SCORE levels playing field for new entrepreneurs

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When it comes to owning a business, experience counts. Via the Springfield chapter of the Service Corps of Retired Executives, local retired business professionals volunteer their time and their knowledge, gleaned from years of experience to new and existing business owners, as well as those thinking of starting their own ventures.|ret||ret||tab|

SCORE, sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration, shares office space with the Springfield branch of the SBA, which recently moved to 830 E. Primrose, Ste. 101.|ret||ret||tab|

Ned Meyer is a counselor at the SCORE office. Before he retired, Meyer was a senior executive for a company that produced nuclear weapons.|ret||ret||tab|

Meyer said it's important for people who want to start a business to have a realistic understanding of their financial situations.|ret||ret||tab|

"They need to have a sizable fraction, from a fifth to a third, of the necessary money themselves," he said. "The bank isn't going to lend them all the money they need. They have to be able to show the bank that they're personally and financially invested in this new venture."|ret||ret||tab|

He said they also need to understand that what SCORE offers is free, practical business advice, and not funding for new businesses. He added that SCORE deals with many people who mistakenly think the organization provides grants for new businesses.|ret||ret||tab|

Meyer said SCORE counselors also assist with business plans. He said it's important for someone starting a new business to have a realistic business plan.|ret||ret||tab|

"We can show them how to write one, but don't write it for them," Meyer said."We have literature that takes people through writing a plan."|ret||ret||tab|

Meyer said the SCORE office hasn't seen a decrease in the number of new businesses in Springfield as a result of the recent downturn in the economy, "be-cause we haven't been hit, economically, like other parts of the country," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

Last year, the 36 volunteers in the Springfield SCORE chapter counseled 491 individuals in person, and an additional 246 people via e-mail. The organization has counselors onsite 9 a.m.-2 p.m. every Thursday at the Library Cen-ter, 4653 S. Campbell, offering free business advice to small-business owners as well as individuals who are considering starting or expanding a venture of their own. |ret||ret||tab|

Four times a year, SCORE sponsors pre-business workshops, which usually are held at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, 202 S. John Q. Hammons Pkwy. While SCORE offers its counseling services free, Meyer said there is a small fee for the pre-business workshops. The organization's services aren't open only to new businesses, Meyer noted.|ret||ret||tab|

SCORE volunteers go into established businesses when they are in trouble losing money or having too much inventory, for example.|ret||ret||tab|

"We go into those businesses three or four times a year and analyze their operations," Meyer said. "We've worked with several companies, off and on, for several years."|ret||ret||tab|

According to literature provided by the SCORE office, there are several Web sites that can be helpful to the business owner, including bigstep.com and businessplans.org. The Web site for the na-tional SCORE organization, which has its headquarters in Washington, D.C., is www.score.org.|ret||ret||tab|

The Springfield SCORE office is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until noon. Counselors are seen by appointment only; for more information, contact SCORE at the local SBA office.[[In-content Ad]]