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Five Steps to Accessing Small Business Grants and Loans Effectively

By Ryan Weaver |

As is the case with many facets of successful business management, in order to have success in the arena of Canadian government funding companies need to be proactive.

“The selection and application process is not easy but can be simplified by planning ahead and by linking strategic goals to the right small business grants and loans programs offered through provincial and federal governments,” states Bernadeen McLeod, Found and Principal of Mentor Works.

Bernadeen, a Canadian government funding expert and former General Manager in the space of plastics manufacturing, outlines five crucial steps to making small business grants and loans programs work for small and medium-sized businesses. 

Step 1- Strategic Needs Analysis for Small Business Grants & Loans

Bernadeen stresses the importance of not falling into the trap of applying for a small business grant or loan program on the basis of simply trying to find free money.

“Small business grants and loans programs are very project-specific,” she states.

Instead, Bernadeen recommends, as a first step, sitting down with one’s management team to establish five to eight projects that will directly support the growth of the company and strengthen its competitive advantage.  Without first establishing one’s strategic goals and understanding which improvements will get you there faster, not only do companies lack the purpose to make government funding programs work for them, but they will also fail to qualify for the majority of the programs as they are for the most part project-focused. 

Step 2 - Select Small Business Grants and Loans Specific to Your Company’s Needs

Finding and selecting the most suitable small business grants and business loans programs can be difficult on two fronts.

“First off,” states Bernadeen, “there are a multitude of different programs and they all differ in terms of their focus, eligibility criteria, the application process, and when they are available.”

For small and medium-sized businesses it is near impossible to allocate the internal resources to stay on top of all of the program releases and updates. For this reason several business consulting firms have popped up that offer books or online databases that serve as guides to Canadian government funding programs which they are usually asked to pay for.

Bernadeen’s firm, Mentor Works Ltd., offers a database of The Most Popular Small Business Grants and Loans Programs to the public free of charge, as she sees more value in promoting her business as a funding strategist in order to maximize and combine funding programs available throughout the year.

Step 3 - Assign Your Business’ Loan or Grant Application to Someone Who Will Drive the Process

“Once we have outlined the programs that match the strategic needs of our clients they are offered the opportunity to either engage our services, or to attempt the application process on their own,” says Bernadeen.

Failing to assign a loan or grant application to someone who will not use a systematic approach and drive the process from start to finish often has its consequences as many firms will drop their application half-way through or become distracted by other duties and miss their window of opportunity after the funding is released.  

Step 4 - Become Self-Sufficient in Small Business Grants and Loans Proposal Writing

When working with a third party, it is important to involve the right people from your business in gathering information to complete the process in order to establish a precedent for emulating the process in-house for subsequent applications. If within your business’ government funding plan you choose 3-4 regular programs that are replenished on an annual basis, becoming self-sufficient in these applications will offer you the opportunity to bring the process in-house in the event you find you can handle the application more efficiently with your own resources once you have the tools and templates created during your engagement with a third party. 

Step 5 – Reap the Benefits of Successful Small Business Grants and Loans Applications

Without a doubt the most enjoyable part of the process comes once the loan or grant application has been received and approved. Bernadeen also utilizes government funding programs and she recounts how she felt the first time she received a cheque in the mail:

“It’s not very hard to imagine as a business owner when you receive your first cheque for ten, fifteen or three hundred thousand dollars from the government in the mail. It’s a great feeling, and it shouldn’t evoke any kind of guilt from recipients. We all pay corporate taxes,” she said.

After all, most government funding programs aim to help businesses grow, become more competitive, and produce jobs. One’s receipt of Canadian government funding attests to the fact that your business is contributing to the expansion of our nation’s economy.

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