WINTER 2022 7 SOLUTIONS Visit www.score.org and click on the “Visit the Resilience Hub” button to access a variety of resources: Remote Mentoring Small business owners can schedule remote mentoring sessions with SCORE mentors via phone, email, and video. In addition, SCORE now has a real-time mentoring platform which shortens the time it takes for you to connect with a mentor from days to minutes. In Mentoring Hall, mentors answer your small business questions and offer personalized advice in the following categories: • Funding & Finance • Recovery & Growth • Ecommerce & Technology • Marketing & Sales • Startup & Business Plans • HR & Operations Peer Networking Fellow small business owners are a huge resource to draw upon, since they face similar issues and questions. That’s why SCORE created the Peer Networking space within the online platform. You can “meet” other owners and discuss concerns in these discussion groups: • Covid-19 Issues & Recovery • Startup Entrepreneurs • Women Entrepreneurs • Minority Entrepreneurs Resilience Training SCORE’s Resilience Training provides educational materials and online workshops so small businesses can adapt and grow successfully through COVID-19 or any disaster. It also offers industry- specific training to help you with challenges unique to your type of business. Resource Portal A variety of help is out there for small businesses, and SCORE’s Resource Portal is a single place to go to start finding the information, government resources, and financial support you need. Areas covered include marketing, loans, printing, shipping, technology, and e-commerce. SCORE is the nation’s largest network of volunteer business mentors, powered by the U.S. Small Business Administration. It’s helped more than 11 million small business owners since 1964 and continues to offer assistance during the unprecedented changes caused by today’s pandemic. WHAT’S AT STAKE WHEN YOUR INTERNET GOES DOWN? If you temporarily lose your internet connection at home, it may only be a minor inconvenience. But if internet downtime occurs at your business, it can have a major impact on your bottom line. While downtime scenarios will vary depending on the type of business and its IT systems, the damaging and costly effects can include the following: • Lost sales revenue by being unable to process orders and credit card payments • Reduced employee productivity • Inability to access critical data and core systems • Potential employee overtime costs to meet deadlines following a period of disruption • IT recovery costs • Cost of restoring IT systems • Where applicable, compliance violations or materials lost • Customer dissatisfaction A number of different factors can cause internet outages. They range from accidentally cut lines in a cable or fiber network to natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes. Panora Telco and Guthrie Center Communications have built redundancies into our network and have systems in place to maximize our internet reliability. We also offer IT services to assist your business with data storage and business continuity. For details, call Panora Telco at (641) 755-2424 or Guthrie Center Communications at (641) 332-2000. SCORE Offers Small Business Resilience Hub While you’re visiting www.score.org, check out the listings for live or recorded webinars and browse the library for free business templates, e-guides, infographics, and more.
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