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Business grant for charter startup

3K views 17 replies 5 participants last post by  sailingdog 
#1 ·
Business grant from the government to start a charter company?


Any thoughts?
 
#2 ·
Depends... SBA has quite a few grant programs from what I remember. Is the business minority owned?? If so, that opens up quite a few more grant sources. Might help if you clarified what you mean by a charter company?
 
#3 ·
Gee jimi....only 8 posts and so far you've gone from plans for living aboard on the big island of hawaii...buying a wooden chris craft and crossing the ocean in it and now getting and SBA loan for your charter company.
Time to go back and do your homework now...Easter break is almost over. Hope you had fun.
 
#4 · (Edited)
"Any thoughts?" Yea, here are a few.

Gee, I sure hope so. I LOVE to see the $100K+ I pay in Fed & State taxes each year go to a worthless cause.......ooopppss, I meant worthwhile cause.

Why don't you just try getting a job, working hard, and saving the money???

Sorry, but he picked the wrong time of year to ask that question!!!!

Roger
 
#5 ·
Jimi, government loan money is readily available and you can definitely qualify for it. Send me $49.95 and I'll mail you my Special Guide to Government Grants and SBA Loans for Marine Businesses by first-class mail, it will tell you everything you need to get started.

But hurry, this is a limited time offer and because of increased postage and printing costs the price cannot remain this low much longer!
 
#6 ·
Roger-

That was priceless...

Hellosailor-

You fiend... you took what I was going to write for my next post... ;)
 
#7 ·
camaraderie said:
Gee jimi....only 8 posts and so far you've gone from plans for living aboard on the big island of hawaii...buying a wooden chris craft and crossing the ocean in it and now getting and SBA loan for your charter company.
Time to go back and do your homework now...Easter break is almost over. Hope you had fun.
And all of them legitimate questions, is there a problem with that?

I'm here like many other people...asking what's on their mind.

Whats wrong with my questions? Isnt that what this forum is about?
 
#8 ·
Hellosailor, stoutwench,

Very funny, but it is a legitimate question.

And to answer your question Stoutwench, I do have a job and quite a bit saved. Part of owning a business is to do it with as little money of yours as possible, why not go for a grant. Are you telling me that if you had the oppurtunity to do it, you would say, no thanks?

And the part about my taxes, I would rather see it going into small business ventures then where its being squandered right now. my 2c.

Anyway, thanks for the help.
 
#9 ·
SD, don't worry, you can still participate, Send me $19.95 and I'll show you how to MAKE BIG MONEY IN YOUR SPARE TIME ADDRESSING AND STUFFING ENVELOPES! Including the ones with government grant applications.<G>

Jimi, there's government money available for all sorts of things but honest, if you want to find a way to obtain business financing, you'd be better off calling the SBA or going to the library and borrowing the books on how to do it.

If you don't have a complete business plan ready, and you don't know the exact location, boat type, expected traffic and utilization...you won't qualify for any money from anyone except a scam artist. Making money in a charter business, if you have no experience in running one, is a real long shot. (And I'm rashly assuming you don't, or you'd know where and how to finance it already.)
 
#10 ·
hellosailor said:
If you don't have a complete business plan ready, and you don't know the exact location, boat type, expected traffic and utilization...you won't qualify for any money from anyone except a scam artist. Making money in a charter business, if you have no experience in running one, is a real long shot. (And I'm rashly assuming you don't, or you'd know where and how to finance it already.)
I understand business plans and already have owned a company (not charter). I do have experience in working for a charter though (not running one..so you are partly "rashy").

hellosailor said:
, if you want to find a way to obtain business financing, you'd be better off calling the SBA or going to the library and borrowing the books on how to do it.
I plan on talking with my grant writers at my company (they deal mostly in educational grants but Im sure they can point me in some direction other than being sarcastically berated or goofed on), plus doing the research. My question here is if anyone has gone through with it for their own business. That's all.
 
#11 ·
I have gone through this for my business.... but it isn't really applicable to what you're doing. My business, at least the one I've gone through this with, is a non-profit research foundation... so it has vastly different qualifications for grants than what you have.
 
#12 ·
sailingdog said:
I have gone through this for my business.... but it isn't really applicable to what you're doing. My business, at least the one I've gone through this with, is a non-profit research foundation... so it has vastly different qualifications for grants than what you have.
I appreciate that.

Like I said, I have grant writers with my company now. They've helped a buddy of mine with some funding for his side business. Its just a matter of research. Talk to them on tuesday about it when I get back into my office.

Thanks.
 
#13 ·
got anybody on staff thats got a USCG 6-pack? Gonna need that for a "charter" even bareboat requires a holder on staff.

How about anyone on staff that can tell you what the insurance issues are going to be
re: someone elses boat that is probably financed going into charter (probably a violation of the loan agreement)
to whos insurance is going to cover drunk client number one when he pilots a boat under your charter into a bazillion dollar yacht...
hint one, ain't going to be the boat owners,
hint two, ain't going to be drunk guys,
hint three, ain't going to be the bazillion dollor yacht guys either.
that leaves... yours.

Care to hazard a guess as to what the quote to me was for that type of coverage? (yea, I was considering taking over a small day charter company here)
195,000.00 yes, thats right almost 200k for... sit down... ready?
500k of coverage. yup, 500k.
(from 2 diff companies, within acouple of grand)

Want to go without it? uh... No, not possible, can't get the bus. cert. from the state without it.

I'd go with the wooden boat idea.
 
#14 ·
jimi71 said:
Are you telling me that if you had the oppurtunity to do it, you would say, no thanks?

And the part about my taxes, I would rather see it going into small business ventures then where its being squandered right now.
I have NO desire to live off of the "public trough". I wouldn't say no...I'd say HELL NO!!!

No, I don't want to see MY tax dollars going to small business ventures. Use your own damn money, not mine. I want to see the money stay where it belongs...in MY bank account. To put it bluntly, I made my money by working 12-14 hours 6 days a week and yes, I used and risked my own money, not someone elses.

But, I know that there are tons of grants available for here in the good ole USSA (UNITED SOCIALIST STATES OF AMERICA).

Just my 10,000,000 cents (this year)!!!
 
#15 ·
stoutwench said:
I have NO desire to live off of the "public trough". I wouldn't say no...I'd say HELL NO!!!

No, I don't want to see MY tax dollars going to small business ventures. Use your own damn money, not mine. I want to see the money stay where it belongs...in MY bank account. To put it bluntly, I made my money by working 12-14 hours 6 days a week and yes, I used and risked my own money, not someone elses.

But, I know that there are tons of grants available for here in the good ole USSA (UNITED SOCIALIST STATES OF AMERICA).

Just my 10,000,000 cents (this year)!!!
Unfortunately, we have little say in where our tax dollars go.

I do agree with you though, I want to see my money stay in my bank account too, thats the reason I always look for investors in my ventures.
 
#18 ·
Cam-

You're beginning to worry me... ;)
 
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