Small Business Assistance
We offer FREE and CONFIDENTIAL professional support and advice to local business owners and entrepreneurs. Whether you are looking to develop a business plan for a new venture or to secure financing for an expansion, our expert SCORE volunteers are here to help you. Every year, the 27 local mentors assist hundreds of individuals across Saratoga County to make smart business decisions. Please call the Chamber at 518-584-3255, and our staff will connect you with our local SCORE volunteers.
Small Business SCORES Win with this Chamber Program
Column by Todd Shimkus, President, Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce
My favorite move is Ghostbusters.
This movie’s theme song says: “When there’s something strange in the neighborhood, who you gonna call?” And the Chorus signs – “Ghostbusters!”
But when you have an idea for a new business, who you gonna call? Or when your existing business faces a difficult challenge, who you gonna call?
Since 2006, for hundreds of local entrepreneurs with an idea or a business challenge in Saratoga County, they called SCORE.
SCORE is a national organization with volunteer run Chapters in more than 300 communities. They connect entrepreneurs with mentors to help them to build their business with free business advice.
Perhaps you know one or more of the volunteers who make up our local SCORE Chapter. These experienced and talented volunteers have met hundreds of times with local entrepreneurs and existing business owners. Their expert advice and confidential counseling helps a growing list of local businesses to succeed, grow and thrive. We’re talking about organizations like; Spoken Boutique, Saratoga Paint and Sip, Common Roots Brewing, iRun Local, Sanders Meat Market, Greenfield Veterinary Hospital, and many more.
How successful is our local SCORE Chapter?
So successful that last year they were honored by their national organization with a Platinum Award, a recognition given to only the top SCORE Chapters in the US. The rating system focuses on the number of new startups and new jobs created with the help of the free business counseling provided by the local SCORE Chapter’s volunteers.
This means our local SCORE volunteers are growing our local economy. They are helping entrepreneurs to transform ideas into businesses. They are helping people to expand local operations creating new jobs in our local communities.
SCORE volunteers meet one-on-one or in pairs on a day and time that is convenient for you. These visits can happen in-person or virtually. This service is totally free and completely confidential. You don’t need to be a chamber member either. 
The process is simple. You call the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce at 584-3255. We connect you with Richard Sellers. He sets up an initial meeting and puts you in contact with the volunteer SCORE counselors with the experience best suited to help you. These meetings are held either in the Chamber’s offices in Saratoga Springs or at the Tec-Smart building in the Luther Forest Tech Park in Malta.
If you’ve ever benefitted from SCORE, we hope you’ll consider joining us. But most importantly, if you or someone you know could benefit from free, confidential and expert business advice, give us a call and we’ll connect you with our award winning SCORE volunteers.