River City 6: Pauline Stark
The mission of Greater Omaha SCORE is to foster a vibrant small business community in the Greater Omaha area through mentoring, education, small businesses advocacy, and building working partnerships with local small business support organizations. Pauline Stark, owner of Business Evolutions, is the Vice Chair and a mentor with Greater Omaha SCORE.
Tell us a little about your business. – SCORE is a not-for profit resource center of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). It has a strong support system both nationally and serving the Omaha Metro area for 20 years. Individuals who are thinking about starting a business, business owners who find their business struggling, and businesses who want to grow are who SCORE serves. Helping entrepreneurs and small businesses succeed is why SCORE exists.
One of the greatest strengths of SCORE is providing FREE one-on-one counseling. Counseling is provided by volunteers who have real world business expertise in all areas of business and across all industries. The Omaha SCORE Chapter has 75 members who not only provide counseling, but deliver workshops on relevant business needs; workshops like social media, website development, QuickBooks, business plans, and other topics relevant to starting and running a business. SCORE also works with veterans through a program called Boots to Business. We are always looking for people who would like to join us in helping businesses be more successful.
How did you get started in the business? – The opportunity to help small businesses is what drew me to SCORE. In my company, Business Evolutions, I work with businesses to help them gain clarity on their business direction, help them market their company, and provides sales and customer service training. These are areas that small businesses need to become successful, but not all businesses can afford to have a dedicated consultant or coach. SCORE gave me the opportunity to work with start-up businesses and businesses who want to improve their business knowledge and success while continuing to run my own business.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced in your organization? – Along with finding strong volunteers who have a passion to give back, SCORE is faced on a daily basis with reaching the individuals who want to start a business or who have a business and are struggling.
What has been your most important achievement professionally? – 71% of SCORE’s clients go into business after initial mentoring, and further benefit from ongoing mentoring as they operate their business. It’s great to be a part of this success.
What is your favorite book or the last good book you read? – Execution, The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan.
Tell us a little about your family. – I have a husband, two daughters, their husbands, and two granddaughters. Between all of them there is always something happening.
What is the most unique or interesting thing about you that most people probably don’t know? – I’ve driven race cars and flown airplanes.
What local non-profit organization(s) are you passionate about or involved with, and are there any special reasons why? – I’m passionate about volunteering with SCORE; SCORE is passionate about working with organizations like the SBA, Nebraska Business Development Center (NBDC), Small Business Development Centers, and partners with the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce in the THRIVE Initiative for Small Businesses. I am also very active in my church.
If our readers would like to contact you, how should they do so? – If you are thinking about starting a business or you own a small business and would like assistance, or if you would like to volunteer with SCORE, please call (402) 221-3606 or visit https://omaha.score.org/. If you would like to contact me at Business Evolutions you may call (402) 306-4753.