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Government Grants to Start a Business: How to

Who hasn’t heard the old adage, “that it’s best to invest in risky ventures with other peoples money”? This is why in today’s shaky economy, more people than ever are using government grants to start a business. It sure beats a high interest loan from a bank!

So then, just what are the details that you will need to know to get started on this path to free government money? After all, you can rest assured that it just isn’t as easy as simply picking up a check.

The first thing that you will need to know is that these types of small business grants are available from the federal, state as well as local governments. Also you can rest assured that while the government may not want their money back, they do none the less want something in return.

It can be any number of things that they will want. Perhaps your state is looking for someone to start up a job training center or a halfway house for non violent parolees. Or perhaps your city is looking for someone so start a day care center in a blighted area.

Those are just quick examples because it really does run the gamut. Also another thing to consider, is that your assistance can go way beyond just government grants to start a business. In fact you may be surprised at some of the assistance that people have gotten.

Like how about free land and a free building from your city and no land taxes for up to twenty years? Sound incredible? Well it happens all the time on both a small, as well as large scale. How large a scale?

Well if there is any type of professional sports complex in your city, you can rest assured that it was financed to a large degree by free government handouts. In fact there is a good chance that the city even evicted home or business owners so they could give the land to the developers.

Three Main Categories of Government Grants to Start a Business

For some reason when most people think of government grants to start a business, the the first and only source they think of is the federal government. For some reason people tend to look to the federal grant programs as being the most lucrative.

The fact is that grants are regularly given out by all three governing entities. That’s federal, state and local. Also you may be surprised at how lucrative a grant you can get from your city, even if it’s already strapped for cash.

In fact distressed cities have been known to hand out lucrative land grants to entrepreneurs in the hopes of seeing their economies get a boost. Not only can your business create jobs but it will also generate tax revenue for the city.

Also there’s nothing to stop you from getting government assistance from all three levels of government. Federal state and local. In fact it’s quite common and the one nice thing about grants from a city is that if they don’t already exist, you can petition the city to create one.

You can petition them through the city council to change zoning variances for you as well. However; there is one important thing to keep in mind if you plan to go this route. That is that your plan better be “real good” and benefit the city well.

Or if you don’t have a business plan how about this. Would you believe that both state and federal governments have lists of business types drawn up that they’re ready and waiting to hand out government grants to start a business for. Also in many cases they will even provide you with the training you need to run a business, if don’t already know how.