Unlocking Government Grants Matthew Lesko's Insider Tips

has book. His book has been very successful, and he has created a successful infomercial, been on programs like Letterman, Oprah, Larry King, and Good Morning America. So we're going to be talking to him about, uh, how Americans can get grant assistance from the government. So, Matthew, thank you so much for joining me today.

self sufficiency. It was very important and you spend most of your life doing that. And that's why I love having something I could do forever. I never worry about self sufficiency. So instead of retiring at 60, man, I'm still making money and, but doing something I love, it's not work. Know, this isn't work. This is, uh, a joy and it helps people. So that means it's something bigger than me that I could do and gives me energy, uh, to keep trying to

grow. And I've had, I got an MBA and had, uh, a bunch of business that failed. I had a computer business back in the 70s. He said, you're in cybersecurity, too? And, uh, yeah, I was a programmer and all that kind of stuff. And I was a professor in computer science at a local university here and had a software company that failed. But then I went on there to trying to help people get information, particularly businesses.

And what I was doing is helping Mostly Fortune 500 companies get information about their markets and what's going on outside their company, information on opportunities. And because I was in Washington, and this was back in the 70s, I was. I would. I do research at libraries, because that's what you do. We didn't have the Internet then, but Washington has libraries, special libraries for every department of agency has

a special library. So if you want something energy, you go over the Department of Energy, and their library is the best, you know, resources for energy. You want, you know, anything in agriculture, you go to Department of Agriculture, or overseas you go over State Department. So it was just a bountiful of information and experts. You see, you go, I found a boy. I found an expert in Washington. Um, one of my clients was Proctor and Gamble, wanted to start a

chain of pasta stores. And I found this guy at the Department of Commerce who gets paid like 100 grand a year just to study the pasta store business. That's all he does. And you find this person, nobody knows he's there, and you make an appointment, talk to him. And the problem when you find somebody like that is not getting the information, is getting out of his office. You know, he's been studying pasta for 20 years. No one's ever asked him. His wife was sick of

hearing about it. So I would take this information and all the studies that the government does on pasta businesses and everything, and I'd take his name off it, put my name on it, because nothing in the government is copyrighted, and I charge these people thousands and thousands of dollars. It was shocking that I could do this. I mean, a kid from Wilkesboro, Pennsylvania, who barely got through college,

uh, you know, could do this and make money. And I said, God, why doesn't everybody know about this? So that business grew for a couple of years. About, uh, I guess about five years I was at that, uh. And I just got sick of helping rich people. They don't even need the money, you know, and there's so many people, like where I grew up in Wilkesboro, Pennsylvania, that really need to know about these programs they can afford to hire somebody like me to get it for.

So my mission at that point became, okay, how do I get something that educates people about These programs so they could take advantage of it. Uh, and at the time it was books. So I did a lot of books and couple became New York Times bestsellers and did very well. And then infomercial. But again, wasn't helping people as people would get the book and it'd be like a big directory, uh, and they wouldn't do anything. It's sort of like we sell diet books in this country. We all keep getting fatter.

So. And it's the same with this guy. Okay, here's a directory of all this stuff. And they try to organize it in a way, and people don't do anything. But now at. Let's go help. What we do is have members helping members. So you could. We have a community now uh, that you join, and it's only $20. And you could ask us 100 questions a day if you. We have, uh, video. Uh, we have live training every day, usually two, three, four hours sometimes.

Mostly members who teach you how they got money, you know, and that's why I feel they're better than I am in trying to teach people, because, you know, people look at me, oh, the way you dress and whatever. And you've been at this 50 years. It's easy for you. Uh, but when you have somebody, hey, I just found out about this just a couple of weeks ago, and I'm getting this money, and here's how I did it. I feel they're a better ambassador, you know, for this than I could ever be. And they love

helping people. And that's the key to what we're doing is just. I call it a loving community. And if you love other people, then you want to help other people, not to see how much money you could get from the, uh, people that are members. They get a stipend for doing that. But it's not for the money. It's for how good you feel. Because that's how I keep doing this. It's not for the money. I've figured out how to feed myself. I want something I feel important to do for the rest of

my life, and this is it. Because I know more about this, I think, than anybody else. And to struggle to try to educate people. The best way for them to access this, uh, and it's really, uh, it's there. It's always been there. Rich people will hire somebody to get it for them, and the average person on the street will try and then give up. So that's what I'm trying to do is overcome that hurdle, train people, uh, that you can't do that.

And really the barrier, I think is what the worst barrier is Google. Because most people, they want money or a grant or something like that, they'll go to Google and they'll put in a rent grant or whatever, and you'll get 200 million websites. Yeah. And 99, 44, 100% of those websites will people who want to get money from you because they know the secret to getting grants. And people who can't pay their rent can pay, can't pay somebody else to get grants

either. Uh, and so that's the wrong place to go. And you're never going to find. So you go through that. You know, there's so many sharks in that one or two and Google that they're going to rip you off and all this kind of stuff. So if you don't have money, you really stay away from Google. Google is good for people who have money and could buy things. If you can't buy things and you have problems, you can't use Google. I mean, that's a biased opinion, but I think it's really true. There are

options. So let's say you have a grant, you need to pay rent. Okay. Uh, you're in Wichita, Kansas, is that right?

now. Okay, it says there's 2264 programs in my zip code that give out free money. 2264, every one of them. None of them will charge you money. See, this is what people don't know. God. Okay, so, uh, that's why I should not even be in business. If people knew this. Okay, now you put, uh, a keyword in there. Okay. You put in rent. I put in rent there. Okay, 61 organizations in your zip code that help with paying your rent.

61. See, and if you did that in Google, you'll get 200 million websites, most of everyone. You'll never find these 61, they're in there, but they're on page 832 or whatever the hell it is, uh, and you never find them here. It's like going fishing, shooting fish in a barrel. You know, every one of these help people with rent. Now, you. They may or may not be able to help you because they all have different requirements and things like that, but at least now you have a short

list. It's sort of like, um, well, getting a job. You want to know the. You want to contact the people who are hiring, not just every company on the street, right? So if you know the people who are hiring, you know you have a better shot. And whether they're going to hire you, it depends, right? Between you and them. So the same way with getting a grant, you know, here's 61 people that give out rent grants and help for your rent, and you need rent,

and you have to make a match with one of them. And that's what you have to learn to do. And you don't have to learn anything. You just have to call the people, hey, I need help. That's the only words you have to know how to say, I need help. Because every one of these offices, uh, that already get money, they're not going to get money from you. So they're not going to kiss your ass and try to get money. No, they're there to help you because they're paid to do that.

How much they help you depends on how you treat them. And that's what we're all about, is how to use these resources, how to get into them and use them. Otherwise, if you're thinking about, oh, this is how it should work, you can't think. Yeah, you can't believe. I mean, first of all, it does not. It's not going to work the way you want it because the government's not set up. They didn't call you first before they set this up. They're doing

the best they can. And these programs are laid on top of each other, on top of each other, on top of each other. So you have to figure out how to use them, you know, uh, because they have to follow the laws. See, the laws give them the money to give out to you. And if they don't do it by the laws, then they go to jail. So they have to follow the laws. You can't call up and say, this is a stupid thing you're doing. That's okay. You're not. They're not going to

change. You got to learn the stupid way they're doing it so you get the money. If you don't need the money.

cut it down to like $45,000. She only, I mean cut it down to $5,000 so she got 90% of it forgiven. And you call up the organizations there that are listed, they're local people that will help you. I mean people are fear the irs and they'll go to Google and find an accountant or something to do this for them and they're going to take a lot of that money that could go into your pocket. So that's silly to me. Um, you call up, you make an appointment.

They have people all over the country to sit you. They want you to square that away. And your State department, your state taxes are the same way. It's offer and compromise. And then property taxes are the same way, but they have other kind of programs. Uh, also if you have trouble, you have to call and say you need help. Otherwise they'll just keep banging on you and you could stop that easily. And they all have programs of some kind, uh, that will

help you. And the most important thing is that you get that fear off your mind because that's what keeps you up at late at night. That's what's shortened your life. I think if you worry about that, all you have to do is make one phone call, make an appointment, and you'll see it's not, I mean there's no, it's not like fairy dust and everything goes away. No, but a reasonable option will come

out. And it's an option that nobody else, I mean anybody else who says they're going to solve it for you is doing the same thing, just charging you a lot of money for it. So it's crazy. Uh, but because we don't know. And these are tools, this is our government. We all own this. Uh, we're all like, uh, investors

in the government. They own us and if something screws up with the IRS or your, um, mortgage or any of those kinds of things, and the government's not working for you, you call your elected official, they want to help you, and they even come out every month. How many people did I solve getting, uh, with getting grants for them? Every

elected official is different. But that's it. Because if they help you get $10,000 or save this or whatever, you're going to vote for them for the rest of your life. And they know that. And that's how they stay in power. That's why people who are in Congress never lose. They retire.

them about the programs in your area. What happens is the government guarantees mortgages. So when you get a mortgage from your bank, uh, the bank doesn't collect the money, you know, uh, uh, it's guaranteed by the government, okay? So if you don't pay that mortgage, then the government is left with the house. Now the government, you know, it sometimes doesn't run very efficiently. And they have this house, they do nothing for five, ten years just

sitting there and it goes to hell. And they say, oh God, we got to get rid of this thing. And so, uh, they called it the Urban Homesteading act because they're mostly in urban areas. And these houses they give away for a dollar and they also give grants for you to fix them up. Now this is at the local office. So, and your county office, uh, in their county, if you call your county government and you ask for the Community Development office, they're the best local office to know about

real estate programs. Office of Community Development, uh, because they're the ones that get HUD money and all this other stuff, you know, for their housing stock, they're responsible for having houses for people. And this is going to grow in the next couple of years because we were so short of houses. Um, I don't hear anything about housing from, um, Trump. But I know Harris has going to double the amount of houses. So that means a lot of government grants are giving out. I was

just writing up one today. Um, uh, they're giving $75,000 grant for you to take an old house and flip it, fix it up and sell it. Yeah. Uh, and that's a grant for you to start, um, in the real estate business. And this could be for people, for, uh, families, for nonprofits, uh, for for profits, almost anybody. It's for grant to help us with our housing stock. So we got to take these old places that are down. You, uh, get $75,000 to fix them up

and sell it. And you can be a landlord or just sell uh, it and make money on the sale. Um, and there's about seven or eight organizations in every state that specializes in helping people without money get homes. One is hud.gov so you want to go there, hud, uh.gov counseling. And if you go to that website, hud, uh.gov uh counseling, you'll see a map of the United States. You click on your state and there'll be counselors in your area that are all

free. They not only help with you finding a house, they help with you in your debt or your credit. All this stuff free. You know, don't go and Google this because you're going to find people going to charge you for that you get for free are going to scam you somehow or other. I mean, one of the biggest problems, uh, uh, that consumers have is getting ripped off by people going to fix up your credit when you could get that all done for free. Um, so that's just one of many

programs. Uh, every program is different. You have to work local. It's not Washington. Some of them start in Washington, but then they wind up local and the money is local for you to apply local.

Okay. Because there's so much, I mean I just saw this data the other day, about 20% of the people under 65 that don't have coverage are eligible for free health care. They just don't know they're not applying for it. Uh, so this is a great place to start for everything from free prescription drugs. There's lots of programs for that. And this website will help you with that. Uh, pay hospital

bills. If you go to the hospital by um, even like an emergency or non emergency and they send you a bill, well, 70% of those bills don't have to be paid. But the hospital doesn't tell you. See, they have to pay. You get. Not to collect money from you, but they don't tell you that. And that, and that's a pity. So organizations like that, that will do it actually in that uh, website, uh,

too. They're nonprofit organizations that will contact your medical provider or even have grants to do your co pays or down payments and stuff like that that you're doing. There is so much help, uh, but it takes your effort. You have to get on the phone. You can't just go look and you know, match it up. No, you have to talk to people because it's hard to understand what they're saying. Uh, I don't, I've been studying. But if you talk to people, then that's good. You just say,

I need help. I have this medical bill. That's all you have. You don't have to know what the hell you're doing because that's why they're there to help you when you don't know what you're doing. And they all got paid. You never have to pay them and you never have to be ashamed of calling because that's their job. Um, but people don't know that.

help you find the money or whatever you need. They also sit down with you to make sure your idea is worth the money or what you have to do to change it. So they help you think through your idea, whatever the idea is. You want to be a real estate investor, you want to be, uh, you know, a freelancer, or you want to, you have an invention you want to do. Now they'll

sit down with you for free and help you the best way. If you look for Google for help, they're going to charge you thousands and thousands of dollars to do the same thing, uh, that the government offices will do for free. Uh, and to do that you go to sba.gov/then local lo c l assistance, okay? Sba.gov/local l, o, c, a l then-assistance and you put in your zip code again like we did, and find

help. And you'll find like for me it's, there are 20 non profit organizations in my zip code that help entrepreneurs or freelancers or inventors or nonprofits, anybody who wants to start or grow a business. Now the government does this because if they help you start or grow business, you're going to create jobs. Okay? So that's why it's an investment by the community into you that will create a job for you or a job or many jobs for other people

or whatever. This is how politicians, uh, get reelected if people are working. So that's why they give money to help people start businesses or do what they want.

worked. Uh, yeah, I went and got experts to do all this and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and doing. Ah, there wasn't, when I got rid of all the experts, just did it myself, they're the ones that were successful. Uh, but it's learning. And that's why to me, to do anything in life, you have to want to be there. If you're there for the wrong reason, it's harder to succeed because everything you do is going to fail. You don't plan

for success, you hope for Success. But you can't plan for success because 90 times, nine times out of 100, nine times out of 10, it's going to be failure. I'm like, I've written 100 books and only 10 have made money at all. So if you don't have that mindset, you're going to quit before you figure it out. And my mind was, uh, look at all these stupid people making all this money. Seem very bright to me and now. But they have perseverance to figure it out.

And that's what most of us like or lack because we go to a guru and say, all you have to do is these five things and you'll be a millionaire. We do them and they don't work. And then we think we're dumb. No, you're not dumb. You're dumb if you stop. And it's hard to keep going if you don't have the right mindset. And the mindset is, this has to be important for you. If it's not important for you and just wait to make money, well, I can't make money. There you lined out.

No, um, you go try something else that won't make money, then you try something else that won't make money. You know, you got to figure out, because it all works different for different people. People, we're all different. We're all different animals, we're all different flowers. Uh, what one person does and is successful may probably won't work for you, but maybe bits and pieces of that will be important for you. You got to go out and build your own, uh, whatever it is, piece, uh,

of art. Our life is a piece of art. We have to paint it and develop it ourselves. And because once you start putting something on the canvas, that changes your mind, because then you didn't know. Oh, I see that. Well, what about I should have been doing that? I mean, most my successful businesses became successful in different ways I thought they initially be successful at. But I got it in there, started

trying it, and all that worked. But that gave me the information, the feedback I, I needed to figure out what exactly I should be doing. And that's what success is. Picking your ass up. Pardon me?

Um, so I had to do something. And this is very fruitful and I, I trying to make this better and trying to make it easier and educate people and like talking to you as I explain something, it comes into my mind about, oh yeah, that's true. So it's time and thoughtfulness, you know, uh, that makes things special. And, and now what I work on too is my heart. You know, when I was a younger man, uh, I wanted to get stronger and faster and smarter

and all that kind of stuff. Now at 81, I can't get smarter, faster and smarter. All that is going downhill. But one thing I can grow is my heart. I could love harder. I may not be able to, you know, as it gets stronger, but my heart could love more. I may not be able to run faster, but my heart could get more. So that's what I do. And then, uh, and that's what as a community we're doing for each other is how, how you could love more. Because that's one thing we all have and we all could

grow that. And that's, I think the most rewarding thing is giving. And giving is loving. And then when you're giving it, I think is selfish because when you're giving it feels so good. People think I'm doing it for them. Yeah, I guess. But really, because it feels so good to me. So I'm very selfish.

show. Matthew. Thank you for all that you do to help us and educate us and thank you for joining me.