Governement grants and loans?

[Drizzid]

Does anyone know how or where I can find information on government grants or loans for starting or buying a small business? I have done some research with Google but all I seem to come up with are these internet scheme websites wanting my money for a listing of grants and loans, uhh no thanks. So if anyone has any knowledge or helpful advice I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks

[BaneII]

You want the SBA - Small Business Administration. They are the government department that deals with such things.

[Ferris Bueller]

My suggestion (I know it sounds stupid, but i've seen it work!) is to go to Barnes and Noble, Borders or any other major bookstore and look in Matthew Lesko's "free money" books. He's the guy that advertises on tv wearing the Riddler-esque outfit and acting all crazy. Theres literally thousands of loans and grants that apply to just about everything.

[JAMerica]

Haha, the google ads in this thread have all sorts of loan links

[Pokerface]

Originally Posted by Ferris Bueller

My suggestion (I know it sounds stupid, but i've seen it work!) is to go to Barnes and Noble, Borders or any other major bookstore and look in Matthew Lesko's "free money" books. He's the guy that advertises on tv wearing the Riddler-esque outfit and acting all crazy. Theres literally thousands of loans and grants that apply to just about everything.

I've seen copies at the local library as well; you may want to 'try-before-you-buy' with those books to see if they have the stuff you're after.

Good suggestions, Ferris and Bane.

To those I'll add: http://www.score.org/
SCORE is a bunch o' (usually small) business people, networked up to help other small businesses get off the ground and all. Not a bad much of folks -- at least, the ones near me were.

[BaneII]

Good luck with finding money. When you have to get a SBA loan, it's just like any other type of loan; checking your credit, income, and all that. And even if you apply for a loan, they will want some things like a business plan and resume (to see if you have prior experience with whatever you want to do). The normal way to start a business is self-financed, bringing in business partners, or contributions from friends and family. There is something to the saying you gotta have money to make money.

Some other helpful organizations would be your local Chamber of Commerce and community colleges. Some community colleges run a business center along with their adult education classes. It's a good way to get some business education for little expense.

[Eroak]

Wait up to late at night. like 4am and flip though the channels. Theres a wacked out guy in a suit of question marks. He has a book that you need!

I know someone here has seen it...

[Ferris Bueller]

The secret to bookstores (especially B&N and Borders) is that you can take a pen and paper and write down anything you need to know and they wont say word 1 to you.

[Drizzid]

First let me say "thank you" to all who have given me the advice I was looking for, I do really appreciate you taking the time to help me.

I just got back from B&N and gathered some info from Mathew Lesko's book "Free Money" and I am going to try and check out that stuff first. If I don;t have any success then my next step will be trying to get some financing and see where that leads me and if that doesn't work then I guess I will be poor for the rest of my life.

I am wanting to buy an already existing business instead of trying to start one from the ground up and unfortunately that is a lot more expensive but I think it will be worth it once I get the moneys needed, if I can get the money needed.

[El_Gringo_Grande]

Good luck.