Latest / Inspiring Stories / Free Money With Val McCarty With Steval Tech

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Free Money With Val McCarty With Steval Tech · Inspiring Stories

0:04
Thank you for listening to de Pictures Media Radio. You rat you readything to
0:31
me? Oh well, jus, well not a bad so along you.
1:08
I just need to sow nash along its. As business owners, we all
1:38
know how hard it is to find funds and find the right funds to put
1:42
together the right products, to find the right teams to so that we can
1:47
create the right services to help our customers. And I'll be honest with the
1:53
here at Depictions Media, it isn't really that much different you You would think
1:57
that, oh yeah, Michael, we got sponsors, we got we got
2:02
all kinds of money coming in. But when we comes down to time to
2:08
create maybe a new product like you've it's the rumors out there that we're working
2:15
on a audiobook product for so that we can help spread the word about exciting
2:24
authors and exciting coaches that have inspiring stories and they put it into their book
2:32
and we want to get that out there. Well, we have to take
2:40
from other budgets and everything to find a way to create these products, to
2:46
create new shows, those sort of things so that we keep you our audience
2:52
entertained and informed. Well, sometimes we look for funds from alternative places.
3:04
Well, one of the best places to find those alternative funds and their free
3:08
funds is from the government and themselves. And there are grants for all sorts
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of things out there. And we're going to talk with Val McCartney today,
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and she is a grant writer and she's going to tell us how easy it
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is if you're working with the right group of people to find free money for
3:30
your business. So why don't we welcome to Valve to the show, find
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out her story and listen close, so that we can find ways to find
3:43
free money from the government. Yet, how about that pretty exciting? So
3:47
why don't we get started with Val and welcome her to the show. Something
4:23
So, welcome to the show, Val, and we're all excited to hear
4:27
about free money. So how the heck did you get started finding free money?
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And how did you hear about it? Go ahead, and how did
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you hear about it? Yes, how did we hear about it? Good?
4:40
Good, good question. So thanks for number one, Thank you for
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allowing me to share my story. This is quite a fun thing for me
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to do. I'm quite excited and hoping I can help some listeners out there
4:54
with their funding needs. So Stephen and I had worked together. A few
4:59
years back. I was selling a SaaS product SaaS and of course means software
5:03
as a service, and I came across We met through an Alberta networking group,
5:12
and one thing led to another. He became my business mentor. I
5:15
was new to selling. I'm not really a salesperson. I like to share
5:19
things that I'm crazy about, but I'm not really a salesperson. And he
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was my mentor through that sales process and got to know the SaaS product I
5:29
was selling quite well as well, and then the SaaS product where they were
5:35
changing and updating a few things. In the background, they also had someone
5:40
interested in purchasing them, and there was a bunch of things that sort of
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came all at once, and the best thing they thought to do is,
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well, let's just talk to the investor, do these updates on the software,
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and not bother looking for more clients. Right, So my job was
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sort of just put on hold for a little while, and Stephen said,
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hey, Val, since you're not doing that, let's team up together and
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see if we can help startups. Because Stephen and I both know what it's
6:13
like to be in that lonely, scary world of being a startup, right,
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you don't know where the next paycheck's coming from. You might you might
6:21
have a view of your pipeline, but it's still kind of scary. It's
6:27
like, Okay, are they going to pay? Are they not going to
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pay? Where's my you know, six months down the way? Whereas what's
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going to be in my pipeline? And so it's not it's not an easy
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road. I think entrepreneurs hats off to them because it's a little bit like
6:41
farming. You have to gamble a little bit, right, I think farmers
6:46
are the ultimate gamblers. But that aside, so we decided to help startups,
6:51
and so we basically created our own business to help startups. A funny
6:58
story about the name of our business, Steve Bell. It's actually called Steve
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bel Tech. Now we're in the process of changing our name a wee bit.
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But Stephen, of course is my business partner. My name's Valt.
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And we thought, hey, let's take ste and Ball, put them together
7:13
and create a name. Wow, that's so cool Stevell. Okay. Then
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we go and do the whole incorporation thing and looking for a name and realize
7:23
that it's also a very common last name for a lot of people, so
7:29
here we thought you had something original and no, no, but that didn't
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stop us. We ended up finding something that worked so long, but very
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very happy to work with Stephen Labor. He's a fantastic business partner, and
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we together were affiliates for a couple of grant platforms that are out the fantastic
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platforms. We're still affiliates of them. And somebody kept asking us, well,
7:55
great, you have this affiliate work, but do you write grants yourself?
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Do you write grants yourself? And we had been asked enough times we
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sort of thought, you know what, we should look into this and so
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we investigated what it would take to become certafied as a grant writer, which
8:09
school to go to, which would be the best return on investment, that
8:13
kind of thing, and we found one and months later I became certified as
8:18
a grant writer. New information, wonderful information. Was had didn't realize the
8:28
journey that it takes to look for grants, to vet out grants, and
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then to finally apply for them, and that was the fun part. It's
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a lot of work, but we enjoy it and it's one way of helping
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out our clients to find out what their projects are and see if we can
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find a grant that matches what they're trying to do. Yeah, I'll fix
9:01
that. So because I wouldn't even know, to be totally honest with you,
9:09
and grants in our particular industry, film and media and everything help out,
9:16
will help out tremendously, But I wouldn't even know begin to know how
9:20
to apply for them, where to look for them. Well, the step
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one is you got to find it, find where to apply and not and
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then then know how to apply. Right is a You know, so I
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remember from university, you know, applying for grant money that way. But
9:37
this kind of not always the same process, is it? Because the schools
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that actually the schools that it was the one that handed me, that handed
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me will go apply here, you bet you so the school will more than
9:48
likely had a list of grants that were available to students. And yeah,
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there's there are many grant databases out there. They're all subscription based, which
10:00
sense, it's how that business makes its money. We'll go and find grants
10:03
listen for you, and then you can research them. Right, it makes
10:05
sense. Some of the grant platforms, the database platforms have a little bit
10:11
more bells and whistles that go along with it specifically geared to grant writers.
10:16
So in the process of research, you're either searching federal, provincial, municipal,
10:24
or organizational type grants. These are usually government initiatives that a government says,
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we want to help women in business, and so they create funds that
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are available for people to apply, which is basically a grant, and so
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the databases collect all that information from all these different entities make it available.
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Yeah, they are subscription based and some of them ask a lot of money
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for their subscription. But the bells and whistles they give are a lot of
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project management tools that grant writers can use to keep all of that in for
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nation, stored and organized so it's easy to go. You know, if
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you have four clients and you're all looking for different projects, that's a lot
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of different information and a lot of spinning plates, right, So some of
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these databases actually give you a way to keep it all organized, which is
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fantastic. There's a few free ones too for people that are listening. You
11:22
could go on the government Canadian Government website. There's something called the bid Sorry
11:28
Business Benefits Finder, and it does take a little bit of work and you'll
11:33
need some uninterrupted time in some brain time, do you know what I mean.
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So you have to sort of get yourself ready mentally. They'll ask a
11:43
few questions to qualify you and your business and your projects, and then they
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come up with benefits that could be available to you through the government. It's
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one way of doing it. There are other platforms where you can create a
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membership to. One of them is pocketed dot a I. You can find
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it online as Hello pocketed dot AI. They're pretty good too, that's who
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were affiliates with. Our affiliate link gives you the basic membership which is twenty
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nine dollars USD per month. Fantastic platform. You can search by yourself.
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It does take time and effort, but if you have the time and effort
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and want to do a di y, it's a fantastic website. It's really
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really good. I highly recommend it. And what was your other question?
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I actually I think you covered most of what I asking about. Yeah,
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because you're you're you're seguing yourself right into right into to where what is to
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go? Because you know one of the one of the reasons why Okay,
12:52
I'm going to tell some background secrets here as as a business owner, I'm
12:58
part of very many networking groups in our local area, and some of them
13:05
are stretch across Canada, some of them stretch across the United States and Canada,
13:13
and some of them are just simply global networks that we belong to in
13:18
order to network and get get projects out there, right different films and podcasts,
13:24
what have you. But so I met you through one of the one
13:30
of those networks that you're not even local it because it's local here, but
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it wasn't local for you, and it was a one degree off meeting through
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another friend of mine who brought you into our network and you and when you
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started talking about free money for projects, is like, well, I knew
13:56
that there was grants out there for film. And then you answered the question
14:00
about helping the film industry. I was like, I'm like yay. I
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was like, thank you God, you sent me money. And that's how
14:13
That's exactly how excited I was to actually meet you. And then you got
14:18
to meet our team and you seem to be fitting right in. So it's
14:24
like, okay, But for me to actually take time away from an editing
14:31
project or take a time away from something I need to go outside the office
14:37
and film or photograph that. That's to take time away from that also takes
14:46
away revenue, yes, in which case, how it's very risky to go
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search for grants and apply for the grants when I am actually losing revenue to
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go apply for those grants, when it's a lot easier if I'm to to
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turn to a grant writer like yourself and who actually does the research and everything.
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You're already available to do all that, and it's less revenue loss for
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me, you bet you, And we already have the subscriptions to the databases,
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right and the experience of using the databases to search for different projects.
15:30
So yeah, it's That's one of the things I learned in my course when
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I was taking it. There's almost a idea out there that needs to be
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demystified, and that is the research for the grants. A lot of people
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expect others to volunteer their time to do it, and I kind of think,
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well, just like you said, in your own business, would you
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volunteer your time take away time revenue generating time from your business to go look
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for grants? You know, why would you think someone would volunteer their time
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to do that right, Everyone wants to get paid for their hard work,
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and it is hard work. It's like going down into a deep dark hole
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of information that you just have to sort through. So I can remember doing
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my very first grant search searching for one particular project for one particular client,
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and there was five hundred and thirty three grant possibilities that came up. So
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I'm thinking five hundred and three how long is this going to take me?
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Because you actually have to read the grant, read the specifications. Each grant
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funder, as it were, has specifics on how who they want to give
16:41
that grant money to in terms of that business, and also how they want
16:45
to see that money spent, which makes sense. You know, it's it
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is free money. You've got to work for it. Even though it's free,
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their money exactly, it's their money, and they have Each grant is
16:57
different onto itself, so there's no sort of one cookie cutter grant out there.
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They're all a little different. They all have their own specifications and that's
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where the workload comes in. You have to read their specifications and all the
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fine print and make sure that your project is going to align with what they're
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looking for. Yeah. Now see, it's also very different than the school
17:18
grants like as a student, because you fell in one piece of paper to
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follow it back with the government and then they find in there like oh you
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qualify for this, this, this, and this, yes, yeah,
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and it's built differently to aid you in that process. So they're almost pre
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vetted. Right. The school has come out with, hey, we know
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that you'd qualify at least, you know, sixty eighty percent for these here,
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here's out. You go and do a little bit of work and see
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if you can apply for them. So they're almost pre vetted grants that they
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give you all right, yeah, yeah, So this process is very different
17:55
from that, and you actually have to vet each grant out yourself, right,
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yes, we do, we do, and before we the best thing
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to do if you find a grant that you think really super matched to your
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product or project, the great thing to do is to contact the funder ahead
18:18
of the application. So you've read the application, you've read all the fine
18:22
print. We think, hey, this is a complete match. This is
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awesome if you have any kind of inkling of any kind of question, because
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if you've where I'm going with This is the funders are also ready to say
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no. If they've got three hundred people applying and only fifteen grants that they
18:40
can they can win, right, They're going to look for Okay, who
18:44
can I say no to right off the bat. So if you really think
18:48
you've got a match, we create something called the prospectus. It's a one
18:52
page paper of who I am, who I serve, what I need to
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get funded, and why it matters so much. So the fun thing is
19:03
to do is to contact that funder ahead of time, send them this prospectus,
19:08
and then when you actually meet with them to answer a couple of questions
19:12
that you might not be quite sure on in terms of setting up your application.
19:18
Then they know you. They see this one pager, they have an
19:23
at a glance, they kind of know what you're all about. They've met
19:26
with you. It's like just breaking the ice, you know, and getting
19:33
to know that funder a little bit, so that when your application does come
19:36
through, it's kind of, oh, hey, I met with these guys.
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I know what they're all about. They're pretty legit. Okay, let's
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let's put them on the first intake file. Do you know what I mean?
19:47
See if they're and so it is a process. It's a long process,
19:52
it takes a little bit of time. It's it's free money, but
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it's not quick money. But it's still free money. You know, if
19:57
you apply for something, and even if you hire somebody to apply for a
20:02
grant for you, and in that application process some total happens to be two
20:07
thousand dollars, but you're getting a grant of ten thousand dollars. Well it's
20:11
still eight thousand dollars that you didn't have before, right, So it's it's
20:15
still worth it. It's worth it to invest in someone who will do that
20:21
work for you. Contract it out, like we contract almost you know a
20:25
lot of things out right, Well contract that person out, get the work
20:29
done properly, and you have a better chance of winning the grant. Yeah.
20:34
Yeah, because I was going to, like you said, if somebody's
20:38
got fifteen grants and they got say, five hundred applicants, I was like,
20:44
well they got to say no how many times? Right? Yeah,
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I'm not going to sit here and do the arithmetic on that one. But
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you think about that, you bet you and their brains are so wired to
20:55
okay, to spot the oh no, this is unclear out their so right
21:00
here to find those nose. It's kind of like that the lions are not
21:04
the lions in Dragon's den, you know, when people go in ask them
21:08
for money. It's a little bit different because these are our funders, are
21:12
investors rather than grant funders, but it's still still the same kind of thing.
21:17
Somebody has some money they'd like to invest in. They're trying to figure
21:19
out whether you're the best person to invest it with or if your project is
21:23
actually going to satisfy the need in society that they have figured. This is
21:29
why the initiative is there, you know. So yeah, it's it's worth
21:36
putting the time and effort into really getting all your ducks in a row and
21:41
everything's set up so that you can just wow them in that application and have
21:45
all of the ducks or ducks in a row, but all of the check
21:49
marks checked so that when they try to find those nose, they can't right.
21:55
You know. The other thing I was thinking about, and I don't
21:59
know how to this is, but it's true in a lot of ways in
22:02
business that if the message, the message of your project doesn't match the message
22:07
of the grand you're yeah, yeah, and that and that makes sense too.
22:15
So you want to make sure if you're doing it yourself, you got
22:18
to make sure that you know, if the grant offer, you got to
22:22
know what their what their message is about, what it is they're about.
22:25
And that's another layer of research that you have to do, just just in
22:30
that, Yes, know your funder know their language, know their language.
22:34
Yeah, if they tend to refer to certain things in a certain way,
22:40
know that language and know how to attract either the attention of the reader or
22:45
if you're using some sort of AI. Nowadays everybody's using AI. They would
22:52
stack their AI to look for certain phrases right or certain particular words, and
22:56
so you just have to know that. Yeah, yeah, so so again
23:02
leading me back to it's like if we if we were to do the the
23:08
the strength of weakness analysis test, it's like if you if you're an absolute
23:15
startup, you know, and you don't have and you don't have that that
23:19
pipeline filling up, then yeah, sure, you know, d I Y
23:26
your grand It sounds wonderful. But if you if you have something that's going
23:33
to be more a little more established and everything, then maybe it's best to
23:38
look for look for the Valve McCartney's in the world, and or then the
23:44
Steve Steve Valve technologies, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, and the
23:49
Steve Labors of the world. Yeah, there's a few of us out there.
23:52
What I'd really like to do on a little sideline here is connect with
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all the Canadian grandmothers. Canadian grants work a little different than US cents,
24:03
and I think it's because who gives the grants mostly the governments, and so
24:07
the US government runs a little bit differently administratively than it does in Canada,
24:14
so applying for them, there's different terminologies and that type of thing. Also,
24:18
when our listeners are searching for grant writers, a lot of grant writers
24:25
have chosen to specialize in a particular type of grant, whether that's media grants
24:30
or grants for nonprofits in serving children or whatever. A lot of them have
24:37
decided to specialize because it is such a rigorous process of application if you want
24:41
to get it right, and some of these grants are worth a lot of
24:45
money. So definitely, I think LinkedIn, if you were on LinkedIn and
24:49
search grant writers, you could probably it would probably filter through and find them
24:55
for you. But yeah, and there's different provinces in Canada. Uh so
25:00
there's, like I mentioned, there was federal grants, provincial grants, and
25:03
the municipal grants. Provincially. V C is rich in grants. The governments
25:11
are really putting a lot of money out there in their initiatives to help the
25:15
community. Ontario is another province that is rich in grants. Alberta has its
25:22
own. Alberta is very much innovation, technological innovation. Yeah, so yeah,
25:30
that's really where a lot of their initiatives lie. So VC is fantastic
25:34
for film and arts. Yeah, well some of that. How does that?
25:45
How does that work though? Because all right, yes, we are
25:49
in British Columbia and you're in Alberta actually, and I know through because because
25:56
we were also a journalist group that you know, it makes sense. You
26:02
know, the oil and gas industry is so strong there and they're looking for
26:04
ways to actually be cleaner and to make sure that hey, if we we're
26:11
going to transition away from mining the tar sands, that we want to make
26:18
sure that we can still keep our employees, keep our people working, you
26:22
know, and it kind of makes sense, you know, so why not
26:26
look for innovative offer offer grants for innovation to help keep keep those kind of
26:33
things going, you know, So that makes sense, you know. And
26:37
you said about arts and well BC is full of artists, and yeah,
26:48
yeah, you built BC build good artists. Yeah you know. Uh,
26:56
well the area that that we actually depictions media is actually centralized and we're coined
27:03
uh Hollywood North nice so you know, and for those people who are actually
27:10
in the in the film and entertainment industry, they know exactly why I say
27:15
that, and what and and what all that means. I don't want to
27:18
get too much into prices and stuff like that, because well it can be
27:26
it can be kind of misleading, you know, and I don't want to
27:29
mislead people. I want people to go and take the next step and go
27:33
looking right, so and hopefully you'll go look for for Val and and our
27:41
partner Steven and because you guys can actually rent rates both if I remember correct
27:51
that you can write right, uh, write grants for anywhere in Canada.
27:56
And then there's certain industries and everything that you can do in the United States
28:02
also, right, we can we choose not to. It's got to do
28:06
with that specialty just because the United States they municipally, state wise, and
28:11
federally. They just run their grants a little differently, and to give the
28:15
best service possible, we use affiliates for US grants. Perhaps in time I
28:25
will be a specialist in US grants as well as Canadian grants, but right
28:29
now I would prefer to use my affiliate links for US grants. Yeah,
28:34
well, so there's more to this than actually just likedly searching for a great
28:44
It sounds like there's a strategy that has to go along with this. There
28:48
certainly is. And so you want to find those grants that not only fit
28:52
your project like we talked about before, and that you fit all of their
28:59
requirements the grant, but you also want to look and see, Okay,
29:03
if I hit all the requirements, this sounds really good. How many people
29:07
in the past have applied and how many people have won? You know,
29:11
is it three hundred to ten or is it thirty to ten. I think
29:15
I'd rather want to put my time and effort into an application where I know
29:21
there's thirty people going for ten wins rather than three hundred people going for ten
29:25
wins. Do you know, a man, your chances of winning are just
29:26
better. And so we have a formula where we like to when we're betting
29:30
out grants, we like to look and see how many people have applied the
29:34
past and how many people have won. Also, most government grants list those
29:41
who have won in the past. Sometimes they even list or you can find
29:48
the old applications that won. And so it's kind of fun to read those
29:52
old applications that want and say, oh, so this is this is one
29:56
that's one before what they do different than my app location. And also if
30:02
you've applied and not one, it's great if you do have that relationship with
30:07
the funder like I mentioned with that prospectus before, you can also reach out
30:12
to them and say, how come we didn't win? What wasn't right?
30:15
What was your no excuse right? What did you look at on my application
30:21
that said net nope, let's not use them this time, And then you
30:23
have a chance of fixing it. So and that's the beauty of grants too.
30:27
They're not just a one time deal. They repeat themselves often because initiatives
30:33
repeat themselves, right, Like I know, for the Canadian government has been
30:37
trying to help say women in business or women of visible minorities in business for
30:42
quite some time. So those grants that are offered to in those initiatives,
30:48
they'll repeat themselves. And so yeah, if you don't win it the very
30:52
first time, try again, find out why and try again. It's a
30:55
lot of work. But hey, like we said, it's free money.
30:57
Yeah, yeah, free means you we don't have to pay it back.
31:03
Free doesn't mean that you don't have to work for it, exactly. You
31:07
still have to I still have to wait for it. And because of course
31:11
you are working with the governments. Although we love our government because it gives
31:15
us a lot of stuff, but they work on their own time schedule,
31:18
right, So yeah, it's not quick not quick money. There are some
31:23
grants out there. One that just comes to mind right now, and it's
31:29
Canada Wy. It's called an Amber Grant for women. And they're always looking
31:33
for new intakes and they're always looking for new stories and they, I think
31:37
on a monthly basis. There's a ten thousand dollar grant that just sort of
31:41
comes out. They have little grants. They've got a two thousand dollars,
31:45
one is seven thousand and ten thousand, and sometimes we call it the low
31:51
hanging fruit. Sometimes you can just send an application and who you want,
31:55
and all of a sudden, you've got two thousand dollars to spend on your
31:57
project, right, So it is worth looking into those smaller grants and the
32:04
easier ones to apply for. Often as well, they just want a good
32:07
story. They don't want a compelling story and what elements in the world,
32:13
what problems are you solving, and what it's important the the benefit to the
32:20
community. It's what they really like to see. Well, that's an important
32:22
thought, you know. It's think about how how our project is going to
32:29
benefit the community. And if you can play that up you bet you,
32:34
you bet you? Yeah. So how I mean how deep did when you
32:39
build a strategy, I mean, how many layers down do you actually go
32:45
to to help your clients get there? Quite a few, as many as
32:51
it takes to set them up for success. That's our whole idea is to
32:55
set up our clients for success. So by the time we've given I'M a
33:00
funding strategy, we've given them that prospectus I talked about, we've given them
33:04
a toolkit, and all the toolkit is is finding out information budget wise,
33:10
story wise, anything that I think our clients would need in order to apply
33:17
for any particular grant. All those little pieces are put into the toolkit,
33:22
and so that sets up our clients for success. Then we give them this
33:28
list of our vetted grants, hopefully a twelve to eighteen month view into the
33:31
future as to what grants they should apply for as their projects progress, because
33:37
sometimes a project starts off with well, we want to hire a marketing and
33:44
salesperson and then next thing you know, they do that we find an internship
33:49
grant of some kind. Then that leads to more sales. Well, now
33:52
they have product improvements to make, or now they want to start going to
33:58
trade shows. So the grant that helped them with their business and help them
34:05
springboard their business forward, now they're looking forward grant to go to trade shows
34:08
because there's some out there as well. So it's a view of your projects
34:13
and almost strategically where you want to go in your business from twelve to eighteen
34:17
view into the future. And then unless we give them that prospect, it's
34:21
toolkit and funding strategy. It's theirs to use. They can write the grants
34:25
themselves, they can find another grant writer. There's more grants out there than
34:30
there are grant writers, and each grant writer has their own kind of like
34:37
anything. Some of them have been doing this for years and years and years,
34:40
and some of them are just starting out like myself, So they each
34:44
have their own level of experience and of course their own fee schedule. Yeah,
34:51
well, you're saying like they're just starting out like yourself, but you've
34:55
had a lot of experience in helping businesses achieve success and yes, helping you
35:02
build strategies towards that success. So yeah, we understand. It's like,
35:08
you know, you're not due to business you you you're you're you're very much
35:14
a seasoned veteran uh and an entrepreneur. So yeah, yeah, for sure,
35:20
for sure, But our main goal is if we can set that business
35:23
up for future success and we've done our job, you know. And then
35:28
too, because you're one of our clients and I'm sure a lot of other
35:31
grant writers do this as well. If we're searching for grants for client you
35:37
know, B, and you've just been our client A, and all of
35:40
a sudden, there's this new grant that comes up with oh, client,
35:44
Hey, I didn't know about this grant, And all of a sudden,
35:45
you can we can send it to you and say, hey, it looks
35:50
like it fits on first level. Check it out and see if you can
35:52
use something. So we've always got our clients in the back of our minds
35:55
as to how can we benefit them in the future. Yeah, it's an
36:00
like like most client customer relations, it's an ongoing thing. Mm hmm.
36:07
So because for for us, we also do a lot do a lot of
36:14
work for charities because hey, the charity needs needs that project. One to
36:21
keep in mind is, uh is we're building a stage for one particular charity
36:28
that we can have inspirational speakers come in and when we sell the tickets.
36:35
But the hitch was and was that, well we got to build the stage.
36:43
Well it takes cash to build the stage. Oh, who's going to
36:47
come up with that cash? But we we can. You said, I
36:55
remember this in in one of the meetings that that we had networking meetings that
37:00
we both were were at that you said that one of the strategies, and
37:06
it's a good strategy if you're a service provider like we are, that bring
37:13
the person who needs the service so that they can with their project and then
37:20
help them get it and then the service provider gets to gets the benefit of
37:28
the money. Right, you bet you yeah, and that's that's a wonderful
37:32
partnership. There are more grants out there for nonprofits than there are for profit
37:38
businesses, but for profit businesses often have the services available that the nonprofits need.
37:49
So if a nonprofit were to apply for grant, they've got you know,
37:53
go back to your story. They've got this wonderful idea that's going to
37:57
help the community in having people use the staf age and you know, do
38:01
what they want to do out for the community. But they need the stage
38:05
built, so they apply for a grant under being a nonprofit, Okay,
38:10
we need to build the stage. Gives them the money to build the stage.
38:14
Then they go and find the service provider that will then build the stage.
38:19
So if you can partner with a nonprofit and you be the service provider
38:22
and they be the person that actually obtains the grant, then both of you
38:27
it's a win win. Actually it's a win win three ways because then the
38:30
community gets very fitted because you know, the story comes comes to fruition and
38:37
so's it's a good thing to do. Yeah. Yeah, So I'm just
38:44
I'm just saying that there's a lot of different ways to look at it.
38:46
Right, Oh, yeah, definitely, and even stacking grants. I know,
38:52
we went to back to this Pocket who were affiliates with they're so good
38:57
at teaching about grants, and they did a webinar on stacking grants, so
39:05
particularly hiring grants. So some some grants you can actually stack them federally and
39:13
provincially and not all grants, but sometimes you can. And that's where you
39:17
have to sort of know the grants, know the landscape, know all of
39:21
the fine tune writing and find printing on all the grants. But no,
39:25
you can stack them. You can use some grants to use that money for
39:31
other grants. So here's an example in the class that I took. One
39:36
of her stories were they had a big project that they were working on.
39:39
It wasn't nonprofit. They were able to obtain a grant that won them ten
39:45
thousand dollars towards this project. Another grant they wanted to go for was a
39:52
matched grant, and a matched grant means you have to put some money forward
39:57
in order for them and then they'll match it. So they actually used this
40:00
grant of ten thousand dollars for the matching grant. That was the money that
40:06
they were being used to match with. It was all legitimate and they actually
40:09
won. They won the bigger grant and the match was I think it was
40:15
sixty forty. So they only had to put in so much money and they've
40:17
got so much more money back. So yeah, there's different strategies within the
40:22
grant world. Yeah, to help you along. Yeah, all the more
40:28
reason to hire someone like you and Steve to because I would get confused trying
40:36
to figure out which way to go with that. You know, you bet
40:40
you yeah, the thing up and why it was nothing. Yeah, And
40:46
there's even when you get into there's a couple of SHRED or a couple of
40:51
grants, one called SHRED it's a scientific research and experimental design and then another
40:55
one called I WRAP. Larger grants, and these grants are so detailed and
41:02
you really need to know what you're doing. They're also very competitive and they
41:07
get audited by the government as well. So in those larger grants, a
41:10
lot of times they're applied for by someone with accounting designations or someone really in
41:20
that field. A lot of lawyers will look after SHRED as well. So
41:22
there's a few grants where where we'll say, yeah, that's a wonderful grant.
41:25
We'll find somebody to do that one for you, you know. So,
41:30
uh yeah, it's it's a there's small, medium, and large grants
41:36
out there, all with their own requirements and details that need to be met.
41:42
So yeah, it's good to know the landscape. Yeah. Hell,
41:52
why why do you do grants? Why? What? What is it that
41:55
you're trying to achieve for our community by helping businesses find those grants? Well,
42:01
right on the website if you go to steveltech dot Ca, there's a
42:06
little thirty second video that I have out and there's a statistic that really bothers
42:10
me. And the statistic is ninety percent of startups fail. And I remember
42:16
Steven and I looking at the statistic and thinking we got to do something,
42:21
We got to help. Even if we help one startup at a time not
42:24
fail, then maybe it will be eighty nine percent of startups. Do you
42:29
know what I mean? Like, one startup at a time, see what
42:31
we can do. And sometimes the reason that startups fail it is sometimes funding,
42:38
Sometimes it's not having a very good idea of their strategy going forward.
42:44
Sometimes it's not being connected enough, or they need a particular person to do
42:49
something and they don't know where to find it. So that's where our idea
42:52
of our business came around, is, well, let's help those startups with
42:57
whatever resources. Stephen and I have been lucky enough and blessed enough in our
43:01
past work to accumulate a few people in our rolodex, and it's our way
43:08
of giving back to that startup community to say, Okay, let's let's change
43:14
this statistic somehow. Let's just you know, one startup at a time.
43:20
Let's make sure that they don't fail in that first year, the first five
43:23
years. Yeah. Yeah, along with that statistics, it comes our economy,
43:31
you know. Yeah, let's face it, small businesses and startup businesses
43:37
have a bigger effect on the economy than some of the bigger and more established
43:44
businesses. Yes, definitely. And it's it's I love working with startups and
43:50
entrepreneurs because they've got a creating, they've got an idea, and sometimes all
43:53
they need is just a few more resources to see that idea through right,
43:59
to hitch that idea to an investor, or find a grant that will help
44:02
them or something just to build them the next step. And it's it's great
44:08
to be able to to help out startups. In that respect, it's a
44:14
it's an emotional paycheck as well as you know, keeping us in business too,
44:20
because we know everyone is addicted to food and shelter, so you know,
44:22
we all need to pay our bills. Exactly, what do you want
44:31
our community look like in the end? In how does that aid you in
44:36
your work? How would I like the community to look like in the end?
44:43
Oh, awesome question. I would think, you know, I might
44:47
be a little naive even at my age, and I might it might sound
44:52
a little kind of utopian. I'd really like people to help each other.
44:58
There's a couple of organizations out that Stephen and I have come across where it's
45:05
entrepreneurs all helping other entrepreneurs, not to get anything back, but just to
45:10
give. I know Stephen and I are are in Steve Tech. Our mission
45:17
is not only making it easier community business and helping find resources to build your
45:22
business, but we follow some principles from Bob Berg's book. So like our
45:30
true worth is determined by how much more we give in value than we take
45:36
in payment and for compensation, our success is determined by how many people we
45:40
serve and how well we serve them. And our influence is determined by how
45:45
abundantly we place other people's interests. And so that's kind of what I'd like
45:54
to see in the community. Wouldn't it be a terrific community if everybody gave
45:58
back just a little during me not not your whole business. You know,
46:01
you can't give back your whole business because you have to pay your own bills,
46:05
right, But wouldn't it be great if businesses, if you found someone
46:08
to mentor or you were able to do something in in a networking meeting that
46:15
helps somebody. I can remember being in a networking meeting one time and we
46:20
were all talking about immediate needs that we need right now, and somebody mentioned,
46:24
I need a truck. I have to make these deliveries. And my
46:28
truck just broke down and I have to have these deliveries done in two days
46:31
time. Blah blah blah. Next thing, you know, somebody says,
46:35
you can use my truck for two days. That is a neat community,
46:38
do you know what I mean? So that was somebody else in that networking
46:43
group that said, I can help you out, even if it's for those
46:45
two days, I can keep those deliveries happening and you know, in a
46:52
in a sort of utopian kind of way. Wouldn't it be nice if we
46:58
did that as a I can remember another sideline here. I used to in
47:06
one of my jobs in the past. I used to run a day home
47:07
because I have an education training and in the day home, there were a
47:13
few kids that were really concerned about what they could get to get to get
47:16
right, And it was Easter, and I thought I'd have an Easter egg
47:20
hunt, so I hit the eggs everywhere. I had been saving egg cartons
47:24
for all the kids. Each kid was divvied out for their egg carton,
47:28
but their rule was when you found an egg, you had to put it
47:31
in somebody else's basket. So it changed the whole focus on I want to
47:37
get those eggs for myself, right, And so everybody ended up with twelve
47:40
eggs each, right. But it was the fun of finding an egg and
47:45
then finding somebody else's space in their egg carton, and so it turned it
47:52
around. It was I think others that also helped you because other people were
47:57
trying to find you with your own you know, cart to put an egg
48:00
in there. So it changed it a little bit. It was such a
48:05
fun thing to do in my day home. But and hopefully it helped the
48:07
kids learn that, yeah, you do. It's great to be able to
48:10
give back as well as you can't take take, take, take take all
48:14
the time. Right yeah, yeah, yeah, So I'll get off my
48:17
soapbox. And that's a good good soapbox, you know. Okay, So
48:25
the best ways to to find you work with you definitely Stephen and I Stephen
48:31
Labor. You can find him on LinkedIn. He spells labor l E b
48:36
e R and he spells Stephen with a pH. One joke that he was
48:43
asked one time somebody was asking him, how do you spell your name Stephen?
48:45
He says, oh, I'm Stephen with a pH, and she asked,
48:47
well is that Alkali or so anyway, Yeah, Stephen with a pH,
48:55
L E B e R on LinkedIn. And then myself Al McCarty,
49:00
I'm h less, So my last name m C C A R T Y
49:05
no h in there I'm h less. You can find me on LinkedIn as
49:08
well, and then you can find our business which is called Steevele Tech Inc.
49:14
Yeah, so Steeple and then T E C H I n C.
49:17
Yeah. And in terms of email, empowering startups, So just the word
49:24
just like it is empowering and then startups a little space in between. At
49:29
Steepletech dot c a is our main email. Awesome, awesome, So everybody
49:37
go work with with with Stephen Val is like, trust me, they are
49:42
a lot of fun. Yeah, I'm sure sure for for those who you
49:47
who are just simply listening versus there some of our video people. You can
49:54
actually hear the smile in her voice a lot fun. And hey, you
50:01
know what, Val can correct me for saying this. I think Val wants
50:07
wants to put as many eggs in each of our baskets as quickly as possible
50:15
so that we we all can build a better world and a better community.
50:20
Oh that's fantastic. I love that. Yes, I'd love to put eggs
50:22
in your basket. Yes, yes, it was your analogy. I love
50:30
it, absolutely love it. Yeah. So all right, everybody, thank
50:36
you for listening, and please do go check out Stephen Vale and find them
50:42
on LinkedIn, go to their website and it'll be in the show notes and
50:46
hate I'll be honest with you. They are helping us build a grant strategy
50:54
that is going to help us build way many more projects and hire more camera
51:00
people and everything so that we can we can better serve you as a community
51:06
with more information and inspirational stories. So click on that subscribe button and we'll
51:13
talk to you later about to. I don't know salation this guys mm a
52:01
reason, she said, met joy wall shots. We can't drest serve wait,
52:23
so wae she got to. The show has been produced by Depictions Media.
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