SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration, is now available in Polk County.
Polk and Rutherford counties recently combined to form a branch office of the Western North Carolina SCORE Chapter. The creation of a local SCORE presence is a project of Polk’s Economic and Tourism Development Commission.
SCORE is a non-profit organization of experienced business executives who offer free seminars and management advice to small business owners and people who want to start a business. All SCORE counselors are volunteers and there is no fee for services. As a service partner with the Small Business Administration, SCORE is partly funded by the SBA, which also provides small business loans through local banks for eligible businesses.
SCORE counselors come from a wide background of business experiences, including manufacturing, finance, retail and wholesale operations, engineering, marketing, advertising, construction and Internet-based businesses. The local SCORE chapter provides face-to-face and online counselors to assist clients with many small business issues, such as new business concept evaluation, financial records and reports, advertising, new product evaluation, buying  and selling a business, human resource issues, marketing plans, purchasing, Internet marketing and more.
The Polk chapter’s local website, www.westernnc.score.org, offers many business aids, including a pre-counseling checklist, business plan outline, business tips and tools and a request for counseling form.
SCORE also partners with other groups to sponsor seminars and workshops on topics of interest to small businesses. SCORE can be reached at 828-693-8702.
– article submitted by Bill Kerns