Author Archives: John A. Lizotte


About John A. Lizotte

I'm a Small Business Marketing and Development Consultant. I help small business owners and home office professionals start or grow their business by educating them on how they can differentiate themselves and the way they do business.

Small Business Guide for Veterans

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There are a number of programs and services from the government and non-profit organizations specifically designed to help veterans start and grow their businesses.

General Information Guides

To get started, first read through the Veteran-Owned Business Guide, where you’ll find information for veterans looking to start and finance their business, as well as information on government contracting opportunities.  Additionally, the brief article “From Military Service to Entrepreneur – Tools for the Veteran-Owned Small Business” summarizes some of the general business guides, financing options, incentives, and other resources available to help veteran-owned businesses succeed.

  • Registering As a Veteran-Owned Business
    “How do I register as a veteran-owned business?” is one of the most commonly asked questions by new or aspiring veteran business owners.  Though there is no formal government registration process, there are other opportunities for you and your business that you can self-certify for.
  • Veteran Affairs Center for Veterans Enterprise
    A website from the Department of Veteran Affairs, dedicated to assisting veterans in starting and building businesses.

Financing Resources  

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Ultimate Guide to Intellectual Property

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If you have a great business idea, you may want to keep it to yourself until you’ve had a chance to learn a little about intellectual property laws. To learn how to protect your idea or invention, take a look at the resources below. Whether you’re looking to protect a trade name or trademark, or wanting to obtain a patent or copyright, this sampling provides the information you’ll need to get started.

Patents and Copyrights

Protect Your Invention or Product – Patents, Trademarks, and Copyright:  

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  • According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s stopfakes.gov web site, companies that protect their intellectual property drive more economic growth in the U.S. than any other single sector. The unfortunate flip side is that small businesses are more vulnerable than any other sector to piracy, counterfeiting, and the theft of their intellectual property. If you are self-employed or are a small business owner and need to protect your invention or products, read this article for a summary of the process as well as links to other resources that can help you understand your rights as an inventor.

How a Simple Business Plan can Get you from A to Z, and Navigate all Things In-Between

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It’s doubtful that no two words in an entrepreneur’s vocabulary are procrastinated over more than these two: “Business Planning”.

This simple phrase can conjure up visions of being hunkered down over a desk trying to justify, forecast, number-crunch and ultimately wrestle with the current state of your business compared with where you want it to be five or ten years down the line.

But the business planning process doesn’t have to start and end this way.

If you really want to succeed in business, as in life, planning should be part of everything you do, and, it never stops.

Just think about the simple act of hitting the road to attend a business meeting across state. You may not be conscious of this fact, but you have already undertaken a series of planning steps and adopted precautionary measures to ensure you arrive at your destination safely and on time.

Over time, this might mean you have invested in a number of available GPS navigation tools, roadside support options, and insurance policies, that will help you plan for each car journey and prepare for the obstacles that you may encounter on the way.  

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New Rules for Collecting Sales Tax Over the Internet

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Several states that are now requiring sales tax collection for online businesses that use affiliate marketers.  Whether you use affiliates, or are an affiliate marketer yourself, learn more about the changing regulations and how to find out the rules for your state.

Understanding “Physical Presence” Nexus Rules

In 1992, the Supreme Court ruled that states cannot require mail-order businesses including online retailers to collect sales tax in a state unless they have a physical presence there (Quill v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298, (1992).  In legal terms, this physical presence is known as a “nexus.” Each state defines nexus differently, but all agree that if you have store or office of some sort, a nexus exists.   Remember that each state defines what constitutes a physical presence differently.  If you are uncertain whether or not your business qualifies as a physical presence, contact your state’s revenue agency.         

Instead of collecting sales tax from remote retailers, many states required the consumer to pay a “use” tax on their online purchases.  Unfortunately, many consumers were either unaware of this requirement or chose to ignore the use tax, and enforcement was cost-prohibitive for revenue agencies.  

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