Jim and Valerie Wright needed help reorganizing their popcorn business to cope with a down economy and drive growth.
Deby Wiest and Nathan Hartzell had a bigger issue - how to finance a buyout of a local precast concrete company from its global parent in order to save the operation from closure.
Both Tucson companies succeeded after getting counseling help - for free - from the local chapter of the small-business mentoring group SCORE.
The local SCORE (formerly the Service Corps of Retired Executives) is looking to help more people turn their businesses around -after completing its own turnaround a few years ago.
The local nonprofit group was reconstituted under new leadership in 2005, after it was deactivated by the national organization even as it was moving to restructure its programs.
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Last year, the Tucson SCORE chapter was recognized as Arizona Chapter of the Year.
That may not mean much - particularly given there are only three SCORE chapters in the state. But it was a key vote of confidence that the group is moving in the right direction.
"It was validation that we had turned the ship around," said local SCORE President Ralph Hershberger.
Hershberger credits much of the turnaround to former chapter president Charlie Higgins, who guided the group's reorganization as president until stepping down from that role last year to focus on mentoring clients.
During 2011 alone, the local chapter conducted 50 workshops and seminars and conducted over 1,200 client mentoring sessions.
The group, which serves Pima, Cochise and Santa Cruz counties, more than doubled total "touches" - contacts with clients or prospective clients including counseling visits, workshops, informal "ambassador" visits to groups, and roundtables.
SCORE also saw increases in follow-up visits from first-time clients and raw numbers of contacts, said Hershberger, who joined the group in March 2011.
The chapter, which had been shedding volunteer members, also has stabilized its membership at around 45, with about 300 current active clients, he said.
Award's ripple effects
While the SCORE award didn't carry any cash prize, Hershberger said it likely contributed to the local group landing a sizable grant.
In September, the Tucson SCORE group was awarded a $20,000 grant from Sam's Club to continue its mission of mentorship. The chapter was just one of 10 of 375 SCORE chapters nationwide to receive the grant, and one of five to get the maximum award, Hershberger said.
The grant money will be used to boost programs at SCORE, a non-profit national group supported by Small Business Administration grants and volunteers.
The Sam's Club award carried other benefits.
"That got a lot of visibility, and other service providers in the area now take us more seriously," Hershberger said.
Now that the local SCORE ship is righted and cruising, it's looking to boost its outreach efforts to serve more businesses.
Terry Groben, who recently became vice president of marketing for SCORE, said raising awareness would help boost its mission.
"Since ending the other chapter and beginning a new one, the emphasis has been on penetration, on the mission of creating jobs," said Groben, a 35-year business veteran. "We want to reach more people."
For starters, local SCORE is looking to increase its mailing list from about 2,500 now to about 6,000, closer to the expected level for a business community of our size, Groben said.
"Every business needs new clients," Hershberger said. "We are trying to build better links with some of the other service providers in town who would avail us of a larger audience we're not talking to now."
SCORE also is considering new part-time office locations in Green Valley or Sierra Vista, where the group now uses local libraries for meeting space.
SCORE has long worked with local business agencies, including the Small Business Development Center and the Microbusiness Advancement Center, through cross-referrals and events.
The group is now exploring possible partnerships with groups including the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber and the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
"Right now, we're looking at what might be a fit," Hershberger said.
Such links would beef up services to existing enterprises, which is seen as lower-hanging fruit compared with business startups in terms of job creation.
Generally, SCORE finds small business people get in trouble after the sheer demand of daily business makes them take their eyes off the bigger picture, Hershberger and Groben said.
"They often need to focus better. Try to be everything to everybody and as a result, you become nothing to no one," Hershberger said.
Writing new business plans or updating existing ones can help restore longtime businesses to productivity and profitability, Groben said.
"A lot of existing businesses have long forgotten their business plans," she added.
Particularly during the recession, SCORE had shifted its focus more to helping existing businesses, but plenty of people are still looking to start companies.
About 40 percent of SCORE's local clients are startups, but once they go through the group's business-planning workshops many would-be entrepreneurs back off.
Back to serving veterans
One area of renewed emphasis is helping veterans start or grow their businesses.
That effort is being spearheaded by SCORE member John Wiles, a retired Air Force pilot.
"We kind of fell into a lull (serving vets) because it's so difficult to get on a military installation anymore, but that's where I do my shopping," said Wiles, who as a military retiree has access to base facilities.
Wiles said he's been working with the transition offices at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and Fort Huachuca on new outreach programs and events, including a Dec. 6 outreach event.
HOW TO GET HELP
SCORE Southern Arizona, a nonprofit group supported by federal funding and volunteers, free small-business counseling and mentoring by appointment at its headquarters at 1400 W. Speedway (El Rio Golf Course) and several other sites in Marana, Oro Valley, Green Valley, Sahuarita and Sierra Vista. The company also offers small-business workshops for nominal fees.
For more information, to get on SCORE's email list or to make a counseling appointment, go to www.southernarizona.score.org, send email to mentoring@scoresouthernaz.org or call 505-3636.
Check out BizTip
From how to price your product to dealing with employee issues, local SCORE President Ralph Hershberger, a veteran businessman, offers weekly small-business tips and wisdom in BizTip of the Week, which appears Mondays in the Star's Business section.
Contact Assistant Business Editor David Wichner at dwichner@azstarnet.com or 573-4181.