She adopted a schedule of prices a little lower than those charged by the larger companies, and engaged the services of two good reliable boys of her acquaintance to make deliveries.
Patrons soon found the service satisfactory and her business grew with amazing rapidity. Within a year she was enjoying an income far in excess of what she anticipated. She is now more than pleased with the success of her novel plan for making a comfortable living.
PLAN No. 86. WATCH FOBS FOR 5 CENTS EACH AT COLLEGE
Selling watch fobs for 5 cents each, and yet realizing a profit of $1.50 from the sale yourself, looks like one of those things that “can’t be done” and yet it is easily accomplished. This plan helped pay part of his college expenses.
He procures a quantity of ribbon representing the colors of the local football or baseball team and bearing a small nickel or silver-plated ornament, such as a horseshoe or football, and the one who gets the fob was entitled to have his name or any design engraved upon it free of charge.
The plan is usually worked in a cigar store, or pool hall as follows: Two fobs are attached to a card with the label “Win a Watch Fob for 5 cents,” and the game is played with dice in a set of five. Three throws for 5 cents is the charge, and the spots are counted and recorded with each throw. The highest possible throw in three shakes is 90, the lowest 15. The limit of entries of 60, and the highest and lowest scores in the series each receives a fob.
Sixty entries at 5 cents each is $3.00, and as the cost of the fobs do not exceed 25 cents each, the profit is $2.50. After settling with the clerk who keeps the tally and the middleman who placed the outfit, the originator of the plan realizes at least $1.50 on each transaction, and his profits are limited only by the number of games played.
PLAN No. 87. STARTED SHORTHAND SCHOOL
A man who was state agent for a concern that failed, was left without money, and there were no positions open for him. In earlier life he had been a stenographer, while his wife had taught school for a number of years before their marriage. As a traveling man he had noted the incompetency of many stenographers, especially their ignorance of business principles, and often commented on this to his wife.
In their dilemma, the wife suggested the establishment of a shorthand and business school combined, but they had no capital as a basis upon which to begin operations. The husband still had the small office he had used as state agent, in which were two desks, a few tables, chairs, etc., and the wife suggested that these could be used to begin with in a small way. She at once began taking shorthand lessons from her husband, took up typewriting at which she made rapid progress.