With the bleak employment outlook extending well in to 2010, there will undoubtedly be extra federal dollars pouring in to economic development not-for-profits (NFPs) and SBAs near you. No question, the next six to twelve months are an excellent time to launch your great business idea, and the extra cash likely to be distributed by the government will make for some great opportunities. If you are planning to take advantage, you need to begin preparing now.

A good idea, by itself, won’t even get you in the door. To qualify for grants or loans through any NFP or SBA program, you must have two things – decent credit and a well-developed business plan. The SBA requirements on credit score are very stringent and, with most SBA programs, you still have to find a bank to loan you the cash. Each local NFP is likely to have their own standards, but in order to get the federal money in the first place, they are often required to have strict credit policies for direct grants as well. If your credit score is abysmal, you are not likely to qualify, no matter how good your idea is. The first thing to do is pull your free annual credit reports from each of the three credit reporting agencies. You can order them once per year at www. annualcreditreport.com. Review the entire report for errors and dispute them immediately. If you have multiple negative entries, you can try to fight them through the basic disputing methods and sometimes it will work (if the company can’t verify the debt, if there are enough inaccuracies to question the validity, etc.). In general, however, negative entries that are valid aren’t going anywhere until the seven years are up. DO NOT spend one dime on “Credit Repair” – the Federal Trade Commission says they have “never seen a legitimate credit repair company.” Guess why?

If your credit is pretty good, but not perfect, consider contacting your creditors to see if they will work with you. Sometimes they are willing to remove a single late payment entry, especially if you are generally responsible about your debt. Once you have cleared up any errors, request your FICO score. This, by itself, will usually cost under $10 and don’t be roped in to any package deals. There are multiple versions of your credit score – each credit agency has their own calculation, FICO is the original, others pop up every so often – but FICO is still the most commonly used, particularly by government agencies. A score over 680 is good and will give you a good chance of securing a loan. Below 620, not so much. Consider looking for informal routes to financing your startup through friends and family, your own funds, etc.

In addition to decent credit, you will need a comprehensive business plan to qualify for any startup assistance. A formal business plan is more than just plugging some broad ideas into a basic business plan template. The purpose is for you to actually plan the business. Doing the work of developing a solid business plan will create a virtual road map of your company. Done right, the creator of a formal business plan should have a complete vision of the ins and outs of how the business will actually run, how money will be made, and how money will be spent. If you are serious about starting your business, there is no good reason to have someone else write your business plan. You need to understand everything that goes in and be able to justify every decision and every number you submit. Business plan services (that write the plan for you) are the second biggest modern scam, right after credit repair. Take the time to do the work yourself. You will not only have a clearer picture of what your business will be, but you greatly reduce the risk of startup by researching, analyzing, and determining the best options for your venture on your own.

If your credit is good and you do the work to really develop your business idea, your chances of securing grants or loans are greatly increased. Begin working on both requirements as soon as possible as it will take several weeks to several months to be completely prepared. Check in with the SBA and economic development NFPs (sometimes called business or community development) to find out the opportunities and requirements as you may need to incorporate certain issues into your business plan. This is an excellent time to launch a business – over half of the Fortune 500 companies were started in a recession!

Start here. Go far. LaunchX.com.