Customer Reviews

Free Money for Entrepreneurs: You Won't Get Rich Working for Somebody Else (Free Money Books)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The majority of the entries in this book are for loans, not grants. I think that Mr. Lesko should entitle his books more honestly, such as ingredient labels for foods must be written, with the largest amount first, and in descending order. People would then realize that grants, or other "free money" entries, are last on the list.

I'm sure there are better, more honest books out there that truly do list a multitude of grants for entrepreneurs -- or for anyone else, for that matter.

One thing I will say that I think is great about this book is that there are plenty of educational sources for those who wish to go into business for themselves but have no background or knowledge of it.

I've seen ads for Lesko's books for years. When I opened a coffee house and needed some financing, I figured I'd give this book a shot and really find out what was available to me.

The book is certainly full of information on loans, grants, government assistance, etc.... unfortunately, only a small fraction of that info pertains to any one particular person. All of the info is broken down by what's available by state and city. Some states have a lot of programs available while others have a few.

I live in California and most of the programs listed were either things I had already tried or wasn't eligible for.

Unfortunately for me, this book was a waste of money. Fortunately, it wasn't expensive.

This book, as advertised is just a one stop place for all that's available. Some of the data wasn't quite up to date, but if you don't want to do any research on the Internet about what's available to you, then this book could be useful.

This work lists critical sources of funds for small business
entrepreneurs and others. The sources are provided for the
federal government and states. The author describes strategies for
raising funds for the purchase of property through HUD and a variety of government programs on the federal and state levels.
Classic sources of information are as follows:
- 800FEDINFO
- advoc4 disabled.state
- Health 800 522 5006
- 84.200 education funding in areas of national need

The work is set forth simply and the price is affordable.
A strength of this work is that the author provides a state-by-
state breakdown of the funding sources together with contact
persons and telephone numbers.

The book has some hints however, it is more of a directory which is outdated.

Lesko's works are heavy on pages, but are overadvertised, overtitled, and overrated. This book is of a piece with all his others, and in fact much of the information is recycled from book to book.

In general, this volume CAN be a useful resource for those willing to do a substantial amount of work to utilize it. Each major section discusses very (very) briefly the idea of getting money grants (usually loans, actually) from either (a) the Feds, (b) the states, (c) local government bodies like cities or counties, or (d) other organizations such as private donors, trusts, banks, other programs. Each of these is broken down endlessly; obviously, in every category everything gets broken down by state, for example. There are endless grants allowed for minority enterprises, most notably, and for other interest groups or bodies, that will not apply to most buyers; and of course it is highly unlikely the reader needs information on programs in all 50 states. As a direct result, 90% of this 926-page volume is likely to be dead weight to you.

The stuff that does apply is not exactly user-friendly, either. Typically, you get a website, address, and phone number of some agency that has some program that you may or may not vaguely qualify for, and that you can apply to for funds. Maybe they haven't spent them all already. Or maybe they have. There are plenty of people working out there who do writing of grant applications for a living - are you one of them? Do you think you will be able to out-write them and get the money at stake?

If you are willing to do a serious amount of work, you may find information in this book that will help you gain access to the vast sea of tax money that our kleptocracy has impounded from the taxpaying citizenry. But if you are willing to do that much work, you likely will not need the help of this book to make your idea happen.

I wanted to get grants for affordable housing. I made some calls and all I got
was the run around.It does not teach you the ins and outs of grant application and
what to say.

Would not recommend, i didnt find it very useful, some of the information is very specific and if you do not fit it, its of no use to you.

this book is well worth the price. you could pay companies thousands to find you a few grants or you could do it you self and with a little work find twice as many. I strongly recomend this book.

Excellent sourcebook for anyone wanting to set up a business or find more funding for their existing business.