SCORE Mentors

10/22/2026

🚨 Small business owners, it's time to get holiday-ready!

Small Business Saturday is your chance to get in front of new customers, bring in more sales and set your business up for a strong holiday season. But don't leave your plan to the last minute.

Swipe through for 8 ways to make the most of it, then check out SCORE's Holiday Success Hub [link in comments] for more tips, tools and resources. 🎁

Save this post for your holiday prep checklist! 📌

10/21/2026

When Banks Say NO, Your Business Dreams Don't Have to Stop!

Have you been turned down for a traditional business loan? Don't get discouraged! There are other financing options that could help you start, grow, or expand your small business.

Join SCORE Mentors for a FREE webinar and discover alternative funding opportunities that may be the right fit for your business!

📅 Thur, October 22, 2026
⏰ 10:00 AM PDT
💻 Online Webinar

What You'll Learn:
✅ Explore funding options beyond traditional bank loans
✅ Learn about SBA loans, grants, and microlending programs
✅ Compare financing costs, qualifications, and requirements
✅ Understand the advantages and challenges of different funding sources
✅ Discover how to choose financing that supports your business goals

Whether you're launching a new business, looking to expand, or searching for additional capital, this webinar can help you make more informed funding decisions.

Ready to explore your funding options? Visit www.score.org/business-education to find the webinar and register!

Know a small business owner who could benefit from this information? Tag them in the comments or share this post!

10/21/2026

What is the value of a business mentor? Having a mentor provides a distinct operational advantage to small business owners and startup founders. Building a company often forces entrepreneurs to make critical decisions in isolation; a mentor serves as a trusted sounding board, guide, and strategic partner. Connect with a SCORE mentor today, it’s free and you could uncover an idea, opportunity or relationship that will make you money!
Key Values of a Business Mentor:
Shortcutting the Learning Curve,
Avoiding Costly Pitfalls: Mentors have already navigated early-stage traps—such as mismanaging cash flow, premature scaling, or poor hiring—and can help founders spot critical decision points before making expensive mistakes.
Accelerating Ex*****on: Instead of relying strictly on trial and error, founders can leverage a mentor's past operational frameworks to make faster, higher-conviction decisions.
Expanded Networks and Social Capital. Mentors open warm pathways to potential investors, key hires, strategic vendors, and customer leads that would otherwise take months or years for a new founder to access independently.
Emotional Accountability & Psychological Support. Startup leadership can be isolating.
Mentors offer an objective, outside perspective, helping founders maintain clarity, process stress, and stay accountable to their long-term vision during turbulent cycles.
Blind-Spot Identification. Emerging entrepreneurs often struggle to see weaknesses in their strategy, unit economics, or leadership style. A good mentor provides constructive candid feedback, pushing founders past self-imposed limitations.
Quotes from American Entrepreneurs & Business successes:
Oprah Winfrey (Media Executive, Founder of Harpo Productions & OWN) "A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself."

Steve Jobs (Co-founder of Apple)"My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other's negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other, and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That's how I see business: great things in business are never done by one person; they're done by a team of people."
Steven Spielberg (Filmmaker & Co-founder of DreamWorks) "The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image but giving them the opportunity to create themselves."

John C. Maxwell (Author & Speaker on Leadership)"One of the greatest values of mentors is the ability to see ahead what others cannot see and to help them navigate a course to their destination."

Bob Proctor (Author & Entrepreneur)"A mentor is someone who sees more talent and ability within you than you see in yourself and helps bring it out of you."

10/20/2026

The bank just said NO. What do you do? 👀

Plot twist: THERE ARE OTHER WAYS TO GET FUNDED! 💰

…and Boyd Karren of Otro Financial is breaking down your options on Thursday!

Comment “FUNDING” and we’ll send you the link to register.

10/20/2026

FREE workshop!!!! How do you know if you are charging enough? If your prices are based mainly on what competitors charge or what feels reasonable, they could be too low.
In this webinar, you’ll learn how to:

Calculate the major components of the true cost of doing business
Understand how to build real profit into each sale
Evaluate whether current prices are financially sustainable
Recognize the risks of pricing mainly from competitors, intuition or simple markup
Determine when a price increase may be needed
Approach raising prices with greater confidence.

Register for our SCORE LIVE webinar, How to Price Your Products and Services for Sustainable Profit; Learn how to price for your true costs, build in profit and know when it may be time to raise your prices. Follow us

10/19/2026

Sometimes, the biggest business win is realizing how far you've come.

When SCORE client Dave started his business 16 years ago, he was working out of his backyard garage with no college degree and no business experience. Today, he's built a profitable automotive business, paid off $167,000 in debt, and secured the financing he needs to grow his three companies.

But the biggest change isn't just in the numbers. It's in how Dave sees himself and what he's accomplished.

After a decade of working with SCORE mentors and learning to understand the financial side of business, Dave presented his growth strategy to four banks. All four made offers.

Reflecting on the milestone, he shared:

“I'm finally making that transition from the ‘I should be here, I should be doing this’ syndrome to the ‘look what I've done, look what I've got, and look where I'm going’ syndrome.”

Mentorship can help entrepreneurs build stronger businesses, make more informed decisions, and recognize the progress they've made along the way.

Sometimes, it's time to stop focusing on how far you have to go and celebrate how far you've already come.

Way to GROW, Dave!

10/16/2026

Sometimes the best financial decision you can make is getting another perspective. 💙

Meet Zoila Sanguinetti, a SCORE mentor with financial planning experience who helps entrepreneurs work through the numbers, think through their options and make informed decisions for their businesses.

You don’t need to have everything figured out before you meet with a mentor. That’s what mentoring is for.

This National Financial Planning Month, connect with a SCORE mentor and get guidance for the financial questions behind your business.

📈 Your business. Your goals. Your plan.

10/16/2026

Free Workshop: Put AI to Work on Your Next Bid
Finding opportunities is only the beginning. Knowing what a solicitation requires, where your company qualifies, and what to do next takes time.
Join NBIC and the Construction Consortium for AI for Contractors: Win Work, Reduce Paperwork, and Manage Projects, a practical workshop led by Dawn Mason of The View Park Group.
You will practice using AI to find opportunities, review bid requirements, identify missing information, and build a clear action plan. You will also receive sample documents and reusable prompts to help you repeat the process in your business.
Thursday, October 22, 2026
8:30 a.m. to noon, Central
IPS Training Facility
193 Polk Avenue, Nashville, TN 37210
Designed for contractors, subcontractors, estimators, and staff who support bidding.
Bring a laptop and charger. Account setup and preparation instructions will be provided before the workshop.
Registration is free. Register at

Pick one session. Show up. Earn your certificate. Free digital skills training for Davidson, Maury, Rutherford, Sumner, and Wilson counties. Seats are limited and held for people who commit. No cost to attend. Online and in person options. More Future Ready sessions coming soon! Browse the Schedule....

10/15/2026

🚨 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: A SCORE CLIENT JUST HIT HSN!

Two years after winning the grand prize in one of SCORE's 60th Anniversary Pitch Competitions, Lisa Basini of Baking Coach, Inc. has taken another exciting step forward: featuring her cookie dough kits on a live HSN broadcast! 🍪📺

Watch it here: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1JdMD8Fxoc/
Lisa's segment begins at the 4-minute mark!

Baking Coach is on a mission to create meaningful employment opportunities for the differently-abled, and we're thrilled to celebrate Lisa and her team's growing success.

From the pitch competition stage to the national stage, we're cheering you on, Lisa! 🎉

10/15/2026

Join us for community lunch from 12:00-1:00 this Friday, 10/16 for a special conversation with our dear friend David Broner.

David—a longtime small business owner and current volunteer mentor with SCORE Mentors—recently wrote and published his ethical will. That's a document in the Jewish tradition that gives the writer the opportunity to tell their story and pass on life lessons to future generations.

Many of us in the Green Garage have been impressed and inspired by David's work on his ethical will. Join us on Friday to hear more about the tradition, the process, and David's life story.

12:00-1:00 at the Green Garage, 4444 2nd Ave. Fee and open to all, lunch courtesy of Seasons Market & Cafe.

📸 Photo of David courtesy of GG alum Brendan Ross, Photographer.

10/14/2026

Getting ready to launch a product?

Your barcode does more than speed up checkout. It helps retailers and online marketplaces identify your products, manage inventory and connect your brand to the products you sell.

Learn how to choose the right product identifiers and set your business up for a successful launch in our latest article, brought to you by GS1 US.

Learn why barcodes matter and how you can set them up to ensure launch success.

05/01/2026

Full Day Food Makers conference - Tickets going fast at $25.00
Register here: score.org/nashville/event/food-makers-and-masters-conference
Free parking - & More
Will you join us for this day of collaboration and learning?

We'll be covering:
* Effective Pricing Strategies
* Realistic Funding options
* Retail placement, and much more.

All attendees will receive a FREE resource guide and
access to three (3) additional "foodpreneur" Lunch and
Learns after the event.

Seats are filling up, so Register Now!

04/27/2026

Full Day Food Makers conference - Tickets going fast at $25.00
Register here: score.org/nashville/event/food-makers-and-masters-conference
Free parking - Lunch included - Resource guide
Will you join us for this day of collaboration and learning?
Resiter with the link above!

04/14/2026

How do you attract the attention of retailers? How do you secure shelf space for your food product? Laurel Orley, Owner and Founder of Daily Crunch will tackle that question at the Food Makers and Masters Conference May 4th. Daily Crunch is now in over 5,000 stores...Join us to find out how she did it.
https://www.score.org/nashville/event/food-makers-and-masters-conference

04/12/2026

Sandy Dewald, Assistant Director, Industry Collaborations at Vanderbilt University, will present both start-up pricing strategies and pricing for growth at the Food Makers and Masters Conference May 4th. During her career she has launched over 400 products and is an expert on the nuances of pricing.
https://www.score.org/nashville/event/food-makers-and-masters-conference

04/11/2026

It's the small things that turn into big things that make a huge difference. This is one of those special times.

At SCORE Nashville we always strive to provide FREE opportunities. Sometimes that is not possible, and it still isn't for this event BUT thanks to our generous sponsors, we can now lower the price of a Ticket for the Food Makers and Masters Conference to $25.00. That's a huge savings and we will also give partial discounts to attendees who bought at the higher price. It gives a whole new meaning to "May the 4th be with you" (since that is the date of the conference. https://www.score.org/nashville/event/food-makers-and-masters-conference

Special thanks to:

National Bank

Lending



Creative