Government Grants or Loans

[KristineS]

Did anyone use a government grant or loan to finance their business? I've heard there's a lot of bureaucracy involved in obtaining one of these loans. I'm wondering if that's true.

[vangogh]

I took a shallow look at them originally, but they seemed to be more of a pain to get than anything else. I figured I would save the hassle and not worry about it.

[orion_joel]

I have read one or two things, about this sort of financing that basically said for all the talk about them. They really do not exist to the extent you are lead to believe. While i do believe that many governments offer grants or low interest/no interest loans in natural disaster area's to help business get back on their feet and rebuild the area, i did not really think they were done as a general course of practice.

[DannySantos]

Well firstly you should note that I am in a little country called England, not America as a lot of you seem to be

And I did apply for government funding but was rejected - this was due to the fact that they didn't think we had asked for enough, and weren't prepared to pay what they suggested we needed (lol)

However, funding aside they were incredibly helpful with tips and advice, and very generous with their contacts. If for no other reason, it is good to set up a relationship with these organisations for that

Of course, I'm not too sure how different they are in other countries

[vangogh]

This is definitely one of those country specific questions. Here it just seemed like more promise than anything real. I'm sure there are some people who do get grants that help them, but when I first looked it just didn't seem worth it to me. I had the feeling I would spend a lot researching and applying without getting much or anything in return.

[KristineS]

I'm not sure how such things work in other countries. It would be interesting to find out if the experience and help differs depending on the country your in. From what Danny says, his experience differed from what I have heard is the norm in America. Sounds like he may not have got funding but he did get help and information.

[DannySantos]

Originally Posted by KristineS

I'm not sure how such things work in other countries. It would be interesting to find out if the experience and help differs depending on the country your in. From what Danny says, his experience differed from what I have heard is the norm in America. Sounds like he may not have got funding but he did get help and information.

Thats right, and I know many people who have actually recieved the funding in Britain too - we have two major companies and a few others that offer it, one being Business Link (which is the one I dealt with) and another is the Princes Trust, which was set up by Prince Charles to help businesses develop. The second don't really offer grants but do offer very low interest loans to help you out

[vangogh]

It's always struck me that we don't do enough here in the U.S. to help small businesses get started and grow. The majority of people employed here are employed by small businesses and you'd think there would be more incentive to help.

I know there are sources of funding available and I also know that you can't just hand out money to anyone who says there's a small business, but I think we could do more here to help the process of getting a business started.

[KristineS]

I have to agree with you Vangogh. When I saw Danny's last post, my first thought is that America is supposed to be the land of opportunity and small businesses are clearly a route of opportunity. It seems like we could be doing more to help small business people.

[DannySantos]

I agree, at the end of the day, businesses will provide growth for the economy so it makes sense for the government to help out a little