Plan No. 37. Auto Inspector at Work
PLAN No. 37. AUTO INSPECTION SERVICE
“I was a fair auto mechanic, familiar with the mechanism of every machine on the market,” said a man who is now a prosperous dealer in a western city. “But I was out of work, and could not get the kind of job I wanted, so I decided to make one for myself. And I did.
“I called upon some twenty well-to-do owners of cars who did their own driving, but who were not able to locate or remedy many of the little troubles that are certain to happen to all machines, and told them that for $1 per week I would spend an hour each week in their garages, inspecting their autos, adjusting such parts as were even slightly out of order, and doing all small repairs, but furnishing none of the materials required; that I would do square, honest work, and thereby save them many dollars. All but two of these men accepted my offer, and were so well pleased with the results that I soon had a list of fifty regular patrons, and was easily making my $50 a week and more, without the investment of a single cent, except what I had paid for my kit of tools.
“Of course, for extra work I made a reasonable additional charge, and later I arranged with a supply house to furnish me with extra parts of equipment, which netted me a nice little profit besides my regular income as auto inspector.”
PLAN No. 38. A 5c AND 10c GROCERY STORE
Of course, everybody knows all about the 5- and 10-cent notion stores that have made millionaires of their owners, but who ever heard, until now, of a 5- and 10-cent grocery store?
One man, who lives in a good-sized western city, had never heard of such a thing, but one day the idea came to him, and he tried it out—and made it win.
He rented a small but neat store room in a good location, on a well traveled street, put up shelves on both sides and set a nice show case in the center. There were no counters. Then he went to the head of a leading wholesale grocery house and had them put up a special line of all their goods that were not perishable, in handsomely printed cartons, in quantities that could be retailed at 5 and 10 cents each, and still pay both the wholesaler and the retailer a small but fixed margin of profit.
He made a similar arrangement with a well known and popular packing company to handle its products in the same manner, while a local cannery was only too glad to obtain the publicity this method afforded.