SCORE a big hit!!!

NEED HELP????? Call your local SCORE chapter! SCORE stands for Service Corps of Retired Executives. This should be a must see site for anyone just starting a business. They offer everything from FREE business classes to templates you just fill out for business plans etc.
    FREE!!FREE!!FREE!! Free is good when you are a new business...SCORE is an all volunteer organization. It's made up of both working and retires businessmen, executives, CEOs and the like.  SCORE is a branch of the SBA. (Small Business Administration)
I can not stress enough what a great program SCORE is! It sure helped me out! When we bought our first restaruant in Cope, Colorado- I had no idea of what kinds of records to keep, what forms I needed to get my tax ID numbers, and no idea where to go once I did get the information. With just a phone call, the SCORE chapter in Denver became my one-stop-shop! I also even had  a mentor!

Katy & Vernon Keel

  Washington County is in the middle of the sand hills. A lot like Regan, ND! The WCED contacted SCORE and brought in a 'Mentor' to talk to the business community. We were shown how to have productive brainstorming, taught networking skills, (waaaaaaayyy back then, social media didn't even exist!), basic business planning, co-branding and other valuable information. I have used all I learned from SCORE repeatedly.

   Once I became at least somewhat computer literate, I was able to use the internet to take FREE business classes from both the SCORE and SBA sites. One of the best ones was record-keeping.

The Bismarck-Mandan SCORE # is 701-328-5861   The address is 700 E Main, Bismarck  

Minot SCORE # 701-852-6883
Rapid City, SD SCORE # 605-394-1707
    http://www.score.org/  offers FREE  online classes in Marketing your business, How to motivate employees, Financial planning for your new business, Social media how-to's and more.
   The SCORE site also has FREE templates for you to print off for Business plans, Financial planning, Start-up costs, Balance sheets, Bank loan requests, Sales projections, Cash flow, Profit & loss and many others that you may need along the way.

   SCORE has all sorts of information on grants (http://www.grants.gov/ is one), venture capital, small business loans etc. Please note-the SBA and SCORE do NOT give grants, they help you FIND them!

  One of the great things about SCORE is that with just a single phone call you can arrange to meet with a mentor personally for help. You can also have a mentor out to speak to your group...as a community round-table- Boy or Girl Scouts-Schools-business leaders- Whatever your needs...they will come. It's a really great feature!

  Bismarck-Mandan SCORE   http://www.bisman.scorechapter.org/

     http://www.sba.gov/ is another great site. The SBA has links for FREE online small business training, starting a business, financing your venture, business law and more. http://www.sba.gov/ also has a link to great site that focuses on small business resources from the IRS. Don't let the word IRS scare you off...it's just good information!

    Another good site for FREE  business classes is http://www.u.about.com/On this site you can learn at your own pace with classes in Powerpoint, writing computer programs, simple desktop publishing, basic business skills and much, much more.

   I hope this information helps somebody else! Good luck!

Katy