PLAN No. 701. DO YOU WANT TO BECOME A PLUMBER
My conception of a plumber has always been a husky, dirty-faced fellow who is full of independence and presenting an exorbitant bill for his services. But my impressions were changed when I met Bert.
Before going into the plumbing and heating business he sold pumps and windmills. He came to the city, and this is the way he became a first-class plumber in one year without previous experience:
He started a repair shop of his own, went out with a soldering iron and got the business. When he took a repair job he took his time and carefully figured out how the plumber put his work together, and after a year of careful study and some experiments of his own he took contracts for plumbing. He made a special effort to do the work right so there could be no complaint about it afterward. He spared no pains and never allowed himself to hurry or slight his work. If he used more time than the job justified, he made an allowance for that. When he heard of a person “knocking” his work, he called on him at once and tried to satisfy him and make him a booster instead. He also put in heating plants which work was very profitable.
His profits were $10 a day the year round, and he plans to make it run $20 a day the coming year. His business is only an ordinary and modest little plumbing and heating concern in the outskirts of a city of 100,000. There is nothing impossible in his plan. He works regularly eight hours every day and likes his work.