Written and photographed by Vincent Verrecchio

Entrepreneurs use SCORE’s free brainpower to “jump smart” local small businesses

The local mentors of SCORE come together one by one in a borrowed conference room in Columbus. If this were a movie, this could be the clichéd scene where specialists, each with a different expertise, walk in singly and purposefully until reaching a number seemingly too small to meet the scripted challenge.

The challenge for the 13 mentors of the WNC SCORE Chapter, Polk County Branch, is the ongoing revitalization of the Polk County and Landrum economy through personal contact with entrepreneurs and nonprofits to help them start, run, and thrive. Literature for the chapter puts it in terms of offering to help “Jump Smart Your Small Business.”

Bill Kerns, chapter chairperson and retired small business entrepreneur, says, “We offer brainpower, free to anyone who is running a small business or who has the courage and passion to start one. These people are our neighbors who dream, strive, risk so much…they don’t have to go it alone.”

“Part of that recognition is due to our very active free seminar series with ICC,” says Bill.  “We’ve had topics such as how to write a business plan, obtain financing, better use of social media…this month, on the 19th, it’s writing a marketing plan, and on February 21, it will be how to be your own advertising agency.”

In monthly branch meetings, mentors review current client activity, brainstorm new seminars, and plan what to do next when they go out the door. The experts that head out include a business lawyer, informational technologies teacher, social media professional, accountant, consumer marketer, advertising agency owner/creative director, sales manager/trainer, commercial banker, ag-business banker, hospital administrator, a vice president of research and development, market researcher, and a successful owner of multiple small businesses.

Clients cover a broad range of businesses from retail to manufacturing, services to restaurants, and cultural organizations to animal rescues. For example, there’s the high school English teacher who started a soap company, and the hospital administrator who opened a yarn boutique that offers classes in knitting and crocheting.

FROM ELIZABETHAN POETRY TO ECO-FRIENDLY SOAPS

Tawana Weicker always loved science and liked working with machinery, but at 32 she was teaching Elizabethan poetry, grammar, and composition. One of her responsibilities was reviewing senior project research papers. The one written by a young woman about bio-fuels changed Tawana’s life. The student had learned bio-fuel processing from her uncle and the next step for Tawana, when not teaching, was to learn from the same uncle.

Eventually Tawana and her husband tipped over her grandmother’s old water heater and re-wired it as their first “reactor” to split fatty acids and glycerine from used frying oil. Her experiments developed into a soap business.

“Can I do this?” she remembers repeatedly asking herself as students cheered her on, the art teacher across the school corridor created her logo, and her husband, who works pouring concrete, praised how her formula cleaned his hands while moisturizing work-dried skin.

“I had no expertise in business and after many false starts with paid consultants, I learned about SCORE. Real people from my community… not selling anything. Such accessible expertise. I got help in branding, trademarking, legal issues, marketing and business planning. I felt they really cared.”

Today, Warhorse Cleaners and Soaps are three eco-friendly formulas and nine products in over 300 stores. Two new non-GMO formulas are in development.

FROM HOSPITAL DESK TO KNITTING BOUTIQUE

On a mountaintop, a brief drive from downtown Saluda, Kniticality is more than 1,100 square feet of knitting and crocheting showrooms and classrooms. Shoppers and students will find more than 2,500 varieties of yarn, tools, and inspirational examples of the art. Founder/teacher Amy Johnson has an MBA in hospital administration but had no love for managing regulatory and quality compliance in the political environment of a large hospital.

“I love creative expression,” she says. “I fondly remember crocheting with my grannies, and more than 18 years ago started knitting. There’s an immediate reward with every stitch, seeing an idea take form in the texture and color in your hands.” She also loves to share what she knows, making the math of stitching accessible to the beginner and exciting the imagination with artistic challenges for the veteran.

“After starting the business, my first contact with SCORE was with Bruce regarding financials. Don joined shortly thereafter to help in my marketing planning. He helped me prioritize what could be done realistically, and provided creative input. What I still really appreciate is how they pay attention and treat me with respect as an equal.”

Bruce Hunt is a former BB&T senior vice president in Atlanta and Don Hofmann is a retired advertising and consumer marketing executive.

Since opening in 2012, the Kniticality customer base has increased 83 percent, classes total 60, and 450 square feet have been added to expand a communal knitting room overlooking the valley.

Explaining his motivation, Bruce says, “There’s a sense of satisfaction in helping someone succeed. And in retirement, I don’t want to feel that my days of productivity are over.”

Don explains, “I can attribute successes that I’ve had to mentors and help I received along the way. This is my chance to give back.” Bill, speaking for himself, says, “I feel good in getting in and sharing the challenge with entrepreneurs and seeing them do well.” Speaking for other mentors in the branch, he adds, “I’ve heard terms such as ‘the right thing to do,’ ‘sense of purpose,’ and ‘energizes me.’  I think we all identify with the ‘energizing’ idea and see ourselves as an unlimited free energy source of practical, proven thinking for our local business community.”

For more on SCORE contact Bill Kerns at 828-553-0201 or billkerns291@gmail.com.
More information about the organization is online at score.org. •

What SCORE Stands For

Service Corps of Retired Executives, SCORE, is a 501(c)3 nonprofit resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration, founded in 1964. The relevance of “retired” in the acronym has diminished since the corps has expanded to include active business professionals. There are now more than 11,000 volunteers, donating more than 2 million hours a year in mentoring and educational programs. Of the more than 300 chapters from New York City to Los Angeles, a few have been recognized as reaching the Platinum Level of performance. In 2016, the WNC SCORE Polk County Branch achieved that honor.