He got a job as a meat deliverer, but was unimpressed with the profession, so he quit it and invested $500 in a fish market on Hennepin Avenue.[3] The fish market prospered so much that Jones was able to buy a front-page advertisement in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. It displayed him as a bird with oysters for wings. The advertisement earned him the nickname "The Oyster King" which stuck for the rest of his life.[3] Owning the fish market also earned him the nickname "Fish".[2]