This paper is a result of a Leonardo da Vinci project “SELF-EMPLOYMENT - Guidance and Counseling for Self-Employment” whose aim was to identify the location and the value of guidance and counseling services aimed at people considering self-employment in some European countries: Austria, Poland, Romania and Finland. In the whole project self-employment was defined as a one-person company. The project identified the location and the value of various support services for self-employed in Europe, including a study of entrepreneurship level in the four countries and a survey of existing services which support establishment or development of one-person enterprises.A SWOT analysis in the field of self-employment is presented in the first part of the paper and in the second part the curricula for self-employment training courses and the effectiveness of the training are taken into account for all the related countries.