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Signs of an impending problem

Knowing where to find assistance for your small business

As the fourth generation in our small business, I remember several expressions my father telling me were signs of impending problems. The first was, “the check is in the mail”; another was, “I’m from the government and I am here to help you”. There is a third expression to be wary of and it comes in a variety of forms when you are listening to a speaker at a trade show. The essence of their message is that you need to hire them on an individual basis or join their coaching program to take your business to the next level or solve any problem your business has.

Whether you are seeing opportunities for growth in your business or your business is facing challenges, we want to share with you a couple of alternatives to your finding assistance and information. We share from personal experiences.

The two are known by their acronyms; SCORE and SBDC. SCORE originally stood for, “Service Corps of Retired Executives” and SBDC is “Small Business Development Centers”.

Before you decide to spend money with one of those consultants, we suggest you investigate both of these organizations. You may find that the answers you are seeking are in “your backyard”.

SCORE (score.org) was created in 1964, and like the SBDC, receives funding from the Small Business Administration (SBA). Their task is to assist every person who is or wants to be a small business owner. Each of the 10,000 volunteers within SCORE  are volunteering and have years of experience in their field. The process begins with your visiting their website and entering a few responses; does the person you want need to be local or can they be anywhere in the country; what language do you speak; your industry; what stage of life is your business in; if you want in person or online assistance; and what aspect of business ownership do you want to discuss or learn more about.

SCORE offers workshops. Are you a machine shop and have a customer that you are struggling to get to pay their bill? SCORE has a workshop that explains how to navigate small claims court. Perhaps you feel your business focus is too broad; SCORE has a workshop on finding your target customer.

Maybe you have a business that sells equipment trackside and you want to add something to your business. They even have a class on how to start a food wagon business. It could work if the track didn’t have a rule that restricts anyone selling food.
SCORE webinars are both live and a part of a recorded library of topics. SCORE also has in person workshops. At the time of this writing, there were also some 2,000 in person workshops that are available at little or no cost. Enter your zip code and click a few boxes to narrow your search to find what is in your area.

The second organization, America’s SBDC (americassbdc.org) has a state level organization in every state with Texas and California having multiple. Working with the SBDC begins with your visiting the website and entering your zip code. There are over 1,000 across the country with many affiliated with a college or university. SBDC offices offer counseling in a one-on-one setting. They also offer many online webinars and live events. The counseling is no cost and the majority of their live and online events are at no cost.

We have witnessed first-hand some amazing experiences with a local SBDC counselor.  A business was a combination of manufacturing, wholesaleing and retailing. The business was utilizing QuickBooks; unfortunately it was determined they were using a version that was not correct for their situation.

Their SBDC advisor made that observation as well as determined what the correct version was for their business. While that was impressive, the advisor, qualified with QuickBooks, helped them purchase the right version of QuickBooks at a discounted price and transition their information to the new version. Another SBDC advisor, a CPA, reviewed and confirmed the work. The business owner continued to work with a SBDC advisor, both in their business and by online meetings as they grew their business as a part of their long term plan towards retirement in the next five years.

While both of the scenarios we described sound wonderful and easy, there is more to working with either organization. A successful partnership requires work on the part of both parties. Your work begins earlier than the occasion of your first working with your advisor.

It starts with your clearly defining your needs and expectations of the relationship. A part of it is your respecting the time and effort of the SCORE or SBDC person working with you. There are other clients that need the advisor or counselor’s time.

You would do yourself a big favor if you were to reach out to the organization of your choice to establish a relationship before you begin to address an opportunity or challenge. By doing so, when that opportunity or challenge arises, you will already have that “partner” in your corner with an understanding of you and your business.
We share that we have also seen the issue of there not being a good match between your business and the advisor or counselor. We observed a counselor assigned to a business. The client was in retail and the counselor worked for one of the major chain retailers. Unfortunately, the counselor’s career was in logistics; moving freight for that retailer provided no background of experience for the client.

We observed a situation of an advisor whose work experience was three years in their industry. And as with the previous scenario, this advisor coming from a large corporation had no experience in the aspect of business that was to be discussed.

These two experiences are to tell you that you have to do the work to make sure that the counselor or advisor has experience and/or knowledge in the area of your business you want to focus on. If there is not the right connection, you simply explain and ask for a different individual.

If you were going to hire one of those “consultants” or join one of their “insider club”, you should be doing your research. One of the benefits here is that the SBDC or SCORE is not getting in your wallet.

Both of these organizations are a great source of information for your business.

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This article is copyrighted by Tom Shay and Profits Plus Solutions, who can be reached at: PO Box 128, Dardanelle, AR. 72834. Phone 727-823-7205. It may be printed for an individual to read, but not duplicated or distributed without expressed written consent of the copyright owner.