No small achievements: the owners of these valley businesses realized that big challenges are present even at the smallest of firms and sought the help of score counselors to get over the hurdles in growing their companies. Here are their success stories.

SCORE Los Angeles, a non-profit organization dedicated to entrepreneur education and the formation, growth and success of local businesses by using volunteer counselors, recently honored four Valley businesses at the organization's annual awards luncheon on Dec. 9. Each of these firms worked with a SCORE counselor on maximizing their businesses' potential and formulating plans for the future. In recognition of their success and hard work, SCORE presented each with certificates and acknowledged the contributions of the counselors that helped foster these achievements.

Ahi Sushi, Studio City

When Jimmy Wu opened up Ahi Sushi he had absolutely no experience running a business. While he understood the food aspect of running a restaurant, having been a sushi chef for many years previous, such things as making employee schedules, handling a payroll and paying taxes and licensing fees were alien to him. Luckily for him, SCORE provided Wu with Sam Engelman, a retired restaurateur who had formerly run the successful Nibblers restaurant chain in Los Angeles.

"My skills were only originally those of a chef, becoming a business owner was a very daunting task to me," Wu said. "Then I met (Engelman) and he took me under his wing and showed me the ropes, one by one, step by step. We've currently been open for three years and we're doing really well, especially considering we're in a very competitive neighborhood."

Initially, Wu had wanted to open the restaurant at a trendy location, which Engelman advised against, instead advising him to open Ahi at a location that would allow him to grow the business without excess expense. Engelman also connected Wu with a real estate broker and the three of them visited various sites at various times to study traffic patterns and the competition. The due diligence paid off, as Ahi Sushi quickly became profitable. Currently, Wu is scouting locations for a second restaurant, likely to be located in Calabasas or Thousand Oaks.

Joyful Gifts by Karen, North Hollywood

Karen Elson's hobby had been making bath salts and candies for her friends and family. After spending time working in the entertainment industry, the energetic entrepreneur decided to turn her hobby into a business founding Joyful Gifts, a company that made customized gift baskets to order for both sexes. However, the business had only seen middling success before Elson turned to SCORE counselor Don Doner.

"It was difficult being in business at first, but I was fortunate to meet (Doner). He looked at my marketing strategy and revised it and rewrote it and gave me a new one," Elson said. "I changed my brochure and changed my pitch to corporate companies. The changes really paid off. At first, I didn't think I needed assistance, but I learned to be open and that's the most important thing to know in running a business."

In the past six months since Elson began working with Doner, she has seen a substantial uptick in business and has landed several major corporate accounts and various celebrities.

"Business has definitely been going well of late. My goals in the future are to continue getting more corporate accounts. I've landed several prestigious hotels and I'd love to get more accounts in the music industry," Elson said. "I'd also love to help inspire people as I'm a woman entrepreneur. Women need to know that they can do it."

California Concierge, Woodland Hills

With people working more and more hours each year, inevitably they are always hard-pressed for time. Banking on this proposition, Susan and Kaarel Hammersky opened up California Concierge, a service business that provides "an extra hand" to busy people by providing driving, shopping, pick-up and drop-off services. However, while the Hammerskys' idea might have had merit, implementing this vision was quite a different story.

"Before we met Don Doner (also the Hammerskys' counselor), we were really struggling. We had the feeling that our business would become successful just because we had a license and held out a shingle," Susan Hammersky said. "But we found out that it doesn't always work that way. (Doner) guided us into areas of advertising and marketing that we hadn't looked at before. He told us to accept credit cards and that made it easier for our clients. He pushed us and prodded to do a lot of things that we otherwise wouldn't have done."

Out of all the things that Doner has done for them, Hammersky believes that the most remarkable aspect of it all is the fact that they haven't had to pay a cent for his counseling. She maintains that the business could not have afforded to pay for a private consultant that it might inevitably have needed. Now, the Hammerskys are taking their first steps towards franchising California Concierge.

"It's not likely to happen in 2006, we're starting down the path to franchise the company. We just began and we're getting all of our materials in order to further the process," Susan Hammersky said.

Free Flow, Agoura Hills

Before opening specialty automotive firm Free Flow, the company's owner Mike Challgren had spent the previous 28 years working in the aircraft maintenance field. When he found himself unemployed, Challgren decided that he wanted to open up a business of his own, yet such a task would be extremely difficult without any business experience. Turning to SCORE counselor Don Doner in June of 2003, Challgren began to prepare a plan so that when he opened up his shop in October of that year, he could hit the ground running.

"We wrote a business plan and he made sure that it was comprehensive and thorough," Challgren said. "We had tons of meetings and (Doner) was a world of information. We went through all of my plans from A to Z and even when we found a building, he taught me how to negotiate for rent. He's been terrific and he still follows up all the time and offers ideas."

Now that the business has gotten up and running and seen some success, Challgren has his eyes set on franchising the model.

"The goal is to franchise in the future. We've patented the name and I've got my eyes set on that goal," Challgren said.