An Unseen Goldmine for U.S. Based Bootstrappers

Wednesday, October 25, 2006 at 03:20pm by Justin Brooke in Bootstrapping

Imagine as a bootstrapper, there was a place you could go and speak with a lawyer for patent advice or partnership contracts. What if this place also had experienced CEO�s you could go and chat with about writing a business plan, raising capital, and operations management. Imagine this place had a library of business books, pre-written business plans, computers w/Internet access, laser copy machines, and all the latest business related software for your convenience.

Now let�s top this dream off; let�s give this place a friendly accountant that you can converse regularly with about financial analysis, cash flow statements, and tax deductions. Oh yeah�I almost forgot, we need to make this place free to the public!

Sure would be nice to have a place like this nearby, for all of us out there bootstrapping our businesses. Ok enough of the song and dance, this place is real and I personally go there once a week! It�s called your local S.C.O.R.E chapter. If you know about it then you are one of the lucky ones. However, there are thousands of young entrepreneurs out there who have never even heard of the SCORE organization. The secret can be kept no longer!

SCORE stands for Senior Citizens Organization of Retired Executives. They are a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration. This is one of the greatest finds I have come across as a small business owner. It took me weeks to get over that all of their services were free! I could not believe the amount of resources made available. How it works is you go to the main website www.SCORE.org which itself has many, many valuable tools, articles, and resource links. Then you search for a chapter near you by city or zip code.

Once you have found your local SCORE chapter, you fill out some forms, (so they can get credit from the SBA) and then they call you up a few days later to set up your first appointment.

Now when I say free, I am only telling a half-truth… Whoa, whoa, whoa, get back here! In order to speak with the professionals one-on-one they first want you to attend one of their 3 hour seminars. The seminar is only $25 and covers business basics like, writing a business plan, what are the different business structures, where to get funding, and how to set up your finances.

They fit an awful lot in that 3 hour seminar so bring a notebook. This seminar is required by the coaches to make sure you at least have a working knowledge of the basics. After the seminar you schedule your first one-on-one session with a CEO, lawyer, accountant, or marketing executive. They assign you the person who can best coach you on your current goals. I know, you are probably still in shock, but its true these guys are out there and they really know their stuff. So get to their website, find a local chapter, fill out the form, and get ready for success!

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