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Discovered! 505
Odd Enterprises

Hidden Dollars

How to Make
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Small Business
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You Can Own
a Business

Shop Talk is the name of their four-page bi-monthly paper consisting of paid advertisements. They advertise for the local merchants everything from a shoestring to a piece of lumber.

The idea for the paper was virtually born in a shoe store when Ann and Eleanor stopped in to buy a pair of shoes.

Ann, the wife of an army officer, had just moved to the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, and was having a hard time finding the best places to shop.

Eleanor, her husband, a marine officer, and their three children had moved to the post the year before. She had not forgotten how difficult it had been for her to find her way around shopping; so was patiently showing and telling Ann where to shop.

While trying on shoes Eleanor turned to Ann and asked, "Don't you think it would be a good idea to have a paper listing the best places to shop?"

"Yes," Ann answered. "I think it sounds like a wonderful idea. Why don't we make a list to give to the people just arriving on the post so they would know just where to find the things they wished to buy?"

"Maybe we could sell space to stores that wished to advertise and charge so much per word for the space," said Eleanor.

"I bet a lot of people who use the newspapers and catalogs to shop would buy locally if they just knew where, and what they could purchase in the stores, near West Point," suggested Ann.

Mr. Haber, the shoe salesman and also owner of the store, had at this point become as engrossed in the idea as Eleanor and Ann. He told them, "Ladies, I think you have a good idea; if it materializes I'll buy space to advertise my shoe store, in your first issue."

With this word of encouragement they were off to other stores to test their idea.

THE IDEA of the paper was received with such enthusiasm that Eleanor and Ann were convinced that they had hit upon a hobby that would be profitable.

Right from the start Ann and Eleanor knew, although their husbands had agreed that their idea was a good one, that they would get little or no help from the men of their families.

The two wives asked and received permission from the superintendent of West Point to publish and distribute their paper on the post, this being necessary because of a military regulation.

Their next step was to register with the Chamber of Commerce in Newburgh, New York.

Another requirement was to register the paper, now very fittingly named Shop Talk, at the county seat in Goshen.

Ann and Eleanor talked it over and agreed it would be a good idea to have a written agreement between themselves. A lawyer charged $5 to draw up a partnership contract.

Now ready for business, they were as excited as schoolgirls, although walking down the street in the crisp November air they looked like two well dressed ladies on a shopping spree.

Their first stop was in the shoe store where their ideas for the paper had begun. Mr. Haber, true to his promise, bought a large space to advertise his store. It gave Eleanor and Ann a great boost when the Water Street Merchants Association also bought a large space in their first issue.

THE TWO businesswomen carried with them, typed on a card, the following rates they had previously decided upon.

40-50 words........$ 6
50-60 words........$ 8
60-70 words........$11
70-80 words........$16

The foregoing are flat rates. A discount of $1 on each rate is given to anyone signing a contract stating the number of times he wishes to advertise during the year. For signing a full year's contract, guaranteeing an advertisement in every issue, a special discount of 10 percent is given in addition to the $1 discount.

The card on which the rates were typed was shown to the potential customer as he was told of the advantages of an advertisement placed in Shop Talk.

When Ann and Eleanor had finished canvassing Newburgh, ten miles from West Point, and Highland Falls, a smaller town nearer the post, they had forty-five advertisements. They found a printer who would print these for them for $75 an issue. The paper on which the periodical was printed was included in this price. They also were given the privilege of selecting a number of the printer's illustrations, or cuts, to be used in each issue.

The printer gave them a large piece of paper the size on which the paper was to be printed. He showed them how, after the advertisements had been written up, to tape them in the desired place with Cellophane tape.

Eleanor and Ann decided to start each advertisement with an eye catching word, or words, in large print. They have made it a policy never to compose an advertisement hurriedly, and never to tape it on until they are convinced they have presented it in the best possible manner.

For example in a recent issue an advertisement began with:

AN INSIDE JOB ...

... That's the business of ALBIN STUDIO, custom upholster shop.

Another eye catcher starts with:

"CARD-IALLY" YOURS ...

... Whether you like the gay and giddy greetings, or a religious Christmas card, you'll find it now at SNYDERS STATIONERY.

When all the advertisements are checked and taped in place there is one more step before it goes to the printer. Ann and Eleanor personally show to each advertiser his advertisement to be sure he is thoroughly satisfied with it and that there are no last minute changes.

SHOP TALK made its debut in November, 1950. The forty-five advertisements were printed on both sides of a large sheet of orange stationery. Six hundred and eleven copies were printed and distributed.

At first a different color of stationery was used for each issue but subsequently a light aqua was chosen as the standard color. Each copy is folded three times so that the top of the paper, where Shop Talk is written, is on the outside.

The first issues of the paper were hand delivered to each house on the post. Now, under a yearly permit issued by the post office for $10, Shop Talk is mailed at a special rate of 1½ cents per copy.

The following address is printed in the right corner of the paper:

Occupant
Quarters
West Point, New York

This saves a lot of time in addressing, as the quarters numbers of each family living at West Point is written in later. A checking copy of Shop Talk is mailed to each advertiser. Shop Talk was received enthusiastically by the residents of West Point. The only thanks Eleanor and Ann ask of them for this service is: "Please tell our advertisers we told you," a request which is printed at the bottom of each page of Shop Talk.

IN ONE short year Shop Talk has grown from two pages to four pages, and boasts sixty-eight regular customers.

A recently added feature is a recipe published in each issue. These yummy bits of information are usually old family secrets or very special recipes donated to Ann and Eleanor by friends.

The special Christmas issue last year sported a green cover with Saint Nick adorning it. On one page was listed the telephone numbers of each advertiser in directory style, making it a handy list to have available. Each advertisement had an illustration that tied in with the Christmas theme. As a special Christmas present to each recipient of Shop Talk, this issue included a devil's food cake recipe that a friend had purchased from a large New York hotel.

Eleanor and Ann estimate that it takes approximately twenty-five to twenty-eight hours to prepare one issue of Shop Talk.

Recently in filling out their income tax reports they discovered Shop Talk had aided in stretching their family incomes by $1,000 each.