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How Score Scores
Group's Free Events Bring Business Leaders Downtown
by Kathleen Nye Flynn

Last year, about 300 people packed the main dining room at the Los Angeles Athletic Club to hear Joe Coulombe, founder of Trader Joe's, spill the goods about how he started the thriving grocery chain. The Los Angeles chapter of Score, a 42-year-old non-profit that seeks to educate entrepreneurs on the ins and outs of starting and running a business, hosted the free event.
More than 300 people showed up at a 2006 Score event to hear Joe Coulombe, founder of Trader Joe's. The business organization this week brings executives from the San Antonio Winery and Starving Students moving company to the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

On Wednesday, June 6, Score holds another lecture as part of its speaker series, this one titled "$500 or Less Can Lead to Success!" The event that starts at 10:30 a.m. features Steve Riboli, vice president of Downtown's San Antonio Winery, and Bear Barnes, CEO of Starving Students Inc. moving company. Both entities are decades old and balance traditional business ethics with innovative and modern industry models. The Los Angeles Downtown News talked with Richard Hadel, co-chair of Score, about these seasoned businesses and today's climate for eager entrepreneurs.

Q: What makes Bear Barnes and Steve Riboli interesting?
Richard Hadel: They both have a unique and unusual background. The winery has been around 90 years, and it's one of the original old-time wineries. They are third-and fourth-generation Italians and they are out there from being CEOs to waiting on tables. They are a major company but haven't lost touch with their roots.

Starving Students was started by a young fellow in the 1970s, who was going to school and needed the means to pay his way. He started a moving company and now they move 1,000 households a week, they are in nine different states, and they are very successful.

These companies show that for businesses that have been around for a long time, everything's not just straight up - everything's not like Bill Gates. Most businesses have their ups and downs and various things they have to deal with.

Q: Who attends Score's speaker series?
A: It's a cross-section of everybody. Over the last few years, we've talked to about 1,500 people. These are people who are interested in how to start a business, how to continue on with a business, and business philosophy. At one event, a stockbroker from a major firm in Los Angeles attended and he was sitting there with his analyst and the analyst was taking notes like crazy. Why? Because people were asking questions that he thought he should be asking some of the companies that they represent.

Q: Joe Coulombe from Trader Joe's was a big event for Score. What made that talk so popular?
A: The event was tremendously successful. Apparently this Trader Joe guy has a lot of charisma that just went far beyond what I had expected. Some of the merchandising concepts that he revealed at this seminar were just incredible. The audience wouldn't let him off the stage, they kept coming at him with questions. He's a tremendous speaker and he imparted specific information on the concepts that he implemented at Trader Joe's.

Q: What advice do you have for someone looking to start a new business in Downtown?
A: It starts with a concept and then you have to develop a prudent business plan. There are a lot of folks running around with thoughts for businesses in their head, but if you sit down and do a legitimate business plan, it fleshes out a lot of problems, a lot of the monies you are going to need, and all the information you will need to put it together.

Q: How does Score assist people interested in opening a small business in, let's say, Downtown?
A: We have individual face-to-face counseling and 60 counselors. We talk people through the basic information they need. Let's say they want to open up a hamburger stand: I put them in touch with the people in the food industry. Then we try to get them involved with various workshops we have about how to start a business. We have about six or seven basic workshops that cover everything you need to know about how to start a business. If it's something specific, we will get a couple counselors to team up to help someone with a problem.

Q: Both Starving Students and San Antonio Winery began decades ago. How is the climate for entrepreneurs today in Los Angeles?
A: If they've got the right idea and they've got the energy, the possibilities are just unbelievable. Especially in Downtown Los Angeles right now, it's just really blooming. But it also depends on the individual. You have to have the right idea and the energy to put it into place, and the guts to make it happen.

Score presents Bear Barnes and Steve Riboli on Wednesday, June 6 at 10:30 a.m. at the Los Angeles Athletic Club, 431 W. Seventh St. Reservations at scorela.org.

Starving Students Moving Company
Corporate Office: 1850 Sawtelle Blvd., Suite 300 Los Angeles, CA 90025
Phone: (800) 506-0366
http://www.ssmovers.com/