Free Business Counseling
Score offers two types of free and confidential counseling designed to help you get started in business, develop a business idea or improve your existing business
Face-to-Face Counseling
The Portland Maine chapter of SCORE offers confidential face-to-face counseling at no charge.
The Chapter has over 40 counselors with a variety of skill sets and we offer this counseling in several Southern Maine locations.
All of our counselors can guide you on how to get your business off to a good start with the best odds for success or discuss the viability of an idea that you have. We also have counselors with experience in many different industries that can help you solve a problem with an existing business.
Most counseling sessions are conducted at one of our locations however on-site counseling is available when a more complete evaluation of an on-going business is needed.
Request a face-to-face counseling session by email or telephone. You will be contacted with a date to meet a counselor at our Portland office or at one of other locations if requested.
Email Counseling
The SCORE National website offers Counseling by email. SCORE business counselors provide answers to your business questions within 48 hours by email. Counselors are listed by area of expertise and geographic location.
Here you will enter a keyword representing the nature of your question.
- Briefly describe the area of interest in the keyword text box
- Select either Search by Expertise or Search by State.
The system will search and display a list of counselors based on the choices you made.
- Select a counselor who best meets your needs.
- Fill in the information. This information is private and will not be shared with anyone.
- Press the
Submit button.
- Your SCORE counselor will reply with his or her answer within 48 hours and keep the dialog going as long as you have questions for them.
If you feel that your question or business problem may require a face-to-face meeting at some future date you should choose a counselor based on a Search by State and choose Maine.
Harding Smith,
The Front Room Restaurant
"Without SCORE's advice I don't know how I would have raised the money I needed."
Filled to capacity almost every night The Front Room on Munjoy Hill has become famous for its casual atmosphere and simple innovative food. But there is more to a restaurant than the food - it is also a business.....
Starting Your Own Business:
This workshop covers the finance, legal, marketing, accounting, and insurance aspects of starting a business. The information is presented in an interactive presentation format with time allocated for questions.
Tuesday Sep 09, 2008
6 - 9 PM
Register Now
Marketing and Sales:
There is no element of business success more important than marketing and sales. Why do customers buy? How often do they buy? What should the price be? This workshop will help you answer these and many other critical questions.
Tuesday Sep 16, 2008
6 - 9 PM
Register Now
Writing A Business Plan:
There is a critical difference between businesses that succeed and those that fail. And it's not a matter of luck. This workshop will provide you with the knowledge you need to develop a successful Business Plan.
Tuesday Sep 23, 2008
6 - 9 PM
Register Now
WebSite Reviews:
This is the second of a two workshoop series designed to aacquaint the student with the basics of web site design, creation and review. For $50 the first 7 people to apply will get a complete web site review by our computer web expert C. S. Wurzburger. For $30 up to 20 additional people may attend to take notes and learn the process. Success passes do not apply for this special workshop.
Thursday Sep 25, 2008
5:30 to 7:30 PM
Register Now
