Small Business Counselors Closer to Clients

Counseling small business owners will be more convenient for Anderson’s chapter of the Service Corps of Retired Executives as the organization’s volunteers continue to move their offices into the Flagship Enterprise Center.

Planned to be up and running by Monday, the SCORE chapter’s new offices will bring it closer to many of its clients, who work out of the Flagship.

SCORE- Jim & Todd2“The main purpose is we think we can serve our customers, people who want to start up, we can serve our customers a lot better here at the Flagship than where we were at the ABI (Anderson Business Incubator),” said Anderson SCORE Co-Chairman Lyle Crouse. “It seems like out here is where the activity is and out here we’ve got a better chance at helping folks.”

SCORE’s Anderson chapter started in 1983, and it has grown to cover all of Madison County and parts of surrounding counties, as well. When it started, it was housed with the Anderson/Madison County Chamber of Commerce, which also recently made the move to the Flagship.

“We’re with the Chamber out here now and we’re with CED (Corporation for Economic Development),” Crouse said. “Here we’re back together for a better synergy.”

Flagship Executive Director DeWayne Landwehr said having SCORE in the building, near Interstate 69’s Exit 22, will benefit Flagship businesses.

“We have been trying to ramp up our client service offerings,” Landwehr said. “We have been working closely with SCORE all along, but adding them here in the same building certainly does help. We will have a much closer relationship among SCORE, the Flagship and our clients.”

Flagship clients have heard about SCORE’s move and are happy about it, Landwehr said.

“Most of the clients out here have ended up with a smile on their face because they can see the benefits of the synergy as well,” he said.

SCORE is a volunteer business mentoring and training program that teaches owners of start-ups how to get started in business and counsels those having business troubles on how to turn things around. It has 364 chapters nationwide, including 13 in Indiana, and uses the expertise of retired business people.

Crouse is retired as a vice president for an automotive components supplier in Madison, Wis., and before that, he was a plant manager for Delco Remy. He got involved with SCORE nine years ago when he moved to Columbus from Wisconsin and continued his involvement when he moved back to his hometown of Anderson seven years ago.

“I felt like I had good background that I could help small businesses,” Crouse said. “With my financial background too I could help any business. I get a lot of enjoyment out of volunteering with SCORE. It keeps me from getting stale and keeps me going.”

Anderson’s SCORE chapter also puts on workshops, from how to start a business to how to market, handle finances, create a business plan and get a loan. The chapter has 24 volunteer counselors now.

“We have people who have run a business in Anderson, we’ve got engineers, we’ve got folks to help with business planning, accountants,” he said. “We’ve got a wide variety that could pool their resources together.”

Landwehr said SCORE’s counseling help was invaluable to businesses. “There are some people that have come to me and said, ‘I had no idea how to even get started and SCORE helped me with that,’” he said. “The next thing they know, they’re in cash-flow trouble and SCORE helps with that.”

Contact Aleasha Sandley: 640-4805, aleasha.sandley@heraldbulletin.com
Herald Bulletin

Photograph taken by: John P. Cleary/ THB Photo