SCORE

Free Advice
It pays to seek help before setting up a business— especially when it doesn’t cost a thing.

words by > Jackie Larson

SCORE the federally funded arm of the US Small Business Administration, bills itself as "Counselor to America`s entrepreneurs (and counting), the non-profit organization is America`s top source of the free and confidential business adivice for entrepreneurs and seasoned businesses alike.

Among SCORE’s more famous clients, Jelly Belly Candy sought adivce in their search for sweet success. Thanks to a corps of volunteers, most of them retirees woth years of experience at or near the top of the business food chain, SCORE clients get help on everything from hatching a business plan online to finding capital for their businesses, all over coffee at a regional office.

Mente Connery`s company was born when, as the mother of a very young child, she made futile efforts to dodge her exuberant baby’s flailing arms during feeding time. What was needed, she decided, was a portable tray that could be clipped out of reach of the baby to hold the food and other accessories.

Although only one in 10 new products "make it", the Florida entrepreneur was determined that her Clip-Away Feeding Tray would be one of them. She focused on a simple product to revolutionary that it changed the way high chairs were designed worldwide.

Along the way, she enlisted the help of a good patent attorney to protect her design, who in turn directed her to a SCORE counselor. Dr. Jack Francis worked with her on the ins and outs of marketing, and she took the lessons to heart. “I found Dr. Francis to be extremely knowledgeable and approachable. He had the ability to transfer his vast experience and knowledge into advice that was specific to my company’s niche marketing objectives,” she says.

Connery worked with another SCORE counselor, Linda Shaheen, on promotional proposals, pricing and profit margins. “I found her guidance, knowledge and advice to be extremely helpful in exploring the viability of promotional alliances,” Connery says, noting that business is looking good as she expands into other lines. “We’re diversifying a bit for staying power. You have to reinvent yourself.”

Bob Shepherd is the director of the Orlando chapter of SCORE. Prior to retiring, he was an engineer and an executive in companies that had big contracts with government agencies. “I’ve been able to gain so much in my lifetime and in such a broad vein, it was time to give back, and SCORE was that vehicle,” he recalls. “I saw there was a great opportunity to give back.”

While over 50 percent of start-up businesses fail within five years, in the clients Shepherd counsels, he sees not just the problems of starting and building a business, but the potential. “If they plan properly, their chances of success are significantly greater.

If I were a young entrepreneur and starting out, I’d run, not walk, to a SCORE chapter. All the counseling is free, it’s professional, it’s well organized,” he says. “the bottom line is, don’t spend your money. Waste your pencil and paper on planning before you put the money in. Plan, plan, plan—the chances of success are significantly better.”

SCORE counselors have kept up with technological advances that can give entrepreneurs the edge, says Martin Lehmann, a SCORE counselor and marketing director at a New York City chapter—and former entrepreneur who retired from his own chain of women’s apparel stores. thanks to email, he can help clients nationwide, or in person. Either way, he stays away from telling the war stories of business and pays close attention to each client’s needs. “the people who come in to see me don’t want to know how wonderful I think I am—so I listen,” Lehmann says. “We help people go to banks and borrow money. My reward is that I helped get them started.”

Sometimes, an entrepreneur’s situation calls for more experience before starting up a business, he says. “To have a fire in the belly is fine. But think about what you’re trying to do. Sometimes we help them with these three words: Get A Job. Wash someone else’s dishes,” he says, noting that as he worked his way up from the mailroom in the world of women’s retail, he never forgot his own father’s advice. “He said, ‘Cut someone else’s cloth first,’” Lehmann remembers.

For additional information, go to www.score.org.