SCORE: A Resource for Small Businesses

SCORE, formerly known as the Service Corps of Retired Executives, offers small businesses access to free business counseling provided by people with a wide range of operational experience. SCORE counselor Herbert Marks will be a panelist at ABA's Day of Education at BookExpo America.

"My background is in finance," said Marks, who has been a SCORE volunteer for three years. Before he retired, Marks helped firms raise capital and reorganize. He will share his advice on succession planning and business valuation at the panel "Succession Planning: Valuing Your Business" on Tuesday, May 25.

SCORE is a nonprofit affiliated with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The organization offers a variety of online resources as well as free, confidential one-on-one advice from volunteer counselors and mentors at its 400 offices around the country. "They volunteer their services to help people get into small business, or to help businesses get to the next level, or out of trouble," Marks explained.

If he could give small business owners a single piece of advice, Marks said, it would be this: "Keep accurate books and records...You need to know your costs. You need to know how you make money. You need to know how you lose money."

ABA members who have questions about SCORE and its offerings can speak to Marks and several other SCORE counselors in the ABA Bookseller Lounge (Room 1E07 of the Javits Center) on Tuesday.

"Succession Planning" will be moderated by Barbara Theroux of Fact and Fiction in Missoula, Montana. Joining Marks on the panel are Pete Mulvihill of Green Apple Books in San Francisco and Annie Philbrick of Bank Square Books in Mystic, Connecticut. The session will be held from 2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday in Room 1E11.