Now is a great time for women small-business owners to volunteer for SCORE. Volunteering is a great way to make a direct impact. If you don’t know about SCORE – it’s is a non-profit resource arm of the Small Business Administration (The SBA.) SCORE provides free business mentoring and low-cost business workshops to the small-business community. Unlike other non-profit resource arms of the SBA, SCORE is a volunteer organization made up of folks with significant business experience.
I began volunteering with SCORE San Diego in 2014, in addition to running my own small business Money Native. I joined because I wanted to help entrepreneurs. I have a strong business background and want to see entrepreneurs become not only self-sufficient but build wealth. When I joined, it definitely surprised me how homogeneous SCORE was, i.e. white and male. But, now at the end of 2019, I’m equally surprised at how much the culture has changed to be more diverse and inclusive of all women as volunteers.
Because of these positive changes, I can emphatically say that now is a great time for you, as a woman, to volunteer for SCORE.
Here are just 5 benefits of volunteering for SCORE San Diego:
- You get a real picture of small business. I’ve taught workshops; mentored; MCed the Women’s Networking Breakfast and have been on the Board of Directors as Secretary and Treasurer. Now, I really understand the struggles and triumphs of small businesses. I hear the questions that small business owners ask and help them uncover questions they should be asking.
- You are part of your community’s success. My volunteer experiences at SCORE connect me to different types of experts and vendors. I can confidently connect other entrepreneurs with them who can help them succeed. It’s important to know that SCORE’s code of ethics precludes volunteers from soliciting business, but I go with the old adage that givers get.
- You will learn a lot! As a SCORE Volunteer, you can take any of the workshops for free. I have taken Quickbooks, Video Marketing, Social Media and LinkedIn workshops to name a few and still use a lot of what I learned.
- A great network of fellow business owners. Whether they are other SCORE mentors, people in workshops or just others I have met along the way, I know who I can go to for the best advice. I love having a large group of experts and reliable vendors to go to. And I’m thrilled to see more women and people of color get involved in SCORE as volunteers to help broaden this group.
- You can choose how to volunteer. In the new SCORE, you can be a mentor, a subject matter expert, a workshop presenter, or assist with a project of your choosing. These added options allow you to balance your time as an entrepreneur and volunteer.
There’s no time like a new year to commit to a rewarding volunteer community. And who knows, you might just make some lifelong friends! Apply Here
About the author:
Liz uses her 20 plus years of finance and financial markets know-how to help small business owners reach their business’s financial goals and dreams. Before becoming an entrepreneur, she successfully invested other people’s money and helped raise over $3 billion in assets for a publicly-traded closed-end fund. Liz is a regular MC at SCORE San Diego’s Women’s Networking Breakfast and sometimes you can catch her singing the National Anthem.
