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Client of the Year Awards
Despite the down times our economy has experienced recently,
there have been many successes. In order to recognize some of the small
businesses that have achieved success during the past year. The Greater
Knoxville SCORE Chapter sponsored a "Client of The Year" contest.
This year three area businesses were selected to receive these awards.
The first place award for 2010 SCORE Client of the Year went to Murray
Earle and his associates, of Creative Sports Images. Creative Sports
Images has manufactured and marketed sports related products to thirty
different major universities, NASCAR, and golf since 1995. However,
the company was forced to cease operations for a time due to Murray's
protracted illness. Murray resurrected the company by working with
Art Kareff at SCORE to shorten and rework his business plan and ultimately
obtain the funding needed to purchase the inventory of two Nashville
businesses, as well as manufacture samples of several product lines.
Murray is grateful to all those who helped him realize his dream,
but mostly he is thankful to Art Kareff of SCORE. Murray insists that
without Art's expertise and sincere interest, Creative Sports Images
would not be where they are today. In short, Creative Sports Images
scored with SCORE! |
1st Place - Creative
Sports Images
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| The second place award for 2010 SCORE
Client of the Year went to Clark Miller of Clark Miller Communications.
Clark Miller made the decision in January 2009 to establish his own
one-person media consultancy business. Despite his years as a journalist
(Associated Press), in non-profits (seven years at the National Institute
for Chemical Studies) and as senior communications consultant for
five years (worldwide ABS in Knoxville), Clark had never run his own
business. Clark says the best thing he ever did was to work with SCORE,
in particular with Richard Jenkins, to organize his business and learn
how to promote his services to potential clients. Richard also helped
with developing consulting rates, business goals and time and expense
management. He served as an advocate, but asked tough questions, and
forced Clark to articulate his core business skill by being a sounding
board for ideas with plenty of give and take. |
2nd Place - Clark
Miller Communications
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The third place award for 2010 Client
of the Year goes to Gary Bickford, of Healthy Life Clinic, Inc. Gary
retired from DuPont at age 56 and returned to University of Tennessee
Knoxville to become a family nurse practitioner so he could assist
the medically underserved of East Tennessee. He opened his own clinic
in late 2009 with the help of Chuck Christiansen of SCORE. Gary says
Chuck's efforts to help him plan his business as well as obtain initial
funding for start up were invaluable. By the end of the fourth month
the clinic was generating $40,000 in revenue. Projected revenue for
the next six months indicates the clinic could generate $500,000 in
the first year. Gary is in the planning stages for similar clinics
in East Knoxville, Roane, Fentress, Sevier and Cocke counties.
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3rd Place - Healthy
Life Clinic, Inc
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