Big businesses get attention because they have large payrolls. But we are a nation with many more small businesses than big ones. There are more than 135,000 companies in our state with fewer than five employees. Our economy’s vitality depends on small businesses.
That is why I wanted to learn more about SCORE, a small business mentoring organization with more than 320 chapters and some 11,000 volunteers nationwide. The enterprise is supported by $14 million annually from Congress, plus $9 million in fundraising. You may know its original name, Service Corps of Retired Executives. SCORE has nine chapters in North Carolina that provide advice and workshops.
During the pandemic, a lot of people started businesses. Business applications for federal tax numbers, running between 1,000 and 2,000 a week in North Carolina, jumped above 4,000 at times. These folks need help.
Unlike in 1964, when SCORE was launched by the U.S. Small Business Administration, the mentors now include folks who are not retired, like Charlotte attorney Helen Ruth “HR” Harwell.
“I sat down with a SCORE volunteer to find out what SCORE could do for my clients. And she said, ‘Come by, be a volunteer, and you’ll figure it out,’” says Harwell. She became a mentor in 2014. Harwell and Danny Fischer of Matthews were honored recently for their work as co-presidents for leading the Charlotte chapter in 2021-22. During the height of Covid, traditional in-person mentoring had to move to phone calls, emails and Zoom, as did workshops.
“This required major adjustments in how SCORE Charlotte normally conducted business,” says Barbara Brill, president of the 72-volunteer chapter. “Harwell and Fischer led our chapter through two very tough years,” says Brill, which is why both received the Dick O’Brien Award, named for a former chapter chair.
Becoming a SCORE mentor requires commitment and experience, said Harwell. Mentors go through training and are expected to volunteer with clients for at least 10 hours a month.
The initial interaction with SCORE typically comes when someone looking for help requests a mentor on the website. From there, they can get paired with an appropriate mentor. That can result in one session or a continuing relationship.
“A lot of our clients are already in business and have the one-off problem or thing they’re struggling with,” says Harwell.
I sat through a recent Zoom workshop, the first module of “Simple Steps for Starting Your Business,” and it was a good overview of what’s involved, taught by experienced volunteers who had run businesses. There are a lot of resources on the SCORE website, including probably the most important, a step-by-step webinar on writing a simple, one-page business plan.
GOING THE EXTRA MILES
I talked with Patti Williams, a Raleigh chapter mentor, the day after she drove more than 100 miles to Eastern North Carolina to make a presentation at a small business conference. A lot of volunteers treat their SCORE work like a regular job, but this seemed above and beyond. I wanted to know how she ended up in the middle of Bertie County with a PowerPoint.
Williams, who runs a home-care agency, had a friend with UNC’s NCGrowth who was working on the conference. They wanted someone from SCORE, but hadn’t gotten anyone lined up. Could Williams help? Williams, who spent years with IBM before becoming a nurse and then starting her business, said if they couldn’t find anyone, she’d do it. So she was on the road, trying to find the Bertie campus of Martin Community College. “I’ve never been to that part of the state. That was a haul.”
A woman who ran the workshop told Williams that a lot of the participants now plan to get a SCORE mentor. “They just didn’t know this service was available,” the woman told her.
That didn’t surprise Williams. Even though nationally, nearly half of SCORE clients are minorities, Williams, who is Black, says she constantly runs into people unaware of SCORE.
“I just personally have spent a lot of time making sure that the minority community knows about SCORE and that it is a free resource that they need to use,” she says.
One of her clients is Marschel Warren of Durham, who started her recruiting firm after years in the industry.
“Miss Williams listens to what I want todo, and she’s very honest and asks questions that make me think, ‘Is this or is this not a good idea?’ The way that she words her questions to me, and the way she frames things to me, either makes me want to move forward or makes me want to pivot and figure another way to do things,” says Warren.
SMALL BUSINESS EXPERIENCE
Debbie Henry of Raleigh, who has been a SCORE client and, more recently, a mentor, started her property management business with one home more than 30 years ago.
Folks who run small businesses know a lot because they wear a lot of hats. But not everything.
Around 15 years ago, her company was growing; she needed to hire. “I didn’t know what forms you needed. I had no HR experience,” she says. “So I just needed somebody to guide me through that whole HR part of it.” She reached out to SCORE.
What she has found as a mentor is that the role involves a lot of patient listening to ideas that may not be fully formed but may have potential. “From SCORE’s perspective, it’s not their job to kill someone’s dream.” So you hope they keep at it, and try to give the right amount of advice and encouragement.
One client wanted to get into investment real estate. His approach would have required too much cash, maybe 30% down.
“I suggested that rather than buy investment property, buy a home for less money down, live in it for a while. Then rent it out and buy another house to live in. Then rent that out, and buy another to live in. And so on.”
AI, WRITE A BUSINESS PLAN
Jim Poppe of Southport is the state SCORE director. He retired a decade ago after a career opening Trader Joe’s stores around the country. Mentors are given the option to make their expertise areas available on a searchable national database, says Poppe, and there aren’t that many with retail grocery backgrounds.
“I spent an hour on the phone last year with a kid who is managing his family’s business in Sacramento, and it’s an Asian spice importer,” he says. “And he had some very, very specific questions about running his retail store, that I think I gave him some really good answers for. It was a one-off conversation.”
Recently, he had another conversation with a young man in the western part of Ukraine.
“He wanted to float a business idea by me,” says Poppe “A very technical business idea.” Poppe talked to him.
SCORE wasn’t set up for clients outside the U.S., but whatever, Ukraine needs help.
The core mission — helping small business — is the same as it was in 1964, but everything else has evolved, not just the name. Fifteen years ago, social media wasn’t a thing. Now SCORE has volunteers who know it. Then there is artificial intelligence.
The Cape Fear chapter chair, Larry Grossmann, called Poppe up and said to come to his house. And Poppe grabbed another SCORE colleague and “we went over to Larry’s, middle of the day.” Grossmann opened up ChatGPT, the AI chatbot.
“Tell me a business you want to start,” says Grossmann. “And I said, ‘OK, how about a dry cleaner?’”
“So he types in, ‘Please write a business plan for a dry cleaner in Wilmington, North Carolina.’ “And guess what? Out it came. It was amazing.” ■
