Page 318 - One Thousand Ways to Make $1000

From a small start, this business has grown to the point where a number of
helpers are needed during the busy season. While “shrimping” hasn’t made
Sadie Miller wealthy by any means, she has made several times a thousand
dollars at it.

SpecializinginSocialPrinting

M

ANY a successful publisher or printer today started his career with an old
Kelsey printing press in his basement. There is an old saying that once you
get printers’ ink in your system you can never get it out. Frank Doubleday,
Don Sietz, Tim Thrift, Joe Mitchell, and Rudyard Kipling are just a few of
the many who began their careers putting in their spare time “kicking” a
printing press. Today, with a used printing press, there is still an opportunity,
not only to make money, but to get a start toward a fascinating career in one
of the three allied fields: publishing, advertising, or writing.

Several years ago a young chap, who was a clerk in the offices of a large
Chicago packing plant, started an agency for the sale of social stationery. He
secured samples and a price list from a local engraver. It happened to be near
graduation time so he called at the schools near by and secured orders from
the students for their first engraved cards which they needed to enclose with
their graduation invitations. When the orders were ready to pack, he placed a
sticker in the bottom of each box giving the registration number for the
copper plate from which the cards were made, his name and address, and a
simple form for reordering in quantities when the present supply of cards was
entirely used.

His success with these cards encouraged him to look around for further
business. By watching the neighborhood newspaper, he learned of many
engagements and coming marriages. He noted the addresses, immediately
called on the mothers of the brides-to-be and solicited orders for wedding
announcements and calling cards. Between working out ideas of his own and
making use of the sales suggestions the engraver gave him, he managed to
build up a rather nice little business. During this time he continued with his