Money
To Start Or Expand A Business-Part II
Because there are literally
thousands and thousands of government money programs available
for starting or expanding a business,
almost every living person is eligible for something. Every program
has different requirements. For some programs you have to have
some of your own money in your pocket to be able to get government
money. For other programs you don’t have to bring any money
to the table. And still for other programs, you have to be flat
broke and out of work before they give you money to start or expand
your business.
Every year over 1 million entrepreneurs
get money from the government including many of the rich and
famous like:
- Donald Trump
- H. Ross Perot
- Nike Shoes
- Federal Express
- George W. Bush,
and
- Dick Cheney
So why don’t
you use this government money too? It’s
out there waiting for any citizen, or even a non-citizen (as
long as you are here legally), to take advantage of. You just
have to
know where to go. Here are a few sources to get you started….
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
can you get a list of all the accountants in your area to tell
them about your new product or service? 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 the Census
and other
government agencies. This is where the multibillion dollar companies
get their marketing data and it’s where the high priced
consultants also get it and then resell it to clients at outrageous
fees. That
is what I used to do when I was a consultant.
To get detailed
information about data available for your state contact your
local Census State Data Center in your state capital
by calling your state capital operator at 411 or going to www.census.gov/sdc/www/.
You can also get lots of free and low cost marketing help from
your local Small Business Development Center. You can find
them by contacting 800-8-ASK-SBA or http://www.sba.gov/sbdc/sbdcnear.html. $150,000
To Hire Certain Employees Or To Open An Employee Day Care
Center…
The government will give you:
- $8,500 if you hire someone who has
a certain income\
- $150,000 to open an on site day care center
for employees
- $3,000 if you hire someone from a certain zip
code
- $44,000 for buying new computers
- $2,500 to hire a teacher during
the summer
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 the Internal Revenue Service at 202-622-5000 or
800-829-1040 (Business Tax Questions) or go to www.irs.ustreas.gov/formspubs/.
Money
To Start A Business In A Small Town…
… The government is so concerned about creating jobs in small towns they
gave someone $150,000 to start a winery in the middle of Iowa. See www.rurdev.usda.gov/rd/newsroom/2003/vadglist03-final.pdf.
There is a lot of money and help to start a business in a small town. The
government is concerned about unemployment in small towns so it has committed
a number
of loans and grant programs to encourage almost any kind of entrepreneuring
venture. Montana gave out a $25,000 grant to help small businesses in rural
areas figure out how to get government contracts. (See www.rurdev.usda.gov/mt/News/Montana/2004/63004RBEG.htm)
So check out the small towns in your area. Who cares if you have to drive
an additional hour to work if someone is going to give you $150,000 to start
your
business? A good place to start to see what kind of money is available is
your local U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Office www.rurdev.usda.gov/recd_map.html. Free
Help Writing Business Plans Or Grant Applications…
…
Don’t believe it when some professional tries to scare
you into thinking how hard it is to write a business plan or
fill out a money application. This is the least of your problems.
Plus, there is plenty of free help in filling them out when the
time comes. The first thing you must do in getting government
money is get a copy of the application that you believe may give
you the money you need. You should never investigate hiring a
professional before you even know where you are going to apply
for the money. And once you get an application in hand and you
think you need help, contact your local Small Business Development
Center at 800-8-ASK-SBA or www.sba.gov/sbdc/sbdcnear.html.
SBDC’s will help you for free or for next to nothing. You
can also get help from the best grant writing experts in the
country at a non-profit organization called The Foundation Center.
Their materials are available for free in libraries all over
the country. You can find out where by contacting them at 212-620-4230
or www.fdncenter.org.
By the way, I’ve seen a lot of applications
for government money and many of them were so sloppy and unintelligible
that any teacher would have given them a flunking grade, but
they still got their money! And some applications are only one
page long and you can get up to $150,000 for filling them out!
Worrying about filling out an application before you have one
in hand is like buying a prom dress before you are invited to
the prom. First things first.
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. Government money programs can be used for
this too.
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.
$12 Million To Start A Really Big Business…
…
No matter how much money you need there probably is a program
for you. You can also collect large amounts of money by putting
together money from a number of programs. The government also
offers venture capital through the Small Business Administration’s
Small Business Investment Companies (SBIC). Over 75,000 entrepreneurs
received money from this source to get their dreams off the ground
including the big guys like Compaq, Apple, Federal Express and
Staples. See how they can help you at Associate Administrator
for Investment, U.S. SBA, 202-205-6510 or www.sba.gov/inv. Many
states also have venture capital programs or will help you locate
private venture capitalists and state governments can also help
you prepare the necessary paperwork. A good place to look for
this kind of help 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.
Get A $5,000 Grant With Bad Credit…
…
Maybe you don’t need a bunch of money to get your idea
off the ground. Maybe all you need is just a few thousand dollars
to get started. Well, there are hundreds of non-profit organizations
that offer small grants and easy loans aimed at people who would
never be able to get money from traditional sources. It is difficult
to locate all of these groups around the country but two good
starting places are:
- Association for Enterprise Opportunity at
703-841-7760 or www.microenterpriseworks.org/nearyou/ and
- The
Foundation Center at 212-620-4230 or www.fdncenter.org
Money For Teenagers
To Start A Business…
…
You can be as young as 12 and and get $5,000 to start a business.
The 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 products in a small town using your nephew who lives
in that small town you never visit. Keep this in mind, you
never
know when someone in your family may need this. It’s
part of the Farm Operating Loan program from the U.S. Department
of
Agriculture at 202-720-1632 or www.fsa.usda.gov/dafl/youth%20loans.htm.
Free Or Discounted Rent, Office Supplies, Management
Services, etc…
…
The concept of “incubators” offers new entrepreneurs
a place to start their business with free use of, or discounts
on, everything you need to start and run a business. Some
of these “incubators” even help with getting money
for your project. It’s a great support system for new ventures.
To find “incubators” near you contact National
Business Incubator Association at 740-593-4331 or www.nbia.org.
Money
For Women And Minorities To Start A Business…
…
Two out of every three businesses are started by women, and women
are more successful at starting businesses then men. So the
government has set up a number of money programs especially for
woman who
want to start or grow a business. There are also special
programs for minorities and those with disabilities. To find
these programs
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.
$50,000 Grant To Train Your Employees…
…
The more employees you have the more money you can get. The government
wants your employees to be the best trained in the world so America
can compete in a world economy. You can get money to train your
employees in almost any skill including computers, customer service
or even stress management. Although it is a federal program the
money is distributed through local training boards in your state
capital. 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.
$14,000
To Learn To Operate A Business…
…
If you are out of work, you may be able to get money to live
on as well as money to pay for entrepreneur training in order
to run your own business. These programs are run with federal
money and state money. Each state has different rules and the
main idea is that they have money for you to train to get a better
job along with money to live on while you are training. And your
new job can be starting your own business. These programs are
run through your state One-Stop Career Center located in your
state capital but will have additional offices all over your
state. You can find your local office by calling 411 and asking
for the state capital operator in your state capital. Ask for
your local “One-Stop Career Center”, or go to usworkforce.org/onestop/onestopmap.html.
Don’t
Stop Here…
…
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. |
