Connectivity

A few observations in this time of COVID social distancing.

I’m a volunteer for SCORE. That is an organization of 12,000 volunteers who mentor entrepreneurs desiring to start their own businesses. We offer our services for free. The objective: help small businesses get started. They are the engine of job creation; always have been. We also work with small existing businesses who are having some problems. We help them survive so they can grow larger and create more jobs.

SCORE started as a nonprofit entity under the Small Business Administration. Today Congress funnels SCORE’s modest budget through the SBA to maintain federal budget and auditing standards. SCORE uses those funds to support a small paid staff in the DC area to maintain technology platforms used by the volunteers nationwide to serve clients. All of this is free to clients.

We volunteers are called mentors and are trained to fill a mentor’s role. We listen to client’s hopes and dreams and do all we can to help them fulfill those dreams. Along the way mentors hear a lot of ingenious ideas, see amazing new products and services. We see America’s creative side from a different perspective. It gives us hope for a bright future.

Collectively, our mentors have helped create 50,000 to 60,000 new jobs annually. There are no figures traceable on the number of jobs saved annually.

Although you might expect demand for our services have been low, the exact opposite is true. We are seeing record numbers of new clients and of course our support for past clients continues apace.

America’s creative giant lives and breathes. In small businesses. And entrepreneurs!

SCORE’s past operational ‘normal’ was face to face meetings with clients, fellow mentors, and business training sessions. During COVID all of this has continued via digital technology. In fact, our roundtable discussion sessions and workshops have more than doubled attendance using technology. More people are using our training and information sharing services than ever before. More new clients are finding their way to our services, too.

Productivity has soared because we all work from home via computer networks. We do not spend time in endless meetings, traveling to and from clients, or navigating complicated schedules made ponderous by weather delays and travel logistics. Our time is pure connection and productivity.

Creativity has more time to percolate as well. More time to write, research and create powerful ideas to share. We are connected to make a difference.

I cannot imagine giving up any of this once we are ‘back to normal.’  I think this is the new normal.

August 15, 2020