SCORE Helping New Business Owners

If  you’re planning to form an LLC or other type of small business, you may need some help. In fact, if you’re a new entrepreneur, you definitley could use a hand. Luckily, there are a lot of government agencies, non-profits, and companies who specialize in helping perspective or existing small business owners grow their business. One of those agencies is SCORE.

SCORE is a non profit organization with more than 13,000 volunteers representing 62 different industries and 270,000 years of collective entreprenruial experience. With 364 chapters nationwide, every entrepreneur can get access to the services that SCORE offers both online and locally through their local mentoring programs, seminars, and workshops.

Mentoring

The best accomplishments are rarely done alone. Movies are made by a team of experts, world leaders make decisions based on information provided by trusted advisors, and businesses operate with sales reps, technicians, administrative assistants and other professionals. You may not have the financial means to hire a staff right now but the SCORE mentoring program can get you the assistance you need at no cost to you.

We often think that because we’re starting a business that competes with somebody else, nobody willl be willing to help us. That simply isn’t true. There are volunteers all over the country who are happy to provide assistance. Don’t know how to form an LLC? Your SCORE mentor could point you in the direction of a business registration service. Don’t know how to bid on a government contract? There’s a mentor who has done that and can show you the steps.

Online

The SCORE website is full of practical resources that can help you run your business. The templates and tools section has a host of forms, contracts, worksheets, and calculators that you can modify to fit your business. Puruse this section and you’ll probably find forms that you didn’t know you needed.

Is it Working?

In 2010, SCORE mentored companies hired 71,449 workers and helped 11,045 small businesses create more than 17,000 jobs. Those same businesses grossed $19.7 billion in revenue and had an average of $184,737 in revenue . In 2011, 91% of mentored businesses still have their doors open. Each of these statistics proves that, yes, SCORE is making a difference in the small business community.

Is your small business bringing in $184,000 in revenue? Are there areas of your business that you know you can do better but don’t know who to ask? SCORE can help. Go to score.org to find the local SCORE chapter in your area.