In the offices of the leading public stenographers in almost every city are thousands of names and addresses to be copied for the use of advertisers or other patrons and a Seattle young lady who was an expert typist, besides owning a first-class typewriter, secured all the work in this line she could do, by keeping in close touch with the public stenographers, directory publishers, and others.
This work paid her well, and there was always plenty of it for her to do.
PLAN No. 425. ADS. ON BARBERS’ MIRRORS
A regular patron of a barber shop, while having his hair cut one day, conceived an idea. He proposed to the boss barber to install a row of mirrors, 21⁄2 feet wide, along the wall of the shop, about four feet above the floor. These mirrors he would put in free, with the understanding that he was to reserve the lower left-hand corner of each for advertising purposes.
As the mirrors then in the shop were rather dingy and old-fashioned, the barber was glad to make this arrangement, and the new mirrors were duly installed. Then the man who had thought of the idea went out and got enough advertising in one day to fill the reserved spaces, at prices that seemed extravagant, yet they were well worth the money. Ads. that were of special interest to men who frequent barber shops were taken for the most part, and these advertisers must have been pleased with the results, because they renewed their contracts each year. The first month’s receipts more than paid the cost of the mirrors, and after that it was most all clear profit.
PLAN No. 426. MADE STOVE POLISH
Making a self-shining stove polish of finely powdered graphite, at a cost of 2 cents for a 2-ounce box, and selling it for 5 cents a box, was the way a hustling youngster at Bellingham, Washington, “got his start.”
This polish he called “Lusterine,” and put on each box a label saying it was “Best and cheapest. No mussy mixing. Makes old stoves look like new in two minutes. Produces an instantaneous polish that will not burn off. Apply with a damp woolen rag, then go over the stove with a dry cloth.”
He sold immense quantities of this polish to the hardware stores all along the coast, at 81⁄2 cents per box, thus clearing 11⁄2 cents on each, and also sold a great deal of it himself for 5 cents per box, or a profit of 3 cents. It gave him a good living.