why did the genie run out of wishes because he was taken for granted today is all about how to
successfully apply and win a small business grant now here's the truth if it was easy
to get a small business grant then everyone would have one so if you really want to win a grant you
need to stand out now the great news is there are millions of people who get small business grants
for their startup expansion sustainability and research purposes for their business
so it definitely definitely is possible and there are some straightforward guidelines that you need
to know about and even some hidden secrets that will help ensure you get a small business grant
so if you want to get all of this and more make sure you stay tuned and watch this entire video
okay so let's go ahead and start with the obvious which i found is actually not so
obvious for everyone which is step number one start your business i know it's crazy right
if you actually want a small business grant then you need to actually have a business
and too many times when i talk to people they are looking for a startup grant before they actually
have a startup business you know a lot of times they say something like hey sean i have a great
idea for a business but i don't know how i'm going to raise money for it how can i get a grant and i
understand the thought process because you don't want to start a business or start anything that
you can't finish but listen small business grants are awarded to small businesses so here's what you
could do okay what i want you to do is start by creating a business plan and if you haven't
started a business before then your plan should be as thorough as possible i'm gonna be honest
okay the business plan is actually really more for you than it is for the grant because when
you're making a business plan it really forces you to think about everything right like you need to
think about your business goals what makes your business unique and different you also need to
start thinking about your marketing strategy and especially how much money you actually
need and heck after you actually go through your business plan and figure out everything you need
you might find that you don't need as much startup grant money or capital that you initially thought
all right so make sure you get that in place first okay moving along to step number two pay close
close attention to the requirements of the grant so before okay before before before you actually
apply for a grant make sure you read every single sentence for the requirements of the grant and
make sure you actually meet them in your business for example you may see a grant that requires that
you are a minority owned business and maybe you are so great you pass that requirement
and then next the grant may also require that you have been in business for at least two years
boom you also meet that and you check that off the list but on top of those two requirements
the grant may also require that your business is focused on making a positive environmental impact
and maybe just maybe you miss that detail so make sure you completely read everything but also
some people simply choose to ignore the details and try to spin it in their favor like hmm well
even though i make dog houses i'm going to make the dog houses out of complete organic wood
and that's going to have a positive impact on the environment yeah let me go ahead and apply for
this grant but no no no okay listen you're just going to be wasting your time if you apply for a
grant that you don't meet the requirements of because remember there's a very lengthy
application process and on top of that it usually requires that you find and submit supporting
documentation you don't want to go through all of that just because you missed a detail or decided
to ignore it now really quick before we move on to step number three if you're new to our channel
welcome welcome i'm sean with life accounting the accounting company that saves people from high
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you so much for all your support and we hope you continue to do so okay moving along to step number
three complete your application to 100 now this is kind of another obvious one that may not be
so obvious for some people and i'm guilty of this too okay if you're anything like me
when you are going to complete a form you want to complete it as fast as possible and you'll likely
skip the optional fields but when it comes to winning a small business grant you don't want
to skip any fields especially if they're optional because you don't want to leave anything up for
question or debate because listen there's going to be a committee of people that review your
application discuss amongst the committee and themselves and try to choose who the grant money
actually should go to and through all of that they're trying to formulate an opinion about you
and your business and the last thing you want to do is be vague or leave something to be questioned
so i say fill out every single field that you possibly can and send as many supporting documents
that you can even if they are optional okay the point here is that by completing your application
in full you give yourself the best opportunity of actually being awarded the grant that being said
still follow directions follow instructions for example if someone asks for a 500 word
description give 500 words max okay it won't help you if you do 2000 words or even if you do
510 words okay just keep it to 500 words because you could actually be dismissing yourself by doing
a little bit more than what is required okay moving along to step number four and this one
is a little bit more advanced okay which is to reach out to the grant officer all right if you're
able to call the grant officer or someone on the committee then this can significantly improve your
chances of winning a small business grant because now you can ask the grant officer or committee
all types of things like what types of businesses are you trying to give the grant money to
what are their needs as an organization what is their timing of actually issuing the grants
or are there any constraints with the grant or how did you decide who you gave the last grant
to and of course you can use this opportunity to clarify anything else that you may see within the
application process like specific requirements or just learning more about the process overall
now it's not always realistic to speak to a grant officer so you can also try emailing if you can't
get them on the phone the point here is try to make contact with the actual grant officer in the
committee to try to pre-qualify yourself to them and if you can't get the committee on the phone
or through email and you can also try popping up at one of their organizational events or one of
their networking events so that you can also try to reach out that way step number five be very
specific about what you're using the grant money for listen more often than not your small business
grant will be given to you for a very specific purpose and what you want to do is align yourself
with that purpose as much as you possibly can align yourself and align your business with the
purpose of that grant so be very specific about how you're going to use the money okay so know
your numbers and be able to talk about them in the application process also you want to share how the
grant will impact your business your employees your community in a very secret tip would be to
tie back into the organization that is giving the grant and how it can help them listen if you can
make the people in the organization who are giving you the grant look good like you can recognize
them somehow or you can be a success story for them later on for their grant program then that
will absolutely heighten your chances of actually winning the grant okay step number six follow up
listen there's a old sales saying that goes the fortune isn't following up and that is
true as well for winning small business grants so after you submit your application here's what
i would recommend you do there are three things number one immediately after you're done applying
send a thank you email or thank you note to make sure you're thanking the organization for
the opportunity to receive the grant number two after about roughly two weeks or whatever timeline
that the particular grant is on send a follow-up email action if your application has been received
when or reviewed and then number three and roughly about two weeks later try to call the grant office
again ask them for any status update again if you can call them now doing all of this is
not a guaranteed way of winning the grant but it will significantly increase your chances of your
application actually being seen and reviewed and it may speed up the process for you now since you
made it this far in the video i have one bonus tip for you and that is to study other winners a great
way to actually approach your grant application is to look at past winners and model your application
after theirs right now that doesn't mean plagiarizing them or copying them but what
you should do is look at the very small details within their applications such as how many words
are they using to describe their business or did they break up their paragraphs and sentences
into double space or certain line spacing how specific were they about their numbers and their
projections and what they were going to use to grant money for and if possible try to actually
talk to the person who won a small business grant maybe ask them questions about the process and if
they have any tips specifically for you and your business what you'll find is that most people will
be excited to share with you the process and be willing to help out a fellow small business owner
now the next question is how do you find past grant winners well oftentimes they're actually
on the grants website especially if it's an annual grant that they give out you can also
try searching specific grant names on google or twitter to see if anyone is talking about that
specific grant now how can you actually find small business grants well i'm glad you asked because
we have two more videos coming up next on how to get grants for small businesses how to get grants
for startups how to get grants for minority-owned businesses and women-owned businesses and so on so
if you haven't checked those out already make sure you do and we'll see you over there
you