! It isn't served in the usual manner, instead, a large tureen is wheeled to each table and the soup ladled out into the customer's bowl. The tureen is heated at all times by Sterno canned heat placed underneath.

Even the menu is dramatized to the extent that there are 24 pages made out of heavy enameled cardboard, each page bearing a beautiful photograph in natural colors of one of their specialties. The photograph shows the complete meal on a plate just as it will appear before you if you order same. Each page has a different photograph in the natural food colors.

Complimentary comic cards are placed in holders on each table. These cards give a brief history of the "Original Home of Split Pea Soup", and may be mailed out by the tourist.

This is a perfect example of the type of enterprise I have talked about in two books. A business that added a touch of personality, showmanship, or what have you, to an ordinary roadside cafe and came up with a winner! By making their menu, their signs, their method of serving and their other extra touches just a bit different…unusual…they built up an enviable record of sales that very few other ordinary roadside enterprises could hope to equal! #79

U.S.A. . . . . FREE POTATOES
Here is the story, that might be of interest to some of my readers, of a clever chap who started a potato contest for the largest potato. He offered $100 in prizes. Thousands of huge potatoes poured in by mail. Finally he accumulated such a large stock of potatoes that he found it possible to start a wholesale potato business and all on the starting prize of just $100!

You may believe this story or not…it comes from a reliable source…should be true. I wonder if the same idea would work with other items? Sounds like a humorous way of getting into business without much starting capital. #80

ENGLAND
In large towns and cities there are packers and shippers for the large business house. Why not in the domestic or small business circle?

A source in England offers the following idea. Start a packing service in your own area. Announce this service by leaflets and advertisements. Offer to collect all items, wrap and pack well, securely tie and then dispatch promptly to their destinations, be it post office, express station or freight yard. Specialize on small packages that the big-time packing company would refuse to handle at a fair fee.

Such a service would be greatly appreciated by the many little spare time businesses, hobbiests, housewives, inventors, rural folk, etc. Everyone, at some time or another has to pack, wrap and tie some particularly cumbersome appliance, gift or what have you. You know how much trouble it may cause when you haven't the proper equipment, paper, gummed tape, twine, to say nothing of experience. Usually the finished job makes up a pretty clumsy appearing parcel and occasionally such a poorly wrapped parcel may be damaged whilst in course of transit.

A good service of this kind, of course, would have a complete supply of all types of corrugated paper and card, wood, wool, straw, cardboard, gummed tape, string, twine, labels, wrapping paper, boxes of all sizes, cartons, crates, etc.

Could be called the "Pack All Your Troubles" service…or the "Packing & Dispatching Agency"…or "Neighborhood Wrapper, Packer and Dispatcher". Something like that.

A sideline to a business of this sort could be the delivering of "stuffers" or door-to-door circulars, shopping news, papers, etc. A great many of these circulars are thrown on the lawns, in alleys, down sewers and the like if the firm doesn't watch those who are doing the delivering, usually children. So, there is always room for a reliable service to take over the distributing of such material door to door, at so much a block, or so much a hundred pieces.

An English chap has established such a service and worked it up to such an extent that he has now hundreds of uniformed men working for him, and dozens of vans or trucks traveling with these men for the purpose of carrying stocks of circulars and notices. This successful businessman owns an expensive car (which is unusual in England) and owns his own attractive home. #81

WALES
England is noted for her many Tea Gardens and while this sort of an enterprise may not be entirely suited to this country, I'd say that, if worked properly, such a "garden" could make plenty of money for its owner, even in the United States!

Usually the tea gardens in England are tucked away in the country. These tea-cottages rely on their Arcadian charms to bring the same customers back again and again. By providing ponies for the children to ride, boating lakes, a variety of animals and other such amusements, they hope to induce their regular customers to tell their friends about everything.

Of course the overhead expense is fairly high, but by advertising extensively they can usually draw a great many first time customers and repeats.

I can't see why many of the American roadside stands, cafes, restaurants, hamburger "joints", and the like can't follow suit and really offer something "extra"…a bit of charm, a scenic view (real or artificially constructed), some flowers, a tiny waterfall, some animals or other outdoor amusements. In the long run it would pay. If some of these unimaginative roadside businessmen would only wake up! Their profits could be doubled. #82

U.S.A. . . . . GUEST BOXES
Here's an unusual little business originated by a clever lady who thought of something new to be sold to suburbanites. It is a "guest box".

To be placed in a bureau drawer in the guest room, it is fitted with tooth paste, cleansing tissue, face powder, cotton dabs, lipstick, hand lotion, hair pins, deodorant, rouge, safety pins and vanishing cream.

She used the "ten cent store" size for all of these items and by getting good wholesale prices she was able to sell the complete box at a dollar profit.

The appeal was that any hostess should be proud of her own thoughtfulness for her guests in providing such handy necessities.

It's an idea…something to start with…if you are interested in a light manufacturing or "assembling" business. Can be improved upon. #83

AUSTRALIA
An unusual "book" is now being sold in Australia and is without a doubt, the cleanest book that ever made its appearance in the Land Down Under.

Strangely enough, no one is reading this book, because there's not a word between its covers, only pages and pages of perfumed soap in sweet-smelling sheets.

All the "reader" has to do is to tear out a page, moisten it and wash his hands. The creator of this odd soap claims that it produces an abundance of lather. Supposed to be a big demand for the ingenious little book. Wouldn't you say that it would find a ready market in this country too?

It would take some experimenting, of course, and one would have to have the aid of a commercial chemists laboratory. Something similar could be devised, I am sure. This would not only be a fine local seller but would also be extremely well adapted toward sales by mail. No doubt it could be mailed to anyone for 1½¢ and a half dozen would mail for about 8 ounces. The light weight of this item would make it an inexpensive item to export to other countries. #84

AUSTRALIA
Here is a clever formula that could be sold to campers, sportsmen, vacationers, house trailer owners, boy scouts, etc., or it could be offered as a free premium along with some other sportsmen item you may be selling.

It's an unusual formula recently developed in Australia, and provides a method of making bread in the remote hinterlands where baking facilities are not available. Called "boiled bread" it is said to look as palatable as any ordinary homemade loaf, slices just as easily, and tastes delicious.

The usual ingredients are used…flour, water and yeast, the dough placed in an ordinary tin or container, loosely covered. This tin is then set in a pot of boiling water for three hours. Then removed and set aside to cool for about six hours, during which time it will lose all excess moisture.

Making a batch up before breakfast, letting it cook through the breakfast period, washing of dishes, etc., then leaving it to cool off for the rest of the day while the camper is busy elsewhere, should allow one to enjoy some homemade bread for the main evening meal! #85

SOUTH AFRICA
Joseph, who lives in Johannesburg, South Africa, has devised an odd "two-place" bicycle for the sightless. As far as I know, there is nothing like it over here, and with the huge market of the blind in the United States awaiting something like this, it certainly is an idea that can be profitably transferred to the States and Canada.

The ingenious bike need not be manufactured by a large firm in this country. It is a product that anyone with a little knowledge of mechanics could turn out quickly and easily. This new double bicycle is nothing more than two bikes placed side by side, about four feet apart, and firmly clamped together, using two pieces of metal tubing (similar to the kind used in the bicycle frame) with clamps on each end to keep the bikes apart, front and rear.

It was designed with the thought in mind that Joseph, who is blind, could take up his favorite pleasure again, with his wife or some other companion doing the steering to avert spills.

He believes that thousands of other blind men and women will purchase his device separately and attach to two bikes, or perhaps buy the whole set-up, bikes and all.

There is no doubt about it, blind folks should have a chance to engage in healthful outdoor activity, but what can they do? Very little, usually. Perhaps a slow halting walk with the aid of a seeing-eye dog, but that is about all. Here a chance is offered to them, a chance to actually pedal a bike, not just to go along as an inactive passenger! In fact, both riders contribute to its pedal power. All the blind rider must learn is to relax on his seat and let the sighted companion do the steering, although the blind rider can hold on to his own bike's handle bars and at least pretend that he is steering, holding the steering handles lightly so that he can let the steered wheel respond to the correct touch of his partner. In time he might sense by touch just which way the wheel is being turned and help somewhat. And of course, don't forget, his main pleasure will come from the joy of pedaling the bike!

Joseph almost daily gets letters from other blind folks, all wanting duplicates of his own double bicycle or the clamped on arrangement. Joseph may soon be turning out the double bikes or perhaps just the ingenious arrangements alone to supply this demand.

Any simple set of metal tubes that can be easily clamped on to the steering posts of both bikes, just below the handle bars, and also in a convenient spot on the frame of both bikes, in the rear, will do the trick. Remember, too, that this unusual set-up not only keeps the bikes apart at a safe distance, but it balances them so that they will stand upright at all times just like a motorcycle with a side car. Find out the number of blind people in the United States and Canada. Make a test canvass of some of these people, or a test mailing. See what they think of the idea. Find out what percentage would want one. Whether they would prefer the complete job (two bikes and the clamping arrangement) or just the clamping arrangement and use their own bicycles. The extent of your market will be revealed and you can go ahead on a small or large scale, depending on what the results indicated.

Not only should the blind persons be interested, but also the families and friends of the blind folks, community churches, societies, ladies' aids, charities, etc. #86

U.S.A. . . . . TRICK ENCLOSURES
If you go into the mail-order field, remember this. There are various little tricks and techniques which may help to increase your mailing results. For example, one mail-order house has been enclosing colorful foreign stamps in with their literature without any explanation.

Two large, attractively colored Cuban stamps went out in the one particular mailing that I know of. The recipient is naturally curious about the stamps and wonders why they were enclosed. He'll probably read all of the literature in order to find out if there is an explanation for the enclosure. And that is what you are trying to accomplish…getting your material read and not thrown away.

There are various other items that could be enclosed such as feathers, coins, keys, plastic oddities, etc.

One firm used a reproduction of a smudgy thumb-print at the top of their form letter. This was tied in with the first paragraph of the letter and attracted the attention of the reader enough to at least get him to read the beginning of the letter. Another firm used the stunt of attaching a key at the top of a sales letter, using Scotch tape. The first paragraph of the letter pointed out that the key was similar to the one being used for the NEW BRANCH just opened in a nearby city from which future shipments to the recipient's territory would now be handled, etc., etc. Kind of foolish, but it got the prospect to read the letter! #87

U.S.A. . . . . GOURD PENGUINS
"Discovered", among other things, dealt with the unusual Gourd business. This is such a neat, pleasant and unusual business with such profit possibilities, that I must give you some additional details I have since uncovered.

This time a lady has discovered that gourds have a cash value, that they can be made into attractive baskets, charm strings, bird houses and the like.

She started out by cutting a number of the gourds she had raised into novel baskets. By using a small keyhole saw, she was able to do the necessary cutting, and sand-paper smoothed down any rough edges. The insides were removed, of course, and the interior scraped clean. Some of the baskets had scalloped edges, handles and even lids. She created many decorative patterns and designs, drawing the designs first in pencil and then going over them with quick drying enamel paint. Animals can be painted on the gourds through stencils. Circle, square and border designs were also used, and these are easier to do.

As she lived in the Death Valley district of California, she put a "Greetings from Death Valley" message on all of her gourds. After the designs, figures or messages are applied, a final coat of varnish is given the gourd.

She found that pear-shaped gourds made the best bird houses. Other gourds were just the right size for those "leave-a-note" boxes that can be hung by the side of the mail box at the front door. A small pad of paper and a tiny bridge pencil is attached inside this gourd. The idea being to provide your callers with a means of leaving a note when you are not at home.

Her delightful baskets sold quickly at 35¢ to 50¢ each. So did the other gourd novelties. So well, that she added other items such as gourd ash trays, gourd book ends, etc. Before the war, this lady was averaging around $30 to $50 profit a month in her spare time from these gourds. She expects her sales to once again hit a new high during the post war era.

A good spare time proposition for this woman, and should give a hint as to the possibilities for full time operation, using not only your own crop of gourds, but purchasing large amounts of gourds from other growers.

In looking over a seed catalog, I have noticed that it is possible to buy seeds that will produce an ornamental type of gourd. This catalog suggests that these gourds be used as vases, hanging baskets, fruit bowls, etc. One gourd in particular can be turned into a penguin by painting it black with a white breast and mounting it on a wooden or pasteboard base. These are called Penguin Gourds, or Calabash Pipe Gourds. Should be a mighty good seller. Few people should be able to resist buying the cute penguin gourd or an imaginative gourd bird house.

To show you what can be made from the common gourd, let me mention a few of the things that a chap out here in California is making from gourds, purely as a hobby. So far he's turned out bottles, dippers, candlesticks, sugar bowls, napkin rings, lamps and a full sized family of gourds, including the baby ones.

In making the lamp, this craftsman not only made the base out of a gourd, but also the shade, believe it or not! The finished product made a striking picture. It is a shame that this chap doesn't take on the making of these gourd lamps and the gourd penguin family alone, specializing in these two items on a commercial basis. I'm sure he would make a small fortune if he reached the right department store buyers throughout the land!

On many of this man's gourds, the "painting" was actually done by heat rather than with ordinary paints. He has found a way to shade a gourd with heat, from a light tan to a dark brown, using electric styluses with various sized points. Using this method, he can turn out a variety of patterns. #88-89

MEXICO
I have recently purchased two samples of the delightful "feather pictures" being sold for several years by mail by a Mexican mail-order operator. Along with the sample came the literature that gets the repeat orders. Here the operator offers to sell these 4" x 9" feather pictures for as little as $4.00 per dozen! An amazing price when one considers the amount of work in each picture. You see, these colorful pictures are usually pictures of various tropical birds. The pictures have been roughly sketched or printed on the card with colored paints, then beautiful feathers, of every shade and color are attached with some sort of glue, I suppose, and they make up a beautiful finished picture of a glorious tropical bird, ready for framing.

This Mexican chap has the following assortment: Two Birds of Paradise, two Golden Pheasants, two Silver Pheasants, two Huasteca Doves, a Green Guacamaya, a Red Guacamaya, a Blue Bird and a Cardinal. This makes up a dozen and no changes can be made in the assortment, every dozen containing the same types of bird.

One could have cards printed with the bird outline as the first step in making up these bird pictures.

This man's classified ads have been appearing for several years in some of the American magazines and he evidently has built up quite a mail-order trade on a wholesale basis here in the States. It shows that a mail-order enterprise can be operated in Mexico, drawing its orders from this country. Think that over if you ever decide to live in Mexico.

As a later follow-up, one could also sell the customer some of the Mexican silver jewelry, oaxaca huaraches, Mexican dolls and puppets, palm woven shopping bags, Mexican baskets, etc.

Talking about feathers reminds me of the success story in which a Mrs. MacIntosh, living in a Southern state, is the featured player.

She has netted approximately $1,500 in her spare time from making feather fans and selling them to pleased buyers from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border. She collects all types of feathers, carefully sorting out the feathers that are 100% perfect. More white turkey and goose feathers are used than any other kind. Owl, crow, hawk, peafowl, guinea, pheasant and rooster feathers are used for certain fans. White rooster tail feathers make pretty feather flowers (see "Discovered" for additional details about the making and selling of "feather flowers") .

Meticulous care must be used in cleaning and dyeing the feathers for the fans. The feathers are first washed several times. The dye solution is made slightly darker than the desired color of the feathers. They are kept in this solution until the desired color is attained, and then each feather is taken out separately and dried. Rose, blue, varying shades of pink and lavender have proved to be the most popular colors. The round style fan with a diameter of about eight inches is the most popular type of fan.

At first, Mrs. MacIntosh marketed fans only in the nearby towns. Her skill soon became widely known, and the project became a mail-order business. This modern lady has found that there is still demand for the old fashioned feather fan, and because of the old fashioned nature of the item, she has little competition. Try and think of something similar that can be made popular once again in this modern age.

While I'm on the subject of feathers I might say that a North Dakota woman has duplicated the mentioned success in Mexico. She creates similar feather pictures. Started in her basement, the business has now grown so large that it is predicted she'll be grossing a million dollars a year one of these days!

Yet, she lives in a very tiny North Dakota town, far away from large cities. Her pictures differ from the Mexican kind in that they also use, in addition to the feathers, bits of wild grass, grains and weeds. The feathers come from doves, ducks, mallards, pheasants, guinea hens, etc.

A piece of wild horseradish, for instance, or a stalk of dill, may fit in very well as the stalk of a flower, the petals made out of feathers. Sometimes a dash of lacquer or paint may be added to the grass or weed. Both feather and weed go together well, and allow this imaginative woman the opportunity to create pictures of all types instead of being restricted to just the bird feather picture.

I predict that this feather picture business is going to sweep the country some day. Only one person that I know of is operating the project in this country. This woman probably saw the Mexican product, realized that the Mexican operator was making money out of the enterprise, put two and two together, and now she is on her way to becoming a rich woman. But one operator is not enough, by far, in a country this size. You realize that, I'm sure!

You should see these pictures…I have several framed and on display here in my office. Really something to look at. Couldn't be more beautiful.

Another market for feathers is the ornament market. Mrs. Jackson has a hobby of turning out these feather ornaments in her Kansas home. They're used as ornaments for the hair or for dress purposes.

She says that her expenses are so small that the project is almost all profit. It all started several years ago when her daughters wanted something "different" to wear in their hair when they were going out formal. The feather ornament was the result!

Mrs. Jackson dyed the feather ornament the same color as their dresses. Friends liked the novelty ornaments, wanted some like them, and so Mrs. Jackson found herself in business.

She sits in a sunny many-windowed room in her own home and makes the feather creations. You'll see stacks of feathers of every color on tables all around the room. Most of these feathers are from chickens. Many folks save the white kind of chicken feather and mail them to Mrs. Jackson. All feathers are washed in soap suds before using. Still wet, they are immediately dyed the desired color. She uses show card water colors instead of the commercial dyes.

Feathers are also rinsed when removed from the dye to take a way any excess color. She claims that she can sell all that she can turn out. They sell for $2.50 a cluster, and each cluster contains three flowers or ornaments.

Feather flowers are made somewhat in the same fashion as paper flowers. I covered the phase of making feather roses in "Discovered".

Thin wire is used in the formation process and also for the stem, green paper being wound around the stem. The wire must be the thinnest that can be purchased. All the materials cost around 25¢ for a cluster. She gets her feathers free. So the profit is around $2.25 per order!

One particular ornament is made in the following manner: Take a few feathers and tie them together with very thin wire. Take another bunch of feathers, about half as many, and bend them in two. Make up about 8 bunches of the tied feathers. Group these 8 tied bunches together in flower petal shape, place the bent half bunch of feathers, so that the ends of the feathers are upright, in the middle of the circle of feather tied bunches. This middle bent bunch serves as the flower center. Bind everything together with thin wire. Add wire stem. With all these ideas, anyone so inclined should be able to start a tremendous feather enterprise, turning out not one feather novelty, but a group of different feather items. One of them, surely, will prove successful. All of the ideas should test out well because they have already proved themselves for others! #90-93

U.S.A. . . . . SINGING FARMER
Until I ran across some information about the raising of garlic, I had never given much thought to its profit-making possibilities.

However, it seems that this is really an outdoor project with immense profits to the successful grower. It is a wonder more folks haven't gone into this particular type of farming.

A chap out here in California has been raising the stuff since 1907 with great success. He's been planting new stock every two or three years from bulb cloves. The cloves are planted by hand as each clove must go in right side up. His hired help are experienced and can set out a whole acre of cloves by hand in about a week, which is fast going!

This is really that "money-crop" some of you readers have been searching for. It requires little or no irrigation. The California grower claims that he has never lost a crop to frost. High summer temperatures have not harmed his crop. The demand for garlic has always been steady. As American cookery becomes more sophisticated, the demand slowly increases each year. It's the type of farm that would make a fellow sing with joy, and this man does just that.

"Every time I think of it I have to sing a little", he says joyfully! Perhaps I should explain that this grower came from Italy back in 1906 and like many of the Italians, he loves to sing and is always singing while he works!

Filipino crews under a Filipino foreman handle the harvesting of his garlic crop, doing all of the pulling, piling, trimming and grading. It is packed in 50 and 100 pound open mesh sacks and labeled U.S. No. 1 garlic.

According to chemists, garlic contains an active principle called sulfide allyl which is said to help stimulate gastric activity and quicken circulation. Is also used as a kidney stimulant. So there are two markets for the crop. Oil of garlic for medicinal purposes and research, and the garlic bulb for cooking purposes.

Garlic has taken good care of this immigrant. I'd suggest that anyone interested in an unusual farm project make a study of the growing of garlic alone. #94

U.S.A. . . . . LIL' BUTTERCUPPIES
A florist with a shop on his hands that was not showing a profit, after a great deal of thought, decided to do something about it. He started out by enlisting the aid of his wife. Together they thought up a number of unusual tags and signs. The idea was to put their prospects into a flower-buying mood.

They hauled down the ordinary sign outside and put up instead, a sign reading "Bessie's Bouquet Bower". Underneath in smaller letters appeared this silly line: "Happy Spirits of Schubert and Trilby caper blissfully amongst the shy lil' buttercuppies". Little signs with similar "sappy" lyrics were scattered all over the place, placed in with the flowers, on walls, etc. The public loved the "screwball" stuff.

The florist started to put "lovey-dovey" sayings in his ads. Romance was the keyword. Business boomed! People began to talk about his place. He even had a write up given him in the local newspaper. It pays to break the monotony in business. Folks are fed up with the same old stuff every day.

Talking about florists, did you know that common old soot has a value and can be sold to florists? They use it as a fertilizer. If you can find a way of collecting all the soot from various places in your neighborhood, your county or your state, you can corner this odd market and perhaps really make a fortune! Ways would have to be found to collect the soot from industrial plants and other sources and bring it to a central storage bin. While I'm on the subject of flowers, there is one thing more. An unusual flower club. I noticed it the other day. Called "A Rose Of The Month" club. Carefully selected long-stemmed, red American Beauty roses are delivered, nursery fresh, once a month. Subscription cost amounts to $6.00 for a monthly rose on a yearly basis, and $6.00 for a three month's subscription with a rose sent every week.

If you add $1.50 to the above, this service will send the loved one one dozen American Beauty roses on her birthday or anniversary. A slender vase, specially designed for one rose is sent free of extra charge with the first rose.

All roses are shipped in special scientifically processed wilt-proof, crush-proof tubes. Customers find the club a means of expressing their love and esteem in token form to their wives, mothers, sweethearts, sisters, daughters or friends.

It would be one way for a small grower of roses to market his crop by mail, working the business in his home adjacent to his fields of roses. #95-97

AUSTRALIA
Here is a business proposition you can work entirely from your home, with no publicity. You work when you like, perhaps no more than three or four hours a day, and it pays well if you inject some enthusiasm into it.

Get hold of an ordinary library book of standard size, a piece of fairly stiff cream or tinted paper, enough to make a loose cover or book jacket for a book. Go to the local printer and ask him to print you half a dozen copies. Tell him you want a border around the edges of each of the four pages—the front page divided into three spaces by lines running horizontally. Page two is divided into four spaces by a line running horizontally, and another vertically. Page three is divided into eight spaces and page four into four spaces. In the top space of page one, ask the printer to print the words: "The Blank Library, High Street, Blank Town (or your own address). This leaves 18 spaces for advertisements.

With one of these "dummy" covers or jackets, you approach the lending libraries in your district. Tell them you will supply them free with 1,000, 2,000 or 3,000 of these jackets, provided you have the right to have ads on the covers. Some will refuse, some will agree. The first one that agrees will be the sensible man, as he is getting something for nothing. Ask him for his "copy" for the top space on page one, i.e., his name, address and any other wording he wants.

That part of the business transacted, you call on the local retailers and ask them to take one of the spaces to advertise their goods. Tell them the covers will be placed over the books (same as a book jacket) of the library from whom you have obtained permission. Tell them the number of covers agreed upon. (1,000 to 3,000.)

Again, some will refuse, some will agree. Every firm is a potential advertiser. Grocery stores, drug stores, hardware stores, chimney sweeps (England), ironmonger (England), dancing schools, book stores, office supply stores, beauty parlors, etc.

The prices you should charge them depends on a number of factors. First, your printer's charge for printing the required number of copies. Second, the type of district, whether a poor or well-to-do neighborhood. You must work out the prices so that you have at least 50% profit after all expenses have been deducted. You will probably find you can charge reasonably for the spaces and make considerably more than 50%. As a very rough guide, you work out costs at four Pounds each ($20) for the two front spaces, two Pounds 10d each for the quarter page spaces and 25 shillings each for one-eighth page spaces. These prices for the 1,000 quantity. This will bring in about 38 Pounds. Your printer's bill may be anything from six to ten Pounds, so you can see that there is money in the scheme as worked in Australia and England. Probably a different scale of costs and prices would have to be worked out for this country, but the idea would no doubt prove adaptable.

You must emphasize to the advertiser that the covers will be seen by users of the books from the libraries and will be current for one year after which a new cover jacket will be issued. Next year you repeat the process, thereby making a regular income. You will find that many of your advertisers will take the same space the following year, thus avoiding the necessity of making further canvasses for fresh business.

When one issue is completed and your money collected, you are free to commence a further issue for another library where the process is repeated. When collecting the money from advertisers, it is as well to take a sample cover with their ads on it to show them that the job is done.

There is money in this proposition our English cousin tells us, and he claims that the idea has worked successfully in Australia and England. There should be a wide field for such an advertising enterprise here in the United States. You probably know that many lending library books need jackets, in fact very few such books have jackets. By using attractive colors and a nice grade of jacket cover stock, the idea will appeal to the lending libraries. Such jackets help to keep the cloth bound covers of the books in better condition and sometimes hide the unattractive cloth-bound battered or damaged covers on the book itself. It would be a good idea to use an assortment of colored inks and colored paper stocks so that each jacket is a different color scheme.

A correspondent from abroad tells me that one operator supplies the covers for 25 shillings a thousand and replaces all those that become torn or dilapidated free of charge.

He charges 1 Pound for each advertisement and places it on 3,000 covers for this fee. There are nine ads to each jacket cover. Therefore he receives around twelve Pounds, 15 shillings of which about 50% is profit. Although the replacement jackets are free to the libraries, the advertisers really pay for these extra copies because the 3,000 circulation promised includes all copies, original and replacement.

The United States probably has more independent lending libraries than any other country in the world, so the above plan might work much more efficiently and with greater profit here at home. #98

"FACTORS" HELP THIS PROJECT
Mr. E.B. of Texas was working at an aircraft plant in Dallas with a take home pay of about $60 per week. Then he got his idea. Had no money, so borrowed $15 for his first ad. In four months he says he was making a gross of $4,000.00 per week, with a net profit of $1,000 a week. The Thomas Directory of Manufacturers, found in most public libraries, was a great help to him in getting his start. In this directory he found thousands of addresses of manufacturers who turn out just about everything that is manufactured in this country today.

He wrote to many of these manufacturers for their Distributor price lists and also asked it they would drop ship for him. That means to ship direct to your customer under your label and not to ship to you. First he lined up about 100 good items. Got the selling sheets on each, with wholesale price to the dealer. He then contacted same "FACTORS". These are firms that will buy all accounts that you sell, also they will pay the manufacturers for the goods ordered. For this they charge only 5 % and they pay you cash. You will find many of these firms listed under "factors" in the city telephone books. By using factors, if the account of yours does not pay…you do not take the loss. The factor has to try and collect the account.

Mr. E.B. then assembled all of his salesmen sale sheets in a nice folder and ran an ad for salesmen, using the daily papers. He obtained salesmen from all aver the country. He then offered them a 10% commission an all sales. As they would be handling really big items that ran into important prices, this commission could amount to something…to them…and to Mr. E.B. When these salesmen finally mailed in their orders, he mailed the orders on to his Factor for approval. The factor would then in turn mail said order on to the manufacturer. The manufacturer would eventually mail the bill of lading to Mr. E.B. Upon receipt of this, Mr. E.B. sent the bill of lading on to the Factor and the factor would then mail Mr. E.B.'s money to him, less the factor's 5% and the amount the factor would have to pay to the manufacturer.

Most of the big items that Mr. E.B. handled allowed him a 25% discount or profit. The salesman got 10%, the factor 5%, leaving Mr. E.B. 10%.