* Have you taken into account fact that reader may be receiving many competing offers and enumerated principal advantages of your product or service? When a business-opportunity dealer wrote, "I learned pitfalls of mail order hard way. I bought many, many worthless programs," I urged him to reveal dollar amount he'd wasted before finding program that enabled him to turn a profit for first time, and to elaborate on what made those programs worthless. Use this formula if you have difficulty putting your advantages into words: "Unlike other XXXs, we..." For instance, "Unlike larger law firms, at BB&G you deal consistently with partners, knowledgeable experts who always return phone calls within 48 hours."

* Have you addressed and disarmed most common fear, misgiving or concern prospects might have about buying from you? There's always a natural uncertainty about buying from a stranger. Guarantees help, as do testimonials from satisfied customers and lists of large organizations that you've served. These don't always have to appear in letter itself, as in: "If this sounds too good to be true, I'll happily supply you with names and telephone numbers of dealers in your state who have secured their future with our plan."

* Do you use a "P.S." to provide a compelling reason for reader to act now? Studies show that a postscript gets read more often than any other portion of a letter. Word your "P.S." so that it makes sense if it's read first, and include an incentive for acting fast, as in, "Remember, we have only thirty-one of these slightly damaged, fully functional metronomes left at 80 percent off, so place your order today!"

For additional do's and don'ts, collect and study especially impressive or awful letters that come in your mail. My "sample sales letter" file measures almost three inches thick!

> All Three Groups Benefit From Training

Group 1 Individuals who have begun to think that self-employment might be an attractive career move will benefit greatly by seeing all that goes into conceptualizing, researching and planning a new business. They will receive an advance view of psychological, physical and financial demands of being on your own.

If after class they decide that self-employment is not for them, they will have saved a tremendous amount of money.

Group 2 For those people with a specific idea and a pretty clear sense of how self-employment will change their lives, an entrepreneurial training program will provide skills necessary to create an outstanding individual written plan of action, effective for internal control or for non-traditional borrowing, such as from family members.

In my own case I prepared a 35-page business plan before launching my training company. I gave one of copies to my uncle who didn't say anything about it for several months. Finally I reached a point where I needed more cash than I had on hand and asked for his help. He responded positively, he said, because he saw that I had a plan and that I had successfully brought it to life.

Group 3 Entrepreneurs who have done much of written business planning already may ask -- what good is entrepreneurial training for me?

- It allows you to check that you have performed all key organizational tasks and that you haven't forgotten to set up any key operating systems.

- It permits you to recheck assumptions behind your marketing and financial plans and projections to see if they are realistic.

- You have advantage of an instructor to serve as counselor and critic of your plans.

- You may learn new techniques from instructor or your classmates that can make a very positive difference in how you launch your business.