Page 259 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

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ETTING the “first thousand” didn’t worry Howard Chapin so much as
preparing himself to get it. When he left high school, he considered technical
courses offered by various schools, and decided to go in for mechanical
engineering. He didn’t have enough money to matriculate at a university, so
he decided to do the next best thing—get a job, and take a correspondence
course. That was five years ago. Today, Chapin is operating a successful
engineering service of his own. It’s small, but his profits for the past year
have been a few times a thousand dollars.

“When I decided to study engineering, I went to the office of an engineering
company here in Chicago, and explained that I wanted more than anything
else an opportunity to get an education. I agreed to work for a small salary. I
would be satisfied, I told them, if it would barely cover the cost of my
correspondence course. The manager thought I had the right idea. ‘That’s
how I got started myself,’ he admitted, and arranged to take me into his
office. Supplementing the correspondence work was class instruction which
didn’t interfere with my hours at the engineering company. With the practical
suggestions I picked up in the office, plus the practice work and theories
studied in class, I soon saw that I was getting somewhere.

“It took me two years to complete my correspondence studies. Meanwhile, I
was advanced to a better position, and a raise in salary. I saved every cent of
this raise, having accustomed myself to living economically during the period
of my school work. Something went wrong with a big job my employers
were handling during my third year with them, and they were forced out of
business. Without a job, I analyzed my future. I had saved a hundred and
ninety dollars and I was qualified to do specialized work. I wrote out a list of
the places that had use for such work and called on them. I found many small
factories where motors were being neglected because it didn’t pay to keep a
full-time electrician. This looked like a good opportunity to me and I began
contracting to keep such equipment in good condition and service it monthly
on a yearly contract. I called upon factories, laundries and such places where
there are motor-driven shafts and machines, and charged a service fee ranging
from five to fifty dollars a month, depending upon the amount of work. I