Money To Start Or Expand A Business

UNCLE SAM WANTS YOU TO START A BUSINESS or expand your current business. The job of the government is to help create jobs. So, if you start a small business, you are creating a job for yourself. The government will love you for that. And if you start a big business, and create 50 jobs, the government will love you even more. If you start a giant business, the government will love you so much they may create a new law to legally adopt you!

The same is true if you want to improve your business, make it more profitable, or if you want to make your employees more efficient, or sell into new markets. The government needs as many people as possible to be starting and expanding businesses. They need more and more people working and increasing their wages. All this creates prosperity for America and generates more taxes for the government.

The government shows its love for job creators by giving them money. Under the guise of making America stronger, elected officials have created hundreds and even thousands of programs at the federal, state and local levels to start and expand businesses. These programs are for big businesses to get bigger, small business to get to the next level, or for the solitary dreamers to make their dreams come true.

Here are a few programs to get you started. I hope this information helps you do what you always wanted to do in life. It is not meant to be a definitive listing of available money but only a starting point for you to realize that there are literally billions of dollars out there waiting for every American citizen to fulfill their dreams. You just have to know where to go.

$200,000 From Washington To Open Or Expand A Business…
… You can actually get up to $1,000,000 in grants and/or loans to open or expand a business from the U.S. Federal Government alone. There are over 100 different money programs available from offices ranging from the U.S. Small Business Administration to the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the U.S. Department of Commerce. The best source identifying all federal government money programs available is the book called 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. Another good starting place to find anything in the federal government is a free service called the Federal Information Center at 1-800-FED-INFO or www.pueblo.gsa.gov/call.

$150,000 To Open A Business In A Certain Zip Code…
… In addition to the federal government you should also contact your state government. Every state has a number of money programs for people to start or expand a business in their state. Governors compete with other governors to see who can create the most jobs, and that’s why they offer money for people who create jobs in their state. You don’t even have to be a residence of the state. You can live in one state and put your business in a state that offers you more money. States also offer special money for entrepreneurs to put their business in certain areas of the state or in certain areas of a city. There are also other money programs to build buildings or renovate old buildings. Some of this money comes from federal sources which is given to the states and distributed to entrepreneurs in the state. Other money is generated from local taxes. And some states use the winnings from their lottery money to give to entrepreneurs to create or expand businesses.

Many states offer programs from more than one agency. So it may take some time to find all the programs in a given state. A good place to start is your State Government Office of Economic Development located in your state capital. 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.

$10,000 To Put A New Sign On Your Business…
… Most local governments have money programs to help businesses in their area. Be sure to check your city, your county or your local development agency. The money for these programs can originate from the federal government, state government or local generated taxes. These programs can be for buildings, equipment, working capital, hiring employees or for local beautification projects like painting the front of your store and putting up a new sign. If you are opening up a business, you can shop around at different cities and counties to see who may have the most money for you. If you don’t know who to contact, call directory assistance and ask for the mayor of the city or the head of the county government. The top office is always the best place to start. You can also go to www.govengine.com and click on your state. You will see a list of all the counties and cities in your state along with the relevant web sites.

Let The Government Be Your Biggest Customer…
Question: Do you know what is better than a $100,000 government grant?
Answer: A $100,000 government contract. Because with a grant you are most likely to get it once and with a contract you can keep getting it over and over again.

Question: Do you know who buys more of everything than anyone else in the world?
Answer: The government, including federal, state, local and county.

Someone has to sell all those products and services to the government and it might as well be you. You just have to find out who in the government buys your product and figure out the paperwork on how to get paid.

But don’t worry too much about the work required and the paperwork involved, because there are offices that will help you do all this and they will do it FOR FREE. Find your local, state and federal financed Small Business Development Center office by contacting 800-8-ASK-SBA or www.sba.gov/sbdc/sbdcnear.html. Or you can also contact one of the local free offices financed by the Department of Defense’s Defense Logistics Agency at 703-767-1661 or www.dla.mil/db. Tell them you need help selling to the government.

Remember one thing. Selling to the government is like going elephant hunting. When you bag one of these babies you have meat for a long time.

Get Free Legal Help, Free Financial Help, Free Marketing Help…
… Have you ever wished you could call a great lawyer for legal advice and have her do the work for free? Have you ever dreamed about calling a great financial consultant for advice on a money matter and get your answer for free? Have you every worried about how in the world you would pay for a PR agency to promote your store so everyone would know how great you are? Have you ever wished you didn’t have to pay to hire a management consultant to show you the secrets of how to double your sales in one year?

You can get the answer to all these questions by knowing about the government’s best kept secret: Small Business Development Centers. There are over 1,000 of these offices around the country that will give you all these services and more for free or for very little cost. You don’t even have to know how to spell “entrepreneur”. They will sit down with you and help with any business problem you have. Don’t pay for something when you can get it FOR FREE. Find an office near you by contacting 800-8-ASK-SBA or www.sba.gov/sbdc/sbdcnear.html.

Let The Government Be Your Collection Agency…
… Do you have a supplier in another state who 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 product 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 product by mail. So why hire an attorney who will charge you $200 and 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/.

Start A Business With No Money And No Products…
… Who says you have to have an actual store to have a store? And who says that you even have to have any products to have a store? You can start a virtual store on the web. For this you only need pictures of the products and a source to get the products when someone actually buys them from your website. Call a dozen suppliers of the product you are interested in and see if they would go into a 50/50 partnership when sales come in. You can find suppliers for any product from books in the library. Once you learn how to bring in sales, you can get your own store and keep all the money yourself. If you want to start a bookstore you can contact local hospitals, office buildings or other big structures, and make a deal with them to sell products in the lobby for people hanging out all day. And then contact a local bookstore to share the profits with them. Or you can approach a local bookstore and tell them that you will figure out how to sell books to the government and want a 50/50 deal. The bookstore has nothing to lose and you get to have a business with no money or books. And how are you going to learn to sell to the government? The government will teach you for free. Contact your local government sponsored Small Business Development Center at 800-8-ASK-SBA or www.sba.gov/sbdc/sbdcnear.html.

MANY, Many, More…
… The programs mentioned above represent only a small portion of the government money available for business. I encourage you to keep looking for the ones that meet your needs. If you are looking for more programs like this as well as information about low interest loans, loans you don’t have to pay back, government contracts, government grants and 10,000 other sources for starting or expanding a business, check out my new book Free Money for Entrepreneurs at www.howtogetagrant.com/grentrepreneurs1.