Self: Positive affirmation – I am smart!
world: the economy is weak, jobs are hard to come by
You: Can get as free as free money gets by investing your time by writing precise answers to topics that the (DOD) Department of Defense is interested in.
Four times a year a list of topics is solicited by the government for written phase one proposals. These proposals range from 20 to 40 pages and are not simple to write (usually requiring advanced engineering degrees) as few acceptable solutions exist. This is an entrepreneur’s dream! Written reports and follow-up progress reports can yield up to 60+% for the business owner/inventor. Awards can be up to $100K and matched at 30% from the state of North Carolina. Phase 2 awards, if invited are up to 1.5 million dollars over 3 years. I am currently waiting on an invitation for a Phase II. I know it is hard, but it can be done. We submitted underwater GPS algorithms for divers using portable communicating lasers!
Here are my bookmarks:
http://www.sbtdc.org/
http://zyn.com/
http://dodsbir.net/