The Real Scoop on Being Awarded Money to Start or Expand Your Business
You’ve probably heard the commercials promising big bucks for entrepreneurial-minded individuals looking to start their own businesses. Grants are a great source of income because you are not required to pay them back; it is money awarded to you, free of charge. But how easy is it, really, to secure a small business grant? Unfortunately, not as easy as those commercials suggest. But it is possible.While the federal government doesn’t award grants there are state agencies that do. Check out our resources below to discover the local opportunities that exist for your business.What might you do to make your application more appealing? The following four tips should help:
Recognize the process may be long and exhausting
It’s important that you be prepared to spend a significant amount of time and energy researching potential grants and their requirements. It may help to assign someone on your staff the responsibility of laying the ground work. You can visit the links below to get started.
Create a thorough Business Plan to evidence your preparedness
This may help you stand out from the competition. A thorough Business Plan demonstrates your attention to detail and the fact that you have thought about your business enough to devise a plan from startup to exit strategies.
Submit a complete and thoughtful application
The grant approval process is long enough as it is; you don’t want to delay the process further by submitting an unacceptable application. This also projects a poor image of your business and implies that your products and services just might be as sloppy as your grant application.
Maintain contact with the organization awarding the grant
Just as you would maintain contact with a potential employer that had interviewed you, so should you maintain contact with the organization awarding the grant. While you should avoid being intrusive and annoying, you can check on the review status and determine how long it might be until you are notified. It’s also a good time to see if they need anything else in order to decide whether or not you are the right candidate for their grant.
While it is possible to receive grant money to fund your business startup, it’s not always an easy process. You must pay close attention to the requirements and ensure that your business is eligible. You must also be willing to spend considerable time and energy preparing the necessary application. However, it’s not impossible and if you believe your business is suitable for a grant; it could be well worth it to go through the process.A Business with Little Startup CostsWhile every owner of a fledgling business would like some free cash to get going, starting an accounting practice requires little in startup costs. With no expensive equipment to purchase, the ability to work from home with as little a computer and internet connection, and the flexibility to work from the spare bedroom in your basement, an accounting and bookkeeping practice might just be the best home business yet. In fact, authors of The Best Home Businesses for the 21st Century, Paul and Sarah Edwards, rate a bookkeeping service as the “Best of the Best” home-based businesses. With a little training and professional certification, you could be on your way to a low-cost start-up with big returns.Currently there are countless students trying to earn their accounting degrees by spending hours at a university, learning accounting theory, but not much practice. Once they graduate and try to get a job they will discover that they have been prepared for less than 20% of accounting opportunities. They have been groomed to act as corporate accountants. Unfortunately for them, more than 85% of opportunities are with small businesses which continue to grow and grow every year. These small businesses have unique needs that are not easily met with corporate accounting practices. They need a specialist-a small business accountant.
The Professional Bookkeeper Program
Since Alf Bostrom opened its doors in 1979, Universal Accounting Center has been training individuals in the practical application of small-business accounting. With more than 25 years experience, we know what the small business needs, and we also know how to effectively train you to master small business accounting. In less than 60 hours you could complete the Professional Bookkeeper Program and start a small business’s books from scratch. You could also become that business’s Profit Expert. With such valuable skills you could manage not one, but multiple small business accounts, becoming the most popular contract accountant in your area.
The Professional Bookkeeper’s Guide (PBG) to QuickBooks
But why stop with just small business accounting? Why not add another valuable complementary service to your practice? Our Professional Bookkeeper’s Guide to QuickBooks will help you master QuickBooks, by far the most popular accounting software used by small businesses. Upon doing so you will not only be able to add QuickBooks services to your menu, but you will begin attracting a new demographic that will bring more business your way. And if you order both the Professional Bookkeeper (PB) Program and the Professional Bookkeeper’s Guide (PBG) to QuickBooks now, you will receive our newly released 2008 version of the PBG. This version beats out other QuickBooks training programs. Its features include the following:
- Training targeted for all user types
- The ability to work more efficiently
- 6 months of follow-up support
- The opportunity to earn a QuickBooks Specialist (QS) designation
- 16 CDs with 15 hours of training
- 4 books with over 800 pages of instruction
- The ability to quickly pay your bills so you never incur late penalties.
- The ability to write checks with one single click!
- Be reminded when bills are due.
- Quickly and effortlessly create invoices so you get paid sooner. It even takes care of sales tax.
- Get organized. QuickBooks streamlines the process of tracking customers and vendors so you can easily look them up in one place.
- Keep on top of incoming and outgoing payments. It’s like having your own accounts receivable and payable clerk you don’t have to pay.
- Access easy-to-read financial reports NOW!
Start your own accounting practice by getting trained in small business accounting and QuickBooks. With minimal to no startup costs and services that will appeal to a wide market, you can be up and running in no time at all. This is as close as you can get to a guaranteed startup. So take a deep breath and imagine yourself working as a thriving contract accountant. Enroll today! Click HERE to pay in full or HERE to finance the programs.Resources for Finding Grants
- Federal Funds Express
- The Grantsmanship Center’s Local Funding Sources
- The University of Michigan’s list of grant information
