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I can count the number of times on one hand that I’ve had my shoes shined and I’m pretty sure that every one of those times was golf shoes getting shined at a clubhouse. I’ve always been keen on cleaning my dress shoes myself, probably because I’ve never been fortunate enough to cross paths with Don Ward.
Don has been shining shoes in Manhattan for 17 years. He’s perched up in Midtown on the corner of 6th Ave and 47th Street and he makes a killing by insulting strangers. It’s a pretty effective strategy and one that keeps him busy.
Mr. Ward uses jokes all day long to insult the dirty and beat up shoes of passing strangers until he gets a customer. Doing this, he says he makes an estimated $900/day which adds up to $4,500 per week and a cool $234,000/year if he isn’t taking vacations, but still over $200K (before taxes) if he’s taking vacations.
The Post caught up with him to ask about his daily grind. Don Ward says ‘How do you catch fish? You’ve gotta use good bait” and his bait is definitely effective on that corner of Midtown where office workers are dressed to the nines every day.
He has no boss, gets to set his own hours, and gets to keep his mind active every day cracking jokes on the fly. He also gets to meet new people every day from all walks of life.
That would be a pretty badass job description anywhere but throw in the fact that he’s making $900/day in NYC and I’m a little bit shocked that the streets aren’t flooded with more shoe shiners looking to make a fortune.