SCORE is a Resource for Existing Businesses!

A popular misconception is that SCORE Lancaster only focuses its counseling and education services on people considering start-ups, not on existing businesses.

In fact, almost half of SCORE’s clients are already in business. These businesses seek SCORE's help resolving problems, capitalizing on opportunities and improving management skills as their businesses grow larger and more complex.

SCORE assists existing businesses in several ways:

· Business Roundtables
· Advisory Boards
· Team Counseling
· One-on-One Counseling
· Mentoring
· Other Resources

Business Roundtables bring businesses with common interests and challenges together. SCORE counselors facilitate Roundtable discussions and offer insights as well as suggestions. Clients can share best practices and exchange ideas. It’s focused networking.

Advisory Boards function like an unofficial Board of Directors. A SCORE client can invite a team of five SCORE counselors to review their business plans and financial results. The team then offers its evaluation and suggestions. Clients create action plans, and counselors follow-up to review results and offer additional guidance. Client/SCORE sub-teams may form to focus on specific functions, such as marketing or customer satisfaction.

It’s a challenge for small businesses to find and afford the kind of consulting that SCORE provides and it’s not unusual for small businesses to ‘go it alone’ and simply do the best they can. But now they can rely on SCORE … and SCORE consulting is free!

SCORE Lancaster’s 50 members have a wide range of experience and expertise, including finance, marketing, sales, manufacturing and business management. Counselors have both large and small business experience … and many are still active in business.

Learn more about SCORE services for existing businesses at www.scorelancaster.org or at 717-397-3092, or visit us at Suite 231 at Liberty Place, Lancaster. For best results, request a counselor who will help focus SCORE resources on your specific business needs.

U.S. House of Representatives Recognizes SCORE Lancaster's Outgoing Chair

On December 16, 2008, Andrew Zourides, the outgoing chairman of SCORE Lancaster, received a distinguished service citation from the United States House of Representatives presented by Congressman Joe Pitts (PA-16).

Under Zourides’ leadership SCORE Lancaster earned “Best in Pennsylvania” recognition for superior performance in business counseling services and business education workshops. He led initiatives which helped the chapter achieve client satisfaction ratings among the top in the country and worked tirelessly to create local, state and national awareness of the value that SCORE creates for the small business community.

Zourides will continue to serve SCORE and the Lancaster community as a member of the chapter's Executive Committee focusing on advocacy. In addition, he will work to assist businesses qualify for the micro-loans in the program he helped create with the City of Lancaster … to improve the success rate of small business formation and growth in the City.


[Photo caption] U.S. Congressman Joe Pitts [left] acknowledges Andy Zourides, outgoing chairman of SCORE Lancaster.

Find New Customers!

Are you interested in finding new customers?

Businesses succeed by finding and attracting new customers. Almost anytime, but certainly in this economy, new customers are vitally important to success.

SCORE Lancaster, in association with the Duke Street Business Center at Lancaster Public Library, can help you find new customers now – for free!

The librarians at the Business Center can assist you when you begin your search. Please call for an appointment at 239-2131 or email the Business Center at dsbc@lancaster.lib.pa.us.

When you describe your specific, target customers – by what they buy, by size, by location … by any number of elements – the Business Center has several databases and print resources that can be searched to find who in Lancaster County may be good prospects for your business. Most of these databases are available remotely and can be searched from your home or office.

For example, recently a small cleaning service asked SCORE for a search of small businesses – nine or fewer employees – in two specific zip codes. Thanks to the Business Center, the client got a list of more than 400 prospects, including business names, names of contacts, phone numbers, numbers of employees, square footage of the spaces, credit ratings and website! Now the cleaning service has begun the follow-up process – making the contacts, evaluating opportunities, offering their services … and gaining new customers!

SCORE recommends taking advantage of the Business Center resources as part of a broader marketing plan, including attention to creating, communicating and delivering value/benefits to the target customer. Identifying targets is one thing; converting targets into buyers is another.

A SCORE counselor can help you think through your marketing plan and access a number of helpful resources, including the Business Center. To learn more, contact us on the web at www.scorelancaster.org, or via the phone at 717-397-3092, or visits us at Suite 231, Liberty Place, Lancaster, weekdays between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

SCORE Lancaster Helps Women Entrepreneurs

More and more women are starting businesses, and many are turning to SCORE for assistance. SCORE counselors can help with business and marketing planning, financial analysis, funding strategies and business education. In 2008 SCORE Lancaster assisted more than 800 clients … about 60% women. Here are three recent examples – Cassie Kreider, Jessica Pavelko and Michelle Cruz – who relied on SCORE for start-up assistance:

Cassie Kreider, founder and owner of Oscar's Pet Resort on Eden Road, Lancaster, founded a pet resort on a 250-year old farm east of Lancaster. She offers overnight dog-and-cat boarding, dog day care, grooming and training services. Since opening with two full-time employees in 2006, the business employs four people on a full-time basis, plus six part time employees.

"Never having been in business before, I needed someone to lay out a plan forme" said Kreider of her reasons for contacting SCORE. Her counselors worked one-on-one with her to create and refine an action plan, and her counselors continue to be available to her for mentoring."

Jessica Pavelko started a business to assist senior citizens to find quality resources to meet their specific needs. Her SCORE counselors not only helped her develop a start-up plan, but also helped her maintain a balance between the time to be physically present at her business and the education time she needed to earn a Senior Advisor Certificate.

"SCORE provided someone who I can go to when I'm excited or discouraged," Pavelko said. She has found SCORE's counselors to be motivating when she thinks she has a great new idea … and when things don't seem to be going well. "They can get me on track and provide support from a business perspective, “ she said.

Michelle Cruz went to SCORE in 2005 with an idea to produce a CD of songs that relate to daily child care tasks, such as diaper changing, feeding, and putting infants and toddlers to bed for naps, for mothers of children under age 3 . She wrote 16 songs on "Baby Clean Fun" with her husband, James Eberly, and business partner, Beth Cardwell.
"I approached SCORE because we thought we had a good idea, and they agreed," Cruz recalled."They gave us direction by telling us what we needed to do to start a business"
Since an appearance on a cable program about innovative new products, the CD is marketed nationally through several web sites. “Without the help of SCORE counselors,” Cruz said, "I don't know if it ever would have happened at all."

For help starting or growing a small business in Lancaster County, contact SCORE at
www.scorelancaster.org or call the SCORE Office at 717-397-3092 or visit us at Liberty Place, 313 West Liberty St., Suite 231, in Lancaster. Weekdays between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

SCORE Lancaster Needs New Members

Are you interested in helping small businesses start and grow in Lancaster County?

Well, SCORE Lancaster, counselors to small businesses, needs your help.

With business formations increasing, even in the face of the credit crunch, SCORE counseled more than 900 people in 2008 ... including many women and minorities.

We have about 25 counselors available for consultation at any point in time but we would like to have more join us. SCORE needs new members to not only consult, but also to teach, to fund raise and to do outreach and advocacy. New members bring energy, experience and diversity to the team!

New SCORE volunteers participate in an orientation; training and mentoring process; then join experienced counselors for several co-counseling sessions before soloing. And when a counselor needs expertise other than his or her own, another counselor with that expertise (for example ‘legal’ or ‘finance’) steps in to assist the client.

Counseling and mentoring are free from SCORE, and include one-on-one counseling, business roundtables and tailored Advisory Boards.

SCORE also offers a series of workshops to help clients prepare to start or grow small businesses. Topics include business planning, marketing planning, financial planning, and funding a small business. SCORE counselors lead the workshops. Fees range from $20-25 per session.

About 30% of SCORE counselors are active in business – the rest are retired. Many counselors have launched and are managing small businesses; others have experience in large businesses.

Serving as a SCORE counselor is about giving back to the business community – sharing experiences and expertise to help others succeed – and by doing so, helping the community prosper.

Small business formation and growth drive job creation. You could be a part of it.

Learn more about SCORE Lancaster at www.scorelancaster.org or call us at 717-397- 3092. Visit us at Liberty Place, Suite 231, weekdays between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.

SCORE Lancaster Micro-loan Program

SCORE has a program to help small businesses in the city of Lancaster.

If you are looking for money to help grow or start a business in the City of Lancaster, PA, SCORE may be able to help improve your chances for success. SCORE counselors can prepare you to compete strongly for micro-loans funded by the City by helping you with your business plan.

Here’s how it works: the City wants to invest in business formation and growth by providing ‘seed money’ to get things started. Microloans from $1,000 to $10,000 are available now.

SCORE and the City have formed an alliance that is designed to prepare owners of small businesses to plan effectively and to win these loans from the City.

Participants work with SCORE counselors, complete business workshops and develop business plans. A SCORE Review Board will evaluate and help guide business plans aimed at micro-loan application. When preparation and qualifications are complete, SCORE arranges for loan application presentations to the City. SCORE will also work with the client for up to two years after a successful application.

Counseling and mentoring are free from SCORE members -- experienced business men and women and trained counselors. Participants pay only workshop fees – no more than $100 in all.

SCORE can’t guarantee you a City loan, but participation in the SCORE program sure will improve your chances. And you may find that – even without a City loan – your business plan can succeed.

For more detail about the City micro-loan program, go to http://www.scorelancaster.org/ and click on the micro-loan link … or call SCORE at 717-397-3092.

image created using www.wordle.net

Business Plan Series of Workshops

For 2009, SCORE Lancaster is pleased to announce its business planning series of workshops.

For nearly a decade SCORE Lancaster has been building a reputation in Central PA for offering quality business workshops. In 2008 more than 500 people attended our workshops.

SCORE workshops are inexpensive, yet provide high quality content. The whole series of four costs just $60 if you register at www.scorelancaster.org. You can also attend individual sessions for just $20 per session.

2009 Business Plan Series of Four Workshops

Who should attend?

This four part workshop series is for people who are considering starting a new business or existing business owners who want to improve their planning, marketing and gain comprehensive understanding of financial forecasting, control and reporting. The series is also helpful for people seeking financing to start or buy a business as well as existing small business owners who seek financing to expand their business.

“BP-1” Creating a Business Plan

The first workshop focuses on how to develop a good business plan to guide your business startup and to help access funding. Existing small business owners will also benefit by learning proven concepts and tools to improve their planning and business discipline. “BP-1” brings all the basic business processes together to show how to define your business, its goals and the tactics to achieve the goals.

What you will learn:

The essential elements of a good business plan
Why a good business plan is a critical success factor in your business
How to use an on line business planning software program
How to structure your business
How to register your business
How to gather critical information on customers and competitors
Where to find sample business plans

Dates offered:

January 28, 2009
April 1
May 27
July 22
September 23
November 18, 2009

“BP-2” Marketing You, Your Product, Service and Company

This second workshop covers marketing basics -- customer identification, product-service positioning, competitive differentiation, and sources of market information. You will receive excellent handouts and starter software to help guide you through creating your own marketing plan.

What you will learn:

How to define your product or service … and the benefits you provide
How to define and target your customers … and the benefits you provide
How to differentiate you product or service
How to promote your product or service
How to place you product in the market (storefront, Web, mail order, etc.)

Dates offered:

February 4, 2009
April 8
June 3
July 29
September 30
November 25,2009

“BP-3” Creating Financial Forecasts and Reports

This third course uses interactive exercises to help you better understand financial concepts. You will learn how to use a financial model to forecast sales revenue and build pro-forma financial forecasts. You will also learn the basic elements and interrelationships of a Profit and Loss Statement, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow statement. Learn how to create a “Breakeven Analysis.”

You will learn how to:

Forecast your revenue and expenses
Create a Cash Flow
Statement
Create a Balance Sheet
Create a Profit and Loss Statement
Create a Breakeven Analysis
Benchmark your company against industry norms
Use an on line financial spreadsheet

Dates offered:

February 11, 2009
April 15
June 10
August 5
October 7
December 2, 2009

“BP-4” Funding Your Business

This final workshop of the series focuses on how to finance a small business. Learn about funding sources and the important criteria in funding approval. A bank loan officer will give an inside view of how a banker assesses the merits of business plans and loan applications. Learn credit requirements and sources of funding.

What you will learn:

Financial Statement Analysis
Basics of accounting and
record keeping systems
The “5 C’s of Credit”
Banking relations
Sources of Capital
How to relate to your banker (a discussion with a banker)

Dates offered:

February 18, 2009
April 22
June 17
August 12
October 14
December 9, 2009

For more information visit http://www.scorelancaster.org/ or call us at (717) 397-3092

2009 Workshops 2

A stand-alone workshop offering for those in the early stages of thinking about starting their own business is called:

"Fundamentals of Small Business"

This workshop focuses on basic processes critical to starting and managing a business. For a start-up business, reviewing these processes is a reality check – a no-nonsense look at the requirements and challenges of starting a business. “Small Business Fundamentals” is a valuable learning experience for new business entrepreneurs.

Who should attend?

People considering starting or buying a business. The workshop could also be of interest to small business owners who want to learn how to evaluate business ideas.

What you will learn:

Ten essential factors that determine the success of business ideas

Starting your business (naming and registering your business)

Organizational options (sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, S Corp, etc.)

Marketing your product or service, including positioning your product or service, defining your target customer’s wants and needs, and evaluating your competition

The fundamentals of a business plan

Interpreting Cash Flow, Balance Sheet and Profit and Loss statements

Funding alternatives

What you need to know to start a business, and where to find answers

Dates offered:

January 21, 2009
February 28
March 25
May 2
May 20
July 15
August 22
September 16
October 24
November 11
December 12,2009

2009 Workshops 1

We have some new information about the 2009 SCORE Lancaster Business Planning Workshops.

The offerings are for people exploring the idea of starting a business.

Our basic entry level workshop helps you to assess your readiness to become an entrepreneur.

"Small Business Readiness Review"

It is an interactive workshop designed to assess:

Why you want to go into business for yourself

Are you suited to be an entrepreneur?

Your business skills and those skills needed to achieve success
in your business

Your relationship style compared to that of others

Relationship strategies that can help you and your business
succeed

Who should attend?

Participants considering starting or buying a business, or small business owners who want insight into their strengths as well as areas for development.

What you will learn:

Why people go into business for themselves

Factors that help make a business successful

Your strengths and development opportunitiesYour relationship strengths and challenges

How to recognize others’ relationship approaches

How to practice techniques to improve relationship effectiveness

Where to find additional resources

Dates this workshop is offered:

January 14, 2009

March 18

May 13

July 8

September 9

November 4, 2009

To sign up, visit www.scorelancaster.org or call us at 717-397-3092

First Post

Welcome to the Lancaster chapter of SCORE and our weblog.

SCORE Lancaster is a resource partner with the US Small Business Administration. SCORE is a non-profit association dedicated to entrepreneur education and the formation, growth and success of small businesses. Our chapter serves all of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

We provide free, confidential one-to-one counseling as well as seminars and workshops. Our goal is to help people start and operate successful small businesses.

Nationally, SCORE has 380 chapters. Here in Lancaster, we have fifty volunteers. Our members include local business owners, former executives and community leaders. We are happy to share with you the lessons we have learned in business.

You can call us at 717-397-3092 to learn more about SCORE Lancaster.

Visit our website at www.scorelancaster.org