Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

This should help you

http://www.sba.gov/services/financialassistance/grants/index .html

how much cash are we talking about? Id there a business like that in your area for sale? the reason I say this is that if you purchase an existing business, its much easier to get a loan because the business has tax records the bank can use, just remember the bank usually wont go over 75% of the total income for the business and sometimes even less depending on the business. Our salon suffered from that salons are "risky" for banks so they only went 50% for us.

showerman,

Like most other funding methods - it depends.

The federal government has several grant programs. However, almost all are geared toward "established" small businesses and many are for development of technology solutions.

State and local governments have a number of ways to provide "incentives" to growing businesses - but most of these are aimed at creating jobs.

Government grants for start-ups are often targeted on specific groups or locations.

Several areas in California (ie the Bay Area) have developed some good "micro loan" programs (ie Lenders for Community Development) which can provide an access to start-up capital.

If your capital needs are small, a grant can be a source. For start-up enterprises with significant capital needs - grant funding is not likely to provide the full amount. Process times can be fairly long (months before a decision is reached) and often have additional requirements (ie matching funds is a typical one) -

So I tell my clients that they can get better results if they invest their time pursuing other sources of funds.

For the small local grants - the application is "relatively" straight forward and shouldn`t require the services of a professional grant writer. When applying for a SBIR or STTR federal grant - the services of an experienced professional should be strongly considered.

I`d start by contacting your local economic development agency.

Good luck