Money For Teenagers To Start A Bookstore…
...You can be as young as 12 and get $5,000 to start a business. This program is aimed at youth in rural areas, but you never know where you can use this. Maybe you can set up a distributorship for your books in a small town using your nephew who lives in that small town you never visit. It’s part of the Farm Operating Loan program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture at 202-720-1632 or http://www.fsa.usda.gov/dafl/youth%20loans.htm.

$150,000 To Open an Employee Day Care Center…
… If you are an employer the federal government will give you:

The money is in the form of tax credits on your federal and/or your state income taxes. If you are paying any taxes then this is truly free money because it is taken right off your tax bill. To find out about every tax credit at your state level contact your state Department of Revenue by calling 411 and asking for the state capital operator, or go to www.govengine.com and click on your state and start looking for the Department of Revenue. For information on all federal tax credits contact Internal Revenue Service, 202-622-5000 or 800-829-1040 (Business Tax Questions) or go to www.irs.ustreas.gov/formspubs/.

Wondering Where To Find The Best Customers For Your Business…?
...Or where is the best place to put up a store? Or which surrounding zip codes offer the best potential for increasing sales? Or where to get a list of all the accountants in your area? You don’t have to hire a high priced marketing consultant to get answers to questions like these. You can tap into the government’s rich vein of free marketing data collected by the Bureau of Census and other government agencies. This is where the multi-billion dollar companies get their marketing data and it’s where the high priced consultants also get it and the resell it to clients at outrageous fees. To get detailed information about data available for your state call your local Census State Data Center in your state capital or go to http://www.census.gov/sdc/www/.

Ask Lesko…
This week’s question was sent in by Kenneth, of San Antonio, Texas:

Answer: We are actually one of the companies that have ads like this. The real answer is complicated. First off, think of diet books. More and more diet books are being sold every year and people keep getting fatter. I know some people whose diet book collection weighs more than they do! No matter what information or book you have it takes some effort to get the results. Many people buy diet books or money books and expect to have their problems solved just be buying the book. Or they expect to follow the diet for one day and lose all their weight or make one phone call and get a check in the mail by Friday. This is unrealistic. All of life takes effort, especially for the good things. An advertisement may make it sound like it is real easy to get the money, and it may be for a few people, but the majority of people are going to have to put in some work to get the money, and most don’t want to put in the work that’s necessary. And even if you do apply, there’s still no absolute guarantee that you’ll qualify. There is no absolute guarantee for anything in life except death. But the important thing is that you try.

And by the way, if you get the money in one phone call, give us a call and we’ll put you in our next commercial. These are the people you see in the testimonials.

Each week, I answer a reader’s question about government grants. If yours is selected, you will receive a free copy of my book, “Gobs and Gobs of Free Stuff”. Send your questions to Dixiestjohn@earthlink.net. Please keep your questions short and as specific as possible.

Let The Government Be Your Collection Agency…
...Do you have a supplier in another state that owes you money and won’t pay you back? Well, you don’t have to hire an attorney and pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars to get back your money. Try calling the attorney general’s office in the state of your supplier and complain about how a company in their state mistreated you. Many of these offices will investigate, for free, by contacting the business in question. No matter who is right in the matter the supplier does not likely want a government office on their back because this government office can put them out of business. The smartest business decision is to just give you the money owed and have the problem go away.

Maybe your credit card company does not treat you right and holds back money you think is due to you? Maybe your health insurance company will not pay a claim you think is covered in your policy. Maybe the package delivery service or airline shipping your books did you wrong? Maybe the radio station running your ads cheated you? All of these problems can be handled more effectively, and FOR FREE, by contacting the government agency that regulates the business you are dealing with. All businesses are regulated by some agency. If your customers have a problem with you they can contact the state attorney general’s office or the postal inspector if you sent a book in the mail. So why hire an attorney who will charge you $200 an hour to get you satisfaction, when you can call a government office who will do the job for free? And don’t forget, a business can fight an attorney because the worst they have to lose is that they have to pay what they owe you. But it does not pay a business to fight a government agency, because a government agency has the power to put them out of business.

To find who regulates a specific business call 411 and ask for your state capital operator. Then ask for the office that regulates the profession or organization that hurt you. Or go to www.govengine.com and start by looking for the office of attorney general. You can also try the Consumer Action Website at www.consumeraction.gov/.

Money To Buy Out Your Boss…
… A dream come true can be buying out your boss and running the whole business yourself. You probably always thought you could do it better anyway. Your boss may secretly be looking for someone to buy the place so she can go to the beach and finally write that “Great American Novel” that she has always been dreaming of. Much of the government money available can be used for this. Start looking for federal money in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance published by the U.S. Government Printing Office (www.gpo.gov) or look at it for free on the web at www.cfda.gov. Then check your State Government Office of Economic Development and tell them what you are trying to do. You can call 411 and ask for the state capital operator in your state capital or go to www.govengine.com and click on your state and find the office that is listed under business and/or economic development.

Hate Your Job? Life at a Standstill…?
… Want more time? More money? Feel unfulfilled? My best-seller, Free Money to Quit Your Job, shows you 15,000 government programs to follow your dream of starting a business, getting an education or getting a better job. Don’t just complain about your life. Go to www.howtogetagrant.com/grquita1 and learn how to do something about it!