Business Grants

[Deege]

Hey all as some of you know I'm 17 years old and trying to start up my own business, i have a couple of mini business ventures, that are getting me by while I'm still in high school. But I want bigger things for my future in the business world, i want to reach out more people, and i want to be able to help people and follow what i love doing, but as i have found out the hard way, it takes a little capital and is a bit difficult for a teenager to start up. Recently i was turned on to government grants and i was wondering if there were any seasoned pros around here who know if there is any that i might apply to such as a young entrepreneur's program or others, even a point in the right direction would be great.

Working 110% on my future. I'll get there. =]

Thank you all so much, i would love to hear from you,

-Deege

P.S. I really need to become more frequent here, every time i come back i spend hours trying to catch up ;-)

Edit: Here's a link for others that are interested. http://www.business.gov/finance/financing/

 

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[djs13]

I'm not an expert on government grants, so there are probably more educated people who can help you on this subject. But it seems like there's been alot of talk on the forum lately about venture capital investors, government grants, etc.

I've been reading "How To Get Rich," by Felix Dennis (who is like MJ, someone who is rich, teaching other people how to become rich - unlike some other "gurus" who don't practice what they preach). This book is pretty good so far, but the part I like the most is the section about financing.

Dennis breaks down financing in a few ways. He says that the banks are the sharks who are difficult to attract. And when attracted, often require a "piece of the action" in return for a large business loan. In fact, some business loans require a piece of the action ontop of the interest and the entire loan being paid back. Being a slave to "loan sharks" is difficult.

He then explains that venture capitalists are dolphins who are interested in a quick profit. They are difficult to obtain and they don't have a large interest in what's good for the company - but instead how large their return is. Dennis believes they are "dolphins" because dolphins seem more gentle, but in fact kill sharks in mass quantities with their hard beaks.

His last classification is the fish. The fish are made up of small personal loans from family members, personal savings, favors from friends, workable suppliers/vendors, small investors, etc. The fish can be leveraged into something huge, without having to sell equity or be in dept to a creditor. The path of the fish is essentially bootstrapping your business to something big, so you can create other ventures which are even bigger.

I think the government grant option is going to be difficult for you. The government is interested in new technologies which will create jobs in America, mostly from proven companies looking to expand.

My dream is to own a hospitality industry business which has a collection of hotels/bars/apartment buildings/nightclubs, but I realize I cannot obtain capital from traditional sources like the government, banks or VC's.

I've instead found a different venture that interests me which also allows for high growth without having to deal with the sharks or dolphins. So I'm basically leveraging this venture so I can create more capital for the hospitality business.

If you cannot find a "boot-strappable" business, you will have to look into creative financing. The best ideas I've heard are going to an existing owner of a business in an industry you want to start and asking if they'd like to partner for a new venture. I also read an idea on this forum from someone who literally sold percentages of their profits instead of equity. For example, the investor got x% of every product sold, instead of x% of ownership of a company which isn't as appealing to an investor for a new venture.

 

[Deege]

Hmmm some good tips there, thank you djs13 (funny thing about your username my name is DJ and my favorite number is 13 =)). Thanks for the input, maybe i can use some of it =] I think i may have a "fish" too. =]

Now calling out all Government Grant pros, you know if theres anything out there for me?