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January 2011

Dear Jim, I am considering starting a plumbing business. I am not a plumber, but an unemployed manager who believes this would be a good business to move into. I would manage the business (basically do everything but the plumbing work). Do I need to be licensed as a plumber by the state of Colorado, cities or counties? May I have a licensed plumber working for me satisfy any licensing requirements? Thanks.

Please keep two things in mind:

1. I am not a lawyer.
2. Regulations governing the trade industries can and do change in different locations throughout the State.

With those in mind I can tell you that I am not aware of any law that says that the owner of a plumbing business has to be a plumber. In fact, some plumbing businesses are corporations where the owners may have several other occupations.

However, to use the City of Denver as an example, the Plumbing Code for Denver specifically states: “All work shall be performed under the supervision of the holder of a State of Colorado Master Plumbers License.” This indicates that you would have to hire someone with a Master Plumbers License to be in charge of the actual work. This could get expensive in addition to removing you from the day-to-day supervision of your own employees. Obviously you have to decide if you would be comfortable with this.

Dear Jim, I need to find a space for a business lunch/meeting for two. I prefer a private space to just having a discussion over lunch at a restaurant. Does any such space (i.e. small, private conference room) exist? My client is flying into town for one day so I need a location in the vicinity of the airport. I was thinking Cherry Creek North as there are nice restaurants for lunch but I have been unable to locate a private meeting space. Please help.

There are several services in the metro area which provide both virtual and actual temporary office rentals for occasions such as this. You could check Intelligent Office or Office Evolution which are two of these services. Or just Google “temporary office rentals” for others. Most of these services have multiple locations around the area and also provide conference rooms and other business services.

Dear Jim, I am a retired veteran on disability. My disability has nothing to do with the U.S. Army. I guess you need to make that clear nowadays! To keep myself busy and to help with my grandchildren's college fund, I joined an online network marketing business. As reps, we receive commissions based on sales. I often hear of the problems local schools have in their funding and of course have participated in some of their fundraising attempt, such as cookies, candy, and - who can forget - the popcorn! All these programs require significant sacrifice and work from parents. I am sure you agree. So, my questions is, would the schools be interested in becoming reps at at minimal start-up expense of $24.95? They would be provided a website exactly like mine but with their own rep number and all commission would be paid to the PTSA. No inventory, little admin.

What you are proposing is not unusual. In fact we have other clients doing similar things with other goods and services. You just need to have your sales presentation together and then go out and start approaching the schools. Good luck with this venture.

Dear Jim, I recently started a blog to promote my husband's artwork, and I have been reading about affiliate marketing. I tried to set up doing that with Amazon, but found out that Colorado is the only state they won't work with, because of a law passed last spring about taxing sales on the internet. I would like to know first of all, if someone is doing something about overturning that law, and secondly, is it something that affects selling my husband's artwork over the internet? If so, where do I find out more about it?

It is highly unlikely that Colorado will overturn this law. In fact, it is far more likely that more and more states will adopt similar laws as nearly all of them face budget crises and are looking for every opportunity to raise revenues. Eventually Amazon will be forced to give in and change its rules or it will not be able to sell in the U.S.

Secondly, yes, this does affect selling your husband’s artwork over the internet. In Colorado, internet sales are subject to a three-tier structure:

1. Sales shipped out of state – no sales tax
2. Sales shipped inside Colorado but not in your taxing district – collect Colorado sales tax only
3. Sales shipped to inside the same taxing district in which your business is located – collect all state and local sales taxes.

Sorry, but that’s the way it is.