The biggest mistake people make is what they say while trying to build enough courage to ask for scholarship money. This leads to run on sentences and generally going off topic. This can be avoided by following a 4 step process.

You do not persuade scholarship judges with facts alone. Listing your accomplishments is great, but it is not enough. Judges want to know about your future. They want to know how you will use the skills you gained from your accomplishments to enrich society. Ultimately they want to know what you have to offer.

The truth about why you do not need to dread editing scholarship essays.

Follow simple steps and you will forget you are editing.

Regardless of all the questions scholarship judges ask there is one thing they really want to know, but they will almost never ask. "What do you have to offer?" Answering this question is the best way to earn high marks when they evaluate you as a candidate. Watch this video to find out how Crystal Olivarria attempts to answer this unspoken question when answering the scholarship essay question "Why are you interested in this field (or career)?"

We have unrealistic expectations and we expect perfection rather than progress. No great scholarship essay, movie script or president's speech was perfect the first time it was written.

I created this video with the YouTube Video Editor. (http://www.youtube.com/editor)

Gain respect and credibility from your friends, family and peers by show casing your efforts. By gaining their support you can partially delegate the task of finding scholarships and focus on sorting out the good opportunities from the great ones.

How many high school graduation programs have you been too lately?

On my brother's high school graduation program I found:

162 Scholarship Awards from 110 Different Types of Scholarship Awards (Many of them are LOCAL SCHOLARSHIPS)

PLUS an Additional 139 Scholarship Awards from California Scholarship Federation Life Memberships

Interesting mentions:

1. Go Green Art Scholarship

2. Hanford Police Officer's Association Board Scholarship

3. Independent Grocers Association Scholarship (Food/Grocery Stores)

4. Kaiser Permanente eQuality Scholarship (Health Insurance HMO)

5. Life in the Arts Recognition Scholarship

6. Peace Officers Research Association Scholarship (Police)

7. Plumbers Pipe & Refrigeration Fitters Local Union 256 Scholarship

8. Recycling Scholarship

9. Selma Unified Teacher's Association Scholarship

10. Student of Promise Scholarship

Give Me 10 Minutes and I'll Show You How to Start a College Conversation with Your Loved Ones

We will discuss:

• 25 Scholarship Interview Questions to Ask

• 4 Ways to Evaluate Responses

• How to Fit These Questions into Everyday Conversations

How do you talk to family members about college (& career) goals?

Take the conversation in a positive direction.