TRIBAL PROGRAM NEWS
Information on Grants for Small Businesses
by Lisa Norton
The Business Information Center
gets calls every day about whether
grants are available to help start small
businesses. I found the article below
and thought it might be of interest to
those tribal members who are looking
to start their own business.
If you have any questions about this
article or on starting a business, please
give me a call at 541-444-8255 or
1-800-922-1399, ext. 255.
Don’t Count on Grants to Fund Your Venture
by Paulette Thomas, www.startupjournal.com
Question: Is a miracle loan or grant
By 2000, she had three cleaning
out there for people with no credit, no
equity, no money - your all-American
teams and $1.5 million in sales. Later,
young couple who got off on the wrong
foot - to open a business or franchise?
I don’t know where to look or if it
even exists. Could you please lead me
in the right direction or at least tell me
where to start?
Dina, Prescott, Ariz.
Dina: A miracle loan. Why, yes, just
write a letter, and ... no, wait, that’s
Santa Claus.
We receive many letters asking
about “grants” for starting businesses.
It’s an urban myth, I’m afraid. It’s less
charming than St. Nick, but just as tall
a tale. Except for some extremely
narrow, specific instances, which I’ll
mention below, there are no government
grants to start a business.
Still, even if you aren’t credit-worthy,
you don’t need to give up the idea of
having your own business. I’ve always
admired the entrepreneurs out there who,
through sheer grit, start on a shoestring
and weave it into a thriving enterprise.
It’s called bootstrapping. They
work like crazy, forge ahead regardless
of disappointments and setbacks, pour
what little profit and cash flow are
generated back into the business, and
build upon each small success.
Most bootstrappers start in service
businesses, which tend to require little
capital. Rose McCoppin, for instance,
left Turkey for Los Angeles in her early
20s. She started a cleaning service and
supported her family with it.
After she secured a dozen or so
clients, she’d advertise her “cleaning
route” for sale, at a price of about four
times monthly sales. Then she'd start
from scratch again. Soon, she started
hiring employees and had teams
working for her.
pet expert, likes a biography of Anita
Roddick, founder of The Body Shop.
Beyond inspiration, an aspiring
she bought a couple franchises of The
Maids, to use their more-refined busi
bootstrapper must get familiar with the
ness systems. Today she runs her
nuts and bolts of business. Take a class
business from an office and doesn’t
scrub anymore. “Working hard comes
in marketing or accounting. Web sites,
magazines, and support groups are
naturally for me,” she says.
Another of my favorite bootstrappers
is Dianne Rossi, who built a Chicago pet
available for entrepreneurs. Get yourself
business around cleaning up dog waste.
She’d had a rough life and had lived
in her car with her own child briefly.
After hitting rock bottom, she decided
Yes, the government awards grants
hooked up with the service organiza
tions that help small businesses.
to non-profits and some state agencies,
which in turn offer some sort of training
or assistance to small businesses under
she would make her own way, and put
up fliers advertising a pet cleanup
service. She worked her routes in bitter
cold and in the face of intimidating dogs.
When I last spoke to her, she’d
the U.S. Small Business Administration.
branched out with a Yellow Pages
directory for pet services and was
selling recyclable pet cleanup bags to
the city of Chicago, among other clients.
She fashioned herself into a pet expert.
Jill Biashack of Alexandria, Minn.,
all manner of specialized loans. But a
started in a backyard shed, preparing
- perhaps in an industry you’re eyeing
gourmet food for a business with her
partner. After a period selling from a
kiosk and a storefront, she decided to
for a start-up - for the benefits, and the other
try selling it through home parties.
Her partner invested $36,000 of her
own money, based on Ms. Biashack’s
drive and vision. Ms. Biashack recruited
new sales people and began selling
more goods with every party. She started
A few states offer business grants
in particular economic zones under very
specific conditions; you could look for
them online. Of course, the SB A offers
poor credit history, to which you allude,
Dina, is generally a showstopper, unless
you have collateral to offer.
In your case, maybe you or your
spouse could get a job with someone else
could go all-out building a business.
Or, it may be necessary for both of
you to work, and save, and spend your
off-hours researching the best business
for an aspiring, bootstrapping, all-
American young couple.
Business
Planning Series
Spring 2003
You and Your Business Idea: This
class focuses on understanding the re
quirements of being a successful business
owner. You’ll discover the benefits and
obligations of business ownership while
uncovering the personal characteristics
that will help you realize your goals.
This class is the foundation for Starting
a Successful Business. Tuition is $10
and the class will be held Feb. 18,2004,
from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., in Siletz, Ore.
Starting a Successful Business:
This intensive 10-week class helps avoid
costly mistakes common in small busi
nesses. It provides the framework for
successful business start-up by assisting
you in the development of a bankable
business plan. This invaluable training
is essential whether you will be apply
ing for financing or you’re looking for
a basic operating plan to keep your
business focused and growing.
Tuition is $100 and the first night
of class is Feb. 25, 2004, from 6 p.m.
to 9 ]
business ( glasses
To register, get class locations, or
to find out more about our services, call:
Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians
of Oregon - Siletz Business Service
Center: Lisa Norton, 541-444-8255 or
1-800-922-1399, ext. 255
ONABEN Main Office: Kristi Bums
M’ *
Pxisiness (glasses
ONABEN is a non-profit public
benefit corporation created by North
west Indian tribes to increase the
number and success of private bus
inesses owned by Native Americans.
in the mid-1990s, and the multilevel
marketing business, called Tastefully
Simple, grew exponentially. Last year,
her sales hit $78 million. Not too shabby.
What bootstrappers lack in cash,
they must make up for in energy and
smarts. All of these bootstrappers
shared a love of business biographies
and inspirational books. Ms. Biashack
likes Gung Ho (William Morrow, 1997)
by Kenneth Blanchard. Ms. Rossi, the
January 2004 □
Siletz News
□
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