Today, I got a heartwarming email from an official of the Department of Health and Human Services. The email was in response to the advice I wrote in our Consult Your Guides section entitled “Free Government Grants to Start a Small Business.” . HHS is one of the member agencies collaborating on Grants.gov, the government portal for federal grants.
The email reads:
I truly appreciate your response to the question regarding where to find grants for small businesses. As a member of Grants.gov, we consistently receive these type of inquiries. It is really hard to dispell the myth that there aren’t many offers for grants for small businesses and people aren’t satisfied to hear about the low-interest loans. Thank you for your efforts to get that right information out there.
I never realized the extent of the myth of availability of grants to start a business until I became actively involved in Yahoo Answers. A lot of people believe that the government is giving away free money so they can start a hair salon business, a daycare business or a restaurant. In fact, one of the reasons I am now the #1 Best Answerer for the Business and Finance category (yipee!) is because of the large number of people asking about grants to finance their businesses.
The official followed up her email by saying:
I am borrowing some of the content you put into that response for future questions on small businesses. It was just a great frank answer, that provided sound information for small businesses and also provided them with go-to places within the government/foundations to garner more information.
She really made my day.
It is always great when someone recognizes a great effort. May I also cogratulate you.
What the official demonstrated was a real important concept in creating a good customer experience that was instrumental in creating a good working relationship.
Maybe small businesses should learn a lesson and follow her example by learning to recognize their customers for the little and big things. It would surprise them how positively their customers will respond.
It is always great when someone recognizes a great effort. May I also cogratulate you.
What the official demonstrated was a real important concept in creating a good customer experience that was instrumental in creating a good working relationship.
Maybe small businesses should learn a lesson and follow her example by learning to recognize their customers for the little and big things. It would surprise them how positively their customers will respond.
you might want to check out this site on business grants
you might want to check out this site on business grants
And the site that the anonymous poster is EXACTLY the kind of site people MUST STAY AWAY FROM. I just published this to highlight what people should look out for and run away from.
And the site that the anonymous poster is EXACTLY the kind of site people MUST STAY AWAY FROM. I just published this to highlight what people should look out for and run away from.
Unfortunately I’m going to have to disagree with you. I do grant research for a living and one of the things that I must pint out is that its not only the government that has grant programs. There are fondations, organizations and even other businesses that have grant programs as well. As far as there being no grant programs to help start a business – again I’m going to have to disagree with you. There are just too many examples cited on my grants page and blog to prove that there are indeed grants that individuals have received to start their own business. My very first client was a single mother who wanted to continue her education and start her own daycare business and I managed to find her 4 sources of funding including an organization that especially provides funding help to single mothers to help pay their student loans.
Matthew Lesko – love him or hate him – started out working for businesses where he found them grant programs that they were eligible to apply for. Just reading the local portion of my newspaper lets me know that big businesses receive government grants all the time.
At one point in time the government provide money to people who didn’t necessarily have to be professional farmers to grow weed – for the purpose of help “patients that they specially deemed needful of such product” – those “farmers” got monthly checks to grow this product.
I’m currently in an argument with someone now who has commented on my blog how the SBA doesn’t provide grants even though my blog entry clearly states that they do.
The official government website itself list grant programs that are “open to all” to apply which means individuals, for-profit and small businesses to apply for.
And finally there is the question of semantics. “It is really hard to dispell the myth that there aren’t many offers for grants for small businesses and people aren’t satisfied to hear about the low-interest loans.” “Aren’t many” means that there some – not many (according to them not me) but some.
In my own honest opinion I think the reason that “people aren’t satisfied to hear about the low-paying loans” is because they have to pay back the loan money and their general consensus is that they don’t want to go deeper in debt – which is the same reason cited by the people affected by storm-related disasters who want the grant programs and not the loan programs offered by FEMA.
Unfortunately I’m going to have to disagree with you. I do grant research for a living and one of the things that I must pint out is that its not only the government that has grant programs. There are fondations, organizations and even other businesses that have grant programs as well. As far as there being no grant programs to help start a business – again I’m going to have to disagree with you. There are just too many examples cited on my grants page and blog to prove that there are indeed grants that individuals have received to start their own business. My very first client was a single mother who wanted to continue her education and start her own daycare business and I managed to find her 4 sources of funding including an organization that especially provides funding help to single mothers to help pay their student loans.
Matthew Lesko – love him or hate him – started out working for businesses where he found them grant programs that they were eligible to apply for. Just reading the local portion of my newspaper lets me know that big businesses receive government grants all the time.
At one point in time the government provide money to people who didn’t necessarily have to be professional farmers to grow weed – for the purpose of help “patients that they specially deemed needful of such product” – those “farmers” got monthly checks to grow this product.
I’m currently in an argument with someone now who has commented on my blog how the SBA doesn’t provide grants even though my blog entry clearly states that they do.
The official government website itself list grant programs that are “open to all” to apply which means individuals, for-profit and small businesses to apply for.
And finally there is the question of semantics. “It is really hard to dispell the myth that there aren’t many offers for grants for small businesses and people aren’t satisfied to hear about the low-interest loans.” “Aren’t many” means that there some – not many (according to them not me) but some.
In my own honest opinion I think the reason that “people aren’t satisfied to hear about the low-paying loans” is because they have to pay back the loan money and their general consensus is that they don’t want to go deeper in debt – which is the same reason cited by the people affected by storm-related disasters who want the grant programs and not the loan programs offered by FEMA.