We have all seen those late night infomercials and boldly embossed postcard mailers boasting of guaranteed government grants for a $40, one-time-only application fee. You will learn all of the hidden secrets of how to find and secure these elusive funds. Grants are available for everything and anything from buying that new car to finally paying off that overbearing student loan. These offers sound much too good to be true.
In fact, they are not true.
Grant applications take time and a lot of hard work. You will need to write a really good, detailed business plan that clearly outlines what your business entails and then rework it into a grant proposal that must be submitted to the individual granting organizations. Government grants are highly competitive and there are many different agencies which distribute the funds. These can be at the federal, state, city or even county level; each having very separate and unique requirements.
You will need to do careful research to determine what is required by each individual organization for each type of grant you plan to pursue and then skew your application to meet those requirements. Your business will most likely not qualify for most of the available grant opportunities. The local chapter of the Small Business Association (SBA) can often help with business plan preparation and grant proposal writing for a nominal fee. Another service that can prove helpful is that of Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. (PPLSI) business plan. These plans provide both quality legal services and business consultation by a panel of expert retired business owners for a relatively low monthly fee.
Invest your planning budget wisely. You are much better off paying the SBA or the PPLSI fees. You may even benefit more by going to an experienced independent plan/proposal writer rather than one of those $40 scam artists. These offers are usually really just a list of possibly outdated grants which are freely available to anyone who knows where to look.
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