Do you have dreams of penning the next great novel, play, or poem? Many of us think about it, but don’t get beyond the daydreaming stage. One of the things that might be holding us back is being too busy working and earning a living, to take time to get started. But what if there were government grants for you, available while you do your writing? Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have to be a starving artist?

Some people may be skeptical that government grants are real because they seem too good to be true. They do exist and are available, and I have countless happy students who can attest to that. Here’s what you need to know though. Grants exist for a purpose. The reason that the government gives money to individuals, organizations, and small businesses is that the grant funds fulfill a purpose.

Post-secondary education can be one of the largest expenses we will face in our lives, second only to buying a house. Fortunately, we do not necessarily need to pay the entire amount out of pocket. You may be able to get free money for tuition, and sometimes also books, supplies, and living expenses. Governments, both federal and state/provincial, are potential sources of funding.

Often, you’ll hear it said that a grant is a gift. I’ve phrased it that way myself. It’s a convenient, shorthand way to differentiate them from loans, to put the emphasis on the fact that they do not have to be repaid.
But in other, important ways, grants are different from gifts, as we like to think of the term.

It might seem as though grant proposals are pretty cut-and-dried, without much latitude for how you express your ideas. This may seem especially true in the case of government grants, which have pretty definite and no-nonsense guidelines. I’ve written in more than one previous article that it’s important and necessary to adhere to the guidelines, or else risk disqualification.

Who wouldn’t want to open their mailbox and find a government grant check, payable to you, waiting there? The bigger question is whether you can get sufficiently motivated to assess your situation, make plans, learn what you need to, and take steps to do what it takes to get that government grant. (If you’re already my student, you know that I get you a hand with many of those.)

One of the popular uses of government funding is acquiring real estate. Many of my students have used government funding programs to buy their first home or upgrade their existing residence. Others still are real estate investors, either with some experience or just getting started. No matter whether you’re a novice or a seasoned investor, there are four basic principles of real estate that you can put to work to catapult your success

You need money to fulfill your business, education, or real estate goals. The best option for each of these is a government grant. But sometimes you may either be waiting for grant money or find that you need to supplement the free government grant. What do you do? One of the next best choices is a low-interest or no-interest loan. Here’s why these are great deals for you.

Picture the typical college or university student. You probably envisioned a teenage or twenty-ish kid who’s living it up at college, Animal House-style. Well, it may be time to rethink that. The average age of the college students has been rising, mostly due to adults returning to school. What are called “non-traditional” or “mature” students are becoming more the norm now.

This guide provides detailed insights and resources on the following topics and more:

• Cyberattacks
• Business continuity
• Making a disaster recovery plan
• Determining your greatest risk potential
• Additional steps to take to protect your business

Another article, A Good Grant Proposal Tells a Story, describes the benefits of creating an interesting narrative in your grant proposal. Briefly, you get a grant more easily if your proposal tells a story. Most of us are not born storytellers, so we need to learn the elements of a good story, the order to present them, the purpose of each, and how to convey them all in the most effective way.

Whether you’re unemployed, underemployed, or just ready for a change, there may be programs that can help you improve your job situation in a variety of ways. First, you can typically access government grants for education to either begin your college career or go back to school, whether it’s academic learning or a trade school.

Do you wonder how startups start building their customer bases? Even companies that are well-known today struggled to gain traction, and some employed clever ideas to build momentum.

You may be able to use some of these ideas for your own (for-now) small business.

A community issue that is common throughout many countries is the problem of disconnected youth. What “disconnected” means in this sense, is a sense of alienation from the family or community, or both. This creates challenges for the youth, the family, schools, neighborhoods, law enforcement, and more.
It’s an important issue, which is why government grant money is

Grants are often designated for specific groups of people, and one group that receives many different types of funding are the older members of our society. One of the most basic needs for a senior is having a safe, secure energy-efficient home. Government grants for real estate (also called government grants for properties in some places).

Many people have a preconceived notion that grant writing is difficult and get intimidated at the thought of completing a grant application. With your busy life, who has time to figure it out? To save you time, here are the top ten tips for writing successful grant applications.

People who buy a clean energy vehicle — including some electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in British Columbia will be eligible for a rebate of up to $6,000, the B.C. government announced.

The incentive program will provide B.C. residents with up to $5,000 off the pre-tax sticker price for new battery electric, fuel-cell electric, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and up to $6,000 for a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle

Startups are always hard. But if you don’t pursue your dreams, you’ll never know if it stand the chance to be successful. Dreams are all we have. Take them seriously.