“I feel that luck is preparation meeting opportunity.” – Oprah Winfrey

There is an old saying: “The bottom line in America is that... it is the bottom line that matters.” In our nation, to get respect, you must have money. Increasingly, Americans are looking to start small businesses as their path to success. SCORE can help, free.

SCORE is a national non-profit organization which has been in business for over 60 years, helping nearly 60,000 businesses to succeed, thus creating 143,000 new jobs for Americans. In 2024, SCORE helped 2,555 new businesses to get started, adding nearly 4,000 jobs to our state economy. With 7 Chapters throughout the state (in Northeast, Middle and South Georgia, Savannah, Columbus and Metro Atlanta), you can find a local mentor by simply going to this web-site: https://www.score.org/ga/ . Further, since all of SCORES 10,000 mentors are unpaid volunteers, our mentoring services are always free.

Through my volunteer work with SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives), I have mentored hundreds of start-up entrepreneurs of all races. Oprah is correct. If you wish to succeed, you must identify opportunities and figure out how to achieve your aims. White, Black, Asian, Latino or whatever: what do you need to get your idea for a business from being your fetus to your bouncing baby? 

The answer is writing and implementing a solid business plan. It serves as both a road map for you and a tool to attract necessary funding.

How? It starts with a vision, one that is all yours. Jim Collins, a well-known business author, describes it as a BHAG: a “big hairy audacious goal,” one that can drive your firm now and in the future.

The next step is to construct the plan. Conceptually, there are three parts:

1. the marketing plan;
2. the implementation plan; and
3. the financial plan.

The marketing plan identifies: who are your clients; where are your clients; who is the real decision maker among your clients; and how exactly do you intend to reach them? If a business entrepreneur cannot adequately write this portion of the plan, there is no reason to attempt to go into business at all. Marketing numbers become revenue projections when combined with revenue per unit sold.

The second key area is the implementation plan. It is impossible to be all things to all people. We all need help to succeed. The implementation plan details what resources are needed, personnel and non-personnel, to get your firm off the ground. Quantification of these resources is how the expense portion of your financial plan is derived.

Third comes the financial plan, the aspect which scares many people. But just think of it like you would a family budget, showing how much money is coming in and going out every month. Your business financial plan is like that, combining expense and revenue projections and turning them into a monthly profit and loss spreadsheet. 

Based on realistic assumptions, a good business plan with a strong financial component will close the deal for you. If you do everything right, your business will get funding.

Then the fun begins. Within five years, about half of businesses go under. However, with wisdom, judgment, hard work, and effective mentoring (plus some luck) you will be one of the winners.

One final note. Financial success is the only way to achieve true equality in this country. Sadly, the golden rule in the good old USA remains- “those with the gold, rule.” Ethnic and racial groups that have come to the USA have generally been accepted only after they have been here for a while... and raised their income level. As the child of an immigrant, I know this to be true. SCORE can help you.