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How SCORE helped.

Jane Meyers, Therapist and Minister

In 1993, Jane Meyers started a business to provide counseling and hypnotherapy to people in need of those services.  She had high hopes of helping people cope with the trials and tribulations of life and making herself a fair living in the process.

 

With help from her friends and associates, Meyers developed a popular business fueled by some effective ads in the local weekly.  Prospective clients responded well to her message and her pretty face in her ads.  They were happy with the results and very thankful for the guidance and activities she provided.

 

After 15 years, Jane felt she needed to give the business a second look developing a more expandable business model and organization, deciding on improved ways to show the public that what she had to offer is desirable and worth paying for, positioning the business favorably against current competitors, and possibly taking on a new partner.

 

To help with this review, she called on the local chapter of SCORE (Senior Corps of Retired Executives) for their free mentoring with experienced retired executives.  She and her SCORE counselor reviewed values of different ways of organizing such as S-Corporation versus LLC.  They discussed plusses and minuses of bringing in a partner versus hiring a contractor; designed a new logo; discussed how to use cost accounting to analyze profitability by session, by therapist, etc.; and they discussed how to apply for an operating loan, and the probability of success.  According to Jane, “I am so grateful for an organization like SCORE that makes business mentoring readily available for those of us who are inexperienced in many of the business matters.  Gerry Smith was so easy to work with.  He was very approachable and offered me a different perspective without being condescending.  He made it easy for me to work with him.”

 

The decisions made at that time have paid off.  Today, Ms. Meyers’ therapy business has continued into its 21st year while she has started the Unity Community of Central Oregon Ministry. She has integrated her counseling abilities with her deep spiritual commitment to help people with troubled lives.  She reaches more people than ever before with a fully rounded program to become more positive about life and overcome the many problems life throws at all of us.

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Positive Life Connections is located at 265 NW Franklin Ave., Suite 203, Bend, Oregon,  541-388-2929