Page 232 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

hundred and three customers. He has two girls helping him take care of the
business and pays them each $15.00 a week. His net profit for the week, after
paying all expenses, averages $89.67. There are many such opportunities for
opening wayside stands near big cities. Profits may be increased by placing a
few pin games near the cash register, and by serving cold drinks.

Using One Product to Sell Another

O

NE enterprising hardware merchant had a stock of bird cages on hand which
were moving very slowly. As considerable money was tied up in his stock he
worried about ways and means of selling it. Finally he hit upon an idea. He
purchased 400 canary birds and offered them at $3.87, or practically at cost.
The sale was advertised in the newspaper. His idea sold the 400 birds, 150
bird cages priced from $2.98 to $35.00, as well as many hardware items.

chapter nIne
SELLING THINGS BY MAIL
M

ANY great fortunes have been made in the mail-order business, even though
it is one of the most exacting and difficult methods of making money. In
addition to skill as a buyer, a successful mail-order merchandiser requires a
keen sense of dramatic values and sound sales promotional judgment. Given
these attributes it is possible for an energetic person, with a small amount of
capital, to start a mail-order business on a modest scale and successfully
develop it into a prosperous and worth-while business.

The mail-order business is essentially American in its conception and scope.
It is a by-product of the development of the West, when impassable roads and
great distances made it difficult for people living on farms or in small towns
to get a satisfactory selection of merchandise. The industry is scarcely fifty
years old, yet in that short time it has developed sales running well over
$1,000,000,000 annually. This figure is interesting because it reflects a
confidence on the part of the public in ordering by mail that is truly