Grants

Grants for Business Development

If you are looking for specific agencies to secure a grant for business development, then start with the resources available from government and non-profit agencies. 


Be careful of any books, plans, schemes, or advertisements (including independent ads on this site) that require you to pay for a list of grant agencies and resources. Most of this information is free if you know where to look.

There is no way around the hard work it takes to complete the application process for a grant or business loan. The lending agency wants to be reassured that your business in a "good risk". That is, that your new business is well-thought out and shows on paper the ability to earn enough income to pay them back.

This means that your business must be based on solid research and logical planning. 

All Business Funding
Begins With the Same First Step

Whether you are business savvy or beginning an exciting (and scary) adventure into the unknown, the first step to securing funding is always the same: You must write a business plan.

If you are looking for FREE Resources to help you write a business plan to secure grants for business development, business startup, or business expansion, review the government provided above and then visit my very favorite resource, My Own Business, Inc.

My Own Business, Inc. provides excellent easy-to-understand information and online courses. I am so thrilled with this program that I want you to know how it came about. 

The Birth of 
My Own Business, Inc. 

My Own Business, Inc., also known as "MOBI", is a non-profit organization developed by Phil Holland in 1992 after the devastation of the Los Angeles riots.

Phil Holland is a successful entrepreneur and founder of the Yum Yum Donut Shops chain who wanted to do something positive to help the people whose homes and already strained economic livelihoods had been destroyed. 

He wanted to find a way to help the community and people heal, recover, and grow.

Rather than just donating money to support reconstruction efforts, he decided to develop a program to teach residents how to create a successful business right in the neighborhoods that needed rebuilding.

Following the inspiring philosophy of,

Give a man a fish and he eats for a day.
Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.

Phil Holland started offering FREE business classes in the evenings to residents of Compton (one of the cities most affected by the fires and looting).

The information he taught was based on his years of business experience and from two books he wrote called, The Entrepreneurs Guide and How to Start a Business Without Quitting Your Job.

Phil Holland knew that if he could impart the basics of how to start a new business, including how to write a business plan, then people, the neighborhood, and the community would thrive.

Up until this time, the idea of owning a business was not considered possible. For others who lost businesses, they never thought they could qualify for grants for business development. Phil Holland's classes showed them otherwise.

With solid information based on sound business practices, the Compton residents had the power and the knowledge to apply for grants for business development or to compete for small business loans from any competitive lending institution.

The power of a business plan is that it maps out your success, and gives lenders confidence to invest in your business. 

My Own Business, Inc.'s
FREE Online Business Course

In 2000, with the help of his wife Peggy, the business course that Phil Holland developed for the recovering residents of Compton, was made available to the entire world via the Internet.

Anyone with internet access can take the My Own Business Online Coursefor FREE. All you have to do is invest your time. You will not find a better value.

Millions of people have already figured this out.

My Own Business, Inc.'s website has had over 7.6 million visits and has a consistent Alexa ranking of about 90,000 (out of roughly 56 million websites), putting MyOwnBusiness.Org in the top 0.16% ("point-one-six-percent") of U.S. websites!

MOBI also offers other levels of course work if you want to pursue certification. These are reasonably priced and filled with information, tools, and resources. Let me remind you, this is a non-profit organization that operates on a limited budget.

Support materials they have available include free newsletters, free download-able documents and worksheets, and a textbook (for a fee). My Own Business, Inc. also provides resources for specific business opportunities for women and for minorities who are looking into grants for business development.

The only complaint I have about MOBI is their free online forums. There does not seem to be much in the way of participation. Of course that is not the fault of the organization.

Where there are active MOBI participants in the online forums there does not seem to be monitoring by certified instructors. Again, I cannot fault them too much because they are all volunteers. (However, I do enjoy the creative screen name of one of the moderators, "MobiWanKenobi".)

Overall My Own Business, Inc. gets 5/5-Star rating for the information, tools, and resources they provide.

If you are looking to apply for government or private grants for business development, startup, or expansion then 

MOBI has incredible resources and I encourage you to investigate their excellent online course and reference materials right away. 

Opportunities to Receive Grants for Business Development
Start with a Good Business Plan 
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