Q: Do I Have To Have Good Credit To Get A Grant?
A: NO. Absolutely not. People
giving out grant money generally don’t
care about your credit because they don’t
want you to pay them back. They are not banks
who want their money back. They are organizations
who want to improve the world with their money
(or your tax money), and they are mostly interested
in what you want to do. I recently spoke at a
women’s prison in Connecticut and before
I went I investigated the availability of money
for people in prison to take college courses.
I found out that the government will give people
grants to study in prison but not student loans.
They don’t trust prisons to return a loan
so they just GIVE them the money.
There are a lot of other real estate money programs
besides grants and they all have different
requirements. Some you have to have good credit
for and others are just set aside for people
with bad credit. So the real answer is “it
depends". There are thousands of money programs
and every program has different requirements.
You have to find the program first and then
check out the requirements. If you don’t
fit, then start looking for another program.
It’s like dating. If one person won’t
go out with you because of something about
you, you can’t sit home and wait for
them to change their mind. You go looking for
another date.
Q: How Long Does It Take To Get Government
Money?
A: The real answer is, it depends.
I know some micro-loan programs at the state level
that say they guarantee an answer within two weeks.
Other programs could take a few months. And there
are other programs where they only give the money
out once a year, so if you miss that cycle, you
have got to wait until the next year. But again,
just like the question on the amount of paperwork
there is — who cares how long it takes?
There are some emergency funds that you can
get very quickly, but most of the money that
you want to use to change your life is not going
to happen very quickly. You have to allow weeks
or even months for this money. You may not even
get approved the first time. You may do something
wrong and have to file the form again. But again,
who cares how long it takes?
I talked to this couple down in Florida who
started a hairdressing salon and got $100,000
from the government to help them. They said it
took them a few nights in front of the television
filling out the forms. That was pretty neat.
In a few nights, they got it done, and it was
no problem at all. Is it going to take so long
to get the money you are not going to apply?
Nonsense! If that is your attitude, then do not
do anything. Just sit home and be content with
what you have now, because you never know how
long it is going to take.
That should not stop you from doing anything.
That is just another one of those hurdles that
the bureaucrats are going to put in front of
you to see if you are big enough to get through
it, around it, or over it. These are little dragons
that you have to slay to get to your quest, and
your quest is getting that money or doing what
you really want to do in life. And whether it
takes a few extra days, a few extra weeks or
even a few extra months, who cares? You have
the rest of your life to live. The important
thing is that you are working on a mission to
change the rest of your life!
Q: Does Getting A Grant Have To Be A Lot of
Paperwork?
A: A lot of people say, “Hey,
Lesko — isn’t it a lot of paperwork
to get money from the government or other places?” And
the answer is yes, it could be. But who cares?
Who cares if it takes you a night to fill out the
paperwork, or a week, two weeks, a month, or if
it is one page or 1,000 pages? Where else are you
going to get $1,000 to do something, or $100,000— or
a quarter of a million dollars?
What about the last week, the last month? What did you do that month?
So many people say it makes them stop. It becomes an insurmountable
hurdle. It is an excuse not to do something because they have
to fill out some 20-page form. And that’s not even always true.
There is a program, if you want to start a business that only has two
pages to fill out, and you get $150,000. So, the paperwork should not
stop you. And you can fill out a ONE-PAGE APPLICATION and get:
- A $20,000 grant to buy a home
- A $3,000 grant to act as a down payment on a home
- A $200 a month grant to pay for your rent, or
- $2,000 worth of prescription drugs.
Sure, some of the complicated grant proposals may take 20 or 30 pages,
and it could take you a couple of weeks to complete. But again, if
you are getting $100,000 or a quarter of a million dollars to work
on your invention, that is worth the effort. You have to do it. Remember,
with every hurdle in life, you have to figure out a way over it, around
it or through it. If you do not, you are out of the game, and you should
not have started the game in the beginning.
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