Entrepreneurs face challenges on many fronts, including lower consumer spending, rising unemployment, and tightening credit.

SCORE in S.C. has local offices in Aiken, Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, Hilton Head, and Myrtle Beach, plus 13 supporting branches from North Augusta to Summerville, to provide confidential mentoring to small businesses for free. Experts at these conveniently located SCORE offices and branches have experience in finance, accounting, management, marketing, sales prospecting, and strategic planning.

SCORE CEO Ken Yancey says, "Be quick to retrench expenses, quick to adapt products and services to changing market needs, and quick to build a network of advisors to help your business make it through the recession." Yancey adds, "Now is the time to meet with a SCORE mentor about how to tighten credit policies, cut expenses, and look at holding cash in your accounts.

Experienced SCORE mentors help you plan actions to survive the recession and thrive when the economy turns around."

SCORE in S.C. offers tips on Five Recession Pitfalls to Avoid:

1. Cutting expenses too slowly. Don't cut expenses a little bit at a time. Now is the time to look at expenses and decide whether your company needs to cut expenses five, ten, or up to 20 percent. Do what it takes early in the year and bring costs down.

2. Maintaining the same product and service mix. Your needs are changing. You can bet your clients needs have changed too. Call your existing clients and ask them what they need. Then, design your product service mix around those needs.

3. Reducing marketing instead of focusing on marketing. The company that stands tall, strong and visible in the marketplace has stature and status. Differentiate with strong marketing to drive leads and sales.

4. Lacking systems to free up your time. Streamline your business and become more efficient. Use a handheld organizer to keep track of phone numbers, dates, appointments and meetings. Set a time each week to handle routine tasks, bills, and paperwork.

5. Keeping everything to yourself. Your team knows the economy is tough and wants to understand what the company is facing and how, together, you can make it through. Lead toward a brighter future by focusing your efforts on today.

SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business" has helped more than eight million aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners through counseling and business workshops. More than 10,500 volunteer business counselors in 389 chapters serve their communities through entrepreneurial education dedicated to the formation, growth and success of small businesses.

For more information, visit www.score.org.