Take advantage of free business support from experienced mentors

I first became aware of SCORE over 25 years ago when I was asked to lead a two-day seminar for the Tulsa, Okla. Housing Authority on starting a small business. I happened upon the organization during my research and met with a volunteer who was a retired business executive in Tulsa. I learned what I needed to focus on and presentation tactics for my seminar.

Fast forward to today, where I’ve been a SCORE Lexington volunteer going into my 10th year this month. Utilizing my experiences, I work with start-up nonprofits throughout the state, provide consulting services to existing nonprofits, and I provide workshops related to nonprofit organizations.

SCORE formerly the Senior Core of Retired Executives, is a nearly 60-year-old federally funded nonprofit with over 10,000 volunteers across the U.S., the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Our vision is to ensure our clients receive the support necessary to thrive as a small business owner.

Our services are provided free of charge, with the exception of some workshops.

Nationally, SCORE helped 53,506 new businesses get started in 2017, with 61,534 non-owner jobs created. Sixty percent of national clients were women, 39 percent were minorities and 11 percent were veterans.

In 2017, SCORE Lexington helped 120 new businesses get started — creating 133 non-owner jobs and providing 869 total chapter services. Fifty-five percent of SCORE clients in Lexington are currently in business and 52 percent grew their businesses.

Lexington has 25 volunteers with varying backgrounds of expertise from farming/agriculture, accounting, budgeting, government relations, human relations and internal communications, internet technology, social media, marketing, product development, restaurant management and franchising — just to name a few. The majority of our mentors hold advanced degrees in their field and several hold doctorates.

We have an association with the Lexington Public Library where we hold a significant number of free workshops on topics ranging from forming a nonprofit, nonprofit board strategy, grant writing, business accounting, finance and social media.

We also partner with the Small Business Administration to conduct workshops and we have a strong relationship SBA Veteran’s services. Others we have partnered with are the Small Business Development Council, the Lexington Commerce Association, Bluegrass Community Foundation and Kentucky Nonprofit Network.

We are one of the “best-kept-secrets” in Lexington-Fayette County that assists people who are wanting to form a small business but need assistance in the process. Recently we have expanded our service area to London to better serve southeastern Kentucky’s small business owners. Our London office will open before the end of the year at the Kentucky Innovative Network office.

SCORE Lexington is seeking more volunteers. We aim to build diversity among our volunteers and welcome anyone interested to learn more about the opportunities available. Visit our website www.lexington.score.org, and request a meeting with our chapter chair, submit a volunteer application or contact our office at 859-231-9902.

As a volunteer you will be able to give back to the community in a specialized way and to watch a client come to you with a “dream” they have had for some time and finally see that dream come true is a very rewarding experience.