The idea of obtaining a small business grant, for many small business owners, is great. After all, unlike a loan, grants are funds that don’t have to be repaid. Many of us have heard various sources proclaiming to have the secret to obtaining small business grants and they may very well have a legitimate listing of grantors (organizations or individuals that award funds to others for a specific purpose). But if you don’t know the real deal about small business grants you may be wasting your time and your money.

The idea of obtaining a small business grant, for many small business owners, is great. After all, unlike a loan, grants are funds that don’t have to be repaid. Many of us have heard various sources proclaiming to have the secret to obtaining small business grants and they may very well have a legitimate listing of grantors (organizations or individuals that award funds to others for a specific purpose). But if you don’t know the real deal about small business grants you may be wasting your time and your money.

The allure of these so-called small business grants is understandable. Small business owners are always looking for ways to minimize their financial risk so why not try to get a grant? But there is a lot of hype out there, especially via the Internet. This could leave grant seekers scrambling and disillusioned. But the fact is grants do exist. The hype comes in when people start spreading the myth that there is this catchall fund for any business owner looking to obtain some extra money. That is just not the case. It’s not as easy as filling out an application and you get a check in the mail. You could get turned down. Your business may not meet the criteria. Or worse, you might have had difficulty even finding a grantor.

First, let’s take a look at what type of grants are available. In general, a grant covers the costs for work or supplies for a given period of time such as a grant renewable for two years. And they are typically meant to fund acts or services that improve social conditions, education, community or aid religious or cultural functions in specific areas.

1. Grants to individuals usually for research or education.

2. Grants to for-profit businesses. These are not as numerous as non-profit organizations or non-profit businesses so almost all for-profit business grants come from government agencies. Check out your local agencies for additional details.

There are literally billions of dollars of grant money awarded each year. The people awarded this money have done a considerable amount of background work. Many of the people who seek out grants, or “grant seekers”, have professional grant writers to research and write grant proposals. Grant seekers must research companies and agencies first to find out what they have to offer that fits the grantor’s specifications.

It’s important to realize that many grants that are available cannot be awarded to small businesses because in many cases, a small business is operating for a profit. Foundations cannot give grants to for-profit businesses because they get a special tax exemption that renders this illegal. Knowing that little fact will give you realistic expectations when seeking out grant funds.

Common Grantors

• U. S. government through a variety of agencies
• Corporations
• Foundations
• Charities

Grant Seekers Awarded Funds

• Non-profit businesses or organizations
• Schools
• Churches

Businesses that meet the specific criteria of the grantor in regards to location, ownership, services, or employees.

Your chances of obtaining grants for your business dramatically increase if you have a non-profit organization. A common misconception is that non-profit organizations don’t make money but this is not the case at all it just means that you operate solely to pay wages, vendors, and purchase necessities. At the end of the year you should break even. So if you have an idea that could improve the lives of others through social works than you could possibly find a grant to help you reach your goal.

If you have a small business and need help getting started then be prepared for the challenges ahead. Finding grants may not be easy but they are out there. Checking with local government agencies is the best place to start. There are local small grants in some cities that are available if you either operate your business in certain areas or your business will benefit particular areas.

Whichever type of business you operate, be diligent in your search and make sure you have read the grantor’s requirement carefully. With enough effort, you can have money for your business and reduce your own personal risk of starting a business.

Copyright © 2005-2006 Rhonda Winn – All Rights Reserved. Rhonda Winn offers free small business resources and business plan templates at her web site http://smallbizstartupkit.com Visit today to sign up for a small business e-course and receive three free small business e-books instantly.

Business grants for women are a wonderful option for some women in business. Grants are an excellent source of funding because grants are not repaid. The funding is provided through government resources that have been budgeted for specific needs in our national community. Anyone is open to apply, so business grants for women are available to anyone regardless of gender, race, religion, or background.

The downside of grants is that business grants for women are not widely available. Rather, business grants for women are available only to select businesses and under very strict circumstances, mostly for research or development. Technologically-focused businesses, for example, will find it much easier to qualify for a grant than a craft or retail business. Still, because the money is readily available, even if your business is retail oriented, it may be of benefit to check into business grants for women available for various resources that could assist you in your business.

According to Denouement Solutions and Grants.gov, the United States government and its government organizations offer more 1000 grants totaling more than $400 billion in grant funding every year. Only 10 percent of citizens that qualify for these grants actually apply for grants, despite the fact that many more than that would qualify for a business grant for women. Therefore, even though not every individual or business is eligible for a business grant for women, it certainly can be beneficial to check into business grants for women.

According to grants.gov, the United States government’s web site and main resource for grants that are available and can be applied for, there are more than 1000 grant programs offered by the 26 Federal grant-making agencies. These programs fall into 21 different categories, as defined by the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. While some agencies may list available grants under multiple grant categories, the Federal government lists these categories of grants as follows:

- Agriculture
- Art
- Business and Commerce
- Community Development
- Consumer Protection
- Disaster Prevention and Relief
- Education
- Employment, Labor, and Training
- Energy
- Environmental Quality
- Food and Nutrition
- Health
- Housing
- Humanities
- Information and Statistics
- Law, Justice, and Legal Service
- Natural Resources
- Regional Development
- Science and Technology
- Social Services and Income Security
- Transportation

Even though the category of Business and Commerce may be what appears to have the largest selection of resources for business grants for women, consider the other categories as well, according to where your business falls. For example, if your business is a restaurant, don’t hesitate to check the Food and Nutrition category for grants currently available. If your business is a farm, check the Agriculture section.

Grants aren’t available for starting or opening a new business, and they also aren’t available for expanding on an existing business. However, business grants for women can offer funding for research or development of the business. Many grants may not be applicable to your particular business or needs, but there may be funds available for research, education, or other things needed for you to operate and improve your business to help you achieve business growth.

In general, when considering the options for a business grant for women, do your homework and read carefully. Look at all grants available that might be related to your particular business. Consider looking into the Business and Commerce section, of Grants.gov, as mentioned, and also look into the different categories of grant fundings. Take the time needed to read the grant qualifications carefully. With any business, check into the Regional Development category, as well as the Community Development category. Depending on your location within the United States, it’s possible to qualify for a grant to economically develop certain areas, and expanding a business in one of these areas can possibly assist you in qualifying for a business grant for women.

Additionally, consider applying for an educational grant if returning to school is an option you’d like to consider. Many grants for higher education are offered each year, and not all are awarded. Knowledge is an extremely valuable business tool, and because the money is readily available for those who qualify, and educational grant is an excellent option to consider as a business grant for women.

Contact the specific government agency offering the grant for tips, information, and to ask questions before submitting your application.

Rebecca Game is the founder of Digital Women ®, an online community for women in business. A 30 year entrepreneur and dedicated to helping other women find business loans and business grants. Visit her site: Business Grants for Women

No Credit Or Income Requirements?

Though there is no need to reimburse the money on government grants, claims that state that there is no credit or income requirement in order to get approved for a government grant are far from being truth. Truth is that the requirements for approval are not present in the same sense as on private or federal loans but there is still a qualification process.

You may wonder then, what is needed in order to qualify for a government grant. The idea is that you’ll need to show that your business project is viable, and thus, you’ll need to show that you can be trusted which implies having a fair credit score and the ability to generate a proper income to show proof of the business viability.

Presenting a Viable Business Project

What you need to understand is that prior to requesting a government grant, you’ll need to prepare a presentation of your business project. This obviously implies having a project and not just a mere idea. There must be certain degree of research done with market analysis to prove the viability of the business and the income generation capacity.

Though the money doesn’t need to be returned, the government agency is interested in investing the money in a project that will endure in time and that will keep generating job positions and revenues thus boosting the economy and the welfare of the nation. The particular requirements of each government grant need to be consulted with the government agency that provides them.

Getting Approved For a Government Grant

The key to getting approved for a government grant is to present an appealing business project that shows great feasibility and relates to those fields that the government is interested in promoting. If you don’t meat the requirements for a government grant approval, there is not much you can do about it. Yet, if you do qualify, it is important to be well informed prior to applying in order to take the proper steps and avoid getting declined due to bureaucratic reasons.

If you can’t qualify for a government grant, don’t despair and use the opportunity to consult about government business loans that are sometimes offered with subsidized interest rates and very affordable payments.

Sarah Dinkins is an Expert Loan Consultant at Badcreditfinancialexperts.com where she helps people to repair their credit and to get approved for home loans, unsecured personal loans, student loans, car loans and other types of loans and financial products. If you need more useful articles find them here with more professional advice on the financial field.

Why Would They Do That?

The money is designed to encourage specific kinds of home businesses – it will always be given to you for a very specific purpose. Also, grants almost never cover the full amount of whatever it is you want to do, leaving you to make up the rest yourself. Note that not all grants come from the government — some are given out by charities trying to further a cause, or by local community organisations.

Areas commonly covered by grants include businesses that are exporting (every government wants exports to be more than imports), businesses that will provide training to their employees, businesses that are doing useful research and businesses that are providing services and jobs in places that are candidates for ‘regeneration’. You may also be able to find extra support for environmentally-friendly businesses, and if you’re a woman or a member of an ethnic minority then that could qualify you for a grant too.

Training Grants.

Grants for training are some of the best ones out there — if you’re planning to have any staff, you should really look into them. Basically, you get a grant towards the cost of sending some of your employees on a training course. This is good for you, as you can train your employees more cheaply, and they’ll do a better job afterwards. It’s good for them, as they learn new skills or improve the ones they have and improve their career prospects for the future. Finally, at least in theory, it’s good for the economy, as there will be a greater diversity of skills available in the job market.

Research Grants.

If your business is trying to solve a problem or develop an invention, you might be eligible for a research grant. This can be especially helpful for covering the costs of things like patent applications. Watch out, though — application for research grants is some of the fiercest out there.

Location, Location, Location.

Whatever kind of grant you’re going for, the biggest factor in whether you get it will probably be where you’re based. Grants tend to be locally-focused, and especially targeted in areas that are deemed to have a lacking economy. Since you’re a home business, you might even find it worth researching what is available in each area, and moving home strategically.

It’s Hard to Get a Grant.

Beware of anyone who makes grants look easy. There are all sorts of ‘grant agencies’ who want to take a fee, and ‘guarantee’ that they’ll get you a grant. They won’t – as with almost all things like this, never pay up front. However tempting their offer might seem, you should be applying for the grants yourself, by filling some registration forms work at home. This will generally involve submitting your business plan plus a letter of about 1,000 words saying why you should get the grant in question — you can’t really use the same letter for each grant. Pick what you apply for carefully, as it’s a waste of time to apply when you don’t meet the criteria properly.

If you want to make sure you’re applying correctly, the best thing to do is to phone up the organisation offering the grant — they’ll usually be eager to offer help and advice. Still, don’t be upset if you don’t get chosen, as it might just be that there were more qualifying candidates than there was money.

Other Benefits.

Any grant you get is likely to bring you to the attention of some kind of agency or organisation who want to help you in other ways too. They might help you get onto courses if you’re lacking any business skills, or even provide a mentor to guide you. You might think it all sounds a little silly, but believe me, when you run a home business you need all the free help and grant money you can get.

Reprint Permission: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, as long as the author biography is included, unaltered, and with live hyperlinks intact.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Thomas Choo is the self-styled Internet Entrepreneur specializing in Internet Home Based Business Opportunity. He owns several popular websites in various niche markets. His flagship web site http://www.officialhomebusiness.biz also features quick steps to building niche web sites, as well as a special article series on work from home businesses.

In most cases, grant funds are not designed to start a new business. There are some specialized businesses that may qualify for start-up money, but 99.9% of the businesses in the Yellow Pages would be ineligible to receive start-up funding.

Yet there are millions of dollars available to help fund existing small businesses and employment programs, particularly in the non-profit arena. The trick is to be able to research grants and find those that are most aligned with your company’s mission and/or project.

Grants fall into two categories: government and corporate. They all come with strings attached and very specific requirements for those who will be awarded the funds. Funders look for businesses and organizations that already exist, that will use the money for a worthwhile project, i.e. jobs in inner cities, providing training to specialized groups, etc., and that will develop a self-sustaining program.

For small businesses that are looking for funding for expansion or for equipment purchases, it takes a creative mind to find a grant that could apply to your specific needs while filling the requirements of the grant funders. That is where the services of a professional grant writer are invaluable.

For example, a company may want grant money to fund an expansion of their sales force and they need to add more space as well as hire more people. Well, a for-profit company may not be eligible for any grant money. However, the company could form a non-profit agency that trains veterans or welfare moms in sales skills, leases or buys space to accommodate the workers and gives the new trainees a place to work by leasing them to the for-profit company.

Writing a grant proposal is a very specialized skill, but it can be learned. Grant writing in and of itself is a very lucrative profession. The IRS has established a pay range for grant writers of $50 – $150 per hour. A comprehensive training course is available at www.superchargedgrants.com. Students actually work on a real grant proposal while taking the course. Their work is critiqued by a certified professional grant writer

For those who don’t want to do it themselves or who don’t have the time to do it themselves, they can hire a professional grant writer to research and write the grant proposal. An organization will generally pay between $1,000 – $3,000 for a complete grant proposal and even higher for large proposal amounts. There are also grant review services that help grant seekers tweak their proposals for the best possible chance of funding.

Grants for small business funding are out there. The trick is to know how to present your needs in a way that best aligns with the grant funder’s mission. It isn’t easy, but it is definitely attainable and very much worth the effort.

Kasey McCallum writes on small business, grant writing, alternative funding methods and real estate.

www.superchargedgrants.com

These free grants are not loans and you can get from $500 to $50,000 depending on your needs and you don’t even have to pay back, ever! It is non-taxable and interest free. The amount you claim has to meet with the Government Agencies criteria and should be a lawful amount. Sometimes, it may be a tedious job to get the money through a conventional bank as it will involve a lot of paper work and can be very time consuming. If luck does not favor you, your papers can even be denied. These agencies may not necessarily work under the same policy and requirements that the banks follow.

Unlike in loans, these programs do not require ant credit check, collateral and you do not have to give security deposits. Even if you are bankrupt and have a bad credit history as long as you are a U.S. citizen and you are a tax payer you are entitled to make this claim. It has been reported that there are about 1,400 Federal Programs, 24,000 State Programs, 30,000 Private Foundations and 20,000 Scholarship Programs available.

Free Grants help you:

For Business: If you want to start your own business or want to expand your existing business you can get free grants for that. The government is ever willing to help and cater to your needs. For Personal Need: If your income is low and you cannot afford to buy a house for your family, or you want to repair your home or pay your house rent or you are having difficulties paying your mortgage ,well all these can be taken care of if you go for free grants. Even other personal needs can be paid by the government like to buy a car, childcare, fuel, your living expenses, academic tutoring, clothing, school supplies, housing assistance, legal services, summer camp, debts, music lessons, art lessons, any extracurricular activities, pay bills for senior citizens, real estate taxes, medical expenses and general welfare.

For Education:

Everybody wants their children to go to school and have good education but if your income cannot support that you need not worry as the government can pay for that if you only meet the eligibility criteria. Even if it’s for you that you want the education money, for further studies you can apply for it and get scholarships.

Many hesitate to apply for it as they feel it is not for them or they do not know whom to contact. But this is not the time to hesitate and sit back, do the necessary and achieve your goals with the help of these free grants available just for you.

Jeffrey Meier of Jam727 Enterprises at http://www.Jam727.com offers information articles such as Free Grants information at http://www.jam727.com/FreeGrants/freegrants/index.html

There are over 300 different grants and loans available for small businesses that are just starting out. The grants range from $25,000 up to $1,000,000 depending on the size and projected success rate of the business. There are also grants available to help small businesses grow or expand. Grants are not the same as loans because they do not have to be repaid. A grant is considered free money, as well as an investment to promote the success of small businesses and the U.S. economy. Money for grants comes from income taxes. Obtaining a small business grant does not require credit checks or deposits, even if the owners have experienced bankruptcy in the past.

There are a number of helpful websites that send small businesses government grant packages for free, excluding the cost of shipping. These packages include information on how to find grants, how to prepare a grant request, and how to apply for grants pertaining to a specific business. Some of the providers are Government Funding Solutions, Grant Master, and Grant Wizard.

It is important to be familiar with the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) rules for receiving grants before beginning the process of obtaining one. Although the SBA does not provide grants to small businesses, they do provide helpful suggestions and resources on how to find grants.

In order to qualify for a small business grant, individuals must first become familiar with the 13 CFR 143 document that lists all of the requirements to be eligible for a grant. This document includes information on the pre-award and post-award periods and defines all aspects of applying for a grant and states who is eligible. The CFR is the primary source of rules and regulations for small business grants and must be read before starting the grant writing process.

After reviewing the requirements, prospective business owners must write a grant request. There are professionals who will write a grant proposal or the individuals may complete it themselves. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance is a helpful site that links individuals to resources about federal grants for small businesses. Afterschool.gov gives helpful tips on how to write a small business grant and, although it is geared toward grants for after school programs, includes helpful information for grant writing in general.

Additionally, there are many well-established government and private organizations that provide grants to small businesses. The Department of Justice’s Ten Grant document gives access to grant opportunities for those conducting research in support of law enforcement. The Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration has several grant opportunities for small business owners. They offer about $125 million to businesses that are based in a community setting with special attention to training programs. The Department of Transportation is another organization that offers small business grants. They offer grants to any business willing to help resolve the growing problems with the federal-aid highway program. The Department of Education has a program called e-GRANTS that locates electronic grants online. They have a detailed list of grants available and the necessary applications to fill out. There are a variety of grants available for different groups, all of which have detailed descriptions and contact information. Other organizations that provide small business grants include the EPA, the National Cancer Institute, NOAA, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

About the Author:

TheStudentLoansCenter.com provides information on Stafford student loans and student loans backed by the federal government

The SBIR Program

The SBIR program was created in 1982 as part of the Small Business Innovation Development Act. Eleven Federal departments and agencies are required under this act to reserve a portion of their R&D funds to be awarded to small businesses each year.

To receive an award under this program, a company must be American-owned and independently operated, for-profit, and under 500 employees. Additionally, the principal researcher must be employed at least 51% of the time by the business. There is still some debate as to whether venture-backed companies qualify if the VCs own more than 50%. Speak with the program manager to determine your eligibility if you fall in this category. Each agency determines its own topics and amounts for the awards (within parameters). The websites for all the SBIR programs are listed on the DoD SBIR webpage.

The Latest NSF Solicitation

The NSF has a fairly comprehensive website that covers the submission guidelines. Your life will be easier if you review this site long before the submission deadline. The deadline for the spring 2008 round is December 4, 2007 at 5:00 pm. They are not kidding about the cutoff time. The topic for this solicitation is Emerging Opportunities in Bio & Environmental Technologies (BE), Components & Systems (CS), and Software & Services (SS).

The Phase I will be for no more than $100,000. You are usually notified four to six months after the proposal has been submitted. If you should win this grant, you will begin the grant period on July 1, 2008. You get 2/3 of the money up front and 1/3 at the end. After six months of research, should you find success, you may apply for a Phase II grant up to $500,000. Again, you may apply in either January or July following the completion and, if successful, you will receive your funds in another six months: 25% up front, 15% at the end, and 20% three times during the course of the project. A Phase II is usually 24 months. Please note, that for the first year, you are spreading a small amount of money over a pretty long period. This is useful for funding some of your development with non-dilutive funds, but not particularly useful at providing working capital.

Winning Your Phase I

1. Understand the solicitation topic: they are very serious about sticking to the topics. The topics for this round are fairly broad, but if you have an advanced material that decreases the wind resistance on airplane, it doesn’t matter how fabulous it is, you will have to wait until the Advanced Materials solicitation. Call the program officer and find out if they are interested before you do all the work on the proposal.
2. Have an innovative technology. They are not interesting in funding improvements. Additionally, the proposal is reviewed by someone who really understands the technology. Don’t skimp on technical details because you assume the reader can’t understand it. If the program manager doesn’t understand what you are doing, they will find someone who does. You will not be successful if they don’t have the information necessary to understand what you are attempting to do.
3. Have a good commercialization plan. In Phase I, they are not expecting an extensive business plan, with a full marketing campaign defined. They are, however, going to expect you to have a good understanding of who might buy this product, why they would want to buy it, and what they might be willing to spend for it. They will also expect that the market be at least large enough to support your company as a commercial venture. And never, never say “there isn’t a market yet for my product because it’s so innovative” or “there are no competitors for my product.” When the car was invented, the market was everyone who owned a horse and wagon. Competitors were everything that could move a person from one spot to another.
4. Provide letters of support. It is actually a requirement for this solicitation, but even when it is not a requirement, it’s a really good idea. Good letters of support come from representatives of companies that will be interested in buying your product. In the best case, they will say that they will buy it, if you are successful. Often the easiest thing to do is write the letter yourself and ask the representative to copy it onto his or her company letterhead and sign it. If you include multiple letters, don’t provide the same copy to every supporter – it makes you look like an idiot.
5. Call the program officer well before the due date. Okay, I said this before, but it bears repeating in case you missed it. The program managers whom I have met are intelligent, dedicated people. They are very excited about these technologies and knowledgeable in their areas of expertise. They can be very helpful in developing your proposal. That being said, don’t pester them on little details, they are also very overworked. It’s probably a good idea to call sooner rather than later.
6. Let someone else read your proposal before you submit it. That someone should have a very strong command of the English language and should be able to let you know if the proposal reads well, presents the ideas clearly, and has perfect spelling and grammar. Also, don’t be clever in your presentation of the document. Times New Roman, 12 point, is the font of choice for newspapers, books and magazines for a reason – it’s easy on the eyes. Don’t make your reviewer’s job harder than it needs to be.

Some Technical Notes

1. You are required to submit your proposal through FastLane. Sign up with FastLane and start using it right away. It’s pretty easy once you get used to it, but occasionally there are technical glitches and they will happen to you if you wait until the last minute.
2. Get a DUNS number right away if you don’t have one. Call Dun and Bradstreet at (800) 333-0505 or find them online at http://www.dnb.com/us/. You will need a DUNS number to sign up with FastLane.

Winning Your Phase II

There is no official solicitation for a Phase II. If you have completed your Phase I NSF SBIR, you are eligible to apply for a Phase II grant. You may apply either the two following cycles, meaning if you completed your Phase I in December, you may apply either by January 31st or July 31st. The website has general Phase II proposal instructions.

Should You Apply?

When we are going through the proposals, they may be rejected for many reasons. Mostly proposals are rejected because they do not meet the technical or commercial hurdles required for a Phase II grant. That being said, we periodically hit a proposal that is rejected for other reasons that could have saved the company and the grant committee a lot of time.

If you did not get any positive results from Phase I, don’t bother to submit a Phase II proposal. We occasionally see companies who say basically, “my idea for Phase I didn’t pan out, but I have another idea on how to make this work, so I am submitting for support of that idea.”

That is another Phase I proposal. It gets immediately labeled as such and put in the rejection pile. Don’t bother to submit that as a Phase II proposal.

If you are not confident of your results, check with your program manager. They should be willing to suggest areas that need shoring up and also should let you know if they don’t believe a Phase II proposal will get funded.

Writing Your Phase II Proposal

The number one reason why proposals get rejected is technical. The technical review team is made up of scientists and engineers in the field of study of the solicitation. The program managers have selected a panel that has deep knowledge in your area of research. They expect the technical portion of the proposal to look like any other grant, meaning they expect all the technical information needed to make a decision on the technology, backed up by references. I have heard many times on the panel, “Well, this looks interesting, but I don’t have enough information to determine whether it is feasible.”

If you have never been a university scientist, it behooves you to find one in your area of expertise and ask them to review your technical proposal before you submit it. The technical reviewers are extremely brutal and are unwilling to compromise their review standards.

The second reason, and much lower on the weighting scale, is the commercial section. I have seen a technology where the technical reviewers rave about in its innovativeness and brilliance, but the commercial reviewers can’t see a market at all, and the project gets funded. I have never seen a great business plan, with a mediocre technology, get funded.

The business plan is important though. Should your proposal be placed next to another with a similar quality of technology, the commercialization section can carry the day.

Your plan should clearly define the steps that your company will take to get from R&D to revenues. If you need to build a beta tool after the prototype has been completed, you should have a clear definition as to how you will fund it. Just so you know, everyone says, “we will raise venture capital.”

Raising venture capital is easier said than done. If you are going to say that, make sure that you have some venture capitalists review your technology and write letters of support. Also, have alternative plans in case the VCs don’t drop money in your lap.

Also, a lot of proposals say things like, “We will partner with Honeywell to manufacture our first project. Five years later, we will have $50 million in revenue.”

It seems that people put a lot of thought into getting the first product completed and are good at imagining what will happen in five years, but they seem to skip the whole process in between – which by the way, is the hard part.

Another commercialization issue is the lack of any business experience in the management team. If you can’t afford to hire some one, find some business advisers (and listen to them). You can start with your local S.C.O.R.E. office.

Finally, have someone read over your proposal. It should be written clearly, with no grammar or spelling mistakes. If you can’t find business advisers or someone to read your proposal, why would someone want to give (yes, give) you $600,000.

Good luck.

Please visit my website for more small business finance advice: http://cfoyourself.com

We have seen the tides change and its already far too long since we last heard that this thing is for men and another thing is for women. There no longer is a separation of opportunities, all of us are already playing on the same terrain.

The sad thought though is that there are too few funding resources and help groups for women entrepreneurs. Good funding resources are very crucial especially for women who are just starting out with business. These are rare indeed that is why women tend to resort to using their credit cards, family loans and assistance from friends which in most cases are hardly ever helpful.

But you see, funding for a business is only one of the many problems among women entrepreneurs. They may also be having troubles in building websites, juggling with researches and making press releases for promotions of enterprise. And hey there are also problems in selling one or two of their products and in contacting clients. Though all that may sound difficult, they surely are worth the time of woman entrepreneur.

After all, it is her business she is building in here.

Various organizations and the government has seen all the hardships a woman entrepreneur has to undergo to be able to make it to the supposedly men ’s world. This is why they have provided programs for minority businesses to see what its like being among the greats in the businesses, or at least experience some of their glories.

If you are a woman entrepreneur and is interested in getting grants, the first thing you would want to do is to identify if you are qualified for being given a grant.

The most common qualifications are:
1: Obviously, you should be a female or depending on the program, must come from the minority sector
2: You must own the majority share in your business
3: And your business must show lucrative opportunities for growth

There are a number of government and private agencies that provide grants for women entrepreneurs at various levels.

Say for the federal level, women can undergo self-certification and apply for the Central Contracting Registry database from which many government and private contractors gather to search for small business.

Other programs may be seen on local level where advantages are presented and benefits are granted. Its just the matter of finding them and apply for one that you think you can create your real potentials from.

And because of their own commitment to provide diversified services and opportunities, large corporations are also creating grants for women entrepreneurs. Normally, these large companies were mandated by the federal government to create further services to improve their employment base and to create equal allocations for small business owners.

Well, if you cannot be reached by these options you may always turn to your previous employer and create a market for him, make him your first client. Only, you need to be very careful and see if this would actually pass to your previous boss. If you aren’t tactful enough, you might find yourself facing resignation or losing your job. This might be risky but don’t be too afraid. Most former employers do make outsourcing for their previous workers t help them start create their own businesses. After all, this will provide them with an extra chance to leverage their compliance to their set-aside goals.

Be warned though that the application process for grants may be time consuming and very demanding. Oftentimes, the providers set specific time for waiting periods with regards to the processing of the grants for women entrepreneurs. And sometimes, bureaucracies may even take the toll of having you wait for several months before your certification is released.

And being an applicant, please anticipate unusual questions to pop up. These might include those that you would not normally hear or expect.

Keep in mind also that grants for women entrepreneurs are meant to help you have that break and not to supply you with an unlimited meal vouchers. So be on guard. Many agencies and grant providers may even cut out their services to you out of convenience. Meaning, they need not provide an explanation in doing so. They just do most of the time.

Dwayne Garrett is the author of several eBooks and popular software applications, he also offers an affordable Government Resource that will help you to make sense of getting free grant money. Visit: www.GrantMoneySecretsRevealed.com

Some categories of grants called business grants are usually given to people who come from minority backgrounds so that they can grow their businesses. By growing their businesses they benefit from a source of income and may also benefit other people who are resident in their community too. Some categories of business grants for minorities differ as well, these business grants for minorities apply to people who may not come from any of these minority backgrounds but people who want to develop businesses that will benefit the minority community. You can find these sorts of grants cutting across various industries and establishments. Some of these establishments which benefit from government grants and any related efforts include property construction, businesses located in the midst of the community and self-help projects. People who have no income or employment may also benefit from these grants as well. By using these grants they can counteract the effects of unemployment by getting employed in an establishment that was created with a community grant. Other means of them helping themselves through these grants is by setting up their own businesses or self-help efforts which may benefit them in the long run. You can visit http://www.grants-for-minorities-help.com to find more information on grants for minorities.

Most popularly the sorts of business grants for minorities that seem to be on offer are business grants that get offered to people who fall into the category of entrepreneurs. Most entrepreneurs in minority communities aim to create large scale efforts that tend to benefit people who opt into these funds. By creating large scale efforts these people empower other people in minority communities and engender development within most of these disadvantaged minorities. Other business grants tend to exist for other categories of people and which may be specific to particular minority groups. It is left for the individuals in these minority groups to determine which of these grants suit their purposes and identity best.

Kelly Hunter operates http://www.grants-for-minorities-help.com and writes about Grants For Minorities