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PhotoWords
PhotoWords - My Experience with SCORE

PhotoWords, Irv Brechner

Title / Role: President
Location: New Jersey
www.photowords.net
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How Did Your Business Get Started?

My Experience With SCORE

Over the last few months, I’ve met and talked with a handful of SCORE mentors as I’m starting a new business. While I’ve started many businesses in my life (I’m 66), this new one is new to me. Spending time absorbing advice and getting blunt input has been extremely rewarding on many different levels.

I invented a new crossword-style puzzle where large colorful photos are the clues instead of words. I thought of 50+ different vertical markets and opportunities, everything from selling direct to consumer, through stores, in bulk to organizations. 

I truly believe I’ve saved money and time, avoided mistakes, and became focused on the most promising marketing channels. To me, SCORE helped in three major areas:

  • Overall advice on the products, business model and marketing, and specific guidance about channels and marketing tactics.
  • Ideas to expand my initial scope and add value to my offerings.
  • Discouraging me from spending time and money on channels not likely to produce results, or that would take too long.

One of the temptations for people like me with a lot of experience is to assume that I know it all and can’t learn anything new. Even though I do know a lot, I learned so much new highly relevant information from the mentors that saved me 3-6 months of trial and error.

The bottom line is simple: SCORE is an incredibly valuable resource whether you’re starting your first business or your 10th. With the high cost of everything today, avoiding mistakes means avoiding wasting large sums of money. Without question, I recommend SCORE for both general guidance and specific topical advice. I plan to continue involving SCORE as my business grows because there’s always something new to learn to refine my plans and tactics.

Irv Brechner, President
PhotoWords

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PO Box 5333
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1-800-634-0245

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Funded, in part, through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.

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