SCORE Small Business Mentoring Returns to The Highland Center

SCORE small business mentoring is back at The Highland Center.   After a break due to the pandemic, in- person meetings have resumed in Monterey.  Jim Martin will be holding the meetings.  He is the District Director for SCORE Virginia.

“SCORE is actually the nation’s largest non-profit network of small business mentors,” says Martin.  “When I say mentors, to separate us from consultants, we provide advice, serve as a sounding board for small business owners, but we don’t do the work for them.  So, if you come to us for advice on how to write a business plan, we will certainly sit down and kind of talk you through the process and even review your product, but we are not going to write the business plan for you.”

SCORE has five chapters in Virginia.  The organization partners with the Small Business Administration.

“SCORE’s vision is that anybody and everybody who has an idea about starting a business should have access to all of the resources that are available to them, particularly within Virginia, there is just a plethora of resources that are available,” says Martin.   “Our mission is to support successful small business communities through mentoring and education.  SCORE started, now over fifty years ago, as just a couple of senior executives who wanted to give back to the community that they came up in and it has expanded and expanded to the point now where we get our funding as a grant from Congress through the Small Business Administration.  We have roughly 10,000 volunteers nationwide.  This is our way of giving back to the community with our expertise, our experience, our advice to people that are picking up the mantle after us and starting small businesses of their own.”

Jim Martin will be at The Highland Center in Monterey the third Wednesday of each month from 10am until 3pm.  The hour-long sessions are free.

“We have a rich history in working with the folks there in Highland County and Monterey,” says Martin.  “It goes back twelve or fifteen years.  I have always enjoyed my time there.  We’ve had some great clients, great ideas for businesses. Some of them are being very successful now at the moment.  So, I am certainly looking forward to renewing those relationships and starting some new relationships in the community.”

For more information about SCORE or to set up a session, email jim.martin@scorevolunteer.org