How To Start & Successfully Operate A Correspondence Club

All over the country, in fact--all over the world, there arelonely men and women eagerly seeking confidential introductionsto other people--for friendship, companionship, even marriage.They're in every village and hamlet, in every town and city, atevery crossroads and every rural route; up in the mountains anddown 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 verygood income for yourself as well, with a Correspondence Club. Ifyou enjoy people, and have an imagination for the world ofbusiness, then this is for you.
The first step is to find out what the other correspondence clubsare doing. Your purpose will be to design your own format, andlook for ways to improve upon what they are doing. So, check outthe tabloids on sale at your supermarket and write a letter to asmany of the advertising correspondence clubs as you can afford.Simply state that you're thinking of joining a correspondenceclub--but you don't want to get "ripped off," so you wouldappreciate a sample copy of their latest club bulletin/newsletterand a listing of everything the club endeavors to do for itsmembers. It isn't an absolute necessity--but it wouldn't hurt toinclude a loose stamp with your letter inquiry.
Most of the established clubs will respond quickly, because thevery least it means to them is another address they can sell.Don't use business letterhead paper, or a business name. Justinquire as an ordinary interested person.
Once you have your game plan organized--what you will offer yourmembers, the fees you'll charge, and the related services oritems you want to offer as sources of added income--your nextmove will to begin advertising. Start small, go slowly...This ismainly to allow you to handle the ever-increasing number ofmembers while still maintaining firm control over the timerequired to keep up with the business.
Your first advertisements should be in the "nickle orclassifieds" newspapers in your area. An advertisements such asthe following, inserted once a week for a month, shouldn't costyou more than $25 while filling your mailbox...
Young woman, just divorced, wants to meet eligible men thrucorrespondence. Tell me about yourself with SASE to: Box number,and Your name or nickname. (Most people just use a tag-line suchas: Judy, Box 123, Anywhere (USA).
At the same time this ad is running for men to inquire about theavailable girls, run an ad such as the following in about five orsix of the national mail order sheets...
Young business executive--Little Shy--wants to meet right womenthru correspondence. Will answer all letters. Sherm, Box 123,Everywhere USA.
Certainly you should vary the ads--study the ads the other clubsare running, and adapt what and how they're doing it to your ownneeds.
Hopefully before you began, as a result of the "samplebulletins/newsletter" you received from all the correspondenceclubs you wrote to, You've prepared your own bulletin and cansend it off in reply to all of your inquires, with an invitationto pay for a membership in your club. Another important "rung upthe ladder" you're going to get from these samples is a list ofnames and addresses of both men and women seeking correspondence.Some do include names and addresses with their bulletins, andsome don't either way, they all sell names to each other so youcan send a sprinkling of those names and addresses with your own,until you become well established and with a mailing list of yourown.
Important to remember--Do not begin advertising until you haveyour first club bulletin/newsletter prepared, along with yourmembership application. Then, just as soon as you receive eachinquiry, you can send out your answer--the faster your servicethe more credibility you'll impart to your prospects. Also,always watch what the older, more established correspondenceclubs are doing--You'll want to duplicate their methods, but withmore flair and better service for your members.
After about three months in business, you should be pretty wellestablished and showing a good monthly profit. Then you can beginrunning advertising on your own in the "check-out counter"tabloids, and several of the monthly subscription magazines suchas True Story, True Confessions, Modern Romances, etc.
One way of getting started with a built-in supply of names is bycontacting Metrapala--Box 4091, Sunnyside Station, Long IslandCity, New York 11104... They have several sources of good namesof people wanting introductions to members of the opposite sex,and will gladly supply you with price lists for 25 to 500 namesof lonely people in every state in the union, plus most countriesaround the world.
Another important organization that can be of tremendous help toyou is Destiny Syndicate--P.O. Box 5637, Reno, Nevada89513...Headed by R.J. Williams who directs the office of theWorld Federation of Correspondence Clubs, they can set you upwith a quarterly newspaper that has built-in membership forms,and advertising possibilities as well. In fact, with destinySyndicate affiliation, you need do nothing more than a little bitof advertising, and then mail out club news bulletins every threemonths or whatever you enlist a new member. It would be wellworth your effort to investigate.