Tweet

Grants For Business Owners – Do they exist?

Guest post by: Joseph Lizio

Article Overview: Grants can be a great way to fund a growing company. But, grants are not available to most businesses; they are just not designed that way. However, with the right research and looking in the right directions, there are still grant funds to be had.

Grants For Business Owners – Do they exist?

Since the market recession some 18 months ago, there has been a tremendous amount of talk regarding grants for business owners. And, with that talk there comes a lot of confusion. Most government grants programs are not designed to provide capital directly to business owners - although there are a few exceptions. Most federal grant programs provide money to state and local government entities (state, city, county) for them to distribute out into their communities. These grant funds come with many rules and are usually only provided to businesses that are either non-profit or that provide products and service that the local governments deem necessary for their areas - like road construction (as there are not many non-profit road construction companies).

There are very few government grants that go directly to business owners - especially if the business owner just simply wants to start or grow their for-profit business and does not provide services that benefit everyone at large.

But, the recent stimulus plan did provide some companies in some areas direct funding - like some recreational vehicle manufactures in the mid-west - but, these company were deemed by our government to be in the utmost need and it was an action that was meant to save jobs and entire communities as many of these communities relied on these manufacturers completely (no other industry to replace those vehicle makers should they shut down). Plus, they (the industry) were able to lobby the government for help - something that most small business owners cannot do on their own.

For those businesses seeking grants, there are still a few options not including the standard innovation research grants or non-profit grants (programs like SBIR, STTR or grants.gov) that could possibly offer business owners some support:

- National Association for the Self-Employed - Business Development Grant Program.

- Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance - contains detailed program descriptions for 2,036 Federal assistance programs

- Smallbusiness.com/wiki/Federal_grants - Complied information regarding grant opportunities and possible resources.

Also, it is noted that several states are stepping up to help their local small businesses - like California (ca.state.gov) and Texas. These states realize that their fortunes and the prosperity of their people rely heavily on the foundation of small businesses and are stepping up to fill a needed funding gap.

Lastly, if your business is seeking grant funding - don't be afraid to look at and contact other businesses (usually large multi-national companies) like MillerCoors or IBM. Many of these large organizations provide grants funds to businesses in their local communities or for businesses that provide products and services that can make larger business's operations better - some not only provide grant funds but may become your best customer as well.

When seeking grants - realize that there are many, many grants out there but many are jot designed for or can be accessed by your average Main Street business. If your business feels that grants are its best chance to survive, do your research and homework on the opportunity - there are still grant funds available for small business - but it will take work and effort on owners part - just because the grant money is free in the since of not having to pay it back - you still have to work for it.

Related Articles
  The Small Business Grant Misnomer
  3 Bitter Truths You Must Know When Applying for Business grants for women
  Federal Grant Resources
  8 Ways to Better your Chance of Getting Business grants for women
  The Recession and Canadian Government Grants For Business
  Small Business Grants and Loans
  Small Business Grants -- Fact or Fiction
  Four Places to find Small Business grants for women
  Indirectly Accessing Government Grants
  Simple Steps To Finding Small Business Grants
  UK Business Grants thousands available
  Small Business Loans with Bad Credit
  Grants 101
  Why Do It Yourself When You Can Still Get Grants For Loft Insulation?
  Government Business Grants in Canada. Are They a Myth?
  Types of Finance
  10 Ways To Fund Your Business
  Koch Industries Financing Climate Denial
  Business grants for women: How to Enhance Your Chance of Approval
  You Can Access Government Grants, You Just Have To Understand The Game

Article Tags: business, financing, funds, grants, money



Related Forum Posts
A ton of Great Women - You might want to profile Teresa Cascioli of LakePort Brewery. She has an amazing story! I met her at at the celebratory luncheon for the Profit/Chatelaine Top 100 Women Business Owners. The Top 100 list is also a great resource for inspirational stories of Women Entrepreneurs.
Boosting Self Confidence - Thanks Barbara! That is great advice. It goes to removing Toxic people and situations from your life. I like to remind people that they were born - thus granting them worthy to exist. No one can take away or add to your self worth. Simple but true. If you woke up this morning - you deserve to exist. J
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: Fashion - Nana, At you choice you may choose to research the fashion industry a bit more. There is obviously a Business side to it as well as a creative side to it. Find out all the types of roles that exist in the industry. Some that come to mind merchandiser, Window dresser, floor plan organizer (someone needs to determine the layout of a retail store to best sell the goods), fashion consultant (Yorkdale mall has fashion consultants that take you around and tell you what looks great on you - you also get a cut from the sales). This is what I've observed from the business side, you may know more. All these roles I've written about will help you grow as a business person and make the contacts in the industry...possible stepping stones. But further more you'll also notice that you need to develop some business acumen possibly tailored to the fashion industry. When I was at Ryerson I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur someday too. I knew I needed some basic business courses to get a foundation to build from. I was in a Tech/Business Major (I'm sure Fashion has something similar - Fashion/Business Major) and then started to create my own minor. Here are some of the courses I took: Marketing, Law, Entrepreneurial, Management, consulting.. and a few more . Also, I'm sure that within the Fashion Major there are also courses you have to take where you can use your creative side and create designs. Typically within a Major there are focuses you can choose - ask the program coordinator. Your next step is to do some research. 1. Visit Commercial retail outlets like H&M, Banana Republic, or jacob. Tell the Manager your doing some research for University and would like to know what types of Corporate roles exist aside from the roles on the retail floor (like sales associates). If she asks you to elaborate then you can use some of the roles I mentioned above. 2. With this information in hand you can visit the Ryerson Fashion department and inquire with the Program Coordinator on what focus within the Fashion Degree would help you the most. In my program there were 5 different focuses within the Tech/Business program. Just a quick aside. A good friend of mine too has a dream of fashion. he want to create a niche fashion line tailored to skinny men (I can't mention the style). He's in Business school but not in the Fashion program... He's in International Business but all his Minor courses are tailored to running a successful business ... similar to the ones I mentioned above for myself. I have no doubt in my mind he'll make it 'cos his vision is that strong.
Artist vs Biz Owner - I think there is a fine line between "artists" and "business owners". Artists begin with their passion and self expression and try to find a market for it. e.g. I like painting flowers and I think people out there like flowers too so that is what I am going to sell. This is where hard-selling starts and the starving-artist persona. Business Owners (who can be artists too) first find out wants and needs in the market and deliver that. e.g. Ashley may have noticed that MySpace had some real yukky backgrounds and thought I can do better - then filled that need. would love if Ashley were on this site too...


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Working Across Borders

Clues to Increase Sales -- Listen to the Buyer

The Value of Small Businesses

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.