I've had a number of interactions with the SCORE organization (nee S.C.O.R.E., the Service Corp of Retired Executives) over the years.
- My friend, long time TCPC member, and long time SCORE (Minneapolis) mentor, Virgil Dissmeyer provided sage advice to me prior to my founding Troutreach Technologies LLC.
- St. Paul SCORE mentor John Swon was helpful when we prepared the documents to register the Twin Cities PC Users' Group, Inc. with the IRS and obtain its IRS 501(c)3 status.
- I've attended numerous SCORE meetings covering a wide variety of business related topics.
I was flattered when St. Paul SCORE Senior Director Durga Panda invited me to make a presentation at one of their monthly Lunch and Learn Roundtable meetings. But, I wondered, what can I teach attendees about running a business? My background is technical, more than 40 years as a computer programmer with the vast majority of those as a senior systems programmer for the largest commercial mainframes--not very pertinent for small businesses. I've run Troutreach Technologies for almost ten years now, but we're a really small, very specialized partnership, e.g., we've never had (nor will we ever, but that's another story) an employee. You could rightly ask, again, as I did: What does Curt know that would be useful for other small businesses?
The answer, perhaps: Websites! What's a Website? What goes on "behind the screen?" That's the presentation I prepared. I made the first presentation at the February 2017 TCPC General Meeting and it appeared to be well received. Hopefully, it will be equally well received and useful for roundtable the attendees on May 2nd.
I've attached a PDF file of the slides, in color, for the attendees and others that may be interested. That file may be accessed below.
This post has concentrated on just a few interactions I've had with the SCORE organization. More important is the outstanding work SCORE and their volunteers provide to small businesses in many realms and in many stages of development. If you're involved with a small business, or considering forming one, I strongly recommend that you check out their websites SCORE Minnesota Division, SCORE Minneapolis, and particularly SCORE St. Paul.
