Page 311 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000
P. 311

W

HEN Mildred Connery graduated from business college, she intended to start
out on a secretarial career. She soon discovered it was impossible to find a
job, so she became a public stenographer. Business didn’t rush into her
office, though, and there were days when she had no work to do.

“The way to get business is to go after it,” thought Mildred. “But how am I to
go after it?” She considered various ways, and tried a few without success.
She left cards in offices. She called on business men in the building where
she rented space. But her business didn’t increase. One day a small boy
entered her office with a magazine in his hand. Holding the magazine out to
her, he said: “Ten cents.” She paid him, saying she wished she could make
sales as quickly as he did. “All you have to do is show the thing you’re
selling, and name the price,” said the boy.

“That boy didn’t know it but he gave me an idea,” declared Mildred. “I
thought if I could find some way to show the kind of work I did for people, I
could make money. Up to that time I had practically no stencil business. I
knew small business men were using form letters, and got them somewhere.
Later I recalled using a portable duplicating machine in school, and I decided
to get one, carry it from office to office, and leave a sample of the kind of
work it did in each office I visited.”

The success of this plan was immediate. Mildred did not say a word to
anyone when she entered an office. She opened the duplicator, ran off a
sample letter, handed it to the business man, and smiling, waited for him to
remark about it. This sample letter was illustrated with a tracing of a girl’s
head, and read: “This is a sample of the duplicating work I will do for you.
Note the perfect typewriter ribbon ‘match.’ You can fill in the names and
addresses on these letters on your typewriter if you wish. Glance over the
following low prices, and give me a trial order.” Detailed list of prices
followed. Her entire investment, including the portable duplicator and other
incidentals, was thirty dollars. Mildred secured eighteen small orders the first
day and her net profit was sixty dollars for the week. The demonstration
required but a few seconds, since this machine is ready to operate the
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