The Local Tourist is a SCORE Chicago Success Story

Over a decade ago I had this idea for a little website. It was going to make it easy to find places to go and things to do in one neighborhood of Chicago. As a new resident of River North it was primarily for me. I quickly learned I wasn’t the only one who wanted a resource that was so hyper-local, so I set about expanding to the other downtown neighborhoods.

Flash forward to 2008. My little hobby began consuming more and more of my time and I realized that it was no longer a hobby, but a driving passion and what I wanted to do with my life. I redesigned The Local Tourist so I could expand to other neighborhoods and, eventually, to other cities.

But how? I had no background in business, and while I was overflowing with ideas for content and community, generating revenue and creating a scalable business model was another thing entirely.

Enter Peg Corwin. Peg is a business mentor at SCORE Chicago, a resource partner of the Small Business Administration that provides free counseling and inexpensive workshops for small business owners like myself. Over the last few years we’ve consistently met every one to two months, going over successes, failures, goals, and dreams. These meetings and Peg’s advice and support have helped me grow my hobby into a business, and helped me grow into my role as a business owner. They’ve been so invaluable that now I’m pleased to say I’m a SCORE Chicago Success Story!

Thanks to Peg and to SCORE, The Local Tourist has experienced and is set up for even more incredible growth, and I can proudly claim that I am a business person, I am an entrepreneur, and I am living my dream.

To find out more about getting your own business mentor and attending their workshops visit the SCORE Chicago website.

Photo is from one of our signature AlphaBeer events.