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Discovered! 505
Odd Enterprises

Hidden Dollars

How to Make
Money at Home

Small Business
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You Can Own
a Business

That's how a young ranch wife, Mrs. Maxine Wright Hughes of Ordway, Colorado, got started on her profitable hobby—a shopping column in the weekly Ordway New Era newspaper.

It wasn't quite that simple, though. Before she wrote the letter, and even before she had the idea for a shopping column, Mrs. Hughes tried an experiment. She bought all her Christmas gifts in Ordway.

Doesn't sound very surprising! It was, however, unusual, since Ordway is a small town of 1,500 population, and it's been customary for most residents of the town itself and neighboring farms and ranches to "shop" in the larger neighboring cities of Rocky Ford and La Junta.

"Maybe the stores in Rocky Ford and La Junta are bigger," Mrs. Hughes says, "but I thought that it was possible to get everything I wanted and needed right here in Ordway. So I tried filling my Christmas gift list in the local stores, and I did it. Every single gift was bought in Ordway."

FROM THAT beginning Mrs. Hughes' idea came. She had read various shopping columns in national magazines, and she had heard her friends mention and discuss unusual items they had seen advertised in those columns.

Suddenly the idea came—why not a column advertising the "different" things that Ordway merchants had for sale? Why not a chatty column interspersed with newsy mention of local people and amusing quips?

Her first step, naturally, was to sell the publishers of the New Era on the idea. But why by letter?

"It does sound silly," Mrs. Hughes says, smiling, "writing a letter when all I had to do was drive in to town and talk to Mr. and Mrs. Lester Giffen at the newspaper. But I did have a very good reason for writing that letter. I wanted to be certain that I got my idea across—and well, have you ever been in a small newspaper office? You just don't get the editor's undivided attention. There are too many interruptions—people paying bills, phoning in news items, even just dropping in to chat.

"That's why I wrote the letter. I outlined my idea for a shopping column for Ordway merchants to encourage our local people to shop at home. Then I asked for an appointment to discuss it further."

The Giffens liked the column idea, discussed business arrangements with Mrs. Hughes, and "Let's Shop at Home, by Maxine" was born.

BEFORE THE initial column appeared, Mrs. Hughes visited every merchant in Ordway and explained her idea, emphasizing that she planned to use first an advertisement, then a chatty news item, quip or household hint, then another advertisement.

"Women are the ones who do most of the buying, especially in a rural area like ours," Mrs. Hughes pointed out to each merchant. "They are the ones who will read this type of column, and they'll read your ad, too."

The cost of the advertisements was low—only 20 cents a line (about five words), and as she made the rounds of the various stores, Mrs. Hughes found the idea appealed to most store owners.

Occasionally one would raise an objection along the line that all the people in Ordway already knew where they could buy blue jeans, and if they wanted blue jeans they would come and buy them. If they didn't want them, they wouldn't buy them anyway. So, these merchants argued, why advertise?

"In selling advertisements I make it a point to agree with everyone," Mrs. Hughes says, her eyes twinkling. "So, when someone argued that way, I didn't try to argue back. I just listened attentively, nodded in agreement and said, 'Yes, that's true. That's right.' Then when the merchant finished, I'd say, 'But how about these striped shirts? You just got them in, didn't you? I'll bet a lot of folks don't know you have them. How about advertising them?'"

That approach works, Mrs. Hughes says, and the column has brought excellent results to businessmen by attracting buyers who hadn't known about the striped shirts and other merchandise. After the first advertisement, Mrs. Hughes had no difficulty selling merchants on using the column again.

One variety store has even made it a policy to put advertised items in the store's display windows. As a result merchandise has sold faster than normally, the owners have found.

ORDWAY MERCHANTS aren't the only ones pleased with the column. Women have written letters to tell the New Era and Mrs. Hughes how much they like the feature. That has pleased Mrs. Hughes most, since she knows how busy most small town and rural housewives are.

"If they take time out to sit down and write a letter, I know they really like it," she says.

Mrs. Hughes should know, for she and her husband, Robert, live on a ranch six miles from Ordway. Like other neighboring ranch and farm families they feel Ordway is their home town.

How long does it take for Mrs. Hughes to sell and write her column?

"I spend one full day including the evening," she explains. "On Monday morning I call the advertisers by telephone, reminding them that 'today's the day' I need their ads. Some of them give me the information right then over the phone, but in other cases I get it when I go to town in the afternoon."

After her afternoon of rounding up the remaining advertisements and perhaps selling some new ones, Mrs. Hughes sits down in the evening and writes her column. Merchants tell her what they want to advertise—the type of merchandise or service, description and prices, then she puts it into words, limiting the advertisements to whatever length each storekeeper has specified.

She writes simple, direct copy without flowery phrases or unnecessary words. (Since the advertisers are paying by length, they prefer to have every word count.) Typical of her advertisements is this one: "Home-made candy! Yes, and at your own Home Kraft Bakery. They have fudges and brittles of all kinds. Marshmallow and others, too."

ONE OF the outstanding characteristics of Mrs. Hughes' column is her use of quips and news items to "spice up" the column. She gets ideas for clever sayings from various magazines and books, adapting them to the local situation. Here are excerpts from a typical column:

"A tree is an object that stands in one place for years and then jumps in front of a woman driver.

"*** BACK HOME AGAIN WITH PHILCO PRODUCTS. That, of course, is C.E. PICKLUM. They have radios, ranges, refrigerators and freezers.

"Mrs. Picklum is an accomplished greeting card verse writer with many sales to her credit!

"*** For that IN-BETWEEN MEAL SNACK, be HEALTHFUL by drinking LYLE'S DAIRY MILK. Don't let your youngsters get that sweet-tooth habit. Be SAFE by serving ice-cold, or chocolate MILK to satisfy those always present SNACK HABITS.

"Mrs. Jones will be home from the hospital this week-end. Her sister-in-law, Mrs. Russell Jones, is keeping the youngsters.

"*** Prepare for Summer. Buy your Garden Seeds at the ORDWAY CASH & CARRY. We also have flower seeds.

"My garden is a little jewel—14 carrots."

ONCE A month Mrs. Hughes totals up the number of lines of advertising used by each merchant and takes the entire record to the New Era office. The actual billing is done by the newspaper with the words "Hughes column" and the amount added to the newspaper's regular monthly statements.

Of the 20 cents a line charged, Mrs. Hughes gets 10 cents for her efforts and the newspaper keeps the remainder. The Giffens pay Mrs. Hughes her share at the time she turns in the monthly record, and collect from the advertisers later.

Each column averages twenty-five advertisers, and Mrs. Hughes makes about $15 for herself. She considers that a good return for one day's work.

For others who might like to try writing and selling a shopping column in their local newspapers, Mrs. Hughes has several suggestions.

First, sell yourself on your community. Believe that it is a good place to shop. Then sell the newspaper publisher on the idea of the column. That isn't too hard to do, she points out, since all newspapers are eager to have advertising and to boost the readership of their newspapers.

Be agreeable, Mrs. Hughes says. Don't argue with advertisers in trying to sell them. Honey gets more flies than vinegar. "Try my 'Yes-but' tactics," she suggests.

"And I have a couple of rules that I set up for myself. One: Don't advertise the same item for more than one merchant in any given column. If Mr. Jones is advertising women's hose at 89 cents, then don't accept an advertisement for the same thing from another merchant.

"Next week you can. But not in the same column. If such a conflict arises, I tell the second merchant frankly that I can't let him advertise hose this week since Jones' store is already doing that. I've found the merchants appreciate running 'exclusive' ads.

"My second rule is: Don't accept outside advertising. By limiting the advertisements to local stores you are protecting your biggest selling point—'shopping at home.'"

SINCE THE New Era does not have a supply of illustrations readily available, Mrs. Hughes depends on capitalizing words (especially firm names) and using asterisks to give her column eye appeal.

For columnists whose newspapers do have an advertising illustration service available, Mrs. Hughes suggests that small pictures would add to a shopping column's appearance.

Until she started "Let's Shop at Home," Mrs. Hughes had had no newspaper advertising experience. So she's inclined to feel that anyone who really wants to do so should be able to follow her example.