ForumsFinancing Tips

Thanks so much creditbuilder, I appreciate your advice and I'm not going to shoot the messenger. I believe I have been scammed by www.grantfundingresearch.com as I ordered a informational cd and only paid $1.98 in shipping, only to find several complaint sites about them. Others said they ordered the cd as well but then had $69.99 debited out of their account or credit card without authorization. Thank god I found out early enough to block anything from them, we'll see what happens? I am very leary about the whole grant issue now. I see SCORE come up often in this forum, what is it and how might it benefit me.
thanks again.

Grants are awesome! If you can find one appropriate to your need, and follow directions, fill out simple paperwork and meet deadlines, you are in! Now is the time to apply, because the federal fiscal year ends September 30, so they are really in a squeeze right now, needing to get rid of the extra money from the Stimulus Bill. If you apply right away, you have the best chance possible to be considered.
As danil said, www.grants.gov is the place to go . . . if you want to poke around and look for yourself. Since you have already run a successful pet business, and have a business plan you have some other good options. Even with a grant you may want or need to supplement with an SBC loan or hard money - and it looks better on a grant if you have matching funds or some contribution to not look like a desperate newbie to business, or someone who would squander the money away. Maybe a pet association or local veterinarian would invest.
You might consider phoning the federal commerce department, which admininsters the business grants, to expedite your getting the right grant name and form. If you, your business partner, or your plan for employees meet the disabled, veteran, women or minority requirements, you could also qualify for multiple grants.
Another quick way to get going would be to look up National Grant Conferences and find out where they are putting on their half day seminar in your area - or get to one that you can make. They give a $1000 special discount enrollment to attendees, and a six month unlimited use of their service to submit grants. The books you get when you then attend the two-day training are worth the price alone, because all the info you need it organized. For the six months you submit your business plan to them (as many as you want) and they revamp it and then advise you which grants you might qualify for (sorry about the dangling preposition there). You then fill out the forms and send to them, they go over it and submit to the feds. They have a relationship built over time, so they know the people and it goes better.
I will be back from my vacation next Thursday, if you need more info - good luck!