SCORE Partners with Business Resource Center

Get professional assistance on how to start a small business—or help running the one you already have—during the SCORE StartSMART series at the Business Resource Center.

SCORE StartSMART is collaboration between SCORE, Counselors to America’s Small Businesses, and the BRC and will include five sessions: Start-Up basics on July 26; Business Concepts on Aug. 9; Marketing Plan on Aug. 23; Financial Projections on Sept. 6; and Funding Sources and Next Steps on Sept. 20. During the program students will learn how to evaluate their idea, develop a marketing strategy, create a financial plan, and determine funding sources and feasibility.

“The thrust of the program is that this is a very efficient way for people who have a business concept, or idea to start a business, to create a nearly complete business plan and to be ready to ask for funding,” said Bill Litchman, who will be instructing the first seminar and who has 20-plus years of experience working for a large international conglomerate.

Litchman said that while many entrepreneurs believe they have a great idea for a business, participating in the program often causes them to modify their original idea to better suit the market place.

“In the process of developing the plan, the clients themselves come to the realization that the idea, as originally conceived, is not viable,” said Litchman. “Many people evolve their idea. Very few start out with an idea that stays permanent through the program, because they learn.”

The BRC program also is helpful for people already running their own businesses and who want to learn how to improve it and make it more efficient.

The cost of the first session is free, and subsequent sessions are $40 each, or $128 for the entire series, a 20 percent savings if you sign up for all four! Each session runs from 5:45 to 8:45 p.m.  Cash, checks and credit cards are accepted. Contact dmcauley@ebpl.org or call 732-390-6782 to register or for more information.