Almost any young person has dreamed to start their own business at some point. Still, not many people pursue this dream, as they give up due to the high costs of starting a business from scratch, with no capital.

One of the things that mostly discourage young folks is the fact that they are still paying back their student loans. A lot of them think “I’m still paying that student loan, how can I start my own business?”

While this is indeed a major obstacle, it should not prevent you from achieving your goals. There are other ways to get the capital you need, like grants for instance. Some student grants are given even after finishing school, so you can pay back the loan and start gathering the money for your business.

Another option is to find a business grant that will help you get started. The government issues special grants for starting a small business, so this is your chance to take advantage of this great opportunity.

Whatever you decide to do, remember that there are always ways to follow your dream so never give up!

If you are an entrepreneur looking to start your own business, you should research a bit and explore the grant option. Every year the government sets aside an amount that they will provide to people seeking grants. Some of these grants are for starting up a new business, and the best thing is that grants don’t need to be repaid like loans.

A great business grant opportunity is now available at Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood. The community development corporation has announced a grant competition for new, relocating, or expanding businesses. This is a joint collaboration between Old Brooklyn and the City of Cleveland.

The grants’ main purpose is to bring new life and visitors into the neighborhood, and encouraging new businesses is a great way to do so. In general, any business is eligible to apply for the grant, but preferred businesses include professional services, design or arts.

One of the conditions to apply is that the business has to be located in Old Brooklyn and remain there for at least one year. Another condition is that the owner must be actively present at the business location, full time.

The last day of applications is May 6, 2013, and the announcement of the winners will be in June.

A relatively new grant program developed in Massachusetts, called “tools to grow”, is aimed to offer technical and financial assistance to small businesses. The grant is currently offered in 24 cities in Massachusetts.

Massachusetts government launched the grant program in 2010 with the intent to help small businesses to grow and to promote economic development in low income communities.

A lot of business owners are not aware of the fact that technical consulting usually cost $100 to $700 per hour (depending on the size of the consulting team). A grant that can help with covering at least some of the fees will be a huge help for a small business just starting out. The grant program, developed by the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation is offering funding up to the amount of $7,500 to cover half the cost of consulting fees.

To be eligible, the businesses must have a yearly revenue of at least $100,000. This is to ensure that the business is solid enough to deserve the grant.

Looking for a grant to fund your new business? If you are in the renewable energy field, you should know that the U.S. Energy’s Office has announced that they will offer grants for small businesses that create ideas to save energy costs, in the total of 10.5 million dollars.

In the first phase of the program, the government plans to award grants to 70 businesses that will focus on making new technologies to save energy. These ideas can be energy efficiency solutions for buildings, clean energy sources that would be implemented in manufacturing departments, developing solar cells or any other idea to create renewable electricity.

The DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy is focusing a lot of their resources for developing energy efficient and renewable sources of energy in transportation, housing, construction and manufacturing.

New York City has recently announced on a new training grant program for small businesses in media and entertainment. The grant is called the “Made in NY” Media Employee Training (MET) Program.

The grant’s purpose is to help small businesses train employees and grow in the media and entertainment field. The main goal is to support small businesses that need to train in new technologies to expand markets for media and entertainment services.

Areas that are in constant changes, such as video production or web development demand constant learning, so many businesses jump on the opportunity to get the grant and send their employees to study the latest changes.

It is vital for businesses in the media and entertainment industry to stay current on the latest technology and learn the skills needed to remain at the top. As mentioned at – businessgrants.org, the grant money will certainly affect positively on small business owners who need to invest in equipment, software and other products.

Small businesses in Pennsylvania that specialize in energy efficiency or pollution prevention projects received grants recently to continue their work. The Pennsylvania Small Business Advantage Grant program awarded 56 small businesses with the grant.

This special small business grant, funded by the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act, targets projects that can save up to 25 percent a year in energy costs or pollution prevention. Projects can include high-efficiency lighting, waste recycling and HVAC and boiler systems upgrades.

The Small Business Advantage Grant program has invested $6.6 million in 1,642 small businesses throughout Pennsylvania since 2004. It has also encouraged private-sector investments in small businesses in the total of more than $26 million.

To be eligible for the grant, you must own a small business, be located in Pennsylvania, employ less than 100 workers and be for-profit business. As mentioned in this article – Pennsylvania’s Small Business Advantage Grant Program Helps 56 Small Businesses, the total grant amount awarded was $418,049.

Through the initiative of the NCR Corporation based in Duluth, Georgia, a $10,000 small business grant will be given away as a sweepstakes prize. The program called Silver Solutions Revolution Sweepstakes aims to promote small business grants in the country by giving away small business grants as prizes. The sweepstakes will be open until November 7,2012. In this small business project, you wouldn’t need to apply for a grant in order to qualify. Instead, you just have to join the raffle and hope to win the $10,000 pot money.

The NCR corporation also created the sweepstakes in order to promote their newest Point-Of-Sale (POS) product dubbed as the NCR Silver. The NCR Silver is a cloud-based POS system that allows users to access information through the internet anytime, anywhere. The business solution can be accessed through Apple products such as iPads, iPhones, iPod touches among other devices and platforms.

NCR Silver is specially designed for small businesses as it provides a convenient way for managers to regulate receipts and ledgers, to track sales reports, analyze inventory and profitability graphs among other information they need to promote their own small businesses. Aside from these, the NCR Silver also has a dedicated customer service support network that is ready to help out customers. (more…)

Small businesses in New Hampshire are in for a treat as the State Trade Export Promotion Grant is now open for applications. The grant aims to support the small business industry in the area through financial loans and market research grants. The market research grants are effective in familiarizing and educating small business owners on how they can further improve their respective organizations.

The State Trade Export Promotion Grant is a project of the New Hampshire Office of International Commerce. The office of international commerce was established in order to support the growing industry of small businesses in the New Hampshire economic center. The New Hampshire Office of International Commerce is under the umbrella organization of the Division of Economic Development – the office was specifically organized to manage and regulate small businesses related to and interested in exporting. (more…)

Through the initiatives of the Charter One Foundation, a pool of small business grants worth $100,000 will be given to qualified small business organizations in Cleveland. The Charter One Foundation annually conducts its Charter One Growing Communities competition and awards financial aids, business loans and grants in order to promote the economic status of small businesses in Cleveland among other areas where they operate.

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Small businesses in Helena, Montana are in for a treat as the Montana Business Assistance Connection (MBAC) announces the opening of a small business grant that is aimed to elevate the quality of labor training. The program, entitled Incumbent Worker Training (IWT) will absorb the training costs of employees both full-time and part-time. The grant also aims to encourage Montana citizens to startup their own small businesses for a more productive state income.

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