Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/72093
negatives, that's a good sign that the person or company is reputable. The Better Business Bureau (www. bbb.org) is also a good resource. The people I turn to for business advice are the people I've seen running their own successful businesses for 10 years or more. ESTABLISHED EXPERTISE The Service Core of Retired Executives (SCORE; www.score.org) has been around for more than 40 years. Available online and through seminars, workshops, and face-to-face meetings, they offer free mentoring to small business owners and those considering going into business for themselves. SCORE has more than 13,000 volunteers who are successful entrepreneurs. They even have specialized mentoring and services for entrepreneurs who are 50 and older and just starting out, people who are young, veterans, minorities, and people who live in rural areas. A visit to the website shows that you can choose a mentor based on expertise in the areas of finance and budgeting, legal issues, technology, marketing, and much more. SCORE also partners with the Small Business Administration (www. sba.org), which has many resources available to any small business owner (or would-be owner) at no charge. In most locales, the chamber of commerce is also a good go-to source for business advice. Chambers usually collect local demographics, so, for example, if you're considering moving to a certain community, the chamber can tell you its population, where that population is concentrated, the average income of the residents, what goods and services are available (or lacking) in the area, and more. 26 massage & bodywork may/june 2012