Page 157 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

well-known fact that on the Island of Bermuda, a certain group of people
pretty well control the island. These “best” families protect native business
men against the encroachment of newcomers who seek to exploit the island.
How do they do it? Very simply. You go over to Bermuda on a trip, fall in
love with the climate and decide to start an automobile agency there. It looks
like an easy way to make a few thousand dollars. Statistics show that the
number of inhabitants per automobile is higher in Bermuda than in any other
place in or around the United States. It looks like a wide-open opportunity.
So you get an agency and hang out your shingle in Hamilton. But nothing
happens. The first thing you find is that only government officials are
licensed to drive automobiles on the island, that residents there don’t want the
smelly things rushing about killing people. Next you learn that it is not
considered good form in Bermuda to patronize any business that has not the
approval of the “best” families. Bermuda is a small place, and one who lives
there feels the need of social contacts. People who patronize the “wrong”
business men suffer a sudden social catastrophe. In that way a monopoly is
granted to those whom the older families wish to have succeed, and failure
usually overtakes those who try to “muscle in.”

Another form of monopoly is to get an exclusive concession at a fair, or the
exclusive local agency for some advertised product. When Eskimo ice cream
bars were first put on the market, men paid fancy prices just for a local
franchise to make these bars and sell them to the public. The “rights” to sell
Neon signs in a territory were sold to eager salesmen at prices ranging from
$1,000 to $15,000. The Coca-Cola Company is another well-known concern
which gives exclusive franchises to sales agents. It is worth noting, however,
that in nearly every case where the sale of franchises has been used to finance
a business, a large part of the money received for the franchises was used to
pay for the initial advertising campaign. While there are cases of men selling
patent rights to raise money it is a difficult and usually a disappointing
method of financing a new business.

What Goes with a Patent

Most inexperienced people feel that if they invent something and are able to
get it patented, they can make a thousand dollars very quickly, either by