Today's Guest

Liz Sara serves as the President of the SCORE Foundation and previously was the board chair for the National Women’s Business Council. Liz also ran Best Marketing LLC for over 20 years. Liz provides insights on the resources and mentorship opportunities small businesses can leverage to help them grow and succeed. Plus, she shares where small businesses can find capital in today’s economy of rising costs and how angel investing might be the right path to choose.

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Episode Summary

SCORE runs a mentor network around the country with nearly 10,000 business executives that volunteer their time to help small business owners. The SCORE Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the SCORE organization. We bring corporations, foundations, other non-profits, and individuals together to provide sponsorship dollars to underwrite many of the free programs SCORE offers small businesses. These programs include a variety of topics from disaster preparedness to cyber security. We look to align the goals of corporate sponsors with actionable and educational materials that help small businesses learn and grow. This free information is available to small businesses on the SCORE.org website.

I was attracted to the SCORE Foundation partly due to my background as an entrepreneur and small business owner. For the last 20-years, I ran a small marketing agency that was focused on the technology space. In many cases, I interacted with founders that were experts in software development and computer engineering but lacked the financial background needed to support their growth plans. When you’re trying to raise money to grow your business you need to be able to put together financial projections that are based on a model that makes sense to investors. I would often introduce founders to a SCORE mentor. When my time at the National Women’s Business counsel ended, I wanted to stay involved in the small business community and the SCORE Foundation opportunity arose and it was exactly what I was looking for.

SCORE does a great job collecting data about all the mentoring sessions they give and the impact it has on the small businesses they help. One data point shows that 61% of small businesses with 3 hours or more of mentoring reported an increase in revenue. Also, 77% of those same businesses were still in business a year later. Having access to an expert that can give you the advice you lack, or your friends and family may lack, makes all the difference to a small business owner. Every dollar saved counts and making good decisions around pricing or how to differentiate your business matters in a big way. These and more are the types of questions a SCORE mentor can help a small business owner sort through and make the best decision.

In today’s economy access to capital for small businesses is even more important as costs rise. There are many paths a small business can take to raise more capital, from small business grants, loans, or angel investing. Often there are angel groups that target specific types of businesses, one I know of in the DC area only funds businesses that have a social good component. There are also angel groups that focus on manufacturing businesses say in the life science space. There are angel groups that just fund minorities or one ethnic group. The group I’m in focuses on women-owned businesses. There are so many options available today, so do your research and find the right angel group for the type of business you are in.

Resources Shared

• SCORE Foundation
• SCORE
• National Women’s Business Council
• Thryv Foundation
• Thryv
  

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