SCORE has an army of 10,000 volunteer mentors, many of them retired entrepreneurs and business executives, who generously donate their time and expertise to help small businesses succeed. SCORE’s magnetic CEO, Bridget Weston, explains how today’s small business owners can benefit from SCORE’s unique mentorship program.
SCORE’s mission is to foster a vibrant small business community through mentoring and education. Our volunteers have the, been there done that experience that can help business owners or aspiring business owners avoid some of the common mistakes or pitfalls as they seek to start or grow their business. And because we are a resource partner of the SBA our mentoring services are always free.
One of the unique aspects of SCORE is that we are a truly nationwide network. Meaning, you can work with mentors in your community or across the country. It is more about which mentor has the experience and resources that meet your needs.
We receive hundreds of mentor applications every month and we recruit everyone because we value a diverse volunteer base to mirror the local communities we serve. That being said, once you are a volunteer there is a fairly rigorous and standardize process we adhere to so our clients are receiving the quality mentorship they deserve. We also require every volunteer to sign a code of ethics each year and have ongoing training requirements.
At SCORE we define our success via our client’s success. When we talked with a small business owner we ask them what their goals are, why they started the business, and what they hope to achieve. Last year alone SCORE mentors help to start approximately 30 thousand new businesses and helped create nearly 100 thousand jobs.
If you have a business idea or own a small business already we would love to partner with you. We try to make it very simple to request a mentor, if you go to score.org you can submit a request for a mentor. We can either pair you with a mentor or you can search our mentor profiles to find a mentor that meets your needs.
While there is a lot of fear and uncertainty out there today, new business opportunities are emerging. There is a lot more talent in the market today, unfortunately, due to COVID impacting their previous job. Which allows you to recruit top talent to join your team. There are numerous small business start-up loans available today. Also, there are new needs that consumers have today given what has happened.
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