Your Questions About Doing Business Online Government

Jere answers:

That depends on how far the government goes in trying to collect sales taxes!!

I would get an etsy account for handmade items. Not expensive for an etsy shop. Http://www.etsy.com and etsy is only for us handmade wizards to sell our labors of love.

At a consignment shop, you generally don’t need any business license or much more than a tax number that you can pay your taxes through, both state and federal.

Jere answers:

Both government and private foundation grants do not give away free money for the sake of giving away money. There are no grants for paying bills, no grants for paying off credit cards, no grants for getting out of debt and no grants for simply fattening your wallet.

Grants are free, but it means OBLIGATION. You will be obligated to do as the grant sets out to do. Grants have objectives, and your purpose must fit the objective of the grant.

For one, you have to write the grant application and the grant application is not a simple document – you have to explain how your purpose for applying for the grant fits well with the objectives set out by the grant.

There is a stringent review process through a committee. You will compete with other applicants for the grant money, and this grant review committee will evaluate the merits of each proposal. Only those that they feel exemplifies the objective of the grant will be approved.

You can go to the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) http://www.cfda.gov and Grants.gov http://www.grants.gov – these are two sites created by the federal government to provide transparency and information on grants. Browse through the listings and see if you can find any grant that would support your purposes.

Even if you buy books on “how to get grants” or list that supposedly has information on grants — all of them are mere rehash of what CFDA has, albeit packaged differently.

Note though that these grants generally support non-profit organizations, intermediary lending institutions, and state and local governments — very rarely for individuals. Most of the federal grants are given to specific target groups with specific requirements (e.g. Minority business owners involved in transportation related contracts emanating from DOT – Grant#20.905 Disadvantaged Business Enterprises Short Term Lending Program. Individuals especially for personal purposes are not eligible for federal grants.

Grants are also often given to non profit groups or organizations involved in training or other similar activities (grant 59.043 Women’s Business Ownership Assistance that are given to those who will create women’s business center that will train women entrepreneurs

For private grants, you may want to check the Foundation Center’s Foundation Grants for Individuals Online http://gtionline.fdncenter.org . It’s a subscription based website ($9.95 per month) but their opening blurb only says that the database is ideal for “students, artists, academic researchers, libraries and financial aid offices.” Entrepreneurs are apparently not one of them, so I take it they also don’t have listings of private foundations who give grants to would-be entrepreneurs.

Jere answers:

What a wasteful jobs program.

You’d think Environ-Mentals would raise a bigger stink about the complete waste of paper being moved. However, they’re government union loving Dems, so they remain silent.

Jere answers:

If you plan to incorporate then you need to register with the federal,state and city government. If you plan to run the business as a sole proprietor then all you need is a business license from your local city government and possibly a sales and use tax account with the Dept of Revenue in your state if you add tax to your product.

Steps for getting started:
First and foremost write up a business plan.
1. Forming the business either through incorporating or as a sole proprietor. If you plan to incorporate then you need to get with your states Secretary of State to do this. Get with your local city government to get a business license as a sole proprietor and use your SSN as your tax ID#.
2. Find your SIC and NAICS code you will need either one or both for your business formation with the government entities.
3. Getting an EIN if required
4. Setting up a Franchise and Excise Tax and Sales and Use Tax account with the Dept of Revenue in the state you are in. You need to determine if you need one or both of these accounts. Just call the Dept of Revenue in your state and they are usually pretty helpful in answering all your questions.
5. Set up a business bank account or bank account with a DBA attached to it.
6. Set up a merchant and or paypal account.
7. Build a website and get a domain name and hosting.
8. Get inventory.
9. Figure out how you plan to ship product. This all comes down to how you plan to handle inventory. Some people have their own and some get involved with companies that have the product and you sell it and they drop ship the product for you. This saves on you having to carry the product yourself and having unsold inventory in your possession.
10. Marketing your website. Just because you publish a website doesn’t mean it’s visible to the search engines and the public at large so you need to submit the site to the 3 top search engines at the least and start marketing the site.

This is a basic order and some of these may overlap each other during the process but I hope this helps out. I’ve been through the routine and had to figure it all out myself. Just ask a lot of questions with the people you are dealing with to get things in order.

Good Luck

Jere answers:

If you are still a high school student, once school resumes after the Summer break, meet with a HS counselor & ask about scholarships & how to apply. There may be some offered by local organizations just for students graduating from your HS. Also learn the ins & outs of all kinds of college/university financial aid. Learn about the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid – http://www.fafsa.ed.gov ) which you will need to complete & submit to be considered for any US government student aid.

Also, learn about how to choose schools that will meet your academic & career goals and fit your budget.

Once you have a list of colleges/universities* that interest you, those schools may have scholarship/grant funds for just their own students. Staff members of the colleges/universities may need the info from your completed FAFSA or may need a completed CSS Profile (from the College Board – https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/prf/index.jsp ) to determine if you will be awarded any scholarships/grants. Look for info about them on the school’s Financial Aid web pages.

*By colleges/universities I mean: local taxing district funded community colleges, state government funded colleges & universities, & private/independent non-profit colleges/universities (not to be confused with for-profit/career/proprietary colleges, which 1st & foremost are businesses with the main focus of earning profits for their shareholders.)

Online databases I recommend for searching for scholarships for which you may qualify & want to apply:

Scholarship Search from the well-respected College Board:
* https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/scholarship-search
Click on the Start button.
If you choose to register (free – registration is not required) to return later & modify your search strategy, feel secure you will not receive spam emails. Don’t select too many defining terms in your search strategy, which may result in a poor scholarship search result.

CollegeNet Mach25 Scholarship Search database:
* http://www.collegenet.com/mach25/app
No registration required. If you use the Profile Search option, don’t include a large number of Misc. Identifiers or you may have an unsuccessful search result. The Keyword Search is the easiest. Scholarships specific to particular colleges/universities are included in the Mach25 database.

MyCollegeOptions.org Scholarship Search
* https://www.mycollegeoptions.org/scholarship-advanced-search.aspx?HighlightMatchPattern=scholarship-search|scholarship-advanced|scholarshipsearch
This web site only requires registration for using the Advanced version for searching for scholarships. It has a very good Privacy Policy, indicating that registrant information will be kept private. Scholarships specific to particular colleges/universities will be included in the search results.

With the results of the scholarship search databases you will have to look at each scholarship option in the results & the info on the scholarship granting organization web pages to determine if you qualify to apply.

When you do find a scholarship for which you want to apply, make sure you meet the scholarship requirements, be sure to follow the application rules to the letter; use perfect spelling, grammar & punctuation; & submit your application before the deadline.

Many other students will be applying for the same scholarships & only a few or maybe just 1 will be awarded. Please do not pin all your hopes of higher education financing on being awarded enough scholarship/grant funds to cover all your college expenses.

I hope you have been saving any gift money & earnings – as much as possible for a number of years.

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Best wishes