Manicia Reneus
North Campus Bureau Chief
Boots to Business comes to Central Campus to help veterans pursue a business of their own. The program is an education and training program that provides participants with an overview of business ownership. Veterans of all eras including national guard, reserves and military spouses can be a participant in the program.
At the event, veterans who are entrepreneurs, attended a course to learn different platforms and tools that can help their businesses. Score is a resource partner to the Small Business Administration (SBA) and they have been working together for 41 years to help business owners. While Score focuses on educating business owners, SBA concentrates on offering help in areas such as financing and opportunities in government contracting.
Michael Bush is a counselor at Broward Score and did a presentation for the Veterans at the event.
“If you go in just winging it. Guess what. You just wasted your time,” said Bush.
Bush believes that it is important for business owners to have a plan that is concise and written by the owner. Therefore, when trying to get a loan they have a clear plan that they can share with a banker. For instance, a banker may ask a business owner questions like how did they come up with the demographics of their business. Having a plan can be a determining factor of a business owner getting a loan and influence how they run their businesses.
“It’s not just to get a loan,” said Bush.
A business plan can also be used to establish relationships with vendors. Often, vendors are at risk and supply products on cash and delivery. However, if you can share your business plan with a vendor they may give a business owner a 30 day or 6-month advance. A business owner can also be a good source to use when getting employees to join in your venture.
All in all, a business plan can be used as a general written agenda that guides a business owner on how to run their businesses. At times, that plan may change and an owner may need to readjust their plans. According to George Gremse, who is a chairman at Score, there are 70 volunteers that work with Score in Broward County who are knowledgeable in business. As a nonprofit organization, Score has education sessions on how individuals can grow or start their businesses.
After the event, veterans who participated can set up a one-on-one appointment to go through other components of starting or growing a business. For anyone who is interested in starting a business, they can go to sba.gov and score.org to get more information.