July 9, 2025 • 21 mins
Stormi Banks: Grant Myths, Life-Changing Wins, How to Secure Funding the Smart Way + More
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
What's up his way up with Angela. I need this
in my life right here. It is a Wealth Wednesday.
Stacy Tisdale is here.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Happy Wealth Wednesday's everybody. We have something that we all
need right now, money, free money and knowing how to
get free money. And that's why we are so excited.
I've been really excited for this interview to bring you
Stormy Banks, who is the founder and CEO of pink
Print Firm, and that is a full service grant writing agency.
(00:30):
Amazing that has raised I've actually raised nineteen million dollars, yes,
and grants for entrepreneurs to date. You've currently worked with
over ten thousand entrepreneurs as grant as. You do everything
grant writing and everything. And personally I know pink Print
you're on track to hit ten million in sales and
(00:50):
I loved how you you actually factor grant money into
like your revenue projections. Who has that confidence? Who does that? Well?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Everyone needs to be This is literally a revenue strategy
that I tell business owners all the time. If you're
just thinking of grants like a lottery strategy, you're using
them the wrong way. Because the house that I got
approved for, I got to prove for more because of
the revenue in our business, and a big chunk of
that is grant money. So I tell people this is
way bigger than just getting funding to grow a business.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Now, let's talk about you as an entrepreneur for a second.
Two because what I realized is that at an early age,
if you can get that in your head and I
know this was instilled into you at an early age
to become an entrepreneur, then you can just see the
benefits of that later on in life. So talk to
me about the early days for a young Stormy and
how you realize entrepreneurship was in the cards for you.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
I think I was so bossy.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I had brothers and I was always putting them to work,
and my mom was like, you're either going to be
the leader of a biker gang or a fortune five
hundred company.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
But good, Thankfully I took the right route, And so what.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Happened, I think really was just understanding how to use
leadership in the right ways really early on, being put
in like different camps and being put into different opportunities
where I could actually lead. And it wasn't like, oh,
you're a black girl, you're too bossy. You're doing too much.
You're too loud. My mother let me have that voice.
And so now that I'm an entrepreneur, was just kind
of like, Okay, where's the leaders at in this space?
(02:10):
There's so many business owners who are going into debt
to grow their business. Who's the leader champion that they
don't have to do that? And I was like, why
could be that?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Girl?
Speaker 4 (02:16):
I need that help. Let me tell you. That's one
thing I would say.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
As much as we talk about entrepreneurship, I've not ever
gotten that one grant from my business.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
I know. That's why I'm like, I'm so glad.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
You're here today, because what people don't realize is a
grant is so different also than it's not alone, right.
A grant is money that you don't actually have to
pay back. So talk about the different types of grants people,
and why you even got into this business and when
you first got your first grant, well even before that.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Just like she just said, there's so many misconceptions about
it being complicated and people don't understand what are some
of the common misconceptions about it. A lot of people
don't think, oh, it's for nonprofits or something like that.
What are some of the common miss perceptions we have.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Oh, there's a lot So to your point that it's
not alone, right, So people think they have to have
good credit to go for grants, that's wrong. People think
they have to have a certain revenue or a certain
amount of history in business to start winning grants.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
That's wrong.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Not in all cases do you need that stuff to
get started. And so they think they need to be
a nonprofit And again they're just utilizing it in the
wrong manner instead of using as a strategy. They think
it's this one lottery ticket opportunity where they just can
get a short, quick, little boost in their business to
do one thing. Maybe it's an event, or maybe it's
a financial literacy program that they want to offer. But
they're not thinking of it in terms of how can
(03:29):
I actually build and expand my business in a capacity
building way to really be able to build this multimillion dollar,
billion dollar company that I can sell or pass down.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I know this woman who just applies for every single grant. Hello,
and she's like, I get all the grants if it's
five thousand dollars, ten thousand dollars. She just applies for
grants all the time. But let's talk about There are
restrictions sometimes though, when you get a grant. It depends, right,
because there's times you can get a grant, but it
does have to be like allocated and you have to
show what you're using it for.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yep, there definitely are some grants that you have to
report for it. And when I teach people in my camp,
I tell them treat every grant the same rights if
you're having to report for this super large grant, because
what you'll do is you'll build relationships with funders. And
right now, especially because Trump is you know, getting rid
of a lot of the grant funding that's available, thunders
are kind of transitioning to this long term fiscal sponsorship
(04:20):
opportunity that they're want to give off. Right So, if
you get a five thousand dollars grant from one funder
and you show them, hey, this is what we use
the grant song, these are the measurable outcomes that happen,
we would love to partner with you on another opportunity
similar to this. They're already showing that they want to
be a partner with you, but you just got to
kind of take that initiative to really build that relationship.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
This all came to you during COVID when you had
I know you had two salons before m hm, two
mobile salons. Tell us about that story.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Yeah, I mean it was really simple. I was a hairstylist,
got trained from Paul Mitchell, went to you know, Lower
East Side, and worked in a salon down there. I
was their top performer. When I went to them and said, hey,
can I change my commission from forty sixty split into
fifty fifth?
Speaker 4 (05:00):
They said you got to take a hiatus.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
And so I had a full book of clients and
a hiatus wasn't something that was going to be an
option for me. And so I was like, well, I'm
taking my clients so what I could at the time,
and I'm going on on my own. And I did that,
and quickly did I realized, oh, it's a lot of overhead.
I see why they needed that sixty percent. And so
then from there I started realizing how can I get
this funding. I had a five ninety six credit score.
I didn't have enough fund you know, money in the
(05:23):
bank to get traditional funding because banko America told me
I needed two fifty a year, two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars a year, to get a loan. I didn't
have any of that, So then I started seeing what
are some other options that are available in New York
State was giving out grants to small business owners at
the time, and I applied for some grants through some
different programs and got funded from a grant there. But
I didn't even use that to start teaching yet. I
was just like running that help for that long business.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
Yeah, but then when.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
COVID hit and New York shut down all non essential workers,
I didn't have any money to pay my bills. I'm like,
let me just start teaching people how they can access
this grant funding that's out here right now. And then
that's how pink print was worth.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
And then you started with just a couple people.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Oh, we were on line with ten people, eleven people.
Sometimes I'll be on there by myself, but I.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Was still talking like I'm.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I'm telling you nobody. But I knew that the information,
if one person got it, that would literally trigger a
fire to so many other people in their community that
would get the access to that knowledge and could take
it to the next level.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Now, can you tell us some stories about times but
you've seen a grant change that tiactor, you're somebody's business.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Well me, I'm definitely my own story. But then also
there's been so many people who come into our seminars
and they just really think that grants are not for
their business for whatever reason. And when they finally get
that first grant, the validation that it brings to their
business of what it can create, and they're like, oh,
this is money that somebody just believed in me and
gave me that I can utilize without the extra stress
(06:47):
that comes with Okay, now I got to get this
money by tomorrow because I owe these people this money
back and you can actually build with true freedom and peace.
That's There was one lady, Bonita Clemens who came to
one of our classes who didn't think that she could
get a grant for her for profit. She won twenty
fives and Doledge with quick Books and literally changed her
whole life. And she's got so many grants after that.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Man, let me tell you something. This is something and
I talk to my partner about this all the time.
I'm like, we need to apply for some grants. And
it's hard because you do feel like you need to
get somebody because there are people who really make a
living off of being a grant writer. But the other
thing I've heard is people who have used grant writers
and have not gotten grants, And I know that. I
think it's also important for people to be cautious about
who they're tapping in with.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Absolutely. I think that.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
First of all, my whole team is certified grant writers,
so we've actually gone through the process to.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Learn the skill and build the relationships.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
So there's a lot of people who can teach about grants,
maybe they've won one personally and they're kind of just
going out and given the education. But when you're hiring
an actual grant writer, first you need to see some results, right.
Everyone should know how much of success rate do we have?
What are our data measurable things that we can bring
to you outside of just writing the actual grant Like,
for instance, relationships is a big one. I could go
to a funder and say, hey, what's the rubric on
(07:55):
the back end? So now I know how to put
the front in application better than someone who's just coming
in on their own right. And so you also want
to see like efficacy, do they actually have morals and
values within the company that they're holding your ideas Some
people have some really unique ideas that haven't been shared yet.
I have to have a certain code of ethics when
I'm handling certain information. So those are some things that
(08:15):
you need to look for. But a grant writer can't
guarantee you to win a grant, so working with.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
You, but I want to know that too, because sometimes
they think I paid this person money, I hired them,
I didn't get my results. But it's also not a
guarantee necessarily. But it's important to know what you're looking
for when you're trying to find the right person.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
What are your success rates?
Speaker 3 (08:34):
We've had an eighty percent success rate since twenty twenty
one that we've maintained, and I tell people, I think
what it is is we look at it as a
data driven process other than just okay, we're just writing
a grant. It's really calculating the right messaging. We utilize
the same proposal we do basically an ab split test
when we're writing proposals to send some grant proposals to
(08:54):
one funder and some to another funder. So now we're
creating and being able to see what exact language works
for what specific funders, And it's just really created like
this super formula that it just hits.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Eighty percent is great. Tell people exactly what pink print
does if they sign up with your company, what you
do for them.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Yeah, so we're full service grant writing agency.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
We do the whole process from you know, speaking with
you understanding your business, to helping you write the actual
grant proposal itself that you're going to utilize to go
for the funding, finding grants to actually align with your business,
which is a huge part of it. And then also
helping you understand afterwards what are your requirements, how do
you set up measurable results, how do you set up
reporting property? And then also we can link you to
(09:34):
different tax accountants that are used to grant funding as well,
because I've seen a lot of CFOs and other people's
companies get it wrong and they might lose the grant
funding just because they don't understand how to report properly.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
I'm starting to realize that now, even with my financial
planner and everything, being an entrepreneur, you need someone who
really understands entrepreneurs and understands their different situations. It's a
whole different type of financial planning. It's like you were saying,
you really need even your tax people to understand this
is part of my revenue strategy.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
How have you seen you bought up DII earlier? How
have you seen that affect the whole grants that are
available for people?
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Actually, Surprisingly, what has happened is we've seen a lot
of grants for people to actually build like manufacturing companies,
and they're really thinking a little bit bigger. Even a
lot of companies who potentially weren't doing DEI focused funding before,
they've kind of championed up and created a few different
opportunities available. Trump is canceled probably two billion in grants
so far, you know, and that's not going to stop
(10:33):
where we're looking at a lot of shifts that are happening.
But what I'm telling a lot of our entrepreneurs is
we don't need to keep starting the small hair company, Okay,
we need to start creating the manufacturing company that can
actually ship the hair to everybody. Like we need to
start thinking a little bit bigger because with tarifts and play,
a lot of US based businesses have been building on
a really big level and they're sending out trillions of dollars,
(10:54):
especially in grants towards.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
This and grant are part of that scaling strategy under AI.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Have you seen that being really beneficial as far as
grant writing and have you guys been utilizing that?
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Oh? I love AI.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
I love it not in terms of the actual writing process,
but in terms of the research. This is where we're
using an AI called Perplexity, and it's like a deep
research tool where we're learning more about grant tours in
shorter amounts of times. When we used to have to
go and do all this research on a grant tour
to see what are they interested in, who are they funding,
what have they funded in the past, we can go
on Perplexity and be like, tell me what the last
(11:27):
three years look like for this funder and I can
know it in an instant right. But when it comes
to writing, they're actually using tools called zero GPT on
the back end of like when they're going through your
grant process, because they don't want people to utilize AI.
They're actually looking for people to know their numbers who
actually have real messages and are impacting in a real way.
Because CHATGBT can make anything sound good, but when it
(11:49):
comes to grants, you have to use the funding in
the way it was intended to on your budget. So
if you're using CHATBT and it's putting these ghost numbers
and you got to stick to that, and then you
get into the muddy, you're like, oh, this wasn't realistic.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
I gotta changeup everything. You can lose funding so easily.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Now, what happens if you get a grant that is
specifically for something, but then let's just say your business
doesn't work out right, Let's just say you're like, I
want to use this for my business. I want to
grow and scale my business, but then financially it just
wasn't viable. You end up having to shut down. What
happens with that grant money, Well, you need to use
all that grant money before you shut down.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Okay, you better go ahead and use it on something.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Yeah, use it on something to try to make it work,
because otherwise, yes, typically they can rescind the funding. But
if you use it on the business and then the
business goes like a ray, there's typically no strings attached
in that kind of regard.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
So if someone want to grant to hire somebody and
they ended up shooting my business in debt, ten thousand
dollars in my business and they applied to some of
that money to that is that's they can't do that. No,
you have to use it very specifically for correct Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
You and you want to be super ethical again because
you want to build those relationships, right, you want to
build that trust because if one funder had ten thousand,
they got one hundred thousand. So you want to start
showcasing the trust and you know, the reliability with the
funding because they also have to report back to whoever
they get the funding from too as well to showcase
this is what we did and this is what wasn't
done with it, you know. So you just want to
make sure everybody's on the.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Up and up.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Are there grants out there that help entrepreneurs who are
looking for you know, they need to create financial stability
because that's the number one reason small businesses fail because
the entrepreneur's personal financing and bootstrapping, and particularly when you
look at black women where the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs.
We have over over two million of US owned businesses,
but they're only earning twenty four thousand dollars and average
(13:37):
a year. So you know, what would you tell them
in terms of is there money out there that can
just help them with their finances overall. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
I mean, there's a website called helloskip dot com which
is one of the best websites for like corporate grants,
And what I tell people is corporate grants are probably
the most unrestricted funding that you're gonna get, especially in
the beginning stages. So go for those like five thousand,
twenty thousand dollars grants getting started, because there's no limit
to how many you can win, right if you can
apply for one grant a day and keep the dead away.
(14:07):
That's what we tell our clients to do because you're
gonna win about ten percent of the ones you apply to.
So if you're going for grants and every month you
have three grants that are coming through, then yes, you
can use those unrestricted funds towards hiring staff, marketing, inventory, equipment,
higher education, whatever that may look like in your business.
But then we come with the question of do we
(14:29):
know how to use the funding? Do we know what
to actually invest it into to grow our businesses the
right way? Are we doing the things in the right
manner and the right steps and processes, Because you can
get grant funding, but if you don't know what to
do with it. You're gonna be back at ground zero anyway.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
That's so too.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
I've been on so many different in so many different
situations where I help people get grants, where I'm on
the committee the twos who's getting the grants, but I
personally have not gotten any. And sometimes it's hired for
me to like put myself in that position because sometimes
people don't even want to say that they need help,
you know, financially, because to be honest about like saying, okay,
(15:03):
this is really tough. And I think times have been
really hard for small businesses right now, especially you know,
for me having.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
A small business. Yeah, several Yeah, I see it.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
I see how people aren't spending money, you know, in
that way. I see a lot of restaurants, you know,
my coffee shop. It's just not the same because people
are really hesitant, like to go out and spend money now.
So we're having to like shift and figure out different
ways that we can also I think be sensitive to
the fact that people are not comfortable with spending money
right now. Everybody's trying to kind of save but also
(15:34):
want to make sure that we're serving our community too.
At the same time, so I feel like this is
the perfect time to start working on that.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Absolutely for sure, And I think for anybody who's scared,
I always say this to the people that.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
Are around me.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
I'm like, when it comes to wanting security and having
a business, we'll put in fifty job applications until we
get a job because we think that that job brings
us the security. But when it comes to our business,
we won't do fifty grand applications to keep it aflow.
We'll be like, oh, well, this is going to work out.
I'm gonna get this up and go back to work.
But it's like which one is really giving you the
stability that you can count on?
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Right?
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Both are in the air sometimes, but you have to
really decide which legacy you want to create for yourself
and just keep going. So if you ain't, if you're
scared to ask for help, you're doing yourself a huge disservice.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
No.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Absolutely, do you.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Help people with business strategy as well.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
We don't.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
We stick to making sure that we do the grant
process because that's what we're really good at. We have
a lot of like partners that we could refer to,
but I'm focused on getting you the funding that's my job,
and this.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Is a franchise.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
Also, we are we literally just franchised our company with Kika.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
A few weeks ago.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Yeah, it's all working out yet. We just franchised the
business model, so we're excited to get that going to
scale and have some other people be able to get access.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
To funding as well.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Congratulations. And I know that you're based in Atlanta. Where
are you from though, I just wanted New York. Yeah, yeah,
just had to make sure.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
She's been waiting to do that. We have, Well, two
other points I want to make you are really a
champion for women of color. But I know that you
always put out there You're not just a champion for
women of color. You were big on all communities and
communities really important to you.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
I of course I'm on a champion for women of
color because that was the basis of who I build
relationships with, you know, growing up. But I do think
that this is something that all people should be able
to access, you know, not having to go on a debt,
being able to grow a business, and just having the
education to do so. Is what we're really focused on
is making sure people know it's possible.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
So you have your five day Get Grant Ready Seminar
coming up August fourth through eighth. Tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Oh, the seminar is incredible.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
This is our third annual Get Grant Ready Seminar and
it's the biggest virtual grant seminar on Internet period and
I love it because we really break down from a
certified grant writer perspective. Day one is all about money mindset,
how to understand how grants really works because we have
to shift from traditional funding. Then we're talking about how
you can actually access grants, finding them on actual databases
(18:14):
and not through Google. Then we're going into how to
write your grant proposal in full. We're going into how
to use that funding through tax strategy to really grow
and build your business and how it's a revenue strategy.
And we're also going to tap into the nonprofit side
a lot too, how you can utilize the nonprofit as
a huge way to leverage other grant opportunities. And it's
just going to be super packed. Huge educators are going
(18:35):
to be there and it's going to be amazing, So
everyone who joins is going to learn quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
When it comes to me, but sign me up because
this is something that has been like I keep on
putting it off, but it's definitely something that I know
can help make my business thrive.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
So yeah, how do people sign up for that?
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Yeah, everybody can sign up at pinkprint Firm dot com,
pinkprint Firm.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Dot com, Pinkprint Firm dot com. And're gonna help Angela
and I get grants and we're gonna tell everybody else.
You're going to tell everybody. You're awesome.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
As soon as I feel like when I have people
come come across with like different grants, I can also
give them like so they at least I can funnel
it through so at least you know it's available opportunities
to because we do a lot of things like that
in the community. Also, like I said, I'm always on
the committee yeah for it and helping like choose people.
But you know, I can't apply for those, so but
if I can help other people, because sometimes there's grants
(19:30):
that no one or not people applied for because people
don't know about it.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yeah, and so in our community, we got thousands of
people in there who are always applying for stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, and I think that is amazing when there's a
grant that's available and they can see like the faction
that they get from it being closed to people even
knowing about it and having like a great pool of
people to choose from.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, what's the process someone should expect. Okay, I see
this grant. How long is it gonna I'm working with
pink print. How long is it going to take me
to get the information? How long is it going to
take me to apply and get the grant?
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Yes, Typically grant cycles have like a three to forty
five day cycle, So like if you apply on the
first day it open, you're gonna be waiting about three
to forty five days until they actually can have time
to review the grants and then actually choose a recipient
start to finish. On an average corporate or state local
grand you're looking at like three to six months for
a grant to be like funded in your account from
start to finish.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
He pays you in everyone. Yeah, I mean, but you
got it. Yeah, you got to get into it.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
You do.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
And again, if you go on a cycle of like
applying to a granted day, you're gonna collapse those time
frames because you're gonna be having a grant reaching out
to you every week.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
You know about funding that you've won.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, you missed one hundred percent of the shot. You
don't take Hello, exact myself.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Okay, Well, we are so excited that you came and
shared this great information, and everybody be sure to go
to the five day Get Grant Ready seminar sign.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
Up at pinkprint Firm dot com.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
You see the pink that's gonna be August fourth through eighth,
Happy Wealth Wednesdays. Everybody w
What's up his way up with Angela. I need this
in my life right here. It is a Wealth Wednesday.
Stacy Tisdale is here.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Happy Wealth Wednesday's everybody. We have something that we all
need right now, money, free money and knowing how to
get free money. And that's why we are so excited.
I've been really excited for this interview to bring you
Stormy Banks, who is the founder and CEO of pink
Print Firm, and that is a full service grant writing agency.
(00:30):
Amazing that has raised I've actually raised nineteen million dollars, yes,
and grants for entrepreneurs to date. You've currently worked with
over ten thousand entrepreneurs as grant as. You do everything
grant writing and everything. And personally I know pink Print
you're on track to hit ten million in sales and
(00:50):
I loved how you you actually factor grant money into
like your revenue projections. Who has that confidence? Who does that? Well?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Everyone needs to be This is literally a revenue strategy
that I tell business owners all the time. If you're
just thinking of grants like a lottery strategy, you're using
them the wrong way. Because the house that I got
approved for, I got to prove for more because of
the revenue in our business, and a big chunk of
that is grant money. So I tell people this is
way bigger than just getting funding to grow a business.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Now, let's talk about you as an entrepreneur for a second.
Two because what I realized is that at an early age,
if you can get that in your head and I
know this was instilled into you at an early age
to become an entrepreneur, then you can just see the
benefits of that later on in life. So talk to
me about the early days for a young Stormy and
how you realize entrepreneurship was in the cards for you.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
I think I was so bossy.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
I had brothers and I was always putting them to work,
and my mom was like, you're either going to be
the leader of a biker gang or a fortune five
hundred company.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
But good, Thankfully I took the right route, And so what.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Happened, I think really was just understanding how to use
leadership in the right ways really early on, being put
in like different camps and being put into different opportunities
where I could actually lead. And it wasn't like, oh,
you're a black girl, you're too bossy. You're doing too much.
You're too loud. My mother let me have that voice.
And so now that I'm an entrepreneur, was just kind
of like, Okay, where's the leaders at in this space?
(02:10):
There's so many business owners who are going into debt
to grow their business. Who's the leader champion that they
don't have to do that? And I was like, why
could be that?
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Girl?
Speaker 4 (02:16):
I need that help. Let me tell you. That's one
thing I would say.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
As much as we talk about entrepreneurship, I've not ever
gotten that one grant from my business.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
I know. That's why I'm like, I'm so glad.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
You're here today, because what people don't realize is a
grant is so different also than it's not alone, right.
A grant is money that you don't actually have to
pay back. So talk about the different types of grants people,
and why you even got into this business and when
you first got your first grant, well even before that.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
Just like she just said, there's so many misconceptions about
it being complicated and people don't understand what are some
of the common misconceptions about it. A lot of people
don't think, oh, it's for nonprofits or something like that.
What are some of the common miss perceptions we have.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Oh, there's a lot So to your point that it's
not alone, right, So people think they have to have
good credit to go for grants, that's wrong. People think
they have to have a certain revenue or a certain
amount of history in business to start winning grants.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
That's wrong.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Not in all cases do you need that stuff to
get started. And so they think they need to be
a nonprofit And again they're just utilizing it in the
wrong manner instead of using as a strategy. They think
it's this one lottery ticket opportunity where they just can
get a short, quick, little boost in their business to
do one thing. Maybe it's an event, or maybe it's
a financial literacy program that they want to offer. But
they're not thinking of it in terms of how can
(03:29):
I actually build and expand my business in a capacity
building way to really be able to build this multimillion dollar,
billion dollar company that I can sell or pass down.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I know this woman who just applies for every single grant. Hello,
and she's like, I get all the grants if it's
five thousand dollars, ten thousand dollars. She just applies for
grants all the time. But let's talk about There are
restrictions sometimes though, when you get a grant. It depends, right,
because there's times you can get a grant, but it
does have to be like allocated and you have to
show what you're using it for.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
Yep, there definitely are some grants that you have to
report for it. And when I teach people in my camp,
I tell them treat every grant the same rights if
you're having to report for this super large grant, because
what you'll do is you'll build relationships with funders. And
right now, especially because Trump is you know, getting rid
of a lot of the grant funding that's available, thunders
are kind of transitioning to this long term fiscal sponsorship
(04:20):
opportunity that they're want to give off. Right So, if
you get a five thousand dollars grant from one funder
and you show them, hey, this is what we use
the grant song, these are the measurable outcomes that happen,
we would love to partner with you on another opportunity
similar to this. They're already showing that they want to
be a partner with you, but you just got to
kind of take that initiative to really build that relationship.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
This all came to you during COVID when you had
I know you had two salons before m hm, two
mobile salons. Tell us about that story.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
Yeah, I mean it was really simple. I was a hairstylist,
got trained from Paul Mitchell, went to you know, Lower
East Side, and worked in a salon down there. I
was their top performer. When I went to them and said, hey,
can I change my commission from forty sixty split into
fifty fifth?
Speaker 4 (05:00):
They said you got to take a hiatus.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
And so I had a full book of clients and
a hiatus wasn't something that was going to be an
option for me. And so I was like, well, I'm
taking my clients so what I could at the time,
and I'm going on on my own. And I did that,
and quickly did I realized, oh, it's a lot of overhead.
I see why they needed that sixty percent. And so
then from there I started realizing how can I get
this funding. I had a five ninety six credit score.
I didn't have enough fund you know, money in the
(05:23):
bank to get traditional funding because banko America told me
I needed two fifty a year, two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars a year, to get a loan. I didn't
have any of that, So then I started seeing what
are some other options that are available in New York
State was giving out grants to small business owners at
the time, and I applied for some grants through some
different programs and got funded from a grant there. But
I didn't even use that to start teaching yet. I
was just like running that help for that long business.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
Yeah, but then when.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
COVID hit and New York shut down all non essential workers,
I didn't have any money to pay my bills. I'm like,
let me just start teaching people how they can access
this grant funding that's out here right now. And then
that's how pink print was worth.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
And then you started with just a couple people.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
Oh, we were on line with ten people, eleven people.
Sometimes I'll be on there by myself, but I.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Was still talking like I'm.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
I'm telling you nobody. But I knew that the information,
if one person got it, that would literally trigger a
fire to so many other people in their community that
would get the access to that knowledge and could take
it to the next level.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Now, can you tell us some stories about times but
you've seen a grant change that tiactor, you're somebody's business.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Well me, I'm definitely my own story. But then also
there's been so many people who come into our seminars
and they just really think that grants are not for
their business for whatever reason. And when they finally get
that first grant, the validation that it brings to their
business of what it can create, and they're like, oh,
this is money that somebody just believed in me and
gave me that I can utilize without the extra stress
(06:47):
that comes with Okay, now I got to get this
money by tomorrow because I owe these people this money
back and you can actually build with true freedom and peace.
That's There was one lady, Bonita Clemens who came to
one of our classes who didn't think that she could
get a grant for her for profit. She won twenty
fives and Doledge with quick Books and literally changed her
whole life. And she's got so many grants after that.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Man, let me tell you something. This is something and
I talk to my partner about this all the time.
I'm like, we need to apply for some grants. And
it's hard because you do feel like you need to
get somebody because there are people who really make a
living off of being a grant writer. But the other
thing I've heard is people who have used grant writers
and have not gotten grants, And I know that. I
think it's also important for people to be cautious about
who they're tapping in with.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
Absolutely. I think that.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
First of all, my whole team is certified grant writers,
so we've actually gone through the process to.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
Learn the skill and build the relationships.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
So there's a lot of people who can teach about grants,
maybe they've won one personally and they're kind of just
going out and given the education. But when you're hiring
an actual grant writer, first you need to see some results, right.
Everyone should know how much of success rate do we have?
What are our data measurable things that we can bring
to you outside of just writing the actual grant Like,
for instance, relationships is a big one. I could go
to a funder and say, hey, what's the rubric on
(07:55):
the back end? So now I know how to put
the front in application better than someone who's just coming
in on their own right. And so you also want
to see like efficacy, do they actually have morals and
values within the company that they're holding your ideas Some
people have some really unique ideas that haven't been shared yet.
I have to have a certain code of ethics when
I'm handling certain information. So those are some things that
(08:15):
you need to look for. But a grant writer can't
guarantee you to win a grant, so working with.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
You, but I want to know that too, because sometimes
they think I paid this person money, I hired them,
I didn't get my results. But it's also not a
guarantee necessarily. But it's important to know what you're looking
for when you're trying to find the right person.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
What are your success rates?
Speaker 3 (08:34):
We've had an eighty percent success rate since twenty twenty
one that we've maintained, and I tell people, I think
what it is is we look at it as a
data driven process other than just okay, we're just writing
a grant. It's really calculating the right messaging. We utilize
the same proposal we do basically an ab split test
when we're writing proposals to send some grant proposals to
(08:54):
one funder and some to another funder. So now we're
creating and being able to see what exact language works
for what specific funders, And it's just really created like
this super formula that it just hits.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Eighty percent is great. Tell people exactly what pink print
does if they sign up with your company, what you
do for them.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Yeah, so we're full service grant writing agency.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
We do the whole process from you know, speaking with
you understanding your business, to helping you write the actual
grant proposal itself that you're going to utilize to go
for the funding, finding grants to actually align with your business,
which is a huge part of it. And then also
helping you understand afterwards what are your requirements, how do
you set up measurable results, how do you set up
reporting property? And then also we can link you to
(09:34):
different tax accountants that are used to grant funding as well,
because I've seen a lot of CFOs and other people's
companies get it wrong and they might lose the grant
funding just because they don't understand how to report properly.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
I'm starting to realize that now, even with my financial
planner and everything, being an entrepreneur, you need someone who
really understands entrepreneurs and understands their different situations. It's a
whole different type of financial planning. It's like you were saying,
you really need even your tax people to understand this
is part of my revenue strategy.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
One hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
How have you seen you bought up DII earlier? How
have you seen that affect the whole grants that are
available for people?
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Actually, Surprisingly, what has happened is we've seen a lot
of grants for people to actually build like manufacturing companies,
and they're really thinking a little bit bigger. Even a
lot of companies who potentially weren't doing DEI focused funding before,
they've kind of championed up and created a few different
opportunities available. Trump is canceled probably two billion in grants
so far, you know, and that's not going to stop
(10:33):
where we're looking at a lot of shifts that are happening.
But what I'm telling a lot of our entrepreneurs is
we don't need to keep starting the small hair company, Okay,
we need to start creating the manufacturing company that can
actually ship the hair to everybody. Like we need to
start thinking a little bit bigger because with tarifts and play,
a lot of US based businesses have been building on
a really big level and they're sending out trillions of dollars,
(10:54):
especially in grants towards.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
This and grant are part of that scaling strategy under AI.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Have you seen that being really beneficial as far as
grant writing and have you guys been utilizing that?
Speaker 4 (11:06):
Oh? I love AI.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
I love it not in terms of the actual writing process,
but in terms of the research. This is where we're
using an AI called Perplexity, and it's like a deep
research tool where we're learning more about grant tours in
shorter amounts of times. When we used to have to
go and do all this research on a grant tour
to see what are they interested in, who are they funding,
what have they funded in the past, we can go
on Perplexity and be like, tell me what the last
(11:27):
three years look like for this funder and I can
know it in an instant right. But when it comes
to writing, they're actually using tools called zero GPT on
the back end of like when they're going through your
grant process, because they don't want people to utilize AI.
They're actually looking for people to know their numbers who
actually have real messages and are impacting in a real way.
Because CHATGBT can make anything sound good, but when it
(11:49):
comes to grants, you have to use the funding in
the way it was intended to on your budget. So
if you're using CHATBT and it's putting these ghost numbers
and you got to stick to that, and then you
get into the muddy, you're like, oh, this wasn't realistic.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
I gotta changeup everything. You can lose funding so easily.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
Now, what happens if you get a grant that is
specifically for something, but then let's just say your business
doesn't work out right, Let's just say you're like, I
want to use this for my business. I want to
grow and scale my business, but then financially it just
wasn't viable. You end up having to shut down. What
happens with that grant money, Well, you need to use
all that grant money before you shut down.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
Okay, you better go ahead and use it on something.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
Yeah, use it on something to try to make it work,
because otherwise, yes, typically they can rescind the funding. But
if you use it on the business and then the
business goes like a ray, there's typically no strings attached
in that kind of regard.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
So if someone want to grant to hire somebody and
they ended up shooting my business in debt, ten thousand
dollars in my business and they applied to some of
that money to that is that's they can't do that. No,
you have to use it very specifically for correct Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
You and you want to be super ethical again because
you want to build those relationships, right, you want to
build that trust because if one funder had ten thousand,
they got one hundred thousand. So you want to start
showcasing the trust and you know, the reliability with the
funding because they also have to report back to whoever
they get the funding from too as well to showcase
this is what we did and this is what wasn't
done with it, you know. So you just want to
make sure everybody's on the.
Speaker 1 (13:12):
Up and up.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Are there grants out there that help entrepreneurs who are
looking for you know, they need to create financial stability
because that's the number one reason small businesses fail because
the entrepreneur's personal financing and bootstrapping, and particularly when you
look at black women where the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs.
We have over over two million of US owned businesses,
but they're only earning twenty four thousand dollars and average
(13:37):
a year. So you know, what would you tell them
in terms of is there money out there that can
just help them with their finances overall. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
I mean, there's a website called helloskip dot com which
is one of the best websites for like corporate grants,
And what I tell people is corporate grants are probably
the most unrestricted funding that you're gonna get, especially in
the beginning stages. So go for those like five thousand,
twenty thousand dollars grants getting started, because there's no limit
to how many you can win, right if you can
apply for one grant a day and keep the dead away.
(14:07):
That's what we tell our clients to do because you're
gonna win about ten percent of the ones you apply to.
So if you're going for grants and every month you
have three grants that are coming through, then yes, you
can use those unrestricted funds towards hiring staff, marketing, inventory, equipment,
higher education, whatever that may look like in your business.
But then we come with the question of do we
(14:29):
know how to use the funding? Do we know what
to actually invest it into to grow our businesses the
right way? Are we doing the things in the right
manner and the right steps and processes, Because you can
get grant funding, but if you don't know what to
do with it. You're gonna be back at ground zero anyway.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
That's so too.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
I've been on so many different in so many different
situations where I help people get grants, where I'm on
the committee the twos who's getting the grants, but I
personally have not gotten any. And sometimes it's hired for
me to like put myself in that position because sometimes
people don't even want to say that they need help,
you know, financially, because to be honest about like saying, okay,
(15:03):
this is really tough. And I think times have been
really hard for small businesses right now, especially you know,
for me having.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
A small business. Yeah, several Yeah, I see it.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
I see how people aren't spending money, you know, in
that way. I see a lot of restaurants, you know,
my coffee shop. It's just not the same because people
are really hesitant, like to go out and spend money now.
So we're having to like shift and figure out different
ways that we can also I think be sensitive to
the fact that people are not comfortable with spending money
right now. Everybody's trying to kind of save but also
(15:34):
want to make sure that we're serving our community too.
At the same time, so I feel like this is
the perfect time to start working on that.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
Absolutely for sure, And I think for anybody who's scared,
I always say this to the people that.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
Are around me.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
I'm like, when it comes to wanting security and having
a business, we'll put in fifty job applications until we
get a job because we think that that job brings
us the security. But when it comes to our business,
we won't do fifty grand applications to keep it aflow.
We'll be like, oh, well, this is going to work out.
I'm gonna get this up and go back to work.
But it's like which one is really giving you the
stability that you can count on?
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Right?
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Both are in the air sometimes, but you have to
really decide which legacy you want to create for yourself
and just keep going. So if you ain't, if you're
scared to ask for help, you're doing yourself a huge disservice.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
No.
Speaker 4 (16:16):
Absolutely, do you.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
Help people with business strategy as well.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
We don't.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
We stick to making sure that we do the grant
process because that's what we're really good at. We have
a lot of like partners that we could refer to,
but I'm focused on getting you the funding that's my job,
and this.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Is a franchise.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
Also, we are we literally just franchised our company with Kika.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
A few weeks ago.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Yeah, it's all working out yet. We just franchised the
business model, so we're excited to get that going to
scale and have some other people be able to get access.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
To funding as well.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Congratulations. And I know that you're based in Atlanta. Where
are you from though, I just wanted New York. Yeah, yeah,
just had to make sure.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
She's been waiting to do that. We have, Well, two
other points I want to make you are really a
champion for women of color. But I know that you
always put out there You're not just a champion for
women of color. You were big on all communities and
communities really important to you.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:23):
I of course I'm on a champion for women of
color because that was the basis of who I build
relationships with, you know, growing up. But I do think
that this is something that all people should be able
to access, you know, not having to go on a debt,
being able to grow a business, and just having the
education to do so. Is what we're really focused on
is making sure people know it's possible.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
So you have your five day Get Grant Ready Seminar
coming up August fourth through eighth. Tell us about that.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Oh, the seminar is incredible.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
This is our third annual Get Grant Ready Seminar and
it's the biggest virtual grant seminar on Internet period and
I love it because we really break down from a
certified grant writer perspective. Day one is all about money mindset,
how to understand how grants really works because we have
to shift from traditional funding. Then we're talking about how
you can actually access grants, finding them on actual databases
(18:14):
and not through Google. Then we're going into how to
write your grant proposal in full. We're going into how
to use that funding through tax strategy to really grow
and build your business and how it's a revenue strategy.
And we're also going to tap into the nonprofit side
a lot too, how you can utilize the nonprofit as
a huge way to leverage other grant opportunities. And it's
just going to be super packed. Huge educators are going
(18:35):
to be there and it's going to be amazing, So
everyone who joins is going to learn quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
When it comes to me, but sign me up because
this is something that has been like I keep on
putting it off, but it's definitely something that I know
can help make my business thrive.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
So yeah, how do people sign up for that?
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Yeah, everybody can sign up at pinkprint Firm dot com,
pinkprint Firm.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Dot com, Pinkprint Firm dot com. And're gonna help Angela
and I get grants and we're gonna tell everybody else.
You're going to tell everybody. You're awesome.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
As soon as I feel like when I have people
come come across with like different grants, I can also
give them like so they at least I can funnel
it through so at least you know it's available opportunities
to because we do a lot of things like that
in the community. Also, like I said, I'm always on
the committee yeah for it and helping like choose people.
But you know, I can't apply for those, so but
if I can help other people, because sometimes there's grants
(19:30):
that no one or not people applied for because people
don't know about it.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Yeah, and so in our community, we got thousands of
people in there who are always applying for stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, and I think that is amazing when there's a
grant that's available and they can see like the faction
that they get from it being closed to people even
knowing about it and having like a great pool of
people to choose from.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, what's the process someone should expect. Okay, I see
this grant. How long is it gonna I'm working with
pink print. How long is it going to take me
to get the information? How long is it going to
take me to apply and get the grant?
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Yes, Typically grant cycles have like a three to forty
five day cycle, So like if you apply on the
first day it open, you're gonna be waiting about three
to forty five days until they actually can have time
to review the grants and then actually choose a recipient
start to finish. On an average corporate or state local
grand you're looking at like three to six months for
a grant to be like funded in your account from
start to finish.
Speaker 4 (20:19):
He pays you in everyone. Yeah, I mean, but you
got it. Yeah, you got to get into it.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
You do.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
And again, if you go on a cycle of like
applying to a granted day, you're gonna collapse those time
frames because you're gonna be having a grant reaching out
to you every week.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
You know about funding that you've won.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, you missed one hundred percent of the shot. You
don't take Hello, exact myself.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Okay, Well, we are so excited that you came and
shared this great information, and everybody be sure to go
to the five day Get Grant Ready seminar sign.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
Up at pinkprint Firm dot com.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
You see the pink that's gonna be August fourth through eighth,
Happy Wealth Wednesdays. Everybody w
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