How to Make Money

In Short

Published in 1922, John V. Dunlap’s How to Make Money is a practical career guide and sales pitch aimed primarily at young working-class women seeking financial independence. The book outlines a range of home-based business ideas—from running a neighborhood grocery pantry to editing shopping columns—before pivoting into a full pitch for direct-sales entrepreneurship and canvassing. Combining operational step-by-step instructions with sharp psychological appeals, it reflects early twentieth-century American anxieties about wage labor, social class, and gendered career mobility. It survives today as a vivid artifact of historical hustle culture and period salesmanship.

The Story

The book opens with a collection of accessible, low-capital enterprise ideas designed for individuals looking to generate income from home or within their local communities. Dunlap provides explicit operational steps for each project. He details how to set up a "Neighborhood Pantry" grocery store in a home closet with twenty-five dollars of wholesale inventory, complete with marketing fliers and free introductory gifts. He explains how to craft neckties out of silk yards, buy newspaper advertising space to resell as a "Bargain Betty Ross" shopping column, offer evening childcare for neighborhood families, start a mailing house service addressing envelopes by hand, or run a "Kindergarten of Culture" teaching table manners.

As the text progresses, Dunlap transitions from these individual crafts and service businesses to a broader argument about the nature of personal success. He directly addresses various types of readers, identifying their specific frustrations: office typists trapped in repetitive routines, shop girls working long hours for low wages, proud women holding onto aristocratic family histories without wealth, and young wives whose husbands have stalled in low-paying careers. Dunlap argues that wage labor offers no true long-term security, warning that remaining in routine employment leads inevitably to economic hardship and social disappointment.

The central argument of the book posits that real financial growth requires mastering salesmanship. Dunlap introduces a structured, six-volume book set called the "Woman's Library," published by Social Culture Publications, which includes works on etiquette, meal serving, home decoration, and dress design. He provides detailed scripts demonstrating how a reader can approach local business owners—such as furniture store proprietors—to pitch cooperative promotions, using the book set as a premium offer to clear out dead stock.

In its final chapters, the book outlines a scalable business model centered on direct canvassing and sales management. Readers are instructed on how to place newspaper advertisements, recruit and interview sales agents, and manage door-to-door sales crews traveling from city to city. Dunlap lays out exact revenue calculations based on bulk book sales and mail-order folder distributions, presenting a complete operational framework for running an independent agency. The narrative concludes with a direct call to action: the reader must pay thirty dollars upfront to receive twenty book sets and promotional materials, stepping out of traditional wage labor to build an independent mail-order or sales enterprise.

How It Unfolds

The small business catalog Dunlap opens with detailed instructions for launching low-cost local enterprises, such as selling wholesale groceries from a home closet, making neckties, or reselling newspaper ad space under a shopping columnist persona.

The call to working women The author directly addresses office clerks, department store clerks, impoverished aristocrats, and disappointed wives, critiquing the monotony of wage work and warning against reliance on routine employment.

The salesmanship pivot Establishing that all professions ultimately rely on selling, Dunlap outlines the core principles of his scientific salesmanship course, emphasizing self-confidence, observation, and structured sales presentations.

The merchant pitch Through a written script, the text demonstrates how an agent can approach local store owners to sell the "Woman's Library" series as promotional gifts alongside slow-moving retail inventory.

The agency model The guide explains how to scale operations by placing employment ads, interviewing candidates, training sales crews, and running door-to-door canvassing campaigns across multiple cities.

The commercial contract The book concludes with a concrete order form requiring a thirty-dollar payment for twenty initial book sets, instructing the reader to borrow capital if necessary to launch their sales career.

The People

The Working Girl Represented primarily as the office clerk or retail worker, she endures long hours, monotonous routines, and meager wages. She desires financial independence, elegant clothes, and social status, but is constrained by low-paying job markets and fear of taking risks.

The Discouraged Husband A young married man who was once considered promising but has stalled in a low-paying position. Lacking ambition and faith in himself, his financial stagnancy forces his wife to seek her own income to improve their household's circumstances.

The Local Merchant Exemplified by the store owner "Mr. Brown," this figure holds unsalable "dead stock" inventory in his shop. He wants to recover his initial costs without losing money, making him receptive to clever promotional partnerships.

The Margaret Figure The successful peer who secures a supervisory role or enters progressive social circles. She serves as the author's primary example of how career advancement commands respect, influence, and social preference among friends.

In Its Own Voice

"The first step is to install shelves in a closet or pantry, covering them with plain white paper."

Dunlap opens his guide with immediate, actionable instructions for transforming household space into a $25 retail operation.

"Of all the girls you know, how many of them doing your kind of work ever advanced beyond a living wage?"

The author challenges the office worker to evaluate her actual prospects for promotion within standard corporate hierarchies.

"There are no mysterious tricks in salesmanship. Just put yourself in the other fellow's shoes and say the thing that would sound reasonable and interesting to you."

Dunlap demystifies the sales process for beginners, framing it as a straightforward application of common sense.

What It's Really About

How to Make Money addresses the economic vulnerabilities faced by early twentieth-century women transitioning into the formal workforce. Beneath its collection of practical business plans lies an critique of wage labor, arguing that routine office and retail jobs offer little upward mobility. Dunlap framed entrepreneurship and direct sales as the only viable routes to personal autonomy, social prestige, and financial security. The book explores the psychological barriers to success—specifically fear, self-doubt, and social conformity—asserting that self-belief and active salesmanship are essential for overcoming economic limitation.

Why Read It Today

This text will appeal to readers interested in economic history, early advertising techniques, and the history of modern hustle culture. Dunlap writes with direct, confident clarity, using plain language and active dialogue to break down sales concepts into simple steps. Reading the book feels like witnessing an early twentieth-century pitch meeting, offering an unvarnished look at historical sales tactics and social dynamics.

The book does present specific period difficulties. Its structural transition from a broad catalog of varied occupations to a direct sales pitch for a specific multi-volume book set creates a noticeable shift in focus. Modern readers will also encounter early 1920s social assumptions, particularly regarding traditional gender roles, class anxieties, and rigid views on social mobility. Nevertheless, the explicit financial breakdowns, exact scripts, and sharp psychological observations provide a fascinating window into the commercial literature of its era.