With a new name, more expansive offices and a thriving corps of dedicated mentors, SCORE Vancouver is extending its individual counseling services and low-cost business seminars to a wider audience in Southwest Washington as more people seek help starting and growing small businesses.
SCORE Vancouver moved from its longtime office on the Clark College campus to 4001 Main St. in late 2013. Now, the chapter’s 25 volunteers are finalizing plans to open two outlying offices next year: one in Stevenson to serve Skamania County east to White Salmon, and another in Longview to serve Cowlitz County.
A nonprofit association dedicated to educating entrepreneurs and helping launch and nurture small businesses, SCORE is a partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Its core services are individual mentoring and seminars on developing basic business skills.
Formerly known as SCORE Fort Vancouver, the chapter requested approval this year from the SCORE national office in Herndon, Va., to change its name to simply SCORE Vancouver. The new name is easier to access in reference sources and more effectively represents the organization’s regional mission, said Ken Rone, a SCORE mentor who coordinates the chapter’s community outreach.
Upcoming seminars
Registration for all classes: scorevancouver.org/training
SCORE Vancouver office, 4001 Main St.
• Business Plan Basics, 9 a.m. to noon Dec. 1 , $55
• Desktop Quickbooks, 9 a.m. to noon Dec. 9, $85
Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, 1101 Broadway
• Small Business Marketing 101, 9 a.m. to noon Dec. 2, $55
• Selling Techniques for Small Businesses, 9 a.m. to noon Dec. 7, $55
Rone said that Southwest Washington has a strong pulse fed by networking groups, financial institutions, educational support and the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, which makes for a strong business climate.
“Skamania and Cowlitz counties are joining right in,” Rone said. “Our SCORE chapter will be expanding our footprint into those counties with the help of key local leadership in both places.”
New mentors
To meet growing demand, SCORE Vancouver is always looking for new mentors; it has seen a decline in its mentor numbers in recent years. Unlike in days past, when SCORE mentors came almost exclusively from the ranks of retired business executives, about half of current mentors are still involved in their careers, some full-time and some part-time.
SCORE Vancouver’s newest mentor, Alan Teel, has nearly 50 years of experience in the restaurant industry at his family’s restaurants, the former Bill’s Chicken and Steak House in Vancouver and Grandma’s Table in Beaverton, Ore.
“I thoroughly enjoyed the business aspect of operating the restaurants, and in 49 years, I think I had the opportunity to learn a few things I could pass on to others,” Teel said. “I enjoy helping people get past the pitfalls of setting up a new business and realizing their dream of becoming an entrepreneur.”
SCORE’s mentor training program, which emphasizes nonjudgmental listening skills and being an objective guide, was particularly helpful in preparing him to be a mentor, Teel said. Recently, he has enjoyed working with an individual who has successfully started a massage therapy business.
“I like to help ease the way and reduce the fear people experience when starting a new business,” Teel said.
Other updates are helping improve client services in Southwest Washington. Among them, Rone said, are a new website that offers expanded opportunities for e-Mentoring through email, phone or video consulting, and includes a more efficient way to match clients to mentors. New clients now simply fill out a brief online profile and are matched to a host of mentors who most closely meet their needs. They then select a mentor from that list.
