For business consulting, SCORE may be your winning ticket

By Scott E. Schaefer

You’ve taken the plunge, gone out on your own. Your small business is staying afloat, but you need sound advice on a variety of matters to ensure your business survives. Whom can you call on for assistance and guidance to help you get to the next level? 

The Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) is a good choice. 

For 35 years SCORE has been providing entrepreneurs with the know-how to start, build and maintain their businesses. Working and retired executives and business owners donate their time and knowledge acting as mentors to aspiring or new business owners, free of charge. 

SCORE can help in a number of ways. Its advisers can help you create a business plan that will include realistic sales projections. In addition SCORE offers free financial management workbooks to help you learn how to build relations with banks, establish a line of credit or more confidently apply for a loan.

“At the local level, we set up appointments to meet business owners to help them solve their problems,” says Milt Stitzel, counselor for the New Haven chapter. 

“Established businesses can also come to us for help,” he says. “They usually have specific questions and concerns, and we match them up with a counselor who has expertise in that area,” says Stitzel.

SCORE volunteers are trained in counseling and mentoring, and can bring an abundance of real-world experience to your business. You can learn from them. Counselors can provide insight into how to start a business, operate a business, buy a business or franchise, and even sell a business. 

To ensure that your business’s interests are kept confidential, all SCORE business advisers operate under the association’s code of ethics, which includes an annual reaffirmation of the code. 

In addition to providing counseling and mentoring, local SCORE offices frequently offer no-cost or low-cost workshops and seminars. Topics often address a specific need of the business community. Sponsored workshops and seminars are often free to business owners. For others, the fees generally range from $20 to $75. 

Local SCORE offices are found in Danbury, Greater Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, Norwalk and Old Saybrook. 

SCORE also provides e-mail counseling through its Web site. You can ask a question by sending it to one of the counselors who work in the CyberChapter. There you’ll find a list of counselors and their areas of specialization. 

For more information, click on the SCORE Web site at www.score.org or call 1-800-634-0245. 

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