January 7, 2025 • 30 mins
Navigating the world of government grants can be stressful. But funding isn't just in the grants you apply for. Guest Matthew Lesko has been helping individuals and nonprofits access little-known government resources for over 30 years, and he's here to share his wealth of knowledge.
What you'll learn:
→ Why Matthew is so passionate about government grants and funding
→ Strategies for finding and securing government grants, even if you're a small nonprofit
→ Creative ways to generate revenue beyond just grants
→ How to build relationships with elected officials to unlock funding opportunities
→ Resources and tools to help you navigate the complex world of government assistance
Want to skip ahead? Here are key takeaways:
[05:34] Get intentional with the sources you use to find government grants. Avoid using Google to search for government grants – it's a “death trap” full of people trying to take your money. You don't need to hire someone to help you execute.
[05:34] Utilize the SBA's local assistance database to find free, nonprofit organizations that can help with various aspects of your organization. There are loans available to help you with your team, as well as learning opportunities.
[12:42] Don't just ask for money from government offices – ask for help in discovering the resources available to you. There are consultants that are connected to government projects that can provide services to supoprt you.
[26:24] Follow your heart and focus on being genuine in your relationships with grantors and elected officials. Yes you will need to build relationships, but make sure it is the right opportunity for your needs.
Resources
SBA's local assistance database: https://sba.gov/local-assistance
Career one stop center: https://careeronestop.org/
Common Cause website: https://commoncause.org/
Apex Accelerators website: https://apexaccelerators.us/
YouFindHelp.org: http://youfindhelp.org/
GoHelp.com: http://gohelp.com/
Matthew Lesko
Hi, I’m Matthew Lesko, known as the “Question Mark Guy” for my eccentric suits and passion for helping people find government grants and financial assistance programs. For over 30 years, I’ve authored bestselling books, appeared on major TV shows like The Oprah Winfrey Show, and built online communities to educate individuals and businesses on accessing little-known resources. My mission is to simplify complex government systems, empowering everyone to unlock opportunities they didn’t know existed.
Learn more at https://www.free.lesko.com.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/LeskoHelp
https://www.youtube.com/user/matthewlesko
Connect with us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-first-click
Learn more about The First Click: https://thefirstclick.net
Schedule a Digital Marketing Therapy Session: https://thefirstclick.net/officehours
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (00:00):
Welcome to our first episode of 2025 I'm so
excited to be back for anotheryear with you. We are on episode
287 which is crazy to me, we'regonna hit 300 this year, which
is so exciting. Thank you somuch for being a part of this
podcast and joining us along inthis journey. Some changes that
(00:20):
are coming, but nothing toocrazy. We are going to be having
our episodes every other week.There's so much content for us
to share, and so we're going tofocus on getting that out to you
and creating some new productsthis year. And so we wanted to
bring the podcast to every otherweek. We're super excited about
all of the interviews, butyou'll want to make sure that
you're subscribed, either onYouTube or wherever you listen
(00:42):
to pop. Listen to podcasts,because there may be some bonus
solo episodes that pop in hereand there. I'm always having
conversations with nonprofitsand organizations, and topics
keep coming up, and so sometimesthere's things that I want to
share with you, and we will bereleasing those as bonus
episodes, which you'll only hearabout if you're subscribed, so
that you get thosenotifications. But for now,
(01:04):
we're going to kick off the yearwith a conversation about
government grants and governmentfunding.
My guest today is Matthew Lesko,and we're talking about kind of
government grants and maybe somedifferent ways that you can
think about getting resourcesand additional funding that
maybe you didn't know that youcould do. So Matthew Lesko is
(01:25):
known as the question mark guyfor his eccentric suits and
passion for helping people findgovernment grants and financial
assistance programs. For over 30years, He's authored best
selling books, appeared on majorTV shows like The Oprah Winfrey
Show, and built onlinecommunities to educate
individuals and businesses toeducate on accessing, excuse me,
(01:45):
on accessing little knownresources. His mission is to
simplify complex governmentsystems, empowering everyone to
unlock opportunities they didn'tknow existed. And it's a fun
conversation. Kind of goes alittle bit all over the place,
but you're going to get somegreat resources in here that you
can share with regards to how togo after some government grants
(02:08):
and some other programs that youmight not know existed. So I
hope that you enjoy thisepisode. Welcome to 2025 it is a
new year. It is exciting, and Ican't wait to be alongside you
on this journey. But before weget into it, this episode is
brought to you by our featuredfree resources. We have so many
free downloadables for you toaccess on our website at
(02:31):
thefirstclick.net/resources theycover everything from video
marketing to self care toplanning to social media to
email all of the things that youneed support with. They're all
there atthefirstclick.net/resources, so
I hope that you will go checkthem out, download the tool that
(02:52):
will help you with where you'reat right now and keep moving
forward in your onlinefundraising strategies. So
that's what's up this year. I'mso excited to be here with you,
and let's get into the episode.
You're listening to the DigitalMarketing Therapy podcast. I'm
your host, Sami Bedell-Mulhern,each month, we dive deep into a
(03:13):
digital marketing or fundraisingstrategy that you can implement
in your organization. Each week,you'll hear from guest experts,
nonprofits and myself on bestpractices, tips and resources to
help you raise more money onlineand reach your organizational
goals.
Hey, friends, please join me inwelcoming Matthew Lesko to the
podcast. Matthew, thanks forbeing here today.
Matthew Lesko (03:35):
Oh, wonderful. Well, I'm really not there.
You're there, yes, and I'm here,but in this kind of weather,
that's the way to do it. It'strue. It's true. We're talking
government grants today, butbefore we kind of jump into all
(03:56):
the goodness, why don't youshare a little bit about why you
enjoy grant, government grantsand why you built a career
around it? Well, I'm motivatedby greed, motivates a lot of us
and way to feed yourself inlife. So that's a main thing.
But then I found, I thinkanother motivation is that we
(04:19):
want to feel important life, andso I found something that does
both, and I'll keep doing ituntil I die. And I think that's
the trick of us, and also thetalent you have. I think we all
have to how we could lovesociety more, or even our
partners, or anybody is being ascoming from the heart as much as
(04:44):
you can, and then you could growthat so the more authentic you
are, the more you could give toothers, and the better you are
at it, because nobody else couldbe you. They can't steal you. So
I found the fabric of match.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (05:01):
Yeah, till I die. Love that you said that
though too, because that'ssomething we're always reminding
nonprofits about, is that, asyou're going out and talking to
donors and funding, what you domight not be unique, but the way
and how you do it is unique, andso go find the people that are
the right fit and match for you.So I love that. I love that.
Okay, so government grantsoverwhelming. I don't think that
(05:24):
I could possibly get them. I'mtoo small. All the things that
we kind of tell ourselves,
Matthew Lesko (05:28):
Why? How tall
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (05:34):
You're gonna be? A tricky one, I can
tell. But how do we, how do wekind of start to get ourselves
in the mode of like starting tofind government grants and know
that we could possibly qualifyand be available for them.
Matthew Lesko (05:49):
Yeah, a couple things you know that after 50
years of doing this that arevery important is not to use
Google. I mean, that is a deathtrap. It's a swamp. It's it's
the only place we know thatpeople go to get information.
But unfortunately, you'relooking for people to give you
(06:13):
money, and Google is full ofpeople that want to get your
money. So you're going to go toGoogle and find things there,
and you'll make a few calls, andeverybody wants your money. And
so to me, what that does issuppress your desire to think
you could do something, becauseeverybody's saying you can't do
(06:35):
this unless you pay me $5,000 orwhatever. Everything, there is a
price. So you FEEL, and that'swhat ruins capitalism to me.
Well, actually, not really, butto understand that that's only a
piece of our society, we havetwo sections of our society. One
is the capitalism, and that'scool. I mean, I love it, because
actually, if nobody's paying forwhat I wore I want to do, then I
(07:00):
shouldn't do it because you werehere to love other people. And
loving to other people, to me,is helping them do whatever they
want to do, not what you wantthem to do. It's just selfish.
So and even in providingservice, providing help in the
community, you're you're thereto help other people and that
(07:20):
that's, that's the importantthing, and not to do what you
want them to do, but what theywant. So capitalism, that's
nice, because they pay you themoney and show you it's worth
it. Now we have another society,part of it, and a third of, two
thirds of our society iscapitalism. There's a third of
our GDP. That's not capitalism,what I call it like a Giving
(07:42):
Society, the churches, nonprofitorganizations, government,
that's all the giving part ofour society, or the loving
society, whatever you want tocall it, and that we don't know
how to use. And we're nottrained to do that. We're
trained to use capitalism. Sonobody knows. And we all have,
(08:03):
you know, the internet, and thatmeans Google, and so they have,
90% of all the searching in theworld is done on Google, and
that that stops people fromanything, and then also, that's
where all the fraud is and allthis kind of stuff. So it's just
going nowhere, so you have toget out of there, and that's the
(08:26):
important thing. So you'restarting a nonprofit, here's
what I would do, because youdon't know, you know what you
want to do, but the problem is,starting anything, you have to
figure out what is out therethat makes sense, are the right
tools for you to do? I mean,it's easy to say, I just need
$100,000 and that'll solveeverything, but that's the wrong
(08:49):
way to go at it.
I feel because there are otheroptions, other things to do, and
other ways to get money that youwould never think of, that what
you want to do is get help frompeople that help you find those
things and do those things. Andthat's not by doing research to
find the magic application. It'sby finding people who do that
(09:13):
every day and will help you forfree, and they help you for
free, and that's right. So aplace to do that the government
has set up to grow yournonprofit, or to grow your
business, or to grow yourorganization, whatever you have.
SBA has a database of just thosepeople. So you go to here if you
want to do it. Now you can. I'llshow you sba.gov and then slash
(09:38):
local assistance. Now none ofthese organizations are SBA
organizations. These are all nonprofit organizations that help
you with any aspect of yourorganizations. You need legal
help, you need financial help,you need marketing help,
anything, and they're all freeto do that. See if you go to
Google, and they're free. So yougo to Google, you're going to
(09:59):
find people. Well, that will saythey're better, but they're
going to cost you money, and soyou probably won't do it. So
they're the kinds of things I'mtrying to let people know. And
there's more than, like, morethan grants. I mean, 80% of the
money that the government givesout is not even called grants,
(10:22):
so that's right. So we work onwhat we think we know, and
that's why you're our biggestchallenge is getting over the
shit we think we know, becauseit's wrong the world, but we
don't think that. And it's hardto because there's some Well, we
know something, so you have togo out and do the reconnaissance
(10:43):
work to find out your options,because you have just one
option. You think this is theoption to do. It's not. So if
you have a nonprofitorganization, you may not know,
okay, you have staff and what todo? Well, you can get money to
train all your staff for freeand hire staff and things like
that that has nothing to do withgrants. They just pick up all
(11:06):
the bills to do this, and that'sfrom the Department of Labor. So
nobody would think about that.And so you have organizations
again, it's another here'sanother place you could go is
something called the career onestop center. So if you're a
nonprofit, it's career onestop.org See, everything that's
giving you money or giving youhelp is going to be.org You know
(11:27):
what? Those are nonprofitsand.gov government offices. They
don't take money, they givemoney. So if you're struggling
or trying to do something, youknow, without money, they're the
only people you want to talk toso if you go to career one
stop.org and make an appointmentof the counselor there, tell me
of an organization you know inyour county, or whatever it is,
(11:50):
and how can they help you? Andthat's it. The main thing of
using government offices is askfor help. Don't ask for money.
You ask for help because youhave no idea what the hell is
out there. And they say, look,oh no, we have no grand sorry,
but they have 20 million orsomething else, you know, that
will really help you. And thethird thing I think I would do,
(12:13):
no matter who I was or what kindof nonprofit was, every elected
official you have, okay, becausethey're they do that, they will
put a bill in. I mean, I see thereports from congressmen and
senators and things like that.Hair these all the organizations
we helped in our, you know, allthe people we in our
(12:34):
constituency, we gave money for,and they name them, and whatever
you can see it, it all is, andthat's also a good place. When
you see who got that money.
If you're a nonprofit that helpsnonprofits, hey, they just got a
whole shit little money. Butanyway, if you go to a good
place to find all that, and thisis at the state level too, it's
not only the federal level. Soyou probably have a dozen or
(12:56):
more elected officials you couldbang on the door, and there
that's another group of peoplethat want to help you find money
to grow. I mean, everybody elseon Google is going to help you
to get your money. And so if yougo to common cause.org, and you
(13:17):
put in your zip code, and youget a whole list of them, and
also what we've come to in oursociety, think that everything
can be done on the internet.Everything can be just give me
an application to fill out, andthings like, no, it's a people
business, and it's more of apeople business now than ever
before, because we've got somuch goddamn information so this
(13:38):
fire hose. And you don't knowgood, bad or whatever, but
people who do this every day,they do know what's good or bad.
They're the people you want totalk to. So you don't have 200
million websites and they, Oh,these are the two websites you
want. It's like, me, okay,you're going to Google, but I
give you two websites now, everyone, and that's the third one
(13:59):
now is common cause.org and andit's belly to belly, because
also, don't forget, they don'tget paid by you. And that's why
I see what we're used to dealingwith is people in the capitalist
society, the capitalist society,everybody there wanting money
(14:22):
from you is going to kiss yourass until they give them money,
right? So we're sort of used tothat, you know, you have to come
to me. No, it's the reverse. Inworking with nonprofits and
government. You have to kisstheir ass to get help, because
they get the same paycheckwhether they help you or not. So
the only, the only power youhave in that situation is you
(14:47):
and your personality andkindness. People want to help
nice people. They don't want tohelp assholes.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (14:56):
Well. But let's, let's, I want to talk
about this because. Yeah, I'msure people are hearing, okay,
yeah, we know about our electedofficials. We've sent them
emails and nothing happens.That's right. Don't get any
That's right. So like, how canwe kind of build that messaging
or, like, if we're reaching outto different people on these
government websites, and we'lldefinitely link up all those
(15:18):
resources in the show notes forthis episode. But how can we
maybe work on our messaging? Orhow have you seen people be
successful? Because I agree withyou, it is a one on one. It is
an in person. There is acombination of the digital and
the right in person that makethis effective. So how do you
kind of start to you make anappointment? Level,
Matthew Lesko (15:38):
you make an appointment. I mean, that's the
only way, whether it's a phoneappointment, but all these
things, I mean, everycongressman, Senator, you have
local offices for everybody, andthe more you get in front of it,
I say as like brown nosing asstudent. I used to be a
professor computer science, andwas so easy to flunk people he
didn't know. Yeah, but when thestudent would come at office
(16:01):
hours and show me pictures oftheir dog or parents, it was
harder to flunk those people,yeah, and because maybe you know
them, they're human, and that'sit's that human. You have to use
your humanity. People want tohelp people, and that's what
we're all. That's why you're inthe nonprofit business, right?
You know that? So it's theretoo. Everybody's got a busy life
(16:22):
and everything, so you come withcupcakes, anything you know, to
make you human. So they want tohelp you more than the 12 other
phone calls they have, andthat's the only power. But see,
that's free power. You don'thave to get a big ad, or you
don't have to do whatever yousend the office bag of cookies.
(16:46):
You know, those stupid littlethings I think, have become more
important now in our society,because in a digital thing, I
mean, like, you know, becauseeven the humans have become like
AI, because they answer yourquestions like their AI. What
the difference? Why are you hereas a person, and they have no
soul in their answer oranything? And that's why i My
(17:09):
biggest thing, if I'm stuck withsomebody on the phone, is trying
to make them laugh first so Ican get some goddamn humanity,
because it's boring as hell onboth sides. Yeah, yeah, they're
just following the whatever, andyou are. So that's why, even
when you call the office, Imean, hey, did you get that cake
I sent you, even though youdidn't send it. Thanks for the
(17:35):
Congressman doing all this work.You know, I sent you anything
you know to be unusual, or we'reso time conscious, and to be
efficient, and efficient isboring, and we try to make
organizations as efficient ashell, and we try to give
everybody the answers, and it'snot their answer, so they're not
(17:57):
talking to human because they'rethey've been given these
answers.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (18:03):
It's not theirs. Yeah, well, and I think,
too, it's a long game, right?Like, you're not going to make
one phone call or make oneappointment, and, you know, so I
think, like, let's just assumethat we've kind of played the
long game. We've sent theemails, we've made the phone
calls, we have that appointmentwith our government official.
(18:24):
What have you seen like in thosemeetings? Like, what have you
seen will allow them to be moresuccessful in either getting
that next meeting or moving tothe next step to securing that
funding?
Matthew Lesko (18:34):
Yeah, I think there's other things to do too.
That's the traditional method,you know, kind of thing. And I
think what you have to do isalso be creative in other ways
to create income. That's I thinkthe biggest problem with
nonprofits is they're relying ongrants. And I know there's laws
(18:58):
and all this kind of stuff, butI think there's creative ways to
do it. Look at Girl Scoutcookies. Man, those suckers do
billions of dollars, right? GirlScout cookie, and the company's
ripping them off because theymake almost nothing from the
cookie. So why don't you find inyour mission a service that is,
(19:25):
can monetize something. Youknow, if there's something to
monetize your own campaigns andstuff like that, you have to use
a creativity in your head. Imean crowdfunding or whatever,
issues like this or a service.In other words, you have, I
(19:45):
don't know you, you're in pets.So you, you have a nonprofit
that helps animals. Well, youstart giving seminars on the
best way to do it animals. Imean, geez, I know in my
building, half the building has,yeah. It pets in it, and an
attractive seminar down in thelobby of the 10 things that
(20:05):
you're doing wrong and with youranimals, and people would throw
50 bucks at something like that.So you have a revenue generation
thing, and that's why we allhave something of value that
people will pay for in thecapitalist portion. So that's
why, I think, is figure out howto use the capitalist fortune, a
section of our company, to helpyou do the giving portion of
(20:29):
what you want to do when
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (20:31):
we talk about a lot of those strategies
also on this podcast, because Iagree with you, we do need to
have a multi faceted approach.But I want to keep this, this
episode focused on grants,because it's not something that
we talk a lot about. So I loveyour I mean, your idea is great
and fantastic, and I thinkthat's totally true. We need to
have multiple streams ofrevenue. But if this is an area
that we're trying to grow in,kind of, if 2025, grants are
(20:56):
something like government grantsspecifically, are somewhere
where we really want to kind ofpush forward, you've given some
great tips for where to finddifferent resources. But how do
we kind of increase our chancesof conversion? And like,
actually getting those yeses iswhat I would well, I think
Matthew Lesko (21:13):
that's personal relationships with a grantor.
Never apply for a grant unlesssomebody says, Yeah, you have a
good chance, you know, and Ithink too many people say, Oh,
this like, sounds like for us,don't bother, you know, trying
to find somebody in thatorganization, if it makes sense
for you, to waste your time onon that to get, you know, pre
qualified, or whatever, beforeyou waste any time. I mean,
(21:38):
that's every situation isdifferent, I'm sure. But I think
no matter what, and we're tryingto look for that magic, you
know, the seven steps to doinganything, and I think a lot of
times that's what ruins it,because you're trying to do
something that may work forother people, but not for you,
(21:59):
and that's why your authenticityis what you have to keep digging
in, because particularly whenyou're in a stressful situation
and trying to get that, thenyou're grabbing for anything.
And that's good. I mean, that'snot bad, because you're looking
for ideas to spark something andcreate something new. But no
matter what you do, it's reallytrying to your own authentic
(22:26):
humanity. I mean, they're givingmoney to people, you know, so
that's why it's more the face toface, because then they trust
you more if they sign andthey're not going to run away to
Acapulco with my money orwhatever. So the more you can do
that, I think, than anythingelse. And being pre qualified,
(22:46):
why? You know, it's evengovernment. You know for
individuals, it's that, and alsoother ways to finance things
through government programs. Youas a nonprofit, you could get
contracts from the government.They give to nonprofits, so not
only grants, but there'scontracts. Now, here's another.
(23:09):
It's called apexaccelerators.us.Now. They're people that are
free consultants that helpnonprofits figure out how they
could get contracts from thegovernment. And again, that's
professional people that getpaid to help you get a contract
and will never charge you. Sothat's another thing. As opposed
(23:32):
to the Grant section, you havecontracts, and there's more
contracts probably than grantsgiven out.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (23:40):
That's great. So many great resources.
So if you, if you're trying toimplement and take a look at
some of these opportunities,what's the lead time? And I know
this is a very Yeah, nuancedquestion, but like, you know, as
we're trying to think about ourplans for 2025 like, if I'm,
like, okay, yeah, I'm gonna, I'mgonna start going after some
(24:02):
government contracts. I thinkthat for my organization could
be a really interesting fit. Um,when would I realistically, I
mean, is it six months or a yearfrom now? Like, you know, I
mean, that's more realistic wantto work on. That's quicker that
we can do right now. And thenthere's things that we're going
to put in the long term planning
Matthew Lesko (24:19):
for. Well, I think in all those can be either
on contracts or grants. Youknow, there may be quicker than,
you know, whatever, but if youwant to do something, yeah, I
mean, government work for grantsand contracts. I mean, you know,
(24:39):
I mean you're not going to getquickly, but other sections,
like I talked about thetraining, money for your people,
that's it, that's it. Or freehealth care for your people that
work for you, or free money topay the rent you know, for your
staff. People. Go to thiswebsite. Go to youfindhelp.org
(25:02):
Now what that is so wonderfulwebsite? It's a Google for free
money, particularly for livingexpenses. So if you have anybody
on your staff that needs freelegal help, they need health
care help. They need home repairhelp, anything on their pets, a
(25:24):
bill to pay their pets, or theircar broke down. The campaign. Go
there, you'll find another nonprofit or government office that
gives money to do that. Andevery city has five to six, 7000
organizations like that. Youlike. In my city, I can put in,
okay, well, I want rent where Ilive, and I put in rent, put in
my zip code and put in rent. 70organizations that help you with
(25:47):
rent. Not one or two. See,people will try one or two,
government office, oh, I don'tapply to that. I don't I'm too
rich, too poor, or whatever. Youknow that I don't get but you
have 69 other places the check.So it's like grants. You went
out to apply for the grant. Theysaid, No. I said, Well, then I
guess I can't get a grant.Nobody's given grants, you know,
(26:08):
and it's that way withgovernment programs.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (26:12):
I love that. Well, Matthew, you've
given so many amazing tips andresources. And again, like I
said, we'll have these linked upin the show notes at
thefirstclick.net/287, any lastwords of wisdom that you want to
share with our listeners? Well,
Matthew Lesko (26:25):
what I'm living through now is that trying to
convince people that your heartis smarter than your brain. You
know, we just take it, you know,we go to experts and get all
these language because we needhelp. We don't know what they're
doing, what we're doing in life.So we'll grab some expert who
does that. They don't knoweither you know, and that's why
(26:47):
I don't know what to do my ownlife. What the hell gives me the
audacity to think I could tellsomebody else to do with their
life? And the good stuff comesfrom your heart.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (27:01):
Yeah? No, I love that. I love that. And
well, Matthew, if people want toconnect with you, learn more
about you. How you supportnonprofits. How can they do
that? Let's
Matthew Lesko (27:10):
go help.com. Yeah, and that's a that's a
community of people, and I usedto charge 10s and $20,000 for
people like this, but this isonly $20 and we build an
organization now that I'msurprised by accident, nothing,
nobody bought reference booksanymore. So I had figured out
and where people help people getit, not me. I mean, we got like
(27:35):
12,000 people or more that helpeach other get grants, instead
of just me telling her I don'tknow, and so, and they're more
enthusiastic because they justgot this man to share with
people. So you can go to ourwebsite, and every day, we have
maybe three, four hours of liveQ and A videos to people to ask
(27:57):
their questions from people. Andalready got this stuff, yeah,
and that's just very pleasing tome.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (28:04):
I love that. Well, Matthew, I really
appreciate you
Matthew Lesko (28:06):
taking. Oh, one other thing, we're taking some
of your work, because we alsogive grants. What I couldn't get
over and it's a small littlebusiness we got on, but with the
we became so profitable, I wasembarrassed. We give $70,000 a
month back to members everymonth in profits after we pay
(28:28):
ourselves, we give the profitsback. And we're not nonprofit.
That's great, but we do that,and that feels the best.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (28:37):
That's amazing. I love that. Practicing
what you preach, that's great.Well, Matthew, I thank you for
taking your time to share youradvice, your resources with our
listeners. So thank you so muchfor being here today. My
pleasure. Okay, so which toolare you most excited to go
(28:57):
after? First, I hope that youwill head on over to
thefirstclick.net/287, we willhave every single one of those
resources there for you withquick and easy links that you
can access and really startworking on some additional
funding resources and tools. Ihope that you will check them
out. But as always, don't getlost in the rabbit hole of all
of these things. Make sure thatyou're using the tools in the
(29:20):
way that are going to bestsupport your organization, in
what you truly need right nowand what your goals are for your
organization right now, not intrying to make all of the things
happen all the time, but again,there are some great tools
there, and I'm sure that youmight find some great ways to
bring in some extra revenue foryour organization, or your staff
training, or all of The thingsas you continue to move forward
(29:42):
and increasing your impact fornow, make sure you hit that
subscribe button. Make sure youleave us a review. Connect with
us. You can send us an email atHello at the first click.net,
we'd love to hear from you, andcan't wait to have you hear the
rest of the episodes that wehave coming out through the rest
of the year. For now, check outthe show notes at
(30:03):
thefirstclick.net/287, and I'llsee you in the next one.
Welcome to our first episode of 2025 I'm so
excited to be back for anotheryear with you. We are on episode
287 which is crazy to me, we'regonna hit 300 this year, which
is so exciting. Thank you somuch for being a part of this
podcast and joining us along inthis journey. Some changes that
(00:20):
are coming, but nothing toocrazy. We are going to be having
our episodes every other week.There's so much content for us
to share, and so we're going tofocus on getting that out to you
and creating some new productsthis year. And so we wanted to
bring the podcast to every otherweek. We're super excited about
all of the interviews, butyou'll want to make sure that
you're subscribed, either onYouTube or wherever you listen
(00:42):
to pop. Listen to podcasts,because there may be some bonus
solo episodes that pop in hereand there. I'm always having
conversations with nonprofitsand organizations, and topics
keep coming up, and so sometimesthere's things that I want to
share with you, and we will bereleasing those as bonus
episodes, which you'll only hearabout if you're subscribed, so
that you get thosenotifications. But for now,
(01:04):
we're going to kick off the yearwith a conversation about
government grants and governmentfunding.
My guest today is Matthew Lesko,and we're talking about kind of
government grants and maybe somedifferent ways that you can
think about getting resourcesand additional funding that
maybe you didn't know that youcould do. So Matthew Lesko is
(01:25):
known as the question mark guyfor his eccentric suits and
passion for helping people findgovernment grants and financial
assistance programs. For over 30years, He's authored best
selling books, appeared on majorTV shows like The Oprah Winfrey
Show, and built onlinecommunities to educate
individuals and businesses toeducate on accessing, excuse me,
(01:45):
on accessing little knownresources. His mission is to
simplify complex governmentsystems, empowering everyone to
unlock opportunities they didn'tknow existed. And it's a fun
conversation. Kind of goes alittle bit all over the place,
but you're going to get somegreat resources in here that you
can share with regards to how togo after some government grants
(02:08):
and some other programs that youmight not know existed. So I
hope that you enjoy thisepisode. Welcome to 2025 it is a
new year. It is exciting, and Ican't wait to be alongside you
on this journey. But before weget into it, this episode is
brought to you by our featuredfree resources. We have so many
free downloadables for you toaccess on our website at
(02:31):
thefirstclick.net/resources theycover everything from video
marketing to self care toplanning to social media to
email all of the things that youneed support with. They're all
there atthefirstclick.net/resources, so
I hope that you will go checkthem out, download the tool that
(02:52):
will help you with where you'reat right now and keep moving
forward in your onlinefundraising strategies. So
that's what's up this year. I'mso excited to be here with you,
and let's get into the episode.
You're listening to the DigitalMarketing Therapy podcast. I'm
your host, Sami Bedell-Mulhern,each month, we dive deep into a
(03:13):
digital marketing or fundraisingstrategy that you can implement
in your organization. Each week,you'll hear from guest experts,
nonprofits and myself on bestpractices, tips and resources to
help you raise more money onlineand reach your organizational
goals.
Hey, friends, please join me inwelcoming Matthew Lesko to the
podcast. Matthew, thanks forbeing here today.
Matthew Lesko (03:35):
Oh, wonderful. Well, I'm really not there.
You're there, yes, and I'm here,but in this kind of weather,
that's the way to do it. It'strue. It's true. We're talking
government grants today, butbefore we kind of jump into all
(03:56):
the goodness, why don't youshare a little bit about why you
enjoy grant, government grantsand why you built a career
around it? Well, I'm motivatedby greed, motivates a lot of us
and way to feed yourself inlife. So that's a main thing.
But then I found, I thinkanother motivation is that we
(04:19):
want to feel important life, andso I found something that does
both, and I'll keep doing ituntil I die. And I think that's
the trick of us, and also thetalent you have. I think we all
have to how we could lovesociety more, or even our
partners, or anybody is being ascoming from the heart as much as
(04:44):
you can, and then you could growthat so the more authentic you
are, the more you could give toothers, and the better you are
at it, because nobody else couldbe you. They can't steal you. So
I found the fabric of match.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (05:01):
Yeah, till I die. Love that you said that
though too, because that'ssomething we're always reminding
nonprofits about, is that, asyou're going out and talking to
donors and funding, what you domight not be unique, but the way
and how you do it is unique, andso go find the people that are
the right fit and match for you.So I love that. I love that.
Okay, so government grantsoverwhelming. I don't think that
(05:24):
I could possibly get them. I'mtoo small. All the things that
we kind of tell ourselves,
Matthew Lesko (05:28):
Why? How tall
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (05:34):
You're gonna be? A tricky one, I can
tell. But how do we, how do wekind of start to get ourselves
in the mode of like starting tofind government grants and know
that we could possibly qualifyand be available for them.
Matthew Lesko (05:49):
Yeah, a couple things you know that after 50
years of doing this that arevery important is not to use
Google. I mean, that is a deathtrap. It's a swamp. It's it's
the only place we know thatpeople go to get information.
But unfortunately, you'relooking for people to give you
(06:13):
money, and Google is full ofpeople that want to get your
money. So you're going to go toGoogle and find things there,
and you'll make a few calls, andeverybody wants your money. And
so to me, what that does issuppress your desire to think
you could do something, becauseeverybody's saying you can't do
(06:35):
this unless you pay me $5,000 orwhatever. Everything, there is a
price. So you FEEL, and that'swhat ruins capitalism to me.
Well, actually, not really, butto understand that that's only a
piece of our society, we havetwo sections of our society. One
is the capitalism, and that'scool. I mean, I love it, because
actually, if nobody's paying forwhat I wore I want to do, then I
(07:00):
shouldn't do it because you werehere to love other people. And
loving to other people, to me,is helping them do whatever they
want to do, not what you wantthem to do. It's just selfish.
So and even in providingservice, providing help in the
community, you're you're thereto help other people and that
(07:20):
that's, that's the importantthing, and not to do what you
want them to do, but what theywant. So capitalism, that's
nice, because they pay you themoney and show you it's worth
it. Now we have another society,part of it, and a third of, two
thirds of our society iscapitalism. There's a third of
our GDP. That's not capitalism,what I call it like a Giving
(07:42):
Society, the churches, nonprofitorganizations, government,
that's all the giving part ofour society, or the loving
society, whatever you want tocall it, and that we don't know
how to use. And we're nottrained to do that. We're
trained to use capitalism. Sonobody knows. And we all have,
(08:03):
you know, the internet, and thatmeans Google, and so they have,
90% of all the searching in theworld is done on Google, and
that that stops people fromanything, and then also, that's
where all the fraud is and allthis kind of stuff. So it's just
going nowhere, so you have toget out of there, and that's the
(08:26):
important thing. So you'restarting a nonprofit, here's
what I would do, because youdon't know, you know what you
want to do, but the problem is,starting anything, you have to
figure out what is out therethat makes sense, are the right
tools for you to do? I mean,it's easy to say, I just need
$100,000 and that'll solveeverything, but that's the wrong
(08:49):
way to go at it.
I feel because there are otheroptions, other things to do, and
other ways to get money that youwould never think of, that what
you want to do is get help frompeople that help you find those
things and do those things. Andthat's not by doing research to
find the magic application. It'sby finding people who do that
(09:13):
every day and will help you forfree, and they help you for
free, and that's right. So aplace to do that the government
has set up to grow yournonprofit, or to grow your
business, or to grow yourorganization, whatever you have.
SBA has a database of just thosepeople. So you go to here if you
want to do it. Now you can. I'llshow you sba.gov and then slash
(09:38):
local assistance. Now none ofthese organizations are SBA
organizations. These are all nonprofit organizations that help
you with any aspect of yourorganizations. You need legal
help, you need financial help,you need marketing help,
anything, and they're all freeto do that. See if you go to
Google, and they're free. So yougo to Google, you're going to
(09:59):
find people. Well, that will saythey're better, but they're
going to cost you money, and soyou probably won't do it. So
they're the kinds of things I'mtrying to let people know. And
there's more than, like, morethan grants. I mean, 80% of the
money that the government givesout is not even called grants,
(10:22):
so that's right. So we work onwhat we think we know, and
that's why you're our biggestchallenge is getting over the
shit we think we know, becauseit's wrong the world, but we
don't think that. And it's hardto because there's some Well, we
know something, so you have togo out and do the reconnaissance
(10:43):
work to find out your options,because you have just one
option. You think this is theoption to do. It's not. So if
you have a nonprofitorganization, you may not know,
okay, you have staff and what todo? Well, you can get money to
train all your staff for freeand hire staff and things like
that that has nothing to do withgrants. They just pick up all
(11:06):
the bills to do this, and that'sfrom the Department of Labor. So
nobody would think about that.And so you have organizations
again, it's another here'sanother place you could go is
something called the career onestop center. So if you're a
nonprofit, it's career onestop.org See, everything that's
giving you money or giving youhelp is going to be.org You know
(11:27):
what? Those are nonprofitsand.gov government offices. They
don't take money, they givemoney. So if you're struggling
or trying to do something, youknow, without money, they're the
only people you want to talk toso if you go to career one
stop.org and make an appointmentof the counselor there, tell me
of an organization you know inyour county, or whatever it is,
(11:50):
and how can they help you? Andthat's it. The main thing of
using government offices is askfor help. Don't ask for money.
You ask for help because youhave no idea what the hell is
out there. And they say, look,oh no, we have no grand sorry,
but they have 20 million orsomething else, you know, that
will really help you. And thethird thing I think I would do,
(12:13):
no matter who I was or what kindof nonprofit was, every elected
official you have, okay, becausethey're they do that, they will
put a bill in. I mean, I see thereports from congressmen and
senators and things like that.Hair these all the organizations
we helped in our, you know, allthe people we in our
(12:34):
constituency, we gave money for,and they name them, and whatever
you can see it, it all is, andthat's also a good place. When
you see who got that money.
If you're a nonprofit that helpsnonprofits, hey, they just got a
whole shit little money. Butanyway, if you go to a good
place to find all that, and thisis at the state level too, it's
not only the federal level. Soyou probably have a dozen or
(12:56):
more elected officials you couldbang on the door, and there
that's another group of peoplethat want to help you find money
to grow. I mean, everybody elseon Google is going to help you
to get your money. And so if yougo to common cause.org, and you
(13:17):
put in your zip code, and youget a whole list of them, and
also what we've come to in oursociety, think that everything
can be done on the internet.Everything can be just give me
an application to fill out, andthings like, no, it's a people
business, and it's more of apeople business now than ever
before, because we've got somuch goddamn information so this
(13:38):
fire hose. And you don't knowgood, bad or whatever, but
people who do this every day,they do know what's good or bad.
They're the people you want totalk to. So you don't have 200
million websites and they, Oh,these are the two websites you
want. It's like, me, okay,you're going to Google, but I
give you two websites now, everyone, and that's the third one
(13:59):
now is common cause.org and andit's belly to belly, because
also, don't forget, they don'tget paid by you. And that's why
I see what we're used to dealingwith is people in the capitalist
society, the capitalist society,everybody there wanting money
(14:22):
from you is going to kiss yourass until they give them money,
right? So we're sort of used tothat, you know, you have to come
to me. No, it's the reverse. Inworking with nonprofits and
government. You have to kisstheir ass to get help, because
they get the same paycheckwhether they help you or not. So
the only, the only power youhave in that situation is you
(14:47):
and your personality andkindness. People want to help
nice people. They don't want tohelp assholes.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (14:56):
Well. But let's, let's, I want to talk
about this because. Yeah, I'msure people are hearing, okay,
yeah, we know about our electedofficials. We've sent them
emails and nothing happens.That's right. Don't get any
That's right. So like, how canwe kind of build that messaging
or, like, if we're reaching outto different people on these
government websites, and we'lldefinitely link up all those
(15:18):
resources in the show notes forthis episode. But how can we
maybe work on our messaging? Orhow have you seen people be
successful? Because I agree withyou, it is a one on one. It is
an in person. There is acombination of the digital and
the right in person that makethis effective. So how do you
kind of start to you make anappointment? Level,
Matthew Lesko (15:38):
you make an appointment. I mean, that's the
only way, whether it's a phoneappointment, but all these
things, I mean, everycongressman, Senator, you have
local offices for everybody, andthe more you get in front of it,
I say as like brown nosing asstudent. I used to be a
professor computer science, andwas so easy to flunk people he
didn't know. Yeah, but when thestudent would come at office
(16:01):
hours and show me pictures oftheir dog or parents, it was
harder to flunk those people,yeah, and because maybe you know
them, they're human, and that'sit's that human. You have to use
your humanity. People want tohelp people, and that's what
we're all. That's why you're inthe nonprofit business, right?
You know that? So it's theretoo. Everybody's got a busy life
(16:22):
and everything, so you come withcupcakes, anything you know, to
make you human. So they want tohelp you more than the 12 other
phone calls they have, andthat's the only power. But see,
that's free power. You don'thave to get a big ad, or you
don't have to do whatever yousend the office bag of cookies.
(16:46):
You know, those stupid littlethings I think, have become more
important now in our society,because in a digital thing, I
mean, like, you know, becauseeven the humans have become like
AI, because they answer yourquestions like their AI. What
the difference? Why are you hereas a person, and they have no
soul in their answer oranything? And that's why i My
(17:09):
biggest thing, if I'm stuck withsomebody on the phone, is trying
to make them laugh first so Ican get some goddamn humanity,
because it's boring as hell onboth sides. Yeah, yeah, they're
just following the whatever, andyou are. So that's why, even
when you call the office, Imean, hey, did you get that cake
I sent you, even though youdidn't send it. Thanks for the
(17:35):
Congressman doing all this work.You know, I sent you anything
you know to be unusual, or we'reso time conscious, and to be
efficient, and efficient isboring, and we try to make
organizations as efficient ashell, and we try to give
everybody the answers, and it'snot their answer, so they're not
(17:57):
talking to human because they'rethey've been given these
answers.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (18:03):
It's not theirs. Yeah, well, and I think,
too, it's a long game, right?Like, you're not going to make
one phone call or make oneappointment, and, you know, so I
think, like, let's just assumethat we've kind of played the
long game. We've sent theemails, we've made the phone
calls, we have that appointmentwith our government official.
(18:24):
What have you seen like in thosemeetings? Like, what have you
seen will allow them to be moresuccessful in either getting
that next meeting or moving tothe next step to securing that
funding?
Matthew Lesko (18:34):
Yeah, I think there's other things to do too.
That's the traditional method,you know, kind of thing. And I
think what you have to do isalso be creative in other ways
to create income. That's I thinkthe biggest problem with
nonprofits is they're relying ongrants. And I know there's laws
(18:58):
and all this kind of stuff, butI think there's creative ways to
do it. Look at Girl Scoutcookies. Man, those suckers do
billions of dollars, right? GirlScout cookie, and the company's
ripping them off because theymake almost nothing from the
cookie. So why don't you find inyour mission a service that is,
(19:25):
can monetize something. Youknow, if there's something to
monetize your own campaigns andstuff like that, you have to use
a creativity in your head. Imean crowdfunding or whatever,
issues like this or a service.In other words, you have, I
(19:45):
don't know you, you're in pets.So you, you have a nonprofit
that helps animals. Well, youstart giving seminars on the
best way to do it animals. Imean, geez, I know in my
building, half the building has,yeah. It pets in it, and an
attractive seminar down in thelobby of the 10 things that
(20:05):
you're doing wrong and with youranimals, and people would throw
50 bucks at something like that.So you have a revenue generation
thing, and that's why we allhave something of value that
people will pay for in thecapitalist portion. So that's
why, I think, is figure out howto use the capitalist fortune, a
section of our company, to helpyou do the giving portion of
(20:29):
what you want to do when
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (20:31):
we talk about a lot of those strategies
also on this podcast, because Iagree with you, we do need to
have a multi faceted approach.But I want to keep this, this
episode focused on grants,because it's not something that
we talk a lot about. So I loveyour I mean, your idea is great
and fantastic, and I thinkthat's totally true. We need to
have multiple streams ofrevenue. But if this is an area
that we're trying to grow in,kind of, if 2025, grants are
(20:56):
something like government grantsspecifically, are somewhere
where we really want to kind ofpush forward, you've given some
great tips for where to finddifferent resources. But how do
we kind of increase our chancesof conversion? And like,
actually getting those yeses iswhat I would well, I think
Matthew Lesko (21:13):
that's personal relationships with a grantor.
Never apply for a grant unlesssomebody says, Yeah, you have a
good chance, you know, and Ithink too many people say, Oh,
this like, sounds like for us,don't bother, you know, trying
to find somebody in thatorganization, if it makes sense
for you, to waste your time onon that to get, you know, pre
qualified, or whatever, beforeyou waste any time. I mean,
(21:38):
that's every situation isdifferent, I'm sure. But I think
no matter what, and we're tryingto look for that magic, you
know, the seven steps to doinganything, and I think a lot of
times that's what ruins it,because you're trying to do
something that may work forother people, but not for you,
(21:59):
and that's why your authenticityis what you have to keep digging
in, because particularly whenyou're in a stressful situation
and trying to get that, thenyou're grabbing for anything.
And that's good. I mean, that'snot bad, because you're looking
for ideas to spark something andcreate something new. But no
matter what you do, it's reallytrying to your own authentic
(22:26):
humanity. I mean, they're givingmoney to people, you know, so
that's why it's more the face toface, because then they trust
you more if they sign andthey're not going to run away to
Acapulco with my money orwhatever. So the more you can do
that, I think, than anythingelse. And being pre qualified,
(22:46):
why? You know, it's evengovernment. You know for
individuals, it's that, and alsoother ways to finance things
through government programs. Youas a nonprofit, you could get
contracts from the government.They give to nonprofits, so not
only grants, but there'scontracts. Now, here's another.
(23:09):
It's called apexaccelerators.us.Now. They're people that are
free consultants that helpnonprofits figure out how they
could get contracts from thegovernment. And again, that's
professional people that getpaid to help you get a contract
and will never charge you. Sothat's another thing. As opposed
(23:32):
to the Grant section, you havecontracts, and there's more
contracts probably than grantsgiven out.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (23:40):
That's great. So many great resources.
So if you, if you're trying toimplement and take a look at
some of these opportunities,what's the lead time? And I know
this is a very Yeah, nuancedquestion, but like, you know, as
we're trying to think about ourplans for 2025 like, if I'm,
like, okay, yeah, I'm gonna, I'mgonna start going after some
(24:02):
government contracts. I thinkthat for my organization could
be a really interesting fit. Um,when would I realistically, I
mean, is it six months or a yearfrom now? Like, you know, I
mean, that's more realistic wantto work on. That's quicker that
we can do right now. And thenthere's things that we're going
to put in the long term planning
Matthew Lesko (24:19):
for. Well, I think in all those can be either
on contracts or grants. Youknow, there may be quicker than,
you know, whatever, but if youwant to do something, yeah, I
mean, government work for grantsand contracts. I mean, you know,
(24:39):
I mean you're not going to getquickly, but other sections,
like I talked about thetraining, money for your people,
that's it, that's it. Or freehealth care for your people that
work for you, or free money topay the rent you know, for your
staff. People. Go to thiswebsite. Go to youfindhelp.org
(25:02):
Now what that is so wonderfulwebsite? It's a Google for free
money, particularly for livingexpenses. So if you have anybody
on your staff that needs freelegal help, they need health
care help. They need home repairhelp, anything on their pets, a
(25:24):
bill to pay their pets, or theircar broke down. The campaign. Go
there, you'll find another nonprofit or government office that
gives money to do that. Andevery city has five to six, 7000
organizations like that. Youlike. In my city, I can put in,
okay, well, I want rent where Ilive, and I put in rent, put in
my zip code and put in rent. 70organizations that help you with
(25:47):
rent. Not one or two. See,people will try one or two,
government office, oh, I don'tapply to that. I don't I'm too
rich, too poor, or whatever. Youknow that I don't get but you
have 69 other places the check.So it's like grants. You went
out to apply for the grant. Theysaid, No. I said, Well, then I
guess I can't get a grant.Nobody's given grants, you know,
(26:08):
and it's that way withgovernment programs.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (26:12):
I love that. Well, Matthew, you've
given so many amazing tips andresources. And again, like I
said, we'll have these linked upin the show notes at
thefirstclick.net/287, any lastwords of wisdom that you want to
share with our listeners? Well,
Matthew Lesko (26:25):
what I'm living through now is that trying to
convince people that your heartis smarter than your brain. You
know, we just take it, you know,we go to experts and get all
these language because we needhelp. We don't know what they're
doing, what we're doing in life.So we'll grab some expert who
does that. They don't knoweither you know, and that's why
(26:47):
I don't know what to do my ownlife. What the hell gives me the
audacity to think I could tellsomebody else to do with their
life? And the good stuff comesfrom your heart.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (27:01):
Yeah? No, I love that. I love that. And
well, Matthew, if people want toconnect with you, learn more
about you. How you supportnonprofits. How can they do
that? Let's
Matthew Lesko (27:10):
go help.com. Yeah, and that's a that's a
community of people, and I usedto charge 10s and $20,000 for
people like this, but this isonly $20 and we build an
organization now that I'msurprised by accident, nothing,
nobody bought reference booksanymore. So I had figured out
and where people help people getit, not me. I mean, we got like
(27:35):
12,000 people or more that helpeach other get grants, instead
of just me telling her I don'tknow, and so, and they're more
enthusiastic because they justgot this man to share with
people. So you can go to ourwebsite, and every day, we have
maybe three, four hours of liveQ and A videos to people to ask
(27:57):
their questions from people. Andalready got this stuff, yeah,
and that's just very pleasing tome.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (28:04):
I love that. Well, Matthew, I really
appreciate you
Matthew Lesko (28:06):
taking. Oh, one other thing, we're taking some
of your work, because we alsogive grants. What I couldn't get
over and it's a small littlebusiness we got on, but with the
we became so profitable, I wasembarrassed. We give $70,000 a
month back to members everymonth in profits after we pay
(28:28):
ourselves, we give the profitsback. And we're not nonprofit.
That's great, but we do that,and that feels the best.
Sami Bedell-Mulhern (28:37):
That's amazing. I love that. Practicing
what you preach, that's great.Well, Matthew, I thank you for
taking your time to share youradvice, your resources with our
listeners. So thank you so muchfor being here today. My
pleasure. Okay, so which toolare you most excited to go
(28:57):
after? First, I hope that youwill head on over to
thefirstclick.net/287, we willhave every single one of those
resources there for you withquick and easy links that you
can access and really startworking on some additional
funding resources and tools. Ihope that you will check them
out. But as always, don't getlost in the rabbit hole of all
of these things. Make sure thatyou're using the tools in the
(29:20):
way that are going to bestsupport your organization, in
what you truly need right nowand what your goals are for your
organization right now, not intrying to make all of the things
happen all the time, but again,there are some great tools
there, and I'm sure that youmight find some great ways to
bring in some extra revenue foryour organization, or your staff
training, or all of The thingsas you continue to move forward
(29:42):
and increasing your impact fornow, make sure you hit that
subscribe button. Make sure youleave us a review. Connect with
us. You can send us an email atHello at the first click.net,
we'd love to hear from you, andcan't wait to have you hear the
rest of the episodes that wehave coming out through the rest
of the year. For now, check outthe show notes at
(30:03):
thefirstclick.net/287, and I'llsee you in the next one.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!