How to get a free grant or cash to open a coffee shop. I would suggest going to the Small Business Adminstration website, set up by the federal government. There's information on all aspects of opening a small business, from initial conception to opening your doors for business. Check out the website below. For a lender, you don't need just a business proposal, you need the complete business plan. Your business plan must contain the following information:
- Money follows management. Investors look first at the people involved in the company. If you are just starting out and don鈥檛 have relevant experience, investors expect to see that you have an experienced team of advisors and employees helping you in the business.
- Make sure you 鈥渟ell鈥?the one reason your business will become profitable.
- State clearly the strategies you will employ to get the word out about your business. Your business plan must show how you will leverage the Internet, public relations, viral marketing, and other strategies to attract customers.
- Present realistic estimates of the time, energy and costs of building a successful business. Do not underestimate or overestimate revenues. While investors know your numbers are simply guesses, they want to see that your numbers are within the 鈥渞ange of reality.鈥?Be careful of your financial statements: this is one area where you can easily lose credibility if presented poorly.
- Benchmark similar companies to show that you鈥檝e done your homework and researched the market.
- Your Executive Summary is your calling card. If it is not a winner, investors may not even read your entire plan. Emphasize your own as well as your team鈥檚 track record in the Executive Summary.
- Before sending your business plan to lenders and investors, send it out first to a few in order to get feedback. You鈥檇 want to correct your plan if someone tells you that you鈥檙e way off mark, rather than have a potential investor tell it to you and lose the chance to get the funding you need.
Here are some resources that can help you write your business plan:
- SBA Business Plan Basics http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/pla...
- PowerHomeBiz.com Creating a Business Plan section http://www.powerhomebiz.com/startup/busi...
- Entrepreneur.com Writing a Business Plan section http://www.entrepreneur.com/bizplan/0,72...
You may also want to review some sample business plans to see how it actually looks like:
- Bplans.com http://www.bplans.com/sp/businessplans.c...
- MOOT Corp Business Plan competition winners
http://www.businessplans.org/businesspla...
- VFinance - View hundreds of real business plans in pdf format. http://www.vfinance.com/home.asp?bps=1&T...
- Business Owners Toolkit Sample business plans and information on how to create a plan. http://www.toolkit.cch.com/tools/buspln_...
- PlanWare Planning software and information. http://www.planware.org/
- Virtual Business Plan Walk through the design of a business plan. http://www.bizplanit.com/vplan.html
-SBA Business Planning Guide http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/pla...
- Small Business Advancement Center http://www.sbaer.uca.edu/business_plan/b...
- Sample Business Plan General planning guide created by the Canadian Business Service Center. http://www.cbsc.org/servlet/ContentServe...
- Business Plans Index - A subject guide to sample business plans and profiles for specific business types from Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. http://216.183.184.20/subject/business/b...
Sorry, but if you are in the USA, there's no grants for opening a coffee shop. Unlike the myths that some perpetuate, federal government and even private foundations hardly give grant money for a for-profit business. And yes, grants mean PAPERWORK - lots and lots of it, that is why a cottage industry of grant writers was born.
Nonetheless, you can go to the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) http://www.cfda.gov and Grants.gov http://www.grants.gov - these are two sites created by the federal government to provide transparency and information on grants. Browse through the listings and see if you can find any grant that would support a for-profit venture.
Even SBA does NOT give out grants. From the SBA website http://www.sba.gov/expanding/grants.html...
"The U.S. Small Business Administration does not offer grants to start or expand small businesses, although it does offer a wide variety of loan programs. (See http://www.sba.gov/financing for more information) While SBA does offer some grant programs, these are generally designed to expand and enhance organizations that provide small business management, technical, or financial assistance. These grants generally support non-profit organizations, intermediary lending institutions, and state and local governments."
Here is a listing of federal grants for small businesses. See if there is any available for individuals for starting a business -- THERE'S NONE.
http://12.46.245.173/pls/portal30/CATALO... |
