Page 263 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

people’s carpets. And he surprised himself at the ease with which he
accumulated the money. He started in this unique way of earning a living
when he lost his job as a manager of a department store in central Ohio,
where a carpet-washing machine, specially made to wash carpets and rugs,
was used in the store.

“I wrote the manufacturer of this machine and learned I could buy one on the
easy payment plan,” said Anderson. “So I hustled around the neighborhood
and got a few orders for cleaning rugs without removing them from the floor
at one dollar and fifty cents a rug. Then I mailed my initial payment to the
manufacturer. Full instructions for operating came with the machine. When I
started on the jobs ordered, though, I was surprised that I could clean rugs in
about one-third the time I had figured. During one morning I cleaned seven
rugs and pocketed ten dollars and fifty cents.

“That afternoon I went around the neighborhood looking for more
rugcleaning orders. I secured my first orders without any trouble. I
experienced some difficulty getting more, however. Most housewives
thought I might ruin an expensive rug, or wouldn’t efficiently clean carpets
for the price I quoted. One woman said: ‘I can’t see how you can do it so
cheaply, if you do a good job.’ I explained the way the machine operated in
vain. She wouldn’t believe it. Others said they didn’t want their rugs cleaned,
and then quizzed me about the kind of work I was doing.

“I asked each of these women to call up the people whose rugs I cleaned that
morning, but they wouldn’t bother. Going home, I listed the number of office
buildings, offices, hotels, and apartment buildings in town. I called upon the
managers of those places the following days but got only thirty dollars’ worth
of work during the balance of that week. This wasn’t bad. The second week,
however, was a disappointment and I wondered how I would ever get enough
business to pay for the machine. I began to make desperate efforts. I argued
and pleaded for orders, but it seemed that I always called just after rugs had
been cleaned.

“One day it occurred to me that if people did not need rug cleaning at the
moment I called, they might need it later, so I had some cards printed