It’s often said that free advice is worth exactly what one pays for it. But when a novice entrepreneur gets sound advice from someone who’s succeeded in business, that’s a different tune.

Offering that free advice is what SCORE is all about, according to Steve Crumrine, a SCORE counselor from the Chester and Delaware County chapter, who addressed the Chadds Ford Business Association during the group’s May 7 luncheon held at Antica on Route 1 in Chadds Ford.

The acronym used to stand for Service Corps of Retired Executives but, Crumrine said, about half of SCORE’s counselors are still working. The acronym still stands, however.

The group’s primary goal is to help people start a business, exploring legalities, taxes and financing. Even already established businesses can take advantage, though. He said SCORE counselors can help an entrepreneur plan and grow the business further and they can help those ready to sell their business and retire.

Crumrine’s chapter is one of more than 300 chapters across the country. While not part of government, his chapter works out of the Government Services Building in West Chester. Chester County commissioners and the federal government’s Small Business Administration are, what he called, strategic partners.

There are also resource partners, such as chambers of commerce, libraries and a variety of county organizations, as well as financial support partners that offer sponsorships.

SCORE offers face-to-face counseling and Crumrine said most of the counselors — all volunteers — offer their services just for that.

“They want to help people,” he said.

Counselors also give seminars and talks to business people on 20 to 30 different subjects. Many of those seminars are free or for “very little cost,” he said. One of the hot topics for those seminars is social media marketing.

There are also seminars on how to develop a strategic plan and on data security, among others.

He added one other point.

People in business always want to measure how their business is doing, and SCORE, being full of business people, is no different, he said. SCORE’s national organization also looks at performance indicators for the various chapters.

“They assess all 320 chapters…For 2015, the Chester and Delaware County SCORE was selected as Chapter of the Year,” Crumrine said.

For more information on SCORE, either to get advice or to become a volunteer, go to https://www.score.org or phone 610-344-6910 for the Chester and Delaware County chapter.