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Welcome to SCORE!
Greetings!
SCORE, Service Corp Of Retired
(and Working) Executives, Counselors to America's Small Business offers
free counseling to St. Louis area small businesses.
For more
information contact us at 314-539-6600 Ext. 242 or www.stlscore.org to learn more about what SCORE offers.
See Our Website |
St. Louis SCORE
200 North Broadway
Suite 1500
St. Louis,
MO
63102
314-539-6600 x242
http://www.stlscore.org
St. Charles Office
636-447-5000
St. Charles Economic Development Center
5988 Mid Rivers Mall Dr.
St.Charles, MO 63304
Kirkwood Office
314-800-1527
Inside National City Bank
333 S. Kirkwood Rd
Kirkwood, MO 63122
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The first-ever SCORE
Awards recognize and celebrate excellence in and support of America's
small businesses. SCORE honors four SCORE clients for their outstanding
success. SCORE also honors key small business advocates and corporate
supporters.
The SCORE Awards were held September 17, 2009 at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. Award winners include:
Outstanding Woman-owned Business Award
Zakeez, Inc., Houston, Texas
Sponsored by Constant Contact
SCORE honored Zakeez, Inc.,
an ergonomics and human factors company that specializes in research
and development of innovative and unique products and services that
improve the quality of life of children and help parents and babies
feel closer to each other. The company was founded by Yamile Jackson, a
Ph.D. in ergonomics and human factors engineering and licensed
professional engineer, who used her personal experience, work and
education to invent the award-winning "The Zaky®." This product is used
in hundreds of hospitals and thousands of homes and child-care
facilities, and by preemies, ill, healthy and special-needs children
worldwide.
Outstanding Socially Progressive Business Award
East Cooper Community Outreach (ECCO), Charleston, S.C.
Sponsored by the Office Depot Foundation
Outstanding Minority-owned Business Award
Haas Media LLC, Jersey City, N.J.
Sponsored by HP
Outstanding Veteran-owned Business Award
Killer Peaks, Port Royal, S.C.
Sponsored by Administaff
Corporate Small Business Supporter of the Year: American Express OPEN
Corporate Small Business Advocate of the Year: Ernst and Young
Lou Campanelli Award:Barbara Kasoff, president and co-founder of Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP)
Click here for more information:
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Use Networking to Build Business Visibility
Word-of-mouth is the most effective form of marketing. But people can't spread the word about you and your small business if they don't know you.
That's where networking comes in. Whether it's through a professional association for your industry, a local business group, or a conference, networking offers a valuable forum for prospective customers and colleagues to learn about you and the services or products you provide.
Successful networking is more than simply exchanging introductions and business cards, then waiting for someone to call. In fact, professional marketing coach Charlie Cook at www.charliecook.net says that most people waste the few precious moments they have with new and existing contacts by focusing on themselves.
"It's better to spend most of that time asking questions and collecting information," he says. "Then you can make quick assessments as to whether they would have any interest in the solutions you provide."
Cook recommends that every entrepreneur should have a succinct "elevator speech"-a 30-second description of the problems his or her business solves. After that, the focus of the networking conversations should be entirely on other people: their primary business concerns, problems they want solved, and unmet business needs. As the conversations unfold, you may find areas that overlap with the solutions you provide.
Networking also doesn't end with the conversation. Cook recommends maintaining a data file of networking information (several software programs are available to track networking contacts), and updating it as soon as possible after every contact.
Finally, while valuable business contacts can happen anytime and anywhere, don't leave your strategy to chance. "Identify the people you want to make contact with, whether prospects or potential marketing alliance partners, and make carefully researched efforts to build relationships," Cook says. "This approach takes more time on your part, but it gets results."
SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business." (from "Ask SCORE - score.org")
Contact SCORE at 314-539-6600 Ext. 242, M-F 10 am to 3 pm or go to www.stlscore.org.
You can find our Archived Newsletters Here
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SCORE Celebrates SCORE's 45th Anniversary.
SCORE celebrates 45 years of volunteer service and mentoring to help small businesses nationwide start up, grow and succeed.
SCORE CEO Ken Yancey says, "SCORE celebrates volunteer service to the small business community. Our 45th anniversary focuses on the valuable contribution that volunteers make to local entrepreneurs with mentoring and advice that meets their business needs." Yancey adds, "SCORE helps small business owners start up, stay in business and keep Americans employed. SCORE has a proven track record of both creating and saving jobs by improving small business survival rates and accelerating small business formation."
For more information about starting or operating a small business, call 314-539-6600 x242). Visit St. Louis SCORE on the Web at www.stlscore.org
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Best ways to Build Business Credit
Small-business
owners are in a Catch 22. Obtaining financing for their companies can
be difficult without a strong business credit history. At the same
time, banks and credit-card issuers have tightened standards and don't
want to risk providing loans or lines of credit to small companies that
don't have proven track records.
The
solution, business-credit experts say, is for would-be borrowers to
buckle down, keep airtight records and instill new credit-building
practices. Keep in mind, that's an ongoing process and requires some
vigilance. But the good news? "You can build solid business credit in
as little as a year or two, depending on how proactive you are," says
Gerri Detweiler, personal finance adviser for Credit.com
and co-author of "Business Credit Success."
In
the start-up phase, business owners often rely on personal-credit
histories to prove their creditworthiness. But as the company grows,
it's important to establish a separate business credit history,
legitimizing a business in the eyes of lenders.
Here are the three best ways to build business credit
:
1.
Get your books and records in order - Consider
forming a business entity such as a corporation or a limited
liability company - that provides you liability protection and
generally carries more heft. Next, get an accountant to validate your
financial statements so that banks and other credit issuers can see
that you're running a legitimate and healthy business.
2.
Obtain business or trade credit with vendors or suppliers
- Start
by doing business only with vendors and suppliers that are able to
report your company's payment history to credit-reporting agencies.
3.
Always practice fiscal responsibility
- Make
sure you pay all bills on time or even ahead of time. Late bill payments can have a negative impact on your credit
score. How you handle your company's cash flow is a sign of how
creditworthy your business is.
By
RAYMUND FLANDEZ - Wall Street Journal
And go to
www.sba.gov/recovery
for information on how The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009
has affected SBA's loan programs
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SCORE Chapter 21 Monthly Seminars -
Improve Your Business!
REGISTER NOW
"How to Start and Manage Your Own Business"
Saturday
November 14, 2009
8:15 A.M. to 3 P.M
Fee - $50.00
St. Louis Community College - Rm SO-105
Meramec Campus
Register Now!
Next SCORE Seminar
Dec. 12th, 2009
St. Louis C.C. @Meramec
Rm SO-105
SCORE Workshops
Start Your Own
Business - in Spanish
The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro St. Louis will conduct training classes in Spanish.
Classes will be on Tuesdays, November 3-24
"How to Start and Manage Your
Own Business" in cooperation with SCORE.
For more information, contact the Chamber at hccstlmo@sbcglobal.net , or call 314-664-4432
hccstlmo.com
Classes will cover:
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How to write a Business Plan
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Marketing/sales
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Legal structures
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Registration, licenses, taxes
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Technology for small business
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Financial planning
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Obtaining Financing
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
of Metropolitan St. Louis
HCC
3611 South Grand
Suite 105
St. Louis, MO 63118
To learn more about any of these courses and dates, times and how to register -
CLICK HERE
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Resources For You
Without your customers--you would be nothing. Learn how to keep them happy and returning at the next Alliance training seminar from the Economic Development Center of St. Charles County,"Keep 'em Coming Back--How to Keep Your Customers Through Exceptional Service" presented by a facilitator from St. Charles Community College, Thursday, Nov. 12, at St. Charles Community College Social Sciences Building Auditorium.
Doors open at 8 a.m. for this three-hour workshop. Instruction begins at 8:30 a.m. and the program will conclude by 11:30 a.m.
The deadline to sign-up for this seminar is Tuesday, Nov 10.
Call the EDC at 636-441-6880 ext. 230. or visit the EDC Alliance website.
www.edcscc.com
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Brought to you by SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business," a nonprofit association and resourc e partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration. SCORE is dedicated to entrepreneurship and the formation, growth and success of small businesses nationwide. Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 8 million entrepreneurs.
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© Copyright 2009. SCORE Association. All rights reserved.
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