June 2, 2025 • 16 mins
Ever wondered if your business could benefit from grants, or whether they're even available to companies like yours? Today's eye-opening conversation with Stormy Banks shatters common misconceptions about business grants, revealing a funding path many entrepreneurs completely overlook.
TODAY'S WIN-WIN:
Grants are for established and start-up businesses.
LINKS FROM THE EPISODE:
- You can visit our guest's website at:
- Attend our Franchise Sales Training Workshop:
- https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/franchisesalestraining/
- If you are ready to franchise your business or take it to the next level: CLICK HERE.
- Connect with our guest on social:
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Stormi Banks is the founder and CEO of Pink Print Firm, a full-service grant writing agency dedicated to helping entrepreneurs secure funding. Under her leadership, the firm has obtained over $19 million in debt free funding for small businesses across the U.S.
ABOUT BIG SKY FRANCHISE TEAM:
This episode is powered by Big Sky Franchise Team. If you are ready to talk about franchising your business you can schedule your free, no-obligation, franchise consultation online at: https://bigskyfranchiseteam.com/.
The information provided in this podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered financial, legal, or professional advice. Always consult with a qualified professional before making any business decisions. The views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the host, Big Sky Franchise Team, or our affiliates. Additionally, this podcast may feature sponsors or advertisers, but any mention of products or services does not constitute an endorsement. Please do your own research before making any purchasing or business decisions.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tom DuFore (00:01):
Welcome to the Multiply your Success podcast,
where, each week, we helpgrowth-minded entrepreneurs and
franchise leaders take the nextstep in their expansion journey.
I'm your host, tom Dufour, ceoof Big Sky Franchise Team, and,
as we open today, I'm wondering,as a business leader, if you've
ever considered securing grantsas a way to generate additional
(00:22):
income for your business, ormaybe, if you're like me, you
didn't even really know thatthat was an option for your
specific type of business.
Well, our guest today is StormyBanks, and she's an expert at
grant writing, and she shareswith us how businesses of all
shapes and sizes can securegrants for their company.
(00:45):
Now, stormy is the founder andCEO of Pink Print Firm, which is
a full-service grant writingagency dedicated to helping
entrepreneurs secure funding.
Under her leadership, her firmhas obtained over $19 million in
debt-free funding for smallbusinesses across the United
States.
You're going to love thisinterview, so let's go ahead and
jump right into it.
(01:05):
One of the reasons I'm excitedand enthused to have you on the
show is really just to talk moreabout grant writing, and it's
something that I think is prettycommon, especially in the small
business community, that mostdon't even think about grant
writing as an opportunity forsmall businesses, and so I'd
love maybe just to zoom out andjust have you give us an
(01:28):
overview of what grants are andhow that all might work, just in
general.
So I'll start with what is agrant.
Stormi Banks (01:35):
Absolutely so.
I like to tell people thatgrants are debt-free funding
that you can use to scale andgrow your business.
You can do this by utilizinggrants to create additional
revenue streams in your businessso that you can, of course,
create more cashflow, which isthe king in any business, for
profit or nonprofit.
Grants is usually somethingthat's given out by the federal
(01:57):
government or the state, orcorporations or private
foundations, and they're givingit out with some type of mission
attached to it, whether it's toserve a particular industry, to
serve a particular category ofpeople or to serve just a
particular revolutionary thingthat they want to support in the
world.
So this is money that you canget through a competitive-based
(02:19):
competition program andsubmitting applications either
online or in person, which isvery seldom that they're in
person, but submitting anapplication and then hearing
back about being an awardee.
Tom DuFore (02:32):
I'm sure for someone who ends up listening to this,
the idea of debt-free financingprobably catches the attention
of a lot of entrepreneurs.
I actually wrote it down whenyou were saying that how are
they debt-free?
What does that mean with thisfinancing or funding?
Stormi Banks (02:48):
Absolutely so, through a grant opportunity.
If they're calling it a grant,that means that they have no
expectation of you to pay itback.
So that is what entails thedebt-free part.
And, with that being said,there isn't any credit checks or
any financial requirements thatthey're asking for.
What they're requiring is thatyour mission aligns with what
(03:09):
they're trying to do and thatthey're basically investing this
money for you to do the outwardwork that they're looking to
accomplish in the world.
And, with that being said, it'simportant to note that grants
are not tax free, so you stillhave tax implications, unless
you, of course, know how to workyour finances with your CPA and
(03:29):
avoid some of that tax burden,but there's no requirement for
you to pay the money back, soit's a really cool way to scale
quickly and with more money thanyou probably had in your pocket
to start with.
Tom DuFore (03:40):
Debt-free, not tax-free, tax implications still
apply.
Talk to your CPA or maybeprofessionals such as yourself
who can help guide someonethrough that process.
Let's talk about some of thesedifferent types of grants that
might be available.
I mean, people might think ofmaybe federal government or
state government or somethinglike that, but then you
(04:01):
mentioned opportunities throughother nonprofit organizations,
other institutions.
I'd never even known somethinglike that might exist.
So open up our eyes to whatkinds of opportunities might
exist out there, absolutely.
Stormi Banks (04:15):
Grants are so vast , you can find a grant for
almost anything, and you canfind them at different ranges on
amounts, right.
So you have grants or microgrants all the way from $500 to
multimillion dollar grantprojects.
Now, of course, when you startgetting to those bigger
multimillions, there's more thatneeds to be established in
terms of business andrelationships that need to be
(04:36):
built.
But for a new business or abusiness owner that's a few
years in their corporate grantsare some of the easiest grants
to get in terms of theapplication process.
I'm talking about FedEx offersa grant every single year.
You have corporations likeHelloSkip, who's offering grant
opportunities.
They also have a grant databasewith tons of grants on there,
(04:58):
which is HelloSkipcom.
It's a great resource andwebsite and you can be able to
find grants consistently thatyou can apply for for your
business.
And then you have thosefoundation and private grant
opportunities as well.
Beyonce just hosted one throughher foundation, and Megan Thee,
stallion and Kevin Hart alltheir foundations are giving out
grant opportunities to supportwhatever they are looking to
(05:19):
serve.
And so it's so vast and nomatter where you're starting out
in terms of time or finances inyour business, you can get
started with going for grants.
Tom DuFore (05:29):
That's an interesting point.
So I guess what are some of thecommon myths, or maybe even
misunderstandings, about grants?
Stormi Banks (05:39):
Absolutely.
I think one of the biggest oneis that, because we're so
adapted to go for traditionalfunding in terms of loans or
credit cards, we forget that theapplication process for grants
is not a instant approval right.
Grants can take you, you know,30 days to 90 days for a
corporate or a foundationalgrant to have cash in hand after
(05:59):
application, depending on whenyou applied in the cycle of that
grant, and so it's important tonotice that grants is a
sustainable funding strategy.
This is something that you'reutilizing to grow over time and
that you're planning andpreparing for, because sometimes
, with grant programs, they dohave implications where they
want you to report or show whatyou use the money for.
(06:20):
So it's not the free moneynotion that people might have
heard before, because therestill are implications when it
comes to getting the grantfunding, but in terms of just
how it works in you know othermyths that are out there.
A lot of people think that theirbusiness isn't eligible or
they're not qualified.
We hear that all the time.
Like, am I qualified?
And I try to tell business.
If you have the basics abusiness website, social media,
(06:42):
business bank account orregistered business you can
start applying to grants today.
Tom DuFore (06:47):
That is fascinating.
I would think the same thing.
I mean, what would a businesssuch as ours?
I mean, we're in our 10th yearof operation now and you know
you start thinking about thosekinds of things like, well,
aren't those usually for astartup business?
You know someone that's brandnew and starting, and when I see
opportunities it seems likesomething in that regard.
Stormi Banks (07:07):
That's good to know and I think it's important
to understand that the differenttypes of grants will really
resonate with different type ofbusinesses.
So, for instance, some of thosecorporate grants and loss
sheets just because they haven'tgotten there.
So it's important during yourdifferent stages of business
(07:38):
that you're going for differenttypes of grants to really make
sure you're going to besuccessful in your grant writing
process.
Tom DuFore (07:45):
One thing that stood out was talking about grants
and grant opportunities forfranchising.
We work with entrepreneurs andhelp them franchise their
business.
One of the big pain points formost franchise systems is
helping get funding forfranchisees.
So I'd love for you just totalk about how you've seen
grants apply to the franchisecommunity.
Stormi Banks (08:07):
Absolutely.
I've seen recently andpartnered recently as we're
franchising Pinkprint currently,right now that we offered a
joint partnership grant withBlack Box Franchising who was
able to help people get thatinitial cost for their
franchisees and also thefranchisor costs, kind of absorb
(08:28):
some of those legal fees andcreating all those
documentations and processes.
It's really important, andthere's grant opportunities that
are available, to be able toscale with a franchise, you know
business model.
Tom DuFore (08:40):
If someone's interested, they say, wow, this
is really cool, I like whatyou're doing or I want to learn
some more about it.
How can someone get in touchwith you, reach out, connect.
Stormi Banks (08:49):
Yeah, I mean our email is our primary form of
communication, so we just are atinfo at pinkprintnet.
But of course you can follow uson any socials at Pinkprint
Firm and you can DM us and we doDM back.
Tom DuFore (09:02):
Perfect.
We'll make sure we include thatin the show notes here.
This great time in the show weask every guest the same four
questions before they go.
And the first question we askis have you had a miss or two on
your journey and something youlearned from it?
Stormi Banks (09:14):
I've had tons of misses when I really sit and
think about it.
One that stood out to me a lotwhile we were talking pre-show
is I begged my mom for about ayear to take piano lessons, and
this is when I was probablystill in elementary school at
some point.
Begged her to take piano lessons.
She saved up the money, youknow, got me the piano, all the
(09:35):
stuff that I needed to be ableto take the lesson successfully,
and it was harder than Ithought it was going to be.
And probably a month in Ibegged her to quit and she let
me, she let me quit and she saidokay, if you don't want to go,
I'm not going to force you to go, but I wish that I wouldn't
have quit because it took me areally long time in my adulthood
(09:55):
to adapt discipline.
I didn't get that skill set asa child because I was like able
to quit stuff, and as an adultit cost me a lot of things, a
lot of you know the body, thedream body that I could have had
, the dream bank account that Icould have had earlier on, and I
had to adapt that through a lotof trial and error methods, and
(10:16):
so I would say that that wasprobably a miss that I wish I
would have stuck with, so that Icould have learned discipline
way earlier on.
Tom DuFore (10:23):
We are in the midst with our children.
One is requesting to no longertake piano, so this is timely
for me to start thinking.
Okay, I think I'm going to takeStormy's advice here.
I like this.
Well, let's talk about ahighlight or a make, a win to
share.
Stormi Banks (10:39):
I remember the first client that we got funding
for through grant applicationsand this was when we were we
weren't even really an agency.
At this time we were kind oflike beta testing.
We were like, just pay me $50,you know, to do this thing, and
we got her the funding.
That moment I had full faith inthe capabilities of what the
company could do, because it waslike, oh, this works, like the
(11:01):
strategy we use actually works.
Let's see if it works again andagain and again.
And at that point that's whatmade me believe like we're doing
good work, the work is worth itand we're going to go full
force with this thing.
Tom DuFore (11:15):
Well, the name of the show is Multiply your
Success, and so we always askhave you used a multiplier to
grow yourself, personally,professionally, or any
organizations you've run?
Stormi Banks (11:26):
Yeah, I think my multiplier is honestly going to
be I read four books a month.
I'm an audible person and so Iliterally will listen to a book
and, you know, download it,write my notes, get the
information.
Because I think that constanteducation, no matter what level
of budget you have, if you cancontinuously be taking in new
ideas, new processes, newphilosophies and trying them out
(11:49):
, executing on them daily, daily, just to see if they work for
you, that has been somethingthat has propelled me so far,
because I'm not leaning on myown understanding to get new
skill sets or learn new things.
Tom DuFore (12:01):
Yeah, I love that.
The continuous education andfour books a month, that's a lot
.
There's about 50 books a year.
That's impressive.
I love it.
The final question we ask everyguest is what does success mean
to you?
Stormi Banks (12:13):
Honestly, if I was going to measure it, it's
probably in a calendar year.
How many times did I show upfor the things that my family
has going on?
I have five siblings and sothere's a lot of them, and
they're all over there in NewYork or they're in Memphis,
tennessee, and you know where'she?
At Chicago.
So it's it's.
It's a lot of work to make thathappen, with me living in
(12:33):
Atlanta, georgia, but I think atthe end of the year, if I can
say OK, I made it to hisgraduation, his birthday, her
bachelorette, his wedding, and Ifeel like that's the
accomplishment for me, to belike I had a successful year.
Tom DuFore (12:47):
And Stormy, before we go and bring this to a close,
is there anything you werehoping to share or get across
that you haven't had a chance toyet?
Stormi Banks (13:12):
the big remark it would be that trying is cool.
It's fearful to try somethingnew and possibly fail at it, but
it's the cool thing to dobecause you learn so much and
gain so much skill set throughthe process.
Tom DuFore (13:19):
I'm kind of circling back to a comment you had made
earlier about applying for atraditional loan.
I mean, most of the time it's alot of work and effort and very
often it's not an overnightprocess, so there's a whole
rigmarole that goes along withthat, and what you're proposing
sounds like may not be all thatdifferent, or maybe potentially
(13:42):
less work in some cases to seeif you can get this debt-free
financing as you described it.
I really like that.
It really makes it easier tounderstand what's involved with
that and working with someonelike you to help guide them
through that, I reallyappreciate you sharing this and
bringing this to the attentionof our listeners here.
Stormi Banks (14:00):
My pleasure.
Thanks for having me, Tom.
Tom DuFore (14:04):
Stormy, thank you so much for a fantastic interview
and let's go ahead and jump intotoday's three key takeaways.
So takeaway number one is whenStormy talked about the
definition of a grant and Ithought that the way she
described it was excellent wherea grant is another way to grow
(14:24):
cash flow, especially for asmall business, and she said
they are offered by state andfederal governments,
corporations and privatefoundations and she described it
as debt-free financing.
Takeaway number two is this howcan it be debt-free financing?
Well, she said that with thegrant, it means that there is no
(14:45):
expectation to pay it back, andshe said it's not tax-free but
there's no payback required andgenerally you're able to secure
the grant because you or yourbusiness or there's some common
match of some kind between thefunding that's available through
(15:05):
the government or through thepurpose or intent of the
foundation or the corporate,give back.
That might be happening there.
Takeaway number three is a missthat she said she had which was
not really learning disciplineas a child, and she gave that
focus or that example of pianolessons when she was able to
(15:29):
quit piano lessons midstream,and she said that because she
was able to start and stopthings, she didn't learn that
personal discipline and had tolearn that as an adult.
And now it's time for today'swin-win.
So today's win-win is whenStormy talked about grants being
(15:51):
for all types of businesses atany stage and any age, and I
thought that was a really greattakeaway.
Grants are not just forstartups, which I had really
thought that that probably wouldbe the indication that it's
more for a startup company, butit's not the case.
There's a wide variety ofgrants that are available for
(16:12):
all types of businesses and alltypes of industries, and so
that's the episode today.
Folks, Please make sure yousubscribe to the podcast and
give us a review, and rememberif you or anyone you know might
be ready to franchise theirbusiness or take their franchise
company to the next level.
Please connect with us atBigSkyFranchiseTeamcom.
Thanks for tuning in and welook forward to having you back
next week.
Welcome to the Multiply your Success podcast,
where, each week, we helpgrowth-minded entrepreneurs and
franchise leaders take the nextstep in their expansion journey.
I'm your host, tom Dufour, ceoof Big Sky Franchise Team, and,
as we open today, I'm wondering,as a business leader, if you've
ever considered securing grantsas a way to generate additional
(00:22):
income for your business, ormaybe, if you're like me, you
didn't even really know thatthat was an option for your
specific type of business.
Well, our guest today is StormyBanks, and she's an expert at
grant writing, and she shareswith us how businesses of all
shapes and sizes can securegrants for their company.
(00:45):
Now, stormy is the founder andCEO of Pink Print Firm, which is
a full-service grant writingagency dedicated to helping
entrepreneurs secure funding.
Under her leadership, her firmhas obtained over $19 million in
debt-free funding for smallbusinesses across the United
States.
You're going to love thisinterview, so let's go ahead and
jump right into it.
(01:05):
One of the reasons I'm excitedand enthused to have you on the
show is really just to talk moreabout grant writing, and it's
something that I think is prettycommon, especially in the small
business community, that mostdon't even think about grant
writing as an opportunity forsmall businesses, and so I'd
love maybe just to zoom out andjust have you give us an
(01:28):
overview of what grants are andhow that all might work, just in
general.
So I'll start with what is agrant.
Stormi Banks (01:35):
Absolutely so.
I like to tell people thatgrants are debt-free funding
that you can use to scale andgrow your business.
You can do this by utilizinggrants to create additional
revenue streams in your businessso that you can, of course,
create more cashflow, which isthe king in any business, for
profit or nonprofit.
Grants is usually somethingthat's given out by the federal
(01:57):
government or the state, orcorporations or private
foundations, and they're givingit out with some type of mission
attached to it, whether it's toserve a particular industry, to
serve a particular category ofpeople or to serve just a
particular revolutionary thingthat they want to support in the
world.
So this is money that you canget through a competitive-based
(02:19):
competition program andsubmitting applications either
online or in person, which isvery seldom that they're in
person, but submitting anapplication and then hearing
back about being an awardee.
Tom DuFore (02:32):
I'm sure for someone who ends up listening to this,
the idea of debt-free financingprobably catches the attention
of a lot of entrepreneurs.
I actually wrote it down whenyou were saying that how are
they debt-free?
What does that mean with thisfinancing or funding?
Stormi Banks (02:48):
Absolutely so, through a grant opportunity.
If they're calling it a grant,that means that they have no
expectation of you to pay itback.
So that is what entails thedebt-free part.
And, with that being said,there isn't any credit checks or
any financial requirements thatthey're asking for.
What they're requiring is thatyour mission aligns with what
(03:09):
they're trying to do and thatthey're basically investing this
money for you to do the outwardwork that they're looking to
accomplish in the world.
And, with that being said, it'simportant to note that grants
are not tax free, so you stillhave tax implications, unless
you, of course, know how to workyour finances with your CPA and
(03:29):
avoid some of that tax burden,but there's no requirement for
you to pay the money back, soit's a really cool way to scale
quickly and with more money thanyou probably had in your pocket
to start with.
Tom DuFore (03:40):
Debt-free, not tax-free, tax implications still
apply.
Talk to your CPA or maybeprofessionals such as yourself
who can help guide someonethrough that process.
Let's talk about some of thesedifferent types of grants that
might be available.
I mean, people might think ofmaybe federal government or
state government or somethinglike that, but then you
(04:01):
mentioned opportunities throughother nonprofit organizations,
other institutions.
I'd never even known somethinglike that might exist.
So open up our eyes to whatkinds of opportunities might
exist out there, absolutely.
Stormi Banks (04:15):
Grants are so vast , you can find a grant for
almost anything, and you canfind them at different ranges on
amounts, right.
So you have grants or microgrants all the way from $500 to
multimillion dollar grantprojects.
Now, of course, when you startgetting to those bigger
multimillions, there's more thatneeds to be established in
terms of business andrelationships that need to be
(04:36):
built.
But for a new business or abusiness owner that's a few
years in their corporate grantsare some of the easiest grants
to get in terms of theapplication process.
I'm talking about FedEx offersa grant every single year.
You have corporations likeHelloSkip, who's offering grant
opportunities.
They also have a grant databasewith tons of grants on there,
(04:58):
which is HelloSkipcom.
It's a great resource andwebsite and you can be able to
find grants consistently thatyou can apply for for your
business.
And then you have thosefoundation and private grant
opportunities as well.
Beyonce just hosted one throughher foundation, and Megan Thee,
stallion and Kevin Hart alltheir foundations are giving out
grant opportunities to supportwhatever they are looking to
(05:19):
serve.
And so it's so vast and nomatter where you're starting out
in terms of time or finances inyour business, you can get
started with going for grants.
Tom DuFore (05:29):
That's an interesting point.
So I guess what are some of thecommon myths, or maybe even
misunderstandings, about grants?
Stormi Banks (05:39):
Absolutely.
I think one of the biggest oneis that, because we're so
adapted to go for traditionalfunding in terms of loans or
credit cards, we forget that theapplication process for grants
is not a instant approval right.
Grants can take you, you know,30 days to 90 days for a
corporate or a foundationalgrant to have cash in hand after
(05:59):
application, depending on whenyou applied in the cycle of that
grant, and so it's important tonotice that grants is a
sustainable funding strategy.
This is something that you'reutilizing to grow over time and
that you're planning andpreparing for, because sometimes
, with grant programs, they dohave implications where they
want you to report or show whatyou use the money for.
(06:20):
So it's not the free moneynotion that people might have
heard before, because therestill are implications when it
comes to getting the grantfunding, but in terms of just
how it works in you know othermyths that are out there.
A lot of people think that theirbusiness isn't eligible or
they're not qualified.
We hear that all the time.
Like, am I qualified?
And I try to tell business.
If you have the basics abusiness website, social media,
(06:42):
business bank account orregistered business you can
start applying to grants today.
Tom DuFore (06:47):
That is fascinating.
I would think the same thing.
I mean, what would a businesssuch as ours?
I mean, we're in our 10th yearof operation now and you know
you start thinking about thosekinds of things like, well,
aren't those usually for astartup business?
You know someone that's brandnew and starting, and when I see
opportunities it seems likesomething in that regard.
Stormi Banks (07:07):
That's good to know and I think it's important
to understand that the differenttypes of grants will really
resonate with different type ofbusinesses.
So, for instance, some of thosecorporate grants and loss
sheets just because they haven'tgotten there.
So it's important during yourdifferent stages of business
(07:38):
that you're going for differenttypes of grants to really make
sure you're going to besuccessful in your grant writing
process.
Tom DuFore (07:45):
One thing that stood out was talking about grants
and grant opportunities forfranchising.
We work with entrepreneurs andhelp them franchise their
business.
One of the big pain points formost franchise systems is
helping get funding forfranchisees.
So I'd love for you just totalk about how you've seen
grants apply to the franchisecommunity.
Stormi Banks (08:07):
Absolutely.
I've seen recently andpartnered recently as we're
franchising Pinkprint currently,right now that we offered a
joint partnership grant withBlack Box Franchising who was
able to help people get thatinitial cost for their
franchisees and also thefranchisor costs, kind of absorb
(08:28):
some of those legal fees andcreating all those
documentations and processes.
It's really important, andthere's grant opportunities that
are available, to be able toscale with a franchise, you know
business model.
Tom DuFore (08:40):
If someone's interested, they say, wow, this
is really cool, I like whatyou're doing or I want to learn
some more about it.
How can someone get in touchwith you, reach out, connect.
Stormi Banks (08:49):
Yeah, I mean our email is our primary form of
communication, so we just are atinfo at pinkprintnet.
But of course you can follow uson any socials at Pinkprint
Firm and you can DM us and we doDM back.
Tom DuFore (09:02):
Perfect.
We'll make sure we include thatin the show notes here.
This great time in the show weask every guest the same four
questions before they go.
And the first question we askis have you had a miss or two on
your journey and something youlearned from it?
Stormi Banks (09:14):
I've had tons of misses when I really sit and
think about it.
One that stood out to me a lotwhile we were talking pre-show
is I begged my mom for about ayear to take piano lessons, and
this is when I was probablystill in elementary school at
some point.
Begged her to take piano lessons.
She saved up the money, youknow, got me the piano, all the
(09:35):
stuff that I needed to be ableto take the lesson successfully,
and it was harder than Ithought it was going to be.
And probably a month in Ibegged her to quit and she let
me, she let me quit and she saidokay, if you don't want to go,
I'm not going to force you to go, but I wish that I wouldn't
have quit because it took me areally long time in my adulthood
(09:55):
to adapt discipline.
I didn't get that skill set asa child because I was like able
to quit stuff, and as an adultit cost me a lot of things, a
lot of you know the body, thedream body that I could have had
, the dream bank account that Icould have had earlier on, and I
had to adapt that through a lotof trial and error methods, and
(10:16):
so I would say that that wasprobably a miss that I wish I
would have stuck with, so that Icould have learned discipline
way earlier on.
Tom DuFore (10:23):
We are in the midst with our children.
One is requesting to no longertake piano, so this is timely
for me to start thinking.
Okay, I think I'm going to takeStormy's advice here.
I like this.
Well, let's talk about ahighlight or a make, a win to
share.
Stormi Banks (10:39):
I remember the first client that we got funding
for through grant applicationsand this was when we were we
weren't even really an agency.
At this time we were kind oflike beta testing.
We were like, just pay me $50,you know, to do this thing, and
we got her the funding.
That moment I had full faith inthe capabilities of what the
company could do, because it waslike, oh, this works, like the
(11:01):
strategy we use actually works.
Let's see if it works again andagain and again.
And at that point that's whatmade me believe like we're doing
good work, the work is worth itand we're going to go full
force with this thing.
Tom DuFore (11:15):
Well, the name of the show is Multiply your
Success, and so we always askhave you used a multiplier to
grow yourself, personally,professionally, or any
organizations you've run?
Stormi Banks (11:26):
Yeah, I think my multiplier is honestly going to
be I read four books a month.
I'm an audible person and so Iliterally will listen to a book
and, you know, download it,write my notes, get the
information.
Because I think that constanteducation, no matter what level
of budget you have, if you cancontinuously be taking in new
ideas, new processes, newphilosophies and trying them out
(11:49):
, executing on them daily, daily, just to see if they work for
you, that has been somethingthat has propelled me so far,
because I'm not leaning on myown understanding to get new
skill sets or learn new things.
Tom DuFore (12:01):
Yeah, I love that.
The continuous education andfour books a month, that's a lot
.
There's about 50 books a year.
That's impressive.
I love it.
The final question we ask everyguest is what does success mean
to you?
Stormi Banks (12:13):
Honestly, if I was going to measure it, it's
probably in a calendar year.
How many times did I show upfor the things that my family
has going on?
I have five siblings and sothere's a lot of them, and
they're all over there in NewYork or they're in Memphis,
tennessee, and you know where'she?
At Chicago.
So it's it's.
It's a lot of work to make thathappen, with me living in
(12:33):
Atlanta, georgia, but I think atthe end of the year, if I can
say OK, I made it to hisgraduation, his birthday, her
bachelorette, his wedding, and Ifeel like that's the
accomplishment for me, to belike I had a successful year.
Tom DuFore (12:47):
And Stormy, before we go and bring this to a close,
is there anything you werehoping to share or get across
that you haven't had a chance toyet?
Stormi Banks (13:12):
the big remark it would be that trying is cool.
It's fearful to try somethingnew and possibly fail at it, but
it's the cool thing to dobecause you learn so much and
gain so much skill set throughthe process.
Tom DuFore (13:19):
I'm kind of circling back to a comment you had made
earlier about applying for atraditional loan.
I mean, most of the time it's alot of work and effort and very
often it's not an overnightprocess, so there's a whole
rigmarole that goes along withthat, and what you're proposing
sounds like may not be all thatdifferent, or maybe potentially
(13:42):
less work in some cases to seeif you can get this debt-free
financing as you described it.
I really like that.
It really makes it easier tounderstand what's involved with
that and working with someonelike you to help guide them
through that, I reallyappreciate you sharing this and
bringing this to the attentionof our listeners here.
Stormi Banks (14:00):
My pleasure.
Thanks for having me, Tom.
Tom DuFore (14:04):
Stormy, thank you so much for a fantastic interview
and let's go ahead and jump intotoday's three key takeaways.
So takeaway number one is whenStormy talked about the
definition of a grant and Ithought that the way she
described it was excellent wherea grant is another way to grow
(14:24):
cash flow, especially for asmall business, and she said
they are offered by state andfederal governments,
corporations and privatefoundations and she described it
as debt-free financing.
Takeaway number two is this howcan it be debt-free financing?
Well, she said that with thegrant, it means that there is no
(14:45):
expectation to pay it back, andshe said it's not tax-free but
there's no payback required andgenerally you're able to secure
the grant because you or yourbusiness or there's some common
match of some kind between thefunding that's available through
(15:05):
the government or through thepurpose or intent of the
foundation or the corporate,give back.
That might be happening there.
Takeaway number three is a missthat she said she had which was
not really learning disciplineas a child, and she gave that
focus or that example of pianolessons when she was able to
(15:29):
quit piano lessons midstream,and she said that because she
was able to start and stopthings, she didn't learn that
personal discipline and had tolearn that as an adult.
And now it's time for today'swin-win.
So today's win-win is whenStormy talked about grants being
(15:51):
for all types of businesses atany stage and any age, and I
thought that was a really greattakeaway.
Grants are not just forstartups, which I had really
thought that that probably wouldbe the indication that it's
more for a startup company, butit's not the case.
There's a wide variety ofgrants that are available for
(16:12):
all types of businesses and alltypes of industries, and so
that's the episode today.
Folks, Please make sure yousubscribe to the podcast and
give us a review, and rememberif you or anyone you know might
be ready to franchise theirbusiness or take their franchise
company to the next level.
Please connect with us atBigSkyFranchiseTeamcom.
Thanks for tuning in and welook forward to having you back
next week.
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