HOW TO START & SUCCESSFULLY OPERATE A CORRESPONDENCE CLUB

All over the country, in fact--all over the world, there are lonely men and women eagerly seeking confidential introductions to other people--for friendship, companionship, even marriage. They're in every village and hamlet, in every town and city, at every crossroads and every rural route; up in the mountains and down in the valleys, on ranches, in factories, mills, stores, offices, churches--They're everywhere!

You can help these people ease their loneliness, and make a very good income for yourself as well, with a Correspondence Club. If you enjoy people, and have an imagination for the world of business, then this is for you.

The first step is to find out what the other correspondence clubs are doing. Your purpose will be to design your own format, and look for ways to improve upon what they are doing. So, check out the tabloids on sale at your supermarket and write a letter to as many of the advertising correspondence clubs as you can afford. Simply state that you're thinking of joining a correspondence club--but you don't want to get "ripped off," so you would appreciate a sample copy of their latest club bulletin/newsletter and a listing of everything the club endeavors to do for its members. It isn't an absolute necessity--but it wouldn't hurt to include a loose stamp with your letter inquiry.

Most of the established clubs will respond quickly, because the very least it means to them is another address they can sell. Don't use business letterhead paper, or a business name. Just inquire as an ordinary interested person.

Once you have your game plan organized--what you will offer your members, the fees you'll charge, and the related services or items you want to offer as sources of added income--your next move will to begin advertising. Start small, go slowly...This is mainly to allow you to handle the ever-increasing number of members while still maintaining firm control over the time required to keep up with the business.

Your first advertisements should be in the "nickle or classifieds" newspapers in your area. An advertisements such as the following, inserted once a week for a month, shouldn't cost you more than $25 while filling your mailbox...

Young woman, just divorced, wants to meet eligible men thru correspondence. Tell me about yourself with SASE to: Box number, and Your name or nickname. (Most people just use a tag-line such as: Judy, Box 123, Anywhere (USA).

At the same time this ad is running for men to inquire about the available girls, run an ad such as the following in about five or six of the national mail order sheets...

Young business executive--Little Shy--wants to meet right women thru correspondence. Will answer all letters. Sherm, Box 123, Everywhere USA.

Certainly you should vary the ads--study the ads the other clubs are running, and adapt what and how they're doing it to your own needs.

Hopefully before you began, as a result of the "sample bulletins/newsletter" you received from all the correspondence clubs you wrote to, You've prepared your own bulletin and can send it off in reply to all of your inquires, with an invitation to pay for a membership in your club. Another important "rung up the ladder" you're going to get from these samples is a list of names and addresses of both men and women seeking correspondence. Some do include names and addresses with their bulletins, and some don't either way, they all sell names to each other so you can send a sprinkling of those names and addresses with your own, until you become well established and with a mailing list of your own.

Important to remember--Do not begin advertising until you have your first club bulletin/newsletter prepared, along with your membership application. Then, just as soon as you receive each inquiry, you can send out your answer--the faster your service the more credibility you'll impart to your prospects. Also, always watch what the older, more established correspondence clubs are doing--You'll want to duplicate their methods, but with more flair and better service for your members.

After about three months in business, you should be pretty well established and showing a good monthly profit. Then you can begin running advertising on your own in the "check-out counter" tabloids, and several of the monthly subscription magazines such as True Story, True Confessions, Modern Romances, etc.

One way of getting started with a built-in supply of names is by contacting Metrapala--Box 4091, Sunnyside Station, Long Island City, New York 11104... They have several sources of good names of people wanting introductions to members of the opposite sex, and will gladly supply you with price lists for 25 to 500 names of lonely people in every state in the union, plus most countries around the world.

Another important organization that can be of tremendous help to you is Destiny Syndicate--P.O. Box 5637, Reno, Nevada 89513...Headed by R.J. Williams who directs the office of the World Federation of Correspondence Clubs, they can set you up with a quarterly newspaper that has built-in membership forms, and advertising possibilities as well. In fact, with destiny Syndicate affiliation, you need do nothing more than a little bit of advertising, and then mail out club news bulletins every three months or whatever you enlist a new member. It would be well worth your effort to investigate.