Too many home-based businesses involve recruiting, stocking product in the garage, or pestering your friends and family to come to home parties. For people who want a legitimate, high-income business, grant writing is an in-demand profession. And new grant writers can be up and running in 4 - 6 weeks.
Many home-based business opportunities promise that you will make a six-figure income without doing any work … just bring in three people and watch your money grow… become a millionaire in two years… We have all heard the promises. As jaded as we have become, we are still looking for a business that we can work from home. But we don’t want to have to stock product in our garages, have “home parties” or recruit our friends and families.
One home-based business that is truly a profession is grant writing. In fact, grant writers have the best of both worlds. In the business community, they are seen as highly-skilled professionals. Yet they can work out of their homes wearing comfortable clothes and make their own schedules.
When looking at any business, you need to ask a few questions. The first question is, “Is there a need in the marketplace for this product?” With the increased competition for grant funding, professional grant writers are needed now more than ever. The reason why most small businesses go out of business is because of a lack of funds. And most small businesses have a difficult time qualifying for conventional loans. Business owners have heard about getting grants but have no idea how to go about researching or writing for grants. More importantly, they don’t have the time to do it. That is where the professional grant writer comes in.
Another good question is “Will I be able to make full-time money with this business?” The IRS has established a significant pay range for grant writers -- $50 - $150 an hour. An organization will generally pay between $1,000 - $3,000 for a complete grant proposal and even higher for large proposal amounts. Grant writers earn in the high five figures into a six figure income. Most grant writers start out part time and build their business until they have replaced their full- time income.
A third question is “Will I be embarrassed to tell anyone what I do for a living?” Frankly, most people don’t want to be salesmen. They don’t want to be seen as pushing a product or service and they definitely don’t want to be seen as desperate to make a sale. But mention that you are a professional grant writer and you will have business people asking you for help. In fact, one of the problems that professional grant writers run into most frequently is that just about everyone has an idea or business that they would like to get a grant for. Unfortunately, few people qualify to get grants. A good grant writer can help people turn their idea or business into an entity that will qualify for a grant.
With grant writing, perhaps the most important question is, “Is this something I can do?” The good news is that you don’t have to be a great writer to become a professional grant writer. Writing the grant proposal itself is very straight-forward; once you learn the components of a grant, it is simple to plug in the information that pertains to the individual grant. Grant writing is very clear-cut. Writing concise, simple sentences is the key to becoming a strong grant writer. If you like to do research, if you have an eye for detail and if you can follow directions, you can become a grant writer.
You can become professionally trained to be a grant writer in as little as four to six weeks. The most comprehensive online grant writing course is offered at http://www.superchargedgrants.com. In this course you can work on an actual grant while receiving guidance and critiques from a certified grant writer. At the end of the course, you will have a grant proposal ready for submission. In addition, people who successfully complete the course will be eligible to have work referred to them including writing grants, grant review and eventually, grant mentoring.
If you are interested in a legitimate, professional business that you can work from home, starting part-time then grant writing may very well be the business for you.
