One Thousand Ways to Make a Living; or, An Encyclopædia of Plans to Make Money

by Harold Morse Dunphy

PLAN No. 640. THE DOCTOR MADE MONEY

When I was a boy about ten years of age, I well remember the new doctor coming to the city. He received his furniture and appliances for office use, and showed them to us with great pride. He started in and worked very hard. His office was in a very unpretentious building in a small Iowa town, and, naturally, the first year his practice was limited, but everything he did he kept strict account, made his charges, and rendered his bills. He was not very insistent on pay at once, but he was anxious to render anyone service. No matter how far out in the country the patient lived, he would make every effort to reach them. As a matter of fact everybody knew that when they called him, he was always available and would be there at the earliest moment possible. He followed this practice for years, and saw to it that none of his bills outlawed, and while he had to wait for his money, he made a charge sufficiently large so that he could very well wait until they were able to pay him.

Five years passed and he had the reputation of being one of the busiest doctors in the community. At a certain time each year he made it known he was going away to take further instructions in medical work, and gradually he became quite proficient in operating and started a small hospital of his own where he could give the rural people the proper treatment.

The farms in that vicinity began to increase in value. The people whom he served a few years before, whom most doctors thought would be unable to pay, became prosperous, and most all of the bills that this man had rendered became an asset.

He not only obtained the experience and pleasure of rendering his patients assistance, but he believed in the country as well, and to-day he is one of the wealthiest men in that part of the country. He put his fees into farm land which has increased in value from fifty dollars per acre to three hundred dollars per acre. Any doctor can succeed in following this plan in the community where he may be practicing.

PLANS No. 641 to 649 SEE GOVERNMENT SERVICE—[PLAN No. 217]

PLAN No. 650. HOW A DRUGLESS DOCTOR BUILT UP A PRACTICE

He and I were working together on a city newspaper as advertising solicitors when one day he told me that he was studying nights to become a chiropractic doctor. He said very little about it, because his wife did not favor it. However, he had put his time to this study. He continued his studies for six or seven months until he felt that he was able to launch out for himself. The question then was, where should he start. He had only a little cash and to stay in the city where he was once an advertising solicitor, he felt it would be difficult for him to build up a reputation as a drugless doctor. Of course, he resigned his position as advertising solicitor and opened an office in conjunction with a dentist in his own city. He secured his equipment and started after the business. He made it a point first to see all of his friends and let them know that he was in the drugless practice. He kept at this work and got in touch with hundreds of people. He worked diligently with his patients, and they told others, and after six months of hard work holding the creditors back his business began to pay. Before the year was over he had a practice that was paying from $500 to $800 a month. After a couple of years of practice, he let it be known he was going east to take advance work as a chiropractic doctor. He wrote letters to all the people he had treated on his return.

He was always enthusiastic about his work and made a very careful study on the subject of anatomy, and could talk creditably with any doctor. He was very active in the welfare of the drugless doctor and did any and everything he could to assist their mutual cause. He started without any capital, the money for furniture was borrowed. He made up a card, giving a certain number of treatments for a certain amount of money, sold these to all of his patients, which gave him ready money. This was all done without a line of newspaper advertising and with the opposition of the medical fraternity.